But GOD Had a Plan

 

            God always has a plan, and He knew exactly what lie ahead for a Welsh baby born in the year of our Lord 1839. This pastor’s son grew in body and belief. He, too, became a minister after studying theology. Robert Jermain Thomas married, and this couple’s hearts were bent toward serving as missionaries in China.

“There’s a call comes ringing o’er the restless wave, ‘Send the light! Send the light!’

There are souls to rescue, there are souls to save, Send the light! Send the light!”*

            But Robert was impulsive, head-strong, and sometimes disobedient. What kind of missionary would he make, the London Missionary Society wondered. Yet he and his bride went to China where, within months, she died from a miscarriage.

            Hope dashed! Robert grieved heavily and left missionary work, taking secular employment where he interacted with people from different nations and seemed to have a high aptitude for learning languages. At this place, he encountered two men who’d escaped Choson (Korea), which at that time was hostile to foreign influences and wanted no Christianity.

            Knowing these men and about the spiritual darkness in Korea, Robert’s passion reignited. He determined to take Bibles there, dressed in the Korean way, and sailed to this hostile land where multiple thousands of believers in Jesus had been martyred. He spent three months distributing Bibles in secret. Then, being warned of danger, Robert fled back to China. But his heart wouldn’t let him stay there.

Much to the chagrin of the London Missionary Society, Robert took his return to Korea into his own hands and timing. He boarded a trade ship with more Bibles. Long story short, this journey ended tragically, and the ship—also a threat to native Koreans—was attacked, set on fire, and all onboard slain.

Before Robert died, he threw Bibles overboard, hoping they’d float to shore and be taken by the people rather than burned. It’s reported he made it to shore with some of the precious Books, crying out “Yesu, Yesu!” and offering the last Bible to the man who beheaded him.

But remember. God had a plan. He always does. And, even though He knew what would come, this wasn’t really this missionaries’ end. Robert’s influence would live on. A man in charge of the martyrdom, retrieved one of the Bibles, tore out the pages and papered a wall in his home with them to laud his victory over this Yesu and His believers.

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth, It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11 NKJV

The Bible page-covered wall stood for Victory but not in the way that cruel man intended. You see, years later God sent another missionary to Korea. Also, a Korean believer in Jesus eventually bought that house with the Bible wallpaper, which became the first Christian church there. Faith in Jesus Christ and Christianity grew, revival broke out, and Korea eventually became the number one Christian nation in the world.

            After the Korean war and in that divided land, a mother gave birth to a baby girl who grew to love the Lord her God with all her heart. She became a woman of prayer. She married, had children, and decided to help her nation in a very giving way. Mrs. Choi became a foster mother, caring for and loving babies born to unwed mothers who mostly signed over their children for international adoption.

            March 9^th, 1993 a woman birthed a son whom she couldn’t keep. She gave him to international adoption even though she realized this meant she’d likely never see him again or know what became of him. How she must’ve grieved that day and oh so many since!

            But God had a plan. He always does. In April of 1993 Mrs. Choi was given that forty-day-old baby—Min Soo—born with genetic problems and other struggles as well. She loved him, though, and cared for him with great affection. But Min Soo didn’t get a family, and shortly after he turned two years old, his foster mother learned he’d be sent to the orphanage for children considered unadoptable.

This woman of God prayed four times daily for a Christian home for Min Soo. She fought to keep him beyond his foster care cutoff age of three. Unbeknownst to her, on the other side of the world a family had learned of this orphan and asked God whether their home should be his. God’s answer? Yes—and Mrs. Choi’s prayer answered too! Min Soo would have a Christian family!

            God has a plan. He always does. And, when your situation may appear bleak, rest assured it isn’t hopeless. Look what God did for Korea, sending Robert Jermain Thomas who effected change for an entire nation! That Christian influence lived on, and a woman grew in her faith and decided to care for orphaned babies. One of those babies gained his first knowledge about Jesus through her witness. Three years later in another home he’d ask Jesus to be his Savior.

            How do we know this? That boy is our son!

“Let us not grow weary in the work of love, ‘Send the light! Send the light!’

Let us gather jewels for a crown above, Send the light! Send the light!

…Let it shine from shore to shore…Let it shine forevermore.”*

 

*from hymn “Send the Light,” by Charles H. Gabriel, public domain, 1890

#Robert Jermain Thomas #missionarymartyr #ChosunKorea #orphans #fostercare #adoption #Bible #revival #GodsPlan

(If you’d like to read more about Robert Jermain Thomas, I heartily recommend

Chosen for Choson: Robert Jermain Thomas by Stella Price.)

Good Vibrations & Borrowing Songs--Part 2

             Balloons are one way of “borrowing” songs through vibrations, but what about other means for those who are struggling?

            In the mid-1990s we went through some horrific experiences, throwing us into emotional turmoil. My husband Brian, who sang often before that, lost his song—as if it’d been sucked out of him. His guitar went into its case and collected dust.

            Not many years prior, Bill and Gloria Gaither created their Homecoming Series, bringing back hymns of hope and promise. We’d bought several of their cassettes and VHSs. How glad we were because, during that awful period when Brian’s song died and I cried daily, we listened repeatedly—borrowing those songs as God’s Holy Spirit ministered to us while we healed.

            When I shared with a dear friend, Pat, about Brian losing his song, she said, “Oh, Sarah, I understand. That happened to me also. I loved singing, but when I went through a divorce, my church said I could no longer be in the choir. I lost my song. When I found a new church, the music minister learned my situation and how I had loved to sing. He said, ‘Come sit amidst the choir, and we’ll surround you with our song until yours returns.’”

            And that’s what she did.

            I shared this beautiful account with another precious friend, who’d been widowed. Verna said, “That’s exactly how I felt when my husband died—like I’d never sing again.”

            Brian borrowed Gaither’s songs until his returned. Pat borrowed hers from choir members who surrounded her. And Verna? She loved driving and listened to music on rides to nowhere and back and eventually found her song again.

            These dear ones, however, weren’t the first to experience this. In the Old Testament of the Bible, we read about the Israelites who were taken captive and carried off to a strange land for 70 years.

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there, those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” Psalm 137:1-4

            Reader, know God cares and understands when you’ve lost your song. I pray someone comes along who lends you theirs. Perhaps you’re the song-lender instead! May God direct you to someone who needs healing in their lives and can borrow yours for a while. 

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth or song;

As the burdens press, and the cares distress, and the way grows weary and long?

O yes, He cares—I know He cares! His heart is touched with my grief;

When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. 

(Hymn, “Does Jesus Care” by Frank E. Graeff, 1916, Public Domain)

             (Gaither Homecoming share the above verses in this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-U5rKY6vtc&list=RDy-U5rKY6vtc&start_radio=1&rv=y-U5rKY6vtc&t=0 ) 

#GaitherHomecoming #JeffSheriEasterCharlotteRichie #grieving #lifestruggles #musicministry #choir #depression