He's faithful to the End [[States]]

Today I got news that Tiger 1- a bar that many of the girls that became our sisters this summer worked in caught fire- and killed and injured several people.  A lightning bolt struck the transformer box in the electrical wires and sparked a fire that created a mess of chaos on Bangla. The electricity went on and off several times before the fire that was thought to be a bomb at first and from that chaos erupted. When I first heard this news, I pictured my sisters in those bars scrambling in crowds to push away from the flames in complete fear- and instantly my heart was in confusion and disbelief that God would allow this to pass through his hands on the very streets that I walked just a few short weeks ago and to the very women he allowed me to love. 

       After I let my heart accept the lie of confusion for several hours God led me to a page in my journal that made my jaw drop- and it hasn’t returned to normal position yet as he keeps piecing things together and revealing to me why he allowed the fire to happen. You see, the very page he brought me to was one that was written over a month ago sitting in a kfc with three of my teammates in Patong after prayer walking Bangla as a cry to God asking him what his plans were for that place. Torie, Alley, Anna Grace, and I sat in a tourist filled kfc and asked God for specific revelations of what he had in store. I know what you’re thinking, God speak to us in a Kentucky fried chicken in Thailand, crazy sounding right? Well we stepped out in vulnerability and faith anyways and asked to see God’s to-do list, and oh did he reveal much of his plans- that are still being fulfilled.

       Sometimes God reveals things to us to test our faith- to see if we truly trust his voice. That day God revealed to us several things that changed our view of how God speaks to us, and challenged us to trust him at his word. The Lord revealed to my teammate Torie chapter 18 of revelation- a chapter that she didn’t know what it contained or that it was going to be God speaking out his plans for over a month later. If you haven’t read Revelation 18, I will give you the spark notes version of it to help the understanding of God’s sovereign power here.  In this chapter an angel that had authority from heaven is talking to Babylon and calling out this fallen city on the sexual immorality that is happening , the drunkenness, the idols they have made, their love of luxurious things, for their “sins are heaped as high as heaven” (Rev. 18:5) This voice from heaven warns them to get out now before they are taken down with this city because God’s righteous anger is coming- “For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” (Rev. 18:8)  At first glance this may seem harsh, but it’s easy to forget that we serve a just God- one that hates sin and what that sin does to the people that he created for love.  God is jealous for every person on Bangla and I know that he is coming to restore his people- that fire last night was a glimpse into his righteous anger against the sin on Bangla, and his longing for his children to turn to him. He is warning them of what is coming and offering them redemption in return for abandonment of self and sin. Earlier this week I was reading a book by A.W. Tozer that talks into a fear of the Lord saying “Until we have been gripped by that nameless terror which results when an unholy creature is suddenly confronted by that One who is the holiest of all, we are not likely to be much affected by the doctrine of love and grace.”  Bangla felt that nameless terror last night- and God is proving over and over that his hand is on Bangla road and each of the people he allowed us to meet this summer.

God has never left Bangla. He has never stopped fighting for His people in Phuket. He is faithful to the very end.

God has been speaking to me through songs all summer long- he brought me to this song today as I was praying for Bangla, and oh how perfectly did he orchestrate this into what he has revealed to me today.

The promise of your coming light

 It burns so brightly in my mind

and all creation longs and waits

 For the dawning of that day
And he will come riding on the clouds

With Justice in his heart

And a sword upon his side
And all will see the glory of this man

With fire in his eyes

He's jealous for his bride
He's faithful to the end

 He's faithful to my heart.

B-'s story [[Thailand]]

B-‘s story is one of hope, restoration, and just the beginning of a new journey God has her on. To continue from the story below, we had the opportunity to share Jesus with B- on a sunny afternoon over ice cream. The Lord had promised my heart from the day we met her that she was going to hear about Him, that she was ready for the harvest. When we first met her she would say things like “I’m the only one who knows what’s best for my heart” and from that point, we knew she was ready to hear that Jesus was waiting to do that for her as well as flood her with healing and restoration. Telling B- about Jesus was difficult and we had no other option but to leave it completely in God’s hands. Speaking the powerful name of Pry yasu [Jesus] to B- and her not understanding who he was or ever heard that name before even was very difficult. She was very receptive to hearing about Him but she still didn’t understand who he was fully. After I handed her a thai bible and walked out those doors, I instantly began to protest God and what he had just allowed to happen in there. Thoughts flooded my mind of “But Lord, you promised this and she didn’t come to know who you were.” The Lord was quick to cut me off and whisper, “But Sarah do you trust me with her? You were obedient in sharing me with her and handing her my word, but do you trust me with her now because B- was never in your hands to begin with.” I broke down in that moment and quickly surrendered any of that relationship with B- I thought I had been a part of in realizing it was all God, I wouldn’t have even met her  if he hadn’t called me to this place.

 For 2 months, we poured into B- with all the love Jesus had to offer, told her that she deserved better than the way she was living and poured truth over her that she had worth. Our last week of ministry quickly approached and as it did one of my teammates and I had a going away dinner with B-. B- had been begging us for 2 months to go to this BBQ  place, but we heard the horror stories before we got there from other teammates. To say it plainly, a buffet of raw meat of every kind and flies surrounding it faced us. Anna and I stared at this small little grill on our table as B- had already began filling plates and plates of raw meat- most of which was unrecognizable. My stomach clenched with the thought of I was about to put in it as B- started piling all the meat on the grill. After the initial shock of what I was eating, and praying off any possible sickness that could come from eating what we did we had some incredible conversations with B-. It was like three sisters just laughing and talking about their lives, it didn’t matter that we lived around the world from each other or that there was a language barrior. Towards the end of the meal [when we had more animals in our stomachs that I could count fingers] B- got this real serious look on her face and said, “ I know God sent you to me.” I quickly assumed she meant Buddha, and as I asked her if she meant Buddha, she cut me off and said, “No, God sent you to me.” And then she proceeded to tell us that she knew she was “a lily precious and holy.” Those words we knew were only coming from the Lord, because for one those are big words in english to understand and say and also that she was so confident in how she was telling us that she really believed it. My heart was singing for joy at this point when she shared some even more incredible words with us, she told us that she no longer was working in the bars but was interviewing for a hostess job at a restaurant in the mall. We were left blown away by how God had moved. We also later were reminded of our original vision for this summer as a team that we had painted on a canvas- a woman surrendered with her hands in the air and A LILY IN HER HAIR. The very words B- was speaking over herself were what God had promised us from the beginning. It was incredible to see God’s faithfulness throughout the past 2 months in this one moment that God allowed us to see, and to see his hand on B- the entire time we had known her.       

                  God is faithful, his promises are true, and he does redeem hearts.