Bible Text: Isaiah 49:16 | Speaker: Bonnie Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | See I have engraved you on the palm of my hands.  Isaiah 49:16

Jesus ministered to the crowds but he was often interested in engaging just one person. He noticed Zacchaeus up in a tree (Luke 19:5), he stopped when a bleeding woman touched the hem of his garment (Luke 8:45) and he made a detour to raise one little girl from the dead (Mark 5:36-42)!

For over a half century, Guidelines has broadcast the hope of the Gospel to the millions over the airwaves of radio, the internet, through books, literature and seminars. But I’m pretty sure God sent me to China recently as part of our Guidelines ministry team to share with one person out of almost one and a half billion!

In between our “real ministry” of speaking in churches, I and a colleague found ourselves with an afternoon available, and with the help of a young, bi-lingual Chinese professional, we toured the historic part of the city we were visiting.  Tim (not his real name), wanted to practice his English and proved to be a great guide, introducing us to street foods including “peanut soup!”

When I asked Tim if he believed in God or if any of his friends did, he said no. He didn’t even know anyone who believed in God.  “In China,” he said, “We have many proverbs and sayings. They tell us that we have an ‘outer life’ where we have our job, our prosperity, our families and an ‘inner life.’ When things are going well in our outer life, we ignore our inner life. But, when things go wrong in our outer life, we look to our inner life and there is nothing there.” He went on. “I need help in my outer life but God cannot help me in my outer life.” 

We listened. And we gently shared that God had definitely helped us in our “outer lives” and that He longed to help and make Himself known to Tim as well.  Right before we stopped for lunch, much to Tim’s distress, he realized that he had lost his government issued ID sometime while we were walking through the passageways of the old city! Chinese citizens must carry this ID at all times and show it to ride transport, do banking, etc. Tim had an important job interview scheduled in three days, in his home city which was hours away by train and was set to take a state exam for the job interview-all of which he could not do unless that ID was found! Of course, my colleague and I immediately began to pray silently. We visited a security office where Tim thumbed through lost IDs that had been turned in. No ID.

As we parted, we asked Tim if we could pray for him-that he would find that ID and that God would give him the job he needed and make Himself known to him. “Yes”, he said. And so, we prayed and said goodbye.

Later that evening, my phone chirped with a text message. “Amazing!” the message read. It was from Tim. “I returned to the old city and walked through it,” he said. “I found my ID on the ground behind the tea shop we went in! Thanks for prayers!” Tim made his way to a Christian church service the next day. He has continued to text me and recently told me he is praying for me, because “it works!”

Once back home, I had lunch with some friends of Guidelines.  Their high-school aged son approached me quietly at the end of the meal.  “Thank you for that story about Tim that you told in the Guidelines e-newsletter,” he said.   “After I read it, I realized I never talk to my friends about God.  So, I talked to one of them, invited them to church and they’re going to church with me now!”

Who is the one hurting, lost person in your life?  Will you share “the hope that is within you”?  God may be asking you to reach out to that one special person.  He promises to give you the words.  Do it today!

Resource Reading:  1 Peter 3:15-16