In the midst of the storm

Usually when we travel to Nicaragua, the weather is oppressively hot.
Around noon, you can hardly breathe, let alone think. This trip, however, was different.
It rained almost every day. Not a hard downpour, just a steady light drizzly rain that kept it cool enough to appreciate a sweater. In spite of a greater than anticipated teaching load, we didn't feel exhausted before the day was over. I can remember days, particularly in Panama, when a storm would come through in the midst of a meeting and overwhelm whatever was going on with the force of the rain and wind.

Some of the people we were with last week were overwhelmed by a storm, just not the ordinary rainy season sort of storm.

"I'd like to talk. Do you have a minute?"

We seek out a quiet bench at the back of the church and she pours out her story. When their daughter was twelve or thirteen, she caught the attention of a young man in their community who started sending her secret notes. When she was fourteen, he kidnapped her (apparently against her will) and left town. Frantic, they searched for her, only to discover that the fellow was a known theif, murderer and drug dealer. He had lots of money and as a result, the police were either unwilling or unable to help them. There was nothing they could do to get her back.


At some point, he killed someone and fled to Costa Rica. Their daughter (and now granddaughter) came home. The fellow hired someone to watch her, and eventually grabbed her, and took her to Costa Rica.

Time passed.

Their daughter called.

She had been able to escape and was now at the border. What could she do to get home? Even now, they are not sure how, but their daughter, now 17, made it home with a sweet spirit, wanting to make a new start, wanting to serve the Lord with her life. Twice, they have recieved threatening phone calls. He will come for the baby and there is nothing they can do to stop him.

This lovely pastor's wife looks at me.

What do I say? How do I know what to say to this lady? How can I even imagine what she has been through? What she is going through. What she faces when she goes home.

"I thought I was going to die, she says, It hurt so much."

We cry. We pray. We pray for an army of God's angels to encamp around their home. We pray for wisdom and peace and strength. We thank God for the miracle of a daughter restored to them.