Working All Things Together For Good

I went to my language tutor's house for my class last night.

When I walked in there was a pamphlet on the table that said, "Do you believe in God?"

I was curious why she, a devout Hindu lady and esteemed teacher, would have this on her table.

When she came in she began to explain that a group of women had come to her door and gave her this paper and then asked if they could come in and discuss it with her.

She turned down their offer.

But then, she was very eager to discuss it with me.

Inside the pamphlet there were lots of questions, such as: How can we pray so that God hears our prayers? Where is God? Does God know me? How do I get to heaven?

Now, let me sidetrack a little bit and give you some understanding of my teacher. Like I said she is a devout Hindu lady, extremely conscientious about the good that she and everyone else should do in the world, loves to help people (especially me with language!), is a wonderful wife and mother and amazing teacher.

There are several of us here, doing the same 'kind' of work, and we have agreed that we have all been 'lead' to her for a reason. It's not just about us learning language. There is something going on that we cannot see and we are all being faithful and sensitive to that situation.

Ok, so back to the pamphlet. As I began quickly looking over it to see what it was exactly, I noticed that all the explanations and answers that were given to these questions (and many others) were all based on the Bible.

So before I said anything, I just asked her if she believed the Bible.

She said that she believes it is a good book and that there are a lot of good stories, but there are many other books she believes just the same.

This told me then that the answer was basically no.

So I asked her what she thought about the answers that were given in the pamphlet.

She looked a little perplexed and said that she understood what they were saying.

Then I said, "but someone that doesn't believe the Bible as an absolute Truth, as these people obviously do, would not really believe these answers in the same way then, would they?"

She looked up at me and smiled, and said, "no they wouldn't."

So I just simply said that I think that this pamphlet can give some very good answers and provide a lot to think about, but that I wish they would have maybe used other ways to help explain their ideas.

Then she opened up to me and began talking about how she always feels like people of 'that' religion are condescending to other religions and feel as though they have all the answers and don't consider what others may have believed all of their lives.

WOW. I sat there totally stunned. I have not come out and told her what my religion is, but I am sure there is a mutual understanding of that. For her to say this me felt like I had been given an insiders view of things that are done with good intentions but a horrible approach, from someone that this 'approach' was intended for specifically.

(clarification statement: I know that this approach can work. We have amazing friends that are in another country doing work today b/c someone came up to them at the mall and just began talking to them. So I am not discounting it totally. I have to say, though, that I am thankful for those people that came and dropped off the pamphlet. It opened a door for me to have a conversation with her. I hope that they are not discouraged if they didn't see the results that they wanted that day. I hope they are believing that there is a lot of 'work' going on that they may not understand or have seen. I have to remind myself of this daily too!)

But it did confirm to me all over again, how important relationship and love is.

There were a lot of times in our conversation that I could have said, "well that is right" or "this IS how you get to heaven". And I almost did several times.

But then I kept thinking about all the weeks that I will be sitting across the table from her and hoping to have more and more conversations like this.

As I was talking to her I was literally praying under my breath for the words and discernment I needed. Part of me wanted to just say everything all in one breath just so I could know that she 'knows.' But the discerning side of me was just simply saying, be patient.

I am banking on relationship and love here. I am believing that the basics of love is what is needed to reach those that don't understand. Not some pamphlet that lists the answers.

It's kinda the same as allowing a student to discover the answers on their own or having them memorize answers that mean nothing to him. If the student hasn't ever seen how water turns to steam, it's much harder to believe that actually happens. But if in class one day the teacher takes the time to explain this along with showing them how it's done, that's something they will remember much better and understand more throughly.

So please lift up our language teacher, there's work going on with her and we are excited to be a part of it. I believe that this situation and all the others that will come will work together for the good outcome that He intends!