When I re-read my last post, I can sense my own edginess and lack of peace. If my current self could talk to my previous self, I would say: “Oh ye of little faith—why did you doubt?” I really thank and praise God, despite my gloomy forecast, I actually ended up having a wonderful, fulfilling weekend. Not to say anything was removed from the to-do list, but I praise God that everything went so smoothly.
When we got home from Friday evening service, I immediately began J2 lesson prep. I said a prayer and then perched on the couch to read Galatians one more time. I then read the lesson two more times. I really thank God – afterward, I felt like all the pieces made sense to me and everything just came together! Excited, I quickly wrote down the lesson plan and went through the entire lesson in my head and thought that the content was pretty solid. Really thank God. I actually went to bed by 11:30pm and had a full night’s rest.
On Sabbath, with a quick review during lunch I was able to deliver the lesson without looking at my notes. After service, choir also went well. Honestly, I have no talent in conducting or leading choir—but actually, holy work is often not about the talent of the worker; it’s about faith and trust in God and about putting in your effort. In my case, there is really no talent to be had, but I tried my best. At the end I felt like it was a good practice. Throughout both the J2 class and the choir practice, I felt joyful and full of energy. There was an inner strength inside me. I really praise and thank God for being with me.
After Sabbath, David and I were both kind of tired. While I had J2 to teach, he had to lead English bible study on Isaiah 11. We had a quick dinner and then we both kind of zoned out for a while (he took a nap, I pretended to take one). We then reconvened to start prepping for Pacifica rehab center visit. Pacifica church visits the rehab center once a month and we have around 4 teams that rotate leading the service. The visit usually begins with 10 minutes of hymn singing, then 10 minutes of sermon and then concludes with 10 minutes of hymn singing. We sat down and brainstormed on topics. This really is the hardest part since we are both fuzzy on the purpose of our visits. The purpose of the visits is not really evangelical as we don’t talk about our basic beliefs and we don’t pray in tongues during the service at all. So, usually we would settle on giving an encouragement. After an hour of developing a topic, we both became fatigued so we were kind of antsy. So we prayed and that helped. Finally, David settled on the message, “Who is your neighbor?”, based on the story of the good Samaritan. Then, we selected 6 hymns to complement the topic. I thought about what to say for each of those hymns and then we went to bed, right around 11:30pm again.
Sunday morning, we went to church for morning prayer. Then we went to the rehab center. Thank God – we saw many new faces this month. Also, I felt like the whole program went very smoothly. After that, we all went back to church to prep for Gospel Tea. Actually, I didn’t have to do anything for Gospel Tea except to play piano. The church council did a wonderful job planning Gospel Tea and I thought the message and the whole program was very good. We had around 5 truthseekers – some of them already come to church regularly. Really praise and thank God.
After Gospel Tea, we got into the car to drive home. I remember that moment after we sat down and closed the doors. I felt a lot of joy, accumulated from Sabbath, and also peace in my heart. We remarked on how fulfilling this weekend was for us. Even though it was so busy, we were joyful. This was really different from how I originally thought things were going to end. I thought that at the end of our labors, we would be exhausted and relieved that it was all over. Well, actually there was some relief but not the negative kind. I just remember feeling so joyful for being able to serve and peaceful. I was joyful because I thought all the holy work was glorifying to God and I was peaceful because I felt like we did our best. Our conscience is at peace with God.
I really thank God for giving us the strength and helping us serve Him. Also, really thank everyone for praying for us!