This week my Discover Bible Study with Chinese international students restarted. They had been all traveled out of town for spring break. Together these four young women from China come together to read God’s word and discuss it with specific inductive questions. We began by chatting about all their adventures in Mexico, Canada, Boston, and Chicago that had taken place last week and I must admit I was slightly envious of the travel time they had.
However, I was horrified to hear one student, J., share about a mishap that took place when she was in Toronto. She shared how she had ended up alone at night far from her hotel without a working phone and had no idea where her hotel even was. She literally spent 3 hours trying to find her way back. “But then this unfortunate thing became very fortunate” J. said. Intrigued, I continued listening as she explained that she prayed to God for protection and direction and talked to Him until she found her way back. I was surprised to hear given that, in our past discussions, this particular student seemed to be the most skeptical of the things we discussed in DBS. I was overwhelmingly thrilled, however, to hear how God had been working in her life and how important that fearful experience may have been in her steps toward faith. But God didn’t stop the excitement there!
As the spring break stories ended we began to use the DBS format to study Matthew 3 (John the Baptist at the Jordan River). All four students were asking tough, challenging questions and answering them through what the text said. The students were able to grasp the concepts much more clearly than I had expected. At the end of discussions we each set an “I will” statement- something that we will do this week because of what we read. Two of the women (one of them being J) both had written that they wanted to process and consider being baptized. J even added “I think that I have been mentally baptized. I understand that God forgave people and I think that I want to be a Christian, I just need to make sure.”
Wow. What excitement! God is moving through these students and it is such a privilege to get to watch them grow. Please pray for J. and E.(the other girl considering baptism) as they continue to process what we read and consider becoming committed followers of Christ
However, I was horrified to hear one student, J., share about a mishap that took place when she was in Toronto. She shared how she had ended up alone at night far from her hotel without a working phone and had no idea where her hotel even was. She literally spent 3 hours trying to find her way back. “But then this unfortunate thing became very fortunate” J. said. Intrigued, I continued listening as she explained that she prayed to God for protection and direction and talked to Him until she found her way back. I was surprised to hear given that, in our past discussions, this particular student seemed to be the most skeptical of the things we discussed in DBS. I was overwhelmingly thrilled, however, to hear how God had been working in her life and how important that fearful experience may have been in her steps toward faith. But God didn’t stop the excitement there!
As the spring break stories ended we began to use the DBS format to study Matthew 3 (John the Baptist at the Jordan River). All four students were asking tough, challenging questions and answering them through what the text said. The students were able to grasp the concepts much more clearly than I had expected. At the end of discussions we each set an “I will” statement- something that we will do this week because of what we read. Two of the women (one of them being J) both had written that they wanted to process and consider being baptized. J even added “I think that I have been mentally baptized. I understand that God forgave people and I think that I want to be a Christian, I just need to make sure.”
Wow. What excitement! God is moving through these students and it is such a privilege to get to watch them grow. Please pray for J. and E.(the other girl considering baptism) as they continue to process what we read and consider becoming committed followers of Christ
By C.B. in NYC
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