God, where are you in this nation?
There is a veil over their eyes,
a veil over their hearts.
A veil blocking Your truth and Your love.
"The veil was torn."
But God, what is keeping them from the truth?
"They are in darkness, they cannot see."
But God, why are they in darkness?
Just show them the light.
"I am, I sent you."
We were dropped off on the side of the road at 5:30 am.
We had been traveling for over 50 hours. A taxi ride, a bus ride, a train ride, another bus ride….and then another. All to get us to this point.
It was dark, but the time promised the sun would soon rise. It was quiet, except for the erie sound of frogs croaking in the distance. We stood on the side of the road in a sleepy stupor. We had nothing but faith left to hold onto. Faith that we were in the right city, faith that the big group of white people would be safe on the side of the road and faith that our contact would soon pick us up.
And about fifteen minutes later, he did.
I woke up early that afternoon. I pulled myself together, and walked outside to head to our briefing. The city that was dark and erie several hours before, transformed into a cute, jungle town with some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen staring back at me. The view in front of me looked like a picture straight out of National Geographic.
It's funny what a little light can do.
Light.
That seems to be the theme of this month.
Our contacts spent that evening telling us more about Malaysia. It is a country of many different ethnicities, however, the religion is primarily Muslim.
This month, we are not allowed to speak God's name in public, we cannot wear clothing that might hint at our religion or even the World Race. We cannot talk to people about Christianity, or God. We cannot mention the Bible, our testimony, or salvation.
So, what are we doing here?! How are we going to minister to people?
I thought all of the ways we knew how to serve people were just taken from us. But then, my perception changed completely.
See, we as Christians are quick to use our Sunday Schooled brains to reach out to people. Whether that looks like rattling off some verses, mentioning a sermon we heard, or pressing play on our testimony that we have rehearsed over and over again. Don't get me wrong, these things are great. But what happens after that? Often it's something that contradicts everything we have just said. We turn around and behave the opposite of how Jesus would.
…not really the point.
This month, all I have are my actions. I have to show people how Jesus would act, and hope they see something different about me. I have to be the light.
Once light appears, darkness flees.
Do you want to know the great news? It's already been working!
My team is working at a resource center this month, teaching some locals how to speak English.
My teammate and I signed up to work with two boys. We were told that these boys didn't talk, wouldn't look people in the eye and never participated. We went in expecting the worse.
After 15 minutes with us, the boys started talking, laughing and participating like we had been friends for years. After class our contact told us that was the first time he had ever seen them smile.
It's amazing what a smile, a positive attitude and my strange sense of humor can do!
The light is spreading.
