Then the Waters Receded

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters.” Psalm 18:16 NIV

Upon hearing Yuni’s story, one Southern Baptist volunteer commented that surely God saved her for a reason. Yuni quickly agrees. While Yuni is from Medan, she was visiting her sisters in Northern Sumatra when the tsunami hit.

“People came running at me yelling, ‘run, run,’” said Yuni. “I said, run where and all they’d reply is, ’the water is coming, run!’”

She and her eldest daughter were separated from her younger daughter and sister. The wave swept Yuni and the older girl down a street with shop buildings on both sides. As the wave rounded a corner it deposited both mother and daughter into one of the shops through an open door.

The water continued to rise until only two feet remained from the ceiling. Then the waters began to recede. As the water level reached about waist high, Yuni thought the worst was over. She was wrong. The second wave came in and the water rose again. This time the water level went up to less than a foot from filling the entire room.

“Our heads were barely above water,” said Yuni. “I thought we were going to drown, but after what seemed like an eternity the water receded again.”

After the water level came down enough for Yuni and her daughter to safely leave the shop building, she went looking for the rest of their family. Fortunately the younger daughter and sister survived by getting to higher ground. Sadly, her eldest sister had two children who drowned in the tsunami.

Now Yuni and her daughters are back in Medan. Yuni works as a coordination secretary for one of the Chinese temporary housing projects. When asked about the possibility of having volunteers come and tell Bible stories and do activities with both adults and children she said, “Please come. We know you are friends, and we will listen to anything you have to share that you think will help us.”

Pray that:

God will call Chinese speaking believers to come and listen to the hurts of the people and powerfully share the gospel in the heart language of the people.

The enemy will be bound from any attempt to close this open door for the gospel.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.