A Peruvian man had a hunger for adventure. Adventures can be exciting but they can also be fatal.
This man lost his way in the Amazon jungle. His family was sure he was dead, but he was adopted by an indigenous tribe and learned to live in the jungle. He not only learned their language and customs, but he learned to use jungle plants to treat tropical diseases.
After seven years, he somehow found his way back to his own people, but he found a community in a tragic crisis. People were in the grip of an epidemic. Modern medicine was not working and many people were dying.
He was not a doctor but he applied his knowledge of natural medicine he had learned in the jungle. It proved so effective that many lives were saved.
The news of this success spread far and wide. Many botanists and medical experts came to learn from him.
This man, who had been given up for dead, lived to the age of 91.
I have never known anyone who was lost in the jungle, but there are different kinds of terrible experiences which can lead to great blessings.
I have met people who have come out of prostitution, long prison terms and terrible drug addictions, but they have found faith in God and become a life saving help for many people.
I had a Christian conversion experience in my twenties but the first church I joined turned out to be a cult, where people were brainwashed and spiritually abused. After I was expelled from the cult, I spent a whole year in intensive full time psychiatric treatment.
It took me many years to recover, but God did not give up on me.
Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Christian woman whose family protected Jews in the wartime Nazi occupation. She and her sister were captured and spent nearly a year in German prisons and concentration camps. Her sister died in the camp but she was released due to a clerical error.
After this terrible suffering, she toured the world, bringing faith and hope to people without hope.
What kind of suffering have you been through? Prison, domestic violence, rape, human trafficking, cult brainwashing, severe mental illness?
No matter where you are, God loves you and has a plan for your life. In heaven there are murderers, ex prostitutes, people who have been witches, and also victims.
In heaven there are babies who were aborted and mothers who aborted their babies.
No matter what you have been through, no matter what you are going through now, never, never, never give up.
Gaby Wentland is a German missionary preacher. She ministers to prostitutes and victims of abuse. She says there is more prayer in brothels than in many churches.
God loves you no matter where you are, who you are, what you are doing, what you have done or what has been done to you.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NRSVue
No matter whether you are the worst abuser or the most broken victim, Jesus died to take your punishment on himself. He hung naked on the cross to bare your shame.
But there is a condition. You must be willing to turn away from your cruelty, your selfishness and dishonesty. God loves you but you must be willing to change.
Call to me, and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. Jer 33:3 NRSVue
God is waiting to hear you cry for help.
Not only does God want to save you from guilt, from shame and abuse. He wants to use your painful experiences to help others. I have been wonderfully encouraged by people who have been in very dark places.
The Peruvian man learned jungle medicine to save lives. If you have been in prison, in psychiatric treatment, in drug addiction or prostitution, God can use your experience to help people with similar experiences.
