Have you ever sat back and wondered…
What does God want me to do with my life?
Am I following the path God has set before me or making me own?
Am I being obedient to his word and listening for his direction or being careless and doing my own thing?
Am I making a difference in the city I am in for the good of the kingdom?
(This last one might just be for me)
How do I create ministry for my team when we don’t have a translator?
These are all questions I have had this past week and haven’t known how to answer them. Our ministry this month has been very sporadic and I have felt more like a tourist rather than a missionary in Chantaburi.
photo by: Brianna Danese
On Wednesday night my team was supposed to go to the Baptist church for prayer, I was going to stay home and fill back up with Jesus and have some alone time. I had told my team the plan and it was set, until oh about 3mins before they walked out the door and Jesus said nope you need to go too. Let’s just say I was not the most pleased about this. But I grabbed my I-pod and decided that I would take my alone time that way.
Here we are in the back of our pickup truck and I’m listening to the Jesus Culture that is on my I-pod. While listening to worship music I’m praying that God does something tonight to show me why it was necessary that I come to the Baptist church prayer meeting.
We arrive at the church and my attitude is not in the best of places, but I put a smile on my face and go introduce my team to the group and start the prayer meeting. We start by singing Amazing grace in Thai while my team tries to sing the whole song in English and that’s also when we realize we don’t know the whole song but only the parts that are mainly played in the Western church. We sing a couple more songs in Thai that we should know in English but do not and then starts the prayer portion of the meeting. We pray for lots of things for the church and the king (who is a great man) one of my girls shares her testimony and then we are getting ready to leave.
That’s when it started… one man whose name is BC and has translated for us once told us he doesn’t work because he stays at home during the day to take care of his wife who is a diabetic.
WHAT?!?! This man who I have now met twice has a wife that is diabetic and I didn’t know. What have I been talking to him about have I been looking at him like Christ would look at him?
We leave and on our way home the song “God of this city” comes on my I-pod. My heart broke right there in the back of our pickup truck as we drove through this city that I have been living in for over a week now.
I heard Jesus say to me this is my city and I do have more things to come here for my children. He told me that he sent our team here for a reason and that he knows that reason and it is good. Jesus asked me if I need a translator to pray for his city. OF course I told him no and he said than do that soak this city in prayer. That’s where the seed has to start.
When we got home I shared this new passion I had for this city with my team and told them I was not content with only 5 people being at the Baptist prayer and only three people showing up to church on Sunday mornings. This land is full of God’s children and he loves them and they just don’t know it yet.
I also realized that the questions I had been asking myself were lies Satan was using to distract me from doing the Lords work here. Of course I’m walking in the Lord’s footsteps and the plan he has for me otherwise I would not be in Thailand or on the World Race, I would still be sitting in Coldwater, MI. doing nothing for the Lord. But instead I heard that voice tell me to go!
I have had Jesus personally answer the question about if I was doing anything for his kingdom in this city. Jesus reminded me that this month our main ministry is the family we are with and to love on them in ways they have not been loved. That our actions speak louder than words and the people we encounter on a frequent base see Christ in us because he shines through us.
Since having this realization on Wednesday I have talked with “pa” our pastor that we call dad and asked him to visit BC’s wife and pray for her. We are also going to a park nearby where a lot of Thai people go running at night and we are going to do a prayer walk over this city.
I’m so thankful that I serve a god who is good and loves me even when I get caught up on the logistical stuff of ministry. I’m thankful that he says come back put your focus on me and do things the simple way and I will lead you. I’m glad this month in Thailand is not over yet because there are still greater things to come!
