The chain of hope
We asked you, our partners, to share you’re Bible stories with us. And many of you did.
It was such an encouragement to read about how God’s Word changed your life, helped you through some of the most difficult times, and challenged you.
One of you shared how, as a young girl, you desperately longed to have your own Bible even though you grew up in an atheist household, in which your parents dabbled in the occult. And how your Bible means everything to you today.
You shared:
I wanted one so desperately. I cannot explain the longing I had for it. Eventually, I got my first Bible from a small Methodist church my friend at the time took me to on Sunday while my parents recuperated from Saturday’s party. It was a Living Bible with pictures and maps. I loved it.
I still have it today, 50 years or so later. I now have many Bibles in jiffy bags because they have fallen apart. By the way, my parents did get saved, and my dad became a fantastic pastor with a knowledge and understanding of the Word I long to have.
But the question is, what does the Bible mean to me now? Everything. Life!
This is yet another wonderful reminder of how the Bible is an everlasting gift, a treasure for those who receive it. One that you carry from generation to generation.
Not only do we all have a story about getting our very first Bible, but also how we got it. In our partner’s case, she got it through a church. For some of you, your parents or a friend gifted you your Bible. And some of you purchased your own Bible.
Our persecuted family, too, have their own stories of how they received their Bible. Some got it through their church, others from their parents, and some bought it for themselves. But there’s also another story – one that threads through the lives of you who give and pray, those who distribute like Daniel and those who receive.
As the night passes, Daniel* lies in bed, wide awake.
His wife tells him not to worry – that he should leave worrying to God. She’s told him a thousand times, and she will repeat herself another thousand times. He knows, he knows.
But he can’t stop his mind from spinning. He thinks about new ways and methods of getting the Word of God into the hands of persecuted believers.
Such is life for Daniel, who has been smuggling God’s Word into closed countries for 25 years.
He has had many close calls of getting caught. But he says: “God came through every time. Yes, every single time.”
He has seen other miracles too, but none are more beautiful than seeing Muslims embrace Jesus as their Saviour. And while that is beautiful to see, Daniel, like all of us, is a broken human, and so it’s not always easy living out this calling…
“My life is really complicated,” he says. “Sometimes, I want to quit my ministry, sit under a fig tree somewhere and grow old in peace. I would stop if I hadn’t known for sure this was God’s will for my life. He confirms it so often. My creative ideas to bring the Bible, people coming to faith, Him making up for my mistakes: God is intimately involved.”
Thankfully, Daniel isn’t in this alone. Distributing Bibles to those who need them is a team effort.
“Distributing the Bible and other Christian materials is teamwork,” he explains. “Many brothers and sisters are all one link in a chain that is sometimes very long. If I have a creative idea for bringing the Bible, I can only execute it when others agree with the plan. Sometimes they don’t see what I see, or they deem the risks higher than I do. But I can never force them. It’s their life. I need to take care of my family; they need to take care of theirs. We all take risks, but we all have the freedom to choose how far we will go.”
Having a Bible is not a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity for us as believers, as every day without Scripture means we become vulnerable to deception, persecution and spiritual defeat. That is what the recently released Bible Access List shows. There is a direct correlation between persecution and a lack of access to Bibles.
This is why helping give persecuted believers access to the Bible is so important. So while you might not be the one distributing Bibles to dangerous areas, you’re part of the team. Many of you will never meet Daniel or see the faces of those receiving the Bibles he distributed, but your prayers and support are just as vital.
Through your prayers, you help sustain and cover them as they make a dangerous journey to get these Bibles to our persecuted family. And through your support, you help ensure that this life-giving Bread reaches those who need it most: the mothers, the children, and the families waiting in anticipation for this life-changing gift. Your support is part of the chain, an invisible hand that, in its own way, changes everything.
You may not be crossing borders or risking your life, but your prayers and donations help make our workers’ journeys, like Daniel’s, possible.
So today, ask yourself, how far can you go?
Join the chain of hope.
Help with Bibles and teaching the skills to understand it so that families can grow in their faith. Your donation today becomes a gift for eternity.
Today, give a Bible. Change a life.