Greetings, loved ones!
As most of you know, I am graduating on May 24 from Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta, California. After four semesters (over three years,) the Lord has brought me to the next chapter in life. Though always exciting and an adventure I would not trade for the world, my time at Bible College has been trying. Each trial, however, has given me a new understanding of God’s Word and has increased my faith (as His Word promises trials will do). And so, with three weeks left in my final semester, I can say with full confidence that I love God more than ever before.
Because of the love I have received from God, my heart is abounding with love for Him. This love brings with it a strong desire to serve Him in whatever capacity I can. Throughout the years, my desires have changed quite often. In one month, I would have a burden for Japan while, in another month, I would be burdened for Nepal. I never quite understood the reason I was so inconsistent in my desire to serve the Lord. A few weeks ago, however, I discovered the reason.
Rejection
On March 14, I received a letter of rejection from Florida State University, stating my academics as the reason for rejection of admission. However, my academic achievement is well above that of the average freshman admitted to FSU. Therefore, I knew that it was God answering my prayer: “Shut which doors you would not have me enter into.” What a great joy I had in knowing that God prevented me from walking outside His will. Though my intention for going to FSU was to eventually serve Him on the mission field with English writing and foreign Linguistics skills, those were my attempt at being both successful in the world (education-wise) and successful in the eyes of God (in obeying His command to go into all the world and make disciples.) Although these things were not inherently bad, they were my attempt. So, when I received the rejection letter, I was relieved and overjoyed.
Rejoicing
This semester, I read Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, in which is written:
“How then to have our faith increased? Only by thinking of all that Jesus is and all He is for us: His life, His death, His work, He Himself as revealed to us in the Word, to be the subject of our constant thoughts. Not a striving to have faith…but a looking off to the Faithful One seems all we need; a resting in the Loved One entirely, for time and for eternity.”
This passage impacted me deeply, and has changed my life. In a book report, I wrote these things regarding the passage:
For the majority of my walk, I have sought and strived to increase my faith, to, by works and deeds, receive a greater portion of the grace of God in my life. It was not until I read this single passage that I truly began to understand the relationship we really have with Christ! My faith does not rely on my works. My prayers should not be focused on increasing my faith, but on learning to rest in the Faithful One! When I accept that God is faithful whether I am or not, I need not worry about anything. It is only after I have reckoned in my heart that it is “no longer I, but Christ in me,” that God is able to increase my faith!
Like Hudson Taylor, I learned through this simple truth that joy unspeakable begins to flow from him whose trust is not in his own faithfulness, but in the faithfulness of the Ever-Faithful One–“a resting in the Loved One entirely, for time and for eternity.” This joy is sourced out of the perfect peace of God. Isaiah says of God in the twenty-sixth chapter, verse three, that “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Through sorrows, when happiness fades, the peace of God produces the joy of the Lord, the source of our strength!
The faith of the Faithful One is eternal, no end shall come of it. And to think that His faith is ours–oh, what a glorious thought! A great relief it is, knowing that I need not strive to satisfy God, but instead I can simply rest at His feet and be satisfied with God! So we can say, “in the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus!” because no other can satisfy.
What the future might bring, I know not, but Him who holds my future in His hands, Him I know quite well. He is faithful when I am faithless, and I rest in that.
My heart is for the lost, and the lost are all around me. There is no lack of need wherever I might go, and so I will focus on the present, on resting in the faithfulness of Christ, and leave my future to the Lord. Whether I translate the Scriptures in a small village in Himalaya, Nepal, or preach the Gospel in the cold, dark country of Siberia, or write fantasy fiction novels and share the Good News with the writing community, I know that God will have His good pleasure, and that is all that truly matters.
Réponse (Response)
God’s response to my willingness to go anywhere was to surprise me. In the second week of April, He opened wide a door to Lyon, France! I received an e-mail with information regarding the need France has for the Gospel and the need that pastor Daniel Flores has for an assisting missionary. A few days later, I was on the phone with Daniel for two hours, discussing how I would attend the public university in Lyon, giving me a student visa for at least four years, a free education (the French government recognizes higher education as a universal right, and so it is free even to foreigners), and an answer to prayer: I would serve God as an ambassador of the Gospel to the nations! The Lord is working out all the details, and I am planning to leave for France in July of this year. My commitment to France is at least two years, and we will see what God’s plan is after that.
While attending the University in Lyon, I will be assisting pastor Daniel Flores in ministry. I will fill whatever shoes needed, from worship to children’s ministry, from evangelistic outreach to fasting and prayer, from cleaning toilets to babysitting children to give parents a break, from teaching the Word to setting up for church services in the various home churches. Most importantly, I will be showing the love and joy of Christ to the spiritually dead French. College is simply the means by which I will stay in France and will be a large door for me to be involved in the French community. This leads me to the fifth part of this letter.
Reqûete (Request)
The one request I have right now is prayer:
- Peace and patience through the process of application to the University in Lyon
- Continued faith in God for guidance, wisdom, and opened/closed doors
- Financial provision
- A heart burdened for the salvation of those in France
- Perseverance and responsibility in the last few weeks of Bible College
au Revoir!
Please contact me if you have any questions or if you would simply like to say, “how exciting!”
Thank you all for your prayers!