(Religion Today Editor)
She
called prison "the most terrorizing" experience of her life, but also
"the greatest privilege."
4/12/2001
: It was supposed to be a night of intercession. Instead, some 800 people crowded into Vienna (Va.) Presbyterian
Church Dec. 3 to praise the Lord for Heather Mercer's
rescue from Afghanistan and to hear her gripping
testimony.
"We
originally set this date to pray for Heather's release, but
God intervened," said Pastor Peter G. James. "Not all
prayers turn out the way we want. This time though, God
said a resounding 'yes' - and so we celebrate. Yet this
service is not about Heather. It's about the God she
serves."
Indeed,
"This is a story about Jesus and who He is and what He's done," Mercer said as she began sharing
the saga that took her from
northern Virginia to Texas to
Afghanistan.
"This is a story about the sovereignty of God - His desire to make Himself known in all the earth. And
God used a few simple people who
love Him and obeyed Him to not only change us, but to change a whole nation and
to touch the four corners of the
earth."
Mercer's
journey began when she accepted Christ as her savior while a sophomore at
Madison High School in Vienna. She
said that earlier in her life, she knew of Jesus, but didn't know Him in her
heart. During the first few years of
high school, Mercer faced some tough situations in her family. "And
personally I had a lot of struggles with who I
was ... your typical teenager trying to find her place in life ...
very insecure."
A
group of friends continued to love her unconditionally and invited her to
church. At a Christian concert her sophomore year, Mercer heard a man speak
about God's unconditional love.
"For the first time, that message hit my heart" and she said
"yes" to Jesus. "I didn't know what that meant, really. I just
knew that I needed Him."
Afterward,
she was discipled, attended Bible Study and learned the faith at both McLean
Bible Church and Vienna Presbyterian. She went on to college at Baylor
university. Mercer soon got plugged in at Antioch Community Church in Waco,
Texas, where she "really grew up in the
Lord." That was also where
she got her first exposure to international missions, via trips to Mexico and
eastern Europe, then Pakistan and Afghanistan.
On
these trips, she realized God's love and good news "is not just for me in
America" but for the uttermost parts of the earth and for every tribe and
nation.
Mercer
prayed, "God, if you will use me, if you'll take my simple little life and
let me go into places where no one else wants to go ... I want to go to the
places where no one has ever heard Your name."
As
Mercer was trying to decide whether to commit her whole life to full-time
missions
work,
she told God, "No more hints. I need a lightning bolt." Well, just
then, someone at church stood up and told the congregation that the senior
pastor wasn't there that
day.
Instead, they would hear about what God is doing on the earth through missions.
Zap.
"It
was so simple, but it was at that moment that I knew," says Mercer. "I
knew, I knew, I knew what God was saying. He was saying, 'This is what you are
meant for, this is what you are created for, and I want you to go.'
“I
wasn't too excited at first, mind you," she said, laughing, but over the
next two years
her
conviction grew to a point of "burning desire." She thought of the
millions of people around the world who have never heard about God's love.
"It was like God was showing me how broken His heart was that people didn't
know Him."
Where
No One Else Will Go
Mercer
described that moment as a stepping-stone toward the life to come. Meanwhile,
during her junior year of college, she became specifically interested in
Afghanistan after hearing some people at her church talk about their work there.
"I had been thinking, ‘God -- give me the place on the map where no one
else will go.' And God put His finger on Afghanistan."
She
first traveled there in 1998, which was another tumultuous time in Afghan
history.
All
of the aid organizations were forced to evacuate because of pressure from the
Taliban. "So I got a little taste of what was to come." It was during
that trip that Mercer fell in love with the Afghan people, and she was indelibly
moved by the poverty, illness and hurt she saw.
Following
college graduation and two years of additional training, Mercer returned to
Afghanistan.
She
said her goal was to meet the practical needs of the people and serve them in
everyday ways. Then, if and when relationships were established, she would share
what the Lord had done in her life. "The needs of the people were
overwhelming," Mercer added. The aid group worked in simple ways - passing
out food and medicine, praying for the sick, helping people find jobs.
"It
was these interactions that landed us in prison on Aug. 3," she continued.
A family begged the workers to come to their home to "dialogue about their
faith." Mercer, Dayna
Curry
and the others agreed. "They had never heard in their life that God loved
them," Mercer explained. Watching a video about Jesus, the family was
amazed to learn about hope and eternal life.
Lessons
in Prison
As
Mercer and the others left the family's home and she got into a taxi, the
Taliban was
waiting.
It was Aug. 3. She was arrested "for preaching Christ" and thrown into
jail.
"I
thought I knew the risks," said Mercer. "I knew that Afghanistan was a
dangerous place. I knew that prison could be a reality. But it happened a lot
sooner than I expected it would."
She
called prison "the most terrorizing" experience of her life, but the
24-year-old also said "it was the greatest privilege" of her life.
"If the world gave me all it had to offer, I would not trade it in."
God not only changed her and the others through the jail term, but He changed a
nation and touched the world.
"I
stand in awe at all the millions around the world who have heard this story and
have had the opportunity to see that God works miracles and that God answers
prayers."
Mercer
continued, "It was God who put us in prison. It was not the Taliban. He
used them for His greater purpose. Now I am seeing more of what that purpose
is."
Prison
life was hard. She won't deny that. Fear was a constant struggle and she admits
to being terrified during the interrogations. Mercer also battled doubt and
wondered, "Why?" when the situation intensified. She cried out:
"God, are you really real? Are you who you say you are? Do you really
answer prayer?"
During
this phase, Mercer described herself as "a mess." There were days she
felt she'd rather be dead. "I fought with God. I fought with Him hard. And
I lost."
That was the turning point, when she surrendered it all to Him. "I had the choice to either grow up and find God in the situation, or to become bitter. I chose to find God. He built character in us and gave us hope. And I experienced freedom like I never knew before."
Clinging
to Scripture, she continued to pray, "I will not die. I will live, and I
will proclaim what He did."
And
now she is. God has given Heather Mercer "an amazing platform" to
proclaim His glory. This self-described "simple servant" says she
never thought she had anything to offer. "I hope the world sees that we are
not heroes, but because of our obedience, He used us." And through this
story, "God is telling the world that He is real, that He answers prayer
and that He works miracles."
Editor's
Note: After concluding her testimony, Mercer gave the audience the
opportunity to accept Christ. She led a salvation prayer and challenged those
who were already Christians to be used by the Lord "wherever you are."
In an interview following the service, Mercer shared that she longs to return to
missions work overseas, but for now, needs time to process and heal with her
family. She is seeking the Lord's will for the future but doesn't think she
wants to spend the rest of her life telling this story. Her heart is to serve,
once more, the Afghan people.