Dear All,
Even after such a long hard journey, there are still so many of you who have written to say that you are still waiting with us and praying with us, and for that we will always be grateful. We are just so overwhelmed and humbled by your love for us and your determination to pray that God will return Yi Jien to us . . no words can adequately express the deep thankfulness we feel towards each of you.
I am sure the question of how long we are to wait has crossed your minds . . before Siu Yin flew to Montana, she had told the Lord that she would wait for as long as 40 days. Some of you have also shared with us a similar 'conviction' . . after pondering and praying over this, we have set this as our last day of waiting. May the Lord forgive us if we are using our rational minds to limit Him . . . but we believe it is not fair to all of you to drag out the period of waiting indefinitely; besides the number '40' has a special significance in the Bible as we all know. Unless the Lord shows any of us differently, we will trust and pray that He will have accomplished His purposes by then.
Today (Thurs) was a hard day because I allowed myself to be distracted from my focus on God. As I thought about the weariness that some of you are experiencing, the question in many minds of whether I am just clinging on to an empty hope, that we should be bringing a closure to this already, the thought of appearing 'foolish' in believing in a miracle that seems less and less likely now . . . my heart grew anxious as the enormity of the whole situation struck me again. I had in faith believed as the journey progressed that the Lord was holding out that promise to us that He will deliver Yi Jien, and I had held onto that . . . had I misread His leading?
I learn again that I had to bring my focus back to Him. As I sought Him again, everywhere I turned to, be it in His Word or through the songs that I turned to in worship of Him, or in the quietness of my heart, He seemed to be saying the same thing - to hold on and that His salvation is near. In my regular readings of Isaiah 56 and 57, 56:1-2 speaks of that. I turned to Hebrews 10 - 11 to read about faith and 10:37-38 talks about the same thing. And at the end of the day, I found God drawing me into His love. I did not 'feel' His love (I am not a 'feeler' like Siu Yin :-)) but I knew it in my heart and mind that Jesus was looking at me in love, a love that I had yet to comprehend in all its vastness and depthlessness, but a love that is still embracing me nonetheless. I was reminded again of how faithful He has always been to me . . and therefore I can firmly trust that He will continue always to be faithful to the end.
And so having drawn my strength and confidence from Him again, there is only one way for me to go . .to choose to keep my eyes fully on Him and trust Him . . and to hold on in faith to what I believe He has been showing me and the larger community of faith throughout this whole journey. His Word reminded me again that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) . . an eternal truth attested to by the lives of faith of the great cloud of witnesses who surround us (Hebrews 12:1) . . a truth I am called to live out in my life as well.
A dear friend sent me this beautiful modern hymn yesterday Speak O Lord (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsQ-gMkOSok). It resonated so deeply within me, capturing so many of my feelings and thoughts, that I offered it as the prayer of Siu Yin and my heart to God.
Speak O Lord as we come to You
To receive the food of Your holy Word
Take Your truth plant it deep in us
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith
Speak O Lord and fulfil in us
All Your purposes for Your glory
Teach us Lord full obedience
Holy reverence true humility
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity
Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority
Words of power that can never fail
Let their truth prevail over unbelief
Speak O Lord and renew our minds
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us
Truth unchanged from the dawn of time
That willl echo down through eternity
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us
Speak O Lord till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory
May each of you find comfort and strength in His unfailing Word and love as you walk by faith your own personal journey with Him, knowing that He walks with you . . to the end that His church be built and the earth be filled with His glory.
In His unfailing and unchanging love,
kim guat and siu yin
p.s. my apologies for this very long email . . I had thought that there would not be much to say in this waiting period which is why I have put two days' updates into one . . definitely signs of getting more verbose in my old age :-) God bless!
Even after such a long hard journey, there are still so many of you who have written to say that you are still waiting with us and praying with us, and for that we will always be grateful. We are just so overwhelmed and humbled by your love for us and your determination to pray that God will return Yi Jien to us . . no words can adequately express the deep thankfulness we feel towards each of you.
I am sure the question of how long we are to wait has crossed your minds . . before Siu Yin flew to Montana, she had told the Lord that she would wait for as long as 40 days. Some of you have also shared with us a similar 'conviction' . . after pondering and praying over this, we have set this as our last day of waiting. May the Lord forgive us if we are using our rational minds to limit Him . . . but we believe it is not fair to all of you to drag out the period of waiting indefinitely; besides the number '40' has a special significance in the Bible as we all know. Unless the Lord shows any of us differently, we will trust and pray that He will have accomplished His purposes by then.
Today (Thurs) was a hard day because I allowed myself to be distracted from my focus on God. As I thought about the weariness that some of you are experiencing, the question in many minds of whether I am just clinging on to an empty hope, that we should be bringing a closure to this already, the thought of appearing 'foolish' in believing in a miracle that seems less and less likely now . . . my heart grew anxious as the enormity of the whole situation struck me again. I had in faith believed as the journey progressed that the Lord was holding out that promise to us that He will deliver Yi Jien, and I had held onto that . . . had I misread His leading?
I learn again that I had to bring my focus back to Him. As I sought Him again, everywhere I turned to, be it in His Word or through the songs that I turned to in worship of Him, or in the quietness of my heart, He seemed to be saying the same thing - to hold on and that His salvation is near. In my regular readings of Isaiah 56 and 57, 56:1-2 speaks of that. I turned to Hebrews 10 - 11 to read about faith and 10:37-38 talks about the same thing. And at the end of the day, I found God drawing me into His love. I did not 'feel' His love (I am not a 'feeler' like Siu Yin :-)) but I knew it in my heart and mind that Jesus was looking at me in love, a love that I had yet to comprehend in all its vastness and depthlessness, but a love that is still embracing me nonetheless. I was reminded again of how faithful He has always been to me . . and therefore I can firmly trust that He will continue always to be faithful to the end.
And so having drawn my strength and confidence from Him again, there is only one way for me to go . .to choose to keep my eyes fully on Him and trust Him . . and to hold on in faith to what I believe He has been showing me and the larger community of faith throughout this whole journey. His Word reminded me again that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) . . an eternal truth attested to by the lives of faith of the great cloud of witnesses who surround us (Hebrews 12:1) . . a truth I am called to live out in my life as well.
A dear friend sent me this beautiful modern hymn yesterday Speak O Lord (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsQ-gMkOSok). It resonated so deeply within me, capturing so many of my feelings and thoughts, that I offered it as the prayer of Siu Yin and my heart to God.
Speak O Lord as we come to You
To receive the food of Your holy Word
Take Your truth plant it deep in us
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith
Speak O Lord and fulfil in us
All Your purposes for Your glory
Teach us Lord full obedience
Holy reverence true humility
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity
Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority
Words of power that can never fail
Let their truth prevail over unbelief
Speak O Lord and renew our minds
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us
Truth unchanged from the dawn of time
That willl echo down through eternity
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us
Speak O Lord till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory
May each of you find comfort and strength in His unfailing Word and love as you walk by faith your own personal journey with Him, knowing that He walks with you . . to the end that His church be built and the earth be filled with His glory.
In His unfailing and unchanging love,
kim guat and siu yin
p.s. my apologies for this very long email . . I had thought that there would not be much to say in this waiting period which is why I have put two days' updates into one . . definitely signs of getting more verbose in my old age :-) God bless!
posted by Jo Jo Bumps at 10:15 AM
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