Sometimes, when you’ve been friends with people for a while, you forget that not everybody knows their back story. But when it includes an incredible tale of God’s ‘light through the cracks’, there comes a point when it has be shared.

Gordon and Rachel Hickson are a beautiful couple, who I’ve known for almost a decade. They are spiritual parents to many people in many nations, and I’ve been greatly blessed by their itinerant ministry, Heartcry for Change.

(Helen Azer, who is in the Heartcry team, was one of the wonderful people who kindly endorsed my book, ‘Light through the Cracks: How God Breaks In When Life Turns Tough‘.)

But the Hicksons’ ‘light through the cracks’ story dates back to four decades ago …

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It is 1984. Gordon is working as a Company Director and Rachel as a Research Biochemist. They have a baby daughter, who is just four months old. Life in the UK is treating them well. But then God calls them to leave their jobs, and go on mission to Zimbabwe.

Late one evening in October, a car crash happens right in front of their house in Harare, the capital city. Rushing outside to help, they discover an entourage of cars, involving some government ministers and President Robert Mugabe’s chief bodyguard.

People have clearly been hurt. So they start applying First Aid at the scene of the accident. But as they do so, a huge seven ton army truck comes hurtling down a hill, loses control and crashes into them.

Gordon is thrown over the truck, into a ditch, unconscious and seriously injured in his spine and pelvis.

Rachel is crushed between the car and the truck. Both her legs are broken, and she slips into a life-threatening coma. Her parents are told to prepare for the worst: Rachel only has a slim chance of surviving and, if she does, she’s likely to be brain damaged.

But God …

… Spoiler alert!

What follows is God’s miraculous intervention, which delivers Rachel from death and sees her spend many months in a wheelchair.

When her full healing eventually comes, many years later, the Heartcry ministry is birthed.

If you’ve got the time, then I commend the whole of this interview with the wonderful James Aladiran, of
Prayer Storm, Manchester. But if you want to skip straight to the ‘light through the cracks’ story, fast forward to 23:53 and allow ten minutes …

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Once you’ve watched the Hicksons share their story, you might want to consider these questions for reflection:

If you are a Christian, how willing would you be to go, if God called you to leave all your security to serve him in mission in a different nation? Would you trust and obey, as the Hicksons did?

Have you ever been seriously injured, or in a coma, or do you know someone in that position now? What Scriptures might God be giving you to declare over this person and their situation?

What if you have been asking God for healing, and it hasn’t yet come? In Rachel’s case, it took more than five years, but she never doubted God’s goodness. How can you learn from her example of tenacity in the midst of pain and adversity, and perseverance in prayer until the breakthrough comes?

As ever, constructive comments are welcome below.

Photo from Joel Rivera-Camacho via Unsplash

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2 Comments

  1. Elizabeth Gyfford Reply

    Thank you so much for the link to listen to Rachel and Gordon Hickson. About 20 years ago, I bought and listened to several of Rachel’s teaching cassettes; in fact I still have them all and sometimes listen again and am blessed. I didn’t really know anything about them, so it was great to hear their testimony. Do you know the title of the book they have written and talk about in this interview?

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