God's Word

Excerpt from "5 Minutes with Gracia Burnham" in Discipleship Journal (July-August), p. 20.

(You might recall that Gracia and her husband, Martin, served with New Tribes Missions in the Philippines. In 2001 they were taken hostage. After 376 days of captivity Martin was killed in a gunfight. Marcia was wounded but freed.)

What kept you going during your captivity?

God's Word. Once early in our captivity, Martin and I were very discouraged. We had endured yet another gun battle, some of the group were wounded, and we were starving, stinky, and tired. Martin said, "Gracia, let's remind ourselves of what is true." We began reciting Scripture to one another: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Ro. 8:31). "I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jer. 31:3). "God ... has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies" (Eph. 1:3, DBY). We didn't feel loved and blessed, but we reminded each other that these things were true nonetheless.