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Being Isaac: Isaac H “I was Blind, but Now I See”

Aug18

Editor’s Note:  Our weekly guest spot is our effort to help our reading community connect with each other.  “Being Isaac” is in response to our growing number of male readers. We think it’s important that there’s a male reply to our female’s call to live in passionate pursuit of Christ. We want to thank Isaac H. for submitting another post to us. English is not Isaac’s first language and we have decided not to edit out the grammatical errors in order to keep the post authentic. God has called Isaac H. to a very special ministry in Taiwan. God may not call all of us to live in such a radical fashion, but may we all be willing to step out how He wants us to when He wants.

glassesI want to share the testimony of when I put the contact lens on for first time in more than six month! If you want to know why I did not wear any contact lens for six month, read my post: Speaking to the Spiritually Blind.

I could have put on the contact lens on that Friday, but I decide wait until that Sunday when I was in the Lord’s house to worship my King. A few of us we go to help before church to get ready. We all pray together then I put on contact lens in the church before service starting. It was so overwhelm to me. I not even realize how much I was get used to not seeing, I was really adapt to not see so much that I expected put on the contact would be nice, I was look forward to it, but I did not realize how amazing it really would be!! I can see everything!! I got used to not seeing and not can believe how good everything look! I was become overwhelm.

I ran outside. Even the ugly car and the ugly moped is become beautiful! I look down street and I see the signs on the buildings. I see the people’s faces. Even the colors seem brighter. I go inside. The girl who do the praise singing is set up the screen. I can read the lyrics on the screen. I praise my God. I praise and praise and praise. He help me through all this six month! Even my seeing was so terrible, but He kept me safe. I did not realize how bad is my seeing until I put on this contact lens!!

When the worship begin I just feel so thankful to be able read the screen. I just worship my God. The spirit so strong in the church. Everyone worship. Then I go to preach. This time when I preach I was not nervous. God gave me the message so clear I was ready to just go tell the message. Part of my message I give testimony of what does God tell me to do to take out contact lens and how He guide me because most people my church do not know what I have been doing all this six month. My pastor was tell the church I will need some help to see, but he not tell them why. So I was explain this and I look the young woman I meet on street and she start saying thank you Jesus. And when I look her God show me He want to heal her today and she is going to win people to know Jesus. I did not even know she is sick. So I was a little hesitate when I see this, but to be obedient to God I say to her by your faith God going to make you whole. God healing you right now. And this girl shout thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus and she down off her chair face to floor and praising God.

I was want to stop right there and praise with whole congregation and just start praying, but God say no let her praise me, you keep preaching. So I go back to telling what God tell me do and show me and I look this old grandma. I see God working on her. I say is no accident I fall where I do when I do. God arrange that for you. He arrange it all for you because He love you. He see you have a heart to reach out to people and He have a heart to reach out to you. And this old grandma who never seem to respond, I saw her eyes start to get wet. And when this happen God gives me the picture. He show me all her ancestor in a straight line one after another and he show this grandma in the line and all her children and grandchildren and great grand children in this straight line one after another. And he show me if she willing step out the line all the ones after her, her children, grandchildren, they will follow behind her. If she stay in the line, they will stay in the line, but if she step out to follow Jesus, they will step out too. I was not sure I should tell her this because I feel one reason she hesitate to respond to God is because she afraid step out the line of tradition. But I feel I need tell her and say your family will follow you as you follow Christ. If you make commit to follow Jesus, your family going follow you, but if you follow tradition, your family going be stuck in the tradition. And I say softly, you know is no hope in the tradition. The hope is in follow Jesus. And right then my little daughter got up from her seat and she walk over to grandma and take grandma’s hand. I was embarras and thought grandma going scold her for interrupt, but my daughter tug her hand and grandma get up! Grandma walk to the front. Grandma turn her head back and see my little baby following her. Then grandma slowly kneel down and my daughter follow after her and kneel down next to her!

The whole church was praising God. But very quiet way. Very respectful way. They respect grandma do this and they so reverent to God see this. And so I finish my message with being obedient to God even when He ask you do hard things. Be obedient and follow after God. And when I end message everyone run to front to pray. And my pastor pray with grandma and she tell him she want get baptise! And pastor start make the arrange right away. He have the special pass and special arrange with hotel nearby and we go there sometimes to baptise people in the pool.

Then a few of us go with grandma to baptise. Pastor bring grandma to side to explain everything. He talking to her. Then he come over to me and ask do I mind to get wet. I say why. He say so you can baptise grandma. I was shock! What an honor my pastor allow me to baptise grandma. Now I become nervous. And we all go and pastor pray and thank God and we baptise grandma. And when we help grandma out the pool she look around if anyone is there. When she see no stranger watching she sit on side and raise up her hands. She say thank you for accept me Lord. I will try to follow you Lord. Then she quickly look again is anyone watching. Then she close eyes again and pray quietly. Then quietly so peaceful she begin speak in the new dialect! The words coming out is the unknown language. I never see it happen this way so peaceful, just change the quiet words of prayer to unknown words of prayer. It was amazing to see.

We serve a wonderful God. Never hesitate to follow what God tell you to do. Even if it is hard, it is worth it for the Kingdom of God. If He ask you to do it, He will help you to do it!

-Isaac H

Isaac H lives in Taiwan where he regularly preaches for two home churches in the city of Taipei. He is a devoted father who seeks to share the love of Christ with all he meets. Published with the permission of the author. Submit your own post at beingrebekah@outlook.com.

Curb-side Consult

Aug15

As I continue along this journey as a doctor, I find myself seeing many comparisons to ministerial positions.  Something I’d like to talk about today is the curb-side consult.

(Now, this post may seem like it is mainly aimed for ministers, but even we lay saints can still glean from this idea.)

Late one night I was paged because a patient had fallen down and because he was complaining of side pain, I ordered a stat chest x-ray.  It was read as no broken ribs by the overnight radiologist who tends to look at the films more quickly for just really bad stuff because it is usually a send out to companies who have a radiologist who reads for multiple hospitals (instead of at daytime where it is in house for just us). After checking the patient out, I ruled out all the baddies (puncture of the lung etc) and since he was still having pain I wrote in my note that a follow up x-ray was suggested be taken in a few days to see if he had a hairline rib fracture if his doctor felt it was necessary.

The next day I was paged TWICE within a short amount of time and quickly became the receiving end of the tirade of an upset neurologist.  He wanted to know who I was and why I even saw his patient and who even consulted me to see his patient. As per standard protocol, any fall in the hospital overnight is evaluated by the intern on duty- ie ME.  No one consulted me, I was just doing my job. I was never told that I was supposed to call this patient’s doctor. I had made sure to ask the nurse to pass along to his doctor that I was not sure if he wanted another chest x-ray but was recommending to at least examine for himself and see if he felt it was necessary.

The problem came when the daytime radiologist read the x-ray (standard for things read at night) and said that he actually DID have a broken rib and nursing never passed my message along to the doctor. Risk Management (a department that oversees things like falls in the hospital) then called him up and asked him what he was doing about his patient’s broken rib almost 12 hours after the event and he never even knew his patient fell.

During my conversation with this very upset doctor, I just kept apologizing because I did not know I was supposed to call him, it was not part of the protocol and I brought up the fact it might not be because doctors may not want to be called at 2 or 3AM about their patient falling if nothing was seriously wrong and they were stable. He informed me that some doctors go to their office first and may not round on their patients until 5PM-a fact that I did not know. By the end, since I was humble enough to just keep apologizing and did not fight, he ended up thanking me for taking care of his patient overnight and that I most likely did right by his patient, he just would have appreciated a call when it happened.

When someone we know is seeking advice on a life event, we need to be mindful of what we say/do. We, being not that person’s pastor, can give them advice at times that may seem right in our eyes, but perhaps goes against what that person’s pastor might say.  In the end, it is ultimately that person’s pastor who is responsible for them and their spiritual well being.  We don’t know the whole story. We don’t know both sides of how the interactions go down.  What if we give/get the wrong information? Will you be humble enough to say “I”m sorry?” if you are called out on helping cause strife within a church or leading them to a destructive path? I’m not saying that you should go and report everything to someone’s pastor- but I am saying that we should be mindful that we might be giving a curb-side consult and not watching out for the final consequences of our actions.  I should have called that doctor up and said something and/or ordered the follow up chest xray. Either way, I should not have just said “okay, I think he might need more, and I wrote it down but I don’t know if the message was received.”

If we are going to try to “fix” someone else in the church, we need to be ready to handle the consequences of what we did. We need to do the follow up, but more importantly, we should remember that ultimately, it may not be our place to even do that. Let’s pray for each other; help each other think of things that are honestly, just, pure, lovely, and of good report; and always keep in mind that unless we are someone’s pastor, we may be dabbling in a situation and walking away without thinking of the consequences of potentially no follow up.  Praying together with someone is many times the absolute best remedy to anything that ails them 😉

In Him,

Rebekah M.

Guest Post: Hunger in Mozambique pt2- aka “Loaves and Fishes”

Aug4
Editor’s Note: Our weekly guest spot is our effort to help our reading community connect with each other. Thank you Lindsay for being willing to share your story of God’s amazing ways with us! What a wonderful follow up to last week’s post! Praise Him!  
“Then he turned to his host.  ‘When you put on a wedding banquet,’ he said, ‘don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors.  For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward.  Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.  Then at the resurrection of righteousness, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.” Luke 14
This Sunday I saw one of the most amazing miracles that I have ever seen in my entire life–and I sobbed the entire way through it.
For months before I came to Mozambique, Jesus had been speaking to me about him feeding the five thousand in John chapter six… and this Sunday, I saw that miracle come to pass before my very eyes.  In church, the Holy Spirit instructed us to have communion.  It was an interactive sermon on John chapter six with five loaves and two fish and three baskets.  Heidi’s twelve spiritual sons began to break the bread and hand it out and in my spirit I could feel that we were about to witness something great.
As they passed out the bread to over seven hundred people (large pieces as well, because no one was to receive a small portion of Jesus’ body), it was instructed for the international (Iris students) to break and share their bread with at least two people from Mozambique.  I sat there with a large piece of bread and broke it and handed it to three mamas and one young boy named Juma.  We also split the large piece of fish that we received and then waited for Holy Spirit to come.
That was when it hit me.  I was sitting there among the poorest of the poor.  We were on the ground with bugs crawling on us and dirt on our bare feet, most of those around me had swollen stomachs but joyful eyes as they held the precious bread in their hands.  You see, the bread of Jesus’ body is precious to them because for most in that church it was the only meal they would eat that day.  I was surrounded by blind widows and children with missing limbs and I realized so suddenly–as if this veil was lifted from my eyes–that this must have been very similar to the crowd that Jesus was with on that very day.
And I finally understood: to love the poor is to love Jesus.  To feed the poor is to feed Jesus.  To give water to the poor is to give water to Jesus.  To take off your shoes and give them to one who does not have is to do the same for Jesus.  To lay down your life for the poor is to lay down your life for Jesus.  If you ever want to find Jesus, find the poor.  He is among them and he shines through their eyes.  I have experienced no greater satisfaction in my life than when I was sitting there with broken bread and fish among these children of God.  I knew then that I was not just among the poor but I was sitting with Jesus himself and we were talking together, we were sharing in our meal together, we were laughing together and we were crying together.
As the bread was passed around, broken, torn, ripped apart, much like the precious flesh of my Jesus, the miracle began to take place and the baskets began to fill up instead of empty out.  In fact, the more we handed out, the more the baskets began to overflow until by the end the baskets we were using were overflowing onto the ground and every person in that church was satisfied.
That might be hard for some of you to believe, but this is the truth.  There will always be enough.  When we surrender all, Jesus surrenders all to us.
After the food multiplied, Heidi called up those who wanted to receive Jesus and masses of people came running, most of them children.  Heidi then pointed out to us that most of these children are accepting Jesus today also because they received actual bread.  When it comes to the poor there is a greater impact when you bring the Bread of Life and bread in the natural.  She then asked those who were actually hungry right now to raise their hands and every single child on that stage rose their hands and I began to weep uncontrollably.
You see, in my last email I wrote that hunger ignites a response from God, which is fully true, but I also think it ignites us to respond as well.  When we are hungry, we have to do something.  Hunger is a driving force unlike any other and I have asked God to make me as ravenous as a fire, as hungry as a grave, as thirsty as a river.
I am hungry for more hunger.
I know this email is long, but when you have had the blind and the lame weep over you as they pray for you, it is a hard thing to describe what Jesus does in your heart.  I certainly don’t have all of this figured out, and that is okay.  I don’t know how to live a life that is fully surrendered and that is okay.  It is impossible for me to sustain the heart of Christ in my flesh which means that I am bowing down and He is rising up.  It is impossible for seven hundred to be fed on what little loaves and fish we had, but because it was impossible that made it 100% possible.  Because then it is all God and nothing to do with me.
Jesus, I have so much to learn.
Lindsay
Lindsay has been a missionary since her early teens. She lives in Arizona but is currently in Mozambique with Harvest School (Iris Ministries). Learn more at http://www.irisglobal.org/missions/harvest/
Published by permission of the author. Submit your own post at beingrebekah@outlook.com. 

Getting Ready

Jul30

On Januarplaney first of this year I shared with our readers that I would be going to China, Taiwan, and the Philippines through a work opportunity later in the year. That trip is fast approaching! I leave in just over a month. The last couple of weeks have been a jumble of preparation from paperwork to securing a VISA, to booking hotel rooms, setting up communications with host families, and getting vaccinations. It would seem this trip is really going to happen!

In some ways, it is a miracle that I am going at all. I have had a lot of obstacles come in my way over the months since I wrote that initial post. But through each of them, God has made a way for the trip to remain possible. Shortly after I got accepted into the program, I faced an extremely stressful situation at work that nearly caused me to quit. My godsister told me at the time that I was probably going to face a series of tests to try to keep me from being able to go on this trip. Little did either of us know how much that statement would prove to be true! Work has never been more difficult or stressful as it has been since the announcement of this trip. I even faced the possibility of losing my job altogether at one point. But through it all God has remained faithful and He has kept this door open for me. I believe there is a reason for that, but I do not yet know what it is.

To let you all know, I am setting up a separate blog to document my adventures on this trip. It will not necessarily be spiritually focused in the same way this blog is and it also won’t really be a work blog, but will chronicle my time there. I will likely keep the blog private, but if you’re interested in keeping up with me, you can send me an email at beingrebekahl@gmail.com and I will send you an invite.

I am excited to see what the Lord is going to do!

In His Love,
Rebekah L

Related Post: Choosing to Believe

P.S. For those that have prayed for my mother and have asked for updates: First, I’d like to say I appreciate all of your prayers immensely!! She is doing better. The blood clot is gone. Praise the Lord! She still has an internal infection and continues to suffer from intense nausea and shortness of breath so I covet your continued prayers. Thank you for your care and concern.

Guest Post: Lindsay “Hunger in Mozambique”

Jul28

Editor’s Note: Our weekly guest spot is our effort to help our reading community connect with each other. Thank you to Lindsay (who is currently on  a missions trip in Mozambique) for reminding us that sometimes we must become hungry to truly understand being filled.  

Last night we at Harvest celebrated the fourth of July the only way we knew how–DANCING the night away!  I came home covered in dirt, sweat, and full of laughter.

Today I am heading to village immersion.  I will be staying with one of the mamas in her home for the night and will help her in any way that I can.  Pray for God encounters, I have a very good feeling about this!

Now what I really want to share with you is what God has been speaking to me about over the five weeks I have been here: hunger.  Every Friday I work with 600 children from the village, my team of five does dramas, we give them the Gospel, and we feed each of them a heaping plate of rice and beans.  In all honesty, it can be very difficult.  The kids are very rough and loud and you lose your voice trying to share Jesus with them most of the time, but it gets really crazy when it comes to the rice and beans.

After we give everyone a plate of food many of the children line up for a second plate of food, but since we do not have enough for everyone to have a second plate we often have to turn them away.  When we start turning them away, it gets wild.  The children will beat each other viciously, they steal food from each other, they scream and fight and throw rocks, but they are hungry and I am learning from them.

Two weeks ago we set one plate on a ledge and there were about thirty children gathered around watching the plate.  When the plate fell not one grain of rice, not one bean even hit the ground.  Instantly the kids descended on it and it was completely gone, eaten in less than a second.  I have never seen hunger like this in my entire life.  And yet it is the very thing God wants me to gain from these kids.  A ravenous hunger that waits for one single drop from heaven, waiting, watching, wanting nothing but Jesus.

And yet Jesus has been telling me that in heaven He does not give us just a drop, He is ready to fill us to the brim and He does not turn us away when we come back for seconds because there is always enough.  He died so that there would always be enough.  But we have to be hungry.  Hunger invokes a response from God.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.  If you are hungry you have a promise over your life and you will be filled.

Without hunger, we will not eat, and if we do not eat we will die.  Jesus is inviting us to a feast and we must eat.  Hunger sustains us.  It is the only thing that will keep us alive.

So my challenge to you is this: get hungry.  Get hungry.  Get hungry.  Get hungry.  Get so hungry that your flesh actually cries out for God.  If you have to fast, then fast so you can know hunger.  Know it inside and out and you will know the overwhelming joy of being filled.

Getting hungrier and learning to go lower,

Lindsay

Lindsay has been a missionary since her early teens. She lives in Arizona but is currently in Mozambique with Harvest School (Iris Ministries). Learn more at http://www.irisglobal.org/missions/harvest/

Published by permission of the author. Submit your own post at beingrebekah@outlook.com. 

Below is Like a Fire by Planetshakers.  It’s the song I finally picked as my solo at church last night and it feel so in line with this. Jesus- I’m desperate for You. Jesus- I’m hungry for You. Jesus I’m longing for You. Lord You are, all I want. ~Rebekah M. 

Caring for Mother

Jul16

1100587_hospital_hand

My mother had surgery last week. She lives in another state, but it’s less than a two hour drive away so I packed up a suitcase and drove up to spend several days caring for her after she was released from the hospital. It was physically and emotionally exhausting.

Helping her out of bed in the morning and to the reclining chair is a monumental task. Getting her out of the chair for any reason is as well. I’ve learned how to bend down, tip the chair forward, get the brunt of her weight under my arm, shift her weight onto my thighs while still keeping the chair tilted and use my hands to steady her, all the while holding her JP drain, catheter bag and tubing out of the way.

Caring for her has included wound care and dressings, emptying blood and fluids from the JP drain, emptying the catheter bag, dressing and undressing for the day, assistance showering, making sure she gets all of her medications (and there are a lot!) on schedule, cooking and cleaning for her, as well as feeding and walking the dogs etc… Most of this isn’t particularly difficult, but it is time consuming. Most of the difficulty lies, not in the tasks, but in my mother having to lay aside her pride and be very vulnerable and dependent. I know it’s humiliating to her to have to have her daughter help her with such personal and intimate parts of her life.

Honestly, prior to this week, the thought of having to help my mother shower or assist her with a bowel movement was horrifying to me. It is one thing to assist a patient, an acquaintance, or even a friend with these things, but having to help a parent brings a different level of emotional involvement. Our parents are the ones who cared for us when we were younger and to see them become vulnerable is a reminder that they are aging, that they aren’t invincible, and that life is fleeting.

But you know, sometimes such a reminder isn’t so bad. We need to be reminded that we are human and that our lives are short. We need to remind ourselves that our experiences here on earth are temporary and what matters is eternity. Additionally, caring for an ill or aging person is an opportunity to practice the love of God.

I’ve learned that I have much more to give than I realized. My mother and I have never been particularly close and I’ve often felt I am a failure in her eyes, but none of that mattered when she needed me. I’ve learned that when you love someone you don’t think about how awful it is to have to bathe them, you just do it. And you do it because you love them. I think of all the things she did for me when I was young, not because she wanted to, but because it was the right thing for me at the time. And I think of all the things the Lord has done for me. Not because He had to, but because He loved me.

Every blessing we receive is because our heavenly Father loves us. He was willing to do the dirty work in order to rescue us in our time of need. He came down to this degraded, unholy place as a helpless child because He loved us enough to overlook the sacrifice it would take. He didn’t just sacrifice His time and resources, He sacrificed His very life. He looked down and saw that we were sick and injured and put in motion a plan to bring us back to health. He saw that we were lost and dying and He picked us up and gave us life! He is the ultimate caregiver. He is the One I want to emulate and the One I want to praise all of the days of my short life on this earth and for all of eternity.

In His love,

Rebekah L.

Sharing Our Testimonies

Jul2

On Su720361_friendshipnday we had a guest preacher at our church. He gave his testimony about the incredible things that God has helped him overcome. He quoted Revelation 12:11 in his sermon. On my last post one of our regular readers (and recent guest blogger) left me a comment referencing this same verse. As a result, I asked God to give me some opportunities this week to share what the Lord has done for me.

Amazingly, in the last two days I have been able to share my personal testimony at work twice! There is a young woman from Shanghai who started working in my building recently. She has a passing understanding of many world religions, but was basically raised without any religious tradition in her life. She has never experienced the transforming power of Christ. It was so exciting to be able to share with her how He has transformed my life. Somehow God must have used what I shared to touch her because today she came in with another employee and requested I tell him what I told her! It is my prayer that this is the beginning of a walk for each of them that ends with them hearing our Lord proclaim, “Well done thou good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy of the Lord” (Matthew 25:23).

Our testimonies are powerful. They have the ability to help us overcome, the ability to build faith in others and can be used to help open the door for their hope in the transformational power of a Savior. So get out there, be bold for Jesus and share your testimony. Let us know in the comments how God has used your testimony to touch others.

In His Love,

Rebekah L.

Are You a Goat?

Jun5

goatAnd before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. […]Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. ~Matt 25:32, 41-46

As I was driving earlier today with my God-sister, we started talking about how our church had such a tendency to focus on some really important truths, but one BIG lacking thing we noticed across the board was reaching out to the needy in our communities.  It is SUCH an integral part of why I want to be a doctor- “I was sick and you visited me.” When I think of how so many churches don’t focus on that it breaks my heart. Where are the soup kitchens? Where are the can drives? Where are the coat drives? To have so many things right but not have any real community outreach just seems so wrong.

There are other churches with the flip side- they have tons of community outreach, but forget fundamentals of salvation or a true Christian walk. They’ll have soup kitchens galore, but people lack daily prayer lives. Anyone who needs an extra coat in winter will find one there, but saints don’t daily read their Bible.  We can become so busy in doing things FOR Christ, we forget HIM.

We’ve got to find a balance. We cannot forsake the foundations of faith and once we have an established daily foundation for our faith we must extend and grow. So my question to all of you (and to myself) is on judgement day, will He find you a goat or a sheep?

Lord Jesus, 

Help us be Your sheep. Help us walk where You lead us. Let us visit those who we should visit and minister unto others as if we are ministering unto You.  May we look into their eyes and see Your reflection there realizing it is a mirror of ourselves when we are allowing YOU to work through us.  Let me be Your hands and Your feet. 

Rebekah M. 

Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace

May14

instrument of peace 2

Words are timeless. The Scriptures are the purest example of this, but sometimes even mere mortals manage to write down a few thoughts that last centuries. The poem below was written about 800 years ago. You’ve probably heard it before, but it’s a good reminder of what we should strive for as Christians.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

~A Prayer of St Francis of Assisi

Jesus, I am so much more inwardly focused than I should be. Lord, “grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand, to be loved as to love.”

In His Love,

Rebekah L.

Simple Gifts

May7

592127_old_style_steel_fan

The other day I was at the department store when I saw a fan on sale. I contemplated purchasing it for myself since the warmer weather will be coming soon, but then I suddenly had the thought that I should purchase it for my brother-in-law instead. My brother-in-law hates to be hot. I knew he would use it and this one was really nice. It has multiple settings, six speeds, the ability to set it to automatically turn on and off at pre-determined intervals and a remote control. It’s just a fan, but as fans go, it’s a pretty cool one.

I was nervous about giving it to him because we have a very strained relationship and we never exchange gifts. He is an atheist and limits the exposure his children have to me because he doesn’t want me influencing them. He assumes all Christians are unintelligent and hypocritical. More than that, he holds a lot of bitterness and anger towards Christians. I can understand his feelings because he was hurt very badly as a child when his father became a “Christian” and walked out on the family, never to support him again. The only contact he had with his father after that was the occasional phone call where his father would tell him repeatedly that he is going to hell. When this is your experience of Christianity, it is natural to distrust Christians.

I took a chance and gave him the fan. I felt that it was God who gave me the idea in the store, so despite my nervousness, I went through with it. And you know what? He sent me a text message the next day that said, “I just wanted to say thank you for my new fan. It is perfect for me and you can rest assured that it will get used every day. Thanks again. I love you.”

This simple text i1101414_my_phones incredibly touching to me and it is a gift for which I am very grateful. My brother-in-law went out of his way to thank me and show appreciation. He even expressed brotherly love. I stand amazed at the goodness of God! I see the door opening a little. I hope to be able to show him that not all Christians are like his father. Although we make mistakes, most of us are genuinely trying to live for Christ and to show His love. It is my prayer that one day he will be converted and model Christ in a way that his father never did.

Rebekah L.