Reluctantly abandoning my books in a heap on the bed where I had been studying for my Sunday school lesson, I turned to my computer. I still had to translate a recipe in time for my baking afternoon with some girls from the church. Leaving Zahariah, Elisabeth and the angel Gabriel behind, I plunged into wrestling with weighty matters like finding the best Romanian word for “topping”. At noon, both lesson and translation still unfinished I ran downstairs to have a bite with Tim before getting back to work. I thought I still had two hours before the girls showed up. But lunch had no sooner hit the plates than we thought we heard a muffled knock at the door.

“It can’t be!” I thought. “Not yet!” Peeking out the peep-hole I saw just one of the girls, but she was two hours early. Opening the door to the sound of her explanations of uncooperative bus schedules and sick friends, I felt my plans for the next two hours evaporating like water dancing on a sizzling skillet. But seeing her eager face,  I surrendered to ministry mode. And after a somewhat awkward start dealing with missing ingredients and the unfinished recipe, God gave us a great time baking together and talking about all kinds of things—from why she had skipped school that day to not having a dress to the freshman ball to the complete sparcity of young men who love Jesus in our area. It was great to see her share her life with me.

But that’s when the revelation came as to how she views my life. Skillfully loosening freshly baked zucchini chocolate muffins from their tins, she looked up at me and spoke what was on her mind: “Don’t you get bored?”  “Bored?” I asked, nonplussed. Thinking of my amazing and challenging missionary life, and how I never have time to do everything I want to do, I went on, “How could I be bored?” She shrugged, shook her head a little and persisted, “Well, what do you DO all day?”

How eye-opening then to see waiting, not as an evil to endure with much teeth-gritting, but as a welcome tool of God’s grace. Thank you, Paul David Tripp!

Waiting is one of God’s most powerful tools of grace. It’s important to realize in your ministry that God doesn’t just give us grace for the wait. The wait itself is a gift of grace. You see, waiting is not only about what you will receive at the end of the wait. Waiting is about what you will become as you wait. -  Paul David Tripp

Two hours later, it was obvious that God wasn’t troubled by my weakness. And the morning wasn’t over yet! After opening God’s word to some of our regulars, when we had only about 15-20 minutes left, we went looking for a barely disabled woman we usually visit. We finally found her out in the garden where a group of 7-8 residents were clustered on benches or in wheelchairs, greedily soaking up the rays of an October sun.

Our friend, though, was preoccupied with a stray puppy the residents had adopted. Now what? Tim greeted Mihai, a new gentleman, while I said “hi” to some ladies. Soon, Tim called me to translate. It seems Mihai was trying to explain to him that he also had a Bible, a gift from his son, an Adventist.  That was encouraging! I wondered where the conversation would lead.

But further down the bench, Teddy, a cheerful hulk of a child-man, transferred his attention from the puppy to us. He’d spotted our Bibles too! As I sat down on the bench next to him, he immediately pounced on mine—and by the way he was flipping through the pages it looked like it would have a short life! What to do? He looked pretty determined to keep it, and Teddy was big! But this is where God’s grace poured out; because I did something then that I would never have done in front of such a big group if I had stopped to think about it: I asked Teddy, “Want to hear a story from the Bible?! Yeah? Then give me my Bible back and I’ll tell you one!”

Immediately I had my Bible back! So I opened my mouth and out came the story of Blind Bartimaeus from Mark 10, the same story that I’d been reading to the ladies upstairs, but this time, told like I had told it to my Sunday school class. (I was so thankful for the practice!)

I talked to Teddy about what it must have been like for Bartimaeus to be blind and only use his ears for everything. How it must have been to be a beggar, hopeless and helpless. How he must have felt that day when he heard the news that Jesus was coming his way, understanding what few understood–that Jesus was the Messiah! I shared how he’d cried desperately to Jesus for healing, but how the crowd, failing to understand, had told him to shut up. Then I shared how when he cried out all the more, Jesus had called him to himself and healed him. Imagine! The first face Bartimaeus had seen was the Messiah’s! Finally I shared how the story ends, with Bartimaeus following Jesus.

The amazing thing for me was that as I began telling the story, all other conversations had stopped. Every eye was on my face, their interest captivated by the drama of the story. I guess they could relate. One lady, Felicia, kept loudly sighing at certain points and was so happy when Bartimaeus finally got healed. Afterwards Mihai mentioned that even in that home there was a blind man who has to use his ears to know what’s going on. But I talked with them about how much worse it is to be spiritually blind.

Then Teddy grabbed my Bible again. This time it took gum to get it back, and the mood was broken so we decided to move on. But passing by Felicia, we could see she still wanted to talk. She told us that she was in constant pain. And then she said, “I’ve been praying for four years for forgiveness and God won’t forgive me!” She thought that because she was still suffering, God must be holding her sin against her. Another huge opportunity to open God’s Word and share Jesus, the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

A short while later, Tim and I pulled away from the home to head back home, elated and energized by the joy of seeing what God can do. No, I had nothing to give—except my weakness. But that’s all He wanted!

“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”2 Corinthians 12:9