Oh, Vietnam.
There is so much beauty in your brokenness. My heart aches as I watch you bow down to statues 3 stories tall and offer your deceased loved ones their favorite things on the tiny altars with Buddha…believing they come and enjoy these things and you are blessed.
You are made up of only 8% Christians…the rest Buddhist and other religions. The Christian churches are regulated by the government…they can’t clap or make noise during church. They must be silent and ‘holy’.
Oh Vietnam, my heart breaks that you aren’t free to worship our sweet Lord however you want or proclaim His name in public. Like Israel in the Old Testament, God is chasing after you…He is chasing after your heart. He wants you…He wants His bride (the church) to be free to worship without condemnation or persecution.
Do you even know the True King?
Have you ever heard the Good News about the One who died for YOU?
Do you know true freedom only come from the Lord?
Through the broken darkness, I see HOPE. I see glimpses of my Daddy…in the faces of people who’s hearts have been transformed by Him…in the bouquets of flowers sold in the market, each one carefully crafted by the One who created the world. I see Him in those who risk being imprisoned for “hosting m-ssionaries”…and in those who’s families so strongly disagree with their new found Faith.
Through the darkness, I see Heaven breaking through.
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no on can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
~Isaiah 40:28-29
