A greeting from the Lord!

We have received a lot of greetings since the bomb-attack in Istanbul on the 12th of Jan, and we thank you all for encouraging words. Last night we received an e-mail from a dear colleague. The greeting also included the following sentences:

I will be careful to declare that I have received a word from the Lord to you, but it seems to me that the verses from Gen. 50:15-21 are meant for you. Particularly verse 20. Please take it for what it is, and ask the Lord what this may mean for you.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Gen 50:20

This morning I was able to write back:

Thank you for your greeting – and “Yes!” - I confirm that you heard from the Lord. When it finally calmed down in my room on my first day at the hospital in Istanbul, it was already late night, but I was able to pray and think. The first verse I thought of was Genesis 50:20. I experienced that God already had intended to turn the evil into good. He had given me opportunity to testify about God’s love through media, for two ministers of the Turkish government, hospital-personnel and journalists, and I was so grateful both for life and for the possibility to meet terror and hatred with the only effective remedy – love.

With some humour, I thought that it was a little bit sad that the projectile had gone through the knee. If it had still been in the knee and the surgeons were able to remove it, I could have kept it and engraved the reference "Gen 50:20". This thought was of course inspired by Lily, the wife of Samuel Logan Brengle, who kept the brick that was thrown at her husband and almost killed him. Brengle used the 18 months of convalescence to write his first book about holiness. Lily wrote the reference on the brick and they kept it for the rest of their lives.

Today’s ‘manna’:

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 Joh 4:11

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(1) The letterhead is from another greeting. It is from the tour-operator of the guided tour we followed when the bomb went of. They had noticed that I on Turkish TV that I would return since I only had completed half of the tour. The letter is filled with good wishes and a confirmation that they are ready to receive us when we return.