A 60-year-old American grandmother recalled a harrowing incident that happened nearly four years ago when she managed to save herself from her armed kidnappers, finding peace and redemption through the power of prayer.
One night in August 2011, Kathi Byker said she and her husband David were sleeping in their own Grandville, Michigan home when they were woken up by angry shouts, according to Charisma News.
The shouts came from two men wearing ski masks and wielding knives, and they were demanding money.
It wasn't long before they tied Kathi up using duct tape, and also covered her eyes and mouth. They dragged her to the couple's own sports utility vehicle, which they stole, and they told Kathi to stay put, otherwise they would kill her.
"I believed that he would," Kathi admitted. "He had the knife right to my neck."
The kidnappers earlier told David that he had to produce ransom money for his wife and to call them back when he already had the money.
To be under somebody else's complete control "was just hell," Kathi recalled, so she started calling out to God. It was only then that her ordeal shifted.
Kathi sought comfort in the Bible verse Romans 8:26 which says, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."
"It's the perfect prayer because it is from my spirit to God's Spirit without the mind getting involved," she said. And the more she recalled God's Word, the stronger Kathi felt despite her current situation.
"The fear factor was lessening as the God factor was going up," she shared.
When the car finally stopped, Kathi was dragged to a telephone booth, where her abductors tied her up using duct tape. "There's somebody behind you and if you try to escape, he'll kill you," they told her. They left Kathi in a cornfield.
Kathi waited for 10 minutes after they left, and she managed to pull her hands free. "It was regular duct tape," she said. "It was strong and wrapped around a couple of times. It was tied around my knees. I saw it rip after just slight pressure and it was a miracle."
She ran towards safety and saw a man sleeping in the back of the truck. She woke him up and asked for help, and he promptly called the police department. Kathi's abductors have since then been arrested, and police have noted that her experience was nothing short of a miracle.
"I just praised God that I was a witness to His power," Kathi said. She realised that God was greater than her fear and she could rest in Him.
Commenting on what happened to Kathi, Harold Vinson Synan, dean emeritus and visiting professor of church history at Regent University, said when Kathi uttered sounds through her tongue although her mouth was still covered in duct tape, she actually spoke in tongues, which he said "is a personal gift that can be exercised throughout your whole life."
"The Holy Spirit prays for us when we don't know how to pray," Synan said.
Doug Bergsma, 63, pastor of Rockford Resurrection Life Church in Rockford, Michigan, said he has known the Byker couple for over 20 years. When Kathi was kidnapped, Bergsma said he immediately received a call from her husband David who sought his help.
Bergsma said he immediately prayed and by the time he arrived at the Byker's home, he found people already gathered and praying, some in tongues, Charisma News said.
He explained that when one is baptised with the Holy Spirit, he or she gets a prayer language: the ability to speak in another language. He quoted 1 Corinthians 14:15 when Paul says: "What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding."
Bergsma said tongues are a spiritual gift. "I have seen so many things over the years like words of direction, stories of divine protection, revelation and illumination beyond what the mind can grasp," he said. "In that situation, for Kathi to have peace and find peace is amazing proof of God's divine protection," Bergsma said.
