This past week, Scripture after Scripture has come to mind as we saw God's promises manifest themselves through our circumstances, but the one passage that sticks out the most is Romans 8:28: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose."
On Oct 19 around 3:30am, our team and Team Carpem Deo were 11 hours into our 12 hour bus ride to minister in a village in eastern Nepal. Despite the rough ride (getting air as we flew over bumps, flying into the seat in front of us at sudden stops, and falling onto our neighbor due to sharp turns), most of us were asleep when our bus slammed into another bus parked on the side of the road. I distinctly remember waking up to being thrown into the seat in front of me, hearing the most terrible screams, and breathing in a thick dust. The experience felt like a nightmare as my teammates discovered gashes on their heads, military officers busted through the broken windows, and I couldn't stand because I felt so dizzy and nauseaus. The nightmare didn't get any better when we were taken to a local hospital, which was one open room with a floor littered with flies, blood, and needles. Later when my team got together to talk about the experience, we all said that we felt the spiritual darkness. I've always heard about the spiritual battle going on around us, but never have I really felt it before. But on that bus, I felt the darkness so strongly that I'm confident it was a spiritual attack.
The sweet thing about the spiritual battle is that we already have victory. Jesus conquered death in His resurrection. We can walk in confidence knowing that our God is sovereign, even over the powers of darkness. And God is on our side. Amongst all the darkness, God's light shone forth so brightly as God's hand of protection became undeniably clear. Here are just a few ways that I noticed God show up that morning, the reasons why the first words I whispered to God on that bus were "thank you, thank you, thank you."
1) The bus we hit stopped us from rolling down the mountain. Our driver had fallen asleep while driving down a narrow mountain road. A lot worse could have happened if we had gone off the road without hitting another bus. After we hit the bus, we did go off the road but the other bus stopped us before we got too far, preventing us from rolling over.
2) We were sitting in the back of the bus. Everyone in our group walked away from the accident with nothing worse than cuts that needed just a few stitches, bruises, and minor concussions. Those who were in the front of the bus were in critical condition.
3) We were in protective positions. Several people shifted their positions just a few minutes before the crash. Most of us were laying down. A few people had sweatshirts covering their faces or buffs protecting their eyes. Originally, when I layed down my head was in the seat under the window (which shattered all over that seat), but I stuck my hand in something nasty on that seat so I curled up tight in the aisle seat with my back to the window. Since I layed like that, I didn't even get one cut.
4) We met angels at the second hospital. Two tall, white, blonde medical students from Holland stood out immediately. They took such good care of us, it was ridiculous. It's comforting just to have people who look like you and speak your language, but these women went above and beyond to make sure we were taken care of and at ease. They even mentioned that it was so fortunate that we came to the hospital while they were there, because their internship is just 10 weeks long and they only work 8am-2pm (they left just as we were being discharged).
5) God's overwhelming peace despite the chaos going on around us.
Not only did we see how God worked to protect us and reveal His love for us, but we saw Him work the situation for GOOD. Here's a few things I noticed God do to glorify Himself in the darkness:
1) Showing God's love to those in the hospital. Those who were well prayed over the bus driver and other passengers who were severely injured. Mallory helped to pay for one patient's medication.
2) Evangelizing. In the second hospital, Jenny was able to share why we were in Nepal, and through that, share her faith with the medical interns who were caring for us. At our hotel that we had to get because of the accident, there just happened to be an activist group there with people from all over the world. We were able to share about the World Race with young people from Denmark. We also met two Christians, who were our age, from Myanmar (where less than 1% of the population is Christian). Seriously, how likely is it for us to meet 2 Christians from Myanmar in a hotel in a small town in Nepal? God's hand was all over that one.
3)Team bonding. Nothing brings people together like going through a traumatic experience together. Strong bonds were formed as we prayed together, hugged one another, and talked through our fears and encouraged each other.
4) God's power, grace, love, protection, and sovereignty revealing itself as we so clearly recognize that God was present and moving the entire time, in every aspect of the situation.
To finish out the story, we were taken to a second, more legit hospital a few hours away where my teammates were able to receive the care they needed. We spent 2 nights in that town before we took a private bus (no public transit for us for while) back to Kathmandu. Nobody was seriously injured and everyone is healing up well. We were disappointed that we weren't able to do our ministry in the village, but we learned today that there are so many opportunities for us in Kathmandu. We'll be helping out with a computer class for pastors and speaking at church. Beyond that, our contact has left it up to us to decide if we want to serve at an orphanage, sports ministry, a church plant at another village, and many other opportunities. I'm so excited to see what this month holds. If Satan felt the need to attack us so hard with the bus accident and the fear, anxiety, and nightmares that followed, then he must see us as a pretty big threat. But there's no way he can stop us with God on our side!
I'm still in awe of our God right now, 3 days later, and I hope I never get over it. Every once in awhile it will hit me again how incredibly good God has been throughout all of this. I hope I portrayed this well. I hope that through me sharing my thoughts that you are in awe of our great God as well. Know that the God who fought for us in the bus accident is the same God who is fighting for you in your trials. He is fighting for you. And He has already won the battle. You will experience victory. Trust God because He has you in the palm of His hand. Praise God for who He is. We serve a good God.
