Tina Gives Her All
When Tina Nguyen was seven, her family moved to the US where she attended Syracuse University and later worked.
Tina heard about Jesus through a friend. She personally encountered God in 2009 alone in her bedroom as she read a biography of a missionary in India. God revealed Himself to her and convicted her of her sins, and she repented and accepted Jesus into her life as Lord and Savior. She later was baptized and committed her life to serving God.
In February 2010, Tina fasted and prayed for seven days and seven nights seeking God's will. She heard God speak in a small soft voice within her heart “return back to the land that I bore you and show them the love that I have shown you.” This was followed by an image of a small mountain girl with a naked baby sleeping in a sling wrapped around her shoulders. Her arms were opened wide toward Tina.
Tina said, “‘But Lord, I don't know how to read or write or even speak Vietnamese properly, how can I go there and serve? Could you send me to India instead? So many orphans there need help!’ Immediately, God’s Spirit blessed me with the ability to speak and read the Vietnamese biblical language fluently! I was able to write Vietnamese as well.”
Months later the Lord revealed Himself to her again through His Word in Mark 10:21: “One thing you lack,” He said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Tina said, “It was the most difficult decision I ever made in my life, to let go of everything and follow the call of love. But because of my love for God, I submitted in obedience and obeyed God’s calling. I sold my house and car, resigned my job at Syracuse University and closed down my life in America. I bought a one-way ticket to Vietnam and with only Jesus by my side, my provider, my very all, we headed for Vietnam to deliver the Gospel to the unreached peoples.”
Through a period of 40 days and 40 nights of fasting and praying, God provided dual citizenships for her and enough financial support to build a Pre-k school. Since then she has taught the Gospel to many and also started a feeding program for tribal people to serve the orphans and widows.
Tina left the Vietnam ministry in the hands of those she had trained, and she now serves in Thailand. In a recent email she wrote: “To preach Jesus, one needs only courage. But to live out Jesus, requires a daily death and denial of oneself. There were nights I would lie awake in sweat, under my mosquito net, and asked God if He would grant me a healthier body that could bear the heat, endure the lack of sanitation, and withstand the poor living conditions to fight and win more souls for the kingdom. Twelve years of living in poverty for the Gospel has slowly taken a toll on me physically. The spirit is always willing and ready to climb the mountains and cross the rivers for Jesus, but stomach pain and migraines can be crippling at times. Yet, as long as I can walk, and talk, and eat what I need to survive, though suffering it may be, I count it a joy to be a witness of Christ for the world to see.”
Dear Jesus, please grant Tina the physical endurance and grace to finish as a faithful servant. May her devotion challenge us to show Jesus our love by living as sacrificially as Tina.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
