“Can you please purchase church clothes for my husband so he will come to church?”
We were first introduced to Benny last year through a visit from his faithful wife Agatha. She married Benny nine years ago after her first husband, an Adventist pastor, died suddenly of typhoid fever and left her with two babies and no one to support them. She left town and the society of her church to return to her parents and relatives at May River, they gave her in arranged marriage to be the second wife of a man who didn’t know God and regularly got drunk, smoked, and chewed a drug called betel nut.
We can only imagine the struggles and heartache Agatha has endured in her new home. Despite all of life’s injustices, she has chosen to remain faithful to God and prays for her husband daily. She has often tried to share Jesus with him without much success.
Recently she had a breakthrough when he finally agreed to accompany her to church. However, after only a few minutes he excused himself and went home, ashamed that he didn’t have long pants and a shirt to wear.
A few weeks later, after we had gone to town and picked out a used dress shirt and dress pants for Benny to wear, we greeted him at church. He was very proud of his new clothes. He stayed the entire worship service and even accepted an invitation to eat lunch at our house. While we were eating, Benny began to tell us about the decisions he was making in favor of God. He had already stopped drinking beer and stopped chewing betel nut. However, he told us he was still struggling with his homemade cigarettes, but he planned to quit on New Year’s Day, 2016.
We got the feeling that Benny was attempting to make himself good in his own strength and might be setting himself up for disappointment. He was making the common mistake of thinking he needed to change himself before coming to Jesus. We explained to Benny that he could come to Jesus right now without having to wait until he had overcome all his vices. In fact, coming to Jesus and asking for divine strength is the best way to overcome cigarettes for good. A look of relief passed over his face. Then he asked for a GodPod audible Bible so he could listen to God’s book at home. As we gave the GodPod to Benny, we explained that God’s word has supernatural power to create a clean heart within him.
Weeks passed, and we continued to offer intercessory prayer for Benny. He and his wife continued to attend Sabbath School and church services faithfully. It wasn’t long until we noticed that Agatha was pregnant with their seventh child. Her previous pregnancy had ended in miscarriage, so we began lifting her up in prayer. She and Benny were both worried they would lose this one, too.
Again we invited Benny and Agatha to eat Sabbath lunch with us. When they arrived, Agatha was unusually out of breath from walking up the hill to our house. She had neglected to tell us that her water had broken the night before, and she was ready to have the baby at any time. As we ate together, we talked about the emergency evacuation two days earlier of another mother who had complications during delivery and had been flown by Samaritan Aviation’s float plane to the city hospital in Wewak. Since then, we had been notified that the airplane would be out of service for several days for maintenance.
On Sunday evening we learned that Agatha was in trouble. It had been 48 hours since her water had broken, and she She still hadn’t gone into labor. The risk of infection was growing with each passing hour. The head nurse came to speak with Edie. He was scheduled to leave on vacation Monday morning, and his replacement hadn’t arrived yet from town. The May River clinic would be left without staff. Could Edie look after Agatha? But Edie is not experienced in difficult deliveries.
Monday dawned, and despite many prayers of intercession there still was no labor. Benny was very distressed. We called Samaritan Aviation to see about an emergency evacuation, but they told us the airplane’s motor was disassembled, and they were waiting for parts. The clinic nurse gave Agatha some antibiotics and reluctantly departed on vacation, leaving us with a huge weight of worry on our shoulders. The risk of deadly infection had become extreme for both mother and child. Only God could help us.
As Edie was in the clinic with Agatha tending to her needs, I brought Benny into the house and prayed with him to help calm him down, as he was very near panic. As the day progressed, we were both often in prayer, pleading for God to help Agatha go into labor before it was too late. But nothing happened. Unknown to me, a spiritual battle was in progress. A scripture came to my mind: “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid [his] face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:2). I began searching my heart for unconfessed sin. Then I noticed that Benny’s breath smelled of cigarettes. After sharing the verse with Benny, I asked him if he had any unconfessed sin in his life preventing God from hearing our prayers for Agatha. He admitted he did and confessed his smoking. I led him in a prayer of repentance, and he gave his addiction to God. He told me that at last peace had come to his heart.
However Agatha still didn’t go into labor. Three days had passed since her water had broken. We advised Benny to immediately take Agatha to a small clinic along the Sepik River in the village of Mowi, a couple hours away by motor canoe. We had heard there might be a nurse there who could induce her labor with an IV drip. He went to borrow a motor canoe. There was a severe fuel shortage on the river, and no one but us had any gas, so we gave Benny six gallons—enough to get to Mowi and back.
Benny and Agatha departed at sunset. Within minutes it began to pour down rain, and all we could think about was Agatha who was by now showing signs of infection and losing blood. Would we see her again alive? Would her baby survive? We had to rely on faith alone.
Later we learned that Benny took Agatha to Mowi only to find that the nurse was not there, and the clinic was closed. So he continued on down the Sepik River looking for an open clinic. At 2 a.m. he arrived at the village of Oam and woke up the nurse. Agatha had been in the cold rain for hours and was very weak. The nurse started an IV to induce labor, and a little girl was born alive and well! They named her Edie after my wife. The nurse told Benny that if he had not brought Agatha that rainy night to the clinic, he would have lost both Agatha and the baby by morning.
But this is not the end of the story. Benny had only six gallons of gas, enough to get to Mowi and back. But he had gone hours past Mowi to Oam. However, when he checked the gas container, it still had gas in it, so he put Agatha and baby Edie in the motor canoe and headed back toward May River. The gas didn’t run out until he was pulling up to the steps of his own house. Later we figured that the trip he made on six gallons should have required more than 14 gallons! Benny and I both believe God miraculously stretched that gas to get his family to the clinic and safely home again—a clear demonstration to Benny and Agatha of His love and care.
