“There was no hope and suddenly God brought this incredible ending.”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

The horrifying ordeal of Joshua Boyle and his family burst into international news when they were suddenly rescued from their Taliban-affiliated captors on October 11, 2017. The most awesome part of the story, however, is how God stepped in to answer devoted prayers, where every human effort had failed.

After five years of the family being tortured in captivity, both the Canadian and American governments literally gave up hope.

“The Canadian and American governments were trying to negotiate some kind of deal and everything kept falling through,” says Bob Poole. “We only got into it in the last year. The mother of Joshua Boyle is a great seamstress and she was doing some work for us in the parish of St. Philip, in Richmond, of which I am the pastor. As we got to know her, she shared a bit about the ordeal the family was going through.”

“We can’t accept this. God can do something.”

The church began praying that God would intervene, but in May the devastating news came. Linda and Patrick Boyle, Joshua’s parents, heard from both the Canadian and American governments that there was nothing more they could do. Worse, the Taliban-affiliated captors were repeatedly threatening to execute Boyle, his wife, and kids.

“One of my parishioners came to me and said, ‘We can’t accept this. God can do something.’ She was adamant that we must do something in prayer.”

The church committed to pray for the family in every Sunday mass. They kept a picture of them on the altar to continually spur the congregation to prayer. In July, they decided to take things one step further.

“We held prayer vigils once a month, from 7 o’clock on a Saturday evening to 7 o’clock in the morning. We divided that into one-hour slots and parishioners would come in and pray to the Lord for the release of the family, for an hour.”

Diane Coutu is a member of Lift Jesus Higher, a Catholic ministry in Vanier that Poole also leads. Like many members of the ministry, Coutu has developed a relationship with the people of St Philip and joined the prayer vigil.

“It was two weeks after we did it in October that we finally got the news they had been released.”

“We do not accept a defeated [attitude],” Coutu says. “So what? The government can’t do anything, but God can. God deals with the impossible. There was something in my heart that, in obedience, carried a great deal of faith. We refused to believe the negative. We were going in there. Man can’t, but God can.”

Poole says Linda and Patrick Boyle were encouraged to know dedicated prayer was being offered for their son’s family. Up until then, no one had committed to this kind of prayer support for them.

“It was two weeks after we did it in October that we finally got the news they had been released. Five years had done nothing. No human negotiation or diplomacy had achieved any kind of result, but within four months of us praying corporately we had this great result.”

Acting on new intelligence, Pakistani soldiers attacked the Boyle’s captors, rescuing the family after a nearly catastrophic car chase and firefight.

“I want to underline that when the Church comes together to pray, to intercede, then God moves.”

“During the shootout, the family were in the trunks of two cars and they were in danger of being killed. They heard an instruction given: ‘Kill the hostages.’ They were freed miraculously and we were absolutely delighted when we got the news. There was no hope and suddenly God brought about this incredible ending.”

On November 4 and 5, St Philip Parish held another vigil; one of thanksgiving. They continue praying for the family as they begin healing from the five years of trauma.

In the wake of recent tragedies, many prominent people have decried the notion of offering “thoughts and prayers” for those affected.

Poole responds to that sentiment by saying, “I want to underline that when the Church comes together to pray, to intercede, then God moves. We are not just down to our own resources. With man it is impossible; with Jesus, nothing is impossible. It is our job to keep reminding people that we are in His hands and He loves us.”

“When we found out, we were bouncing out of our seats and shouting out,” Coutu says. “Nothing else but God did this. There was an awareness that God was saying, ‘I am here.’ We have been incredibly blessed by knowing that—the tangible presence of God.”