Matthew 18:12 asks the question: What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?
I have heard some amazing testimonies in my life that led me to think of this verse and the truth that there is no extent God WON’T take to bring a lost sheep back to His fold. However, I never thought I would be directly involved in finding one of His lost sheep.
April 17th marked the beginning of a new year (2071) in Nepal. Our team found ourselves waking up early and hiking at 6:30am. We were told that we would be taking part in house fellowship this morning. We trekked for 30 minutes before arriving at a small house. I quickly realized that we were here to fellowship with only 1 woman and her very young son.
Feelings of impatience and selfishness hit me hard: What! We got up early and hiked all this way with Abby’s hurt ankle to sit with one woman? You’ve got to be kidding! (I am ashamed, but it is true. I felt these emotions.)
I sat there, listening to Cody share a message when I noticed that this woman’s house sits at the base of a hill that has a huge Hindu temple on top. We were informed that this woman is literally the only Christian in the area. Not even her husband is a believer. Our 2 WR teams and translator sat with this woman and worshipped as people began coming from all directions to pray at a Hindu shrine 25 meters from her house.
Tears came to my eyes as I looked at this beautiful woman now serving us tea. She is a lost sheep. And the Shepherd sent us into an area designated for other gods to reach her and comfort her. I can only imagine how it looked to the Hindus around. Here is a very poor woman whose family hates her because of her faith but now she is surrounded by 14 white foreigners praising a God they have never met. Such a beautiful picture of the Father’s love for His children and the distance He will go to comfort them. God is so cool!!
We serve the God of love. Blessed we are!
