East Asia

“Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.” Hosea 6:3

This verse popped in my head as soon as I began reflecting on my recent trip to East Asia. A few days into our trip, C (our host) asked a group of believers to pray for our time there and that, whatever we did, we would come to know the Lord more. This prayer settled the desires within me to work for the sake of working, to compare my work with another’s, and to wrestle with God over what He was speaking over my life. My ultimate goal should be none of these, but instead simply to know the Lord. My relationship with Him is paramount and from it flows love, compassion, and truth for others.

So what did I come to know about the Lord over the course of those two weeks in EA?

·       His arms are embracing the orphans and those with special needs. As I held those blind babies who could not see but surely could cling, I knew that He would have been right there with me on His knees reaching for these babies. When my sensitive heart struggled to find a smile for a baby boy who can hardly move his body, God made him to smile and laugh at me as I blew bubbles near his precious little face. When I grew weary with heartbreak, He continuously showed me His hope and joy breaking through the most tragic of places. He is there and with Him comes life, and I’m just dangling on by the hem of His robe trying to see as He sees and love as He loves.

·       He cares about family. The V family was a wonderful model of a godly family and a great reminder that, if God blesses me with my own family, He wants me to make them my priority. I cannot hammer children into the sculptures I want them to be, but I can care for their hearts as I discipline and instruct, unfailingly point them to Him, and pray that they run hard after Him.

·       He wants us to go deep, deeper in His Word, deeper with a few disciples, deeper in our confessions, and deeper in our thoughts about how we share His gospel. I was continuously reminded as we met believers as well as seekers to slow down, pause before speaking, and accept that sometimes less is more. By this I mean that we are better stewards of the people God has placed in our lives when we invest in them through equipping them with how to walk with God throughout their lives and lead others to do the same instead of always seeking new “converts” and focusing on numbers. Also, relationships are not worth the time if they are not open, and our ministries will be frozen by pride if we do not confess our failings with others, both those who profess Christ and those who are questioning.

·       He never wants us to hide Jesus. Know the cost of following Him. EA believers do, and their faith is more tested and genuine because of this knowledge. They can’t go with the flow in following Jesus as if it’s the popular philosophy to believe. They follow Jesus because He is worth it, and He is the only way, the truth, and the life. For that, they may be put in prison but it is only a physical prison, not the spiritual prison of having a cardboard cut-out faith that could be knocked over by the slightest wind.

·       He asks us to take frightening leaps of faith, but He always provides the strength to follow through with those callings and many blessings for those that obey. An EA woman that we met at Hidden Treasures, the special needs orphanage we visited, knew that she was supposed to give up her job with no other opportunities in sight. A few weeks later, she got a call from the American couple that started Hidden Treasures. They wanted her to work for them. She didn’t know English, but within three months God gifted her with the language to communicate with her co-workers. An American nurse gave two weeks to serve dying orphans in EA and ended up coming back long-term. While sacrificing proximity to her recently graduated kids, she is blessed as she daily witnesses healing and joy in the lives of the orphan children at Hidden Treasures. We only miss out on the incredible provisions of God when we shrink back. “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” Hebrews 10:39

·       He is global minded. God never intended for Jesus to be identified with one culture. His desire and plan has always been the nations (plural!). Is our vision like Paul’s? “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, ‘Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand’” (Romans 15:20-21). And this is not just Paul’s ambition and call. This is a call for all believers. Some of Jesus’ last words to His disciples were “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

If you would like to read more about Hidden Treasures or support them financially, their website is: http://www.loavesandfishesintl.com/