I want to share with you a story that God blessed us with being a part of. First a little back ground. My team enters China and takes a 36 hour train ride to the north central region. We then take 2 bus rides one 6 hours long and the other 3 hours. The last ride took us over mountain peaks on dirt roads to bring us to middle of nowhere and our first ministry city. The plan for my team this month was to go to 3 cities hand picked by our contact and explore, pray, and share the good news. That was it and that was all the direction and instruction we had. The rest was up to God and us.
The very first day in our first ministry city we broke up into two groups and walked around the city praying as we went – “prayer walking”. The other group (Dennis, Carly, and Brenda) was standing on a street corner after lunch and people where crowding around them. (Rabbit trail- if we stood in one spot for more than 30 seconds people would start to crowd around us out of curiosity. Most of the people in the city hadn’t seen Americans before. It gave me some insight into being a celebrity –just kidding). A man named Mark started to speak fluent English to them out of the crowd. It was extremely rare to find someone who could speak fluent English where we were.
Mark ended up showing them round the city (a population of 300,000). Later we all met up for dinner with Mark. We learned that Mark was a 23 yr old high school teacher. Around the dinner table in a restaurant Mark started to share his story with us: his struggles with depression and alcohol and his search to find his place in life. He then said it was really rare to meet foreigners and was excited to learn what we thought about life. We couldn’t believe how open and honest he was being and that we now had the chance to share with him. (Mark is on the lower left of the picture)
We slowly led into our beliefs and the gospel story. Mark was very intrigued and wanted to know more. He explained that two years ago he had met a foreigner in a larger city and she had shared Bible stories and her view on life with him. He said he had been wondering about our God and was trying to find answers for two years.
Our whole conversation seemed like a dream. He was asking all the right questions and saying all the right things. I literally thought the whole thing might be a setup by the government to make us commit the unforgivable sin of conversion. Then they would have all the evidence they would need to throw us out of the country. I became so paranoid that I started to look for video cameras and microphones. I then realized that I was fighting spiritual warfare and it was worth taking the risk anyway. I prayed in Jesus name for it to leave me and immediately I was filled with peace.
To God’s glory Mark accepted Jesus in the restaurant right there with us. We then invited him back to our hotel room to learn more. We gave him a New Testament and taught him how to read it and which parts to focus on first. We walked him through some scriptures and he repeated back to us what he thought they meant. He was dead on with their meaning – he already had an internal understanding of the word. We taught him how to pray and worship God. We played and sang a few songs on the guitar. He said that he could feel a peace come inside him as we sang.
The whole thing was incredible. The seed had been planted two years ago in his life. God had been watching over him helping him to sprout up. Then we came along and he was prime for picking. We got to reap the harvest. Mark 4:26 came alive before our eyes:
“Jesus also said, “Here is another illustration of what the Kingdom of God is like: A farmer planted seeds in a field, and then he
went on with his other activities. As the days went by, the seeds sprouted and grew without the farmer’s help, because the earth produces crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle.”
It was obvious that God had done all the work and he just used us to bring about his purpose. The only thing we did was to obey God’s calling. I am learning that it is often better to find what God is already doing in a particular area and join him instead trying to bring my own plan and agenda.
“My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God, not we, who made it grow. The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important because he is the one who makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose.”
-1 Corinthians 3:6-8
We explained to Mark this idea of the seed and God growing him. He responded that he hoped to grow into a beautiful flower so he could produce fruit!
Glory be to God.
