Have you ever had one of those encounters where you knew without a doubt that you had just spent time in the presence of the King? Today was one of those days. Thanksgiving is a always at the top of my list in relation to holidays. Food, Family, Football, and Fun, but today was quite different, in a good, no a great way.
The Orchestration
Through a series of God orchestrated events, we invited one of our neighbors over for a Thanksgiving meal. When I say we, I mean Tina, my beautiful wife, who just happened to be out in the garage a couple nights ago when a neighbor and her family were walking past our house. After talking with them, and spending some time with their twenty five year old daughter at a ministry event, Tina asked me if we could invite them over for Thanksgiving. I of course said yes, and so it began.
As some of you reading this may know, our daughter, son in law and their two kids are living with us as they prepare for the mission field in Turkey. Knowing this is likely the last Thanksgiving we will have with them in America, we have been looking forward to this day. Little did we know that it would be a a day that none of us will soon forget. I feel that we were in the very presence of Jesus as we ate together and learned of all that God has and is doing both here in America, and in a country very hostile toward the Christian faith.
The Revelation
We knew a little about our guests, they are a family of Iranian refugees that have lived in the US for over a decade. They just happen to live a few houses down from us, and they are on fire for God. As we heard their story it became evident why they love Jesus so much. God saved them in a country in which you can be imprisoned and even killed for uttering the name of Jesus.
Through a series of dreams and miraculous events He saved the mother, drawing her to Himself. The father then had a dream of his own in which he met Jesus face to face, and through this and the devotion and love he saw in his wife. He too gave his heart to God. They along with their daughter were forced to flee Iran. They wound up in Turkey, where God sustained them for two years before finding asylum in the US. Their beautiful daughter, now twenty five, has also accepted Jesus and is striving to become a counselor.
God’s Awesomeness
We heard story after story as we sat around the table for hours, hearing about miracle upon miracle that God has done and is doing in the Iranian people. Dreams and visions, and healing. Story after story of God’s awesomeness. We heard of a mom with no education meeting Jesus in a vision, where she is told specific phrases. When the mom asked our guests what the phrases meant, they were exact verses from the bible that the woman has never read or seen.
We heard the story of a Taliban leader who spoke with the father sitting at our table. His very young son was dying of cancer, and the doctors were about to amputate his legs as the bones were eaten away with cancer. The leader and father of the boy was desperate and had heard about the healing power of Jesus. He said if Jesus heals my boy, I will renounce Islam and follow Jesus. The two prayed and two days later, this family heard that the boy was healed miraculously. They ran tests over and over as they thought it was a mistake. Nobody could explain it, nobody but the former Taliban leader. He was now proclaiming Jesus from the rooftops. We were told that more than fifty members of his family are now Christians.
Gratitude
I could go on and on with the testimony of this family, and what they have witnessed from God in their family, and through God’s moving. They left their home and everything they knew, because Jesus was worth more to them than all of those things.
I am thankful that God arranged this encounter with Jesus today. Through their Joy and Gratefulness I see behind the veil more clearly. I see what it truly means to be grateful, and I see a beautiful picture of His church and the people in it. It was so great to see what God is doing in these “missionaries” that God has brought here to show His mighty works, and get a glimpse of what our own “missionaries” will experience as they head off on their mission in the near future.
Thank you God for Divine Appointments, for orchestrating events to show us your goodness. For all of this, I am truly Grateful.
Remember all of life is ministry, Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Rick
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