When the Indonesian revival started, many received prophecies from the Lord that He would send us from Indonesia all over the world. I was not chosen until team number 42 because the Lord wanted me to get my motives right. One day I was desperate.
“Lord, why don’t You choose me?” I asked.
The Lord spoke to me in a still, small voice. “Mel, your motives are wrong. You want to serve Me, but not in the hard places of the jungles. You want to go all over the world, and that is not right. So I cannot use you now.” Finally I repented of this silly motive, and I was called to be a member of a team.
God’s Call to America
Two years after that, God told me that I was to go to the United States. By that time, I had lost interest in leaving Indonesia. My mind was confused with ideas I had gotten from the missionaries. They said if any of us went to America we would be spoiled by the money, the cars, and the other luxuries that almost everyone in America enjoyed. But after weeks of reading the Bible and praying, I realized that to come to America was God’s plan for me. Still, God made me wait. He made it very clear that I was to come to the United States in 1970 and not before.
In 1969, a family in America sent a telegram and money for my flight, but the Lord said very clearly, “Don’t take it!” I thanked them, but said, “I am sorry. This is not God’s time.”
“Mel, you are stupid,” my friends told me. “If the money came in, it was from God, and you should have taken it. Don’t you want to go?”
“Sure I want to go to America, but now isn’t God’s time!” I replied. One year after that, the Lord said to me, “Now is the time to go!” So I went to the fellowship for confirmation.”
God’s Provision Opens the Way
One night after we had prayed together in the church, the Lord said, “Go now! Prepare to leave the day after tomorrow.” “Oh no, God, this is impossible,” I replied.
“There is no way I could ever raise that much money so soon. I do not have one single coin in my pocket.” But the Lord insisted.
The first big thing I needed was transportation to the capital city of Timor, which is Kupang. Kupang is about 70 miles from my village of Soe. At that time the Lord spoke to two sisters in Djakarta and told them that I needed help. They were told to fly to Kupang, hire a jeep, go to Soe, and bring Mel Tari back to Djakarta.
They flew the 1,500 miles to Timor. They arrived at my home that night. At this same time received a cable from America that said, MONEY HAS BEEN PUT IN BANK AT KUPANG FOR YOU TO GO TO DJAKARTA. ROUND TRIP TICKET TO AMERICA AT PAN AM TICKET COUNTER. This cable came from a family I had never heard of. The Lord had just spoken to them, saying, “Send money to Indonesia to bring Mel Tari here.” They had never met me, but they obeyed the Lord and sent the money.
A Miracle Visa
When I arrived in Djakarta, I really had a problem. How was I going to get a visa to America? I had no sponsor! I went to the American vice-consul. “Who is going to sponsor you?” he asked.
“The Lord Jesus,” I replied.
“He’s a nice guy, maybe,” he said. “But we cannot accept Him as your sponsor.” I left the office that morning without a visa.
After lunch and much prayer, the Lord told me to go back to the consulate and ask the second time for my visa.
When I returned, the vice-consul was gone, and I talked to a woman. She turned out to be the consul. “Who is your sponsor?” she asked.
“The Lord Jesus,” I replied.
Without hesitation, she wrote out my visa and handed it to me. This is how God provided for me!
Miraculous Monday: 12th September 2022
Miraculous Monday 008
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