Aang was the leader of a church planting movement. He had led many to faith, made and mentored young leaders who made disciples and started churches that multiplied. He had been thrown in jail for his faith and withstood countless challenges. But nothing had prepared him for this…

His only daughter came wanted to marry a young man who was not yet a believer.

On the one hand, Aang loved his daughter, and he trusted her. He had raised her to love the Lord and she had a good head on her shoulders. He knew that she didn’t make decisions like this lightly, and she deserved to marry whoever she wanted.

On the other hand, he knew from experience that being married to someone who doesn’t share your convictions and values can be harmful. He thought of how he was before he found the Lord. How he used to stay up all night gambling, and drinking. In those days, his wife would stay up, worried sick about him and praying for him. He regretted all the anxiety he had caused her in those days.

Still, he knew that if someone had tried to force him to make a decision back then, he would have rebelled against it. He didn’t want to push his daughter away, either. In the end, he decided to bless the marriage and pray for his daughter’s new family.

Some time after that, the young couple was expecting a baby, and there was a new problem.

The doctors found a problem with the way the child was developing and insisted that the baby would not survive longer than a few days out of the womb.

Everyone in the family was devastated. Aang’s son-in-law told his family about the problem and they offered to pay any expense, but the doctors insisted it wasn’t about money. The baby would be impossible to save. Aang shared his sadness with the church that met in his house one day, and they prayed for him. Then they proceeded with their usual meeting, where they read the Bible and challenged each other to share their faith.

During the discussion about who they would share with, Aang felt a new conviction rising within him. He felt that God was leading him to tell his son-in-law’s family that God would watch over the child and he began to fast and pray.

Months went by and the baby was born. At first the doctors said to expect the baby to live three days, but when the child was still doing fine on the third day, they said it would not survive the week.

After a week, the doctors suggested the baby was lucky to have made it so far but would not last another week.

After two weeks, the doctors were amazed and said the baby may be able to leave the hospital!

Aang remembers standing in the hallway of the hospital as his son-in-law and son-in-law’s parents heard the news.

“This God of yours must be real,” they said. “If he can do this!”

Shortly after, Aang got to bring his grandson home from the hospital, but he also got to bring some new brothers and sisters in Christ home, as well. The whole experience had a profound effect not only on his son-in-law, but on the son-in-law’s parents too! They decided as a family to become followers of Jesus.

Today, Aang looks back on this story and recognizes that if it were up to him, his daughter would never have married the boy. But, because he trusted God, and lived in a disciple-making community that encouraged him to share his faith, not only did his daughter end up married to a believer, but his entire family came to faith as well. Pretty good reasons to be a proud grandfather!