For as long as she could remember, Chloe* couldn’t walk like the other girls, not that she was allowed out of the house often enough to foster her envy anyway. The only child in a home ruled by her mother, father, and witchdoctor grandmother, Chloe was lucky to leave the house at all. So she kept to herself. At her best, she limped around her home, dragging her immobile right leg with the strength of her marginally stronger left. At her worst, Chloe crawled.
Due to corrupt government officials, overpopulation, lack of export industry, and irresponsible farming practices, it’s becoming increasingly common for Nepali men to take foreign jobs in order to provide for themselves and their families. Such was the case for Chloe’s father, and without him in the picture for 90% of the year, Chloe’s grandmother — a powerful witchdoctor in a highly Hindu-animist region — became the head of the household.
The oppression of the home fell progressively heavier on Chloe. Physically unable to work and financially unable to attend school, the weight of physical and spiritual bondage pressed down on her, leaving a bed of glowing embers of darkness, anger, and resentment in her heart. Her path had been chosen for her, and everything in her life indicated that it was to be a path of destruction.
But even then, in the midst of her bitterness, facing a life of corruption, in total ignorance of the Gospel, Chloe was a child of the Most High, “chosen in Him before the foundations of the earth.”
This is not a blog about Chloe’s preordained election for eternal salvation, though it could be. Rather, it’s a story of the plans that the Lord had for Chloe, in spite of her opposition to Him. It’s a story of God loving His enemies the way He calls us to.
Read on for evidence of God’s love for Chloe and His power to overcome any opposition for His beloved.
In a remote part of the world, in a region enslaved for thousands of years by belief in a hellish lie, in a community dedicated to the placation of capricious ghosts and demons, under the tyranny of a witchdoctor and an oppressive mother, debilitated by an undiagnosed ailment in her lower body, nursing the destructive embers in her spirit, Chloe was exposed to a church that God chose to plant in the middle of her village.
The Lord granted the church favor in the community, and He began adding to their numbers. The community benefited from the church’s involvement, and as more came to follow Jesus, people were treating each other like brothers and sisters. The Hindu greeting namaste was replaced by jai masih, roughly meaning “Glory to Christ.” Each person was receiving as they had need, and the new believers were living their lives together in love.
Moreover, God was healing His people. Physically.
This did not go unnoticed by Chloe, and the more she saw the community come together under the banner of Christ, the more she heard the Gospel accounts of Jesus healing the lame, the more she longed to know her Father.
Chloe confided in her mother that she wanted to become a Christian. What followed is horrifying.
A dedicated animist and heir to the village power held by Chloe’s grandmother as witchdoctor, Chloe’s mother was furious at her rebellion and immediately reported it to her grandmother. In attempt to keep Chloe from faith in Jesus, they joined together in performing demonic rituals over her every day, even as she slept, believing that if the demons were pleased, they would bind Chloe from giving her heart to another God. They performed rituals of spiritual bondage, and they performed rituals to worsen Chloe’s physical condition to keep her from leaving the home.
After sundown, Chloe’s body was often physically attacked by fits of hysteria, violently alternating between sporadic laughter and sudden bursts of weeping. During the day, Chloe’s legs worsened.
At greater length, Chloe’s mother began keeping her on tighter watch from the community, that she wouldn’t even be exposed to any more lies of the Christians.
I’m unable to say how long this continued, but I know how it was overthrown.
One day, when Chloe was thirteen years old, she woke up to find her mother gone. Vanished. The grandmother couldn’t account for her absence. The doors were still locked. Chloe’s mother had simply disappeared. And from that moment until this one, Chloe’s mother remains unaccounted for.
“For the Lord of hosts has purposed, who can thwart it?”
With her mother gone and her grandmother unable to physically restrain her, Chloe was free to spend more time around the church, though she would not participate in services. She continued to crawl or limp during the day and lose control over her mind and body at night. Fearful of the forces at play against her spirit and angry over the infirmity of her body, Chloe couldn’t allow herself to commit to a life in Christ.
So she became a common fixture outside of the church. Limping, often crawling. But never entering.
Not long after she became known by the believers there, a small band of white people hiked into her village carrying large bags on their backs. As these foreigners began setting up a campsite near the church, she learned that they were missionaries from the United States who had chosen to spend a year of their lives traveling Asia to share the love and truth of Christ.
The missionaries joined the church for worship on their first day, and as they experienced life with the villagers, a deep, genuine love poured out of them for everyone they met.
On the third day, Chloe wanted to meet them.
She asked to be brought before the American missionaries so that they could pray for her legs.
The pastor asked in English if the missionaries could pray for her.
“Of course!” one of the American women happily replied. “What’s wrong with her?”
“The devil.”
The wide-eyed Americans quickly composed themselves and smiled at Chloe as they softly placed their hands on her. It was one of the first times in Chloe’s life that she had experienced a warm smile and gentle touch.
The ministry host explained to the missionaries a little about Chloe’s background and the horrors that she goes through during the night.
Then they prayed for her.
Chloe didn’t close her eyes. She just watched as each of these people pled with their God for Him to cover her in His love. They each took turns asking God for healing. No rituals or chants, just love. She couldn’t understand their words, but the emotions in their voices and on their faces told her something: these people deeply loved her and longed for her chains to be broken.
She watched as they opened their eyes to look up at her and smile. With effort, Chloe stood and limped away.
Hours later, Chloe was standing upright at the edge of camp. One of the men was reading a book in his hammock when he looked up and saw her. They held eye contact for a moment, and then understanding dawned. He smiled a huge smile through his thick beard and waved at her, to which she smiled and ran off, out of sight.
—
Chloe came to know our Lord that day. She was a beautiful picture of the physical and spiritual healing He brings us, and it was one of the most incredible things I’ve experienced on the World Race. It was one of the most incredible things I’ve experienced in my life.
But just as Chloe’s story didn’t begin that day, it didn’t end at her healing and salvation either. The Father wasn’t done being a father.
“Do you remember the girl you prayed for yesterday?” Seth*, our ministry host for Nepal, wasn’t there when we had that opportunity. “I am going back to my home today to speak with my wife about adopting her.”
I have chills over my body and tears clouding my vision even as I write this.
Within a few days, Chloe had already gone to live with her new father, mother, and two sisters. As we left Nepal, she was being registered to start going to school.
Now the tears are doing more than clouding my vision.
I’ll never forget the day we hiked back from the village to Seth’s house. I made the corner of his street and saw Chloe standing on the front porch the same way she was standing that day by my hammock. She hadn’t noticed me approaching. I hollered “Chloe!” and waved. She smiled bigger than I did and waved back.
Smiling is something she does now, and it is beautiful.
—
I think of everything Chloe’s Savior went through to make her His daughter. From the pain He experienced on earth to the rejection He felt all those years that she lived in opposition.
Then I think of the day she fell in love with Him.
“How precious did that Grace appear the hour I first believed!”
I’m forever grateful that the Lord allowed me to witness the entire progression of my sister walking out of bondage into freedom, darkness into light, and being spiritually and legally adopted into new families.
Today is Father’s Day in the States, which is a day that is often emotionally confusing for me; I lost my dad and ran from God when I was Chloe’s age. But my experience in Nepal has changed this day for me. I have a renewed perspective on what it means to be a son and who my Father is. My relationship with my earthly dad was incredible. I was blessed beyond belief to be raised for thirteen years by a man like Ray Daniels. Ask anyone who ever knew him and they’ll tell you.
But that relationship is nothing compared to the adopted sonship I have in my heavenly Dad.
Nepal celebrates Father’s Day, but it’s not on June 19th, and it’s not called Father’s Day. It’s called Kushe Ausi. And it’s held on the Hindu holiday Bhadra Krishnu Ausi, the first new moon of Fall.
In Hindu culture, a father is given the titles of guru, rakshak, and palankarta, which mean, respectively, teacher, protector, and savior.
This year, Chloe will celebrate Kushe Ausi with an earthly father who loves her, but of vastly more importance, I pray that each year, Father’s Day will move my sister to consider her adoption into the Kingdom by order of the King.
Our Teacher, Protector, and Savior.
—
“For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will.” – Ephesians 1:4-5
Side note: Seth is not rich. Seth is a pastor in a country where pastors don’t make six figures. Seth lost his home in last year’s earthquake. Seth’s income is far less than that of at least 95% of my readers. Yet he saw a need, and he filled it. He chose to become an earthly father to the fatherless. There are 18 million orphans in the world. There are 120,000 orphans in the United States. Why are you not adopting?
*In order to protect the privacy and security of those involved, the names of people and places have been changed. Also I can’t spell Chloe’s real name.
