I am shocked at the amount of English speakers here in Vietnam. It is such a blessing to run into tourists on the daily and get to explain why we are here. It’s easy to use language barrier as an excuse not to share our faith with residents of the countries we go to. I’ve realized fear was the only thing holding me back from sharing my faith and Jesus with everyone I encounter…. Fear of judgement, rejection, assumptions, etc. which makes sense as to why I’ve always found it easier to bond with kids…. Their natural instinct is to accept you for who you are without judgement. (A beautiful representation of how God accepts us and sees us.) Walking in boldness for Christ isn’t something that necessarily comes easy but my view of talking to others about the Gospel/ how God is working in my life is becoming easier every time I simply do it. I’m learning the things I’m most afraid of are the things proving to be the most beneficial and my favorite things in life. Letting others into what’s going on in my mind and vulnerability has shown to be one of the most beneficial things for not only going deeper in relationships here on earth but also my relationship with he Lord and others relationship with the Lord. Fear is something the enemy has used to hold me back from the fullness of God and His plan for my life. This season of life is so beautiful for stepping into freedom through Christ and having a more clear view on what that looks like.
This is a testimony to God and His goodness changing me from the inside out. Nothing to do with me, besides being open to Him and how He wants to use me. I’ve now never been so excited to run into someone who speaks English and share what we are doing here. I had the opportunity to give some Uber drivers Bibles, share how God has changed my life, the purpose He has given me, have conversations with friends and family from home, and so many conversations with tourists. I am no longer scared to bring the Lord into conversations but now excited for new opportunities. I’m also finding God speaking so much more clearly and have gained more discernment between my mind and God’s voice. It’s so beautiful when unexplainable things happen, confirming what God has spoken to me. One of my biggest fears coming on the race was going from, close to a year of living in community across the world to my normal life. God’s proven time and time again fear is not of Him therefore to turn that into excitement because it must mean something good is coming! Fear almost held me back from the world race until God bought that to my attention through Matthew 8:23. I can’t imagine my life without it. I’m so grateful for our incredible leaders who sample walking in the boldness of God and are so patient in helping us work though many things that have been holding us back from what’s in store for us.
As I was sitting here writing about fear, these kids playing bad mitten next to me (outside of our hostel) just broke their rack which sent it flying into the air and hitting the wall right above my head… instead of me. We laughed it off but It reminded me how I’ve never really been afraid of anything physical here that may be out to harm me. That’s kind of a silly example but I’m so confident the Lord called me here therefore will protect me from anything out to harm. This reminded me how much more silly is it to be afraid of opinions which truly can’t harm me, especially when knowing who God says I am. Anyways, it’s funny how God uses all things to remind us of Him so I figured I would throw that in here. So… to close this out, I’m so excited to step more into the boldness of Christ in all conversations and see my team do the exact same thing! Thanks for reading!
The kids playing bad mitten! 🤪
Featuring a random girl who came up to me speaking Vietnamese and ended up drawing on my iPad right outside our hostel while writing this! 🙂
