For the Suffering Saint

I know in mind and heart that this is your most difficult birthday just yet. How it feels to have an ever gnawing pain with you when you wake up in the morning, and when you go to sleep at (mid) night,
and every single time you let your thoughts wander far enough during the day.

Maybe you also feel sometimes that you have to "suck it up and get on with it" because "it's been months," and you can't do anything about the past, so you just have to move forward. It's hard and difficult and painful, and the task before us is looming and terrifying. I mean how can life be not terrifying when so much has changed?

But He who promised to us life and life abundant, in this world and the next, is faithful. And somehow this thought gets me through the hardest nights. Hoping it would also be of comfort and soothing balm to you. I love you, and happy birthday.

I'm always praying for you, and for the day when we'd all cross beyond the River to our eternal home, with all our beloved saints who went on before us. As for today, let's press on. 💖

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Salvation Testimony

[I presented this testimony earlier this year to the congregation for an evangelistic night. An evangelistic night is a vesper service modified to accommodate the sharing of the gospel to unbelievers, and one part of it is the sharing of the members' testimony of how God saved them. I was one of the first ones to share.] A friend once asked me just a few months ago for my written testimony when I applied for this church. I didn’t think there was any problem, but when I thought more about it, I realized that my testimony I wrote for the church 6 years ago is not something I could share anymore. Not because my salvation story then wasn’t true, but because a lot of God-given, life-changing lessons happened after I was saved. I guess the first thing I realized is that testimonies are always changing because God never stops writing our story. For this afternoon I would like to share who I was before I knew God, what God did to save me, and what God taught me after being saved. ...

We Are The Body

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. (1 Corinthians 12:18-20) Christ has saved His people and designed them to be part of one body, of which He is the Head. To build up this body, He has so divinely appointed various members to various roles and gave them gifts that will help in the building up; in the caring for one another. And as we are being saved, "we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly , makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." (Ephesians 4:15-16) We all have a part in the growth ...

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I love the fact that the Bible never runs dry of "wonderful words of life." No matter how many times a Christian finishes through the whole Bible, it's always, always sweeter the next reading. And somehow, there is always something... new. New, not in the sense that I've never read this part of the Bible before. But it's more of a fresh perspective on the truth that has been there all along. And that's what makes His word even sweeter every time. And such is Psalm 116 for me. I have always loved the Psalms, even as a kid, but it's only for these past three years that the psalmists' words resonate so deeply with me. The writer of Psalm 119 wasn't exaggerating when he said (v. 71-72), It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Truly, the more that we are disciplined in the School of Grace, the sweeter...

Reminiscing Truths ⚓

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