It has come to my realisation that time is flying pass fairly quickly and ... It's sad to say I have only less than 6 months left before heading back home. How did that even happened?! Amidst all the busyness from courseworks, class tests, online tests bla bla bla... it just happened! Many things have happened in between too, but with the grace of God, He brought me out of all sorts of troubles. Each and every single time! Financial difficulties in particular this year, but I have emerged victorious. How great is the God I am serving, eh? This is a great testimony on its own which I will share next time.
Today is Easter Day, but what's special about Easter? This is the day for us to remember God's unconditional and unwavering love for each and everyone of us, believers and non-believers. We stand equal chance in the eyes of God. God chose us, not that we choose God. Even after my baptism two years ago at Equippers, I sometimes backslid-ed with all sorts of temptations and lies. You name it, I have probably fallen into it, just not to the most extreme! But I just can't be more than grateful to still recognise my Father, the only God in Heaven who still loves me, with His grace being ever sufficient. He safeguarded me throughout my thicks and thins in life, providing me PEACE in every situation and times when I had to make tough decisions. In the end, He never failed to bring me out of what seemingly a trap at that time.
The word "victory" is engraved in God's dictionary, and God wants us to be victorious. God sent His one and only Son, Christ Jesus to die on the cross for us sinners FIRST, even without us knowing it beforehand. God knew He will emerge victorious, in the battle against the fallen angels, but with the sacrifice of Jesus. Heartbroken? Of course! Hesitated? Maybe. But He never stopped Himself from writing this (Jesus had to die on the cross to redeem us from eternal damnation) into His will, for God loves us so much, as much as His love for Jesus His Son.
Just last weekend, I had a blast at Acts UK Getaway, with Acts London, Acts Bristol and Acts Oxford coming together as one spirit, one church and one family! Got to know lots of new people, and it was ineffable to describe how much joy it was to see God's expansion of His Kingdom. Through Acts Bristol and recently Acts Oxford, more and more people have came to know God. Some may have been far away from Him for some period of time (like myself), some may have been new. But one thing is for sure, the Getaway was a huge success! Testimonies after testimonies!
Through these three days, I have seen lives being touched by the Holy Spirit. As the theme of the Getaway was about walking with Holy Spirit, I found it as a perfect chance to get God back into my life again. When you invite Holy Spirit into your life, to walk with you daily, you will see differences. My last vivid encounter with Holy Spirit was precisely a year ago (last April), when I had a series of DREAMS just within weeks from the first Acts UK Getaway. It was so powerful but concurrently horrifying. I dreamt of things I could never have imagined, but these things stayed with me and turned themselves into HOPES! To a point of exhaustion, I actually asked God to stop because it was so tiring to dream almost every day for that two weeks. Of course He did, and it never occurred to me anymore.
If you ask me whether I miss the days when I felt so close with God and the Holy Spirit, yes I did. But of course, I am again empowered from the Words spoken by Pastor Kenneth, Pastor Sandra and Pastor Dave in the Getaway. And I found Him again! For now I still have no courage to ask for more dreams, but it is in my prayer list that I will soon be able to find strength to sustain many more dreams to come! I realised that without Holy Spirit in the picture, with my own human strength, it is impossible to sustain God's dreams.
In the end of the day, all glory to God! May God use me purposefully even if I have only 5 months left in the UK before graduation.
