The Gideons are well-known
for their Bible distribution ministry around the world. On average, more than
two copies of the Bible are distributed per second through Gideons
International. In 2015, the Gideons distributed their historic two billionth
Scripture! One of those Bibles went to a little girl who we will call Rosa. She
lives in the Philippines and Rosa shared her testimony with the Gideons.
“Rosa
was offered a New Testament from the Gideons at school one day. At first, she
refused. But when all of her friends took one, she took one, also. Taking the
Testament home, she knew her father would not approve of the holy book. When
she arrived home, she placed it on the kitchen table where she knew he would
see it. When her father came home and saw the Testament on the table, he told
her that the book was forbidden in his house. He then took the Testament
outside and threw it up on the roof of the house.
Years
later, Rosa married and left her father’s house. Within a year, she was
pregnant, but her husband had left her. She hoped her father would let her stay
in his house. When she arrived at the house, no one was home. She sat down on
the front porch to wait. Then the wind became stronger and a little book fell
into her lap. Now worn and tattered, it was her New Testament that her father
had thrown up on the roof years earlier. She opened it and began to read.
Within a short time, she found that she needed this Jesus the book talked
about. She then gave her life to Christ.
Shortly
after, her family returned and her father allowed her to move into the house.
That very night, the girl told her father about the little Testament and how it
had fallen into her lap. Her father looked at the book, remembered throwing it
out and decided that since it had returned that it was a gift from God. He
began to read it over a period of time and eventually he accepted Christ as his
Lord and Savior. And the rest of the family living there eventually did the
same.”[1]
As I read that story, I had
several thoughts come to mind:
·
God’s Word never
returns void, it but it always accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it
out (Isaiah 55:11). Heaven and earth may pass away, but His word shall remain
(Matt. 24:35).
·
I wonder who was the
unnamed Gideon that faithfully handed that Bible to Rosa, not knowing how it
would be used? God knows and his ministry will be rewarded in heaven one day
with an amazing testimony from Rosa’s family (Matt. 10:42). Little is much when
God is in it!
·
God’s providential
timing is amazing. That Bible stayed on the roof those many years, until Rosa
was sitting in the right place and a perfectly timed gust of wind dislodged it
into her lap. Not only that, but it came to her at the exact season in her life
when she was needing hope (Rom. 8:28).
·
The Lord is
patient and kind with hard-hearted people. Rosa’s father was gently and gradually
led to salvation by the working of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-9). God’s love although
rejected at first, keeps wooing and pursuing until we have no choice but to give
in.
-DM
[1] “Testimony:
God’s Word Falls into a Lap and Changes an Entire Family,” Gideons
International, 15 April 2011, <http://blog.gideons.org/2011/04/testimony-bible-blown-off-roof/>
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