This month, I got to celebrate lives, friends’ marriage, and IFI’s ministry through 6 friends’ birthday, 2 students’ baptism, 1 friend’s wedding in Texas, and 12th IFI’s annual banquet with 750+ people. I am thankful that at the end of the month I can sit down, be quiet and reflect His work after a month full of celebration.
One of the highlights of this month is that I got the privilege to attend a friend’s wedding in Fort Worth, TX and reconnect with friends from church and fellowship in college. I was truly blessed by this couple’s wedding, a real life-testimony for God’s work and blessing in their life. I knew the bride Y since 2016, and she is one of the Christians who helped me in my spiritual walk with Jesus. I remembered that she shared with me how she was struggling with the relationship with B because it seems like B couldn’t make the decision to initiate a committed relationship with her. It was not until the wedding I know the latter part of the story. The maid of Honor shared that she has texted Y a word of encouragement at that time, encouraging her to soak in Jesus’s love first. Y decided to spend half of the year to quiet herself before the Lord. Being quiet and seeking His Will first, she surprisingly found out that God started to open the door. B initiated a serious dating relationship. During the wedding, the bride Y used Ruth 1:16 as one her marriage vows: “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” I was truly blessed by how they shared their life and testimony so genuinely that people not just see the romance, but more importantly see God’s work in their life and God’s plan for marriage.
The other highlight is IFI 12th Annual Banquet. When I first knew that I was asked to share my story on Banquet, I felt so nervous, because my first reaction to it is that it’s an important task that I would have to do and would have to find time to prepare. As I got to prepare more on my testimony and pray more about the sharing, I start to see more and more God’s blessing. I couldn’t have thought how the past 8 months have transformed me and moved my heart closer towards Jesus until I start to write my testimony. My mindset on seeing the banquet and sharing my testimony out shifted from task-orient to vison-orient. It’s a privilege to share God’s life-changing work in me and ask people to invest in His Kingdom’s work. A lot of people came to tell me that they are so blessed to hear the stories after the banquet, and I thank God for giving me the strength and courage to share my story and use it to bless others.
As the 10-month discipleship-training program is coming to the end, I prayed that my discipleship process extends to a lifelong period. I also prayed that my focus is still on Him and on the present, and that I could finish well and finish strong in all my training classes and my part-time internship position.