Something simple
Last Sunday was a day of rest and initiating ministry without prompt. Prompt by the Holy Spirit of course but not a prompt from human authority, telling us how and when to do ministry. As a team, we attended an international church in the heart of Bangkok, Thailand called Living Streams. We got caught up in His holy moments there and the day unraveled more holy moments as our feet scurried on over to do a little shopping in the mall. Excited to do some girl things and have fun before our first week of ministry started. Not knowing God had ministry planned for us that day too.
SO, we made our way through the doors and had googly eyes at all the brand names and the plethora of high end buys their mall had. With every urge to buy every trendy piece of clothing we laid eyes on, we reached the center of the mall. It was a courtyard outside framed with humble vendors aligned side by side, each postured to advertise their brand, dwelling with cheap prices, yet unique boujie things.
As a group we spotted a bubbly and petite woman selling her clothes at her stand, filled with childlike designs and colors, and immediately was drawn to her. We skipped in eagerness to see her products (you know girls, that rush of giddiness when we see clothes that we believe will change our lives if we could JUST have it) and scanned all the hangers asking all about her handbag and clothing line. The girl’s name was Tina. Well, that is her American name and if I’m being honest yo girl doesn’t remember her Thai name. HINT: people in Thailand have the name they are given as babies just like us, but their names are VERY long. They know their names are too difficult for Americans to say, so they have an American name they also go by so that people from the states can better communicate with them.
A N Y W A Y S
Tina graciously and patiently answered all the questions we had. We put all the items down and concluded that we would look throughout the entire mall first before buying anything and would come back if we still wanted our preferred items.
Many minutes later and tempting choices to choose from, we walked back to her stand. She brought us inside Bangkok’s mall department store to show us her more of her brand items. We all finally picked our final selections and decided to buy her playful dresses and simple handbags. After concluding our purchases, as a team we whispered to each other and decided to ask Tina if we could pray for her. The conversation went a little something like this:
Us: Hey Tina, can we play for you?
Tina: Pray? What is pray?
Us: basically, we want to wish good things over you!
Tina: ohhh okay? We can pray outside by my shop!
*we all make our way down the escalator and out the door
Tina: okay, so I am still kind of confused about pray?
Us: Yeah, let us explain! We believe that our God is a good God and that He created all the Heavens and the Earth, and He created us. But the bad things we have done separated us from Him. SO, He sent His son, Jesus, to die on a cross and pay the price for all the bad things we have done because He loves us so much. He is the Savior of our lives. And we come to Him for help and talk to Him because we have a relationship with Him. So we want to pray with you and ask Jesus for love and His protection over you. Is that okay?
Tina: OH! Yes, yes, that sounds very good!
*we grabbed hands in a circle in the heart of the mall and prayed over her.
Tina: *complete joy and smiles over here… That felt SO good! Wow, I feel amazing. Did I do it right?
Us: Oh my goodness, yes! Prayer to Jesus is just talking to Him. Just like how we are talking to each other right now. It’s a conversation between us and God! You did great!
After we prayed with Tina, we gave her the bulletin from the church we went to that morning and invited her to come. You could tell the Holy Spirit came for a visit and planted a seed of wonder and an eager curiosity of who Jesus is in her. We said nothing big and fancy, simply just gave Jesus our yes and HE showed up for Tina. Ugh, God is capital ‘G”. it was something simple. And consequently, Tina’s brand is called “Something Simple”. God is always putting clever species together to make a beautiful, redemptive story. He is the best author.
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There is “a time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.” -Ecclesiastes 3:2
Friends, IT’S A TIME TO LAUGH. Here’s a Jesus joke because…. Why not?
WHO WAS THE BEST BABYSITTER IN THE BIBLE?
Answer: DAVID, HE ROCKED GOLIATH TO SLEEP!
