Understanding God's Heart for Myanmar

At the beginning of 2021, I participated in the Kairos Course at the invitation of a friend. This journey challenged my narrow perspective and vision, as well as my lukewarm heart towards God. My previous attitude of serving God was a "duty", a "should" and rarely motivated by pure zeal and love for God.

In the past, I seldom paid attention to the needs of other ethnic groups and cross-cultural missions, because I felt it was distant from me and it was none of my business.  I didn’t even understand what it really meant to follow Jesus. Although my Christian life seemed rich and busy, it had no purpose, no vision, and no sense of mission. During my Kairos journey, I was deeply touched and moved by the life stories of missionaries and evangelists.

My heart was ignited and stirred up by God. I realized how one-sided and narrow my vision was.

This Kairos journey has opened my eyes to see God's will and appreciate the blueprint of His Great Commission.

Shortly after the Kairos Course, I started getting involved in the cross-cultural mission in Myanmar.

I had my first understanding of the unrest crisis in Myanmar when I saw an article about the Myanmar coup shared by Chicago Chinese Christian Missions. At that time, I only had a general understanding of what happened to the churches and Christians in Myanmar, but I didn't pay too much attention to it.

One month later, an urgent prayer letter came to me from missionaries of the “HeartCry” organization in Myanmar. I carefully read every word of the letter, and I learned that the Burmese people were innocently killed, and their living conditions were very difficult.

I strongly empathized with the helplessness, pain, and struggles of the missionaries over there, and my heart fell deeply in grief. From that moment on, I felt a burden and a kind of unspeakable moved in my heart. I could not ignore the burden and I thought I should get up and do something for Myanmar people, so I had a vision to unite brothers and sisters in the United States and Canada to pray for Myanmar together.

Heart of Myanmar

Afterwards, God united the pastors and co-workers of *Chicago Chinese Christian Missions*,* CCCOWE Canada*, and *Blessing 4 CM* together because of the same burden for Myanmar. The committee team of "Heart for Myanmar Prayer Meeting" was established.

The first "Heart of Myanmar Prayer Meeting" was scheduled for March 28, 2021. In less than ten days, God miraculously prepared all the resources to help us successfully complete all kinds of tedious preparations, including finding translators, group leaders, sharing speakers, producing promotional materials, etc. The committee members worked together as one and ran towards the same goal.

The second prayer meeting was on April 11. In total, there were more than 1,000 attendees from all over the world praying together, including North America, Europe, Jamaica, Japan, China, etc. Many brothers and sisters responded positively and were willing to support the suffering people in Myanmar.

And it was so! Praise the Lord!           

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” -Proverbs 3:5-6

Since March 2021, the Myanmar Prayer Meeting has been held 11 times.

It has united brothers and sisters to help with local orphanages, medical care, refugees, and education through prayers and providing various resources.

We have all experienced God’s wonderful work together.

I can't understand God's will in advance, but when I look back and count each of God’s blessings, I could see how each node, the bits and pieces, are strung together.

When I took my first step out, I never anticipated what God would accomplish, nor could I imagine how God would accomplish it. I did not understand how God's love would be manifested in Myanmar.

Now, I have realized that God is the one who controls and prepares everything. He has already arranged everything, and He is willing to patiently change and move me, such a trivial person, to prepare my heart and to take me step by step along the way to unlock the fullness of everything He has prepared.

During this process, God made me understand that He loves Myanmar deeply. His love is through prayers, and through the love of brothers and sisters. He wants us to empathize with the suffering of the Burmese; He wants us to stop being indifferent and taking no action; He wants us to love what He loves and grieve for what He grieves for.  May God stir up more hearts and let us unite in one, cry out and pray for the people of Myanmar to demonstrates His unfailing love toward the suffering people.

Betty Gong graduated from the Mandarin Kairos course in January 2021. In September 2021, she resigned from her work and started her study at the Canadian Chinese School of Theology (CCST) in Toronto, hoping to be equipped to be a cross-cultural missionary. 

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This article was originally published on the Outreach Canada blog, and has been republished with permission.