The Incredible Journey!

 . . . And most incredible God! We were packing to leave for BYT Sunday morning when Emily came to me and said that she wanted to go with us.  I was delighted!  The weather was bad and I knew the roads would be a great challange.  Would she regret the choice?  Would she wish she hadn't come?It was about 3 p.m.  We were almost 1/4 of the way to BYT, painstakingly making it around each bend, each steep hill and each treacherous descent.  As we came around a very slick, uphill corner, complete with deep ruts, our hearts sank.  A truck was up ahead hopelessly stuck up to the axels in the mud.  Oh we probably could have made it if he were not in our way!  Two men were pushing and one man was stomping on the gas, sending out billows of black smoke.  They were going nowhere.Away with such selfish thoughts of wanting him out of the way!  We felt so sorry for him.  How could 2 men push his truck, loaded with unhulled rice.  It looked tremendously heavy and so impossible to move.  At that time, our truck bogged down in the mud and stopped.  We looked at the hopelessness of our situation, knowing we could not pass this truck on this small road, nor could we turn around and go back.  Suddenly 2 men on motorbikes came slithering up beside us.  Also a man came walking up the road.  Together, Blet Jaw and the 3 men went up to push the hopeless truck.  They placed rice sacks in front of the wheels and pushed with all their might.  The truck very slowly inched forward making deep ruts, then went into a bigger rut and stayed there.  We placed the chains on our tires and considered the winch, but there were no sturdy trees close by. Just then the rain came down harder.  Blet Jaw, covered with mud came to talk to us.  The doubts that arose were as follows:1.  Blet Jaw:  "I am an inexperienced driver.  This man is experienced, he has traveled in the rainy season before.  I cannot go up this hill, the ruts are deeper than my height!"2.  Gayle:  "Well, you could ask the driver of that truck to drive ours up after he gets his out.  He is driving a Mitsubishi also, so he would know how."3.  Emily:  "I am thinking I can just walk back." Away with all doubt!  That quote flashed brightly into my memory: "The obstacles that hinder our progress, will never disappear before a halting, doubting spirit!"  We are working for God.  Our truck is carring medicine to serve others.  I thought of 1John 4:4 "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."  This man ahead of us is not a Christian, we must glorify Christ to him.  We know the living Saviour who enabled the Children of Israel to cross the Red Sea on dry ground.  Where is our faith?  Surely He will take our truck up this muddy mountain.With that we came together and prayed.  I was so happy that Emily was here.  I thought about these 2 people I was with.  I could not find more godly, Christian people to work with.  How thankful I was to God for giving them to me just now.  This means that there are 3 angels with us and 3 hearts united and lifted in prayer. Blet Jaw was no longer afraid, with courage he slid behind the steering wheel and with a prayer on our lips we moved forward.  On and on steadily we went, past the worst places where the other truck had taken over an hour to get through.  Steadily without slipping into the huge chasm on the right, we went all the way up the hill!  Let there be no doubt about it - this was an incredible miracle.  God heard our prayer and delivered us out of all our trouble!! On each scary part of the rest of the journey we knew all was well -we would not fear what lay ahead, as we remembered how He had led us up that last mountain.  Constantly I thought about the "halting doubting spirit".  God clearly speaks to us - "Go forward." "Often the Christian life is beset by dangers and duty seems hard to perform.  The imagination pictures impending ruin before and bondage or death behind.  Yet the voice of God speaks clearly, "Go forward."  We should obey this command, even though our eyes cannot penetrate the darkness, and we feel the cold waves about our feet.  The obstacles that hinder our progress, will never disappear before a halting, doubting spirt.  Those who defer obedience till every shadow of uncertainty disappears and there remains no risk of failure or defeat, will never obey at all.  Unbelief whispers, "Let us wait till the obstructions are removed, and we can see our way clearly."  But faith courageously urges an advance, hoping all things, believing all things."