Rescue

 

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.

Zechariah 3:7

Because of the events of the last few days, I am a bit behind on posting blogs.  I should be caught up soon please continue to follow as the story of Esther's freedom finally gets told!

If you have followed me on Facebook, you probably know by now that Esther is safe. There  is a lot  to say about how this all came about and because I want so much to give God all of the praise for this, I will try my best to describe the miraculous chain of events that led to her freedom.

 A few days ago, we headed out to Esther's village to try once again to get her mom( formerly known as grandma) to sign the papers and release her.  We were extremely concerned that mom had been threatening to take Esther out of the country and much prayer was being lifted up for Esther's safety.  The drive out to the village is a doozy and the bumps and ruts in the road make for a while ride in the back of a pickup truck but we hung on with spirits full of anticipation that we would finally be bringing her home.  As we rounded the corner to the village our stomachs dropped when we saw Esther's house locked up tight.  We learned that the mom had taken her out towards the  border to collect wood.  It sounded a bit shady to us but we decided to wait a bit.  The children in this village are really great and we had packed some snacks and crafts for them to do.   We had time to wait.  At some point one of the villagers offered to take us out into the fields to look for her.  Being a bit of a rule follower I wouldn't normally take off across a formerly known mine field but we were desperate and our guide seemed to be certain if we walked in his footsteps we would be okay and avoid any danger. No arguments there, I would have road piggy back if he would have let me!  He had obviously been this way many times before us and he instructed us where to walk and where, "not to walk because police shoot you if think you steal wood! "  He didn't have to tell me twice. His word was as good as gold to me. Funny how trust can be built so quickly when you realize how little you really know about a situation.  After a bit of searching we realized that our worst fears may be coming true and that Esther had indeed been taken out of the country.  To be honest I returned a bit deflated and discouraged but I knew that I knew God would not have brought us this far, through miracle after miracle to find Esther just to have it end this way.  I knew there was more to this than I understood at the moment and God began to encourage my heart to trust Him..to persevere...don't give up..keep looking..follow his steps because He always knows the way.  The bible teaches us that God goes before is and he prepares a way where we see no way.  Kind of like that guide taking us across that field.  We decided to trust that God is our perfect guide and so we said a prayer for Esther's protection and returned home to regroup and seek our next steps.  We had no idea what the strategy was at that moment but God did so we decided to stick close to Him and follow His steps fully trusting that we and Esther would be okay.

One of the really beautiful things about serving God is knowing that He doesn't just point and send you even in the dark and scary places, He goes before you and beckons you to simply walk in His steps.  Stay close!

Love from the road,

Julie