The Real Thing

In this post, I will share a story from my time in the Republic of Georgia [former Soviet Union] to illustrate one of many examples of what the Lord can and will do among His people who choose to make themselves available.

In the mid-nineties, I had the chance to live and work in the Republic of Georgia, and was the administrator of a Christian school. There were also two other schools, led by other Americans.

The head of the project required that all staff and teachers had to be part of a home fellowship group, and the group that I led started out with around six people, all of them staff. The group quickly grew to over forty people, as the school staff were inviting others to join us.

Out of this rather large group, there were about 6-7 who were interested in pursuing true discipleship and what it means to follow the Lord.

I would go out, on a fairly regular basis, with between one and three of these believers. We simply were making ourselves available to the Lord, and saw Him move in obvious ways on many occasions.

One Sunday, after our group meeting, three of my friends and I prayed, asking the Lord what He wanted us to do. After we prayed, one of them said, "Why don't we go over to the Adjara Hotel?" We all agreed.

There were two big hotels in the capital, Tbilisi, at that time, and they were currently housing only refugees from the western part of the country. There was ethnic conflict, almost war there and things were messy. I won't go into detail about that here.

We went over to the hotel and met a man outside. We engaged with him about the things of the Lord for around twenty minutes, and he appeared quite interested. Suddenly, he said he had to go. We really tried keeping him with us, to no avail; he was gone.

Perplexed by the man's quick departure, we decided to go into the hotel lobby where we got on the elevator with some other people. The elevator stopped on the fifth floor where an elderly woman got off. My friend, Nana, whispered, "Let's follow her." The four of us did.

The woman entered a room and Nana suggested we knock on the door and introduce me as an American now living and working in Georgia. Georgians being very hospitable people, this was not as weird as it sounds.

The woman, Lena [pronounced LAY-na] invited us in where there were other members of her family. We talked for a while and she described some of the horrors of what was going on in western Georgia, forcing the family, along with many others, to leave.

It was a very sad, gruesome story.

We asked if we could share about Jesus, and what He had done in our lives. The family agreed and listened attentively as I and the others shared testimony and the gospel.

As we spoke and shared with them, I could see a light coming on in Lena's eyes.

When we were finished, Lena asked if she could tell us something, and we agreed, eager to hear what she had to say. The basic thrust of what she shared follows:

"I have been meeting with Jehovah's Witnesses for several months. Recently, they began pressing me for a decision, saying it was time for me to make a commitment. I realized they were right. They have been kind to me, and what they have been sharing with me seems good; so I prayed yesterday, asking God to show me whether they were the right people to join, or not. If they are right, I wanted to join them. If not, I needed God to show me the truth."

She paused for a moment, looking slowly around at the four of us who had come to her room, and continued, "And God sent you to me."

It was an awesome, spine-chilling moment, as we realized that God had brought us to that hotel, and gotten us into that lobby at the precise moment needed to get on the elevator with Lena.

He did that by causing the man we had been talking with outside to want to suddenly take off. God had also spoken to Nana about following Lena and knocking on her door.

This was clearly a "divine appointment".

Lena joined our home fellowship group after that, and never in my life, before or since, have I seen someone with such a hunger for the Lord, or such a desire to know and please Him.

A sequel to the story

A little while later, Lena asked us to share the gospel with her sister, Daria, who was out of town when we first came to their room.

Nana and I went to meet Daria, and we began sharing testimony, but as we talked, I could see that something was off with Daria. Her expression was strange and she didn't appear to be "dialed in".

I asked Nana to ask Daria what was the matter. Daria answered and I looked to Nana for the interpretation. She told me that Daria had a horrible headache.

We began praying for Daria and after about thirty seconds, Daria spoke again. I looked at Nana and she translated, "The headache is gone."

After a little celebration, we picked up again with the gospel and Daria soaked in up like a sponge. She, too rapidly evolved into a serious disciple.

End of the story

Daria was murdered in Moscow several months later, and Lena died around a year after we met. It's a sad ending, but when you stop and think, it really isn't.

I had seen both of them radiant, as well as sharing their faith with others, one time even at a funeral. I'm sure they impacted many others for the Lord and His kingdom.

The Lord's ways are past finding out, but we can know, if we as His people will place ourselves into His hands, he can and will do wondrous things.