We only hold His hand and move forward by faith. Sometimes things seem to be going all wrong; but it’s then we’re not to look at circumstances, but only hold to the promise, “I’ll never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
It all started about three years ago, when a request for Christian Baptism came into VGR from a brother who had been receiving Message materials for years while incarcerated. Because we had already been working with getting materials into that facility, we got the call to help out with the baptism if possible. I’m happy to say that by God’s grace we were able to go in and take part in a truly amazing event that will be etched in my memory for eternity.
Since then, we have been blessed to be able to go back a few times a year and bring in a tape service into that prison. The congregation isn’t great in number, but the presence is always sweet as we “push play” in a little chapel deep within the walls the prison.
Recently, due to some changes in staffing, our clearance has been a bit of a challenge, but God always seems to make a way for us to finally get approved to go in. On a recent trip we got cleared at the last minute, but like always, we went forward on faith that the Lord would take care of everything. After being cleared at security and checked in, we proceeded to the chapel where we waited for the announcement of our service to be made and the brothers to arrive. But on this particular night, nobody showed up. So after a few minutes we went out to ask the guard if he could have them call the service over the intercom again. After checking, he came back to us and said, “If they didn’t call the service, they would call it, but because they already called it once, they cannot call it again.” After the guard left, the brother I was with and I stood there for a minute and wondering what was our next move? We already knew that when dealing with correctional facilities, areas can get locked down quickly for various reasons and prisoners are not allowed to travel. It is in these times when you can go no further, the only thing you can do is stand still, so that’s what we did.
A couple minutes went by, and then the door of the chapel opened. In walked a prisoner we had never met before, with a rather shy and humble look on his face. He said, “I was sweeping the hall and I heard you talking to the guard about nobody coming to the service. Would you mind if I come in?” Well you can imagine what happened next! We greeted him in the name of the Lord, and then took a few minutes to introduce him to Brother Branham, which could only truly be completed with us ultimately “pushing play.” As the three of us sat in that chapel listening to the tape, I couldn’t help but praise God within myself for how good He is, and how His ways are always perfect! As we just were finishing the tape, the guard came into the room and said he had to leave right away because our time was up, so we really never got a chance that night to see what he even thought. So I’ll let him finish the story...
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God Bless you.
Brother Steve