Garden of Grace

Hello beautiful people!! I have been on the field for about three months now, and I am currently in Sungai Petani, Malaysia. The entire squad is living in a Baptist church, and our ministry is teaching children english.

I am blessed to have witnessed the intentionality of the Lord’s presence in the mundane. Living away from comfortability isn’t the easiest, but it allows the Lord to bring to light things I have kept in the dark. Healing is the biggest thing on my heart, and man am I blessed to experience healing in a community seeking sanctification. In a community of hunger and thirst for the Lords presence.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”

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Our team traveled for 54 hours to get to Malaysia, with a layover in Bangkok, Thailand. We had to spend 7 hours in Bangkok before our next train ride to Malaysia. Two of my squad mates and I decided to go to a coffee shop with WIFI and couches to sit and read. We openly had our bibles out to read, which caused some attention. I had a feeling conversation would spark. God knew.

A man approached me and asked for my name and why I was in Bangkok. I told him we were missionaries, spreading the gospel around the world. This man didn’t seem sober minded but shared some intriguing stories of leaving his Muslim family to explore religions and had dreams and visions of Jesus.

He wasn’t very open to hearing our thoughts or opinions, rather, wanted someone to listen. So, that’s what I did. My squad mate shared some scripture with him and how it differs from other religions, but the man did not want to listen. This caused frustration among our group, but we held off, and let the conversation continue. Our conversation was very open and loud, which led to a few others joining in and listening to us share testimonies. After praying over this man, he warned us not to speak in front of his friend who was at the other end of the Café. He said he will come over and try to argue with us and to be careful. We took what he said with a grain of salt and continued reading once he left.

A few minutes later, that same man, approached us. He shared with us his background in seminary school and wanted to join in our conversation of the Bible, as he is Christian.

This led to us talking for at least 4-5 hours about scripture, different viewpoints, and how to share the gospel in these countries. He taught us so much that day. We then went to a restaurant next door for dinner. We continued our Bible study in the restaurant, and a boy sitting alone in the restaurant walked over and asked to join us. So, he did. He shared how he came to know Christ and mentioned how has never been baptized. Our friend asked,

”well we can baptize you; do you want to be baptized?”

The boy nodded. Moments later a friend called him, who doesn’t normally call him, and it turns out he knew where the pool was to hold a baptism. So, we all walk over to the pool and baptized our brother in Christ.

We made it back to our squad with 10 minutes to spare, and it seemed as though everything flowed that day. Everything in God’s timing, and in His will.  The biggest lesson I learned that day was to wait. To wait on the Lord in confusion, in frustration, and being impatient, because He is working. We could’ve easily left after our frustrating conversation in the beginning, but we didn’t. We let him leave the conversation, and I believe that is what the Lord called us to do. To continue through love to continue through listening and speaking the truth of the word of God, until that person leaves.

Ephesians 4:13

“This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge of the Son of God.”

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Our first house visit in Malaysia with two of my squad mates, Areonah and Ava. We had no preparation for our house visit and did not know who we were meeting. We met a beautiful lady who is battling cancer and going through chemotherapy. A translator we had with us urged us to provide scriptures and testimonies.

The scriptures in Matthew of the woman touching Jesus’ garment sprang directly to my heart. I found out later that Areonah had the identical thought at the same moment.

We shared the gospel with her, how Christianity is a relationship with Jesus, and how He saved our lives. I shared my testimony of being saved miraculously, and how I gained strength from faith in the Lord. Her eyes grew wide.

Areonah shared scripture in Matthew 9, of the woman touching Jesus cloak, who was instantly healed, and it brought tears to her eyes. She repeated verses she loved, and she shared her story of screaming out father in times of need or pain, and her pain was instantly gone. We then prayed for her, which brought everyone in that room to tears.

Something in her heart changed that day.

She asked us to attend church.

Praise God for a gift of grace that is freely given.

Praise God for loving us with open arms.

Praise God for authenticity.

For strength.

For healing.