The earth moved

A year ago, the earth moved.

It was a day like any other in Nepal. Goats were tied alongside open air counters, ready for slaughter. Children roamed the streets. Taxis lined up at chowks, awaiting fares.

Babita says it was a slightly grey, rainy day. She had always liked overcast days. It was early afternoon, and she was just finishing teaching youth Bible study at her church.

But then the earth moved, and nothing was ever the same again.

Sometimes God uses terrible, awful things to bring about His purposes. We all know examples of this kind of upside-down love that He guides us through. The couple on the verge of divorce brought back to intimacy through cancer. The child who overcomes multiple heart surgeries to become a world-class physician. The mother who learns that love is more than biology and fosters 100 children, even though she cannot bear her own.

Or in the case of Babita, the orphaned girl, now claimed and loved, emboldened to step out in faith and do the one thing that scares her the most following a calamitous earthquake.

The days after the earthquake were chaotic and terrifying for us. I cannot imagine how they felt for Babita. Truthfully, I do not know just what she felt in those first hours. While we were blessed to learn quickly that she was safe, it was several days before we were able to speak with her, to hear her voice on a telephone line and assess all that was happening: physically, mentally, spiritually. When we did, it was heartbreaking. “If I don’t get to see you again, know that I love you and I am with God.”

You cannot hear those words from your child’s mouth and not fear. You cannot walk away from the phone and feel like it will all be OK. Because there’s OK, and then there’s OK. And God is in charge of both of them and He may or may not have the personal, earthly safety of your daughter in mind when He seeks to glorify Himself in the circumstances.

Except, this time … He did.

In the long months after the first earthquake, Christopher and I sensed a new openness, a gathering urgency growing in Babita. Her casual, “some day I’d like to…” became more focused. Her understanding of her purpose, it seemed, took on a greater depth. So when she asked if we would help her come to the U.S. to study, we were surprised, but only so much.

For years, Babita has said that she’d like to pay forward the gift given to her in the Christian faith. Born Hindu in a predominantly Hindu nation, her conversion came through the Holy Spirit’s working in others who invested in the lives of children. Babita wants to do that, too; founding a Christian school in western Nepal is her dream. And her best chance of obtaining the training, support, and network connections she’ll need to make this work — God’s work —  successful is, ironically, here.

But Babita loves her country. She loves her people. The idea of leaving — even for a short while — has been paralyzingly for her. Until the earthquake.

When the earth moved, it brought new fears, yes. Our girl no longer enjoys rainy days, for example. But the shaking of the earth freed Babita from the lies that there is always time and that comfort is good. She’s ready to do the one thing that forces her to be deeply, deeply brave.

She’s been accepted to a U.S. college, and her I-20 (the document she needs for a student visa) is ready for review. The only thing we are waiting on is the financial provision for one year’s worth of tuition: $6,600. While it’s a far cry from the totals we hear other parents sweating over, it’s a massive amount for us.

We have a small bit set aside and are waiting, faithfully, like George Müller, for the just-in-time rescue that will bring Babita that much closer to sharing the Gospel with children otherwise damned to a life of idol worship.

During the years, we have asked our friends and family to pray for Babita. Today, Christopher and I are asking you for the same. We’re also asking you to consider being part of the miracle that brings her to the United States to study and begin this new phase of her journey. We are roughly $3,000 short of the needed funds. If God is asking you to invest in the mission-in-progress education of a Nepali evangelist, we would be honored to hear from you. Fully 100% of the donations made with the button below will go towards bringing her here.

As always, we are grateful for the love and support we have received from the community with which God has encircled us. We are excited to share these next steps– these earth-moving developments of a different kind— with you.