During a prayer walk today through a rural area of China, I cried out to the Lord with a request . . . and He answered.
A few days ago, half of my team (4 of us in total) packed what we could fit in our daypacks and took a bus to a different area of China a few hours away from where we have been living for the past few weeks. In the other city we were seeking to live out Christ’s love for the people and to make connections and forge relationships with the locals that we came upon that spoke English. In this place, we are doing similar ministry, but given the rural and detached nature of the communities here we encounter fewer English speakers and thus have adjusted our focus to spend more time prayer walking through the surrounding areas.
This is yet another type of ministry that is new for me and the Lord continues to challenge me to trust Him in where he places me. As I walk through these communities, I pray for the physical & emotional needs of the people, that God will bless the people, that He will prepare their hearts to receive the gospel, and that He will grant safety and blessing to those that bring the gospel into these places. I also pray for opportunities to be an example of His love in these places and for Him to use my presence here to benefit His Kingdom according to His plan. These prayers are sincere in my heart, yet I struggle because I often feel disconnected from those that I am interceding on behalf of.
This feeling of disconnection burdened me yet again while I was prayer walking today. We had been out for a few hours and as we neared the first town for miles I broke and cried out to God asking to feel a deeper connection to the people. Some of my words of explanation to the Lord, as if this was needed, were “I’ve been in China for weeks now and haven’t even entered a Chinese home.”
A few moments later, a team mate greeted a man as we approached and the man responded in English. We stopped and spoke and realized that he and his daughter spoke some English and a few minutes later we were invited into their home. We had a wonderful visit with this man, his daughter, and his mother. We drank tea, looked at his artifact collections, and purchased some crafts from the grandma whom I just couldn’t resist hugging more than a few times. Then the man took us around to some town sites and a religious gathering (Buddhist) that we otherwise would not have seen. Our time with this family was fun, but it was so much more than that.
I was obedient in following the Lord’s direction in ministry, though I did not understand it. When I cried out to him He answered in a way that filled my spirit and gave me that connection with those I was interceding for that I desperately longed for. I prayed and He answered. God is SO GOOD!
