Captives of Hope!

“Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope: even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.” Zechariah 9:12 (ASV)

While on a short visit to Afghanistan in 1998,

It was still peace time when one night 21 year old Heather Mercer dreamed she was looking down at the city of Kabul.

In her dream she seemed to be walking through the city in a random fashion, as she turned one way, she just escaped a bomb that fell where she had been moments before in her dream. It seemed as if she was seeing herself again and again escape destruction. A week or so later she was back in her home town in America, and still there was no war in Afghanistan. After a time she forgot the dream.

Her college friend Dana Curry left for Afghanistan in the late summer of 1999, where she headed up a project to reach street kids, and teach them trades that would help them become self supporting. Wanting to extend her boundaries, Heather went back to Afghanistan to join her friend Dana again in February 2001. She entered language school to learn the Dari language. Six months later the two girls were arrested by the Taliban police.

The girls were placed in a filthy reform school for girls, with minimal facilities, The Interrogations continued for three weeks; the Taliban were trying to trap them into saying something they could be arrested for. They were told they would be tried in the Supreme Court of Afghanistan, with the death penalty as a probable outcome. The girls became very despondent and were in tears night after night.

During this awful time, suddenly God brought to mind Heather’s dream of three years ago. She shared it with Dana and at that moment the girls became prisoners of hope! They began to trust God to take care of their situation. In the midst of the trial, war broke out between America and Afghanistan. The shooting, and the falling bombs terrified them, but not one bomb fell on the place where they were being kept. Suddenly the Taliban were overthrown, and the girls found themselves set free.

Perhaps you find yourself in what looks to be an impossible situation.

Zechariah prophesied to the people of his day, that God would protect them because they had fully put their hope and trust in Him. He called them Prisoners of Hope. You can extend your personal boundaries and still have that same protection and peace if you will put your life fully in His hands today.

“Lord Jesus, I too find myself in a situation where there seems no way out. I place my life in your hands and ask You to take control. Help me to keep trusting you in spite of the circumstances, until I see Your deliverance. Amen”