Today as I walked into church office, I was given a small envelop which contained this card & a love gift. The Lord’s Prayer on the card reminded me of our Father’s love for me as He continually sends angels to bless me, to comfort me, to encourage me.
Every act of kindness reflects God’s love & presence with me, no matter what circumstance I am in, He is always with me. I am grateful for all the blessings bestowed upon me, especially those done anonymously.
I am not able to thank this generous well-wisher in person, I hope you are reading this post & I want you to know your prayer & gifts are very much appreciated by me. I pray that God will bless you abundantly & like to thank YOU with this prayer:
so that your giving may be in secret.
Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Every carpenter needs sharp tools to do a good job at his trade. Not sure what Jesus had during His time but I would need books, games, crafts, songs to stimulate & motivate kids to learn English.
And God provides abundantly where I could sit comfortably in a air-conditioned warehouse to browse through many, many books to select those appropriate for kids at Timor-Leste.
Not only have I been reminded by the donor on several occassions what do I need for the ministry in Timor, the donor ensures I am fed well with a smoky lunch before sitting down for a few hours to select the books & ”transported” (myself & the books) safely in consideration of my recovering foot.
I like to bless the generous donor with this prayer,
A generous man will prosper;
he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
At the asking of a fellow missionary, I have accepted the Lord’s invitation to spend 3 days in silence retreat. I have not done this before and am not sure if I can remain at ease not talking at all when there are people around. Many friends are equally concerned that I may feel very uncomfortable considering my bubbly personality. I am thankful that God is gracious to bless me a great time of rest and joy.
Upon checking in, I found out I will be the only one staying on the ground floor. Sr. Cecilia has specially arranged the room for me because of my fractured foot whereas everyone has to “climb” the stairs to get to their rooms on the 2nd floor. It was a big place. With not much light outside, the memory of the trauma at Timor came flooding my mind. But the Lord spoke, “Do not fear for I am with you“. God’s comforting words calmed my heart, I did not fear for the first time since returning home.
I felt safe, protected & peaceful that I became very comfortable as I sat on the bed, and before long, I was sleeping soundly… more rest followed the next day with naps after breakfast and lunch. It had been a restful time.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Matthew 11:28
It was refreshing to be in God’s presence, just BEING with Him, enjoying Him and not have to DO anything. In the absence of man, we can hear God. During this retreat, God reminded me of the joy I have in Timor, the smiles on each of the kids in Maubisse, the gifts I have been blessed to connect with the kids at their tender age. Not forgetting their parents & many others whom the Lord has brought into my path. I thank God for blessing the friendships to blossom & I pray that I will earn the privilege to bring the truth to them one day. At the same time, I am also reminded to rest & trust in God to take me back to Timor, at His time.
As I checked out of the retreat centre, the passage spoken by the spiritual director lingered on ….
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
- Isaiah 43:4
Indeed, we are all precious & honoured in our Father’s sight. Praise God for His unfailing love whose power will see us through all circumstances. I am thankful for the people God has sent to care & comfort me, helping to heal & restore my soul. Amen.
Why did God allow Cain to murder Abel (Genesis 4:1-8)?
Why did God allow Herod to slew the innocent babies (Matthew 2:13-16)?
Why did God allow the blameless and upright Job to plummet from health and prosperity to boils and poverty in no time, for apparently no reason (Job 1:1-2:10)?
If we are to blame God for these bad things that happened in the Bible, then we are underestimating the problem of evil in the world, which came by man’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Evil is a fact. We must face it. Evil, not God, influenced bad things to happen to us. God allows evil to affect us to teach us about Himself.
It’s been almost two months since the OneLife.OneYear East Timor team has been brought back to Singapore, under the very wise decision of the church leaders. The team has not been able to function as one due to personality differences, challenging living conditions and inability to adapt to the Timorese culture. Certain responses to the culture shock have been hurtful, frightening and irrational. Team members are hurt emotionally, spiritually and psychologically.
But I am thankful that God is in control and in His timing, brings the teams back for healing and restoration. Through it all, God has never left us nor forsaken us. God is too loving to do anything cruel to us, He is too wise to make a mistake, He is too deep to explain Himself and He is too near not to be aware of our need. We may not understand why bad things happen but we trust that God allows them to shape us.
We need not look too far how God uses hurt to shape us. Our Father has created the most precious gift out of Christ’s brokenness. To allow God to use these hurts to shape something useful in me would have made all these suffering worthwhile. God has and will continue to keep me in His love and give me grace to behave as His beloved child. God will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn and working in me the grace He means me to bestow.
In His good time, He will bring me out again and back to East Timor for “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). When and how, only He knows.
Blessed by His love,
Lydia
This article has been inspired by and some paragraphs are extracted from “Forgive and Love Again” by John Nieder and Thomas M. Thompson (Oregon USA: Harvest House Publishers, 1991)
It has been a while since I cook for friends. This evening, I am really glad to have the company of 5 amazing ladies & 2 wonderful boys.
The oven did not let me down, serving us faithfully crisp & hot bread rolls; baked noodle quiche and lemon grass roast chicken drumlets …… our fellowship is further “sweetened” by Cabernet Merlot flowing …… and most important of all, a time to celebrate God’s power in the healing of my foot and thanksgiving for Latreia’s faithful prayers for the work at Timor-Leste!
While we are enjoying our dessert of fruit jelly & longan, we are already planning our next gathering … Christmas celebration! Indeed, it is only because He came that we have hope.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. …
- John 1:1-2, 14
As we are bombarded by the media in buying presents for our loved ones during this time of the year, let’s not forget we already have the best gift and let us all remember to walk close to Him in the midst of all the busyness!
These are photo albums I made for the little ones at Maubisse. Many thanks to Ps Boon Teck & teamwho went to Maubisse on Dec 4 & present to the kids. I hope the kids will remember the great time we have in the last 2 months learning Tetum & English together. I hope they will understand that I have not forgotten them and my return is now delayed due to my fracture not fully healed. Until we meet again, I pray for God’s protection over these little ones & may their desire to learn continues to burn passionately!
In His Love,
Lydia
Latest update
Text msg from Josefina, Milenia & Joe on 10.12.09 “Obrigada Lydia, nomos foto nebe haruka mai. Domin husi Josefina, Milenia, Joe”
