We spent the whole morning running from office to office to get our work permit and visa stamped in our passports in the capital city Nairobi. Finally, after we had gone through the tedious process and had completed everything, I just wanted to go to one more store to order curtains before we made the rough 2-hour road trip, back to the little African town we lived. I left Chris and the girls in the car to do the last errands.
A few minutes later, we were on our way home. As we started, I looked back at the children and realized that the door next to Melissa’s Infant Car seat was not closed properly. We quickly stopped at the side of the road to shut it properly. It was at that moment; we realized that we had been robbed. My purse, which I left right under the Infant Car seat, had been stolen! I just broke down in discouragement. My handbag that contained all our documents (Passports, Marriage certificate, birth certificates for the kids, work permit and visa – the things that you definitely don’t want to lose in Africa) was gone. I said, “Lord, why did you let this happen to us? We struggled for so long to get all that paper stuff together – we just got everything a couple of hours ago……”
The Holy Spirit immediately spoke to me: “I protected your baby!!! It could have been your baby they had stolen!” You cannot imagine the relief that came into my heart that very second. All my discouragement immediately changed into praise and thanksgiving. Yes, we had been robbed, but the Lord still had his hand on everything and protected my children. Just a few days later, we received a phone call from the German Embassy. Our key documents were found in a trash can in one of the city parks and given to the Embassy. It was not long before we had all our documents intact again. (by Simone Franz)
For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. Psalm 91:11 KJV
