The discernment process that our team goes through when choosing a new location is always an adventure. When we were in Bangkok, our group spent some time praying, both individually, and as a group about where the Lord might want us to travel to next.
These times are always an opportunity for me, personally, to live by faith, because our goal, when we’re discerning our next move, is to provide space for the spirit to speak something to us, or to nudge us in the right direction. Sometimes members of our group will have some kind of mental picture in their head, sometimes its a word, sometimes its nothing at all, but regardless of the outcome, our desire is to sit at the feet of God and listen to his voice as we’re trying to make our decisions.
Over the course of this time in prayer together in Bangkok, two or three of us got the impression that we should look eastward, one of our team members kept getting a mental image of a rice field and the word Vietnam, and one of our members began feeling drawn toward a city called Udon Thani (Northeast of Bangkok).
Our group eventually settled on Udan Thani as our destination and began making plans for how we would get there, where we would stay, and how much it would all cost. We eventually landed on an Airbnb because it was in our budget and had a line in the description, saying that it was near rice fields. We don’t try to force every thought, word, or image that enters our mind into our final decision, but we try to pay attention if the words or images we think we’re receiving from God keep popping up. It’s more about being aware if our hearts are being tugged in a certain direction than trying to fit every thought together as a piece of a puzzle.
To be honest, for most of my life I’ve kind of rolled my eyes when people have claimed to hear a word from God. It’s always seemed too convenient to me when people have used the phrase “word from God” to convince other people that the thing they want to do is from God. It often feels dangerous to me to assume that a phrase floating around in my mind is anything other than a phrase floating around in my mind. I’ve seen too many instances of hurtful leadership, or oppressive Christianity acted out because a person claims “God told me to (fill in the blank).” That phrase hasn’t always felt trustworthy. So if I’m being honest, I’ve been slightly skeptical trying to discern the voice of God in my own head and in the community that I’ve been placed in. But I’ve also met or heard of too many people, who the spirit has encouraged in these ways, to ignore that God sometimes speaks this way to people. I also want deeper intimacy with God, and I know God isn’t bound by my small imagination, so I’ve decided to be as open as possible, honestly expressing skepticism when it’s presented itself, but also being willing to hear God if he’s trying to communicate something to our group.
So my team booked this Airbnb for a little under a week, bought our bus ticket, and then realized the place that we booked actually isn’t in Udon Thani at all. It’s north of Udon Thani, in a town called Nang Khai. And then, after a little more preparation, it turned out, our Airbnb wasn’t even really in Nang Khai. It was just outside of Nang Khai in a tiny village called Ban Dong Charoen. It just seemed like the most random place in Thailand for our group to be traveling to. Why on earth would we be going here?
As we traveled, we began getting messages from our host, Sarisa. Even over text messages she was bubbly and friendly, excited to have guests in her home, and doing everything she could to prepare for our arrival. It was pretty comforting that Sarisa was so friendly and that she spoke English so well. We were looking forward to spending time with her and potentially having the opportunity to share the gospel and to learn from her about the community that we were visiting.
After a 10 hour overnight bus ride, we arrived in Nong Khai around 9:00 am, found some local transport, and eventually made our way out to Sarisa’s home. When we arrived, Sarisa came out of her house to greet us, and was just as friendly in person as she had been in her texts. We exchanged hello’s, shared our names, met Sarisa’s son, Joshua, and carried our luggage into her home. Immediately, when we walked through her door, we saw a picture on the opposite wall of the king of Thailand. In the top left corner of that picture, another picture was stapled. It was a picture of Jesus.
In the middle of the most random Thai village I could imagine, in a country where about 1% of the residents are christian, we had booked an Airbnb owned and operated by a Christ follower, possibly the only one in this area. When Sarisa shared that she was a Christian, we told her that we were as well, and she literally jumped for joy. She told us that she had been praying for God to bring missionaries to her area, and she hoped that someday God would move in her village and that more people would come to know Christ. The more we’ve gotten to know Sarisa, the more we’ve felt that God might be using her to make that hope a reality.
It’s been such a joy being in Sarisa’s home. She’s gone out of her way to bless and encourage us, and it’s been one of my favorite things of the race so far for our team to have the opportunity to find ways to encourage her as well. It’s been a week full of beautiful opportunities to study scripture together, worship together, share meals, laugh, have meaningful conversations, and to meet Sarisa’s non-christian neighbors and other locals in the area.
I still don’t know how often God wants to direct our steps for us, and how often he wants us to choose our own acts of faithfulness, but I definitely want to be more open to the possibility of being so in tune with the spirit that I’m able to hear God when he wants to speak to me.
God has definitely blessed our time here in this small corner of Thailand. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if God guided us to this place intentionally so that he could make this divine connection. But the one thing that seems clear to me is that wherever we go, God has been there long before us making his kingdom take root and grow in the hearts of people that he cares about. What an honor it is to simply join God and witness his love for humanity all over the world. It’s been an honor specifically to see his love for Sarisa and her family. We think they’re pretty great too…
