Listening to the Voice

The title of this blog is "A Voice Behind You", a phrase taken from Isaiah 30:21. My visits to Nicaragua have taught me to listen for this voice, and as I've listened over the years, the voice has become easier to hear and recognize. I want to share something that happened this summer as a result of hearing and obeying that voice, but I want to be sure you understand that the story is not to claim glory for myself. The voice giving the directions is from God, the desire to be obedient is a gift from God, all the people in the story were put in place by God--He orchestrated the whole thing, and He gets the glory. I want to share the story so you can see how the voice works, and the marvelous mercy of God as He supplies just what we need when we need it.

Four years ago we had one of the most difficult trips we've ever taken. We went to Malacatoya, and I think that city's name means "the home of monster mosquitoes that love to eat North Americans." Malacatoya is surrounded by rice fields which are always flooded providing perfect homes for those ravenous mosquitoes. About sunset they came roaring out of the rice fields, and 100% deet was just an appetizer for them. The problem is that I am very sensitive to mosquito bites. They make huge welts and itch for days so it was a pretty miserable week. But in the middle of that misery, God was at work.

One evening I had gone to the tent for the church service, and as I waited for the music to begin, I heard the voice behind me. He was telling me to give my Bible to the local pastor. My Bible was a Spanish-English version that had been a birthday gift from my family several years earlier. I had used it often following my pastor's text on Sunday on the Spanish side trying to learn a few more words and phrases. However, as time went by, the Bible's print was shrinking, and I was having trouble reading it. It was time for a large print Bible, and the voice was telling me to give the Bible to someone who needed it more than I did.

I looked around and found the pastor, Fernando Rueda. He was standing on the other side of the tent. I made my way to him, explained the best I could with my little bit of Spanish, and with tears in my eyes, I gave him the Bible. The tears weren't from sadness but from the joy that obedience brings.

Last February (2008) my pastor and team captain Larry DeLay made an extra trip to Nicaragua to teach a week of classes at the pastor's school. When he came back, he told me that Pastor Rueda is now at a church in Managua, and he was in Bro. Larry's class. After one of the sessions, Pastor Rueda went to Bro. Larry and reminded him of our trip to Malacatoya. He also asked Bro. Larry if he knew Cathy Burgess and told him that I had given him my Spanish-English Bible. When Bro. Larry told me about it, I was thrilled to hear that the Bible was still being used.

Now we go to this year's trip to La Gateada. One of the down sides to making a long series of mission trips and doing the same job each year is that sometimes the edge gets a bit dull, and you can begin to wonder if you are really accomplishing much--if all your work is making a difference. I try to fight those feelings, but sometimes they do sneak in, and I have to confess them and ask God to forgive me and ask His help to keep my focus on obedience. I was feeling some of that this summer. One afternoon a young man named Jose came into the hygiene area. Jose began as a translator with us several years ago and now is the translator in the tent for the pastors. He asked me if I remembered the trip to Malacatoya. I assured him that I did, and he asked if I remembered the pastor and that I had given him a Bible. Jose is now a member of Pastor Rueda's church in Managua. One Sunday morning during the past spring Pastor Rueda began his sermon by telling his congregation about my gift of my Bible. And then he said, "My sermon today comes from the notes that she wrote in her Bible." He told his congregation to be sure to take notes in their Bibles because they don't know how the Lord will use those notes in the future.

I stood in that hygiene room with chills all over me. I couldn't think of anything to say to Jose--I just wanted to praise and thank God for his loving gift of reassurance and encouragement. When we listen to the voice, we don't know what happens next, but we can be assured that something happens next. He is in control, and He puts all the pieces together. What an honor to get to be one of the pieces!