The Lantern That Fell Elsewhere

“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” (Ephesians 6:10 NKJV)

We came to Leyte believing we knew the shape of things. One church, we thought, one flock where we would settle and serve, and we carried that expectation the way a pilgrim carries a lantern, certain of the light it would cast. But the Lord's light fell elsewhere.

Each month brought a different church. The road turned toward Hinunangan, then toward Silago, then toward faces we had not yet learned, and the new places came again and again, like a tide returning before the shore has dried. We would begin to understand one congregation, its needs, its quiet rhythms of worship, and then it was time to go. At first this was not easy.

Somewhere in those weeks the tiredness came, first in the body, then in the heart, and then in that deeper place where discouragement settles like dust on a windowsill. I wondered whether I could continue. The calling was heavier than I had imagined, and my strength seemed something I had set down between one church and the next and could not find again. There were moments when I almost wanted to give up. And yet we prayed.

We knelt and asked God for strength, for patience, for courage, trusting that He who had called us would not leave us to walk alone. "Faithful is He who calls you, and He will surely do it." It was then, though I did not notice it at first, that something began to change. Friendships formed, thread by thread, in church after church, until we had visited almost twelve of them and the brethren knew us as missionaries. They welcomed us as family in Christ. We grew close to many. And even as we moved from place to place, I began to see that the Holy Spirit was touching lives through our going.

I remember the day the turning came, though it arrived so gently it hardly seemed a day at all. We reached the church as the afternoon light slanted through the open windows, and the believers were already gathering at the door. Their faces brightened the moment they saw us. Hands reached for ours, some weathered from years in the fields, others small and eager.

Hands reached for ours, some weathered from years in the fields, others small and eager. A grandmother pressed my hand between both of hers and would not let go for a long while, while children crowded close, smiling. Gladness rose in me too, quiet and unexpected, like warmth returning to cold hands. Our presence meant something to them. It was written in their eyes, in the gentle gratitude of people who felt, for a moment, that they were not forgotten by the wider family of God.

Sometimes the work seems small, I thought, but God can use even small things to encourage a weary soul.

That night I knelt in prayer, almost ready to give up, and told the Lord "Lord give me more strength and patience" Slowly I understood that my strength did not have to come from myself. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Weakness was not failure. It was the very place where we learn to lean on Him. Then came the evangelistic crusades, in churches and in communities.

We proclaimed the Word of God, prayed with the people, and invited them to know Christ as Savior. By His grace many responded, and many were baptized. Watching souls surrender their lives to Jesus, I saw at last that our trials had not been meaningless. God had been using our journey all along. Looking back, I give thanks for every step. Sometimes the Lord places us in hard places not to make us give up, but to help us grow and depend more fully on Him. When our own strength is not enough, God's grace is enough.

Name: Samuel Nagarkoti |66th Batch | 1000MM

Hometown: Nepal

Mission Field:  Hinunangan—Si/ago District, Leyte, Philippines