Greetings. Let me start this blog by saying that I am currently sitting by the window of a coffee shop watching snow fall. I feel like I’m shooting a music video. I’m gonna start dramatically looking out the window just in case they are.
Off of that, I was reading something the other day that said “what if God created all these beautiful things that we stop and stare at so He could stare at us? He really loves to admire us that much.” And I think that’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.
We partnered with an English club in Astana for the month of October. They work mostly with university students. Teaching English is a bit tough for me. The students are super excited to learn, which is great. But it’s really hard to teach something that you didn’t learn properly in the first place. I moved around so many times that I never had a proper class on grammar. I’m really just guessing most of the time. But I also read a lot growing up. I used to bring my books to restaurants with my family. I was that child. But I wasn’t reading the Last Dragon Chronicles so cut me some slack.
Kazakhstan was a pretty tough month spiritually. But I learned a lot about myself.
I get discouraged pretty quickly. We hosted a party one of the first days we were there and I ended up making a friend who agreed to come with us to church on Sunday. He is a Muslim and it was hilarious because he stood up and introduced himself to the whole church as a Muslim.
He had so many great questions about Jesus though! He was sincerely curious. But then I started to see that his heart wasn’t changing, and I felt like our conversations weren’t getting anywhere. One day, we went to the mosque with him. And some of my teammates were talking about Jesus with him right next to where the Imam stands.
But out of this, I realized that I’d been working so hard to have another crown added to MY head. So I could say that I, Hailey Dallas, brought someone to Christ. And that I am so wise and that only I have the answers to his questions. Dang, was my pride shattered.
On one hand, it ain’t even about me. It’s Jesus who does the saving. And who cares whether it’s through me or through somebody else that he believes!? Praise God if he comes to faith at all!
On the other hand, God is going to make Himself abundantly clear to my friend in HIS timing. I will continue praying and believing that he will come to faith. But I don’t need to take on what only God can do for him.
It’s so crazy to think about the people that Jesus handpicks though. He puts them directly in our path. And so many times, I’m negligent of it because I’m too focused on myself.
I was having this thought the other day. You know how, when we reach heaven, we’ll stand before Jesus at the throne and basically watch our whole lives play out like a movie (2 Corinthians 5:10?) I was thinking about the people who are gonna be in my movie. And all the opportunities I’ve probably missed that I’ll be kicking myself for.
But then I had this other thought… what about the role I’ll play in other people’s movies? Like what if I’m a minor character in my friend’s movie, even if he never comes to faith? And even if he does? What an incredible honor that would be! To see that the Lord loves me enough to use me as a minor character. He can easily do it without me. He can come to people in dreams and visions and so many other ways that don’t involve people at all! But He loves me so dang much that He wants to use me anyways.
So who the heck cares if my conversations with these people don’t get anywhere? Or if they completely ignore me or reject me or never want to speak to me again? Or if their hearts don’t change? The Lord is gonna do the changing! I was obedient to the Lord! And I got to be used by Him!
Love y’all. Let’s excitedly play minor characters in other people’s stories. More than that, let’s stop overcomplicating things and excitedly bring glory to the Lord by just talking about Him. And talking to Him.
