It\u2019s amazing how small your problems seem and how big God is when something changes your perspective.<\/p>\n
My boyfriend\u2019s parents just returned from a vacation in South Asia, after visiting their daughter who is a missionary there.\u00a0 They recounted their experiences there to me, and all that I heard inspired and encouraged me.<\/p>\n
In this particular country in South Asia, there is a large population, with the majority of them being Muslim, Hindu or Sikh.\u00a0 There are millions of poor and few rich people in this society, and according to my boyfriend\u2019s parents, the slums are simply devastating to see.<\/p>\n
People in some areas of South Asia are open to hearing the gospel, but the issue is that the culture rejects any person who is baptized in the name of Christ.\u00a0 Family members who accept Christ have been beaten or cut off from all relationships by their own families.<\/p>\n
Kristen White, director of Mobilization at CBU, spoke at my church this past Sunday.\u00a0 She shared with the church that missionaries baptize a large number of people all over the world.\u00a0 She said that she gives us the statistics of people baptized, not the number of people converted, because in other cultures, once a person gets baptized in the Christian faith, people take that person\u2019s faith seriously.\u00a0 In some countries, once a person is baptized, the persecution begins.\u00a0 As a result, some people who have converted to Christianity avoid being baptized.<\/p>\n
This was startling to me, mostly because in America we see baptism as a regular ritual that follows up a person\u2019s conversion to Christianity.\u00a0 A person gets baptized, we celebrate, life moves on.\u00a0 However, for so many people in other countries, baptism is a giant step.\u00a0 One girl my boyfriend\u2019s sister deals with in South Asia who became a Christian and recently was baptized said that once she was baptized, everything in her life went downhill.\u00a0 Her family abandoned her, her boyfriend abused her, and most aspects of her life have been severely affected.\u00a0 \u00a0However, she is growing strong in her faith and in the Lord, and she has willingly given it all up for the sake of Christ.<\/p>\n
As a Christian, it is highly inspiring to hear about such commitment to the Christian faith.\u00a0 It always causes me to question, \u201cWould I be willing to do the same thing if I were in their place?\u201d\u00a0 As Kristen White said, \u201cYou either die for something or live for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sometimes get caught up in my trivial trials and tribulations that I encounter in my life and forget that there is so much more than myself to consider.\u00a0 I may have hurt feelings or stress in my life, and it could consume my world if I let it.\u00a0 However, hearing these stories helps me to put into perspective how miniscule these trials are in the grand scheme of things.<\/p>\n
Also, it was encouraging to hear how God is moving in South Asia.\u00a0 My boyfriend\u2019s sister is an alumna of CBU, and she has been a Journeyman in South Asia for nearly two years now.\u00a0 When my boyfriend\u2019s parents visited there, they said it was remarkable that God was moving in such miraculous ways.\u00a0 Whether by dreams or \u201cchance\u201d encounters with Christians or deliberate discussions with missionaries, people are being chosen and saved by God.\u00a0 There is a lot of work to be done, but the gospel is spreading in South Asia.<\/p>\n
Be encouraged, Christians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s amazing how small your problems seem and how big God is when something changes your perspective. My boyfriend\u2019s parents just returned from a vacation in South Asia, after visiting their daughter who is a missionary there.\u00a0 They recounted their experiences there to me, and all that I heard inspired and encouraged me. In this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audrey-hanson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/lancerdiaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/lancerdiaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/lancerdiaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/lancerdiaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/lancerdiaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/lancerdiaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/lancerdiaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/lancerdiaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/lancerdiaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}