The Second Coming

In what seemed like one second after we passed away, all of a sudden the Lord himself came down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and all the dead in Christ rose. After that, those who were still alive and were left were caught up together with us in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. We saw all of our friends who had passed away. He changed our vile bodies to be like His glorious body. Time was no more. And so this is how our eternal life started.

No More Food

We have been hiding out for two weeks and our food supply has been gone for two days. Our stomachs are growling. I am growing weak. Sapphire can't even get up from her mat. We are starving.  I use all my strength to go outside the cave and collect rain water in my hands. I force the children to swallow the few drops of water I can gather. Another day passes. Still no food. I cry out to God. There is no more rain. There is nothing to keep us alive. Samuel and I are to weak to even stand. Sapphire is too weak to sit up. They try to cry, but no tears come out. Another day passes. How are we even alive? I hold Sapphire and Samuel in my arms. The radio quietly plays in the background. We pray together one last time. I pray for everything to be okay. I fall asleep with the twins in my arms. 

Martial Law

I slowly open my eyes... Where am I? I find myself laying alongside the other two children in a cave. I notice a hat lying nearby... It's from the old man on the train! He must have carried us here after we fell asleep. The two kids are sleeping peacefully on mats. "But.. What... Who... Why...?" I stutter to myself. I offer up a prayer of thanksgiving to God. A small radio that must have been smuggled from somewhere is blaring something about martial law. Sapphire, age 5 wakes up yawning. Her twin brother Samuel wakes up and starts crying. I put the back of my hand to his forehead- he has a fever. I scan the cave and find a sack of potatoes. An angel is all I can think. Us three are the only survivors. I kneel down and pray for guidance on what I should do next. I thank God for being magnanimous to us.

The Storm

"One...two...three...JUMP!" I whisper into the night. All eight of us jump one by one onto the moving train and crawl into a storage car, which fortunately for us, is full of food. About two hours into the ride the wind outside gets really loud. I groggily wake up. What is going on? I think to myself. "There's a storm brewing." A raspy voices whispers and we all jump. "Who are you?" I ask. We move a sack or potatos to to the side and find an old man sitting there. What in the world...?! "I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm hitchhiking on this here train too. So just leave me be." The man explains. I want to ask him more questions but decide not to bother him. As the wind outside gets louder our group huddles together. Then it started. CRASH! BOOM! CRACK! The trees all around us snap and break like toothpicks. The wind picks up and suddenly the roof of the train car we are in flies off. Everyone is screaming. I open my eyes and then rain and hail starts falling from the sky. We huddle together as best we can because the train car is still moving. The train car starts to flood. I close my eyes and pray. The train car is bumping over trees and then flies off the tracks. Two people fly out of the train car into the darkness. Then three more get tossed out like rag dolls. Now it is just me and two whimpering children huddled together. I want to cry but I can't. I'm shivering cold and wet. After the storm dies down we just sit there in the train car and somehow fall asleep.

The Relocation

My group and I have to relocate because winter is drawing near. We are moving down south in hopes of keeping warm. Tomorrow we are packing up all of our stuff and in two days from now we start our journey. It is sure to be a tumultuous day. Our new conditions will be better because the place we are going will be warmer than the place we are now. Everyone who was originally in our group will be continuing on with us. Fortunately, no one has died. We will not be walking that far but will be secretly riding a train directly there. The only obstacle we will be facing On the movie is quietly sneaking on the train with all of our belongings. We trust that God will bring us safely to our destination. Traveling is hard, but our group only consists of 8 people which will make it easier for us to sneak on the train. All we have to do is sneak into the food compartment. We will be boarding and exiting the train at night, so the darkness will hopefully conceal us. It is somewhat hard to decide what possessions to take and what possessions to leave, but when this problem arises, we look to this Bible verse: “Don’t store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them. But store your treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. (Matthew 6:19, 20 NCV)

The Conflict

 Dear Diary,

The Baptists are persecuting us. We are Seventh Day Adventists. We have hope that Jesus is coming back to Earth. This conflict is all about contrasting religions beliefs. Just because us Adventists have different beliefs than those in charge we have to suffer. Well we knew this would happen- it says it in God's word. He said blessed are those wo are persecuted for His name. We will continue to stand up for our beliefs despite these challenges. Even though we are weak physically, we are strong spiritually. God has constantly provided for our needs time and time again. When we make it out of this situation, we will have powerful testimony. The sick have been healed and money just keeps coming in. I know that everything will be okay and that God works out everything for my good. Do I think this conflict will be resolved? I'm not sure. All I know is God has a plan and He is in full control. The devil is trying to kill us but we won't be shaken. Here's a poem I wrote:

I am not alone.

I know that God is with me.

He will give me rest.

Someone is ill...

Someone in our group fell ill! Her name is Sophia. We needed a special plant to treat her illness. We needed a doctor and some medicine, but lacked both. Sophia's health was steadily declining. She is only 5 years old but had a very rare and life threatening disease that requires treatment. Everyone was in a panic. Everything was in chaos. Will we ever find peace in this storm? "Everyone please be quiet." Sophia whispered. All the noise died down and all was quiet. I walked up to her side. "Yes Sophia tell us what you need?" I say. "I don't need a doctor, or special medicine. Because I have a Healer, His name is Jesus.". We are all quite ashamed because no one has taken the time to pray for Sophia. In that moment, we all get down on our knees and take turns sending up prayers for Sophia and asking that God's will be done. A couple of days later, Sophia was back to her happy, bubbly, normal self. Because of this miracle, our faith has been strengthened. Despite our trials and temptations, we are constantly sing praises of thanksgiving every day to God.