Encouragement...
It's been a tough past couple weeks for me. I could go into a lot of theories on why, but I really don't know. Oh, and my parents' visit was wonderful... so don't try to start making correlations! :) That was a blessing. Unfortunately, I had been feeling down and anxious before they came and it got worse then in the past few days. However, tonight was encouraging and I just wanted to share a little bit about that. :)
Hmm. I'm considering how to go into this, because I could start going into all sorts of things that have been going on in my mind, but I really don't have time. Grades are due tomorrow, and guess who still has to calculate them all...
I think I'll just try to share this as simply as possible. I was invited to have dinner at a nearby Christian church tonight. One of the CELA teachers goes there and said some Korean people would be there, would cook some food and do some dances. I wasn't going to go, but surprise, surprise, I changed my mind. I think it was the promise of food.
It was really great. A lady dressed in traditional Korean attire showed us how to make this beef dish that was really really good. There was a little gas stove and skillet on each table and we got to cook it up ourselves after she showed us (very much like a cooking show) and as it was all being translated form Korean into Mandarin. :)
After eating, all the food items were cleared away and the dancing began! Five Korean people came out and did a hip hop dance to a Korean song that was the tune of "Every Move I Make" (or the "Na Na Song" as it's called at camp and in the Ellisville preschool :D).. it was really cool.... hip hop remixed. I just thought to myself now that I should have asked where I could have gotten a copy of it. Man. It was great. I couldn't help but sing and move along!
Oh, and let me rewind. Just initially walking into this little tiny place tonight gave my heart joy. Sometimes, I think we just really need to be in fellowship with others whose joy and strength is in the Lord... and they can't help but have that shine through their words, faces, and actions. Hmm. And I don't know how many people there knew Jesus before or who were hearing the message for the first time... I didn't know to whom this event had been publicized. But there were probably nearly 30 Korean mission people there and then at least that many Taiwanese, which was really cool. And it was just great. I loved hearing the Gospel, even though I couldn't understand the words, in Korean, or Mandarin, I could hear the words "Jesus" and "love" being sung. (It was also interesting though that a few times the Korean and Taiwanese would speak English to each other since they didn't know each other's languages.)
After the hip hop, there was a kind of liturgical dance/ballet-ish dance that was very beautiful. Then five more people came out and did a mime to music performance of Creation, the Fall, Sin's destruction, Christ's crucifixion, and the Resurrection, the defeat of sin, and the redemption of the sinner.
After that, there was talking, and after guessing it was the Gospel message being shared, someone who could understand all of the Mandarin translation confirmed to me that yes, they were sharing verses like John 3:16, some from Romans, and other Bible verses.
Then all of them got up at the front and sang a song and just looking at their faces made me ask, "God, please give me that joyful confidence in You... please give me that faith..." I realized that yeah, as Christians, we aren't promised a rose garden. In fact, we're promised that there WILL be trouble in this world. However, walking around, caught up in myself, in my fear, in my doubt, in my worry and joyLESSness... how does that convey any message of hope. Now, I'm not saying it's a sin to not be smiling. That's ridiculous. And maybe our hearts are heavey and burdened and as much as we call out to God, He doesn't lift it for some time... BUT... BUT.... I love how our God is all about the BUT... let us not forget that there is a hope. Let us not forget that we are a part of a Body, Christ's Body. We are not alone. There are people out there, from all corners of this crazy world, who are going against the despair, fighting against the discouragement, standing on the firm foundation that is Jesus Christ... and it has nothing to do with the English language. I love that the message wasn't in English at all tonight. I'm sure glad it is in English often and that language has provided such opportunity to share the Gospel, but it was just refreshing to have God apart from English for once. Do you get what I'm saying?
And the way those people sang at the end, I wanted to go up and ask them to give a reason for the hope they had... but then I realized, I do know and I too have that hope... I just am finding it really hard to remember it... or believe it for some reason.
Why does my heart so often doubt and fear? I don't know. But God tells us perfect love drives out fear and perfect love can only come from the One True God, reveled to us in Christ Jesus. So, I stand on that in faith... not feeling it necessarily all the time, but knowing I've been called in Baptism, knowing the promises of God's word that have never failed and will never fail, and I pray that as God continues to teach and grant me growth and grace... that He would continue to drive out the fears that plagues, drive out the doubt that plagues and drive out the dispair that plagues with the power of His Love. I think those plagues are deliberate attacks by the enemy to throw us into states of joylessness and fear... the opposite of how God would have us live. Golly, praise be to God who rescues us time and time again and patiently rebukes, forgives, guides, teaches, and loves us so so much.
I really hope this made sense. I haven't posted musings like this for a while and I feel that I'm not expressing myself well, but I hope that it shares a bit of something I learned tonight.
God's blessings to you all. I think I'm just plain missing people right now too.
Yeah.
With love, in Christ,
Anna
Hmm. I'm considering how to go into this, because I could start going into all sorts of things that have been going on in my mind, but I really don't have time. Grades are due tomorrow, and guess who still has to calculate them all...
I think I'll just try to share this as simply as possible. I was invited to have dinner at a nearby Christian church tonight. One of the CELA teachers goes there and said some Korean people would be there, would cook some food and do some dances. I wasn't going to go, but surprise, surprise, I changed my mind. I think it was the promise of food.
It was really great. A lady dressed in traditional Korean attire showed us how to make this beef dish that was really really good. There was a little gas stove and skillet on each table and we got to cook it up ourselves after she showed us (very much like a cooking show) and as it was all being translated form Korean into Mandarin. :)
After eating, all the food items were cleared away and the dancing began! Five Korean people came out and did a hip hop dance to a Korean song that was the tune of "Every Move I Make" (or the "Na Na Song" as it's called at camp and in the Ellisville preschool :D).. it was really cool.... hip hop remixed. I just thought to myself now that I should have asked where I could have gotten a copy of it. Man. It was great. I couldn't help but sing and move along!
Oh, and let me rewind. Just initially walking into this little tiny place tonight gave my heart joy. Sometimes, I think we just really need to be in fellowship with others whose joy and strength is in the Lord... and they can't help but have that shine through their words, faces, and actions. Hmm. And I don't know how many people there knew Jesus before or who were hearing the message for the first time... I didn't know to whom this event had been publicized. But there were probably nearly 30 Korean mission people there and then at least that many Taiwanese, which was really cool. And it was just great. I loved hearing the Gospel, even though I couldn't understand the words, in Korean, or Mandarin, I could hear the words "Jesus" and "love" being sung. (It was also interesting though that a few times the Korean and Taiwanese would speak English to each other since they didn't know each other's languages.)
After the hip hop, there was a kind of liturgical dance/ballet-ish dance that was very beautiful. Then five more people came out and did a mime to music performance of Creation, the Fall, Sin's destruction, Christ's crucifixion, and the Resurrection, the defeat of sin, and the redemption of the sinner.
After that, there was talking, and after guessing it was the Gospel message being shared, someone who could understand all of the Mandarin translation confirmed to me that yes, they were sharing verses like John 3:16, some from Romans, and other Bible verses.
Then all of them got up at the front and sang a song and just looking at their faces made me ask, "God, please give me that joyful confidence in You... please give me that faith..." I realized that yeah, as Christians, we aren't promised a rose garden. In fact, we're promised that there WILL be trouble in this world. However, walking around, caught up in myself, in my fear, in my doubt, in my worry and joyLESSness... how does that convey any message of hope. Now, I'm not saying it's a sin to not be smiling. That's ridiculous. And maybe our hearts are heavey and burdened and as much as we call out to God, He doesn't lift it for some time... BUT... BUT.... I love how our God is all about the BUT... let us not forget that there is a hope. Let us not forget that we are a part of a Body, Christ's Body. We are not alone. There are people out there, from all corners of this crazy world, who are going against the despair, fighting against the discouragement, standing on the firm foundation that is Jesus Christ... and it has nothing to do with the English language. I love that the message wasn't in English at all tonight. I'm sure glad it is in English often and that language has provided such opportunity to share the Gospel, but it was just refreshing to have God apart from English for once. Do you get what I'm saying?
And the way those people sang at the end, I wanted to go up and ask them to give a reason for the hope they had... but then I realized, I do know and I too have that hope... I just am finding it really hard to remember it... or believe it for some reason.
Why does my heart so often doubt and fear? I don't know. But God tells us perfect love drives out fear and perfect love can only come from the One True God, reveled to us in Christ Jesus. So, I stand on that in faith... not feeling it necessarily all the time, but knowing I've been called in Baptism, knowing the promises of God's word that have never failed and will never fail, and I pray that as God continues to teach and grant me growth and grace... that He would continue to drive out the fears that plagues, drive out the doubt that plagues and drive out the dispair that plagues with the power of His Love. I think those plagues are deliberate attacks by the enemy to throw us into states of joylessness and fear... the opposite of how God would have us live. Golly, praise be to God who rescues us time and time again and patiently rebukes, forgives, guides, teaches, and loves us so so much.
I really hope this made sense. I haven't posted musings like this for a while and I feel that I'm not expressing myself well, but I hope that it shares a bit of something I learned tonight.
God's blessings to you all. I think I'm just plain missing people right now too.
Yeah.
With love, in Christ,
Anna
posted by Anna at 1:40 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Honey! In my Today's Light Bible readings today, I read one of my favorite stories or Jehoshaphat in 2 Chron. 20. I love the end of his prayer, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." And then God's answer to him, "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's.. . . The Lord will be with you." God is good. All the time. I love you! - Mom
Anna! this is exactly what I learned through the colloquy program. Faith is based on the facts not on how we feel. I'm praying for you to remember God's Words to Jehoshaphat and to you.
erin
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