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DAY TWENTY-NINE - GOD IS GOOD , ALL THE TIME
My colleague and I were invited to hold “Standing Strong Through the Storm” (SSTS) seminars in a region of several restricted countries. The first two seminars in one country went extremely well due to young interpreters who were very fluent. Before we finished mentioning a scriptural reference, they would be immediately quoting it.
The third and final seminar was to be held in a neighboring country. After significant travel challenges to arrive at the location, we were greeted by our host with the news that there was no one to translate us into the local language, so they had hired Svetlana who reportedly was fluent in English and the colonial language. They could easily understand the latter.
The three-day seminar took place at a Christian camp ground very suitable for such training and where accommodations were excellent and private. Many of the forty assembled believers had not met before, so the three days were filled with great fellowship, music and worship.
But the seminar itself was a disaster! Svetlana was not a believer and not familiar with the Bible. Secondly, her English vocabulary was extremely limited. She did not understand even simple words like “grace” and “forgiveness.” We spent three frustrating days trying to explain biblical terms and principles to her and despairing that the group understood anything we had come to share. I left that event considering it had been a waste of time and effort.
Years later we were back in the region working with SSTS trainers from all of the countries of the region. A young man approached us and said, “You don’t know me, but you know my mother, Svetlana. She was your interpreter in my country six years ago.”
I smiled sardonically. How could I ever forget Svetlana! But he continued with an almost unbelievable tale. After the SSTS seminar, his mother began reading the Bible and ultimately gave her life to Jesus. Then she led her whole family to faith in Him. And now her son, standing before us, was selected to be here for training as an SSTS teacher in that particular country where I had thought our efforts were such a waste!
I had to ask God for forgiveness. God is good—all the time!
Today I will serve God knowing that He is at work behind all life’s miseries and mysteries.
My colleague and I were invited to hold “Standing Strong Through the Storm” (SSTS) seminars in a region of several restricted countries. The first two seminars in one country went extremely well due to young interpreters who were very fluent. Before we finished mentioning a scriptural reference, they would be immediately quoting it.
The third and final seminar was to be held in a neighboring country. After significant travel challenges to arrive at the location, we were greeted by our host with the news that there was no one to translate us into the local language, so they had hired Svetlana who reportedly was fluent in English and the colonial language. They could easily understand the latter.
The three-day seminar took place at a Christian camp ground very suitable for such training and where accommodations were excellent and private. Many of the forty assembled believers had not met before, so the three days were filled with great fellowship, music and worship.
But the seminar itself was a disaster! Svetlana was not a believer and not familiar with the Bible. Secondly, her English vocabulary was extremely limited. She did not understand even simple words like “grace” and “forgiveness.” We spent three frustrating days trying to explain biblical terms and principles to her and despairing that the group understood anything we had come to share. I left that event considering it had been a waste of time and effort.
Years later we were back in the region working with SSTS trainers from all of the countries of the region. A young man approached us and said, “You don’t know me, but you know my mother, Svetlana. She was your interpreter in my country six years ago.”
I smiled sardonically. How could I ever forget Svetlana! But he continued with an almost unbelievable tale. After the SSTS seminar, his mother began reading the Bible and ultimately gave her life to Jesus. Then she led her whole family to faith in Him. And now her son, standing before us, was selected to be here for training as an SSTS teacher in that particular country where I had thought our efforts were such a waste!
I had to ask God for forgiveness. God is good—all the time!
Today I will serve God knowing that He is at work behind all life’s miseries and mysteries.
