Lin = A Life Saved

If you choose to read about one story on this blog please pick this one.  God putting Lin into my life was so much more than adding a good friend to my list.  Lin is a living testament that through Christ all things are possible.

Like all the other readers we experienced, Lin didn't enjoy the life that his parents chose for hm.  He really enjoyed learning about Chinese history, but of course that's not the direction he was ordered to go.  To top that all off, his parents thought that he was mildly retarded.  In a nut-shell:  Lin had  just about the lowest self-esteem of anyone I've known.

Here is where the inspiring God moments began.  I discovered quickly that Lin didn't have a brain problem at all.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  This student was incredibly intelligent and was flying through the lessons in the book like it was nothing for him.  We were working through 5 and 6 lessons a session as well as having deep faith discussions all at an hour at a time!

Lin hadn't heard much about Jesus.  Like most people he knew that Christianity was considered the "American faith" but he didn't know who Jesus was or how God operated.

He had such interesting questions.  He was one reader that understood early that the lessons we were working through were more than just stories--they were to be applicable to our lives.  He was not shy about challenging me to help him understand deep facets of the Holy Spirit--he was fascinated with the H.S.  

By the time we got through the baptism of Jesus story he started talking about how amazing he thought Jesus was and wanted to learn about Him as much as he could.  By the time our sessions were done he was discovering the seed thoughts (main messages) from the lessons all on his own without me prompting him.  And his vocabulary increased quite substantially.

But the greatest aspect of God bringing me to Lin was the depth of passion and search in Lin's heart.  From the early going he wanted to fill his empty heart with something and he discovered that Christ could do that for him.  He asked me if we could pray together.  So, we began praying together.  He loved learning this part of communication so much--it was intriguing and enjoyable for him.  He was so excited when he learned that he could pray to God anytime he wanted!  Now, it's not the "norm" to pray with readers on an LST trip because most of them aren't on that stage yet.  To have this rare experience especially with someone that was pretty much an outcast in his culture because of disability he didn't have was truly of God and life-changing for both of us.

The last time we prayed together all Lin could seem to say was:  "God, thank you for making me so happy.  I am just so glad that you want me to talk to you.  Thank you for letting me learn how.  I am just so happy now, God."