Jesus Is Worthy

The village spiritual man appeared out of nowhere in my kitchen. His body stiff; his eyes like black holes. He was facing me but not seeing me. He grabbed his bow and pulled back its string, arrow aimed right at me. He let the arrow fly as I ran into the living room, and he shot again as I headed for the door. I ran through the door and suddenly I was out in the front yard, sun streaming down. My heart was racing knowing I had just missed death by a bit. When I looked up, the yard was full of all my tribal friends. Face upturned, tears running down my cheeks, arms raised to the sky, I said, “You are worthy! You are worthy!”

Then Mike woke me up. It was the second time in just a few days that I had something like this happen. Nothing like this had ever happened before, and after about six weeks nothing like that has happened since.

For the first time (as far as we know), we had started teaching foundational Bible lessons in a tribal language to a people we call friends. Six days a week, we taught the lessons in a little mountain village where we had lived for three years.

The message was clear that night as I lay in my bed—there was something present that didn’t want me alive and yet the Holy Spirit within me gave me grace and strength to say, “Jesus is worth whatever may come.” He is worthy and worth living for each and every day no matter what the cost might be.

Over seven years later, I rarely even think of that event. However, it is an altar of remembrance in my mind. I learned that my Savior is always with me and never leaves me. Though others may leave, he will not. When the future seems uncertain, he is my rock of stability. On days that seem heavy, I know my help comes from the Lord. He never changes, and no matter what we all face today, Jesus, the Son of God, is worthy of our lives!

Since he is worthy, let us use our lives to share that message with the world around us. Let not our circumstances, the world’s hardships, the dangers that encroach upon us leave us feeling defeated because we serve a living God who has rescued us from ultimate death and made us alive in him.

Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. (Revelation 4:11)