Relying on the Lord's Prayer for Safety

While being held hostage by a guerilla, Meggenn Watt prayed with the Lord's Prayer.

By Meggen Watt

Categories: Safety

I relied upon the Lord's prayer for my safety when I was studying Spanish in Guatemala in 1989. I went to a church service in Guatemala City on Sunday morning. Just as the service finished, a guy came in and started to threaten us. It turns out he was a guerrilla. He ordered us all into one of the church rooms and made us lock the door. He ordered us not to call for help. If we called the police, he said he would use the submachine gun that he was brandishing. He said he had a grenade in his backpack, too. Needless to say, it was quite upsetting. We were all startled by this turn of events. As we all gathered in one room, I looked at his eyes. I could see a lot of hatred. I had never seen hatred like that in anybody's eyes.

It was obviously important to pray right then! One woman led the conversation with this man. We all sat in that room in the church and prayed the Lord's Prayer together, out loud, in Spanish. As we went through the prayer, and we were praying in earnest, we could see his demeanor begin to change, to become less menacing. I don't remember all the details of the conversation that followed, but our prayer was vigorous. The look in his eyes had changed; it was softer. He eventually agreed to let us go. And I give credit to that prayer for having turned the situation around and saved our lives. We all left the church unharmed, untouched in anyway. We had seen a safe, positive result by praying.