Reading Selection 1

Chapters and Topics

itineration
hearing from God: practices and scripture
healthy relationships with leadership
prophetic dreams and visions
spiritual warfare

“So fasting permanently changes

how you relate to God?”

Questions

Who has mentored you in the area of hearing from God and spiritual encounters? If you are still in contact, when do you communicate? If you are not being mentored, why?
What are your beliefs regarding the spiritual realm’s ability to impact our physical bodies? And our physical bodies’ ability to impact the spiritual realm? Which scriptures are your beliefs based upon?
What do you think of the healing of the man who remained blind? Whose vision was changed? How?

Reading Selection 2

Chapters and Topics

hearing from God
God’s continuous involvement
political, spiritual, religious tension
revealing dreams
responding to cumulative stress

“Keep your hands up . . . as in worship.”

Questions

How aware are you of how external and internal factors impact the “certainty” of your communication with God? Historically, what has increased your certainty in hearing from God?
What would you do if you returned from furlough and found evidence of military conflict or civil unrest?
Reflect on a time when you experienced cumulative stress and make a detailed list of your stressors. For Dave, his compounding stressors are living in an oppressive atmosphere, being watched by Security, unanswered medical issues, lockdowns and riots, his children’s nightmares, and intrusive thoughts. How is Dave approaching God for help? How is God helping? How did you approach God during your time of cumulative stress? How did God help you?

Reading Selection 3

Chapters and Topics

spiritual gifts
intercessory prayer
death and grief in another culture
honorable relationships across culture, gender, and religious barriers
government scrutiny

“You’re not meant to pretend.

It should feel wrong. Let it feel wrong.”

Questions

What are your new culture’s practices regarding death and grieving?
What do you tend to believe about dreams?
How do you feel about targeting children for prayer?
After being told their school should not exist, the team responds by praying and continuing their normal behavior. Days later, and still stressed, the team responds by singing old worship songs. What do you think of these responses?

Reading Selection 4

Chapters and Topics

incarceration and response
relationships with other missions organizations
prayer and fasting
medical issues and care
vulnerability in relationships and evangelism
the leading of the Holy Spirit

“He who began a good work in you

will be faithful to complete it . . . ”

Questions

What do you think of the leadership’s decision not to gather and pray for Silas? Support your reasoning with scripture.
Dave feels like a failure in his conversations with Ali but not with Ms. Istilah. Why might that be?
What instructions have you found in the Bible regarding spiritual conflict?
Dave recalls his grief from his dream about Cadia and commits to praying for Sumaiyah. What do you think of empathetic intercession across genders?
Where are you on the spectrum of belief regarding predestination and free will? How would you describe your position to a non-believer?

Reading Selection 5

Chapters and Topics

stress management
God’s call for children to intercede
isolation and compounding stress
business as missions and negotiating with religiously aligned governments
ministering to missionaries on the field
God’s favor
prophetic knowledge

“How’s anybody supposed to help

if nobody knows?”

Questions

What are you willing to go to jail for?
Describe a time in your life when you could not find hope, a time you could not pray in agreement with others, and a time you were at peace despite circumstances.
What are your strategies for dealing with emotional stress?
Is there a time when you felt God paid special attention to you and your heart’s desires?
For what have you “wrestled with God”? How did you “continue until daybreak”?

Reading Selection 6

Chapters and Topics

The Bait | 193
To Belong to God and Pull the Trigger | 198
Petition Granted | 208
The Chosen Day | 214

God-honoring decisions
depth of relationships
answered prayer
affirmation, unity, advancement of the gospel

“Even in all this chaos, do not doubt

that you were chosen.”

Questions

What role might money play in the relationship between mission organizations and governments?
What makes the difference between the “final outcomes” in life that you are personally okay with and those you refuse to accept?
For one hundred days, Dave has not told anyone his news. Name one person he should have told his secret to before now and give reasons why.

Reading Selection 7

Chapters and Topics

gospel proclamation
hearing from God through children and dreams
death of a mission
seizure of property
expulsion

hearing from God in times of crisis

“You can pray for them

not just by name

but by face!”

Questions

How will your “joy” impact your entire life?
What items would you pack as essential for you and your family?
If you had 24 hours to leave your country, how would you say goodbye to your community?
Governments can hold your passport and determine whether or not you leave. How does that make you feel?
The phrase “Kill me off for the sake of this hope” has returned. Can it be applied to the team? If so, why would the team need to die? Can you apply this phrase to yourself and your ministry?
How do you hear from God when you can’t hear from God? Especially “when it counts”?
What do you think of the counselor’s perspective on missionary couples surviving upheaval?
Why should the team return to Zalaam? Why should it not?
One of Dave’s character flaws in Act 2 was responding to leadership and bad situations with pride. How is Dave responding now, and do you agree with his response?

Reading Selection 8

Chapters and Topics

counseling
reentry to sending culture
PTSD and grief
reliance on a support network
unanswered prayers
relationship to Jesus

Epilogue | 333

answered prayer
God’s care

“God’s sovereign will for you—

that’s not dented, not one scratch.

You feel like a mess, but God’s got you

right in the palm of His hand.”

Questions

Do you know of any personal “triggers” in your life?
Name the ways you can see God caring for Dave and his family. Name the factors working against Dave and Cadia. How would you help their family?
Dave wrestles with understanding his circumstances. How would you counsel Dave without giving token answers?
In Dave’s prayer, he lists the ways he feels he has disqualified himself. How have you admitted to God the ways you have disqualified yourself? What was Jesus’ response to you?
Dave’s desperate cry brings him full circle to the Dirt parable. More than a calling, more than a lifestyle of ministry—Dave needs Jesus! Explain how you think or feel about your need for a calling and ministry.
Recall and contemplate the times that people get exactly what they ask for in prayer.

Summary

How do you engage the enemy in the spiritual realm? Are there rules? Principles? Tools? Weapons? Positional stances? How do you encounter God with your body, mind, soul, and spirit? What is the basis for what you do?
Dave did not hide his worry about his daughter’s eyesight from Ms. Istilah and his students. As Jed had described the mission, Dave “lived life among the people.” His vulnerability allowed for deep relationship and trust. What if Dave had “remained strong” and “stayed on target,” focusing his energy on the people’s need to hear the gospel instead of letting them know of his emotional state?
In contrast, Dave was not open with his family and teammates. He kept secrets. How did his silence impact these people? A year before, God had asked Dave to be responsible to his teammates. Was he?
If you could rewrite the lives of Dave, Cadia, and their kids during Act 5, what would you change, and what would you leave the same?

Reading Guide: The Last Years

Reading Selection 1

Chapters and Topics

Questions

Reading Selection 2

Chapters and Topics

Questions

Reading Selection 3

Chapters and Topics

Questions

Reading Selection 4

Chapters and Topics

Questions

Reading Selection 5

Chapters and Topics

Questions

Reading Selection 6

Chapters and Topics

Questions

Reading Selection 7

Chapters and Topics

Questions

Reading Selection 8

Chapters and Topics

Questions

Summary