This past month in Malaysia was a different month than I have experienced so far on the race. One of the biggest things was the fact that it’s not allowed to speak openly about Jesus and Christianity. It is illegal to go up to people and speak to them about God. So the month there was one that would stretch me. I was a little bummed out at first because I was thinking man it’s going to be really hard to not share the gospel and reach the people of the country. How am I going to reach them? Just at that moment God brought me back to the other months I’ve had on the race. He reminded me to just show His love to His children. Just playing or talking to people about anything was just showing the love of God to them. Just saying thank you to someone made them smile so big. That’s what I did. I just showed the love of God to whoever I came in contact with.
My team and I went to this place for lunch a lot and would just talk to the owner and ask how he was doing and other common questions. As the month went on, he began to open up more and would speak more to us. He would smile when we came in and you could tell he was so happy to see us. Now for Malay people to say anything like God bless you or Merry Christmas is very uncommon. A few days after Christmas, we walked into his place for lunch and he greeted us as usual. As we were leaving he told me not to worry about the change because he was giving me a discount. That’s crazy to think that he would do that after only knowing him for a few weeks and he would be that kind to give me a discount at his restaurant. On the way out he said Merry Christmas. That was a huge shock! For a Malay person to actually say Merry Christmas is a huge deal. Through those weeks of interacting with him and just talking to him God was opening the doors. It was a huge surprise to hear that and it was a highlight of my month.
I listened to a worship album from Elevation Worship one day. In it the pastor Steven Furtick talked about how Jacob came to Luz and it was in the middle of nowhere. He went to bed that night and while he was sleeping he had a dream of a stairway connecting earth and heaven and angels going up and down. When he awoke he called the place Bethel, which means God is in this place. Jacob said I thought this place was nothing but surely God is in this place. It made me think about that man. Malaysia may not be open to the gospel but surely God is in that place. God was working and I had no idea what was going on but God is surely there. He was working in that man, he was working in the country through our ministry, and he was opening so many doors for other opportunities. God is in Malaysia. There is a hunger and a thirst for more understanding. People are open and wanting to know who Jesus is. I have found that God is everywhere on this race. In a country I thought was not open to it, God showed up and blew me away. I pray that each of you will understand and know that God is in every situation and he is with you always. When you feel alone, he is right there with you. Malaysia was such a great month and I always enjoy seeing God move in unexpected ways.
