Activating Faith (photos!)

One of our ministries in Nepal is called New Light Nepal; which is a program to stop human trafficking. There are multiple check points on the boarders of Nepal to ensure that the young women and children crossing the boarder are not being trafficked. Many children have been saved through this program. One of the things New Light Nepal does is to go into the villages and educate the men, women and children on the importance of a daughter and the tragedy of trafficking them. Many girls who are trafficked are lost in gambling matches or as a trade for goods by their father's.
Our teams had the chance to go on one of these village visits. We were asked to give a word of encouragement and education about the importance keeping families together. They wanted two people to speak, I volunteered. We had about 15 minutes to prepare before leaving for the village. I arranged a few Bible verses and a short talk about the Worth of a Woman and how that relates the to young girls being trafficked, their daughters.

We walked a bit over an hour to get to the village. We walked through many other villages and our "white face's" received many stares. "Where are you going, sister?" "What is your name?" "Bye bye!" Many children do not remember the "hello" only the "bye bye"; repetition is key in learning a new language :). 

As we arrived at the village we were greeted by many "Nameste's" and many more stares. As Uncle (our amazing host) stood up and greeted the group with "Nameste" rather than "Jay ma see" (the Christian greeting) I realized this was not a church event. Almost everyone under the straw roof was Hindu. I was mentally freaking out! I started praying. Hard! 
"God, I don't know what I am going to say. These are your people who need to hear you today, 
I'm not prepared for this. I know you are. I know I am just your vessel. Please speak through me.
Use my mouth, my tongue, and let your words come across; not mine. Use me however you see fit." 
 

As I stood from my very crowded seat, I looked around to the other teammates and mouthed "I have no idea what I'm going to say!" And prayed one last prayer as I opened my mouth to speak. I greeted the crowd with "Nameste, miro nam Laura ho" "hello, my name is Laura". And I started talking. I spoke of a 'very wise man' who said that a woman's worth is far more than rubies. I spoke of how a woman is the life-giver and without her none of us would be here. I told them the proverb "train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it"and with that I reminded them how important it is to raise your children TO respect and to BE respected. The more I spoke, the more the panic subsided. I knew, there and then, this is not mine; it is the Lord's. 

I sat down and made eye contact with one of the sweet children sitting in the front and just smiled. I couldn't recall the words I had just come out of my mouth, at that time, but I knew that it wasn't me who spoke them. Everything I said was God speaking through my mouth. 

 

I learned a lot about faith that day. I learned how much my faith has changed over the past eight months. I saw how much my dependance on God has increased. If that had happened seven months ago, I honestly don't know that I would have allowed myself to have as much peace as it did when I stood to speak. I don't know that I would have even followed through with speaking; there is a good chance I would have chickened out! But by the grace of God, I rose with true faith that my Maker would not leave me voiceless. If He had asked me to speak in tongues and give the message in Nepali, I would have (though I'm relieved He did not) but He knew exactly what the listening ears needed to hear and I am forever grateful for His omni-presence in my life.