The other day I went with one of our teams to a traditional Sundanese village a few hours outside of Bandung.
Surrounded by Jackfruit, Guava, and Coconut trees, Casava and Pepper plants, tropical flowers and old, traditional houses, we set out in pairs to explore and meet people of this culture.
Local women peeling Casava root.
Each pair had a local with us to translate.
Well our outfits are a different story for a different day, but this was our translator, Desi and my partner for the day Dyer! 🙂
After praying about which direction to go, the three of us walked hardly a stone’s throw away before stopping at a house where a few women and their children were outside playing.
We found out they were sisters and it wasn’t long before their father came out to greet us and offered for us to go inside and visit.
The next hour was spent with us hearing more of his story through broken translation.
Due to a framed portrait of him in uniform on the wall, we found out he was a major in the military on one of the northern islands for many years.
He went on to tell us how at one point during the war, his entire squad of 18 people were all killed around him and he was the only survivor.
As he grabbed 3 teddy bears nearby, the Major placed them on the coffee table in front of us and proceeded to show us how each friend around him was shot (as he would transfer the sitting teddy bear to a face down position) and showed us how he was able to escape.
A 70 year old man freely sharing such a horrific piece of his past, yet demonstrating the scene with teddy bears brought out a childlikeness that almost brought me to tears.
To hear even a small portion of the Major’s life made me realize how EVERYBODY has a story to tell.
Everybody has a past,
hard memories,
struggle,
pain…
…yet in the midst of it all we have a loving Father who deeply desires to work through every piece of our story saying,
“My child, I have seen it all. When you go through struggle and pain I am right beside you. My heart breaks for you and every tear you have cried, I hold in my hand, mixing it with my own. I care so much about you. I will never leave you or forsake you. Allow me to come in and pour my comforting love into your heart today.”
As we asked questions, listened to more of the Major’s story, and prayed over him and his family, I felt the Lord saying “Beloved this is a way I show my love through you.”
Everybody has a story.
One of the most amazing ways to show the Father’s heart is by listening to someone’s story!
You will see Him there.
His goodness.
His provision.
His love.
Ask somebody what their story is today….you might just be amazed with how God shows Himself in the midst of it…and how loved you can make someone feel while you simply sit and listen!
Major Darmin Suhendar and some of his family!
