The first day we arrived in China I must say I was very negative and thought to myself 'Zylna how in the world are you going to survive 4 weeks in this place?' But knowing God, He had a bigger and better picture in mind which was not visible to me at that time. China seemed so dull, dusty and all and all just dead, spiritually as well as physically!!
We took a 2 day train ride north into china so we can get to our destinations. On the train I met a little Chinese girl, her little face lit up as she showed me her home town where we were also getting off -it feels like yesterday! Thinking to myself 'Lord how can such a delight (the little girl) be so happy about this place??'It reminded me of a coal mine! I was very sad to say goodbye to my little tea party friend. As we walked away from each other I thought that she was the last little ray of sunshine I will see in China.
From there we wanted to go to our final destinations, but because of the riots between China and Tibet we could'nt go. They 'Closed'some cities and towns down for foreigners saying it's for our safety. But why then would they get undercover cops to follow us around? We still believe it's because they thought that we
are journalists. Chinese people hate journalists, but then again most people do ?
So we figured that we will try reaching the towns from another angle because God will open a door for us to go to our final destinations, WRONG! We haven't even consulted God about the plan He has for us. Getting to the Yellow-river town and settling in for a while, God, faithful as always, started showing us that we have to come to Him for His plan.
By this time my heart is burdened because I don't have a heart for this country, we don't know what to do and I just want to go back to Macau. So I decided to pull myself together and asked Jesus for His heart for this nation, and that's exactly what He did. The following day a couple of us went for a stroll around the town, and as we got to a spot on the river bank to enjoy a delicious lunch I looked up to the mountains and that's when it hit me, I somehow all of a sudden LIKED China! On our way to this spot God made
sure that the people's smiles and faces creeps into my heart and He gave me His sight for even the dull landscaping. All of a sudden everything seemed beautiful and I can't believe I didn't notice it before.
I realized that my little tea party friend saw something in her people and land that I was blinded for, but the Lord came in a wink of an eye and opened it up for me to see. It made me realize that the scripture that says 'Their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear?'(Acts 28:23-28) is applicable to everyone and you have to ask the Lord to open it for you.
So if you are in a place that seems dull, dusty and dead ask God to show you His plan for that place. After all, He did create it and knows the beauty that lies within it, the only problem with the picture is the way you see it. I pray that you will have a change of heart and sight.
Blessings
Zylna