Hoping for Everything!

I love these people so much.  Oh how I long for them to find Jesus and His love.  Oh how I long to bring each one to the heavenly home promised to the faithful.We have visited LaGlah village many many times endeavoring to give them a knowledge of the things of God.  Each time it is so hard to help them to understand.  What seems to us as being a simple Bible story, sometimes makes no sense to them at all.  We pray for wisdom.This last time that we went to LaGlah, we met in ChaDree’s house as usual.  Many patients came immediately and we settled into the work of tenderly caring for each ones needs.This sweet young lady and her little boy have a very hard time.  Her husband was not content to live with her because her parents were old and sick.  He did not want to stay and help them.  Life was too hard, so he moved out to the city.  He wanted her to go also, but she felt she must take care of her parents.  He left her for good.  Soon her Mother passed away.  The little tiny hut they had lived in caught fire and burned to the ground.  Her father went to another village where he had friends.  Now she is living with her Sister whose husband uses opium quite a lot.  He is abusive and sometimes scarey.  She is interested in our God and always listens carefully to the worship.  We feel very sorry for her and are presently having a house built for her.The man on the left has a problem with his right eye.  Eight days ago he was firing a gun.  He could have been under the influence of alcohol or opium because it kicked back directly on his eye.  As I examined him I discovered that his pupil was fixed and dilated.  His vision is almost gone.  He will not go to the ophthalmologist. This man, PahDa is NOT using opium.  He is always alert and energetic.  We cannot help but notice his intense interest in each Bible study, song and prayer.  Praise the Lord!After eating rice and chilies with ChaDree, several interested families gathered for worship.  We sang “Jesus Loves Me,” and said a prayer.  This time I told the story of Jesus feeding 5000 people.  They all were very interested in this story, as the Karen people are prepared any time of the day to cook rice for visitors.  Their custom is to always have more than enough rice for everybody.  This miracle caught their attention for sure.  I was so grateful to God that I thanked Him all the way home for helping us make the story and its meaning clear.Later that evening some people in BYT told us some shockingly and alarmingly BAD news.  ChaDree sells opium!  He is a dealer!!  It is dangerous business because it is illegal.  Soldiers and police multiply in this area every year to try to arrest dealers in particular and also any others caught working in the opium gardens. They are shot or put into prison for many years.  If we are found in ChaDree’s house when the soldiers come we would be involved in the crime.  It is good that we know this information because in the past we have spent many hours in this house, even slept there overnight.  My mind is trying to process this horrible information.I reflect:There are many people in LaGlah that are not on opium and have changed some of their ways.  Two families are even now doing their best to keep the Sabbath Day holy and seem eager to learn more.  Even ChaDree has heard God’s call to his heart-I just know it!  He did stop worshiping the devil, he did remove all the devil strings from himself and family.  He did take the picture of Buddha and the pope off the wall.   He did get rid of all the charms and strings from the doorpost.  He did get a Bible and he does try to pray now to the living God.  He wants to enter heaven.  I have seen tears in his eyes when we have spoken of the new earth and read:“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are past away."  Revelation 21:4But this is still a very rough little village.  By rough, I mean there is much spirit worship and rituals practiced that chill my bones.  Often we see chicken heads or dead baby chicks and rice laid out on banana leaves in the path to appease the spirits.In this village also several men, because of opium and its related problems have committed suicide by hanging themselves. Others have died by injecting opium, (heroin), directly into their veins with dirty needles and polluted ingredients.  I am overwhelmed at the blatant working of Satan all over this village and the power he uses to chain people down.  Oh how a presence of Jesus is needed here to dispel the darkness.I think of Jesus words as He counted the great cost in the Garden of Gethsemane:"O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done." Three times has He uttered that prayer. Three times his humanity shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice.  But now the history of the human race comes up before the world's Redeemer. He sees that the transgressors of the law, if left to themselves must perish. He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him. He beholds its impending fate, and His decision is made. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He accepts His baptism of blood that through Him, perishing millions may gain everlasting life. He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression. And He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin. His prayer now breathes only submission: "If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done."  {DA 690.3}After meditating a very long time on this great sacrifice of Jesus to save man from sin at any cost to Himself.  After trying to understand a little bit of Jesus deep love for us, His power to overcome sin, and forgive sinners including myself, I feel so unworthy to be given the privilege to share His love and work for the people of LaGlah.  Hence with fresh courage that only He can give I will go forward.“He, (Jesus) knew that the life of His trusting disciples would be like His, a series of uninterrupted victories, not seen to be such here, but recognized as such in the great hereafter.  Christ did not fail, neither was He discouraged, and His followers are to manifest a faith of the same enduring nature. They are to live as He lived, and work as He worked, because they depend on Him as the great Master Worker. Courage, energy, and perseverance they must possess. Though apparent impossibilities obstruct their way, by His grace they are to go forward. Instead of deploring difficulties, they are called upon to surmount them. They are to despair of nothing, and to hope for everything.    DA 680                                                                       We ask you to please pray for ChaDree and the people of LaGlah village more earnestly than before and also that we will have God’s wisdom.Together let us HOPE FOR EVERYTHING!