This story comes to us from one of our Global Ambassadors in China. We hope it encourages you! For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8) Sometimes God uses what we think are limitations as an avenue for His work. In the Beijing day womens class, a common concern that many potential leaders express is their limited English ability. Although many of our discussion groups are in Mandarin or Cantonese, our leaders meetings are held in English. This concern almost kept Iris from saying yes when invited to be a group leader for one of our Cantonese discussion groups. Her son knew she was struggling with her decision and he encouraged her by saying she should get an English tutor to help her. In fact, his tutor had space for another student. Iris agreed to leadership and to her sons suggestion. When Iris began her English lessons, her tutor asked her why she wanted to improve her English skills. She explained her new role as a group leader in Bible Study Fellowship. He was not a Christian and was surprised that she would devote so much time and energy to Bible study. During the English lessons, Iris would ask her tutor to check over her prepared homiletics to see if her grammar needed correction. Again, he could not understand why she would put so much work into an assignment that would not be graded by a teacher. Over time, Iris tutor began asking her questions about the Bible. He wanted to know what the answers were to her homiletics application questions. He expressed an interest in the Bible and knowing more about God. So, Iris started preparing her homiletics assignments with her tutor in mind, anticipating his questions. As a result of his weekly English lesson with Iris, her tutor has now purchased his own Bible and is reading and studying it for himself. Because Iris trusted God and did not allow her limitation in English to stop her, she not only helped the BSF Cantonese group, she also helped a young English tutor hear the truth about God through their weekly tutoring sessions. Her limitation became the avenue God used to introduce Jesus to this young man.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 15:59:59 +0000