Archive for the ‘Spiritual Reflection’ Category

10
Jun

God, You Are Faithful

   Posted by: Teacher Ruth

Hey, friend! How does iced plum green tea sound for today’s chat? I picked it up on my way here, so it should still be cold. ^_^

Something that I have been thinking a lot about lately is faithfulness. Specifically, God’s faithfulness. Four years ago I sat in Da’an Park in Taipei and begged God with all my heart not to send me back to the US. It felt right to be in Taiwan; I felt at home. Although I could not understand why God sent me back to the States, I obeyed. Last weekend I sat on the same bench I made my desperate pleadings and I reflected on where God has met me, brought me from, and brought me to. Through this reflection, I realized that I am no longer the person that I once was. Over the last 4 years, God has drastically and faithfully changed me, challenged me, comforted me, and grown me. I have worked 3 jobs, fallen ill with a life-changing chronic illness, returned to school, graduated with a Bachelor’s degree, made a number of close friends from all backgrounds, and moved across the world to live on my own as an English teacher…in Taiwan. There were joyously beautiful and wonderful moments in these past 4 years. There have also been some incredibly hard moments. Through these moments, though, God was faithful. When I could not see the answer to a seemingly impossible problem, God did and He reassured me that what I saw was not the end but merely a dark part of the path. Tonight as I am thinking over the waiting, changing, growing, and challenging God did in me these years, I cannot help but think back to one day in a worship service in chapel at CIU. It was an evening worship service during my first year as a transfer. My group of newly acquired friends and I were standing in the front, singing and worshiping. A song I had never heard started, and I closed my eyes and just listened to the words. As I listened, I felt a deep affinity stir my heart and tears fell from my eyes. The song? Never Once, by Matt Redman.

On that day of worship three years ago, I had heard news of a crisis in my family. The hurt, pain, fear, despair, and hopelessness had been eating away at me the whole day. On top of this, I had a CFS flare and was weak. At that moment, I stopped and I thought about all the things God had done in my life since I accepted that Christ is God’s son and made the decision to follow Him. Through all the bad things, the hopeless and dark moments, God was there. He was my Rock, my loving Daddy, and a guiding Shepherd.

The past 4 years have been filled with joy always tempered with some despair, dark place, or heart-crushing pressure. Today, I look around my life and I wonder. Where are the strengthening and stretching trials? Where is the pain and despair? The nights of tears and desperate prayers, of running towards the comforting hugs of friends? God is now showing Himself to be faithful in different ways. Yes, He is there for the hard, dark, and painful times. However, He is also here for the joy of the day-to-day. Simply put, God is faithful in every way and in every situation.

While Skyping a close friend the other day, we realized that I have been a Christian for 6 years. When that realization was voiced, my jaw dropped. Although I recognize that I have indeed become a new person and have learned more of the basics of my faith than I started with, I still feel like a toddler. And that…is a good thing. In this life, and even beyond, we will never know the fullness that is God. We will never fully understand His actions and reasons. If I ever get to a point where I feel I know everything and assume to know God, please, please, PLEASE, point me back to God. To who God is. To what God has brought me from. To who I was before God saved me. To God’s amazing power to create, how He knew how and when I would end up in Taiwan, how He knew how I would afford school and even which school I would go to… Please point me back to God.

God’s faithfulness is infinite. Boundless. Amazing. Comforting. As the song says, “Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me.” To that I cling, even when it seems all the storms have left me to luxuriate on my not-so-deserted sub-tropic island!