Burkina Faso: Trusting Him in Turbulent Times
Adapted from a report by an Alliance worker who serves in West Africa
Many of you have read about the terrorist attack in Ouagadougou, which targeted a popular downtown restaurant and hotel Friday night, leaving 28 dead and 56 wounded.
Close to Home
My husband and I were in another neighborhood that night, but we often have eaten at the restaurant where the attack took place. Several years ago our Alliance mission held a Field Forum (annual conference) in that hotel.
Saturday evening we learned that a ministry partner, Mike Riddering, was killed during the attack. He and his wife, Amy, have served in Burkina with Sheltering Wings, running an orphanage and women’s crisis center in Yako, about 70 miles north of Ougadougou.
Our Ouaga Envision team members have been good friends with the Ridderings and often brought short-term teams to their orphanage for ministry. We have taken teams there as well.
On the same day as the attacks in the city, an Australian couple, who have served faithfully for decades in Burkina, was abducted by extremists. Please pray that God will protect Ken and Jocelyn Elliot, and that they will be released soon.
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
It’s easier to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you when you aren’t feeling very persecuted—when those who would like to harm you are “over there.” But when it hits close to home, Jesus’ words force us to make a choice: Will I choose love or will I let hate reign instead?
Will I pray for my enemies, pleading that God will open eyes and save souls? Or will I harden my heart and not care that they are lost for eternity?
How Will I Respond?
Maybe this is what “loving your enemies” means. We don’t have to like them; we can abhor what they do. But does my heart ache when I think about what they are facing for eternity, completely lost and separated from God forever?
It is not a matter of desiring justice. Justice will come; if not in this life, then in the next. This is not my personal battle—my sovereign God has that one covered.
My battle is internal. How will I respond, based on what Jesus has said? Am I willing to go down that path where Christ calls us to go? In our human strength, this is impossible. With God’s grace, and relying on Him to help us, it is possible. He makes all the difference.
Thank you!
We thank all who have been praying. We have felt those prayers and seen the answers as we have walked through these difficult days. We have a peace that is unexplainable—God is carrying us.
We may never understand why evil seems to have the upper hand at times, but we do know in those times that God is there and God is good. He understands the “whys?” that we don’t, and that is enough.
We choose to trust and remember that the one who has called us is faithful, and He will do it (see 1 Thessalonians 5:24).
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Update: January 16, 2016—BBC News reports that the Splendid Hotel, along with another nearby hotel and café in Burkina Faso’s capital city of Ouagadougou, was attacked by religious extremists on Friday, January 15. Latest reports indicate that 28 people, including four of the terrorists, were killed and 56 injured in the attack and ensuing effort to secure the hotel. Burkinabè President Roch Kabore, who arrived at the scene on Saturday morning, reported that at least 150 hostages had been liberated.
While no Alliance workers were injured, one worker from another partner organization lost his life in the attack. Please pray for his wife and several young children as they process this loss. Pray for Alliance workers as they reach out to this family. Also, a couple working with another missions organization in northern Burkina was taken hostage. Please pray for their rescue and protection.
Alliance worker Alice Brokopp writes, “Pray for the families of all those killed and wounded in the attack . . . for forgiveness, love, not a reaction in bitterness . . . Pray that God will somehow use these events to advance His Kingdom. May this and other attacks not be in vain, and as they spread, may His love and hope be shown through His people. May our reaction not be one of FEAR, but of LOVE.”
As more information becomes available, updates will be posted to this site.