Friday evenings in Nepal are spent at our ministry host’s home for a night of fellowship with our teammates and our new Nepali family. Our host family calls this night “Sabath Shalom.” It’s a night intended to bring refreshment and renewal as we finish this week and prepare for the start of a new one. It’s a time for us to unwind and set our hearts on resting in the Lord. We share a meal together, laugh together, worship together, and share testimonies and a message.
Last week, my teammate, Sequoi, shared a beautiful message about the Lord’s love for us and how He doesn’t look down on us from His mountaintop in the sky like tiny little ants in the distance. He sees us just as we are, because He’s right here with us. He’s present in every moment. He knows when we get up and when we lie down. He knows when we work and when we play, when we laugh and when we cry—because He’s right here. He’s before us, behind us, around us and within us.
As she shared her message with us, I had the same fleeting thought enter into my mind that I’ve had countless times throughout my life: “That’s all great,” I thought, “and I know all of that to be true, but Lord, how much greater would it be if you could just be physically present.”
But this time, I heard the Lord say to me, “I am present. I’m sitting right next to you.”
Slightly confused by this statement, I glanced over to my teammate, Jeff, who was sitting on my left, then over to Sequoi on my right. I looked around the room to all my other brothers and sisters in Christ and heard the Lord speak to me again,
“I reside in them.”
It’s something I’ve always known to be true, but suddenly it hit me in a way it never has before. This is the body of Christ—the physical body. He resides in each one of us, and through each of these brothers and sisters I get to see and know a different aspect of my Creator. And not only that, through being physically present with them, I get to be physically present with Him, too.
He is present in them.
He resides in them.
He lives and breathes through them.
I thought about how earlier that day I had been feeling lonely–for no particular reason; I just was–and how when I arrived for Sabath Shalom that night two of my teammates had yelled my name from across the yard and then proceeded to run and embrace me with a bear hug that nearly knocked me off my feet. Something as simple as that made me feel loved and seen, and I suddenly had the realization that in that moment, the Lord was physically embracing me, too.
So the next time you find yourself feeling alone, or just wishing Jesus would come sit at the table with you and chat with you over a cup of coffee like I so often wish He would do, look to those brothers and sisters who are all around you. Sit and chat with them over a cup of coffee, remembering that each of them portrays little pieces of the Lord’s character. Think about which aspects of Him you’re seeing in them and press into those things! Because when we recognize those things in each other, it allows us to love each other that much more fully. And if you don’t have a family or community in Christ to go to, ask Him to provide! I promise you He will.
Let me tell you about just a few of the ways I see the Lord in each of the five people I’ve been doing life with over the last two months:
Sam is kind and light-hearted; he leads with such child-like faith. He is an encourager who never fails to let those around him feel loved and important.
Brittany is relational and compassionate. She’s always seeking to see, hear and know the hearts of those around her.
Sequoi is servant-hearted and a natural leader; she’s humble and full of much needed discernment. She also has this way of making everything more fun when she’s around.
Alex is exuberant and full of life. He relates to anyone and everyone and his presence instantly puts those around him at ease.
Jeff challenges us and lives with bold intentionality. When he sets his mind to something, he does it with willingness and does not hold back.
T E A M F E R N W E H
(left to right: Sam, me, Sequoi, Jeff, Brittany, Alex)
These are my friends. My family. My brothers and sisters. The body of Christ. When we go to the slums every morning and afternoon, the Lord is in the slums with us, too. When we’re teaching English to the beautiful women at the women’s center, the Lord is teaching with us, too. When we’re sitting around the dinner table sharing a meal together and talking about our day, our lives, our joys and our struggles, the Lord is sitting around the table with us, too.
Jesus says to his disciples in John 20:29, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
But the thing is, we can see Him. All we have to do is look around.
