Rejoice!

Just like Pastor Hardik’s congregation praised God for the gift of a new church building, this church in Sri Lanka now also has a place where they can worship Christ free from harassment.

Pastor Hardik and his wife, Aahna, dove into the Lord’s work after briefly settling into their new area of ministry. They prayed for the sick and suffering, shared Christian literature and spread the hope found in Jesus’ name, just as they had done in their previous village. Once again, a church was born. The new believers squeezed into Hardik and Aahna’s home every Sunday to worship, but once Hardik’s neighbours realized what was going on, they threatened him and pressured him to stop.

Desperate for a church building so they could worship in peace and safety, Hardik and his congregation prayed.

No Obstacle to God

Soon the Lord blessed them with land, and construction for the building started. That’s when the opposition intensified.

A local group learned about the project and schemed how to halt it. They pressured local authorities and threatened the young missionary. Construction slowed as uncertainty swirled around the project.

The missionary couple, trained by difficulties, knew what to do: they cried out to the Lord. The congregation joined in prayer, and one by one, God removed every obstacle—even giving the young fellowship favor with the local government.

At last the church was complete: a gleaming white building painted with bright red details that was large enough to hold the entire congregation, with room to grow. Hardik’s leaders conducted an inauguration to pray over and bless the people and their building. While the congregation listened attentively, the leaders encouraged them to make the Holy Spirit their guide and expounded upon the sacrifice of Jesus.

“This church belongs to the Lord,” said one leader. “Everything in the world belongs to Him, so enter the house of the Lord with reverence.”

The leaders prayed for God’s anointing on Hardik and his ministry and concluded the special service with Holy Communion.

“I am thankful to God for blessing us with our own church building,” said Hardik. “We were finding difficulties to conduct the Sunday service because of lack of space and opposition from villagers, but the Lord answered our prayers. Praise the Lord!”

Hardik and Aahna stood in front of the new church building alongside their congregation and praised God for their journey and the years of ministry to come.

Goats provide both joy and income to Christmas gifts recipients.

When Rahas walked home from a GFA Christmas gift distribution, he had no clue his gift—a hairy, bleating creature—would one day help him and his wife in one of their most desperate moments.

Rahas, his wife, Keva, and their two young daughters lived in poverty in a jungle village with no electricity. But the gift of a goat gave them hope for economic stability. Rahas and Keva watered this seed of hope as they diligently cared for their goat, and hope budded when the goat gave birth to a kid. Eventually, this once-impoverished family had a herd of five goats.

But sudden disaster tarnished the family’s newfound joy. Keva grew severely ill with a viral fever, and Rahas had no cash for medical treatment. He despaired—but God provided a solution.

Rahas realized he could sell one of his goats, which supplied him enough money to rush Keva to the hospital. A wave of relief and gratitude washed over Rahas when Keva recovered. He thanked God for saving her life—and for providing the goat that made medical treatment possible.

“Because of the gift [of a] goat, my wife is alive today,” Rahas says.

Nithya learned life-changing truths about Christ by reading the words of Scripture.

Nithya’s family had once been whole, her parents and five siblings living in harmony. But that changed when the girl’s parents divorced because of her father’s infidelity, ripping love from their home.

Nithya’s mother remarried one year later, but this did not fulfill any hopes Nithya may have had for a loving father figure. Her stepfather drank heavily, and nothing could shake him from his addiction.

The absence of Nithya’s father and the emotional distance of her mother and stepfather stung Nithya. The girl withdrew within herself, unhappy and alone. Insecurity burrowed its way into her heart.

Soon, Nithya endured the added burden of a health condition. She suffered jaundice, and it prevented her from attending school. While Nithya sat in the sun one day, GFA pastor Hansaraj and two other pastors came along and talked to her. She had no desire to hear what they had to say. Before they left, they prayed for Nithya and offered her a New Testament, which she reluctantly took.

The New Testament sat for several days untouched and ignored. But then, Nithya’s curiosity got the better of her. She began reading it, and one verse caught her attention: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

This Jesus, sent by His Father, died for her. God was willing to let His Son die for her? She needed answers.

At a Christmas Eve program hosted by Pastor Hansaraj’s church, Nithya listened to the pastor share of the birth of Jesus. As she listened, she realized God truly loved the world so much He sent Jesus to die for her sins.

“I have now found the loving Father who gave His own Son to die on the cross to forgive my sins,” she remarked.

Two weeks later, Nithya opened up her heart, receiving the love she had desperately desired for so long. She knew she was loved, she was cherished, she was wanted.

Bridge of Hope is helping thousands of children, like the boy from Sri Lanka pictured here, and like Yunay, to gain confidence and work toward their aspirations.

On Yunay’s first day at the Bridge of Hope centre, he felt reluctant to be there with the other children. He dreaded the snickering that dogged him wherever he went. How could he avoid the ridicule and shame he expected to face? If he pressed his lanky, brown body to the wall, would it swallow him up and spit him out somewhere else? Maybe he just wouldn’t return to the centre.

Yunay Drops Out

When the kids at Yunay’s school found out his dad was in jail, they pummeled him with taunts and verbal jabs that caused Yunay to burn with shame.

Yunay struggled to concentrate at school because he always listened for the next verbal grenade. Eventually, Yunay didn’t see the point of attending school. Why put himself through the torture when he couldn’t succeed socially or academically? Anger fueled by deep sadness overtook Yunay, and he went to school less and less.

At home, life hurled more chaos and difficulty at Yunay, the oldest of three siblings. When his father was released from jail, he did not stop his criminal activities, and he sporadically showed up at home to heap insults on his wife and beat his children. Yunay bore the abuse but threw the pain back at his mother. He treated her with disgust and stubbornly refused to obey her, adding a strained relationship with his mother to his misery.

At this low point in Yunay’s short 13 years of life, help finally appeared.

Two Teachers Change Yunay’s Life

One day, two Bridge of Hope teachers surveyed Yunay’s neighbourhood. They came to Yunay’s house and met his mother, who shared the family’s struggles. Filled with compassion for the troubled boy, the teachers invited Yunay to enroll in Bridge of Hope. Through Bridge of Hope, they told him, he could attend extra classes to catch up at school, learn life skills and eat a nutritious meal each day. Yunay’s mother brightened at this opportunity, knowing Yunay’s younger siblings were sure to follow in their brother’s footsteps—for better or worse.

At first Yunay did not want to go to Bridge of Hope, convinced the other kids would reject him when they found out about his dad. He just couldn’t face that again. But the teachers visited Yunay again and encouraged him to try it.

So he did. A month went by and nothing bad happened. Yunay’s attendance became more frequent, and he rediscovered school activities that used to bring him joy. Yunay began bringing home study material and received help from the Bridge of Hope teachers. As he succeeded, his heart turned back toward school; he longed to improve himself.

Slowly, the security and acceptance Yunay experienced at the Bridge of Hope centre gave him a firm foundation. He found peace through prayer and asked God to reconcile his broken family. Happiness grew in Yunay, along with a hope for a future far different from the legacy handed to him by his father.

Yunay, now back at school, still occasionally hears ridicule. However, he is confident of his worth in God’s eyes, and this has become a shield of protection for the young boy. With the stable and loving community at the Bridge of Hope centre, Yunay can now launch into the future he knows God has for him.

“I am happy that I could join the Bridge of Hope centre because it has changed my life,” Yunay says. “Even though my father set no good example for me [and did not] discipline me, I have learned good values from the centre and can set an example for my younger brother and sister. I thank the Lord Jesus for the peace He has given me and for loving me.”

When Laya asked if she could use the well at Pastor Nathin’s church (pictured), she gained a more accessible water source—and two new friends.

Laya raised seven children who grew up and forgot their mother, leaving her behind as they moved to far-flung places. Her husband had died during a war, so Laya was completely alone. Only her one daughter visited her once a year.

Laya was growing older, and she had no one to help her with the most vital tasks, like fetching water. She had to jostle water buckets nearly two miles each way to the village well. She longed to skip the weary walk to the well that only produced murky water, so one day, she gathered courage and entered a building with a cheery yellow sign above the door: It was a GFA pastor’s church. Laya had heard that the well situated close to this building never ran dry.

Inside the building, Komali, the pastor’s wife, welcomed Laya, who asked if she could fill her buckets. Komali compassionately told Laya she could get water there any time. Relief flooded Laya’s heart, and the two women chatted pleasantly before Laya left with buckets of clear water at her side.

Love Visits Laya’s Home

Laya visited the church well daily and often talked with Komali and her husband, GFA pastor Nathin. Over time they learned about the death of Laya’s husband, her children’s abandonment and her utter loneliness; she also had increasing physical ailments—asthma, chest pain and aching joints. Komali and Nathin tenderly prayed for Laya, loved her and took care of her like a mother who deserved honour.

Every week, Pastor Nathin and Komali visited Laya’s home. They read the Bible to Laya, who had never learned to read, and encouraged her to trust the Lord. Over the next several months, Laya found hope welling in her heart, cultivated by the care of the pastor and his wife. Her physical ailments improved, and she felt happy again.

Not only has Laya discovered acceptance and belonging, but she has also discovered the Living Water through the love of Pastor Nathin and his wife.

“I am thankful to God that He gave me a new life,” Laya says. “I totally believe that Jesus is the true God, and I put my trust in Him. I cannot believe that, with one word of asking for help, I got water. Also, now I found the true living water.”

A cow can give a struggling family a rich source of milk, providing vital nutrition.

Sahoj’s cow mooed quietly beside her as they made the journey home from the gift distribution ceremony.

Sahoj knew this cow would be another turning point in her life, much like when she met GFA pastor Nischal one year previously. Sahoj’s 15-year-old daughter had contracted malaria and suffered excruciating headaches, chills and fever. The mother offered chickens, pigs and goats in rituals to heal her daughter. Her stable was empty while her daughter’s illness remained.

Then Sahoj met Pastor Nischal. He prayed for the sick girl and visited weekly to encourage the mother and daughter. Slowly, Sahoj’s daughter recovered, and both women put their faith in Jesus.

Malaria defeated, Sahoj still battled poverty. She picked up odd jobs: housecleaning, laundry and work in paddy fields. But a steady income remained elusive, and Sahoj struggled to meet their daily needs, let alone save for her daughter’s future.

A Cow Changes Everything

Pastor Nischal helped Sahoj once again when he arranged for her to receive a cow at a Christmas gift distribution. Soon, Sahoj’s cow had a calf. And then another. And another. After five years, Sahoj’s herd had expanded to six cows, which produced plenty of milk to drink and manure to enrich the family’s land. She earned income selling the remaining manure, and this enabled Sahoj to leave her neighbour’s fields and work her own land, growing wheat, potatoes and onions. With financial security established, Sahoj could save for her daughter to get married one day. When the time came, Sahoj could pay for the necessary wedding-related expenses—something that might have been impossible in their poverty.

Sahoj told other women about all God had done for her, and eventually six more women joined her in worshiping Jesus at Pastor Nischal’s church.

Thank you for investing in God’s work by helping struggling and destitute people like Sahoj. Your gifts and prayers make it possible to share God’s love in word and deed—even through a cow!

Advent, the season leading up to Christmas, is often one of the busiest times of the year. This year, things may look very different in a world changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but we can still embrace this season in a way that honours the Lord. From the early history of the Church, believers have known Advent as a time of reflection: We remember the incarnation—how God the Son, the Word, became flesh—and we wait for His return.

While Jesus was on earth, He could have done all sorts of fantastic things. He could have built buildings that would have made the buildings of the Roman Empire look insignificant. He could have opened a university and taught science to the smartest scholars from every nation. He could have drawn in the largest crowd the world had ever seen. He could have healed all the sick people on earth and cleared out every hospital. He could have sent out 12,000 apostles instead of 12 to build His Church.

Why did Jesus refrain from doing these and a million other wonderful things that were within His power? The simple answer is this: Jesus knew His mission. … He stated it very clearly: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10, NKJV). …

Jesus lived daily to fulfill His mission and never allowed Himself to be distracted by anything or anyone. When His journey came to an end, He simply said to His Father, “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). And on the cross, He looked at humanity past, present and future and proclaimed, “It is finished” (John 19:30). …

We are asked to follow Jesus’ example in handling distractions. Each of us has a mission to fulfill, just as Christ did. The writer of Hebrews gives us precise instructions about what we must do to keep our focus: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross . . .” (Hebrews 12:1–2).

Christ, our example, is the One who has gone before us in the race. He is using your life to bring hope to people like Yunay, Laya and Sahoj as you follow Him. May the Lord help you fix your eyes on Him during this Advent season, and may He fill you with joy.

Some of this material appeared on Dr. K.P. Yohannan’s blog on December 29, 2017. You can find the entire post at https://www.patheos.com/blogs/kpyohannan/2017/12/stay-focused-on-christ/.