Missionary Plea: Send Me Where No One Wants To Go

THE CAROLE WARD STORY Book Review:

The missionary plea of Carole Ward was simple: send me where no one wants to go. Written by Barbara H. Martin, Send Me Where No One Wants To Go: The Carole Ward Story is true to its claim of reading like a modern-day book of Acts. This inspirational book shows the miraculous happenings of God’s movement due to one missionary’s devout commitment to Almighty God.

Have you ever wondered if God only performed miracles in the Bible?

Do you wonder if God is still on the move today?

Have you wished for a deeper relationship with God, but didn’t know how?

Have you questioned the importance of prayer and if God hears your prayers?

After reading this book, Carole Ward’s living example will show you the results of fervent, consistent prayer and the love of God still on the move today in mighty and miraculous ways. Carole Ward truly inspires us to walk as Jesus walked and perhaps most importantly, shows us how.

The Beginning

The Lord led Carole Ward to missionary work in southern Uganda. There, she made a difference in the lives of students from Uganda, Kenya, Congo, Rwanda, and Sudan. However, she knew in her heart that she was supposed to go where no one else wanted to go.

Missionary Plea

She continued to pray for the calling on her heart of being sent where no one wanted to go. She returned to the United States at the end of her time and continued in prayer. Although she had no immediate answer from God, she persisted in faith. She knew she would return to Uganda but to the vastly different and unsafe northern region. Carole asked the American Embassy about going to northern Uganda. They told her, “There is no chance for you to return to this country except in a body bag.”

The danger was due to the evil Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony, a self-proclaimed worshiper of Satan. The LRA had displaced thousands of villagers who sought refuge in Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps, housing 10-60 thousand people. The LRA and IDP had existed 20 years before Carole Ward’s work began in 2004.

Leading by Example

Throughout this inspiring book, the message is clear: as we follow God, He will…

We can trust God. He is faithful. When Carole left for Uganda, her daughter placed a paper in her hand: “I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.” – from Acts 26:19.

The message is also clear in this book that we must wait on the Lord, neither racing ahead nor lagging behind His prompting. Carole traveled along dangerous roads avoiding ambush and kidnapping. Nevertheless, she continued in order to come against the stronghold of Islam and the demonic powers of witchcraft. In a land of witchcraft, she demonstrates “how the Name of Jesus is still stronger than Satan’s forces”. The Lord provided the protection and the means in His perfect timing for His purpose and for His glory.

Power of Prayer

Carole Ward’s missionary work and leadership started with prayer at each moment. Work was organized after prayer, and relied on prayer individually, with fellow workers, as a community, and in large rallies of thousands. Prayer was the priority that came first. Life centered around prayer. As the book notes, “Andrew Murray quoted years ago, ‘We are no greater than our prayer life.'”

God gives us the ability to make choices about our time, values, and beliefs. Choosing prayer, makes all the difference. According to Ms. Ward, “What God made possible over the many years I have served in Uganda, South Sudan and the surrounding regions, was done because of fervent, consistent prayer. This type of communion did not bring God closer to me and my team, it brought us closer to Him and made us realize our total dependence on Him.”

Testimony

Through many testimonies of transformation, Send Me Where No One Wants To Go: The Carole Ward Story gives a close-up view of God’s power to save and transform. The testimonies of villagers who escaped abduction, killings, and unspeakable torture shows the power of God to save, to heal, to guide and to overcome.

Grappling with life’s difficult questions, villagers asked, “Where was God? How could He allow such horror and cruelty?” To these questions, Deuteronomy 30:15-20 was shared. When it was stated that God couldn’t possibly understand, Hebrews 4:15 and Isaiah 51:3 were discussed. And when “asked if it was really possible to forgive and go on with life”, Carole Ward’s ministry shared Romans 8:26-28.

Carole’s missionary work goes beyond witnessing.

Her ministry includes the establishment of Favor of God International which trains ministry leaders and brings the message of salvation, hope, and healing through trauma counseling, education, medical assistance, giving out Bibles, Bible translation, a radio ministry, building churches, houses of prayer, portable Bible schools, women empowerment programs, vocational training, Bible colleges, indigenous ministries, and more!

Waging War

The ministry established by Favor of God International waged war on the strongholds of Satan throughout northern Uganda and beyond in order to reclaim the land for God. In Carole’s words, the battle “was not fought with guns and rockets, but with the weapons of spiritual warfare…To win this war, we did not use our own strength or power, but we fought on our knees and in the precious Name of Jesus, like Daniel, Jacob, Paul, Jesus, and so many others.”

Their motto was, “Dreams are made in the dark, lonely prayer closets when it’s just you, God, and the calling; believing in a vision with tangible promises and intangible evidence, until vision becomes reality.” They took “back the territory the enemy had stolen by coming against the forces of darkness so prevalent in their nation.”

Summary

This story of Carole Ward’s missionary work notes that although God’s love is unconditional, faithful, and merciful, we do have a condition as shown in Deuteronomy 28:1, 2 Chronicles 7:14, and 1 John 1:9. That condition is “If” we pray, listen, obey, and confess our sins, God is faithful and just. Prayer “brings the power of the living God in a mighty, miraculous way to change, create and rebuild His Kingdom” regardless of which country it is.

The choice to serve God did not bring Him closer to Carole Ward and her ministry partners. It brought them “closer to Him and made us realize our total dependence on Him.”