When they told us not to expect much because we were there to soften soil, I think God laughed. In my mind I can hear him saying, "Just wait and see what I have planned." Cause that's how it all happened. It was all God and all HIS plan. I merely took the opportunities He set in front of me.
My first roommate and I barely talked the first few days we were together. We were both the kind of people who are shy when put in new situations, but God knew what He was doing even when I didn't. But one night when she saw me reading my Bible everything changed. She knew a lot about Moses, but she wanted me to read the whole story to her from the Bible. We talked until then next thing you know we looked at the clock and it read 1am. It didn't stop there; the next night we talked and read until 2:30am. She was having boy trouble, which I don't have very much experience with, but I was able to share how I find my worth in God and not boys. I told her that people can stop loving me, but God never does. That's when she decided that she NEEDED a Bible.
In China the only place you can get a Bible is the registered churches and so the next day I left our field trip early and she and I went into the city to get her a Bible. After awhile we found the church and there were a lot of people there. It was Saturday night and as it turned out that is when they hold their service. They took us to the front row for the last ten minutes of the service. When it was over I was thinking that she was going to want to get out of there with the Bible they gave her and get on with the night, this was her first time in a church, but SHE asked me if it was okay if we stayed and talked to people for a bit. We were there for two hours.
Our week together as roommates was up, but God was not done with her and she was definitely still hungry for Him. She and I began to meet, read, and talk about the Bible together. We read more about Moses, then Philippians, a little about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then finally the beginning of Jesus' life. She would have read all day if it were up to her.
As the weeks went on God presented opportunities to talked to just about every person that I lived with. If I told you it was easy, I would be lying. I had never done anything like this before and had honestly not expected Him to use me like this in China. Three prayers I had, had for the last year were being answered right in front of me. He was changing me and I didn't even know it yet.
At the beginning of our last week together, God was ready to call her to Himself. She and I had been reading for three hours when one of the other members of the team members, Emily, and I asked her to pray about becoming a Christ follower and a member of the family of believers. She allowed us to lay hands on her and pray as we sent her off to listen for God's voice.
After she left, we let everyone what was going on and we all prayed for her. As this was going on people kept telling me "Good job" and such, but all I could say was that it wasn't me. I just talked and the rest was God. That is when Emily told me that I was Holy Anointed; that God was using me because I was obedient. I had been praying that God would give me His spirit so that I could do His work and He had, I just hadn't realized it. It wasn't a big show or anything, it was simple. He doesn't need fireworks to change the world.
The biggest decision of her life took only two days. There really is no better way to explain her heart, but with her own words. She said to me, "It is a big decision, but I know that it is right. He has given me peace." So big and yet so simple. That was always her way of putting things.
The team got together with her the next night to pray and celebrate. We laid hands on her and prayed, taught her the song "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus," and she told her testimony to us. She talked about how she had always been taught not to have any belief, about not having peace and her search for it, but the words that followed I don't think anyone on the team will ever forget. "And then I met you," she said with a smile. Her search for peace ended when we brought Jesus into her life. God had a plan the whole time. She had a God shaped whole in her heart and His plan was to send us so that we could show her. God exceeds all expectations except one; that He always has a plan for us.
I was really nervous about the whole opening up to people I don't know and prayed that God would help me. I am not very good at letting people I have known for a long time past my walls, but I allowed God to use my experiences and vulnerability to break down the walls within me and turn them into bridges. They became bridges that changed my life, the people around me, and in turn He used them to change His Kingdom.
There was one more prayer He had answered, but I hadn't noticed yet. As we were in our week of debrief I said something without really thinking about it that was an, "Oh" moment. I told someone that this trip has shown me that God can use even me. As I said this my mind shot back to reading about Moses. She kept going back to that story because God was waiting for me to see His answer to my prayer. God called Moses to do great things, things he wasn't sure he could do. Moses was scared and kept telling God that He had the wrong guy. At one point he even says, "who am I?" You see God's reply is the same to me as it was to him, "I will be with you."
For a longtime I had been praying for confidence, but more so confidence in Christ and Moses was the answer. I had answered a call I felt unequipped and unqualified for. I asked God, "who am I?" I went despite my fear and inadequacies and all the while He was with me.
Moses said yes to the opportunity that God set before him and it changed the world. I said yes and it changed lives in China, but also mine. Opportunity is about being obedient and letting God change the world through you while He does His work in you. I guess the only questions left are , "What opportunities has God given you?" and "How will you answer?"
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