GFA World Newsletter

June 2019, Vol. 15, No. 5

Today, there are around 284 million widows globally.¹ Some face prejudice and are blamed for their husband’s death. Others face extreme poverty. Najma, a mother of three, joined the millions of widows in their daily struggle for survival when her husband passed away.

Trouble After Trouble

When Najma’s husband died, their family’s source of income went with him. Najma had to find small labour jobs, like cleaning houses and cooking for events, to provide for her three sons.

Najma was able to get a third, more stable job at a grocery store, but could not work there for long. At that time, her younger sons were too little to leave for long lengths of time, and thus she had to quit. When he was old enough, her eldest, Aarnav, dropped out of school to work. His labour earned additional income, but three months after Aarnav started work, his job shut down.

If that weren’t enough, Najma’s middle son, Salal, battled a serious illness that weakened his immune system and gave him constant fevers and headaches. Three times a week, Najma had to take him to a local hospital.

A Ray of Hope

GFA-supported pastor Jafet leads a fellowship in Najma’s village. While visiting homes one day, the pastor spoke with Najma and learned of the struggles she and her sons faced. Filled with compassion for this family, Pastor Jafet prayed for Najma and her sons and invited them to Sunday services.

The next Sunday, the widow and her sons found themselves walking to the church. Having never visited before, they didn’t know what to expect. When the family entered the church, the believers welcomed them with open arms. Never before had Najma experienced such love and acceptance. She felt like she had found a new family.

Pastor Jafet continued to pray for this family, and a few weeks later, the Lord answered. Salal’s health improved drastically, and thanks to a believer at the church, Aarnav found a job! Najma also got a job in a garment factory. Then the church provided her with a sewing machine, so she could start her own business.

“I did not have a way to move forward and had no hope,” Najma said. “Through Pastor Jafet’s visit to our home, our lives changed totally, and now all our problems are vanishing one by one. I am able to work with my own hands and earn a living respectfully and also look after my children. I thank the Lord Jesus for healing my younger son.”

Millions of widows like Najma (not pictured) face a desperate struggle to provide for their families.

¹https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-widows-factbox-idUSKBN19E04P

Keva gets good grades in school, which isn’t surprising for a hard-working student. But those grades can never show how much she has overcome to get an education—or even to survive.

Keva’s family scraped by on her mother’s wages as a tea estate labourer, and most of her older siblings dropped out of school at a young age. Even worse than poverty, though, abuse and abandonment marked Keva’s early years.

Keva and her siblings lived in fear of their father’s drunken rages. When he came home each night, he lashed out on the family with a wooden stick. Keva often did her homework in the kitchen, where her mom could protect her.

While still in this volatile situation, Keva found a place of stability and opportunity in 2014, when she joined GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program. Bridge of Hope provided Keva’s school fees and supplies and a daily nutritious meal. It also gave Keva a safe place to go after school, along with the tutoring she needed to thrive academically.

Embracing Hope in the Fallout

Life began to change all around Keva. Her older siblings got married and moved away; her mother succumbed to health complications and died when Keva was still a preteen; and Keva’s father continued to drink and eventually moved to another city.

After Keva’s mom died, the girl found a safe home with an aunt. Keva also found continued refuge and stability at the Bridge of Hope centre as her world turned upside down. Keva loved going to the centre, where the staff nurtured her with kindness.

Through the staff members’ love, Keva realized there was a God who loved her. She prayed daily for her siblings and even her father. She knows Jesus Christ changed her life, and she believes the Lord will change him, too.

“Even though I was let go by my earthly parents and had no one to care for me, Jesus and my teachers love me, which changed my life,” she says. “Now I have peace and happiness to think about my future, as well as to complete my studies.”

When Grace first visited GFA’s U.S. headquarters in Texas, something caught her eye: a box filled with hundreds of sheets of purple, pink, green and white papers waiting to be processed. Grace herself had waited patiently for a paper just like those sheets—a letter from the girl she sponsored through GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program.

“That was one of the ways I began to grasp the need for people to serve in a Mission Support Team,” Grace recalls.

A Vehicle for Impact

GFA’s Mission Support Team comprises the men and women serving in GFA’s administrative offices. Their role is to connect the Church in the U.S. and other supporting countries with believers in Asia and those to whom they are ministering.

These behind-the-scenes missionaries work in web, printing, graphic design, administration, IT and other fields, all so more national workers can be equipped and more people can learn of Jesus’ love—especially those who have never before heard His name.

Grace found out about GFA while working for a technology company that would choose a charity to support each Christmas. One year, Grace’s employer offered each employee a copy of GFA’s Christmas Gift Catalog and promised to match any donation made.

“It was so exciting to look through this catalog and see all the ways we could help people in Asia, in Jesus’ name,” Grace recalls.

After checking out GFA’s website, Grace ordered Revolution in World Missions and then No Longer a Slumdog. Both books impacted her.

“Praying for and supporting missionaries was something I grew up seeing as a normal part of the Christian life,” Grace says. “But it was through GFA that the Lord showed me there was a way to serve in full-time ministry that would allow me to be working alongside missionaries in Asia, even though I was in my home country of America.”

Grace visited GFA’s office a few times, and a question lay before her: How could she best leverage her skills to further the spread of His love? She loved her job, church and family in Oklahoma, but after prayer and counsel, she decided to join GFA’s Mission Support Team in Wills Point, Texas.

A Team Behind the Team

Since moving to Texas in 2018, Grace has filled vital needs in the IT and web department. Through tasks such as setting up computers and printers or coding emails, she has enabled the office to continue communicating with GFA’s supporters and showing them how the Lord is redeeming lives in Asia.

“I am so very happy to know that the Lord uses this work to expand the efficiency and reach of His mission!” Grace says.

Just as seeing the hands-on work needed to connect Bridge of Hope children and their sponsors illustrated to Grace the need for behind-the-scenes missionaries, Grace’s experience on the Mission Support Team has shown her the need for yet another team.

She and the other behind-the-scenes missionaries have a team of people enabling them, through prayer and finances, to work full time so more national workers can be equipped and more communities can hear of Christ. This team is composed of friends, family members, churches and missions-minded Christians who partner with a behind-the-scenes missionary. As behind-the-scenes missionaries send out newsletter updates, these supporters get a glimpse of their impact on lives both in Asia and in GFA’s office.

“It has been humbling to have a support team,” Grace says, “because I know there are so many different ways that my Christian brothers and sisters could invest their finances and prayer times. But through their generosity and openness to the Lord’s leading, they have chosen to give towards the work that I and Gospel for Asia get to be part of.”

GFA-supported workers in Asia and behind-the-scenes missionaries like Grace thank God for the brothers and sisters who are standing behind them. Through sponsors and donors like you, these workers are able to use their skills for His kingdom. Thank you!

Through God’s anointing, Mala, a GFA-supported worker, has been instrumental in seeing one church and three smaller fellowships established in an area where following Jesus has a steep cost. As Mala talks to people about God’s great love, she remembers the love she experienced before she embraced Jesus herself.

Unfulfilled Promises

Growing up, Mala followed her parents’ example of piety in traditional practices. Strict observance of the required rituals, Mala was told, guaranteed a life of peace and prosperity. Instead, her life seemed full of struggle and strife. The happy life she dreamed of drowned in the wake of her husband’s increasing alcohol and drug abuse and her own mysterious illness.

Her physical health deteriorated, and eventually Mala became mentally unstable.

Doctor Offers Unusual Prescription

The struggling family offered many sacrifices for Mala’s healing. They sold a plot of land to afford medical visits but to no avail. Mala quickly declined, and her family prepared for her death.

Then, a doctor gave her a sliver of hope. He shared about the God who is the Healer and Giver of life and offered to pray for Mala.

“Doctor, really Jesus can heal me?” Mala asked. “If He heals me, I will serve Him all the days of my life.”

Mala began praying with a growing faith. Slowly, over six months, God healed Mala—and she remembered her promise to God.

“Lord, I am nothing!” Mala cried. “I don’t know anything, but I want to serve you with this new life that You have given me. Please, show me the way.”

A Common Passion

The passion that defines Mala’s life and ministry, now that she is a GFA-supported worker, is the same passion that motivates other national workers. Growing up in a traditional Asian religion, Mala shares from her personal experience God’s power and the peace that comes from following Him.

God is using men and women with all different backgrounds to share His love throughout Asia. Old, young, married, single, rural and urban—these dedicated servants have one thing in common: a burden for people who do not know the love of Jesus.

Gul’s family lived in a mud-and-brick house roofed with plastic and tin sheets. Her father worked hard as a day labourer , sweating to put food on his family’s table. Gul admired her father, who loved them and did not neglect them to drink, like so many others in poverty. She wished there were some way to help him provide for their family.

One day, Gul heard about a tailoring class. The opportunity to learn a skill that could help support her family was an answer to prayer for Gul. After completing the course, Gul went to a shop to price out a sewing machine. Her heart sank when she saw her family couldn’t possibly afford it.

Determined to find a way, Gul asked a neighbour who had a sewing machine if she could use it occasionally. The neighbour forbade her to touch it.

Finding Another Way

Gul cried out in anguish to the Lord. She asked Him to help her family. Her parents loved the Lord and taught their daughters to love Him too, faithfully teaching them God’s Word and taking them to church.

Gul put that faith to the test. She prayed earnestly that God would provide a way for her to help her parents.

One day, with a heavy heart, Gul described her family’s financial crisis to GFA-supported pastor Udai, who led her local fellowship. She shared about her failed attempts to buy or borrow a sewing machine. Filled with compassion, Pastor Udai longed to help these precious members of his flock.

Pastor Udai prayed often for the struggling family. At the same time, he arranged for a sewing machine to be given to them.

Gul’s heart filled with gratitude the day she received a sewing machine at the gift distribution arranged by Pastor Udai. The young woman thanked God for hearing her prayers, and His provision strengthened her faith.

With the new sewing machine, Gul’s tailoring business took off. As she contributed to the family income and tithed on her earnings, her faith and servant attitude brought joy and pride to her parents’ hearts.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry on earth, numerous times Satan tempted Him to avoid suffering and the cross. But in the end, the victory was won, and Satan was eternally defeated. How? Hebrews 2:14 tells us that “[Jesus destroyed] him who holds the power of death” through His death on the cross.

It is a mistake to think of suffering as just a “necessary evil.” It is not. The willingness to suffer is an awesome weapon—a powerful instrument of war before which Satan is bound.

Jesus did not overcome Satan when He healed the man with leprosy, raised the dead, fed the 5,000, walked on water or preached the Sermon on the Mount.

No! Little did Satan know, laughing as Jesus was dying on the cross, that the Son of God would destroy him through that very death—through His suffering.

Embracing suffering is what we are called to imitate. Just like he did with Jesus, Satan tempts us to avoid suffering and the cross we are called to carry daily. Why? Because he knows that just as Christ defeated him through His suffering, we, too, defeat him and his forces when we are willing to follow in the footsteps of Christ and embrace suffering. …

We must see the precious gift that suffering for the Gospel is. Remember that the times the Church was the strongest and most flourishing were the times it experienced great persecution. Even Paul confessed that the suffering he faced “really served to advance the gospel” (Philippians 1:12).

When we have this kind of attitude, nothing becomes impossible.

Many brothers and sisters in Asia, like Mala, are embracing suffering to share the life-changing hope Christ offers. And many believers around the world, like you, are embracing suffering by giving of your resources, which could be spent on your own comforts, to enable those workers in Asia to continue ministering. I thank God for your love for Him and His children! May He give us all the strength to keep serving Him faithfully.

Some of this material appeared on K.P. Yohannan’s blog “Living in the Light of Eternity” on February 19, 2019. You can find the entire post at https://www.patheos.com/blogs/kpyohannan/2019/02/weapon-willing-to-suffer.