Free from fear
Mrs. Jian has been living in FenYuan Township for about the last five years. Through past poor choices she finds herself homeless again. Even though she has two children, she does not have a relationship with them; she is without a family support system to help her. She came to our church a few months ago with a keen interest in spiritual matters. It was obvious from the beginning that God was drawing her to know more about Jesus. Less than 0.4% of the residents of Fen Yuan believe in Jesus, with probably half that number attending church each week.
Mrs. Jian grew up in ChangHua County and was only able to finish her 6th grade education before she began working. She has been an active worshipper of the spirits, and is very fearful of them. After coming to our church, she indicated a desire to know the Lord. I started meeting with her weekly to help her understand the basics of the faith and prepare her for baptism.
During our weekly Bible study I learned about some of her struggles and worldview. One day when she was on her way home, she had motorcycle trouble and told her neighbor, a folk religion medium, about it. The neighbor said that her problems were twofold. First, she was being chased by the spirits of her two aborted children. They were trying to get revenge on her so she needed to offer a sacrifice to them. Second, she had sinned against the spirits of someone who had drowned in the local river where she had urinated. The medium said she would also need to offer a sacrifice to the spirit of the drowning victim to appease him.
She was sincerely afraid of these spirits that she believed she had sinned against. I was able to lead her in prayer to ask for forgiveness and confess her sins of aborting her children. She was relieved to know there is a biblical explanation for the things that scare her.
Mrs. Jian has been enthusiastic about sharing her new faith with others. She has no other Christian friends, except the few that she meets with weekly at church. Recently we encouraged the believers at our church to get training in using Bible stories to share with non-Christian friends and family. Mrs. Jian eagerly joined our Bible story training and came this week to learn the story of creation. When she left church that Wednesday afternoon, she immediately told this story to two other non-Christians. By Sunday, she had already told eight different people and had their signatures to show who they were! She is eager to grow and wants to be a faithful messenger of God’s story.
During our weekly Bible studies it became clear that Mrs. Jian was ready to follow the Lord in baptism. Her most significant experience of the Lord, she says, is that she no longer fears the spirits who tormented her before, and now has peace.
Pray that Mrs. Jian would be a growing disciple of the Lord and fruitful in her witness to others.
Would you consider whether God is calling you to join SEND International in Taiwan to help us reach many more people like Mrs. Jian in one of the 60 communities of Vision 119?
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