Amy and I found ourselves in shock Monday night, trying to wrap our minds around everything that had just happened. Sitting on the couch beside us was my stolen laptop – along with all of the peripherals that had been taken with it. Although the computer had at one point been completely taken apart, the inexpertly reassembled computer not only turned on… but once it booted up. all of the data we’d given up for lost appeared to be undamaged. “Amazing,” we kept saying to one another. “God… is simply amazing.”
As we’ve worked with the MTC’s IT department since Monday, we’ve been able to recover and backup all our missing data. My Cherokee writeup is intact, and I’ll be able to finish it in the near future without recreating my previous work! The computer is much the worse for the wear – it took heavy cosmetic damage, and was put back together without most parts being screwed in at all. Nonetheless, with the IT guys’ help it seems salvageable, and despite everything we think it will continue functioning at least until we leave for Mexico! Praise the Lord!
In His Word, God calls us to rest in Him during life’s trials – to trust Him, no matter what may come. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden,” Jesus said, “and I will and give you rest.” Paul instructed the Philippian church to “be anxious for nothing,” and the Psalmist wrote “Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him.” God has been our Comforter throughout this crazy week, and He granted us complete peace from the very first moment! We were content, trusting Him to accomplish His will and glorify His Name, and confident He would meet our needs and guide us forward. Yet even as we released our lost computer and data to Him, God was working to restore both to us in His timing.
Excited as we are to see God caring for us in this way, I find myself burdened over the circumstances of the laptop’s return. A friend of ours named Debbie discovered the missing laptop in its disassembled state, and called us to identify it positively. Debbie works with teenagers who struggle with drug abuse, and was heartbroken to realize some of her kids were party to this… not just the theft of my computer, but also several other things stolen from the New Tribes training center. The potential consequences for these kids she’s been ministering to are huge, and the personal cost to her is great.
Please be praying for everyone involved in this difficult situation. Do rejoice with us at how God has worked so marvelously, restoring to us what was lost even once we’d released it to Him and moved on! But please don’t stop there. Pray for Debbie, her family, and the kids who are just starting to face the consequences of their actions. This goes deeper than we will ever realize, and these kids need to know the Lord’s love for them as well as His discipline and correction.
Specific Prayer Requests:
- Pray for Debbie and her family; this is an incredible blow for all of them.
- Pray for the kids Debbie works with; they are trapped in addiction and only God can free them.
- Pray that these kids will continue to listen as Debbie tries to share God’s love with them, and not consider her to have betrayed them.
- Pray for Debbie’s physical needs; she sacrificed significantly to return the laptop to us.
- Pray that the kids involved would not shelter others who have been taking advantage of them though all of this, and would be willing to help bring them to justice.
- For us, we are beyond content and simply marvel at how God cares for us. You can definitely pray that God continues to keep the laptop working well, and that He will help us find a way to bring our backed up data with us when we leave Missouri.
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Sharon Guldjord (Grammie/GiGi says
Impossible, but then we have the God of the impossible, don’t we? Praise God for His loving care
and blessings. I had heard before, but I enjoyed reading your account of the situation and I’m
praying. Love you all, Grammie/GiGi
David Abbott says
Praise God for the recovery of your laptop and Cherokee writeup!