As we drove down my parent’s forested driveway my heart was warmed as I saw smoke rising out of the chimney of their little humble cabin home, the home of my childhood. I knew my mother would have something wonderful cooking and memories flooded my mind. My younger brother had died a tragic death some years before and I was now their only child. You can just imagine how happy they were to see their grandbabies and us on that snowy November evening, just one week before Thanksgiving.

We had a sweet reunion and it wasn’t long before we were comfortably situated in our two-bedroom hotel room where my husband would be helping with renovations. Staying at a hotel is always exciting, but living in one, swimming pool, long-term room service and all, is truly amazing!

As those first weeks passed, all was bliss and we soon realized that our debt would certainly be taken care of within 6-8 months time. But there was something now more important on our minds. Naturally, in that sort of setting, there were people from all walks of life. Many were lonely, hungry for connection and love. As we prayed with, and got to know, families and individuals, we sensed that God had led us there for far more than just our debt.

We also attended a small church but were saddened by the overall lack of spiritual interest among the members. There were a few who were open to fellowship and so I began to pray. A hotel room is not the most conducive for giving bible studies so I asked the Lord to provide a place where we could hold studies at least once a week. I had a lady friend who had an enormous place and a living room that would be perfect for studies but I was hesitant, not knowing for sure what God’s will was concerning the location. Of course it was God’s will for His word to be shared but the time and place was not clear and I only wanted God to lead in all of it.

It was shortly after we began to pray over this that I went to visit this very friend, but at the time the bible study ideas could not have been further from my mind. She had a good-sized library of music in her home that I wanted to look through, and as I searched in her hymnals and other music books, she told me all about her grandchildren and we had a wonderful time. By around 10 pm I had found all the material I was looking for and as I was preparing to leave she said, “Sandy, isn’t there something you wanted to talk to me about?” I was somewhat confused about her question and asked what she meant. She replied, “well, I thought you had come to talk to me about something besides music. Are you certain that is all you came for?” At first I was puzzled by her question but suddenly a thought flashed through my mind – “ask her if you can hold bible studies in her home,” came the thought. I suddenly realized that God was working. I took the plunge and clumsily asked, “may I hold bible studies in your home?” She immediately blurted out, “YES YOU CAN! I WOULD LOVE IT! In fact, for the last 6 months now I have been praying that God would use my home for something like that, I have this huge house and have wanted to use it for the Lord but I have no idea how to go about giving bible studies myself. When can we start?”

I could not believe my ears. Only a few days before, I had prayed for such a place but had no idea how He would accomplish it. Now here it was. While contemplating our dialogue, I could only think that God had also desired to show her His will in a very powerful way and for a very good reason. It would be a few years before we would fully understand why He had worked so powerfully that night and the months that followed (but that is another story for another time).

In the months that followed a small but sincere group attended the studies every Friday night. The fellowship was very sweet. There is one particular point that I would like to interject into the story at this time. I believe it is worthy to share and is very significant.

The day before the first bible study I suddenly fell very ill – chills, fever…the works! No one else was sick around me and I felt devastated with the timing. The day passed and I felt worse and worse. The next day, after much prayer, I called my lady friend to cancel the meeting, feeling that it would not be respectful to pass on my sickness to anyone else, and of course, I was not feeling up to doing anything. She startled me as she replied, “Sandy, this is the enemy! I believe that to cancel the very first study would not be God’s will. Let’s just keep praying and go forward.” Well, what could I say to that! I was somewhat ashamed for my lack of faith and promised I would be there at seven. But as the day progressed I didn’t feel any better, my fever went up and down all day, I was very weak and in turmoil over my agreement to go through with it. That evening, after a season of prayer with my husband, I headed out the door but with GREAT hesitation. I was going completely against ALL my feelings and what seemed logical.

Upon arriving at the house we sang a few songs and began the study. I am here to tell you, without any artificial embellishment, that before I even knew it, all my symptoms disappeared and I went through the study as if I had never been ill. It was the beginning of some very exciting times. The winter months passed full of spiritual blessings and sweet fellowship, but not without some pretty big trials.

By the time the second meeting came around, my children fell ill with sores on their lips, in their mouth, and it went systemic and the sores started coming out of their arms. We were beside ourselves and very worried. The pediatrician told us it would have to take its course and would probably last 10 days. It was absolutely the worst illness my children had ever experienced up until that time. They had to drink all their food out of straws and anything salty would burn and bring screams from our hotel room. No one else got sick. It was one attack after another but every time a meeting came around God would bring us through amazingly. After about 2 grueling months the sicknesses ceased and we praised God for getting us through some very hard times.

Spring arrived and my husband was asked to play at a Christian music fest held at the local Nazarene church. As the date of the concert neared, we prayed that the Lord alone would be glorified in Isaac’s violin piece. There was a particular old favorite that I wanted him to play – “Oh When Shall I See Jesus.” He had decided to go forward with it and had practiced for days.

We arrived early the night of the concert and the place was already packed with people. We quickly found our seats and sat back to enjoy the evening. Isaac was one of the last ones to perform, and as he went to the front I prayed again that God would be glorified. Out of the blue it hit me that he might play a different piece than the one I had wanted him to. “Oh he wouldn’t dare,” I thought.

As he placed his bow on the strings and the first notes came forth, the most beautiful, crystal clear tones flowed out. Instantly, the entire place was strangely hushed. Not one other sound could be heard. It touched me deeply like no other time before and my arms were full of goose bumps. I then wondered if it was just me and I sent up a prayer that it would be a blessing, if even to just one other person in that room. But I didn’t recognize the song! It was not the song he had practiced! It was Amazing Grace but an entirely different rendition than I had ever heard before. It was absolutely beautiful. As I looked around it was evident that it was just what the Lord wanted him to play. When he ended, the whole place stood up and applauded. As he walked off the stage and out of the sanctuary I noticed a young man quickly stand up and follow him out.

When the concert ended, a lady walked up to me and asked me if Isaac was my husband. I said yes and she then proceeded to share how touched she had been by the piece and how impacted she was when she noticed how the whole place was immediately hushed as those first notes came forth. She even mentioned how it had given her goose bumps all over. She went on and on, thanking us for the blessing it had been to her. Several others came up relaying the same experience. I had believed I was the only one that had noticed but others had perceived it as well. But that is not all. As we walked out into the foyer to leave, the young man that had followed my husband out directly after his piece caught up to us.

His name was Spencer and he began to share his story. During the weeks prior to the concert, Spencer’s sister had begged him to attend the concert with her. He had not been interested. Several times she had begged him and he had resisted. Spencer was a member of a rock band, the drummer, and had recently gone through a lot of heartache and turmoil in his personal life and did not care to be out and about. On the night of the concert, his sister insisted he accompany her and he had finally consented. He went on and on at how absolutely moved beyond words he had been by the violin music, and that he wanted to get to know us better. My conscience pricked me as I remembered how at first I had been slightly annoyed that Isaac would so unexpectedly change the lively song he had been practicing (my favorite hymn) to boring ol’ Amazing Grace. I was also surprised at the profound impact that this classic hymn had had on our gothic drummer. But God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8,9) and for that we are thankful.

After that first meeting with Spencer we did not see or hear from him for quite a while. We did not know what to think. He had been so excited to get better acquainted with us and jam with Isaac. He had also seemed very interested in spiritual things. After about 3 weeks we got on our knees and asked the Lord to put it in his heart to come visit us at the hotel. We had a sense that he was very important to building God’s kingdom and that we had not taken the pains we should have to lift him up in prayer during those weeks. As we rose up from our knees we felt the assurance that God would work. We got our swimsuits on and headed down to the swimming pool with our children. And who should appear through the front doors of the hotel, but Spencer himself. We were floored. He invited Isaac to his cabin home and that night they stayed up late, talking about eternal realities: God’s plan for humanity, truth and life, liberty, the lies that keep us in bondage…it was a night filled with incredible dialogue. By the end of the evening, Spencer was so inspired that he expressed the desire to quit smoking. Isaac prayed with him, claiming the promises for deliverance and God worked mightily. In all of it, we saw more clearly one of the fundamental powers of the gospel – God’s amazing grace.

At the moment we come to Christ, everything that is Christ’s is ours, immediately. At the moment God said, “let there be light” there was light, immediately. Not a second passed. At the moment that God said, “stand up and walk,” the man stood up and walked. Anytime God speaks, the creation is immediate and this is all truly for you and for me. And Jesus said to his disciples and to all of those who have ever, by faith, exercised God’s word, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne…” Revelation 3:21.

Now, you would think that this explanation of that night would be sufficient but remember, this God is the God of the universe. He upholds everything continually; every leaf, every blade of grass and every star in the sky. He lives in another realm called eternity and yet He knows how many hairs is on your head. Our God is infinitely beyond what we can ever express in words and yet he desires for us to be with Him at the very citadel of the universe! These thoughts and others were sent home to Spencer’s mind that night and he would never be the same again. He could run but he couldn’t hide.

Night after night we dug deep into the scriptures. Some nights, Spencer would keep us up until two or three in the morning, asking all sorts of questions. Some nights, he would simply cry and ask us to just spend time in deep prayer with him. Those were very sweet times. Huge changes were taking place in his life right before our very eyes and it was incredible to witness. God was doing a quick and deep work in this young man’s heart and to be a part of it was a tremendous blessing.

Spencer began to be very much a part of our family. Our children decided that he was their best friend and he would take them on outings and buy them gifts, they were thrilled. He was like the uncle they had never had. He also began attending studies on Friday nights at my lady friend’s home with us, always hungry for more of Jesus. The others were blessed by his presence, in that it was such a delight for them to see a young man like this, not raised with Christianity at all, and yet so excited about truth! Those months went by way too fast.

We had been in Alaska for about seven months when we realized that we had only $1,500 left to pay off our debt! I began to get worried about what that meant. After all, we had believed that God had taken us there to take care of the debt so that we could go to Peru, but now, with all that had transpired, I didn’t know if our impressions had been correct and I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE! We were studying with so many individuals and we felt such a huge responsibility. We began to pray more earnestly than ever for God to make things clear and reveal if our impressions had been wrong about Peru.

It wasn’t long after this that we received a call from the president of the organization in the Amazon. I was shocked to hear from him, it had been many months since we had last spoke, and I thought that he might have changed his mind. But I was even more stunned when he said, “We just received a donation of $1,500 and are impressed it should go to you and Isaac, to either help you with tickets or whatever you feel is best so that we can speed up the process for your trip to Peru and get you settled as directors. I need your bank account number so I can deposit the money.” I about fell over backwards. I cried a lot that night. I prayed and prayed for God to “please just give me another sign to show us that He really was taking us to Peru.”

Then the Lord made things even clearer. When we had first arrived to Alaska the hotel manager had assured us that the job would take about two years to complete but now he announced to us that funds were low and they would have to wait for another season to continue the renovations. We had to move out. The Lord was taking us out.

As we announced the news to our little study group and to Spencer, it was one of the saddest things we had to do. One lady expressed that she felt betrayed. Another man shared that he was very hurt saying, “are we not important enough,” and tears rolled down his cheeks. Oh my heart broke. I cried a lot during those last days. Spencer came one night and said that he could not understand why it would be the Lord’s will for us to leave. Then he confessed that he had been claiming the promises like we had taught him and that he was asking the Lord to close all the doors, that we would not leave. Those were very hard times.

Then the night before we left, with our suitcases packed, he asked us if we would pray with him for a wife, someone that would be his partner in the ministry and loved the Lord. And he asked Isaac if he would perform the marriage ceremony some day. We were deeply touched. We knelt right then and there and prayed for the last time together, requesting a wife for Spencer.

Little could any of us have imagined that in less than two weeks God would bring us face to face with Spencer’s future bride and a significant co-worker in the opening up of the work in the Amazon. It had been vital that we leave Alaska when we did.