God Restores Hope

After our first day doing ministry, I felt hopeless. The enemy was telling me lies. For ministry, we traveled to an area where there were many prostitutes. There are trafficked women and children roaming the streets begging for money. There were also cabin bars all over, the place that people go to eat and get drunk. The waitresses serve the food and drinks while selling themselves in return. Whenever the men want, they take the women into the cabins and do as they please.

At first, we went on a prayer walk. We prayed for the people and prayed that the Lord would lead us where he desired for us to go. We came to a cabin bar that our ministry hosts had been to. It was no longer a cabin bar, but instead it was just a restaurant. The ministry we are working with had prayed for this specific place for 2 years, and we were seeing the fruits of their prayers! This was a praise Jesus moment!!! While sitting with the owner, I noticed a sun hanging in the front of the restaurant. God reminded me of a part of Hosea 6:3 that says “As surely as the sun will rise, my God will appear.” God HAD appeared. The Lord had worked in the hearts of the owner!!

Even though God had shown up, I became discouraged when I learned that abortion was such a normal thing in Nepal. Right now, our host mom is pregnant with a girl. The owner of the restaurant was confused as to why she did not get an abortion. Earlier, I noticed that there were far more men. This is partially because women stay home, but also because people often get abortions in Nepal when they find out they are having a girl.

My heart broke. I began to lose focus on the truth that God is in Nepal and He loves the people of Nepal. I was believing lies from the devil. I was believing that there was nothing that could be done in Nepal. I felt hopeless.

But then, the Lord took me back to the last time I felt hopeless. After my brother passed away, I became hopeless. God, how are you here? How is this your will? Please God, take this cup from me, I beg you. At the feet of Jesus, I am reminded of His suffering. In agony, He prayed to God. “Father if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. [Luke 22:42] After Jesus prayed, an angel came to strengthen Him.

When we look back at Daniel 10, we see God sending a messenger when Daniel prays. God had sent a word to Daniel and revealed that there would be conflict. Daniel began to mourn, and continued to for three weeks. When the messenger comes to Daniel, the messenger tells him, “Fear not Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.” [Daniel 10:12] The messenger then explains that after God sent him, he had to first fight in the spiritual war with the help of the angel Michael. After they fought in the war, he was able to go to Daniel to help him understand the word God had spoken to him. God HAD heard Daniel’s prayer, and sent a messenger to strengthen Daniel, just as God had sent an angel to strengthen Jesus.

During my mourning process, the Lord used these scriptures to speak truth about what I was experiencing. When I prayed, I felt as though my prayers were falling on deaf ears. The truth is that God had heard my cries and was working in ways that I was unaware. He sent angels to strengthen me. He was restoring my hope.

God had promised me that me suffering would produce endurance and that my endurance would produce character and that my character would produce hope. [Romans 5:3-5] At first, it was hard to believe. Now as I sit here feeling hopeful about my life. I am hopeful because of the life Jesus lived, the death He died, and because of His resurrection. I feel hopeful because God is our ultimate comforter and He brings peace and joy during trials. He promises to restore us.

Now in Nepal, I can trust in that same hope. I can trust that God is a good God that will continue to restore the people of Nepal and bring them to Him.