Türkiye (Turkey) #5: A Box of Chocolates
Day 5: A Box of Chocolates
By Toby Mueller, Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church, Franklin, TN
One of the more quoted lines in Forest Gump begins, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.” Going on an Outreach Foundation trip, one could say the same. You just never know exactly what you will encounter, nor how God will encounter you. Today God encountered me through the story of a four-year-old evangelist. Here it is.
This afternoon we met M who shared a story about W, an angry young man. W’s mother was at her wits’ end trying to figure out how to soften his heart and change his behavior. One day he found a package in his family’s mailbox. He opened it and found a Bible that had been placed there by a volunteer in M’s organization. W began reading it, and noticed that on the inside of the Bible was a contact number. W reached out and developed a relationship with the contact who led him to Jesus.
W’s mother was astounded at the change in him, and so very happy! She found out why, and she too came to know the Lord. Sometime later, W went to a certain place and picked up a prostitute. She took him to a room, where he first paid her, and then told her to go to a certain address. She did, thinking there must be more "work” there. But when the door opened, it was W’s mother who invited her in. The younger woman was confused. The mother told her that there was nothing expected of her. Instead, she could go into one of the bedrooms to get some rest. When the young woman asked why this would be offered to her, this gift, the mother replied that God wants us all to have rest and to know we are loved.
They were still talking four hours later, and soon the young woman gave her heart to Christ. But this is not the end of the story! The young woman, named C, was pregnant. A single woman is in danger if she is pregnant. C thought it would be best to get an abortion, but as she learned about God’s love through a house church, she decided to keep the baby. But when the baby was born, the authorities took the baby from her and placed her in a state orphanage.
However, at that orphanage was a caretaker who secretly allowed C to occasionally visit her baby (named T). For two years, C secretly visited little T, hoping against hope she would know her child. After two years, miraculously mother and daughter were reunited officially! C is now raising T, taking her to house church meetings and training. T goes with her mom each week and hears the stories and learns how much God loves her.
Each week they go to the park to share the good news, too. T, who is four years young, takes a rabbit in a cage to grab people’s interest. Then, mom and daughter share Christian literature with whomever they meet! T walks right up to old and young people alike with her head full of dark curls and her brown eyes dancing, asking them if they want a magazine (which has scripture and stories of the Good News) and of course, people ask why she is doing this. She tells them because God loves you!
I’m still processing what I’ve heard of this four-year-old fearlessly telling of God’s love. But for now, I will simply say thanks be to God! Amen.