Do you have a special Bible verse that you find yourself repeating and claiming during life’s difficult moments? The words of Proverbs 3:5, 6 have always been very meaningful to Neil and me: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” This is a powerful promise, and we have claimed it frequently. We can affirm that God’s word is true, and we can trust it. Our recent experience has given us renewed confidence in God’s guidance.
In January 2013, our life in Kangaba was continuing as usual. Neil and I were engaged in our routines of relationship building, Biblical teaching when possible, and seeking meaningful ways to show the people around us that we care for them. Neil had been helping some friends in a nearby village pour a concrete floor. He had made several trips out to the village to help make the forms, tie the rebar, mix the concrete, and finally pour the floor in two halves. Neil’s construction experience often comes in handy here.
Right around this time, we started seeing news reports that the Islamist militants in the North were on the move southward. This was not good news. Of course, since the coup d’état in March 2012 that toppled Mali’s democratically elected government, things had been less stable. During this coup, our family had evacuated to Guinea for about a month. However, the Islamists had stayed in the North, and while life for the people in the occupied territory was certainly unpleasant, the southern part of Mali hadn’t been affected much. According to news reports in December 2012, a military campaign was planned to free northern Mali from the grip of the Al-Qaeda-linked militants, but probably not before September 2013. Now the militants seemed to be attacking the Malian army before it could threaten them.
Surely the Malian army will be able to hold its ground, we hoped, and we tried to carry on with everyday life. After all, this was taking place far north of us. Most people in our area didn’t even know that fighting had resumed in the north. Then we read news reports that the militants were making gains and taking towns as they advanced south. It soon became evident that the Malian army couldn’t hold them back. At this point we started to wonder if it was time for another evacuation.
We didn’t want to evacuate. Evacuations are no fun! Packing quickly, wrapping up responsibilities to the people who work for us, saying goodbye to our friends, hoping our relationships will survive the separation, and wondering when we will be able to come back—ugh! Having done it last year, we weren’t eager to do it again. But we needed to protect our children, and there was a possibility that the militants were infiltrating our area ahead of the fighting. As the only Americans in our area, we were highly visible targets.
Unsure of what to do, we turned to God in prayer. “What should we do?” we asked Him. “Should we stay? Should we leave for a little while? What is Your will for us right now?” We claimed Proverbs 3:5, 6 and a number of other promises and listened for His voice.
Of course, during this time we also had the aid of our field director, Marc Coleman. We deeply appreciated his phone calls and wise counsel. He encouraged us to do what we thought was best, but we were not yet sure what the right move was. Our feelings changed with the time of day and the news reports.
God was faithful in His promise to “direct our paths.” On Sunday morning, January 13, He impressed me to begin preparing to leave. He knows I am a procrastinator, and wanted me to be ready. I began making a pile of all the things I knew we would need to take with us. On Monday, still under that strong impression, I continued packing. That afternoon, Marc Coleman called to say he had met with other AFM directors, and they had decided it was time to pull us out of Kangaba for an early furlough. “How soon can you be ready to leave?” he asked. Since God had prompted me to start packing, we assured him we could be ready to fly out on Tuesday.
Although we were confident that God was guiding us, it was still so hard to leave all our friends in Kangaba. Tuesday morning I walked out to greet our guard’s wife in her cooking hut, as I did every morning. I could not help breaking down in tears. Incredibly, she started sobbing, too. People almost never do that in Mali, because it is a cultural value to keep emotions tightly controlled. As we sobbed together, I assured her we would come back when the fighting was over.
As we were leaving Mali, the militants in the north were pushing toward Bamako, Mali’s capital. At this point, the acting president of Mali appealed directly to France for help. France responded immediately with air strikes and a ground force that grew to more than 3,000 troops. We are very thankful the French government was willing to intervene. Otherwise, the militants probably would have made it all the way to Bamako.
At this time, we are staying with our family in Texas. We will soon begin a tour through Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and beyond. We are looking forward to meeting with our faithful supporters as well as seeing two little cousins who were born since our last furlough.
We will return to Mali as soon as it is safe for us to do so. Please keep the people of Mali in your prayers, that the political situation there will soon stabilize. Through it all, may they be willing to listen to the Holy Spirit as He seeks to direct their steps into the path of His truth.
