#Matthew25:24-40

[redeemedbymygoel]

Travel Mercies to Asia and Time to Minister to My Grandfather

He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. ~Psalm 91:4

      May God be glorified for being the One who is in control over time from beginning to end! For the internship, this month has been extremely light since they typically take a break in June so the focus this month has been mostly on preparation for camp and focusing on family. The first three weeks of June was marked by seeing the sufficiency of God's grace and good timing in all days- the good and the bad!

       After work ended, the Lord allowed me to go home to spend time with my sister who has been away for 2 years. I had to prepare for two exams so I was unsure of having time but by His grace, He allowed me to wake up early each day, start the day in the Word, study at the library, finish studies early, make it home to spend time with family, crochet gifts for the kids and translators at camp (in the picture above), and plan for packing! The opportunity to be at home was sweet but at the same time, it was a spiritual battle. My parents were plagued with anxiety. They were worried since my sister was unable to find job upon graduation and not happy about me going over seas for so long. Not having a hope in the Lord, they reacted in fear which was at times discouraging to sit through. I was also starting to get caught up in the fear as I sat each night at the dinner table. There were so many lies Satan was using my family to throw at me, "Grandpa will forget you or you'll poison him", "You'll become deathly sick", "You'll be robbed or tricked of your money", etc. I tried to reassure them that God would protect me but God has not given them a heart to receive that message yet. Still, during this month, my devotionals happened to fall in Matthew which the Lord used to bring so much encouragement! I was reminded from Matthew 6:25-27 that I couldn't add to my life by worrying. Worrying wasn't going to help me be any safer so there was truly no point in indulging in these fears. It was and is much more eternally valuable to daily trust God even when outcomes are unknown- faith right?

      During volunteer calls over the month of June, it seemed there were a lot of unexpected changes in China the past year. We were lovingly warned of being careful with what we say and not being able to as openly share the gospel as in the past. I started to think, it this was the case, am I just wasting God's money to go? Am I just wasting time that could be spent ministering to my family or the local church? I was starting to believe the lie that this journey was not eternally important. Yet, God again brought encouragement from Matthew 25:31-46 which talks about the the final judgement. When Jesus, the King, comes to the sheep (believers), He will say to them that they will inherit the kingdom for, "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me" and they respond, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you...?". Jesus then responds, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me". God used this to remind me that even if I'm not speaking the gospel every last second of the day, there is eternal impact in loving on the least of these and I can already see how much God is establishing the truth of His Word now being in Taiwan.

       On June 24th, praise God for washing away those fears as I was dropped off at the airport, covered in prayer, in excitement and anticipation of the privilege of being Jesus' hands and feet to my grandpa in Taiwan and kids in China! First, he allowed two very dear sisters to drive me there and pray for me on the way there. It was so affirming to be covered by a blanket of prayer. Then, at the airport, at my gate I saw another person from church who happened to be on the same flight to San Francisco with me! This brother was in the first boarding class so although I was in the last one, he told the attendant we were traveling together and they allowed me on earlier to get overhead space! It was such a blessing and a picture of what happens when we know Christ, we have access to his riches as well. Later, that brother made sure to wait to make sure I knew where I was going in the airport since he was from San Francisco before heading off which was such a blessing to me. During the layover, the Lord gave me time in the Word and soon I was boarding my flight to Taiwan. Thankfully the man next to me was a gentleman and would help me with my heavy luggage and that was a blessing too. I got to Taiwan and besides a minor worry of luggage being lost, the Lord allowed finding my uncle and cousin who picked me up to be extremely smooth. The first day in Taiwan was heartbreaking: my grandpa had hurt his lumbar area and couldn't walk by himself. He was spitting out all the food the caretaker made him, unable to sleep due to hunger, and treated with such indignity for 'not following directions'. Also, my aunt told me not to help grandpa and just worry about myself and I was unsure of how to honor her but also love on my grandpa. Moreover, I was sick due to jet lag and all the outside food I ate in Taiwan was giving me nausea. 

        The next day, after much prayer and listening to an audio book by a Christian doctor called, "Finding Grace in the Face of Dementia", I decided to make my own food as the Lord reminded me thru the book that to love on and care for my grandpa, being in good health was important. Praise God, as I was in the middle of cooking Mapo tofu, a lady came in from the Geriatric Help Center. Thankfully, she spoke Mandarin Chinese, made some assumptions, and called grandpa over to eat lunch with me as I prepared a few other dishes. Miraculously, my grandpa ate all the food I made and we enjoyed a time of chatting about the past which was apparently really good for his dementia since it helped him to recall things! Later, God even gave me an opportunity to sit at grandpa's bedside that night before he went to sleep and he asked me about my life! Praise be to God for the opportunity to share about being a Christian and what God was doing in my life! I have about a week left with grandpa and the thought of leaving him alone again is hard to swallow but I just pray for an opportunity to continue to share that there is One who will "never leave nor forsake" him and pray that the Lord would open his heart to receive Him.