All Things Work Together

In celebration of SEAPC’s 30th anniversary, throughout the next 12 months, we will be sharing stories and testimonies of God’s goodness and faithfulness from friends around the nations! Each of these testimonies is like a stone of remembrance (Joshua 4) for all that He has accomplished. We are taking this year not just to look to the past, but also to praise God for what He has in store for us and those we serve in the years to come. We hope you enjoy these stories our friends have prepared each week!

\”And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.\”

Romans 8:28

For anyone who has been around Scripture at all, the above verse may be one of the most quoted. And why not? What an amazing sense of hope and peace from the promise that no matter what the trial, it will be to our benefit. Which is where this sometimes seems to fall apart. The last phrase, ‘according to his purpose’ is often left off. Because most of us want things to work out according to our own purposes. And yet, that is the crux of the verse. His purpose—his will—is the only true good we will ever know.

During this ongoing season of pandemic this is a verse that, although oft-quoted, is difficult to understand. People have died, been disabled, seen financial ruin, had lifestyles altered forever, cried out—and still the virus and aftereffects are evident in every nation. This is good? There’s a purpose? Really?

Bob Rosswog is one of SEAPC’s local friends who has for many years been a prayer warrior, mission traveler, and strong believer. Every Tuesday, when the Oakmont team assembles to pray for the nations, he is front and center. Until one day, when he didn’t show up. Covid-19 had come to call, not just knocking, but knocking him down.

Bob remembers the start of classic Covid symptoms and then collapsing at home. An ambulance rushed him to the Emergency Room and soon into Intensive Care. At SEAPC, we prayed. At the hospital, he fought. With medicine, transfusions, and the progress of the disease, he was in and out of Intensive Care.

Throughout this journey, he requested only one thing at his bedside. “All I wanted was my Bible. I was living in the ‘valley of the shadow of death.’”

In moments when he could, he prayed. And God answered. “Use this to glorify me,” God whispered into his soul.

Bob took this seriously. He began to talk to staff about the missions work he had done with SEAPC over the years. And he asked to pray for each individual who came to his bedside. Medical providers of other religions, those with faltering Christian faith or no faith at all, across ages, genders, and backgrounds. Each one received an offer of prayer. Many responded.

As healing spread through Bob’s body, he went to a rehabilitation facility to continue recovering. But the trial hadn’t ended. When severe abdominal pain attacked during a therapy session, he ended up back in the hospital. His gallbladder, which had become gangrenous, had to be surgically removed.

Because Bob’s life is a picture of what happens in the harvest of our faith, he praised God and gave him the glory for this added length of hospitalization. It gave him the opportunity to speak into more hearts for the Lord. There were lives to plow, seeds of faith to sow and water, and other harvests to anticipate. He prayed with a former MASH surgeon and another man raised in a Muslim home, among others. They professed faith in Jesus, with newfound love in their hearts for others.

During this time of total weakness and dependency, Bob states, “The Scriptures became real. The Holy Spirit is King Kong, even though my body was still needing to gain strength.”

The image of this small man, with a significant weight loss and gaunt face due to illness, filled with the might of the legendary movie beast of strength, is indeed an apt metaphor for God alive and active within all believers.

During the three months of Bob’s illness and hospitalization, even when too sick to pick up his head, he knew he had a purpose. “The Holy Spirit wanted to share the glory of God with others. Instead of taking me home with Covid, he sent me out.”

As Bob continues to gain strength, he has returned to pray at SEAPC’s Tuesday at Two prayer meetings. He hopes to prayer walk in China again. But he is content to submit to the leading of the Spirit.

And he has reaffirmed that Scripture is true. In his life, all things—including serious illnesses—have worked to Bob’s good according to God’s purpose. Covid has become a stone of remembrance on the altar of Bob’s service to the Lord.