There were four tall metal walls in the middle of this field. Those four walls are home to the recently admitted rehab patients at the Christian rehab center we were taken to in Kathmandu. At the time we got there, only one woman was living in these four walls; solitary confinement… complete and immediate detox from alcohol. She was taken to the facility by her daughter the day before we arrived, so when we got there she was still hung over and exhausted. We will call her Tina. We were informed that Tina is Hindu, and the owners of the facility asked us to share some encouragement with her and then worship with her. The poor woman seemed humiliated to be seen in such a vulnerable state. She was sitting in a plastic chair, wrapped in about three blankets. She dodged eye contact and listened to our words of encouragement with a blank stare off into space. I then was handed a guitar to lead worship. I prayed in my head for God to soften her heart to the gospel, that she’d feel something as we worshipped. Well, about halfway through the first song she abruptly got up and left, heading to her little room. I looked at the people in charge of the facility and they motioned for us to just keep worshipping. Then one of them pointed to me and my friend Liz and asked us to go talk and pray with her. I handed off the guitar and went with Liz to see what else God has in store for this woman, while the rest of our friends continued worshipping.
We walked in and there she was, the sole resident amongst several bunk beds, just sitting there looking down blankly. It was quite heartbreaking as I could only imagine what she was feeling and thinking. We knelt in front of her and asked if she’d be willing to talk with us. Two women from the facility came with us to translate. Tina nodded, signaling that we were free to start sharing with her whatever God laid on our hearts.
Liz began, sharing part of her testimony and encouraging Tina that God accepts us in all of our brokenness and sin. He is a God of grace and He loves us simply because He created us. He calls us worthy and valuable, even when we feel otherwise. It’s all because of the cross. You don’t need to work for your salvation. You are made whole through Him.
God put it on my heart to share with her that He came into our mess; He didn’t stand off in the distance until we figured everything out. He doesn’t need her to become sober in order to be loved by Him. He loves her and wants a relationship with her in the middle of all this.
Tina began making eye contact with us.
We continued talking to her about grace, reminding her that there is true hope and freedom and forgiveness found through Jesus Christ alone and it’s all available to her. She nodded and had some tears in her eyes. She let us pray over her and she accepted hugs from both of us when we were done. Afterward, we asked the translators if we could pray for them. As Liz and I closed our eyes to pray over them, we heard Tina get up. We assumed she was leaving the room in frustration again. After we finished praying over the translators, we opened our eyes to see that Tina had gotten up and walked back outside with the rest of the girls to worship! We followed and joined her in the circle. She had a slight smile on her face and listened as we worshipped to a few songs. We shared some more words of encouragement and my friend grace wrote down some scripture for her. The facility would provide a bible for Tina.
Tina still hadn’t said many words but the fact that she re-entered worship spoke volumes. As I got up to leave, I felt a tap on my arm. I looked down to see Tina with her arm extended to me. She held my hand in both of hers and looked into my eyes with a smile. It was such a touching moment. I asked the translator to tell Tina I’d never stop praying for her, and that Jesus’ invitation is always open to her. She smiled and nodded.
I’ll probably never get to see Tina again, unless she accepts Jesus. My prayer until then is that God would continue to place the Gospel in her path and that she’d accept and be transformed by the HOPE that comes through Him alone. It wasn’t easy to leave Tina, but I know that God’s compassionate hand is on her and I trust Him with her story.
Thank you, Father, for allowing my path to cross with Tina. May she come to know you. Amen.
-Anna 🙂
