It is so faith-building when God is able to produce an incredible victory out of what, without Him, would be destined for defeat. Almost two years ago, Sarah Armstrong, a disciple in the South Florida church of Christ, experienced a tragic break up of her marriage when her husband of six years left her. Naturally, Sarah was deeply saddened by this sudden turn of events, as were her close friends. Sarah and her husband were soon divorced.
Just a few months later, the South Florida church of Christ initiated its School of Missions in which in-depth Bible studies are taught to disciples who desire either to grow in leadership or to be missionaries in South America. Each Saturday morning, for several hours, on her own initiative, Sarah faithfully attended the classes.
Sarah asked to talk to me one day after class. She expressed that before she had become a disciple and married, she had studied Spanish and had hoped some day to live in a Spanish-speaking country. She shared that she had considered and prayed a lot, and believed she was ready to make plans to move to South America. She looked at me and said something like, “After all, why should I sit around and mope as though my life were over?” Wow…!
Soon after, the pieces began to fall into place and the doors began to open! A faithful and adventurous couple, Francisco and Liz Bedoya, and their two small children, had just arrived in Florida. With neither a job nor much money, and like Abraham and Sarah, not knowing where they would end up, they had come to attend the School of Missions in the hopes of being able to fulfill a dream to lead a church in South America. And thus, God connected the couple and the again single sister, both wanting to live out their dreams, but not yet knowing each other; Sarah worked on getting her certificate to teach English as a second language, as the Bedoyas simply prayed and waited.
You have probably already guessed the end of the story. Within less than six months, the Bedoyas had met, grown to love, and been hired by the church in Assuncion, Paraguay, a church which had been without a leader for about six years! And just a few weeks ago, Sarah left for Assuncion, too – to work as an English teacher in the school where the Bedoyas’ children are enrolled (they just happened to need an English teacher…)
It takes a lot of courage to leave your job, home, family and country to serve God and reach out to people of another culture and language. It takes even more courage to do so after you have just experienced such a life-changing event. But Sarah sees it differently: “I just want my brothers and sisters to know that there is no dream, no prayer, beyond God’s reach for anyone, at any time, in any situation, anywhere.” Let us draw strength and inspiration from Sarah’s example.
If you have stories of courage and encouragement to share, please send them to us at nadine.templer@dtoday.net, meghna.thomas@dtoday.net, or elvi.levang@dtoday.net.
