This is the fifth installment of my reflections on a recent trip to South Asia on mission. You can read the previous installments HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. If this is a blessing to you, let me invite you to drop by MY SITE and subscribe to email content to be delivered directly to your inbox whenever it drops. Also, I’d love for you to like and share comments on the posts if you are so inclined. In the ecosystem of social media, your approval helps to ensure that a broader audience can see this information. Yes, a simple click and comment can help spread the good news. Thanks in advance!
One of the debrief questions that a host team asks prior to departing a country is “what stories will you tell?” With so many wonderful experiences, it is always a challenge to zero in on just one or two; however, the question does prompt reflection and calls for a conclusion.
For me, there were several key moments. Watching my interpreters and sharing team partners move with such boldness and grace would be one. Time with dear friends sharing a meal would be critical as well. Praying for sick, injured, anxious, and hurting people is always impactful. In fact, one such story began this way.
At a home we were visiting, we asked if there was anything we could pray for…an illness or sickness where we might ask God’s mercy on their behalf. The reply was familiar: “No, we are fine. Everything is good.” After thanking God for his blessing, I shared the gospel and stories of hope from the Scriptures. As we were wrapping up, one woman in the home “came clean.” She shared that she had been married for four years but had not conceived. She wanted us to pray for her to have a child.
It was not my first time to pray for this type of request. I had heard similar stories several times in the week. But this one was special. The members of our team gathered around this woman to pray, including a pastor’s wife who was also in the same childless. My heart was grieved. I thought, “There can be nothing harder for a childless woman than to pray for God to give another woman a child.” But pray she did. When we finished praying, my suspicions were confirmed as I saw her wipe a tear from her own eyes.
The image did not leave me. Here is a woman who knew the grace of God personally being challenged to pray that God grant another woman the greatest desire of her own heart! I thought, “What a picture of the fruit of the gospel.” In many circles, there would be jealousy. Or resentment. Or bitterness. For this pastor’s wife, there was only brokenness, grace, and intercession—intercession for God to be merciful toward another woman.
The next day, this pastor and wife asked our team to pray for them, that God would also grant them a child. My commitment was that I would join them in praying daily for God’s mercy in granting them the desire of their heart.
Only a recipient of grace can truly pray for God’s grace toward another. I saw the fruit of the gospel reflected so clearly at this moment and was invited to bear a pastor’s family’s burden with them in the days ahead. What a privilege to partner with them in prayer and know that God hears and loves and always answers according to His own wise counsel. What a privilege to have a front-row seat as God moves.
If you wish to see God grant victories, you must first enter the contest. CMA
Recent Comments