Tonight I shared the story of Jesus with 30 Malaysian children. Children who have never actually heard about Jesus or God. They celebrate with gifts and santa and holidays from school for "christmas" but they have no idea why we celebrate or what it means. what it really means.
until tonight.
The Lord wanted to share his story. And he wanted to share it through me. So here I sat, in my dirty clothes and my unshowered hair, exhausted from the heat of the day, our household chores and playing with kids all afternoon. We sat on the floor of our giant living room with no A/C and no furniture. And I told them the story while Kaitlyn held up her impeccable stick figure drawings for visual aid.
In the midst of several Muslim children, Buddhist children and some Hindu, I was able to share the sweet story of Jesus, our Savior and God's love for the world. In the middle of a closed country, where it is literally illegal to share your faith, no matter what religion, because of the laws of tolerance. A place where people are mistreated and dealt harshly for even having rumors of sharing their faith, The Lord chose to speak His truth to a group of young children.
The most amazing part is that I wasn't super amazed by what was happening until halfway through the story. I had just finished explaining the Magi and Jesus being born a King when it hit me- this is not normal. God, you are actually speaking a message of your love to these children who may never actually have the chance to hear it spoken to their sweet hearts again. At least a slim chance of missionaries or evangelism.
But there I was, being used by The Lord once again to proclaim His story of love and redemption. And it didn't seem weird, or scary or anything. It was normal. It was so normal that it wasn't normal- and then I was overcome by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. In a place where all signs point to me being nervous, I had peace to pass all understanding and assurance that what The Lord was speaking through me was not falling on deaf ears. My team and I this month are learning how to love people with a supernatural love so that they cannot deny the truth of Jesus, yet they may never hear his name spoken.
But tonight, His name and story was told clearly and loudly for all to hear. And they listened. And the seeds planted will surely grow. Maybe they will tell their parents. Maybe they will tell their children someday. Maybe they will grow to be leaders in this nation and proclaim the Lord's love and mercy for all to hear. Whatever happens I cannot know, only the Holy Spirit works in people's lives, but a far greater gift at Christmas is being able to share what I thought I wouldn't be allowed to share in this nation. Words of hope and life.
That's the real gift of Christmas, it's about sharing His love with the world. And now 30 children in the far north corner of Malaysia know that love too.
We also were able to sing Christmas carols & share the good news of Christ's birth in about 5 Hindu homes throughout our neighborhood and brought gifts & Santa- cheer to hospitalized children for the holidays. The Lord is opening doors to share His light and His love with Malaysia. The real gift of Christmas came as a small baby who saved the world, and our gift every year is to be able to tell other people about him, even in a country where it's illegal to talk about it. But the real gift, is the open doors to hearts who are willing and ready to taste and see that The Lord is so so good!!
Merry Christmas! It is certainly the most wonderful time of year! Even on the RACE 🙂
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We're all missing our families right now, but don't worry about us too much. Malaysian Christmas is treating us quite nicely. We've had a secret santa exchange (we needed some gifts of our own!) and we've been blessed to have the pastor and his family invite us to spend Christmas with them. Though our hearts are with our loved ones back home, The Lord is giving us a new addition to our family, some world race friends & Malay family to call home this month. And we're being spoiled with a holiday trip to the island nearby. It's a very merry Christmas for us here in Malaysia. Thank you for the prayers. We love you all!
