"Sharing Jesus"

"God works in mysterious ways," testified one of the people (I feel bad that I forgot who it was) at our church's second evangelism seminar today. I definitely nodded my head. And others beside me concurred an Amen! And I realized then, that it was one of the easily identifiable Christian cliches that are commonly used today. It's direct and true. And if you really think about it, it's one of those simple and beautiful declarations that make you have mental montages of circumstances in your life where as Christians you thought of giving up, making up an excuse, becoming idle... and BAM--you're not. You're out there actively pursuing God.

That's what happened to me today. Last sunday, a church leader whom is very close to me, approached me with a blank sheet of paper and a pen that almost didn't work. She said, "Neng, I will sign you up for next week's evangelism seminar, OK." I was honestly taken aback, because in my head I thought that when you have the OK at the end of some kind of sentence, such as aforementioned, it was going to be in a question format. But she had an assertive tone, and she handed me the pen. I took it and started writing down my name (second person to sign up) and my mum's just in case because for some reason, I do depend on her presence to any church activities. While I was doing that, I was coming up with an excuse. Which I'm really pretty quick at, by the way. No kidding. It's shameful. I told her along the lines of what-if-my-mum-has-work? As soon as those string of words came out of my mouth, I knew I came up with a lame excuse, which I'm also really pretty bad at. The week passed by in a blur. Had an awesome Wednesday that I thank God for, that I will be thanking Him for the rest of my life. Had an even better Friday that also goes back to God. Being in a bible study setting is truly helpful and it just keeps you refreshed, like it does with me. It finished. The guests all went home. And I had a slice of pizza and an ice cream with my two younger brothers and their friends... and somewhere along the my-stomach-hurts-from-laughing-kind-of-laughter, I let out a yelped. A yelped. Like a severely wounded puppy. Followed by a thunderous, "Crap! I have to go to bed! There's a seminar at church tomorrow!!!" They laughed at me. And I ran the long flight of steep carpeted stairs. Saturday morning came, bright and light, peeking forcefully through my blinds. And I woke up.

It was about five or six in the morning maybe. And I was 100% certain that I was the first one awake. Not that I minded because I've always been a morning person. But I didn't bother getting up. The air was somehow cool. And there really wasn't any point to getting up at that moment, except probably get the day started on something. I knew my mum would come knocking at and hollering through the door when she woke up. Which she surely did about two hours later. And dread crept in through the door, slowly crawling on the carpet, reaching up to my bed covers, and finally wrapping me with fear and anxiety.

Afraid and nervous, I closed my eyes and attempted to go back to sleep. Which was incredibly ridiculous now that I think about it. Both of my parents were in the room with me. My mum using my laptop, and my dad who got in my bed too. And they were just volleying back jokes, literally LOL-ing. I didn't even sighed in resignation to the pre-ordained failed attempt. But I laughed with them. And joined in.

My parents and I had breakfast together because the rest of the pack were still asleep. And my mum and I prepared for the church seminar. And in no time at all, we were on our way to the beautiful loop 101 (sorry, I'm really obsessed with loop 101, they have some of the most breathtaking, most beautifully characteristic trees in God's creation!!!). And in retrospect, I didn't feel the antagonizing dread around me. But, I prayed in anyway as my mum was turning right at Olive--just had a Scintillating Epiphany!--St. And the next three-to-four minutes is in history.

We arrived late. But thankfully not late late. That would have been mortifying. And I had the most blessed opportunity to be sitting right next to an amazing man whose insights were brilliant and anyone could tell that his soul was actively pursuing God, and that the Holy Spirit was really in him, using him as an instrument to inspire me and engage the others into this "Sharing Jesus" seminar. The man actually had to scoot one seat to his right to offer me his seat, and he handed me a folder, which I decided that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

I open it to the page where we were at. I saw the literally bolded and italicized phrase: "Discovering My Life Mission." I read that and I felt this warm feeling gush through me. It was electrifying. First of all, I love discoveries of any kind. It keeps me going for days on end. Secondly, I love life in general, life specifically, and the little things in between that has to do with life. It's truly an amazing gift that God has bestowed on us! And thirdly, especially in the last couple of days, I started seeing myself in missions for God. And being there, right then, made me realized a simple truth: I was in the right place, at the right time. We all were. But considering my earlier attack, I was superduper ecstatic and delighted to be there where I would be learning more about God (which is another thing that I love so much). Under this beautiful heading, it says: "to discover your mission in this world, you must first understand God's overall purpose in creating human beings, and Jesus' mission in coming to earth."

That alone on the first page evoked an excitement such as I've never experienced before. It was a feeling I wanted to prolong. And learning about why God had created us sincerely wanted me to serve and dedicate my life to Him even more. Here's why:

1. We were made to have a purpose
2. We were made to be like Jesus
3. We were made to do good works
4. We were made to live for eternity

Because even before we were born, God has already decided our life's mission. He custom-made us for that purpose specifically. And it's a God's calling that we should answer to...

So what's this mission? Purpose? Calling? It is "to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). Isn't that a beautiful honor? God is calling us to go forth, to spread His word, to bring more people back to Him, to the Light where we all belong. When I understood and accepted that particular truth, the little identity questions I have were answered. In that room, feeling the Holy Spirit inside me, and having God with us, I started making sense to myself.

God is truly magnificent, great, and whole. It made me realized how blessed and lucky I am to be a part of the soul-winning purpose for the life in eternity. It is such a beautiful honor to be one of God's chosen people to be a witness to what He has done for me, so I can in turn bring others back to Him.