Lifted Vision Ministry

Dearest friends and family of the faith,
Blessings to you from our Lord Jesus Christ!

I’d like to share with you an encouraging testimony that happened recently right here in Japan. ONE SHEEP FAMILY, a Christian community center program started by a friend of mine, has been making an amazing impact for Christ here in Osaka! It’s a youth group that also functions as a safe place for single mothers and troubled youth to come and share life and create community with one another. We start out with worship and reading the Bible together, then we have fellowship and a meal, while the children play. I have been extremely blessed to be a part of this group since it’s start, and just recently, I was invited to begin teaching Bible lesson each week on a rotating schedule! What an honor and privilege this has been! I’m grateful that God is using me in various ways, all for His glory in Japan too! This past week I taught a group of adults the lesson found in, Philippians 4:11-13.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned,
in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound:
every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Furthermore, I had the privilege of leading a single mother to the Lord right here in this group! This is Shiori-san’s testimony.
A young, single mother came to our group physically exhausted and spiritually broken; she was not only dealing an insurmountable amount of power harassment at work but additionally, due to past trauma, she was also dealing with insufferable PTSD flashbacks (at work and at home). Through tears, she shared with the women in our group, that she felt that everything in her life was spiraling out of control and that she couldn’t go on anymore.

During out time of talking, I remember I told Shiori-san about just how much Jesus loves her and cares about her situation. I emphasized the reality of God’s love for her; that He loves her exactly as He created her, inside and out, and that nothing was too difficult or outside of the Creator’s control. As I prayed over her with the other group leaders, and through lots of hugs and encouragement, I challenged her to pray and seek God in the moments when she was experiencing PTSD flashbacks or when she felt overwhelmed at work. She how she told me she would try.

Well, the next thing I know, Shiori-san texted me that she had gotten baptized and thanked me for telling her about the Lord! I was completely shocked! She said that she had decided to follow Jesus and from there, found a church to go to church on Sunday. It just so happened that at that particular service (it was Easter Sunday) the pastor did an altar call for baptisms and well, Shiroi-san raised her hand in complete faith! She was baptized the same day!

The most incredibly part of Shiori’s testimony to me was that, just one week later, she held a 3rd birthday party for her son at ONE SHEEP FAMILY. Right there, at her little son’s birthday party, she stood up in front of all of the unsaved Japanese people who attend our group, and shared her testimony, full of tears, faith and conviction- just one week after giving her life to Christ.
She shared about her struggles, how God met her when she had no where else to go, how she took our advice to pray to God, and how God had touched her life. She mentioned that the point that made her believe in Jesus was when she was able to finally recognize God’s love for her. She brought her little son on her lap and said, “son, what is mommy’s treasure?” Her son playfully responded, “It’s me mommy!” “That’s right!” Shiori-san said that she loved her son the most out of anything in this world and that she would truly do anything for him. She said that when I communicated to her that Jesus loves her more than anything in the world, she went home and really thought about that. Looking at her own son, she realized that if she loved her son (whom she created) more than anything in this world, then God (who created her) must also love her more than anything too! It was at that moment that she decided to follow Jesus.

All the glory truly belongs to the Lord!!

Thank you so very much for all of your prayer and financial support, which is impacting families, children and generations of Japanese people for Christ’s sake. Thank you so much Jesus for all that you are doing through us! We pray that you continue to bless and turn the hearts of the Japanese people towards you!!!!