While we were in Vietnam, my teammate was getting a tattoo and I was sitting with him just watching and keeping him company and preparing to get my own tattoo. While we were there, there was a lady from the U.S. who currently lives in Vietnam working in education. She was getting a piercing done in a painful spot by her ear. She was visibly nervous.
“Do you guys have someone who holds hands?” I heard her ask behind me. I turned my head towards her and gave a little giggle and thought it would be funny to say “I’ll hold your hand!”
She gave me a big smile and reached out for me. I was surprised that she took it as more than a joke and even more surprised that she reached out for me.
As I am striving to be a woman of my word, I took a step towards her and held her hand.
I started a conversation trying to get to know her a little bit and distract her from the pain she was about to endure. We ended up talking about how we got to Vietnam, which is how I learned she was an educator. She asked why we were here, and because of the nature of Vietnam I had to answer with “oh we are just friends traveling around and we volunteer places while we travel.” Which is true…ish.
Her response is what really got me.
“OH! You guys are Jesus people! That’s why you came to hold my hand!”
That’s also true. I am a Jesus person, and that is exactly why I turned around and held her hand. Jesus knew she needed His comforting hand and love in that moment and used my hand to give it to her.
People see Jesus through our actions. It did not take her long to recognize the light that dwells within me is Jesus. I did not have to be wearing my cross ring, my necklace that says “go shine for Jesus” on it, or my bracelet that has a little black cross on it for her to know I was a Jesus person. As a matter of fact, I was not wearing any of those clear give aways, you are not really allowed to in Vietnam.
It was the simple act of love from a stranger that made her see Jesus in the people in front of her. What a convicting interaction that was for me. I guess it is true when they say that people are watching. I hope that every time someone watches me they see Jesus. Our actions speak much louder than our words most of the time. Grab the strangers hand. Take the moment to love with actions. Go shine for Jesus.
