Revelations 3:20 – “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and dine with him; and he with me”
China to me is many things. It’s a place full of deep and rich history, vibrant culture, amazing food(for the most part), and friendly people(note: they don’t seem nice until you say hi to them!). a lot of the stereotypes about the Asian people are baseless until you’ve experienced them in their own backyard. Take the “Asians are all bad drivers” belief. its not that they’re bad drivers, its just that they drive differently in Asia, driving is very offensive, when in America the driving is very defensive. its like comparing go-karts to NASCAR. the driving mentality here is basically the bigger vehicle has right of way, you squeeze into every possible space, you pass whoever you want whenever want/can, and the horn is purely for letting people know They’re coming in hot and about blaze right by you. its a completely different world. our stay in Beijing was had its ups and downs. we struggled early on with the jet lag, adjusting to the smog that polluted the village, and getting acquainted with our new surroundings. so much change all at one time.
Our ministry was working at New Day Creations. it is a foster care facility that takes orphans with physical disability and disease. caring for them and rehabilitating them to eventual adoption. but only a few of us worked there(Taylor, Alex, and Heather). they also have a preschool on site that two girls on my team worked at(Haley and Allana). the rest of us were tutoring and basically doing youth group every night for homeschool kids of the volunteers at New Day. this wasn’t very exciting for everyone at first. we had some expectations of preaching in the villages, and local outreach. but because china is closed country, Christianity is illegal and in many places persecuted heavily. our hands were tied. we couldn’t do anything in the name of the lord. all we could do was tutor the kids as best we could. some us felt like baby sitters, some of us felt we weren’t doing anything of great importance. the fire was going out before the first month was even over. on top off all these confused and bitter feelings, half of our team got sick at what seemed like the same time. the morale level was very low. the only thing we could do was pray. so that’s what we did.
the something amazing happened
We were all gathered together for some fellowship and worship. a pastor that is living in Beijing and working closely with New Day prophesied over us. he said that our time in china would be a time of healing. A time to resolve old wounds. preparing us for the rest of the race. soon everyone started getting better and the mood was much more pleasant. prayer time seemed more intense and intimate. we had so much more joy. we finally accepted our role. in Gods plan for China. We poured into those who were and still are pouring out. We built relationships with not only the kids, but some of the full time missionaries and their families, some of the local volunteers, and even some of the people in the nearby village. the spirit worked on us, through us and healed us. breaking us free.
As for bringing Jesus to the people…
there isn’t a lot of room to work as a missionary. there are so many rules and regulations about religion(especially Christianity) that its almost impossible to see how God can flourish. But if there is one thing I have learned its that God thrives in the brokenness, He prefers the emptiness. When our hands and feet fail, the spirit wont. its the spirit of the living God that gives us our strength, that gives us our ability to feed the hungry, heal the sick, mend the broken, raise the dead. We prayed everyday for the people of China. that the spirit would move this country to revival, for a fire to be lit, that a passion for the Lord would sweep over them, that the scales on their eyes would fall off that the light of the Lord would shine through us, that they would see something in us, that the voice of the lord would be heard, that their soul would be filled, and that they would be made knew.
it was never our job the change the lives of the people of China. Only the Spirit can…
