While distributing New Testaments to North African travelers going through a port in southern France there were two men raising funds to build a mosque in the city. This summer more than previous years the men were very aggressive in their objection that people would accept the packets. At one point I was very frustrated with these men, not so much that they were physically interfering but because what they were doing was literally keeping people from having the opportunity to have God’s Word in their own language in their hands. I remembered that in the book of Psalms there are some that are imprecatory Psalms, saying things like “break the teeth in their mouths, Oh Lord” and so I thought that I should pray that kind of prayer, not that these men would be harmed, but that God would protect His Word and for His name’s sake keep these men from interfering. I prayed that God would intervene while I continued working, approaching travelers in their cars and offering them the New Testament packets. After just a few minutes I noticed that the man that was the most aggressive was standing off to the side and saw that he was having a terrible nosebleed. He ended up standing to the side, not able to collect money for his cause, or interrupting our work, for more than 30 minutes. I rejoiced, not because he was suffering, but because it allowed us to have unhindered access to all of the travelers that were just minutes from boarding ferries that would take them to their home countries, countries where it would be illegal for us to be giving out God’s Word, and yet in that place we have complete freedom to offer, and the people have complete freedom to accept. We know that God’s Word is living and active, and that it will not return void.

Another story from this summer… two of the men on my team only spoke Spanish and had been feeling discouraged that they couldn’t communicate further with the travelers as they only spoke French and Arabic. As the Spanish men shared that, I remembered that the next day there wouldn’t be any boats going and we would be distributing New Testaments in an open-air market. I encouraged the men and said that we should pray that God would lead us to Spanish-speaking men. The following morning we arrived at the market and as I walked with one of the men to find a spot to work, even before we opened the cart that we carry the packets in, two North African men walked towards us and asked what we had. I told him that we didn’t speak French and they said “Do you speak Spanish?”… it turned out that both of these men had previously lived in Spain for 20 years! The Spanish man I was with was shocked and encouraged at how God had answered that specific prayer, and had led the men to us! While I started offering New Testaments to the passersby, he shared his testimony and explained the gospel. Both men took the New Testament with them, thanking the man for sharing and said that they would read the NT and consider what he had shared.

God is at work, He answers prayers!