Sunday, September 09, 2012

A Less-than-likely Meeting

I originally wrote this in pen on a newspaper while I was on my way home from Japan in 2009.  I ran across it and decided I should put it down for posterity.  So, without further ado:
I met a woman in the airport today in Beijing.  She saw that I was reading the Bible and came up to me and asked if I would read out loud for her.  Of course, I complied, but she had a little trouble understanding at first because her native language is not English.  After I read some verses for her, she wanted to know if I was a ministerial student or a minister of some kind.  I told her I was just a normal computer science student, but then she wanted to know my testimony.  I told her about my experience growing up as a Christian.  After that I asked her about her testimony.  She proceeded to relate this story: 
She was a Muslim.  Her parents arranged a marriage for her, and she and her husband were married in Taiwan.  After only one week of marriage she had quite a surprise:  her husband had another wife and child in Taiwan.  She was heartbroken; however, despite her sorrow, Islam does not allow for divorce, and, eleven years later, she had born three children to her husband and was teaching nursing at a school (I believe in Taiwan). 
There was a teacher at her school who was a Christian.  One day, she said to him, "I want to believe in your God, how can I believe in Him?" 
He answered, "It's easy, just pray." 
She had been living at the school away from her husband and three children for about a year now to practice living on her own -- she had decided she wanted to leave her children and husband for America to be with her relatives.  One night she decided she was going to do it, and she knelt down to try prayer for the first time.  In her heart she said, "God, please watch over my three children.  Please love them and care for them." 
At that moment, she heard a voice, "If you don't love them, why should I?" 
The next morning, just to be sure she wasn't going crazy, she knelt down by her bed and prayed again, "God, if that's really you, please speak to me again." 
Again, she heard the voice, "Don't go and leave your children and husband.  If you stay, many people can be blessed through you, but if you go, many people will be distressed by your leaving."  She says that was the moment she was "Born Again" (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Now she, her husband, and her three children have all been baptized and she and her husband have moved to California.  All three of her children and their spouses are serving God -- one in San Jose, one in L.A., and one in Tokyo at the International Chinese Church.
I'm glad I found this and got it written down.  It was quite an interesting experience.  There are a couple of pieces of the story that I wish I had looked into at the time.  For example, what happened to her husband's first wife and child?  Also, I probably would have asked her about her prayer habits when she was a Muslim and how that was different from Christian prayer.  Perhaps I'll run into her again some day and have the opportunity to get these questions answered.  Until then, I guess it will be a mystery.

1 comment:

Nicol Clark said...

Glad you wrote this down. It's a pretty incredible story.