A Prayer To Be Used
Recently I read a fascinating new book called Pulling Back the Curtain on the Former Soviet Union, written by Dr. R. Franklin Cook and Dr. Carla D. Sunberg, who were both heavily involved in the Church of the Nazarene's mission work in that part of the world in the late 80s and early 90s. Their stories of the work they did there were really something to read!
Chuck Sunberg, the husband of Carla who co-wrote this book, was appointed as the field director in Moscow and Kyiv, and one day as he boarded a train to Kyiv to prepare for the arrival of some new missionaries, he said a simple prayer before his fourteen-hour trip began. He prayed that the Lord might use him to touch someone's life in a special way.
God Answers Before We Ask
Well, he went down to Kyiv and did what he had to do there, and he had basically forgotten that prayer he prayed when he boarded the train to come back to Moscow. But he found his compartment and began speaking to the two passengers with him. One was named Tamara, and let me read from the book here:
"She had travelled to Kyiv to see her ailing mother and in desperation had gone to an Orthodox church to see if there was a priest who could pray for her. She was shocked to discover that the Orthodox church had a menu available with prices for religious services. She would have to pay for someone to pray for her mother. A faithful Communist and atheist, Tamara was now desperate to help her mother. The health-care system had fallen apart, and there were no medications, and she had lost all hope. As she and Chuck talked on into the night, he began to wonder if there was someone in Kyiv or Moscow that he could contact who could pray for this woman and her mother. Suddenly, it was as if the Lord spoke to him and said, 'You can pray for her!' He looked at her and said, 'I can pray for you and your mother.' She burst into tears, wondering how she had ended up in this compartment with a Protestant 'priest.' He also assured her that his small church community in Moscow would pray for them as well. She asked if she could come and meet the people at the church. After explaining where the church was located, she was shocked. She only lived two metro stations from where the church was meeting at the Bittsa. It was then that Chuck understood that the Lord had answered his prayer before heading to Kyiv. Tamara was the answer to his prayer."
The First Baptisms in Russia
"On Sunday, Tamara and her son arrived at the Bittsa sports complex and found the auditorium where we had church. Our new little church family welcomed them with open arms and, during the special time of prayer, surrounded them and prayed for them. Just a few weeks later, she and her son gave their lives to Christ and were the first two people to be baptised by the Church of the Nazarene in Russia."
One little prayer by Chuck, and God used him in a mighty way to change lives!
Perhaps today you want to ask God to use you to touch somebody's life. In fact, perhaps you want to pray that every morning! Maybe there is a Tamara who needs your help today, and that one little prayer might end up orchestrating events in just the right way for God to do His work through you.
