In a time of great need, God told us to praise him

In 2010 I travelled to war torn Angola to write the biography of Marcia Gomes, a Brazilian missionary, who with her husband had pioneered a Youth With a Mission work, caring for the poor in Lobito. Marcia shared a story with me that has stayed with me ever since.

This is what she said: ‘It was near the end of 2000, and my husband Marcos and I had been missionaries in Angola with YWAM since 1991. We had been through war, malaria, and ambushes from rebel forces, but this was the first time we had to face the prospect of no food and water, and no way to get the supplies we needed. We only had enough food for one more meal, but after that the cupboards would be bare and there was no money to buy anything. The government had not supplied electricity for a week so we also had no water, as our water pump was electric.

I woke up early and went to pray, walking outside to sit under a tree.

I woke up early and went to pray, walking outside to sit under a tree. As I sat there and surveyed the base, the small red houses surrounded by sandy soil, I was again hit by the helplessness of our situation. I didn’t know what we could do. I had already spoken to the staff, telling them that we needed to pray.

I had run out of options in my own strength.

‘Show me what to do Lord,’ I prayed.

Then very clearly I heard him speak: ‘Have a celebration,’

I immediately discarded the thought, thinking it couldn’t be God, it was crazy.

‘Lord what should I do?’ I asked, apologising for the earlier distracting thought.

‘Have a celebration,’ I heard again loud and clear.

‘But Lord, how can I have a celebration? We have nothing to celebrate. There is no food, power or water.’

‘Is my Presence not enough of a reason?’ He asked.

The words cut straight to my heart. I understood what he was asking, but I didn’t know how I was going to explain to the others.

As I met the remaining five staff on the base for morning worship, I told them what I felt God was saying.

‘I think he wants to teach us that our joy does not depend on circumstances but on him, and he is always worthy of our praise,’ I said.

The rest of the team caught what I was saying, and happily agreed. We had work to do in the day, so decided our celebration would be that evening. After eating the remains of our food for lunch, I remembered that we had a few massaroca - ears of corn - left in our garden, so asked two of the men to pick everything they could find. It was not enough for a meal, but it would be something.

That evening we met together, making a fire near a big tree in the middle of the base. There was no electricity so no lights, but that night a full moon illuminated our party, showering us with soft silver beams, so there would have been no need for lights even if we had them.

We roasted the corn over the fire, and started worshipping God, singing and dancing. As we worshipped, joy came. We could not stop laughing. As people told jokes and funny stories the hours slipped by unnoticed. It was as if Jesus himself was at the celebration, filling us with a supernatural joy. If people saw us they would have assumed we were drunk, but not a drop of alcohol had passed our lips. Someone commented that the massaroca was not running out, we all ate our full and had more to spare.

As we continued to worship and praise Jesus, we suddenly noticed that dawn was spreading an orange haze over the horizon.

As we continued to worship and praise Jesus, we suddenly noticed that dawn was spreading an orange haze over the horizon.

‘We’ve been up all night!’ I exclaimed. It had only felt like a couple of hours.

We were beginning to feel tired now, so made our way to bed, when suddenly we saw a car coming down the driveway. It stopped and Lena, a lady from Benguela our neighbouring city, got out.

‘We have been given a donation of fresh fish, but it is much too much for us.’ She was in a hurry, so couldn’t stop, but gave us two big boxes of fresh fish.

‘God has provided food already!’ exclaimed Ninita a young Angolan YWAMer.

As we had no electricity the fridge would not work, so we needed to gut and clean the fish to dry them. However just at that moment Amaro another staff member, shouted that the power was on. We were all jumping up and down in excitement by this point, praising God. Amaro rushed down to the pump to turn it on, and for the first time in days we had power, water and food. It was overwhelming.

As there was now electricity I decided to go to Benguela to check email. I hadn’t been for days as if there was no power the internet didn’t work. The first email I opened had been sent a few days before, it was from Mercy Ships in Lindale, Texas. They had had an offering for us and were sending $2000.

I was so overwhelmed. All our needs were now provided for, but God had done it in such a way to show us one of the most important lessons: to praise him because he is God, and not just for what he gives us. Our joy does not depend on circumstances, but in him, our heavenly father who supplies all our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus.