Faith in God Around the World
In my last article I talked about the importance of faith in our lives, not just faith in general, but Faith in God. With faith that God knows us individually and that He wants to help and bless us, we can move the mountains of trials and difficulties in our life. In this article, I’d like to share just a few examples of faith that I have personally seen.
After retirement, my wife and I wanted to do something of greater value than travel and leisure. So we volunteered to do missionary work around the world. We spent two years in the Dominican Republic and then another two years in Africa, living with the people. In both of these assignments, we saw a great deal of faith among some very impoverished people.
In the Dominican Republic, we met an old woman who walked a considerable distance, including wading across a river, to attend church each Sunday. Similarly, we met a young woman who would carry her Sunday shoes while she walked through the muddy fields to catch a bus to the city so she could attend church. We met an older man who survived a heart attack and on another occasion was struck by lightning. Yet despite his age and health issues, he volunteered to work every day for over a year in the Dominican heat and humidity to help build a church meeting facility. These people were motivated by great faith in God and his promises.
In Africa, where communication and travel is still very difficult, we learned of three men who twice a year walked 2 days out of the bush to attend a large district meeting of their church, take notes, and then walk 2 days back so they could share the message of God with others in their small remote village. I personally worked with a church leader in the Congo in preparation for a large conference, who humbly told me they were having difficulties, but they would do their best to prepare for the conference. I asked him what the difficulty was, and he told me the soldiers were going house to house killing people, and since most of the people had fled to the bush, he did not know if they would return in time for the meeting. We were often approached by people on the street asking for gospel literature. We heard testimony from many who had received visions and dreams that led to their conversion. Approximately 50,000 Africans are joining Christian churches every day. As faith increases in Africa and dwindles in Europe and the USA, Africa is now sending missionaries to the lands which hundreds of years ago carried the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them.
Here in the United States, I know a young woman who was away from home serving the Lord doing missionary work. She became ill, was diagnosed with a large tumor, and scheduled for surgery. After much fasting and prayer by many people, and a blessing of faith, the tumor disappeared and the surgery was cancelled. The doctors could not explain it.
These are great examples of faith, trust, and commitment to serve the Lord by people who overcame mountains of difficulties in their lives. I pray that they will inspire our own faith. Please send me your experiences of faith and I’ll share them anonymously in a later article.
(emerypowell@gmail.com)
