DH and I sat at the dinning table, having our breakfast last Sunday, talking about our nomadic life. We looked at our life in the States and missed our friends there and all the fresh air, great food we have had. It has been almost half a year in Shanghai and we are still struggling to settle in. Here is a land of many opportunities, if one can survive the tough living conditions, there are indeed plenty one can do.I told dh I wonder how long I can hang on, how long will it take before I lose all my sanity...the cold winter, Kai's examinations...all these only make it more stressful.We ended off our talk with no solutions and got the kids ready for our Sunday service. That's the thing, even when life is down and out, go to church!
God sure has his way of helping us deal with life's challenges. The speaker for that day was none other than one from our homeland, Singapore. Some of you may know him, Pastor Lawrence Seow. Once a great pastor, now a great evangelist.His message was something we have all heard before...
The feeding of the five thousands. A familiar story about how God used five loaves of bread to feed the mulitudes. The really amazing thing was that he shared on something which we didn't realise before and have never heard before. Mark 8:19 to 20
When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"
"Twelve," they replied.
And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?
They answered, "Seven."
If we were to plot a graph base on the facts given above, it will look something like this...
If God used seven loaves of bread to feed 4,000 and five loaves of bread to feed 5,000, base on the graph, one loaf of bread, God could have fed 6,000 people. That says something about Him...
He uses small resources to accomplish big things!
Looking at another famous Bible story - David and Goliath.
Who defeated Goliath? Not the Philistines with their armour and weapons but little, wee David with his stones and sling shot.
The Philistines saw Goliath and said "he is so big, we can't defeat him!"
David came and saw Goliath and said, "he is so big, I won't miss him!"
And yes, David did not miss him, he struck him right in the middle of his forehead. It was David and his little resources that defeated the giant.Who we have is more important than what we have. As long as we have our loved ones with us, our families with us and God with us, all life's challenges will come to nothing.
When the family moved to the US, we moved with lots of fears and worries as we moved with no prior relocation experience. We moved together as a family, believing God will handle everything and provide everything and indeed He had, blessing the family with wonderful experiences and people coming our way.
Looking back, we told ourselves that with the US experience, we could handle Shanghai much better, trying to work things out ourselves...in actual fact, what God really wants is to give Him everything and He will work miracles in our lives.Once again, we are reminded that God is in control if only we allow Him. The giants will fall at our feet.
So, from now onwards, we will just BE here and LIVE!"
If you believe God exist and at the end of your journey, realise He actually doesn't exist, you have nothing to lose. If you don't believe God exist and at the end of the road, realise that He indeed exist, you have everything to lose."
Profound...but so true.