Do you ever wonder if what you heard was from God or just your own thoughts? Throughout this whole week, I have seen God move and speak into my life in many ways. However, in some moments I wonder if it was actually God. In this story, God said the number 4 to me.
As I said in my last blog, we were not quite sure where we would be staying because our Airbnb didn’t turn out how we expected it to be. We ended up staying at a family’s house instead of their art studio which was being renovated. We were promised six beds, but only got two rooms and one bed (which the girls slept sideways in order to all fit on it and the boys slept on the floor in the other room). There was no air conditioning and bugs and dust were everywhere. We decided to pray over the situation and ask God for direction in where we should go and how long our stay should be. As I was praying, I kept hearing God say four, four, four. I wasn’t quite sure what this meant and as I told my team, we thought it was how many nights or days we were to stay in this place. Maybe it was for the safety of the family that we keep our visit short. Oh, how God has different plans!
Fast forward a few days, we are in love with this family and their generosity to us. They have helped us understand and experience their culture in whole new ways. One day while we went to a Kungfu studio to practice and train, we had an amazing God moment. We asked the instructor if he had any pain, then proceeded to pray over him. However, instead of the instructor being healed our host dad felt the presence of the Lord and was healed of his back pain. Our host dad then wanted to learn more of who this Jesus was that could heal him. This was only the beginning of God’s work on this family.
The next day, (day 4) we told our host dad that we would tell him more about Jesus when he got back from work. We prayed for God to intercede with this family and start a flame that was unquenchable. We prayed over the Chinese bible we brought to gift to this family and waited for evening. When our host dad came home that fourth night and we all sat down at the table, our host dad ran to grab three Chinese bibles out of his rooms. Three plus our one equals FOUR Chinese bibles in ONE ROOM in CHINA! How crazy is that!? Our host dad had many questions for us in the meanings of this Word and told us his favorite story from the book. We were able to talk with him, make connections with his culture, and ultimately help him find Jesus. In this moment when Jesus came into his life, it affected him greatly and he began to weep. He said that he felt all the mistakes he has made be taken from his back, like something was physically taken out of his back and he was now free. Our host dad ran to wake up his wife so she too could experience the love of Jesus. She felt the Holy Spirit from her toes to her head in a form of heat. She asked to accept Jesus as Teacher of her life and felt warmth and a light across her forehead. She was crowned into the family. This hype in emotion then spurred an interest in the two boys at the table. My teammate talked to one of the boys using a phone to translate all his questions. He would read through the bible, ask questions, and soon wanted the love of Jesus too. He felt a lightness in his heart as Jesus came in. Lastly, I was talking to the younger boy about Jesus, however, with all the phones being used to translate, an Etch-A-Sketch was our only means of communication. I had my translator on my phone; however, it didn’t have a Chinese keyboard yet. Pictures, questions, and the work of the Holy Spirit made a path. This boy has a lot of joy and he told me if he tried praying in this serious moment, he was afraid that he would laugh. Even though I told him that his joy is good and comes from the Lord, he wanted to pray to Jesus as he went to bed. He asked if God still hears him at night, and I told him that He’s 24/7 all the time! I prepared him as best I could for him to seek Jesus and ask Him into his heart. He left that night, and the next morning told us that as he was praying, he saw the face of Jesus come down to him. (He also drew a picture of this moment on the etch-a-sketch too). We welcomed all FOUR of these family members into the family of Christhood. They all received Jesus and all in different but beautiful ways.
So, to conclude on God’s mystery and our number four, there were four Chinese bibles in one room on the fourth night and four people were saved and brought to Jesus. Talk about the number 4! Thankfully too that we will not be leaving on the fourth day, but that God was going to be doing miraculous work within this family on the account of four.
Continue praying for this family as they continue to grow and know Jesus more. Pray for their protection and for them to spread the good news of Jesus to their community. May God be with them even after we are gone.
God bless,
Laura Leigh Armstrong
