Living Water
Jack and Miranda traveled to Vietnam with a Hope’s Promise Connection Team in 2019. In a recent Vietnam Virtual Experience, they shared a particularly moving story about a visit with the biological family of N’goanh and how this led them to pray for living water.
After losing both his parents, N’goanh came home to a Hope’s Promise non-relative-based care family in 2013. The team visited his biological aunt, grandma, and other relatives.
Hope’s Promise Vietnam Connection Team Trip: July 2019
Miranda’s Journal Entry:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” Matthew 5:8
The morning we met this family, I kept reading and reading this verse, as I was struck by how unattainable it felt. I wanted to see God, and yet, I felt like my mess was too much. What kind of God would come close to this mess? My mess?
Jesus. He showed me, yet again, how he comes close when we call out to him. I prayed over and over asking him to create in me a clean heart, that he would purify me from my sin. And he is so faithful to do so.
God met me that day in Vietnam in a way I won’t soon forget.
As we met with N’goanh and his family, I was immediately struck by both their selfless generosity and hospitality. They welcomed us in, gave us fresh bottled water for our parched lips, and we sat and heard their stories. We heard how they must walk miles for water daily, yet we drank fresh bottled water.
Jack’s Journal Entry:
When we heard about how far they had to walk for water, I felt angry. It was unjust that they had to walk that far for something I deemed a basic necessity. I remember asking a team member why people didn’t just dig a well to get water right outside their house. It was because they needed a diamond tipped drill to get through the rock in the earth. This boggled my mind and made me even more upset.
It came time to pray. I was confused and wanted to pray for a miracle that they would have access to water but I felt God leading me to pray for living water. Unsure of what this meant, I listened to God and obeyed. I prayed that the family wouldn’t just have water but that they would have living water and that Jesus will fill their needs.
Miranda’s Journal Entry:
We prayed hard. And in that moment, God so graciously purified my heart and I could see Him so clearly. Jesus wept. That’s all that was running through my mind. Jesus weeps with us. He sees us. He sees my Vietnamese friend who is not able to live a full life due to poverty and he weeps with her. I am so privileged and humbled that God would allow me and my mess to meet my new friends, hear their stories, and feel His heart for them. I feel so humbled to have seen God so clearly that day. After our prayer, my new friend and I gave each other a hug like none other. In that moment, it felt as though she was clinging to Jesus with all that she had. And I clung to her, so grateful to be with her in that moment.
Jack’s Journal Entry:
Since that day, living water has become a big theme in my life. When we got home I had a hard time recovering and entering back to my cushy life. I missed being in Vietnam, but God reminded me of living water. He reminded me that people here in the states need living water too, even though it may look different. God has me here now and wherever I am is my mission field. I have no idea where He will take me in the future, but I am here to be poured out living water to others in front of me. I wouldn’t have learned that lesson if God didn’t teach it to me in Vietnam, and I am very grateful to have been there to experience God’s hand of gracious teaching.
