Terrorists lead people back to God

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Dear Jorge,
It's often in the midst of suffering that people find God, and sometimes God even uses terrorists for the good. This week in our regular edition we published the stories of two people who were kidnapped by notorious FARC terrorists in Colombia. They spent six years in the jungle under humiliating circumstances. But Jesus met them right there.
American Marc Gonsalves recalls that he didn't expect to survive captivity until he felt God's presence in the midst of a life-threatening bomb attack by Colombian military jets. "I was physically shaking, and I just called out to God to protect us," he said. "The next morning I woke up and I felt different." A Colombian hostage gave him a Bible, which he often read and discussed with fellow hostage French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt. After her release last year Betancourt said: "Without Jesus at my side I would never have managed to survive the pain. Being a hostage places you in a situation of constant humiliation... faced with this you can either allow yourself to become ugly and bitter, filled with hate and vindictiveness, or you follow the other path, that is shown by Jesus, who said 'bless your enemies'." Both captives consider their release a miracle.
This week we remember Christ in his suffering and humiliation. He gave his life to restore us in our relationship to God. Isn't that a miracle?

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Marc van der Woude
joelnews.org


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