1983 - Miraculous Provision and a Prophetic Introduction
In 1983, shortly after God
gave us the promise to “open the windows of heaven,” I (Eddie) received an
invitation to speak at a conference in NE India and I accepted. This was my
first overseas travel and I was responsible for all my expenses.
I went to a local travel agency and they put together a travel
itinerary and told me what the cost would be. They said I could pay when I
picked up the ticket. This was a relief since we had no money in reserve and no
credit cards.
To cover the cost, we sent out a letter to family and
friends inviting them to donate to this mission to India. People responded and
enough money came in to cover my ticket; but at this point the inflow seemed to
stop.
When the day of my departure arrived, I had only $30.00 above the
cost of my ticket. This posed a problem since I had an overnight stay in London
and two nights in Kolkata (Calcutta) where I had to apply for a special
travel permit. I then had two overnight stays on my return flight home. So, I
needed money to cover 5 nights in hotels and food for four days, and I only had
$30.00.
I have found that there are times when God will put a supernatural determination down in your soul about a situation and this is what I
experienced. There was never a question in my mind whether I would go. I was
determined to go even if I had to sleep on the sidewalks in London and Kolkata.
My flight departed around 4 pm and the plan was for Sue to chauffeur
me to the airport and stop on the way and pick up my ticket. We waited at home
as long as we could thinking someone might come knocking on our door and say,
“God told me to bring you this offering.”
This never happened, so we loaded my luggage and headed for the
travel agency and airport. On the way, we stopped at the post office thinking
there could be a monetary gift in the mail. I opened our box, and it was empty
I still remember getting in the car and saying to Sue, “God has
ways to meet our need besides the post office.” However, at this point I could
not imagine what it would be. It seemed that the post office was His final
opportunity to come through.
We stopped next at the travel agency and the clerk who was
handling my itinerary seemed all in a tizzy. She said, “I have been trying to
call you since last night.” I asked, “What is the problem.” She replied that
she had to completely change my itinerary because of political unrest in a
certain part of India.
I asked, “When do I get to Guwahati?” She replied, “You still
arrive there at the same time, but I had to change your routing.” I informed
her that everything was OK so long as I arrived in Guwahati at the scheduled
time.
As she was typing the new itinerary, a question came to mind and I
asked, “What is the difference in the cost of this new itinerary?” She finished
typing my itinerary and it turned out to be $300.00 less than the one before.
So, I walked out of the travel agency with my ticket and over
$300.00 in cash. God had opened the windows of heaven. He had provided in a way
I could never have dreamed or imagined. Sue drove me to the airport, and I flew
out for my first overseas mission.
After
stops in London and Kolkata, I arrived in Guwahati,
Assam at the appointed time. From there, I took a two-hour bus ride through the
Khasi Hills to the city of Shillong in the state of Meghalaya. I was scheduled
to minister for 10 days among the Khasi people in their churches and in their
yearly conference. I stayed in the home of my host, Dr. R. Joseph Skinner, who
was the pastor and overseer of about 50 churches and Doulos Bible College.
On
Saturday night, before my first meeting on Sunday morning, God gave me a word
of prophecy to speak forth in that service. Interestingly, I knew that the
message I had been given was an interpretation to a tongue. I Corinthians 14:5
tells us that tongues with interpretation is equal to prophecy, and I knew that
I was to wait for a message in tongues before speaking the prophetic message I
had been given.
This
raised the question in my own mind as to how I would know when somebody gave a
message in tongues, since I knew nothing of the Khasi language. In addition, I
did not know for sure if they practiced messages in tongues and interpretations in their
services.
I
went to the church service the next morning in faith and with a determination
to be spiritually alert and see how things would unfold. The small building was
packed with every seat filled and people standing shoulder to shoulder, filling
every nook and cranny.
I
stood alongside several Indian pastors and leaders on the platform and someone began leading the congregation in singing worship songs in the Khasi tongue. The worship was
very passionate and fervent, and I recognized some of the songs by their
melody.
At
the close of the singing there was an extended time of fervent, corporate
prayer. The crescendo of prayer eventually subsided until everything became
still and quiet. It was an ominous sort of stillness and no one moved or spoke,
including the leaders on the platform.
Suddenly,
out in the congregation, the silence was broken by someone speaking in a
beautiful, melodious tone. I was alert and thought to myself, “That
sounds like a message in tongues.”
I
then stepped to the microphone and gave the interpretation I had been given the
night before, which was a word of encouragement to that congregation. I
finished speaking and one of the Khasi pastors stepped forward and interpreted
to the people in their language what I had said. Shortly thereafter, I was
introduced and peached my first sermon in India.
After
the service, I wanted to know for sure that I had interpreted a message in
tongues. I, therefore, asked my host, Dr. Skinner, about it. He replied, “Yes, that person spoke in an
unknown tongue. She was not speaking Khasi.” Wow! God had worked the
prophetic gift through two people of different languages and cultures who had
never met! And it flowed so seamlessly.
God used this manifestation of prophecy to introduce me to the Khasi people. It brought an immediate acceptance and respect that I could not have earned on my own. We then had a wonderful 10 days of teaching, preaching, and powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit.
It
was also the beginning of a life-long friendship with the late Dr. R. Joseph Skinner, his brother,
Kitbok Ryntathiang, and the Khasi people of northeast India.
Drs.
Eddie and Sue Hyatt are still active in ministry and their numerous books are
available on Amazon and their websites at http://eddiehyatt.com and http://godswordtowomen.org.
Of particular significance at this moment in history is Eddie's book, America's
Reawakening, and Sue's book, In the Spirit We're
Equal, which contains a message that "has the power to
begin a mass movement from Islam to Christianity, beginning with the
women."
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