The Freedom in Surrender
Wow, what a whirlwind has it been! We have been hearing lectures about The Gospel, Character & Nature of God, Evangelism, Biblical Worldview, Father Heart of God, and Spiritual Disciplines.
I feel like I could write a novel about all that I’ve learned… the eyes of my heart have truly been enlightened by this whole experience…I’ll try to sum it up for you.
Here’s My Heart, Lord. I Surrender it All.
Here in Discipleship Training School (DTS), it’s like I’m learning what it means to be in relationship with God all over again. Even though God has been a constant presence in my life, I haven’t had the chance to spend such dedicated time getting to know God before.
During these past couple of months, I’ve been learning to surrender it all to God — from my relationships and my career to my future and my life. It’s not easy for me to do this, especially since I can worry a lot. But learning to lay down all my worries, burdens and anxieties at the Lord’s feet has made me the most free.
These verses became all the more real to me: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.”
God’s peace has truly been guarding my heart and mind, as I step out into the uncertainty of the future… God is guiding me step by step.
A Life Transformed — But Where’s The Urgency?
Through this whole experience, I’ve realized that my life has truly been transformed by Jesus Christ.
We all want to be loved. We all have this God-sized void in our souls. We try to fill it with people or things. In the past, I have turned to relationships, accomplishments, and my reputation to affirm my worth. It has never been enough.
But through Jesus, I no longer have that void in my heart and soul. Instead, I have a hope for the future, a love so deep and a peace that words cannot describe and minds cannot understand.
Jesus has set me free from the chains of fear — fear of what people think of me, fear of the future, fear of failure. He has transformed my life completely. Even though I do not have all the answers, my life is a testimony and evidence to God’s existence. Being rooted and established in love, I have just begun to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and realized that this love surpasses knowledge and has filled me up with all of the fullness of God.
These past several weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to share the Good News with a lot of people. It’s funny out things work out… originally, I had really wanted to South America for DTS to practice my Spanish. Things didn’t work out, but God knew my heart.
You know what’s crazy? I’ve had the chance to meet soooo many Spanish majors at Tamkang University, which is a small major. Who would’ve thought I would be able to use Spanish in Danshui, Taiwan of all places?? We would approach random students and time after time again, they would say they’re Spanish majors. One time, we were praying for God to guide us to who he wanted us to speak to… I jokingly asked God to lead us to more Spanish majors… and guess what.
The next three people we randomly talked to were Spanish majors!
It’s moments like these when I see God. When things work out so perfectly, no human explanation can make sense of it.
This whole experience has also made me realize the urgency of sharing the Gospel. For believers reading this — if you really believe in Jesus, that through Jesus, you can have eternal life and have a life transformed, what is keeping you from sharing it?
Recently, when a missionary shared the Gospel to a woman from a minority group in China, and she asked, “why is this the first time I’m hearing this?”
It’s like she has waited her whole life for such a hope, but it wasn’t until now that she has heard it. Some of you reading this might be thinking… but she already has her own cultures and religion. Why try to change that?
In the end, I want to give people the opportunity to hear about the incredible and life-transforming love of Christ. I won’t force anyone. It will be their own decision whether or not they choose to accept it. In America, we take the easy access to information for granted. A large majority of Americans have heard of the Gospel, but 41.6% of the world is unreached, meaning there are few Christians in the community who can share the Gospel.
If you knew the secret to having joy and peace in the midst of all the pain and suffering in the world, wouldn’t you be compelled to share it?
Outreach
We went on mini-outreach in Changhua a couple weeks ago to share the Gospel, teach English and help clean and paint a church. During this time, I saw so many hurt people searching for a purpose for life. It was such a blessing to pray prayers of blessing over people we met in the park or in the church. Check out a video of our trip!
Finally, we’ve a couple of hiccups, but we’ve finally decided to go to India and neighboring country to uplift the community and share God’s love. I am so excited to see how God will use us to be the light to those around us!
Thank you all for your partnership in the Gospel — for giving, praying and supporting me. It has meant so much to me. May the grace and peace of the our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
