Gracia Bernham

This past weekend I went to a women's conference in Indianoplis and was so blessed to hear Gracia Bernham speak. Most of you are familiar with who she is, but may not know that you are. She and her husband, Martin, were missionaries to the Phillipines when they were taken hostage but militant muslims. They were held hostage from the summer of 2001 to some time in 2002. Her husband did not survive, but the Lord has blessed her with a new ministry of speaking about God's faithfulness through their ordeal.

I was so incredibly blessed through her message and stories. Although I don't recall verbatim what she said, the main message I got was that no matter what your "hostage situation" is, God will always give you what you need. She recounted a story about not having enough water and telling God that if she was going to survive she NEEDED more water. At which point God gave her a revelation that He created her and knew her situation and knew exactly what she NEEDED to survive. As she shared that I just remembered how many times I've recently said "God, if I'm going to survive here I NEED this or that...." In that moment I was set free! I knew that was for me. My situation isn't a jungle, but I do feel like I'm being held hostage, at times. With that she also shared that God never seemed to answer that one prayer of getting out of the situation, but that he was faithful to answer other prayers in ways that were often far beyond what they could have imagined. God taught her a lot through that trial. I'm so thankful I was able to learn something through it, also.

She has two books, which I can't recall what they are called right now, that I would encourage anyone to read. I haven't done so myself, but am certain they are enlightening and uplifting. I hope to read them myself soon.