Have you ever grown weary? Have you ever been discouraged? Tempted to simply “give in or give up?”

I must confess that on September 7, 2001 I somehow found myself in that place. We returned home from a two week ministry trip to New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island in the early morning of September 5. As usual, re-entry consists of mail sorting, bill paying and grocery shopping. We also were preparing for our son’s 19th birthday on the 6th as well as Darryl’s on the 9th. We were both quite concerned about our African friend, Victor Gomes. He seemed so much weaker during the phone conversations than he had before we left.

Darryl drove the two hours to Seattle on the 7th. Stopping to pick up a Guatemalan brother Rosanna and Andrew had met during their mission trip. This man felt strongly impressed by the Lord to go and pray for Victor. They discovered the doctors had given him some new medicine, which first of all suppressed his appetite, and then anything he tried to eat, he couldn’t retain it. He had lost much weight and was quite weak. They prayed for about an hour. Darryl said it was a great time of spiritual warfare and declaring that Victor would “live and not die”. Darryl took Walter back to his residence and returned to the hospital to speak with the newly assigned social worker. This Social Worker simply wanted to get Victor out of the hospital and on a plane to Senegal. Darryl tried to tell her that this just couldn’t happen over night, and that Victor was still much to weak to make the journey. She said she would work on the situation.

After Darryl finished at the hospital he called me. Somehow in the communication with her and repeating it to me, I did not focus on the results of the prayer meeting, but only on the words this woman of unbelief. My soul just said, “What’s the use?” I sat on the couch, surfing the television mindlessly. Somehow, my spirit simply would not settle for that. I thought this isn’t helping. I turned it off and began to pray. Eventually I sat at our piano and played through the entire praise and worship book (I don’t play well, and didn’t even have my glasses on, but I think God liked it!). Darryl returned and I walked across the dining area to start supper when a still, small voice spoke “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. How clear everything began to be. I realized that my discouragement came from looking for my expected substance (Victor’s miraculous healing in my timing and in my way!) I began to declare, God this is your story, it is your reputation, and I will simply trust you! What a delight to understand that I wasn’t discouraged with God, but simply with my expectations of how I thought it should be. What freedom and liberty, what stability and grace that flowed into my spirit and strengthened my soul. Truly this is the joy of having a relationship with God versus simply a religion was so evident. Dear sisters, my heart urges you to take the time to be honest before your Heavenly Father about any area that you find yourself struggling. He truly is a present help in the time of trouble. Please don’t wait until discouragement hits, but take the time to do it whenever the discouraging worm begins his work.

Written by:
Martha Rodman

Victor Gomes is now gaining strength at another facility in preparation to return home to Senegal. When asked how he is doing, he replied : I am greatly encouraged!

Ps We were able to get him home through some tremendous intervention, acts of kindness and sacrifice on the behalf of several people. The sad ending is that he died in his home two weeks later, but he was with his wife and family, not 8000 miles away in a strange country. His life remains a powerful example to us, as he remained encouraged unto the end.