Letters Selection -Part Five.

All True Stories for the Glory of God.

"GURUS" follows. An amazing story of "God incidences."

1996 Mothers in the Park

Dear Eve, I have made a new friend. I took Christopher to play in the park one day, and got talking to another mother there. She was dealing with the same problems I had been dealing with ten years earlier. Left alone with a small baby, Naomi has no transport, and very little money. No joke without a regular bus service. She walks half a mile every day pushing the baby in a stroller to get her groceries. I felt so sorry for her. I have heaps of clothing I can pass on, as her son is a year younger than Christopher. I did mention about Jesus, and my church family helping me survive. I told her honestly that I did not know how I would have coped without them . We exchanged addresses, and I have promised to call in. Perhaps I can help her get some shopping sometimes. I can and will pass on the clothes, and I am going to pray a lot for her.

1996 (March) Eve - Went to see Naomi again. It was great to see that she has notice from a Salvation Army church up on her fridge. She has some other Christian friends praying for her too . The Lord is working here. I have given her a tape with "Jesus Lover of My Soul" on it.

1996 (July) I've known Naomi for six months now. She is going to come and visit us - she has managed to get a car! We have had some in depth talks about God. She has some ideas that come from a New Age world view. I try to talk about things in ways she can relate to. She says that the music tape is really helpful and does something for her. Yesterday I gave her a Gideon New Testament containing instructions on "How to have a relationship with God".

1997 (June)Naomi called in today, and guess who else dropped in, very unexpectedly, but right in God's timing. Our minister's wife! I had just invited Naomi to pray the sinner's prayer with me. So Anne sat down and had a cuppa with us, and we prayed. Naomi said she just couldn't. My minister's wife has a deliverance ministry, and just quietly, as we sat there at the table, she prayed for Naomi to be freed and be able to commit herself to Jesus. Then Naomi was able to pray. And something definitely has happened to her. We can see it, and she has remarked on it herself. Ian then gave her a complete Bible to keep. She said "Is there MORE?" She thought that tiny New Testament was all there was to a Bible. I guess it is important to realise that in this day and age people often know absolutely NOTHING about God, His Word and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1998. (June) Naomi says that now she knows what unconditional love is! She saw it and felt it when she looked in the mirror this morning. The Lord is revealing His love to her. Anne wants us to take an Alpha course over to her house. Naomi says that's OK. We shall start next week. It is a one hour trip for our Pastor, and 20km for us, a big commitment for the Pastors, when Naomi won't be in the area to attend their church. They are like that though, all they want to do is to spread the Kingdom.

1998 (July) Wow! Half way through the Alpha course Naomi tells us she has been going regularly to a New Age group, but won't anymore. Nicky Gumble's lectures have really sorted some things out for her.

2000 (Sept) The Lord has found Naomi a job, and a better place to live. She is in a church fellowship, so I guess we can leave her to them, and to the Lord. I will just keep in touch every now and then, passing on the clothes for her son.

Naomi has since been baptised, and has completed a course for Christian workers. We haven't seen each other for a while, but we keep in touch at least once a year. I think the compelling feature in her story is the unconditional love that she discovered.

******************

2001 Good morning my sister. You wanted a true and recent story to tell in church. Well, how about this one. We wrote it out for you. This had so little of us in it, and so much of the Lord.

MISSIONARIES DON'T ALWAYS HAVE TO GO OVERSEAS (GURUS)

This is the best JESUS video story I've got. We have been using JESUS videos as part of our evangelistic weaponry for years, with varying results. It's a great satisfaction to know that we have placed the Good News into the hands of another household or network of human beings. I have some good stories, but none better than this.

The story I will tell is one of God's initiative all through. It was really exciting, to see the incredible way God worked, His attention to every detail, His love for us all, - and particularly for a beautiful young Punjabi wife and mother , lonely and bored in a cold, alien land.

Mollie was sad, as she had to leave her little boy back home in India, whilst she accompanied her young husband to Australia to complete his studies at a Tertiary college. She was lonely as she could not understand the Australian accent well enough to make many friends. At home all day with her baby, in only partially furnished student accommodation, Mollie prayed to God to go to a church. Her religion was the Sikh religion. She prayed to her Gurus , and believed in a Supreme Being. The teaching of the Gurus was to lead a good life, be kind to the poor and sick, not to smoke or to drink, and never to cut hair. In the Sikh religion if you are good enough in this life, you go to heaven.

( Heaven is where your Gurus are).

Mollie's beautiful long hair reminded me of the biblical teaching that a woman's hair is her crowning glory. It must be a metre long. It's a pity when she puts it up, it looks so lovely when she has it loose! Once a week she and her daughter walked to a nearby play group. Although attending for some time, Mollie had no idea that the building they met in was part of a church. Towards the end of her husband's time in Australia, Mollie mentioned to one of the other ladies that she would like to visit a church and find out about Australian culture and religion . The lady at the play group told her that the church was open only on Sundays. For three weeks Mollie tried to get to a church service, but alas, things did not work out. "Oh well" sighed Mollie, "It must be my fate not to go to a church". - But that was the evening we met .....

Ian and I attend a church a good hour's drive away from our bush block home. On the Saturday night of the weekend we met Mollie, God had spoken to my husband in the quiet way He often does.

"You may have a flat tyre".

Ian went out into the dark, and kicked all the tyres, but they seemed all right. He discounted the message and went to bed. Next morning, mindful of the warning, he was out to the garage a good half hour earlier than usual to check the car. Yes. There WAS a flat tyre. Ian was disgruntled as he got down on his no longer young knees to change the thing.. "Why couldn't God STOP the flat tyre if he knew I was going to get one" he grumbled to himself. (There are times when I expect to see a little pile of cinders and see a bolt of lighting hit where he stands.) If we had found this any later, Ian would have rung the minister to inform him that we couldn't make it. Changing the tyre would then have made us too late to go. He was rostered to take communion that day, and as it was, we were too late to join in the worship.

We had our usual Sunday in town visiting friends after church, and headed for home. It was beginning to get dark as we left town. We looked for a garage where we could get the damaged tyre fixed. We spotted an open Service Station, and left it with them. The guy told us it would be ready in about an hour .

"I've seen a nice little playground down that road !" remarked our nine year old son. We drove to the park, and I sat and read the paper in the car. I do not like to get in and out of the car too often as at the moment it causes me some pain. But after a while, I felt that I WANTED to get out, so I got me crutches, and joined my family at the swings. By this time it was truly dark, and Ian noticed a little alleyway leading to a pretty housing area. "Let's walk down here and have a look" said he. Whilst we were looking at the stars and admiring the layout of the houses in the quiet cul de sac, an Indian lady

came along the lane, with a gorgeous toddler in a pushchair. I always look for opportunities and openings to share the gospel, and felt really keen to talk to this lady. "What a gorgeous baby !"

We chatted for a while. She asked why we were there. This was not surprising, as we happened to be standing right outside her house, without any obvious form of transport!

When she heard that we were waiting for a tyre to be fixed, she invited us in for coffee, and we accepted.

I wanted to share Jesus with her quite badly. There were pictures of venerable looking Indian gentlemen on the walls, so I asked about her religion. The pictures were of her Gurus. The family were Sikh. As we chatted ,our son gave the baby one of his small toys to play with. The little girl obviously wished to return the favour. She presented him with something really special. She picked up a small black box with a button on the side and gave it to Felix. "That is my wife's prayer counter" remarked Max, "When she wants a special thing she has to pray a certain number of times. If she makes a mistake she must start all over again". It was easy then, to talk about the Roman Catholic Rosary, and different kinds (or flavours) of the Christian Church. We also asked who she prayed to. "I pray to my Gurus". We told her about our Guru, Jesus. We asked them to come and visit us, and they seemed quite enthusiastic, so we also suggested that they might like to come along to church. "Yes" said Molly "I would like that". She told us later how she had longed and prayed to go to a church.

Not wanting to be pushy, we did not phone. Next time we went shopping we called in briefly and dropped off a JESUS Video in English together with a Gospel of Luke. Mollie invited us to visit the next Sunday, and we said we would come in the afternoon. On that day, Max was out, studying with a friend. We chatted with Mollie, and Christopher played with the baby. Molly cooked Indian food for us as we continued our two-way religious discussion.

When the time seemed right, I took a deep breath "Shall we take you to church with us next week?" Mollie seemed pleased! She mentioned that she had read the first eleven pages of the little book ( The gospel of Luke which accompanies the Jesus videos)."I liked it very much" said she . I did not comment at the time, but checked a spare book when we got back in the car (we try to keep a JESUS Video and its booklet on hand in the house and in the car just in case).

What she had liked very much was the sinner's prayer - the way to receive Jesus!

Back at home the following week, we prayed for them and ordered a Jesus video in Hindi. We began looking for some Indian Christians who might be able to give us some background so that we could understand more about the Sikh way of life. The local missionary training centre proved very fruitful ground. I guess that it should not have been so surprising to find a missionary couple keen to offer their friendship, who also knew another Indian couple, one of whom was in the same area of work as Max! This guy was also a very strong and mature born again Christian, with links to the Sikh community in Asia. We could see the hand of God very clearly now. Help and friendship seemed to have been set up in advance.

The next Sunday was the day to take Mollie to church. Her husband's exams were approaching, so he could not come that day. But the Hindi JESUS video had arrived, so we left him with it, and also left our VCR so that they had something to watch it on. We had briefed Mollie on what to expect. - if you ever know what to expect in a Pentecostal church! We also had asked her if she wanted to visit a big traditional church with an organ, or come with us, or go to some other kind of church. She chose to come with us. I think we must always consider the person first. We will always go with a new convert to any church they prefer, or which we think will suit them best, not necessarily the one we go to. If expedient, one of us will stop going to our own church to help a new person in Jesus to settle in somewhere new. If it seems necessary we will have our own group for them doing Christianity Explained, Alpha Videos, Testimony videos etc.

Mollie enjoyed the church service "I like it very much" . When communion came round (there were new converts at church and it was a very 'explained' communion that day!) I put my arm around her shoulders and whispered

"Did you pray to turn your life over to Jesus when you read the little book?"

"Yes I did - I liked it very much" was the reply.

It was Ian's turn to preach that day. After a while Mollie turned to me and gestured to the Bible on the seat beside me. I gave it to her, watching as she read it with deep interest. At the end of the service I suggested that she ask questions .

"I will ask YOU" she replied. "I cannot understand the Australian accent , but I can understand you!" Every detail was taken care of. Not only did the Lord send Mollie someone who had an almost insane desire to share Jesus with every Tom, Dick and Harry they met, a JESUS video to hand, and the knowledge of where to get one in the dialect spoken by her family, but He also organised a Christian for her with a British accent that she could understand ! Even more follows.

After church we took Mollie to the Missionary Training college to try and meet our Indian contacts.. We thought it unfortunate (but you shall see that it was a blessing), that they had not got our message and were out. I asked a lad on a bike if he knew of someone who might like to talk with an Indian lady who had recently received Christ.

"Yes" He replied "Mrs. Shipway is in. She has lived in India." Mrs. Shipway was delighted to meet our friend. She told Mollie that she had a special love for the Indian people and the country, having been born and brought up there. .She was a kindly middle aged lady with an Indian/American accent, (not Australian!). We sat down and talked..

"Did you pray to Jesus"

"Yes I did"

"When did you pray to Jesus"

"I read the prayer in the little book" (In fact Mollie had ONLY read the prayer. At the time she prayed and had her assurance, she had not yet read the Gospel of Luke.)

"And what happened?"

"I felt as if Someone came who would help me, and be with me always, and be my Friend"

We talked some more, and just before we left I asked Mrs. Shipway if she knew anywhere where I could get a Bible in Hindi for Mollie. "I have ONE" she said, went out of the room and returned with a Living New Testament in Hindi! It was her own , and very special to her, and she gave it to Mollie. A great translation for a beginner. It was pretty amazing to find such a book just when and where we needed it.

The story continues. On Wednesday, we were unable to go to meet Mollie and Max and the Indian Christians from the training college, as Christopher was ill with 'flu. Coral and Ken took some friends from their church - Dan and Dorcas - with them. Dan and Dorcas are Indian too. They are Pentecostals, and have connections to a church of converted Sikh people in Malaysia. Dan was in the same line of work. He was able to talk with Max about career paths, and help him with preparation for his exams. Mollie was sick and stayed in her bedroom, so the Indian Christians had plenty of time to talk with her husband. They had a pleasant time, chatting on matters to do with his work. Dan was much further on up the ladder.

During the course of the afternoon, Max received Jesus. He was very nervous about his exams, and the missionaries offered to pray with him. "For good success". Later, they prayed with him as he turned his life over to the Lord. Max felt the presence of God, and knew that he needed to do nothing to get to Heaven, that Jesus had done it all for him. It was a precious time. Some tears were shed.

Incidentally, Max passed his exams first time, which was rather unusual, most people needed to take this particular one at least twice.

On the way home, the Singapore church known to Dan and Dorcas offered to meet their plane during the fifteen hour stopover, take them around the city , give them a meal and Bibles in their own language, worship tapes and other helpful literature. (The trip home had been booked long before, including the stopover in Singapore!). On arrival in India, churches in their home city are organised to befriend and follow up as it is needed. We have exchanged addresses, and hope to keep in touch with our new friends who are now part of the family.

PRAISE GOD!! If you read back over this , you will find at least sixteen "coincidences", some of which could probably be classed as miracles, apart from the miracle of New Birth. .

Return to TOP

GO HOME

Jer 29:13 You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart,

Joh 10:16 And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.