Amazing Grace

Oh my, what an incredible and humbling day!  We began our day by going to Jufang's apartment and teaching all day long with a group of mothers.  Jufang has such a story.  She began not long ago attending a house church, and they have now multiplied into 16 groups!  She leads women's growth groups for 6 of those churches.  Yes, the need for leaders is GREAT! 

And these precious women, they love the Lord so much and spend whole days together around the word, breaking bread and prayer.  Sound familiar?  It was so moving to me to get to share what God has taught me about being a parent, and as I shared my story, about half the room just wept.  I am pretty open about my biggest failures and how God forgave, healed, and brought beauty from ashes, and it is touching very deep chords here in China.  I joined in the crying as I was hit with the GOODNESS of God to use even our failures for His great glory - nothing is wasted, amen?  In His sovereignty, every experience we have prepares us for His future for us.  I think I'll go cry again.  Thank you Jesus!  There has been so much pain in these women's lives that stories of abuse and healing, breaking the chain of anger being passed from one generation to the next, and the fact that we can be open and honest with our failings AND feelings with each other hits very deeply everywhere we go. 

Then we ran back to the hotel, exhausted, with an hour and a half before going out again.  But His grace is sufficient - we were reenergized...for an ADVENTURE!  We took the SUBWAY, in BEIJING, in RUSH HOUR, and lived to tell the story!  I loved every minute of it!  And yes, they DO smash and push you in like sardines!  We were laughing and having fun with it, which made the Chinese people around us smile from ear to ear.  We wanted them to be free to push us like everyone else, and they did!  A true cultural experience!

We were headed to an S2 group, college grads ready to head into the world for jobs, and we did some teaching on dating, marriage, and sexual purity.  WELL received, and so delightful to see a new generation of brothers and sisters wanting to be very purposeful about obeying Christ in everything.

Gotta run for now.  Headed back to see Stephanie at the silk market - pray with us that she will receive Christ!  More later - LOVE YOU, and thank you for praying!