Jen Lee's week 11
Hey folks,
It's a crazy week for me in terms of assignments - I basically have to work on 4 things at the same time! would appreciate your prayers :)
I have gotten one assignment out of the way, and the lecturer said my first draft was fine, so Thank God!
Other things that have happened in the last 7 days:
1. Campus evangelism on Wed - after spending the past 2 wednesdays praying, we went out in small groups to invite people to join us for lifegroups/church...and where appropriate, we share the gospel. The way it's done is that we pray and ask God for an impression of where to go or who to look for, and we use whatever impressions we get to direct our sharing/praying.
I got the impression that I should look for someone wearing glasses or wearing purple, since that was how I looked that day...I wasn't 100% sure but I thought it would give me a way to connect with the other person. I also believe that God can use specific individuals to speak to specific others, down to what we wear, so with that, I set off with Eileen, one of the sisters in Campus Christian Movement. We did end up speaking to a lady with glasses - she was open for prayer, we invited her to lifegroup and she gave us her contact number. I sent her a text today to wish her all the best for her exams and she replied, saying "thanks, that's sweet of you". Eileen and I also spoke to another lady who was sitting by herself and we had a great conversation, we were able to pray for her and also get her Facebook contact. I'm chatting with her as I write this email :)
I'm thankful that I got to exercise my faith to step out and engage people in this manner, i've never done it before. I was also encouraged by testimonies of other people in the CCM group who were led by impressions from God e.g. one girl had a vague impression of a flower and they ended up having a great conversation with a lady and realised at the end that she did have a small flower on her blouse. I think it's a meaningful way to open oneself up for God's leading and I pray that my sensitivity will increase and I will get clearer impressions when we do this in three week's time :)
2. Helping a classmate on Friday with proofreading her paper - we spent a lovely afternoon at her home. She recently had a personal crisis and I am thankful for the opportunity to show her care and concern. We've become much closer as a result. I did share with her about the reality of God's love in my life, but she's pretty closed on such matters at the moment. Please pray that I will not be discouraged, but I will persevere to live out the gospel and trust God to bring conviction through the Holy Spirit in His time.
3. On Sunday, as part of the World Press Freedom Day 2010 activities on campus, I watched the movie Balibo, about the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor and the horrendous killing that took place - 183,000 people dead, women, children, old people....and these are only the documented cases. The movie is based on the true story of 6 journalists from Australia's TV news networks, who died trying to get the world to care about East Timor - a country that had declared its independence from 400 years of colonial rule just 9 days before the brutal invasion. It was only in 1999 that Indonesia withdrew, and justice has yet to be served for the crimes against humanity that was perpetrated during those 24 years.
I was deeply moved by the film - I couldn't help crying, thinking "how can something like this happen? Did Singapore, Malaysia, other neighbouring countries know what was happening? did we just turn a blind eye like everyone else, just because it made economic/political sense to be in Indonesia's good books?"
I had a church equipping session right after the movie, we learnt about spiritual gifts...in a way, the class helped me to refocus on Jesus and not be overwhelmed - yes, it is a terribly dark world, but Jesus is our hope who does not disappoint. Through His Spirit, we as believers have gifts that can shine a light and make a difference. And when Jesus comes back, one day soon, He will right every wrong.
Later on, the message during the church service was about the value of contributing to the Hope Brisbane church building project. It's because souls will have a chance to meet Jesus there. Again, it helped me to see what can be done to prevent tragedies like East Timor's invasion from happening. It's when people are transformed from the inside out through an encounter with Jesus.
At the altar call, I thought about those who died in East Timor AND those who killed them, how darkened their souls must have been for them to take the lives of innocent civilians...Souls are precious to God, each of them meant so much to Jesus that He went to the cross to redeem them. As I read somewhere before - Jesus loves and values one human soul more than His life because He was willing to lay it down in exchange for our salvation.
I commit myself to support the building project and to exercise whatever gifts I have (according to the questionnaire we took in the class, my highest two scores were for the gifts of mercy and giving), so that the world can have a bit more of Jesus.
Oh Lord, Help me to bring Your love to a world that so desperately needs it, in whatever small thing I can do, I want to partner with You. It's not just in East Timor, or Indonesia, or other places where there is conflict. Jesus, I believe Your love is the only cure for every broken or darkened human heart. Amen.
In-Christ,
jen lee
It's a crazy week for me in terms of assignments - I basically have to work on 4 things at the same time! would appreciate your prayers :)
I have gotten one assignment out of the way, and the lecturer said my first draft was fine, so Thank God!
Other things that have happened in the last 7 days:
1. Campus evangelism on Wed - after spending the past 2 wednesdays praying, we went out in small groups to invite people to join us for lifegroups/church...and where appropriate, we share the gospel. The way it's done is that we pray and ask God for an impression of where to go or who to look for, and we use whatever impressions we get to direct our sharing/praying.
I got the impression that I should look for someone wearing glasses or wearing purple, since that was how I looked that day...I wasn't 100% sure but I thought it would give me a way to connect with the other person. I also believe that God can use specific individuals to speak to specific others, down to what we wear, so with that, I set off with Eileen, one of the sisters in Campus Christian Movement. We did end up speaking to a lady with glasses - she was open for prayer, we invited her to lifegroup and she gave us her contact number. I sent her a text today to wish her all the best for her exams and she replied, saying "thanks, that's sweet of you". Eileen and I also spoke to another lady who was sitting by herself and we had a great conversation, we were able to pray for her and also get her Facebook contact. I'm chatting with her as I write this email :)
I'm thankful that I got to exercise my faith to step out and engage people in this manner, i've never done it before. I was also encouraged by testimonies of other people in the CCM group who were led by impressions from God e.g. one girl had a vague impression of a flower and they ended up having a great conversation with a lady and realised at the end that she did have a small flower on her blouse. I think it's a meaningful way to open oneself up for God's leading and I pray that my sensitivity will increase and I will get clearer impressions when we do this in three week's time :)
2. Helping a classmate on Friday with proofreading her paper - we spent a lovely afternoon at her home. She recently had a personal crisis and I am thankful for the opportunity to show her care and concern. We've become much closer as a result. I did share with her about the reality of God's love in my life, but she's pretty closed on such matters at the moment. Please pray that I will not be discouraged, but I will persevere to live out the gospel and trust God to bring conviction through the Holy Spirit in His time.
3. On Sunday, as part of the World Press Freedom Day 2010 activities on campus, I watched the movie Balibo, about the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor and the horrendous killing that took place - 183,000 people dead, women, children, old people....and these are only the documented cases. The movie is based on the true story of 6 journalists from Australia's TV news networks, who died trying to get the world to care about East Timor - a country that had declared its independence from 400 years of colonial rule just 9 days before the brutal invasion. It was only in 1999 that Indonesia withdrew, and justice has yet to be served for the crimes against humanity that was perpetrated during those 24 years.
I was deeply moved by the film - I couldn't help crying, thinking "how can something like this happen? Did Singapore, Malaysia, other neighbouring countries know what was happening? did we just turn a blind eye like everyone else, just because it made economic/political sense to be in Indonesia's good books?"
I had a church equipping session right after the movie, we learnt about spiritual gifts...in a way, the class helped me to refocus on Jesus and not be overwhelmed - yes, it is a terribly dark world, but Jesus is our hope who does not disappoint. Through His Spirit, we as believers have gifts that can shine a light and make a difference. And when Jesus comes back, one day soon, He will right every wrong.
Later on, the message during the church service was about the value of contributing to the Hope Brisbane church building project. It's because souls will have a chance to meet Jesus there. Again, it helped me to see what can be done to prevent tragedies like East Timor's invasion from happening. It's when people are transformed from the inside out through an encounter with Jesus.
At the altar call, I thought about those who died in East Timor AND those who killed them, how darkened their souls must have been for them to take the lives of innocent civilians...Souls are precious to God, each of them meant so much to Jesus that He went to the cross to redeem them. As I read somewhere before - Jesus loves and values one human soul more than His life because He was willing to lay it down in exchange for our salvation.
I commit myself to support the building project and to exercise whatever gifts I have (according to the questionnaire we took in the class, my highest two scores were for the gifts of mercy and giving), so that the world can have a bit more of Jesus.
Oh Lord, Help me to bring Your love to a world that so desperately needs it, in whatever small thing I can do, I want to partner with You. It's not just in East Timor, or Indonesia, or other places where there is conflict. Jesus, I believe Your love is the only cure for every broken or darkened human heart. Amen.
In-Christ,
jen lee
posted by thejenlee at 9:31 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home