Do you remember Nina?
She was the brave girl who lived long, long ago. The Mother of God had come to her in a dream and given her a little cross made of grapevines. "Go to the land of Georgia," the Mother of God had said. "Tell the people there that my Son Jesus loves them. I will be your protector."
So Nina set out. And oh, what a long, long way it was.
This is the story of her journey — and of a quiet garden, and a sad husband and wife, and a wonderful surprise.
Nina walked and walked.
The land of Georgia was very far to the north, over mountains so tall their tops were white with snow even in summer. There were no airplanes in those days, and no trains, and no cars. If you wanted to go somewhere, you walked — step after step after step, day after day after day.
Nina's feet grew tired. Her sandals grew thin. Sometimes the sun was so hot it felt like a fire in the sky, and sometimes the wind was so cold it bit at her fingers. Sometimes she was hungry. Sometimes she was lonely. Sometimes the road was so long and so empty that she wondered if she would ever, ever arrive.
But whenever she felt afraid, Nina did the same thing.
She reached up and touched the little cross of vines that she carried close to her heart. And she remembered the gentle voice of the Mother of God: Do not be afraid. I will be your protector.
And then she felt better, and she took another step. And another. And another.
Now, the road to Georgia was full of dangers, and Nina met some of them along the way.
Once she came to the great city of Rome, and there God had work for her to do. She met other young women who loved Jesus, and Nina taught them and prayed with them, and they became her dear friends. The bravest of them all were two friends named Rhipsime and Gaiana.
But in those days there was a cruel emperor who hated Christians and wanted to hurt anyone who loved Jesus. So Nina and her friends had to run away — over the hills, across the borders, into far countries, always trusting God to keep them safe.
It was a frightening time. Some of Nina's brave friends were caught by wicked kings, and they would not stop loving Jesus no matter what, and so they became holy martyrs, and went to be with the Lord in heaven forever. Nina wept for them. She loved them so much.
But God still had work for Nina to do on the earth. So when soldiers came hunting for her, God kept her hidden. Once, Nina crouched down very small among some wild rose bushes, holding her breath, holding her cross — and the soldiers walked right past and never saw her at all. The roses kept her secret. And when the danger was gone, Nina crept out, brushed off the petals, thanked God with all her heart, and kept on walking north.
North, and north, and north — toward Georgia.
At last, after many long months, Nina came down out of the high mountains. And she stopped, and she caught her breath, because she could hardly believe her eyes.
Below her lay a beautiful green land. There were forests and rivers, and fields of flowers, and a shining lake as blue as the sky. The air smelled sweet. Birds sang in the trees.
This was Georgia. This was the land the Mother of God had sent her to. After all her long, long traveling, Nina had finally arrived.
By the shore of the blue lake, some shepherds were watching their sheep. They were the first people of Georgia that Nina had ever met. They looked at the tired young traveler with kind, curious eyes.
"Where have you come from?" they asked. "You look as though you have walked a very long way."
"I have," said Nina, smiling. "I have come a very long way indeed — to bring you wonderful news."
And right there, by the lake, Nina knelt down and gave thanks to God. I am here, Lord, she prayed. Now help me to do the work You have given me. Help me to tell these people how much You love them.
Nina traveled on until she came to the most important city in all of Georgia. It was called Mtskheta (you say it a little like MTS-kheta — it is a funny name to say, isn't it?). It was a grand city, with a palace where the king and queen lived, and busy markets, and crowds of people.
But when Nina walked into the city, her heart grew heavy and sad.
For everywhere she looked, the people were bowing down to idols.
Do you know what an idol is? An idol is a statue — a figure made of metal or stone — that people make with their own hands and then pretend is a god. The idols in Georgia were tall and frightening. The biggest one was a giant statue covered in gold and silver, and it had jewels for eyes that glittered coldly in the sun. Its name was Armazi.
All the people of the city — mothers and fathers, old folks and little children — came and bowed down before the cold statue. They were afraid of it. They brought it gifts. They begged it for rain and for good harvests. But of course the statue could not hear them, and it could not help them, because it was only metal and stone. It had eyes, but it could not see. It had ears, but it could not hear. It was not a god at all.
Nina watched the people trembling before the idol, and tears came to her eyes.
Oh, my poor friends, she thought. You are bowing down to a cold piece of metal. You do not know that the true God loves you. You do not know that He made the sky and the lake and the flowers. You do not know His Son, Jesus, who loves you so much He died for you and rose again. If only you knew! If only somebody would tell you!
And Nina lifted up her heart to God and prayed a powerful prayer:
"O Lord, my God," she prayed, "look down on these people. They are bowing to an idol that cannot help them. Show them, Lord, that You alone are the true God! Let them turn away from these cold statues and find You — for You are the One who loves them."
And now something amazing happened.
While Nina was still praying, the sky began to change. Clouds rolled in, dark and heavy. The wind began to blow — softly at first, then harder, and harder, until it was roaring.
The people looked up in fear. "What is happening?" they cried.
The wind howled. Thunder rumbled. And then — crack! crash! — great hailstones came hurtling down from the sky, big as stones. The people screamed and ran to hide. They covered their heads and dashed into doorways and ducked behind walls.
And the wind and the hail struck the great golden idol Armazi — the cold statue with the jewel eyes that everyone had been so afraid of.
And the idol fell.
It cracked. It tipped. It crashed down to the ground and broke into pieces. The metal that everyone had bowed to lay shattered and ruined in the dirt. The other idols fell too, smashed and scattered by the storm.
When the storm passed and the sun came out again, the people crept out of their hiding places. And they stared.
The mighty idol — the one they had been so afraid of, the one they had bowed to all their lives — lay broken on the ground. It had not been able to save even itself.
The people did not understand it yet. But something had begun to change in the city of Mtskheta that day. A little crack had opened — not just in the idol, but in their hearts. And through that little crack, a tiny bit of the light of God had begun to shine in.
Now, Nina was a stranger in Georgia. She had no house, and no money, and no family there. Where would she live? Where would she sleep at night?
God took care of that, too.
At the edge of the king's palace there was a garden — a beautiful royal garden, full of fruit trees and flowers. And the man who took care of the garden was the king's gardener. He and his wife lived in a little house among the trees.
When the gardener and his wife saw the tired young traveler with the gentle face, their hearts went out to her.
"You have nowhere to stay?" said the gardener's wife. "Then you must stay with us. Come — there is room in our garden. You can make your little home here, under the bushes, near the flowers. You will be safe, and you will be welcome."
So Nina made herself a little home in the royal garden. At the edge of the garden grew a bramble bush — a big bush with tangled branches. Nina settled there, beneath its leaves, in the quiet and the green. She put up a small tent, and she set her cross of vines before her, and that became her home.
In the daytime, Nina would walk among the people and tell them about Jesus. And at night she would return to her little corner of the garden, under the bramble bush, and pray — sometimes all night long — for the people of Georgia.
She loved her new home. And she came to love the kind gardener and his wife very much.
But the gardener and his wife had a secret sorrow.
You could see it in their eyes, especially when children ran by, laughing and playing in the streets. A shadow would fall over their faces, and they would grow quiet.
One evening, Nina sat with the gardener's wife by the door of the little house, and she asked her gently, "Dear friend, what is it that makes you sad? I see a sorrow in your heart."
The gardener's wife was quiet for a moment. Then her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh, Nina," she said. "My husband and I have wanted a child for so many years. We have prayed and prayed — to the old idols, to the statues. We have given them gifts. We have begged them. But nothing has ever happened. We have no little boy or girl of our own. Our house is empty and quiet. And I am afraid it always will be."
She wiped her eyes. "I have wanted to hold a baby of my own for as long as I can remember. But it has never, ever come true."
Nina's heart was filled with love and pity for her dear friend. She took the woman's hands in her own.
"My friend," she said, "I am so sorry for your sadness. But listen to me. The idols you prayed to could never help you — they are only cold stone and metal. They cannot hear and they cannot give. But I know the true God — the living God, who made you, and who loves you. He is the One who gives life. Will you let me pray to Him for you?"
The gardener's wife looked at Nina with hope flickering in her eyes — small and trembling, like a candle flame that might go out. "Do you really think... could He really...?"
"With God," said Nina softly, "all things are possible. Let us ask Him together. And let us trust Him, whatever His answer may be."
So that night, Nina took her cross of vines, and she knelt down in her little corner of the garden under the bramble bush. And she prayed for the gardener and his wife with all her heart.
"O Lord, my God," she prayed, "You are the Giver of all life. You love these dear, kind people who have given me a home. You see their sorrow. You hear their longing. O Lord, in Your great mercy, give them the joy of a child of their own — so that they may know You are the true and living God, and so that their empty house may be filled with laughter at last. I ask this in the name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ."
She prayed late into the night, beneath the stars, with the cross of vines held close. And then she lay down and slept in peace, trusting God to do what was best.
And God heard Nina's prayer.
The months went by. And one day — oh, what a day it was! — the gardener came running through the garden, leaping over the flower beds, his face shining with the biggest, brightest smile you ever saw.
"Nina! Nina!" he shouted. "Come quickly! Come and see!"
Nina hurried after him to the little house. And there inside was the gardener's wife — and in her arms, wrapped in a soft blanket, was a tiny, beautiful, brand-new baby.
A baby! A real, living baby — with little fingers and little toes and a soft, sleepy face. The very thing they had longed for and prayed for, for all those years.
The gardener's wife was weeping — but they were the happiest tears in all the world. She looked up at Nina, and she could hardly speak.
"He answered," she whispered. "Your God — the true God — He heard. He gave us our child. Oh, Nina, look! Look at our baby!"
Nina came close and looked down at the little sleeping face, and her own eyes filled with happy tears. "What a gift," she breathed. "What a wonderful gift from God."
The gardener fell to his knees right there in the little house. "Nina," he said, his voice shaking with joy, "the idols never helped us — not once in all these years. But your God gave us this child. From this day on, your God is our God! Jesus Christ is the true God! Teach us about Him. Teach us how to pray to Him. We want to love Him, the way you do."
And so the gardener and his wife became Christians — among the very first in all of Georgia. They were baptized, and their hearts were filled with light. And their little house, which had been so quiet and sad for so long, was now full of the happy noise of a baby — and full of the love of God.
After that, more and more people began to listen to Nina.
When they saw the gardener and his wife so full of joy — when they saw how the broken idol could do nothing, but Nina's God gave life and answered prayers — they began to wonder. They began to ask questions. They began to come to the bramble bush in the corner of the garden, where the gentle young woman lived, to hear her tell the wonderful story of Jesus.
"Tell us again," they would say, sitting in the grass around her. "Tell us about the God who made the world. Tell us about His Son who loves us. Tell us about how He rose from the dead."
And Nina would hold up her little cross of vines, and her face would shine, and she would tell them — just the way her own mother had told her, long ago, in the land of golden rocks and wide blue skies.
One by one, and then many by many, the people of Georgia began to believe. The light of God was spreading through the land, like sunrise spreading across the sky in the morning.
But there were still two very important people who had not yet believed. They lived in the grand palace right next to Nina's garden.
They were the King and the Queen of Georgia.
And what happened with them is the most wonderful part of the whole story.
But that is the next story.
Saint Nina lived simply, in a little tent beneath a bramble bush, and she changed a whole nation not with armies or riches but with prayer and love. To this very day, in the city of Mtskheta in Georgia, there is a great cathedral. And people say it was built on the very spot where Saint Nina once lived and prayed in the royal garden.