Wanting More
Quick update: Hello all! Happy 2020! I hope it’s off to a fresh and fun start. I’m currently in Nepal. This country is beautiful and quite chilly, but life here is surprisingly similar to life in the States. This month we have partnered with a family who has lived here for four years. They’ve given us many contacts to local believers that have unique organizations serving the community of Pokhara.
But now, to the main story:
Our first day in Pokhara, Nepal we set out to stroll the town and see what neat local coffee shops we’d find to try throughout the month. This town is really cool! It circles around Phewa Lake and is surrounded by mountains and valleys. On this day, the unexpected happened and little did I know at the time it would become an answered prayer. As we walked the streets passing many local shops and restaurants we wandered upon a Christian Nepali art shop, which mind you is very rare and most likely the only shop in this town that sells art sharing the truth of Jesus through paintings.
Wild testimony to God being the ultimate transformer of our lives by faith through grace is the store owner: he was raised and trained in the Buddhist artwork very present here in Nepal but converted to Christianity 20ish years ago. Since the artwork was the only training he had, he decided to change his artwork to share Bible verses and the Gospel instead of Buddhist lessons. Walking by his shop we saw his art and in the middle of his painting, it said John 3:16. So, went in to check out his shop, which leads us to his life story as to how he became a follower of Jesus. He proceeded to share with us the message he was planning to speak on in Matthew 10:1-8 and asked for encouragement and information on the scriptures. It didn’t stop there, he proceeded to whip out his Nepali and English Bibles on the counter and we had a full-on bible study over those verses. He had questions about what certain things meant or how he could encourage the congregation with these verses. What does it mean that the Kingdom is near? Can we all heal? Can we raise the dead? Who are the lost sheep?
After going through these verses, we asked if we could pray for his message. He said yes and also asked for prayer for a headache he had been having for the last three days. The deacon at his church had called him that very morning and asked if he would be able to preach with the headache or should they reschedule his sermon. Our friend told him to give him until the end of the day and then he would call him back. We prayed for his message and for full healing in his head. By the time we were wrapping up in the shop, our friend shared that his headache was completely gone. He then turned to us and said that there was no doubt in his mind that the Lord sent us to his shop to encourage and heal him that day. He further explained that now he has a very real experience of healing to share with his congregation. Not only could he preach that we are given the power to heal from God, but he could share his personal testimony of his headache being healed and encourage his congregation to go out and use the gifts the Lord has given them.
This was just a normal day where we were going out to explore our new town with no expectations of meeting a fellow believer let alone getting to have a full bible study in his shop. It just goes to show that even in the mundane of life, God can ordain specific events to take place so that his name can be glorified. This was an answer to my prayer of “Lord give me more.” He has been giving me many opportunities here in Nepal to step out and share about his goodness but be careful what you ask for. I want to be faithful, but wow that’s uncomfortable. I want more, but I’m not really feeling it today. These are real struggles I have been facing this month and I’m sure I’ll face them almost anywhere I go. These struggles have shown me and reminded me that when you ask God for more, he will faithfully provide opportunities to step out and follow his guidance. But now I am left with the choice of should I be faithful and step out into the uncomfortable or should I say never mind and remain in my comfortable space. Like I said before, Nepal has been oddly similar to life in the States. By stepping into the uncomfortable here in Nepal, I feel like I can now see a better picture of stepping out back home.
After hearing this story, I hope you are thinking, “Am I asking God for more?” I also want you to think about when the Lord does give you more, are you going to be willing to step into it with obedience. This is something I am daily trying to work on and daily trying to be more faithful to being a follower of Jesus. This isn’t something that only missionaries in other countries have to think through. This is what each and every one of you should be thinking through, even in the comforts of America.
For the Sake of His Name,
Bailey
