This past month in Thailand I was blessed with a friendship that truly fell into my lap.
I was sitting outside Zion Café (a Christian coffee shop that encompasses one branch of our ministry) praying with my team for ministry we were going to be doing that night, and randomly one of my squad mates came up to me and introduced me to a beautiful girl about my age. She had done an internship in Florida about a year ago and wanted someone to talk about Florida with…and that ‘someone’ ended up being me 🙂 (turns out her internship was about 20 minutes away from where I’m from…small world)
Some friendships seem forced and take a lot of work; some international relationships can be awkward and surface-level as you try to push past the language barrier…but this one was immediately easy and totally from the Lord.
Our first time hanging out we just talked about life, school, relationships and I got to know a little bit more about her story…she came to know the Lord in February of this year through spending time at the café and being discipled here and there by missionaries who would pass through. The rest of her family are Buddhists, all of her friends but one are also Buddhist. I could easily tell she was hungry for the word and knowledge of God but she lacked true community and discipleship.
She mentioned she would like to study the bible but it was confusing when she tried to read it alone. I offered to study a book of the bible with her during my few short weeks in Chiang Mai, and she excitedly accepted 🙂
Over about two and a half weeks we met together about every other day to study the 6 chapters of the book of Ephesians. I was incredibly blessed by our time together and she voiced many times how meaningful it was to her as well. Our relationship was truly blessed by the Lord and turned more into good friends talking about Jesus and laughing together than just discipleship.
It was incredible because as we studied together and I tried to explain Paul’s crazy run-on sentences in a way that would breach the language barrier, I found that I began to understand it more fully myself. I was also simply overcome by an amazing energy and joy as I explained the gospel more deeply and tried to put to words God’s amazing and unfathomable love for us.
There were many times I just couldn’t wipe this ridiculous smile off my face because I was just so excited about the truths we were discussing and the ways she was receiving and truly understanding “the mystery of Christ” (Eph 3:4).
One day, as we rushed to finish Ephesians 3 (one of my favorites) before her dad picked her up, we sat and recapped the insanity of God’s love…”how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. (verse 18)”
She had to go, but before she left she said eagerly to me, “Thank you so much for teaching me today…and tomorrow we talk more about God’s love?”
The eagerness in her eyes and voice made my heart melt but also brought conviction…when was the last time I got that excited to talk about God’s love with a friend? Her words were so endearing yet also helped to remind me of the beauty in the simplicity of our faith.
One of my wise teammates recently said to me, “The gospel isn’t something I ever want to ‘get over’ or move beyond. It’s so incredibly simple but also so beautifully complex. I want to remember the joy I have when I share the gospel because that’s the sort of joy I want to live in because of the way the gospel affects my life.” …I couldn’t say it better.
God’s love is such a simple concept and the story of the gospel isn’t hard to understand…yet I’m pretty positive I will spend the rest of my life talking about it and marveling with joy at the insanity of it all.
The Lord truly reignited my passion for discipleship and intentional relationships through my friendship with my sweet Thai friend this month. The Lord did big things in each of our hearts through a relationship that formed in two and a half weeks…but is one that will surely last a lifetime 🙂
Yes, sweet friend, we can talk more about God’s love…tomorrow and forevermore. 🙂
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19
