LEOLA'S RENEWED STRENGTH
"They that wait upon the Lord...Isaiah 40:31

      On a particular morning I awakened with the thought that this was going to be an exciting and wonderful day.  I said to Karen, my partner, "Aren't you excited?  We're going on a tour to the Great Wall of China today."

      "It's going to be an interesting trip," she replied.  Then she added, "We'd better got moving if we're going to be at the Beijing train station by 6:00am."

      After a simple breakfast, which, in no way resembled an American fare by any stretch of the imagination, we piled into taxis and sped off for the train station, arriving in plenty of time to procure our tickets for the Wall Tour.

      As we waited to board our bus, I was relishing the warmth of the autumn sun when I happened to glance over at Lorene and Leola, the other two grandmothers in our group.  I noticed that Leola looked pale and wore an expression of such weariness, I feared she might faint.  Hurrying to her side, I said, "Leola, are you all right?"

      Dejectedly she replied, "I don't know if I can make the trip...I feel so weak and tired, my whole body aches."   Just at that moment a Scripture song popped into my mind from Isaiah 40:31.  I began singing it to Leola almost in a whisper, since we were Bible couriers traveling as tourists from America and were not to reveal our true mission.  I sang:

                                    They that wait upon the Lord
                                          shall renew their strength!
                                    They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
                                          They shall run and not be weary.
                                    They shall walk and not faint.
                                          Teach me, Lord. Teach me, Lord, to wait.

            Leola kept asking me to sing it again, and, again, until I had sung it five times. Each time I sang the song to her she grew stronger, and soon joined in singing along with me.  Her countenance changed before my very eyes as the Lord strengthened her weary body.  We both knew that God had renewed her strength as we sang this Scripture song.

      I was really astonished because I had no idea the word of God was so powerful, though I had read in the Bible that it is more powerful than a two-edged sword.

      We began laughing, and, as we looked up from our huddle we were surprised to see about twenty-five Chinese men gathered around us, straining to hear our song.  We could not determine whether they understood, but they were all smiling as though they had enjoyed our singing.  Who's to say what God's word might have done in their hearts?

      It did turn out to be a truly wonderful day.  As we toured the Great Wall,  Leola's new-found strength and joyful responses were a blessing to all of us.

      Nothing is impossible with God!  How awesome are His deeds!