Several years ago a very promising couple with two young children went out to plant a fellowship in South Asia. They moved to a neighboring country and to say they had a difficult time is quite the understatement. The plant failed. The husband ran away with another woman, and the wife and kids returned home to their small village.
Fourteen years later I was part of an Asian Vineyard conference teaching a workshop on loving your neighbor. Not only was the daughter of that broken family in attendance at the meeting with a group of girls from her school, but she walked into my workshop! I got a chance to ask her who her mother was, and when she said “Seema,” I immediately knew her story.
That same night someone was speaking on forgiveness and called people forward for prayer at the end of the service. To my delight, the daughter went ahead. I quickly joined her prayer team. Standing there with the others, I got to hear Seema’s now young-adult daughter say she was ready to forgive her papa for abandoning her family. It overwhelmed me to get to stand alongside her as a witness of the good things God was doing in this girl’s life after so many years.
I was amazed at how Jesus took care of her throughout the years, providing a good education, and helped her recover from her deep sorrow. She had held onto Jesus since she was three years old! He brought her through to a place of forgiveness. I am so grateful that the Lord let me see another little piece of His redemption story.
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