John Piper, in his book entitled Let the nations be glad, writes, ‘The pain of our shattered plans is for the purpose of scattered grace.’
This has been the experience of many Christians in war-torn Ivory Coast. Below is a first-hand account of God at work earlier this year, transforming lives by his grace.
February 2013 saw the realisation of a project that had been in the ‘pipeline’ for more than 10 years. Back in January 2002, on a trip to the northern region of Ivory Coast with Pastor Koné, an Ivorian pastor, the enormous need for clean water became obvious.
In several villages, water was obtainable but from polluted sources. Later on that same trip, we met two men in a mission guest house in Yamoussoukro from ‘Friends in Action’ (FIA), an organisation which specialises in well digging to help advance the gospel. There the plan to drill wells in strategic villages, where the gospel was being presented, was born.
God at work
At times in the intervening years it seemed as if this vision would never be fulfilled, as the outbreak of civil war in Ivory Coast caused a mass evacuation of missionaries, including the FIA team. However, God’s plan was not thwarted.
