After a revival broke out in Europe in 1727, a group of Christians from Moravia began to look for ways to impact the world with the Gospel. They started praying…a prayer meeting that would actually continue around the clock for a hundred years.

These Moravian Christians sensed God calling them to mission work in the new colony of Georgia. The first group came in 1735 and others in 1736. Their emphasis would be to evangelize the Native Americans near Savannah and to provide a school for Native children. This work continued successfully for two years and then trouble struck. England and Spain went to war in Georgia. The Moravians refused to take up arms and so they were thrown out of the colony.

It seemed that their work was a failure. But God was not finished with them. The group that had arrived in 1736 met a young man on their voyage to Georgia. He was headed to Georgia to preach too, but sadly he had never had a conversion experience…in other words, he was not saved. He was impressed with the faith of the Moravians and how they trusted God when a storm threatened to sink the ship. He too would be unsuccessful in Georgia and would head back to England. Wrestling with his faith and yearning to know the faith he saw in the Moravians, this young man would seek out a group of Moravians in Aldersgate, London. After the service, he gave his life to Christ. That man was John Wesley.

So while the mission to the Creek Indians was a failure, the impact of the Moravians was not. By bringing John Wesley to Christ, their mission work still goes on, long after their time in Savannah ended.

What about us? When things don’t go our way – can God still be trusted to use us? Is there some unseen way that He is directing our crooked journey? Does our faith influence people in ways that we don’t even realize, bringing them to Christ when we don’t even realize it?