Need your heart opened wider for missions? Here is a journal snapshot fFrom Joan Colby, recently returned from a China missions trip with Guy Armstrong, Rob Wheeler, Jerry Mylar, Mark Ellefsen, Heather Egger, Julie McBurney, Doug Dixon, Dick Stone, and Don Paddock: I would be so pleased if you could read my top three (for now!) stories. My son David, named me “China Joan” before I left and I do feel like a big part of my heart is left in China. Feel free to call me “China Joan”. Let us all give Him the praise He deserves.
A –Awesome and Holy is our God
The monks in the temple story: Declaring repeated, audible thanks to Jesus for coming to save us from our sin. It was only the monks and I in the temple and this opportunity was revealed to me my fellow team-member Jerry, who very simply told me, “there are monks praying in there and you need to go tell them who is God.” I did, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Holiness filled the temple and it was the Glory of God Almighty through the power of the resurrected Christ.
B – Before you called, Jesus Came (Before we ever knew Him, Jesus came to save us.)
Telling a true story to Danny (a Nanjing University student) while traveling on the path to the Buddhist Temple. This was an opportunity to humbly share my faith in my God through the retelling of a story told by Watchman Nee of a young Chinese boy’s mountain-top temple experience. Note: I pray Danny will be accepted to a graduate school in the United States and I look forward to the possibility of giving him the book that tells about the following referenced Chinese man - As a young boy, he accompanies his family to a mountain to worship god. He couldn’t believe it possible that God could be contained in a temple, and he prayed a simple prayer and asked that “if there is a God who is bigger than this temple that He would reveal Himself ”. He felt God’s holiness at that moment and never forgot it. Much later in his life, this man met Watchman Nee who told him of Jesus. Our God did indeed reveal Himself to this man, as he asked in simple prayer, and today he is a saint in heaven testifying that when we seek God, we will find Him. I was able to share this story with humility and grace with Danny. He was touched and it was an honor to tell him this story. I learned that we always need to be patient and let God work faithfully in His timing. I also shared the same truth, that God can be found be those who honestly and truthfully want to find Him, to four university students at Nanjing University.
C – Condemnation – In Christ, there is none
When I came in contact with the street beggars, from the very first one, I was deeply, deeply moved. I felt extreme guilt as we walked by, yet I had to keep up with my team members. I asked Jesus to reveal His Truth to me. He showed me, in time, that I was receiving upon myself – Condemnation. It came upon me so strongly, I could barely stand. Sometimes I could not stand as the wave of condemnation swept over me. Except for the touch (and silent prayers) of my team members, I could not have made it through these moments without falling to the ground. The condemnation was straight from hell and it was very powerful. However, it was a lie. I repeated over and over in my mind, every time I saw a beggar, “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus….” I was able to pat a very young child on the head and state that “there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.” This little boy was pitifully begging alongside his mom. In myself I could not have stood. I know what it is to need the Body of Christ. I touched the boy’s head in the Name of Jesus and I was not condemned.
