Arthur and Wilda Matthews were missionaries in China when the country was overtaken by Communism. Other missionaries were allowed to leave, but they and their small daughter were left alone with barely enough money to survive. Their clothes grew ragged, and their food supply became so poor that even the Chinese felt pity.

When my mother received the news that she had cancer, God knew I needed an unmistakable sign of His all-sufficient grace. One night, I awakened and went downstairs to pray. I was too worried to pray though. Mingled with the pain of watching my mother suffer and the pain of losing someone I loved dearly was the frightening thought of having to acquire nursing skills. Even combing someone else's hair was "not my specialty," as my mother put it.

After Heidi Walton read the psalmist's admonition to share God's faithfulness, she sent the following story that occurred when she and her husband Carl served as missionaries in Haiti.

Edith Knipmeyer, a tiny lady who has since gone to heaven, wrote me the following true incident:

"Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by" (Isaiah 26:20). This verse, written centuries ago, almost sounds like today's news.

In her book Extravagant Worship, Darlene Zschech, writer of the song "Shout to the Lord," told of having a miscarriage when she was twelve weeks pregnant with a child they had waited on for a very long time. Three days before she was to leave on a tour with her worship group, she and her husband Mark went to the obstetrician and learned that the baby had just died in her womb.