This summer once again we set off for a Cycling Adventure. This time the weather was crazy! Pouring rain and strong sunshine alternated almost every two hours throughout the whole trip. We were especially thankful for all the rain showers that cooled down the intense July heat, and also for the fact that in spite of all the muddy and slippery paths we biked through we were safe the whole time. It’s amazing to see how God utilizes the elements and circumstances to work in our lives and in the lives of those we reached out to during these times!
This is one of the stories.
When the rain stops you from Leaving
By Jan Stoelwinder Chan
On the last day of biking, my husband was leading the way and asking God which village we should visit. He prayed that he may find two people when he would enter the right village. The first village he went in, nobody was there, all he found were two chickens. He went on to the next village and did the same prayer. As he entered the village He saw two ladies that greeted him. “This is it.” He thought to himself.
One of these two ladies brought back some food for my kids from her own lunch. She got a bowl of rice with chicken. She dragged a few plastic stools and we sat down in this one-meter-wide alley between two rows of stone houses. My kids were eating away the rice and wandering and stomping on puddles. My team chatted with her but she was very distracted by all the things my kids were doing. We couldn’t get anywhere with this conversation.
It was already 1 pm and it was time for us to leave. Suddenly, a downpour of very heavy rain came. The lady told us to quickly go to her home for shelter. There, we found more of our team members already chatting and eating peanuts with other members of her family.
A young lady from our team suggested that we should sing some songs to this family that welcomed us. Our kids starting singing a song with the lyrics “my God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do.” After this declaration by our kids, something changed in the air. The lady started to talk with one of our guys, and he was able to share the gospel message and prayed with her. She understood everything and accepted Jesus as her Lord!
Praise God for the perfect orchestration of timing: He sent the rain so we could stay and share more with this lady. He guided our children to declare His greatness and push back any influence of the powers of darkness. Finally, this lady was able to pay attention to the Message and see her life transformed.
