A young woman recently drove thirteen hours to attend missionary training in Florida. She arrives and goes to bed crying, overwhelmed by it all and worrying she won't make any friends. However, she wakes up the next morning excited and eager to take her first steps towards missionary work, a work she will later describe as an "amazing journey."
A missions team from the United States recently joined a local pastor in Guatemala to pray for a three-month-old baby thought dead. Undaunted, they pray, and as they pray, the baby's cold skin begins to warm, and his eyes, though closed, begin to move. Moments later, a tearful and grateful Mom and Dad receive a healthy and smiling baby back into their arms.
Have you heard any of the above true stories? Any chance they made headlines in your newspaper?
I often wonder if the stories we read about and care about are the stories God is actually interested in. According to the Bible, "the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7.
What if the real history of the world has yet to be written, and the most important stories of our time are stories most of us will never read or hear?
Let this be a word of encouragement: God's view of the world is not our own. Whether we are consumed with politics and the latest breaking news, or whether we have simply turned off and tuned out all news in frustration and weariness -- God is still God. He is very real and at work in a million different ways we will never hear about, at least not in this lifetime.
You never know, at this very minute, your story and your heart might well be the "breaking news" in Heaven. While everyone else is looking at the latest controversy and dispute, God may well be looking at your heart and excitedly sharing the "big news" with everyone around Him.
Let us hope that someday all of us will hear this story and more, and laugh at ourselves for having been so stressed about what was printed in the New York Times.
How could we have ever thought that what was printed there was so important?
How could we not realize that the real news stories -- the stories with eternal significance -- are printed on God's heart.
The International Faith Telegraph http://www.faithtelegraph.com The latest and most unique Christian news stories from around the world. Bizarre, groundbreaking, worldchanging. Exclusive stories from a wide variety of sources. Missions news directly from missionaries and numerous denominations and organizations.