Confirmation #4 Sunday Sermon
Hebrews 11
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11
Pastor Theresa preached on Hebrews 11this my 1st Sun back at DICF. The whole summer, voices of caution have been telling me that I should have more financial security before stepping out of my current situation. Also, I thought a lot about how I don’t know much about Indian culture. It’d be difficult to lose some of my rights and mobility as a woman in the West. I also thought about how my living standards will drop drastically if I go to India. I was thinking about whether I can stand not visiting Van once a year and whether I can stand having Indian food all the time. His response is urging me to step out in faith away from my hometown like Abraham. Moreover, He was telling me that Abraham followed God to the Promised Land, the place of God’s will, and lived “like a stranger in a foreign country.” Furthermore, Abraham “lived in tents,” not in a luxurious and comfortable home.
Confirmation #11-13: Sermon, song, blog
On Oct. 31, Pastor Theresa was out of town, so John shared about handing over our lives to Him and He will give us a new abundant life. He illustrated this with a volunteer handing over an old plastic cup for a beautiful ceramic cup with a floral pattern. He shared about Luke 9.
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
I went home that Sun afternoon and googled Edwards' song "Arms Wide Open" to share with my good friend in Canada. This is what I found:
If anybody’s looking for love in all the wrong places
If you’ve been searching for love, come to Me, come to Me
Take up your cross, deny yourself
Forget your father’s house and run, run with Me
You were made for abandonment, wholeheartedness
You were made for someone greater, someone bigger, so follow Me
And You’ll come alive when you learn to die
Confirmation of the same verse!
Then I looked at Misty Edwards' website to see how I can buy her cds because I couldn't find them at any Christian bookstore last summer. I clicked on a blog that looked interesting, about the meaning of life. It's incredibly long, so I skimmed the 1st paragraph and quickly scrolled down the page and came across this:
"We must love the Way He loves if we are going to become His heart’s desire. In the gospels you hear the voice of the Bridegroom beckoning us into abandonment, “Take up your cross and follow Me. Leave it all behind and come after me. Say goodbye to houses and lands for my sake and follow Me.” This is the voice of a Bridegroom who gave all for the sake of love (Eph 5:29-32). Jesus Himself defined love like this “Greater love has no one than this, that to lay down one’s life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13) He loves us with all of His heart, soul, mind and strength and what He wants is a people yoked to Him in this kind of love. We are equally yoked to this shoreless ocean of Love not by the size of our love but by the all of our love. Though our all is small the point is all. He wants to be loved the way He loves, completely given in abandonment."
Confirmation once again!
Now me question is: follow you where, Lord?
Confirmation #25
Tues, Mar. 1st , My dream
Be careful what you pray for because it’s gonna come to pass! Starting from prior to the missions trip, I started praying for God’s heart. I prayed that He would break my heart for what breaks His. Also, after my friends visited, I started praying for more signs. Last Tues, the whole day, I had the song “Where You Go, I Go” stuck in my head. The beginning of the lyrics go like this:
Where you go I go
What you say I say
What you pray I pray
What you say I say
What you pray I pray
That night, I decided to read a chapter from Living Water before sleeping. I read “Working in God’s Harvest” before going to bed, and a line jumped out at me. “Have you ever felt you would die unless you shared the goodness of Jesus Christ with others? If not, it is time to kneel down and ask God to give you a fresh revelation of the joy and the presence of the Lord.”
I had a dream that night. I dreamed that Catherine and I were living on the top floor of a high-rise in China. When I looked out the window, I saw the apartment grounds and complex I’d normally see from the window of my apartment in Richmond, BC. I was simultaneously in China and Canada. I saw this lady in a sari (haha, an Indian woman in Richmond, of all places!) washing her laundry on the balcony and near here were some children from a minority group—they were wearing some traditional clothing & I thought they were maybe Tibetan. The building they were in was burning, but they didn’t realize it. We then caught the lady’s attention & notified her about the fire. She disappeared from view. This was when we realized that our building was also on fire. Cath and I started to head to the stairs, but I was like, “wait, let me grab my money. It’s light and I can easily carry it.” We went back to grab our money, and then we went to the staircase again. Then I wanted to go back and grab a book to read so I wouldn’t get bored while waiting for the fire fighters to combat the flames, but Cath decided to go ahead, so we agreed to meet at the bottom. When I went back to our apartment, the whole building toppled over without collapsing or crumbling, and because I was on the top floor, it was relatively easy for me to get out. I kicked a window open to escape. I began searching for Catherine. I kept running into people and asking them where Cath was. Tears were streaming down my face and then I began sobbing as I searched.
I woke up at with tears on my face. Immediately, I knew that the burning buildings represent the world and how time is ticking. I felt the presence of numerous Indians—especially the woman in a sari—confirms my call to India. Cath represented God’s beloved people that are unsaved and lost. God wanted me to understand how He feels about His lost sheep.
If I’m crying over Cath—the lost ones—how much more is God crying over his people? I then opened Living Water & the text I read all connected with my dream. When I found the paragraph with the piercing question aforementioned, I noticed the paragraph above it:
When a person first comes to faith in Jesus Christ and is radically transformed, that person is overcome with joy and can’t wait to tell his family and friends about his experiences. Such a person does not have to force himself to do this, for it is the most natural thing in the world. The desire to serve God is not something a Christian has to conjure up in his own strength. If a person escapes from a burning house, will he not do all he can to help those still trapped inside? (my italics)
Confirmation #27
Late Mar, ’11, Pastor Bill’s Visit
After the sermon, the pastor told a story about his son in the World Trade Center when 911 happened. When his son was escaping from the 84th floor carrying his secretary, he saw firefighters heading up. He informed them that it was hell up there, but they said that they were willing to die to save lives from the burning building. This story totally connected to my dream about saving people from a burning building. I teared up thinking about God’s heart for those people & I also involuntarily shuddered because of the similarity between Pastor Bill’s story and my dream. God wants us to run into the burning fire (what many people of the world would think of as an enormous sacrifice and a waste of our lives) to save souls.
Anyhow, these are just a few of the confirmations the Lord has given to me, calling me to India long term. Now I'm just stepping forward in faith, trusting that He'll provide for all my needs and that there is hope in His calling (another verse He gave me as confirmation)!
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