It was good to take a vision trip this past month to a big city in the southern part of the country. On the 10th day of my trip, I woke up feeling very sad about a friend who is not doing well and prayed, “Lord, would you do something to encourage me and lift my head today?” I decided to go to a beautiful park with a walking track where hundreds of people exercise. In that big, loud, and chaotic city it was so nice to be in greenery and breathe some fresh air. I started to walk laps with the crowd.
Suddenly, I tripped and fell flat on my face in the dirt. I hadn’t seen a big concrete block in the walking path. My fall was loud and some people stopped to see what happened. Two ladies, completely covered in black robes and scarves from head to toe with only their eyes showing, rushed back through the crowd towards me on the path and picked me up. They helped me limp over to a water place where they could assist me in washing a bit of the dirt off my hands, face, and clothes.
When I greeted and thanked them in their language, they were amazed and excited – a foreigner spoke their language! They brought me to a bench and rushed to get me a Gatorade from a nearby drink stand. Their concern for my wellbeing was so sweet, kind, and caring. For close to three hours, they sat with me. We had a wonderful time chatting. They asked about what my faith was, gave me their phone numbers, and invited me for dinner the next time I came to their city. They said, “It’s a good thing you fell down, or we would never have become friends!”. As we said goodbye, I was thinking about that verse “the Lord who is able to keep you from falling”- I think that verse is probably referring to falling into sin. In this case though, I felt that the Lord allowed my physical fall so that I could meet these ladies. He heard my morning cry for encouragement on a hard day, and He brought these sweet women to cheer me up! He is so good. I saw His hand at work and His caring heart.
from a worker in South Asia