For Walk Thru the Bible, launching a resource in a new country is like skipping a stone across a large pond. We give it as much momentum as we can, we train instructors, we equip as we can, but it’s hard to gauge how much distance is covered until the ripples start to extend outward. We never know how God is going to use these new resources, where these courses will be taught, and how they will impact lives, but we do know that He does and will use them.
When Walk Thru the Bible President Phil Tuttle traveled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to launch Chosen: When God Calls Your Name (our Bible study on the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus), we had prayed that this study of Mary would give hope to people who experienced great uncertainty about God’s purpose for their lives. As we had hoped, as Phil taught the course, the study proved to be a useful tool for breaking down barriers between Catholics and Protestants. Chosen helped Hondurans from diverse spiritual, social, and economic backgrounds identify with Mary, her desire to be used by God, and her faithfulness to His purposes.
After Phil returned to the U.S., we prayed that God would use Chosen to touch the lives of people all over Honduras. One month later, He answered this prayer in a powerful way, one that we did not expect.
Two Walk Thru the Bible instructors named Nora and Celia answered God’s call. They were given the opportunity to teach Chosen in a women’s prison. Located in a small mountainous town just outside the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, the prison managed to squeeze 485 women into a facility built to house a maximum of 200.
In the thick misery of these over-crowded quarters, God had gone before Nora and Celia, and had prepared the hearts of the women to hear His truth. For an entire day, Nora and Celia taught every session of Chosen in a prison auditorium with great conviction. The third session, “When Life Breaks Your Heart,” seemed to resonate most painfully with the audience. By the end of the day, tears and repentance flowed freely. Many of the prisoners resolved to live their lives differently based on what they had heard through the teaching, and 20 of them committed their lives to Christ that day.
While many of the ripples from Chosen’s Honduran launch remain to be seen, God gave Walk Thru the Bible the privilege of watching Him work through the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Though they remain enclosed within the four narrow walls of a Honduran prison, 20 more women experienced true freedom for the first time ever that day. Instead of spending days in sadness and regret, they praised God for the gift of His Son, Jesus. Now, they live with the assurance that God has chosen them for a unique purpose, and they are trusting His plan for their lives moving forward.
