Coming to China has opened my eyes to many things, its people, its culture, its flexibility. But more than anything, it has again opened my eyes to see the value of a soul. We have been given much — the apostles’ docrine, the call to a holy lifestyle, separated unto God, hence of us much will be required.

But our role in bringing and pointing others to Christ, is not one of a demanding school master, exacting on others more than they can bear; nor is it one of a irresponsible parent, to neglect in the name of liberty.

We need to love, we need to teach, we need to travail, we need to be patient. We need to be ourselves, and most importantly, we need to let God be God.

It doesn’t mean a born-again experience spells the end of our duty, just as it doesn’t mean a conceived seed does not need watering and nourishing.

As I was listening to my friend, I recognized who was I speaking to, a soul, real and tangible as me.

A soul, with limitless potential and worth. I feel almost prophetic with the prospect of what she could be, and my heart is filled with tenderness at where she is at now, and I am just overwhelmed with the knowledge of who she is.

Each of us, is of worth precious enough to bring Christ’s death on the cross. The thought often brings us to ask, ‘what is man? that thou art mindful of him…’

But my friends, may I present to you, the other side of this question, ‘Who is God? that he would love us so…’

In a place with such a huge population, a flood of people often only remind us of more queues, longer waiting time, and nasty squeezy experience. It’s too easy to see people as numbers, figures and statistics, but God never sees us as that, He calls us by name.

This excerpt was written by a sister, who spent 6 months abroad in China.

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Note to self: 

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:1-2 

And it started as a sms I thought could encourage someone for the week but I think God meant it very much for me as well and it’s too much of a coincedence for the number of times this scripture has popped out to me in different settings. 

“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:10 

Thank you God.

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said,
“Child, you must wait.”
“Wait? You say, wait!” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is Your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith, I have asked, and am claiming Your Word.

“My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and You tell me to WAIT?
I’m needing a ‘Yes’, a go-ahead sign,
Or even a ‘No’ to which I can resign.

“You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe, 
We need but to ask, and we shall receive. 
And Lord I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
I’m weary of asking! I need a reply!” 

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate, 
As my Master replied again, “Wait.” 
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, 
And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting… for what?” 

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine … 
and He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign. 
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun. 
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

“I could give all you seek and pleased you would be. 
You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me. 
You’d not know the depth of my love for each saint. 
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

“You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.

“You’d never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

“The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

“You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I’m doing in you.

“So, be silent, My child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know Me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still … Wait.”


“Wait” By Russell Kelfer (Wait: Discovering the Heart of God)