The Right Place at the Right Time

Election results that were due last Tuesday were finally announced yesterday afternoon (Friday). President Kabila has been re-elected. I heard there were some violent confrontations in Kinshasa, mostly downtown and near the airport, but our neighborhood has been calm. Everyone is staying close to home for a while. We aren’t a target or anything, but we don’t want to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I imagine a lot of people think being in Congo at all right now is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But there are a number of God’s people here, including us, who believe we are in the right place at the right time simply because we are where He put us. I’m not presuming to say we are “God’s gift to Congo,” but perhaps Congo is God’s gift to us. I pray He will use me here to make an impact in someone’s life and bring glory to Him, but I know He is using Congo to make an impact in my life. Several weeks ago I was reading in the Psalms and when I came to Psalm 146 I felt a heavy burden for the people here in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and also for the people of my own country. Verses 7-10 say: “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.”
In addition to the oppression you can see here, there is spiritual oppression that you can’t see, but can sometimes feel. Nearly everyday I see hungry people and malnourished children. I am certain that there is oppression and hunger in the United States also, though on a different scale or manifest in different ways. But praise God! He sets prisoners free! He heals! He lifts up those who are bowed down! Widows here are treated abominably, especially by their own families. But our Father is watching over the widows and the orphans. And how desperately we need Him to frustrate the ways of the wicked as we end an election here and prepare for one in the U.S! Being a mechanic’s wife, I’ve heard many times how important it is to have the right tool for the right job and to have tools that are of a good quality. One of the best tools we have as believers is prayer. I’m praying these Scriptures for both the Congo and the U.S.