Today was a bit crazier than I expected.
I woke up around 7:30, went to the kitchen, made coffee, and started to write in my journal and read my bible.
Pretty standard stuff.
Around 9 am, a man walks in looking for one of the church/NGO elders, but they usually don’t get here until 10. He barely speaks English, and I speak approximately 7 words in Macedonian, so our conversation was pretty limited.
Bailey and I were sitting there, trying so hard to have a conversation with this sweet man, that she drew a map of the United States on a piece of paper, to show where we each live. He starts naming all these cities he knows of in the States and mapping them out for us. It was actually a pretty fun conversation.
He saw my bible, and pointed out Isaiah 61, which is a pretty powerful chapter. So naturally, I thought, sweet! This dude is a Christian, and maybe we can talk about God. I started to notice that his eyes started to droop and glaze over, but I didn’t pay much attention. I reply, “Yeah! Bok e dobro”, meaning, God is good in my broken Macedonian. In which he replies, “Problem. Junkie.”
Bailey and I are trying to decipher what this incredibly nice man is trying to tell us- and we’re thinking he’s been free from drugs for 17 years. So we hoot and holler in celebration for him, but he quickly corrects us that he is indeed NOT free from drugs, but is currently struggling.
Then he pulls some from his pocket and shows us.
I don’t know why it didn’t click earlier. I’m staying in a church where people struggling with drugs can come for help, and I’m talking to a man whom I’ve never seen before with droopy eyes and asking for the leader of the church/NGO. It finally clicks that he shot up with whatever was in that bottle before coming inside, and was starting to feel the effects.
Unsure of how to respond or what to say to him, I offer to make him a cup of coffee and get Nicole to call the church elder. But when I return to ask him how he likes his coffee, he’s gone.
Bailey and I immediately start praying for him, for his strength, and that he would no longer believe that his drug addiction is more powerful than God, that he’s never too far gone to be loved by the Mighty One.
We pray, not just that in that moment but continually, that he knows the truth spoken throughout the Gospels. that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” -Romans 5:20. That he will read the story of the prodigal son and see himself there, that he can never be too far gone for God to welcome him back into His open arms. That the utterance “Problems. Junkie” is the exact opposite of the truth, but is really just a lie repeated by Satan to keep him away from happiness and salvation.
If you all want to join me in prayer for this man. Prayers for strength against drugs, for the acceptance of God’s grace. Prayers against Satan and the strongholds he has on this sweet man. Prayers that he can in fact accept Christ as his savior, resist the temptation, and receive sweet sweet salvation. Amen.
