Trust

 A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of baptizing a new friend.  

Hearing her testimony gave me goosebumps all over. And honestly speaking, we can’t claim much of the process in her journey to Christ; but the “goosebump event” came about more because of the reminder that God is at work all around us even when all around us seems to be tumbling down.

Our friend is Japanese, but we were moved to hear of her family’s involvement in the local Buddhist temple. Because of that, she was naturally taught to be “good”, moral and hard-working. In addition to that, her family focused on the exterior, “visible” aspects of living circumspect.

As she got older, those characteristics took her a long way, through a somewhat privileged life, traveling and learning languages, and becoming well educated.  She married and had kids, but there was still a God-shaped vacuum in her heart.In 2010, she came across a church, found it inviting and started taking one of her children there.  While there, a visiting missionary talked to her about being baptized. She declined, but the encounter planted a seed.

Time passed, life was busy, and she settled into finishing off raising her kids here in Australia.  Then one day, thru a friend of a friend, she found herself at a 3-day Japanese Bible study camp.  She sat next to me; you may remember my mentioning this in a blog a few weeks ago. In her testimony, she remarked about how I had smiled at her, which surprises me because Tony had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and I wasn’t smiling a lot.

Anyway she took Tony’s class on basic Christianity, that Anagaion book I’ve sure you’ve heard of by now. From that point, she began seriously considering becoming a Christian.  Before leaving the conference, she also bought Tony’s Road Rising book, and started reading it as a daily devotional.  

Then on April 15th this year, she suddenly felt very strongly that she should take the next step.  She even searched the web for the “only real truth”.  God and Google led her to Mark 16:16,  “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”  She knew what she had to do (and this is where it gets crazy), a few days later she picked up the Road Rising and out of curiosity looked at the April 15th reading.  It said exactly what she’d just heard God say. The title of that day’s devotional is  “Real Truth”, and in it the character in the book says, 

1. I am loved by God

2. I’m forgiven by Jesus’ blood

3. God’s Holy Spirit lives in me

4. Satan has no authority over me

5. When I resist him, Satan has to run

6. I can do anything thru God’s power

7.  I’m a citizen of God’s Kingdom

She read the words, lifted the passage out of the book and made it part of her testimony to give before her baptism.  

Life has not been easy for this lovely lady. Her husband of many years walked away. She could have crumbled and lost her newly found faith at that, but instead she responded to him, “I still love you; I pray for you, and I still hope that we will find reconciliation.” Please join her in praying for the family.

Then, as a sign of God’s Presence and Power, while she was leading her students on an outing, they looked up and noticed a sky writer flying just above their heads. He had already written,                 “T……R…..U…S…T”   Then while they watched, he finished with “… IN JESUS”.   

I’m not making this stuff up.  A few months ago, a friend, tired and weary with the constant CoVid challenge remarked, “Well, it looks like twenty twenty …won!”  I was inclined to agree with her back then, but now I’m being reminded that God is still very much alive and well.

But lest I should work myself too much into this story, I recall the Apostle Paul’s words in 1st Corinthians 3: 1-4,“Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others, who need to bring you letters of recommendation, or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Surely not! The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.”

Amen,

Marsha