Blogging isn't exactly my speciality. I don't have eloquent words or powerful metaphors. What I do have is stories, stories that have shaped my life and have helped me see God's beautiful world. Today I just want to invite you to read about a few friends I have made along the way.
The Coffee Shop girls.
Often times internet is not easily accessible. Sometimes you have to walk to a coffee shop to use wifi. And sometimes everything is closed down for a week due to a holiday. So when we find internet we usually stay on it for quite some time. I went to the coffee shop a good bit but I prayed that God would either take it away from me or give me a new opportunity. He told me to keep going back there but make an effort to be friendly to the people who worked there. There were 3 girls that soon began to welcome my smiles. Although the language barrier was strong we continued to communicate. The girls would often welcome me with kisses on the check or smiles bigger than I have ever seen before. They started calling me "sis" and I knew the were going to impact me life. I enjoyed showing them Christ love through actions instead of words. I know they saw something different in me than they had ever seen before. When time came for me to leave I bought them little gifts and cards to show them how much I cared for them. Surprisingly enough they also gave me gifts and I know they will forever remember our time together.
Shark
So either God loves to make it rain or we just have a route that hits every raining season out there. Which means it rains within minutes. So when your out on the town walking home and it starts raining you have 3 choices, find covering, walking in the rain, or take a taxi. This day my team choose to take a taxi. This is when we met Shark, our taxi driver. We quickly began talking to him and learning more about him and his family. Somehow beliefs came up and we were able to have a open discussion between Christianity and Islam. Surprisingly enough he was preaching the foundation of Christianity but missing the grace God freely gives us. It was an experience like no other but also heartbreaking. He asked us questions about stereotypes about Americans and rumors going around. We were able to clarify that not all Americans sleep around and are self absorbed contrary to what TV and news broadcast. We asked more questions about his culture and how the women and men lived out their lives. For the women they stay faithful to "Allah" and devote themselves to him. However the men on the other hand are not. He gave us a rough statistic of 80 to 85% of all the men here are not faithful. He began saying that men treated women as objects most of the time. In many countries they are refereed to as "heaven for men". He said often time though women have no choice but to sacrifice their bodies to provide for their families. Reality sets in and you begin to see that God is needed more and more. I began to pray that the men would begin to see that the women can not satisfy their desires and that only the Lord can. I pray for the women to see that they are worth more than items and they are worthy to be loved by the most high. I pray for people I walk past on the street that they find their worth in the Lord and not the money they make each day. I pray that the Christians will rise up and begin to go out and make disciples of all nations. I pray that Shark will come to see what he is missing and begin to share that with anyone he comes into contact with.
Lisa
Some days you just stumble into Gods people. I was able to meet with a lady name Lisa who worked at a small little handmade fabric store. I began to speak with her and hear about her life. She lives 3 hours away from work but travels because this is the only job she could get without education. She works 12 hour shifts to make money to provide for her 3 children. She is now raising them alone because after an 8 year fight of cancer her husband passed away. She is struggling and broken. She has no hope. She told me that "God" (her god) didn't care about her enough to provide for her. That he was too busy and she had messed up too many times. I told her God (my God) would always provide for her, that he loved her, and forgave her, and wanted her to trust in him. That he is our refuge and if we delight in him that he will lift us up. She was in awe and really had nothing to say. She said, "Really? He would do that for me?". I told her yes I truly believed he would. She asked for my email and wanted to continue to talk to me. I pray that she makes the bold step of faith and email to find out more.
The reason my trip to Vietnam was delayed
Contrary to popular belief, I know God needed me to stay in Malaysia for a few extra days. I was blessed to go out with a girl on my squad to talk with this guy she met over the month. We were able to have an open discussion of religion. He was very open to hear our heart and how God has been changing our lives. We went out to lunch and got to share part of our testimonies with him. He began to see something different in us that he had never seen in other "Christians". He told us he could feel the blessing coming off of us and on to him. He said we were Gods messengers. We were in shock of how the day went and when we finally arrived back at our hostel we just prayed for him and his soul. The next morning I woke up to a friend request from him and a beautiful message. He began to tell me how he stayed up all night watching a Christian documentary. He said he began to see God differently than he had before and he wanted to learn more. He told me how blessed he felt to meet me and that I changed his life. I told him that I was nothing special, I just had God speaking through me. He began asking me more questions and honestly was hungry to know more about the relationship that comes with Christianity more than the religious aspect. He told me thanks for praying for him that it made him tear up because he could feel "his heart pumping out of love". He said that he knows Christ kept me here for this reason, so that I could show him what true love is and where it comes from. He said that he was lost and thought he had sinned to much to receive Gods grace. He said that it meant so much to him to know that we would still be praying for him. That he would search for men of God to talk to. He finally ran out of words to say. God is truly breath taking. Lives are being changed and I am honored to be a part of it. Pray for my sweet friend and pray that he finds solid men of God to lead him and guide him into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Clearly you see without water needed, God makes it rain.
God actually just reigns.
