Tonight (America’s today) I sit in my bed winding down from an AMAZING day. Scrolling through Facebook I see all the banter about Starbucks (which I do not like one ounce) and their red cups (which is probably the only thing I will ever defend Starbucks on). I am a Christian, yet today God showed me the war we are really truly waging and the fight that is the most important fight of our lives. And it is not about what Starbucks puts on their cups or doesn’t. If you are a Christian or non Christian I hope you see what my relationship with GOD is all about and enjoy this LONG but gripping blog about my day.
I woke up feeling really sick. An achy back, achy joints, achy bones, headache, cough, congestion, stuffy nose, you get the drift. I woke up in Vietnam not thinking much about my day other than, “I DON’T feel good and I cannot wait for it to be OVER!”
Scheduled, I had a few coffee dates and lunch with some awesome Vietnamese friends and a night out at the night market with more Vietnamese friends.
Halfway through the day I decided, I CANNOT go to the market tonight I feel HORRIBLE. But then I remembered a girl who came to a meeting we had last night and it was her first night. I invited her to the night market today and I knew she was coming and I needed to be there. So I prayed that I would have strength and that God would help me feel better. Before I knew it, my pain went away and my energy was restored!
We went to the night market and met our friends. The girl I invited found our group and we began to hang out. The whole night I kept thinking, I WANT to buy this girl a gift but what do I buy!? We had about six Vietnamese friends with us and I didn’t want them to feel bad that I only bought one-person shoes, or a shirt, or a purse…how would I buy her something without making our other friends feel bad?
Then, after we all decided we had enough of shopping, we went to a “mall” to sit down, have a few drinks of coffee or milk tea, or soda. On our way to the mall we saw a popcorn stand. The “new” friend and another Vietnamese friend were close to me and I asked the new friend and the other friend, “DO you want popcorn?“
Immediately the new friend deflected the question back to me, “Do YOU want popcorn?“
I replied jokingly with her same antics, “Do, YOU want popcorn?!“
After a few rounds and laughter, our other Vietnamese friend answered she wanted popcorn and then our new one also agreed. I asked our “new” friend if I could buy her popcorn and she declined shyly. So I asked again and told her, “I WANT to buy this for you? Can I?”
Finally she agreed and we went on our way.
At the mall, we sat in a food court area, about ten of us, and just talked and laughed. Finally one of our Christian Vietnamese friends asked me something along the lines of whom in my family believes in God. I shared my mom’s side and out of my dad’s side who does, and then the new friend made this life changing statement,
“I want to know more about your God.”
Little did she know, that I had been hoping and praying for a moment to tell her about my Father, my Lord, my Savior and she just opened the door WIDE to the hope of a new life in HIM and I was NOT going to relent.
I started from the beginning with Adam and Eve and Lucifer’s fall and transformation to what we now call the Devil because of his pride in leading his portion of angels into believing he was better than God.
Through this year I have found many people understand the gospel better when you highlight the relationship God had with us before the fall and His desire and determination to get that relationship back with each and everyone of us.
I went through the perfect lamb sacrifices that needed to take place for forgiveness of sins and the need for something more permanent for not just the Jews but also EVERYONE.
I walked her through the death of our Lord Jesus after He lived a PERFECT SINLESS life and the sadness and gravity of his death.
But then I smiled through the explanation of the hope with Him RISING from the GRAVE! And THROUGH THAT miracle is why we can be saved THROUGH CHRIST!
I expressed the importance of it not being enough to just BELIEVE these things are true. I explained that the Devil himself and his demons BELIEVE there is a God. I mean they KNEW Him in Heaven! But because of their pride and fall from Heaven that is not enough to save them from Hell.
I shared with her the GIFT of Jesus’ sacrifice. I remembered the popcorn I bought her and also an ice cream cone a teammate later bought her. I told her how she did nothing special to make me want to buy her the popcorn or our teammate to buy her the ice cream. We did it just because we loved her and wanted her to be happy, and the same is with salvation. We have done nothing to deserve it, BUT God WANTS to give it to us because HE LOVES US and WANTS us to be HAPPY! WITH HIM! FOREVER! We just have to accept the GIFT!
I asked her if she had questions and she had MANY! But our group decided it was time to go home. I KNEW this girl was coming to Jesus today and I already told you earlier in the blog, I was not relenting. No curfew, buddy rule, or missed transportation was going to sway me to leave this girl hanging on a cliff she needed to jump off of in faith!
I motioned to a few teammates I needed to finish this conversation and left it to them to work out details as I sat with my new friend outside the mall.
As she asked questions God gave me answers. Questions about murderers going to Heaven or hell brought Saul turned Paul to my mind. Statements about failed attempts with relationships with family brought up how “His power is made perfect in our weakness” and used the example of being sick this morning, not able to go to the night market, but praying and God gave me strength so I could meet my new friend and tell her about GOD!
After talking, I asked her if she believed my God was real. And she answered in a way I will never forget that brought me chills and joyous water to my eyes, she said,
“Why yes, I can see Him in your EYES!”
At that moment I knew God was moving (if I hadn’t known before—but I did).
We talked some more, I answered more questions and I asked her if she wanted to make a decision to follow Him, because she could TODAY, RIGHT THEN. And her answer was:
“No, because I also believe in Buddha, I am scared”.
My brain built for rebuttals (thank you JESUS!) quickly remembered the eyes and asked,
“Have you ever seen Buddha in anyone’s eyes?”
Puzzled she responded, “Why, NO.”
“So if you had to choose, would you rather follow and believe in a God you can SEE in people’s eyes, in MY eyes? Or a god you have never seen in anyone’s eyes before?”
“Well, YOUR God. But I cannot, I have done many things for years that make me not worthy”
“Remember Paul,” I encouraged her, “he murdered Christians for YEARS. But in ONE second, his life turned around and changed and he believed in God. His life did a 180.”
“How did HE DO THAT?” she asked searching for the same hope Paul had so that she might be able to find it within herself to make the change possible.
I reminded her, “It was not HIM (Paul) but it was GOD. And HE can do that for you, right now, tonight if you WANT Him too.”
She looked into my eyes for what seemed like eternity, but was probably closer to thirty seconds. She was searching, she was thinking, she was fighting her inner fears. I knew that gaze was a war for her soul so I smiled and held the stare.
Defeated, she said NO. She was too nervous and didn’t have COURAGE.
I knew we would go in circles without more spiritual warfare and direction and who better to call into the battle again than the Lord Himself.
I asked her if I could pray for her and at the end of the prayer she could answer one of two ways and either answer would be okay. Either:
“Yes Rachel, I do want to accept Jesus, can you show me how?”
OR
“No Rachel, I can’t tonight, and I need to go home.”
She agreed so I started to pray. I prayed for courage for her, strength, and God to move her and to make HIS POWER PERFECT in her weakness.
At the end of the prayer, I asked her what she wanted.
She pondered for two seconds and said, “I am nervous and afraid.”
Begging God for words He reminded me of the simple definition of courage.
“Courage doesn’t mean you’re not NERVOUS. Courage means you ARE nervous but GO anyways”
Two more seconds of pondering yielded a look back into my eyes for one more full second and then the sweetest words and most sincere and desperate words I have ever heard,
“Yes Rachel, I do want to accept Jesus, can you show me how?”
With excitement wanting to BURST out of my body but knowing I needed to contain it until the job was finished I led her through “the sinner’s prayer”.
After she prayed immediately I SAW the change in HER EYES! I have led many people to the Lord in my life but never have I seen so much CHANGE in someone’s EYES. It is an intimate moment I believe God allowed me front row seat to witness that doesn’t always happen. Why? I don’t know. But as I watched her first moments being born into the family of God her eyes watered, my body chilled, and I too got teary eyed. I asked how she felt, and was answered with her feelings of being different, excited, nervous, but happy and weird.
We ended the night with her walking with me to our ride and HER telling them about HER decision. I watched as this new creation joyously told my teammate,
“I have a new belief!”
Words cannot express the joy my team and I have for our new friend and now new sister!
Today my Father used me to change this girl’s life forever and He used me not because I drink coffee out of a cup with Christmas symbols on it. But HE used me because HE knew I KNOW the true fight we as Christians are waging.
It is a war for the SOULS of so many that are lost, broken, and hopeless. It is a war for LIFE. It is a war that matters and is more important than the color of a cup.
It is a war for the hope that can be seen in our EYES!
If you are reading this and are a Christian, remember what is most important in this life, especially as we go into this Holiday Season.
BUT, if you are not a Christian and any of this blog intrigues you and you want to know more please ask.
I heard it said, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of INFINITE importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” – C. S. Lewis
Are you willing to take a step to see if what is in our eyes is infinitely important?
And Christians, are you willing to start showing the WORLD what is truly of no importance (the color of a coffee cup) but is of INFINITE importance?
Because…
The HOPE is in our EYES, not the color of a cup.
