A Channel of God’s Blessing
In 2011 NCEM missionary Noriko Suzuki retired to Vancouver … well, a theoretical retirement.
Among her other ministries there she has been reaching out with the Gospel to homeless people. This past July there was a Friday morning on East Hastings Street that she won’t soon forget.
Noriko on East Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC.
A fellow she and her team had been ministering to for awhile approached her with what looked like a money order.
The amount was not small. It was for $2,000 … but it was the name that really left her speechless. “My name was written on the top of the cheque!” says Noriko.
Noriko had first met *Wayne about three years before. She discovered a connection with him one day when he told her that he had at one time attended Key-Way-Tin Bible Institute (a school operated by NCEM at Lac La Biche, Alberta). (*name changed)
Wayne had shared how he was still struggling to overcome the effects of childhood abuse at a residential school.
When Noriko learned that the Rising Above ministry would be holding a conference in Vancouver in May 2013, she knew Wayne would benefit greatly from attending. She generously paid his registration fee with her own money.
Rising Above has been holding conferences for victims of abuse and accompanying issues of self-esteem, grief, addictions and suicide since 1992. Wayne was deeply ministered to at the Conference, experiencing some healing and hope.
Now, wanting to express his gratitude, he handed a money order to Noriko and explained that it was part of what he had just received from the government as compensation for attending residential school.
“He said he didn’t know which Christian organization he could tithe to, so he gave it to me!” says Noriko. “Also, he said he would not be homeless anymore, and would not need to look for free meals.”
Noriko says she felt “very responsible” for how to handle this money, and spent the next few days in prayer seeking God’s direction. She then felt clear indication to forward half of it to Rising Above, a quarter to the church that had hosted the Conference, and a quarter to the homeless ministry she’s part of in Vancouver.
“My role was just to be a channel of God’s blessing, overflowing to help meet the needs for Christian work,” she explains.
In August Wayne left for Whitehorse, Yukon with a one-way plane ticket, adds Noriko. She prays for him daily, challenged by Colossians 4:2: “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.”
