The room is a sea of dark faces and sparkly outfits. The smell of too many people and too little deodorant sits heavily inside the room as the crowd churns around, laughing and hugging. It is now midnight on Christmas.
We are celebrating the birth of our savior and king.
As I said my Merry Christmases, to my friends in the church, the little girl two rows up kept sneaking peaks at me from where she was standing next to her mother. I considered her a few times in between conversations with members of the church, and wonder why my heart is being pulled toward her.
I hadn’t seen her at the church before. She had the red bindi dot on her forehead and a line of ash, clearly marking her as Hindu, yet here she, her sister, and her mother were at our church on Christmas Eve.
The Lord plans divine appointments and I have learned to recognize when the time for them comes.
She caught my eye again and I motioned her over, with a “Hello!”
The little girl hurried over, clearly having been waiting for an invitation. I crouch down, shook her hand, and introduced myself. She smiled back and immediately pointed to Andy’s, my teammate’s, bible on the ground.
“What is this book?” She asked me.
I took a deep breath and smiled.
Rewinding about thirty minutes, I was praying during the church service. I was simply thanking the Lord for Christmas and praying protection over the church. Loud and clear, the Lord spoke, calling me by a name he’s been repeating different iterations of ever since I landed in Thailand last month;
“Sword Bearer”
I knew he was talking about His word, but I wasn’t sure when or what the name was for. Turns out it was for a little Hindu girl sitting in on a Malaysian Christmas service.
“It’s a bible,” I tell her.
“A bible? I can see?” She asked. I motioned for her to come sit next to me and handed over my own bible. As her little hands took it and opened it, my mind flashed back to my Buddhist monk friend, Yom, who held this same bible in his hands only a month ago. What a blessing to be continually allowed to place truth in the hands of those who seek it.
“What is it?” She asked me, flipping through the pages of Ecclesiastes.
“The whole thing is the story of Jesus.”
She nods a little bit and finds the ribbon bookmark. I couldn’t remember where I was reading last. Her fingers gently turned the pages to the bookmark until Luke 2 was staring up at me—the Christmas story.
God has ways of aligning everything so perfectly. I pointed to it and told her that this is the true story of Christmas.
“Okay. I read in English,” she said. She leaned down close to better read the letters and traced her finger underneath them as she began to read, “In those days a decree went out from…”
I helped her read over the strange Roman names and a few other words she had trouble with and together, we read the Christmas story. She got distracted before the end of it and ran off the join her friends in a dance, but wow I am blessed by the time and the truth we did get to speak together.
Doubts about her even understanding the words she was reading, or truly taking them to heart have clouded my mind. Regardless, she spoke truth aloud with her own mouth and own voice. If nothing else, she spoke of a savoir who I pray she will come to know and love as deeply as He loves her.
And you know, it’s my job to bring the people to truth—it’s Holy Spirit’s job to root that truth and make it mean something to them.
Despite this Christmas being, by far, the strangest one I’ve ever had, it has been one full of the biggest blessings, surprises, lessons, and growth. There aren’t presents, or family, or usual foods. Instead there is the presence of Holy Spirit, a wonderfully hospitable church body, and curry galore.
Best of all, this Christmas has been penned meticulously and intentionally by loving God. Never in a million years could I have aligned the stars and set straight the pathways for that little girl to sit next to me and speak the true story of Christmas.
I’m learning to wholly walk in peace and trust in Him. This lesson has come through a lot of struggle and feedback this month. However, I’m seeing how when I allow myself to be led by His peace, I live in each moment singularly. It allows my ‘yes’ to His call be true and loud because, as far as I’m concerned, this moment is the only moment, and I will choose to live in it fully, whether that is eating curry at a home while caroling to honor the host family, or reading my sweet bible with one of His precious children.
All in all, God gave me a good gift this Christmas. And he continues to give me good gifts as I walk through this Race. I trust Him with this time and I trust Him with the rest of my life.
From me to you, Merry Christmas!!!
Currently: Hanging out in the mall on Christmas Day, Sungai Petani, Malaysia | 1:12 PM | 91% Funded | Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
