Acknowledgement, Gratitude, Repayment for God’s Grace

    - Judy Wu

Acknowledge Grace:

Not everybody understands God’s grace and I was one of them. During my childhood, I was neither smart nor capable, yet everything came out well (school, work, marriage). I was brought up in a Buddhist-believing family and attended a Catholic high school for six years. Yet I was not convinced that all were the results of Buddha’s or the Holy Mother’s blessings.   I believed the consequences of all accomplishments were the result of careful planning and hard work.

Praise God! He loves me and never disowned me for my ignorance.  In the first place, He guided me to marry into a Christian family, a family that serves God.  After I was baptized, and because I was occupied in taking care of our children and busy with intensive daily work, I did not have the desire or chance to know God more. When the right moment came up, He moved our family to the United States in order to keep us away from the worldly environment.  He placed us into an all-Christian environment --- in Towaco, New Jersey --- to allow us to have more time and to live closer to HIM.

     My personal experience of tasting God’s grace was when He provided me a good job in a foreign country, the United States. For I knew I was not hired because of my abilities.  I took the offer and I did it well. It sounded too good to be true, yet it helped me to better understand what God’s blessings would be.  Looking back upon my footprints, all past events indicated that they were neither from my luck nor my abilities but from God’s guidance that directed me through a blessed path. As result, I know I am a blessed person.

Gratitude:

     Motivated by the blessings received, I was inspired to serve Him. Also, God provided me such opportunities to carry it out.  I accompanied my husband, Rev. Wu to CEC in Queens (official name, Evangelical Church Mission and Seminary International in Queens) to serve God.   During my early days, I thought serving God was quite simple because everyone had their own gifts. Although I lacked knowledge in the Bible, my expertise in cooking and cleaning would serve the church well.  I thought that I can work and earn money and also serve God.  However this was not God’s will. He wanted to bless me more, He desired for me to serve Him more too.

 God patiently encouraged and motivated me through various ways to serve others.  Sometimes because of a member’s problems, it made me understand how helpless I was as I was unable to offer any assistance. Sometimes He allowed me to make some mistakes to remind me that, when serving in church, we should not depend on our own understanding.  If we do, we not only become stumbling blocks to our brothers and sisters, but we also bring shame to God’s name.

Gradually I learned that there was nothing wrong with wanting to repay God for His blessings.   However it should not be done with our own will, but through God’s will.   Success only comes when God’s will is at work. I also realized that if I wanted to be grateful and serve God, I needed to do it whole heartedly; I needed to study and learn theological foundation to be fully utilized by God. I quit the secular job that I enjoyed and started to study theology and serve God at the same time.

Repayment:

Repaying blessings is not a momentous or impulsive act out of urgency.  It is a life-long commitment.  Even though serving the Lord is not an easy task, I am glad that I made a wise decision to quit my job and study Christian theology instead.  Praise God, learning sound doctrines helped me to serve Him more effectively. As I depended on Him, I can love those who are unlovable, endure and survive all sorts of obstacles and tribulations, and not to be disappointed nor flee from this path of service.

Certainly, I need to thank numerous brothers and sisters in the CEC in Queens, New York. They patiently allowed me time to learn how to serve in the church. I am also grateful for their support when I am weak and I am thankful for their prayers to guide me to follow God’s teachings without swerving.  Without their efforts, my path to serve would have been more difficult.  

        In this year, 2008 , as we are preparing to celebrate the 40^th year of the evangelical church ministries of “Evangelical Mission and Seminary International, Inc.” (EMSI), I think about my age and my deteriorated health and I do not know how long God will use me or what tasks I will be called upon to serve. However, I know for sure that my motivations will always be based on my motto: ‘Acknowledge Grace – Gratitude – Repayment’.   Such personal commitments will always be mine for the rest of my life!

By the grace of God, I will have the strength to carry on as long as I live. I will serve God anywhere in the earth so that when I meet Him, I will be able to say what Paul had said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, and I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7).  I do not dare to ask for a reward.  I simply want to repay my Lord’s love and His expectations. Then, I will be very satisfied!

God Provided Me With A Spiritual Home

-  Shou-Fen Chi 

In 1997, I came to the United States under God’s guidance. My first task was to find a church to be my spiritual home. In my search, I have attended a number of church services and was not comfortable with any of them. They either required dressing up with specific style of clothing or they involved crying and laughing indiscriminately during prayers.  All of them made me nervous and uncomfortable. In short, I was unable to find a genuine spiritual environment. With my uncompromising stand to the true God, I prayed again and again, begging God to guide me to a truly spiritual home.

Praise God! One night, my niece (who was baptized) told me to look for the Evangelical Mission and Seminary International – Christian Evangelical Church in Queens (official name, Evangelical Church Mission and Seminary International in Queens).  We went there one Sunday. Somehow, I felt uncomfortable after I discovered its location was in a small-sized basement address. Yet, after meeting Rev. Wu (an evangelist at the time) and Mrs. Wu and after seeing their sincere smiles, along with the concerns of the brothers/sisters, and the Biblical sermons and hymn singings, I wept uncontrollably.   I found it!  I found my spiritual home!   I praised God again and again.

From then on, I settled down in this small, yet greatly blessed church to learn God’s teachings.  I also learned how to serve Him, how to spread His Gospel, how to love others like ourselves, and much more.

Almost eleven years now, about three thousands plus days, no matter what I faced - difficulties or even sickness - I always experienced the warm smiles of the pastor and his wife and the kindness of the cares and prayers of brothers and sisters. During these eleven years, neither job changes nor any other reasons kept me from the CEC in Queens, because I greatly treasured God providing a spiritual home for me.

Praise God for the hymn that I love very much:  “With You, Lord, what else do I need.   My heart is linked to God’s heart.  I have sworn to follow my Lord and never to change.”

 Without God, Nothing Can Be Done  - Hong-Zhang Wang Psalm 90:10

“ The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” 

Praise the Lord for His mercy; I survived my long overdue quota limits.   I have lived my life under God’s blessings.    God held me, saved me, cured me, led me…all such blessings cannot be put into thousands of words or speeches to express my thoughts of gratitude.

A valuable lesson learned:

Without God nothing can be done. Everything will lose its meaning or purpose.

Life need not be heaven and earth shaking,

Just good enough to have God’s happiness.

Love needed not be sweetened or honey coated.

Just good enough to have God’s love.

Dollars needed not be measured by trucks or buckets.

Just good enough to have God’s blessings.

Friends needed not be numerous.

Just good enough if God is with us.

40th Anniversary – Word of Thanks

- Rev. Zion Wu

        “For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing”                                                (Deuteronomy 2:7).

“And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot” (Deuteronomy 29:5).

Even though it has not been 40 years, but I have been following and serving along side with Rev. Moses Yang in EMSI and EBI for almost twenty years. Thinking back on my days of serving, I’ve observed the Moses of today and the Moses of yesteryear. Although the place and time is not the same, but they have both walked through the wilderness of the world. Today, as we are planning how to celebrate the thanksgiving service for the 40^th year of the evangelical church ministries of “Evangelical Mission and Seminary International, Inc.” (EMSI), I want to share and count the Lord’s blessings in comparison to the 40 years of blessings and experiences of the then Moses and the 40 years of the ministry of the now, Rev. Moses Yang.

The Presence of Jehovah in the 40 years:

        When the Israelites lost their faith in God for the first time in Kadeshbarnea, they lost the chance of entering Canaan, also they faced the chastising of God for forty years in the wilderness. In those forty years, the Israelites deserted Jehovah the God often, but God did not abandon them. In those forty years, He was still with His people.

         Forty years ago, ever since we established EMSI, we might not have had the tragic misadventures, but the forty years of ministries were not so easy, and they weren’t without obstacles and disagreements. Often, there were jealousy and ruthless attacks from outside the church. But their wickedness could not defeat our faith in serving because we know that Jehovah is God with us.

The Provision of Jehovah in the 40 years:

        In these forty years, we were not supported by powerful organizations nor denominations to help meet the needs of our ministry. But just like the Israelites who walked through the wilderness in forty years, Jehovah God has provided us with the “quails” and “manna” daily so that we lacked nothing. When I recall the past forty years, whenever there were shortages in our seminary, church building or Gospel ministries, we only knelt down and prayed, and lifted our eyes up to God and He provided for our needs abundantly, so that we have lacked nothing even until now.

The Preservation of Jehovah in the 40 years:

        In these forty years, the EMSI headquarters has established three seminaries, one in America, one in Asia and one in Europe. It also has founded forty churches in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia - four continents. In addition to providing the financial needs and material resources for all the seminaries and churches, EMSI also has provided the manpower to serve in these mission fields. So, as a servant of God, one needs to be flexible and be available to move around.  We cannot persist if God does not preserve us.

 We definitely experienced the care and preservation of the Lord in these forty years. If it was not for the presence and mighty work of God, wine will have easily run out; but we actually saw His mighty work and He didn’t let us run out of wine. Our clothes are not waxen old upon us, and our shoes are not waxen old upon our feet up to now. We still have sufficient spiritual and physical strength to accomplish the Lord’s work. All these are the grace of the Lord for without Him, we surely could not fulfill the mission that He entrusted to us.

        On this 40^th anniversary, we ask the Lord to provide us with more and to bring up more servants that will follow after His heart, so that we can spread the Gospel widely to rescue more lost souls. At the same time, we ask for the Lord to grant more wisdom and ability to all our brothers and sisters, co-workers and ministers in the CEM Churches all over the world so that we could serve the Lord with one heart. I truly believe that the Lord will greatly bless us:    

        “…the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest” (Deuteronomy 15:18).