What can I say... Jesus is unspeakable in His glory, and our Father is powerful in His protection! We have had a crazy month, and have been in some pretty dangerous situations, but through it all, have felt the power of our protective Father, and the peace of God which passes understanding surrounding us and carrying us!
When you are walking in the will of God for your life, no matter where you are in the world, you are in the safest, most secure place you could ever be, whether that is going to school in an American neighborhood, or preaching in an underground church in a war-torn nation! The key is that you are exactly where God wants you to be, doing exactly what God wants you to do! Following Jesus is not just a hobby, or a part-time job... it’s a life laid down for Him, in pursuit of Him and His calling on your life!
One of the most amazing things I have been noticing lately is how alive the scriptures are becoming to me, and how they are so real to me! I am actually living them out, and literally seeing the truth in what the scriptures say! One of my favorites this month was:
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper...” - Isaiah 54:17... when you have literal weapons pointed at you, this scripture jumps to life pretty quick!
And also, basically the whole of Psalm 91 has become my friend!
So now I have to share the testimony of what actually happened...
We live in the North of Mozambique, and have been praying daily for the peace of this beautiful nation this month as stirrings of war have been rumored as we have gone into the election campaigns for the local municipal governments. There were a few shootings by the opposition group along the main road leading from Maputo in the South up to us in the North. Some cars and trucks were shot and some people were killed. The opposition party were making threats and eventually broke the peace agreement they had made with the ruling party at the end of the civil war in the 1990’s. All of this was happening to the South of us, in Central Mozambique, but in Mocimboa Da Praia too there was unrest as we were also going to the elections for our local government. The youth particularly around where we live were getting rowdy and making threats. They started threatening us, and the work of Iris Ministries in our area, and told us if we didn’t complete certain promised tasks in time, they would vote for the opposition party, which made the government upset of course, and had them calling us up, wondering what we were going to do.
Praise God, we were able to do a lot, thanks to the power of prayer, and we organized a day to meet with the youth and the local government together to present our work and show the love of God to all of them. That morning, our team woke up early and prayed for supernatural peace! We went out to the area we had organized to meet everyone, and the youth were already there, threatening some of our church members, telling them they would lie to the government and make sure we were kicked out of Mocimboa Da Praia, but praise God, when the government arrived and asked the youth if they had anything to say, nobody stirred, not even a little... the supernatural peace of God filled the place like a cloud, and there was nothing but positive talk! The government went away happy, the youth went away quietly, and the members of our church were astounded, proclaiming that a miracle had happened in their midst! They saw for themselves that God is with us and His hand is on His church!
There were further shootings in the south, and we were getting ready as a family to drive down through the shooting zone, as we had to get down to Maputo and then South Africa before our flight to Australia. We had been told how dangerous it would be to drive down through Central Mozambique so we looked up flights, but they were all booked full. We researched driving the only other way down to Maputo, which would have us going through Malawi and Zimbabwe, but it would be very complicated with visas and car registrations, so we prayed... and felt the peace of God envelope us. We knew we would be protected driving down through Central Mozambique. We knew angels would travel with us! So off we went, in our little flat bed truck, Ash and I, our 4 children, and our Mozambican spiritual son. The first couple of days were uneventful but slow as we had been advised not to travel at night. The third day of driving, however, brought us into the ‘war-zone’. We were praying and peaceful as we drove down the highway, and everything was relatively still. We started passing more and more military teams, and then saw a few shot up, burned up vehicles on the side of the road... the scars of fighting. My heart wept for this beautiful nation that I love so much, and we began declaring peace over the land as we went! We were stopped in the afternoon by a military team, and told the road ahead was too dangerous, they had spotted suspicious activity. We were told to go back 56 km to a village to spend the night, and go ahead with a military convoy in the morning. We did that, parked our car, and slept in the back of the truck that night. First thing the next morning, we headed out with a full military convoy, and about 100 trucks and cars. There were military tanks in front and back, and military men spread throughout the convoy with AK-47s and bazookas. I sat in the back of the truck with the kids, and we prayed and declared peace over the land as we passed by. There was such a supernatural peace and joy with us in the truck as we went!
After a little while we were brought to a halt by the convoy. The military had seen something up ahead in the bushes and they stopped us as they went to investigate. We waited for a little while, and suddenly we heard gunshots breaking out everywhere. I told the kids to get down, and keep their heads down. As I was getting down, I looked outside, and just outside our car, about 5 metres away, I saw the ground exploding from gunshots! They were shooting right outside our car! While this was going on, though, there was such an incredible peace inside our car! None of the kids were afraid, and we crouched down together and talked calmly. There was not even a hint of fear among us as the bullets flew around! The shooting stopped for a minute, and then continued again with renewed frenzy, and bazooka bomb blasts that shook the car... the noise was deafening! I told the kids not to worry because there were angels all around us protecting us! Gabriella, my youngest, laughed and said, “I’m not scared mum, I’m excited, because there is an angel sitting on top of us, I can feel him, it’s Gabriel, and whenever a bullet comes near us, he flicks it away!” I was so proud of my fearless daughter! Then Noah piped up and said, “Mum, last night when I was alseep, I was woken up by a bright light. I saw this man in the light and I was afraid, but then it said to me ‘don’t be afraid, my name is Gabriel, I’m an angel from God! Don’t be afraid tomorrow, no matter what happens, because I will be with you all day and will protect you all! Nothing bad is going to happen!’” I was rejoicing and so full of thankfulness to my Powerful Father who was protecting us, and had prepared my children beforehand! He is such a loving Father, and we really are in no danger at all when we are walking in His will for our lives, because truly He is with us, and truly the angels of the Lord are encamped around us as we follow Him!
When the fighting eventually stopped and we went on again, we made it out of the fighting zone, and to the end of the military zone. We stopped and got out to thank the military. We told them we would be praying for them, and that God would protect them. They told us that He must already be protecting them, because even though the opposition group had been targeting the cars in the convoy, and usually they got some cars, this time not one car was hit... only one tire of one car next to ours was shot, but it wasn’t too bad and he still managed to drive away! Usually at least one person would have been killed and some injured, but this time nobody was touched! The military told us it was a miracle! God was with us!
People have asked me how I can take my children away from the ‘safe’ western world, out to the mission field where it is ‘dangerous’, but I beg to differ! I know that the only ‘safe’ place to be in the world is exactly where God wants you to be! Anywhere else is where it is dangerous! This experience we had has only added to that conviction! There was a powerful, supernatural cloud of God’s peace and joy surrounding us as we crouched in the back of the truck! We KNEW God was with us! We felt His presence! Looking back, I can’t remember one moment of fear, not even a split second of fear I felt for my safety or the safety of my children... it was truly supernatural! Our God is an awesome God, Mighty to save!!!
May you constantly seek the Lord and His face, and lay down your lives in surrender to Him! As you follow His plans and His purposes for your life, you will find safety, joy, peace, and an adventure beyond imagining!
More joy to you all in your pursuit of Him!