Sunday, June 11, 2006  1:41 AM
My date with God
So tomorrow I head off to church camp, and then to KL with my family once the camp is done. Mixed feelings I guess - excited and looking forward to spending the next week with God and family, yet knowing that the holiday is simply trudging over to our friendly next door neighbour does not totally make up for the loss of good television, missing some people, the little corner of my bed and home-cooked food.
Something really miraculous happened this week. I felt God speaking and ministering through me and it was only after the event that the message totally sunk in. James, Xinyi and I were at Geylang eating tau huay after the Go Fest Asia conference when James saw this frail old lady from afar begging for money at every single table. Looking pensively back at us, he mused, "God is love, and we should show her our love as well." We invited her to sit with us, and asked her what she would like to eat, assuring her that her meal was paid for. Her face lit up like a child on Christmas morning, and she quickly ordered a bowl of soya bean and you tiao. We tried communicating to her in Mandarin, but quickly realised that the only language she spoke was Cantonese. Unknowingly, her words fell rather easily on my ears (when she spoke loudly enough) and I could make out the things she was saying. Over the last two years, my understanding of the dialect has improved leaps and bounds through much money invested in the HK drama serial education although I never dared speak much. What I didn't realise was that I soon started communicating with her in Cantonese as well. Despite the lousy Cantonese that I was spouting, she seemed to understand what I saying. We decided to ask her whether she knew God, and I started telling her about God's love and grace in Cantonese. James was speaking to her a little in whatever Cantonese he could muster as well, and Xinyi was praying for us in English.
I only realised after that God was speaking through me and using me to tell this old lady about Him, because I have never spoken so much Cantonese in my entire life, and I was stringing sentences together in a dialect that I only learnt through the television, with an ability I never knew I possessed. I would never have been able to do it without the sudden strength that God placed upon me - and I realised just how mighty He can be. He chose three non-Cantonese speakers to minister to this Cantonese speaking old lady, and although the old lady who frequently goes to the temple to pray was rather adamant against praying to God because it was "ka nan" (difficult) and there would be conflict praying to both God and her own god, I think (and hope) that we sowed a seed in terms of knowing about God in her life. Later when we were praying and reflecting upon the night's events, it dawned on me that although she refused to believe in God, she knew the power of God's love and the firm fact that when one chooses Christianity, they should have no other idols. And that she even knew this shows God's might and how great He really is. :) We prayed for her that although our encounter with her might not have changed her mindset, it would perhaps lead her to think about God. We also prayed that God would bring more Cantonese Christians into her midst who would be able to continue showing her God's love.
I just found the whole episode such an encouragement to my Christian faith, that really, God is using me in more ways than I would ever know and through Him, I can do anything.
It's not been the best of times - my dad has been sick, and I feel that some of my friendships are totally eluding me because I feel shut out of it and I don't know what to do about it - but my walk with God has never been stronger. And I really want to depend on Him and present all my burdens to Him, at the same time obeying Him because that's the only way to glorify Him.
Church camp is going to be my date with God. :)
5 comment(s). Your thoughts?
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