“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor heigh, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, ESV).

Thirty-two years ago, I was an ex-missionary looking for an international site to serve short term for the Lord. Dr. Bill Johnson tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Albania is asking for an oncologist.” So, I went. When I arrived, planning two weeks in that very broken country, ready to serve, the Albanian oncology doctors dismissed me because I was not a surgeon. I was now there for two weeks with no mission. I wandered with my interpreter to the hematology hospital where I was received with great suspicion by their chief. He was very skeptical of my intentions, assuming them to be self-serving. I told him, “I cannot promise you anything, but give be a list of everything you need, and I will do my best to bring it to you.” He did, and six months later, I was able to bring back the resources he had requested worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. That chief has been my friend for 32 years.

Move forward 32 years. I had been coming to Albania with a team focused on healthcare evangelism for three decades. A few days ago, I carried a first-time physician and his wife to a museum depicting the years of communist dictatorship—North Korea-like years, where God was illegal, where speaking of Him could lead to prison, torture or death. I was overwhelmed again at the depths of oppression and evil. I carried that weight of history with me to our annual banquet for Albanian colleagues and students. Before our meal, we asked if any in the group might share their experience from the last year. Helena stood up and told her story. In a soft but confident voice, this young medical student described how this year she came to know and follow Christ through the efforts of those who sat around her.

The first story speaks of God’s direction and God’s power. God chose me for that mission, not because I was special, but because I was willing. I was just a small part of His great plan. God led me on that mission down His path, not mine. He then provided the power to accomplish His purpose in ways I could never have imagined. That same choosing, leading and power is waiting for each of us if we trust Him and seek His plan for life rather than ours.

The second story spoke even more loudly to me. Out from an historical mist of pure evil steps a young girl into eternal life with Christ. There never has been and never will be anything in this world that can stop God’s redemptive story. No governments, no circumstances, no powers of darkness can stop His plan to bring a lost world home. That was true for a dictatorship that called God illegal, and it is true for any circumstance in our lives that seems impossible to overcome. Nothing can stop God’s purpose in our lives if we love, trust and surrender.

Dear Father,

Let me be part of your unstoppable story.

Amen