A recent kidnapping is an open opportunity for God’s grace.

The believers were praying intensely. One from their midst, a young girl named Lucy, had been abducted.

The believers from Wusuraambya Bible Church gathered to pray for Lucy. They prayed that she would be delivered in the same way that the apostle Peter was once delivered from jail by an angel. They had read it in the book of Acts.

Canadian missionary Andrew Goud says that they agreed together that—unlike the believers in Peter’s story—they needed to truly believe God for deliverance.

“As a result of their prayers,” says Andrew, “Lucy’s abductor had a sense of many enemies surrounding him, causing him to keep very careful watch of Lucy. Nevertheless, on the fourth day of captivity, Lucy was able to escape.

But here the story takes an unusual turn. Her abductor, Andrew writes, showed up and asked to talk to him. He asked Andrew questions about a police report, confused about what law he had broken.

After Andrew explained the laws about kidnapping and abduction, he shared with the man that the church had been praying for Lucy and that was why she had been able to escape.

Andrew reminded him that his days on earth were numbered and asked him what kind of legacy he wanted to leave behind him.

“I told him about the apostle Paul who was a murderer of God’s people, but was saved by the grace of God and went on to do many great things,” Andrew says.

The man listened intently as Andrew read from God’s Word the story of Paul’s conversion. Then he asked the abductor if the believers could pray for him that God would change him, too.

“He left us that night with tears in his eyes and a Bible in his hands, which he has been reading,” Andrew shares. “Please pray for his salvation.”