60. Praise and encouragement

 

Sister Wilson farm lamb

I have lived abroad for 20 years, I found that Westerners are very good at praise and encouragement, I will serve the Lord more and better I do, because there is a group of Western Christians praying for me, writing E-Mail to encourage me, as Orientals, we always like to pick bones in eggs, can never meet people's needs, but God has satisfied us, such as dancing tango, Chinese will always find fault, do not shake their heads, the pace is not accurate, etc., when we criticize, instead praise and encouragement in front!

I like Westerners to be straightforward and to encourage and praise you and tell you what is wrong. At every missionary meeting, my mission director, Peter, would say, “Rebecca is very zealous, loving God and people, but [my shortcomings] later.” I don't get angry at all, others have positive affirmations about me, and some negative ones, so that I have room for improvement. On the other hand, the biggest challenge for Chinese Christians is the criticism behind your back, and you may be the last to know that you have offended someone. There is only negative criticism, no positive praise and encouragement, because we are always satisfied with people's opinions, and forget our worth, God can show your righteousness when we are as valuable as gold, silver, and pearls, and man can trample another person under his feet? Does this reveal your righteousness? Absolutely not, how can the sacrifice of Jesus is shown without God's righteousness and grace?

When we have a negative opinion with another Christian, why don't we praise and encourage others first, and then speak the truth in love, without criticism and judgment, because none of us are God? Is it necessary to show our own righteousness and faithfulness by lowering others, and to make ourselves comfortable and proud, and how long can it bring us glory and satisfaction?

59. Right and wrong

I see things differently than the average person. In my dictionary there is only right and wrong, black and white, justice and injustice, some people will go to the gray area, representing the middle ground between black and white, in my no gray area, such as white lies, the definition of me, it is a lie, that is, there is wrong, but I can't see the illusion of good intentions.

Because of this insistence, I suffered a lot in society, and some people even asked me to see a psychologist to solve my excessive justice and fairness. For people like me, I am not open to myself, and I am very strict with myself, especially in words and deeds. I think wrong is wrong, right is right, and I can't stand Christians taking wrong for right, like pastors who celebrate a church wedding for a Christian and they say, "Evangelize for unbelieving family members. The Bible says that in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, the apostle Paul said, "Do not be yoked together with the unbelievers." What fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteousness, what is the communion between light and darkness, what is the connection between Christ and the names of Belette (Satan), and what is the same between the temple of God and idols?" For we are the temple of the living God, as God said, "I will dwell among them, and I will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Why would these spiritual leaders rather sin against God than against people? Peter and John said, "Obey you (people), and disobey God, which is right or not before God, and decide for yourselves." (Acts 4:19).

When I was living in Shanghai for a long time, I attended a family group of a church where the group leader said, "Tell the left and right sisters that love is unreasonable. God is righteous, He loves us, and He is reasonable. This congregation wanted the sisters to obey and obey the pastor and the small group leader, does the Bible have a saying, obey God, and submit to the superior and the ruler only if it does not violate God's principles. In God, we are all confessed by faith, I often obey God rather than sinful people, I am reasonable in everything, and I don't want to say much to some unreasonable Christians, so I have to ask the Lord to judge.

I exhort some unrighteous Christians to replace white with black, whether you are a pastor, a missionary, or a new believer, in Hebrews 10:26-31, "For if we deliberately sin after we have come to the knowledge of the truth, there will be no more sacrifice for sin, but fear awaits judgment and the fire that consumes all enemies." How do you think the punishment for a man who transgresses the Law of Moses and dies without mercy with two or three witnesses, how much more shall he be punished if he tramples on the Son of God, and takes the blood of the covenant that sanctifies him as ordinary, and despises the Holy Spirit of grace?" For we know that God says, "I am avenged, and I will pay it." (Deuteronomy 32:35) and "The Lord will judge his people." What a terrible thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God.

58. God don't call me home

 

English class outside trip

I have just learned English for three or four months, and my English has improved by leaps and bounds, and after that, I seemed to pass the time every day, and I had no progress at all, and I were worried about regression, and I was only sad and sighing in my heart, although Diana praised me for my progress, I didn't feel that I finally fell into self-pity and self-sorrow, could God save me?

Every night I knelt on the ground and prayed, crying and saying, "God, don't call me home, I'll study hard." This was repeated for five months, until God opened my ears and broke through my hearing barrier, so that I could listen on TV, understand English lessons, go to the supermarket and understand the crowd conversation, and then I received comfort and rest from the Lord.

Every day, when I took a lunch break, I would solve lunch in 10 minutes, and then used an hour of lunch break to go to the store, talk to the clerk, go to the supermarket after school at 5 p.m., listen to other people's conversations, train my listening, and when people found out, asked me what I am doing? I said, "Nothing!" (It's okay!). Or hurriedly pick up a thing, spend very little money a day, learn conversation and listening, I also liked to play ball with the children in the neighborhood, used this happy time, learned a lot of English from the children, and watch on TV, movies and series in the evening, I didn't learn much other good English, but I learned a lot of dirty words.

One day, I was "farting" in the English classroom, and I hid in the corner, and the teacher asked me why I was there, and I replied, "I fart!" but the teacher wrote "broken wind" on the whiteboard without saying a word. It turned out that farting turned out also between elegant and dirty.

Postscript:

One night, while I was singing hymns of praise while waiting for the bus, God said approvingly, "Your singing voice is so beautiful!" and I replied to God, "I give you my voice!" And the Lord said, "Would you like to stay in New Zealand for me for another year or go to Australia for two years?" and I chose to stay in New Zealand for one more year.

57. Hearing barrier

 

English Basis Class

I tried my best to take English classes in Taiwan, hoping that my English would improve, but when I met foreigners who spoke English, sometimes I couldn't understand a word, how could I answer? If my hearing was like a song, I must be incomplete in five tones, and I would answer indiscriminately because I couldn't understand it, causing many jokes and losing face.

On the first day of English class, I heard the teacher ask me, "How are you to die?" in Chinese, is it okay to translate it into "you go to die?" Why did the teacher tell me to die every day? It wasn't until one day that I understood that the teacher was saying, "How are you today?" and my past misunderstandings were swept away.

Because I had a hearing barrier in English, I was transferred down to three classes in a day, and I was transferred to the English basic class, speaking, writing and grammar were too simple, listening and listening again, what was the teacher talking about? Was it English? Or my ears were not aligned with the antenna of English, and the teacher's pronunciation was always very accurate, I just couldn't understand. And God is calling me to be an overseas missionary, and I can't understand English, how can I preach? God, are you getting the plan wrong? Or I'm not smart enough to understand the beauty of English.

This frustration lasted for nine months, and one day when I went back to my host family, I watched the TV series of "Genius Daddy" while having dinner, and halfway through it, I burst out laughing, squirting out of my mouth, and exclaiming, "I understood!" (I see!) My host parents ran out, they thought the kitchen was on fire, when they looked at me in surprise, I smiled, the corners of my mouth were stained with rice, and my heart was grateful, because of English listening, the Lord finally gave it to me, God trained me through nine months from a deaf English person to a person who understands English, and finally the teacher's comment on me in English is that I have professional listening ability, and English listening has become my best project, and it has also helped me learn the foundation of listening in other languages.

God also promised me that I would go down to the lowest class to learn English, and that in the future God would exalt me to graduate from the top class of this language school, and in the end, God did what He said He said.

56. Lose the way

 

Port of the North Island, New Zealand

I am a person with no sense of direction, and I am more likely to get lost than the average person, and you could say, “I only care about the destination, and I don't care about the process it takes.”

Whenever I moved, I always spent a lot of time remembering the directions, and most of the time, I spent it on getting lost, and getting lost seemed to become my patent, and in many times I got lost, I learned to rely on God. I couldn't always remember the stop signs in foreign countries, and I often asked God, "Is it this station, or the next station, or several stations", and as long as the Lord speaks, I could find the stop signs, and in Russia I relied on the Lord to tell me that if I spoke to Him, I would do 100% according to what He said.

When I went home to the language school in New Zealand, I got off the bus and wandered through the streets and alleys, and I was almost crying for two hours when I got lost, and I finally found my way and went back to my host family, I was exhausted.

Thank God for bringing me back to my host family safely and enjoying a belated dinner, which was awesome! After that, I moved from one host family to another, I always had time to get lost and time to seek my direction, I really didn't care about the whole process, only the destination I could reach.

When our house in Taipei City was sold, when I went back to Taiwan, I lived in Banqiao for three weeks, I got lost for one week, and I got lost every day, I needed to go to the Banqiao MRT station, but I took the high-speed rail, the railway station, and looked down layer by layer, and finally found the MRT station on the second basement floor. I always came out early, then got lost, and then found my direction again, so that I could get to Sanzong hospital on time for rehabilitation. During my lost journey, I often found new locations and churches that met on Sundays. I thank the Lord that with His help, I could find my host family, the hospital, and my friends' homes.

What a blessing it was to be lost, to be able to praise and pray to the Lord, and more importantly, to walk with the Lord Jesus.

55. Big bags and small bags to New Zealand

                                 Snowy winter in New Zealand

In 1991, I attended crossover cultural mission camp. It encouraged my heart; I was inspired to live and serve the Lord all my life.

On June 7, 1992, I went to New Zealand to study English for a year, I wanted to bring a lot of things for a year, I brought two large luggage, five small bags, I paid for being overweight, which was equivalent to the money for a one-way ticket to New Zealand. I finally got on the plane, and soon there was turbulence, and the fuselage was in turmoil, and I thought that my time of death was coming, and I prayed, "Lord, take me! But die quickly and without pain." God said to me, "Don't be afraid, my hands hold this plane," and He promised me to stop in Singapore and someone would receive me. When we got off the plane, I tied five small bags to the cart, I was too nervous to tie them well, and a lady came to help me pack them and walked with me into the airport. This lady was married to a Singaporean, her husband worked at the airport; they took me to buy a big backpack, put all the big bags in it, took me to eat noodles, and then took me to my boarding gate.

Thank you, Lord, for keeping me from dying, and for promising a stranger to receive me, and even though it was my first time flying abroad on my own, I didn't get lost at such a large Singapore airport, and everything went smoothly, I thanked to the kind and helpful this couple.

When I arrived in New Zealand, I didn't understand a word of English, and I didn't know how to answer? I had to check my luggage at customs, and I didn't know what to expect, and when the customs officers checked one by one, I was the second-to-last person to go out of customs, and the penultimate girl was still crying there, and I gave gesture by the customs officers and walked forward, I don't know what my future holds? But I know that Sister Wilson and Brother Haydn have been waiting for me outside for a long time.

54. Please Send me, O Lord

 

Dad and Mommy got married - the third uncle, 
fourth uncle's family and me

In the days of waiting to be sent by the Lord, gradually forgetting the Lord's call at the age of 23, and just doing some worldly work and church service, when will I be able to embark on the mission path?

One night, I saw a vision, a bunch of people were crying out to different gods, there was no one there to help them, and I said, "Lord, help them?" God replied, "You," and then I saw the same vision, many people were looking for God, but they couldn't find the pains for the true God, and I cried out to God again, "God, save them?" and God said, "You", and the third time, I saw about the first two visions, and I started crying, and I heard the Lord say to me, " Whom shall I send?" I said, "Here I am, send me." (Isaiah 6:8-9) Since that day on, my faith in mission has never changed, because I have realized how precious God is to these seekers, to put them in the palm of His hand, to remember them always, to send people to find them, and to save them.

After 10 days, my mother was picked up by the Lord, so that I had no worries. Somebody introduced me to the United States and Australia, and when I went to pray, God reminded me of my prayer when I was young, and when I was a student, we had a New Zealand missionary, Sister Carol Wilson, and once in a prayer, I said to God, "Sister Wilson came to Taiwan, mission to Toucheng, and I would go to her country for a year one day and to serve the people in her country. When I was a young girl, God reminded me that I should pay back my vows as I prayed. God also said to me, “Depart from your country, your kindred, and your father's house, and go to the place which I will show you.” He also promised me to go out at the age of 30, and God showed me Genesis 41:46, “Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh King of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt.” And God promised me that all nations and nations would listen to me, and in Ezekiel 3:5-6, he said, "You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel – not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.” And God said, "Whatever the soles of my feet tread, it will be given to me." (Deuteronomy 28:35, Joshua 1:3).

After that, my father remarried, my brother got married, and they both had their own families, and I didn't have any worries, so I prepared to go to New Zealand according to God's timetable.