It is Friday and close to the end of a long, packed week. David and I traveled, sharing AFM Europe’s vision for reaching the unreached. We also recorded a program for Hope Channel Romania about AFM and reaching the unreached. Now, heading to a program at church, we feel a mixture of exhaustion and disappointment, disappointment because we want to do even more to reach people. We wish we could have talked to more people this week.
As the church program ends, it is 9:00 p.m., time for the program we recorded for Hope Channel Romania to air. David and I each pray that God uses the program to lead others to join AFM in reaching those who have yet to learn about Jesus.
We arrive home at about 10:00 p.m., just as the television program ends. Ring! Ring! It’s 10:01 p.m. Thus begins a series of calls despite the late hour. Many people seem to be very touched by our testimony and want to be involved in the work that God is doing around the world.
It’s 11:00 p.m., and against all odds, I am still on my phone. Now David’s phone starts ringing. As we answer their questions and silently lift up prayers of praise, our feelings of being overwhelmed by everyone’s response pale compared to our gratefulness to God for allowing us to be a part of His mission.
Around midnight, my eyes widen with surprise while David shares his recent discussion with one of the callers, an older lady who watched the entire program and is impressed by the needs of the unreached. Eager to act, she had begun writing down the two phone numbers on her television screen but only managed to capture one and part of the second. Just before the numbers disappeared, she thought she noticed that the only difference between the numbers was the last two digits.
She had tried calling the first number, the only one she had all the digits for, but I was already talking with someone else. Unsure of the last two digits of the second number, she prayed and then took her chances at dialing. When David answered, she excitedly shared, “I didn’t call you. God did! I just pressed two random buttons and can’t believe I found you. I can’t go anywhere as a missionary; I am old, and that time has passed, but I want to give what I can for missions, even if it is not much.”
Her amazing story is only one of the many we could share about how God is working through and for people with a heart for missions. He is faithful. We have seen just how faithful over and over since beginning to help AFM launch its European office. We are blessed to witness moments like these and when we see new European missionaries dedicate part of their lives to mission service. God provides for them and gathers their support teams in record time.
God comes through whenever we feel discouraged or tired, refreshing us with new reasons to trust His plan and keep going. We never regret doing so!
