Safe Because Someone Prayed

Ron Hittenberger on his way to a remote village in Haiti

From the World Missions Archives

By Ron Hittenberger

The message written on the Christmas card surprised me.

“What happened to you last February?” the writer asked. “One day as I was returning from work the Lord impressed me to pray for you. I felt that you were in mortal danger.”

I turned the card over. Its sender was a man in Arizona. As far as I could remember I had never met the man or heard from him before.

But I certainly remembered what had happened to me the preceding February!

I had gone with Theagene, a district presbyter, to minister in a remote region in southwest Haiti. We had started very early and traveled on horseback for hours to reach a mountain village in time for an afternoon service. When we arrived, the mud-and-thatch church was full of people, many of whom had walked for hours to attend the meeting.

That afternoon we enjoyed a blessed time of worship. After we dismissed the service, Theagene and I were approached by a pastor whose church was a two-hour journey farther into the mountains. Knowing how seldom we were able to reach this area, he begged us to go on to his church for another service while we were so near. In fact, he had already announced to his congregation that we would come!

Although it was late and we were hours away from the little town of Belle Riviere where we were to spend the night, we could not disappoint him by refusing his request.

When we reached his church we found that it too was filled with people. They had walked over some of Haiti’s roughest terrain to be in the service. Theagene and I ministered to them, and God sent another gracious outpouring of His Spirit.

This service concluded very late in the afternoon, and Theagene and I started back to Belle Riviere. Soon we were riding through pitch-black darkness. Cautiously we picked our way along a trail that followed the brink of a ravine. We knew there were drop-offs up to 500 feet.

HORSE WENT BERSERK AND RAN OUT OF CONTROL

It had been a long day. Even though my horse had been fed and given water, and I thought was in good condition, suddenly he went berserk and started to run. I tried to rein him in, but it was impossible. I could only cling to the saddle and in desperation cry out, “Jesus! Jesus!” The horse ran full speed through the darkness down that precipitous trail. I knew that the slightest misstep would plunge us both to our deaths.

For two hours I was hurtled through that starless night. Theagene, hurrying to keep up, was unable to do anything to help.

When we finally reached Belle Riviere and the horses stopped, we were exhausted and trembling. But we were safe. This, I knew, was a miracle.

MIRACULOUS DELIVERY BECAUSE SOMEONE PRAYED

But I had not realized the extent of the miracle until I read the message on the Christmas greeting. Impressed by the Holy Spirit that I was in danger, this man had gone home, fallen on his knees, and prayed. For two hours he interceded for me until he was assured by the Holy Spirit that the danger, whatever it had been, was past. He mentioned the time, and it was the very same two hours that my horse had been racing so madly through the night.

I rejoiced in the knowledge that God cared enough to alert someone to pray and that someone had been obedient to the prompting of the Spirit. Undoubtedly, this man’s prayers saved my life.

Reprinted from Mountain Movers, November/December 1995

Ron and Carolyn Hittenberger are AGWM missionaries to Latin America and the Caribbean.