Goodness, Praise and Thanksgiving
God is Good.
I'm not sure why I visited this blog today- perhaps out of sheer curiosity now that so much has happened that I can't really express here.
But it's amazing to see how God has worked in my life and how 'The Year of Favor' is really taking shape.
You see all the anger, the questions and the rage pent up in the last few posts in 2010- well I just reread them and cried because God has answered and healed every single aspect. The doubt and fear of myself, the hopelessness and loneliness in church and the question of vision in what I was doing culminating at the end of this year.
Retreat really was the turning point- the unleashing of something greater and a dynamic sense of healing and moving forward.
Ever since then much has happened- and I'm not even addressing very tangible things like my blog. No, I'm speaking purely from the spiritual. It's true that when we see a glimpse of God's glory, everything in this world fades away. I could care less about all the fashion parties that we cover because it truly is nothing compared to what God is doing in this city. God is really really moving in Asia, in Hong Kong and in my church.
It's not to devalue fashion and blogging but it's just amazing because...
My blogger friend became Christian. All I did was introduce her to church and it just snowballed from there. We sat in a fast food restaurant and prayed for her with my house church leader. We went through an inner healing session and went through the many painful memories that she went through that shaped her... we even had to go outside to pray because the restaurant had to clean and close.
The remarkable thing is that God is showing Himself every time. She sees a vision of three tacky angels circling around. In Hollywood style sign God tells her that the angel is called 'Israfel'. Initially I thought it was because English isn't her first language, she was actually trying to say 'Israel'. She suddenly starts repeating 'Serafel! Serafel!' and my house church leader thought she was speaking in tongue. I asked her if she meant 'Seraphine' which is technically a restaurant in NYC.
She then starts saying 'trumpet!'
We look it up on our Iphones- God basically revealed to her an angel from the Qu'ran who sounds the trumpet on the Day of Judgment also known as Serafel.
Amazing. Talk about goosebumps.No one even knows these angels 'exist' nor did our pastor after we spoke to him about it.
As her faith grows- it's so simple and so pure and childlike that it makes my faith increase greatly because I see God work in her. You know how when a new Christian just utters God's truth and meditates on it because it is new to her? How much more should the 'mature' Christian be refreshed and renewed by Scripture he has seen many times over.
I honestly feel more blessed to see her grow than she being blessed by my invitation to church.
The second story is this. Our House church was assigned to do offering prayer for the month of October and I dreaded having to do it. Anyhow I did it rather clumsily. Afterwards a girl comes up to me and asks me if I'm Sam. She's from Toronto and my parents saw her briefly and found out she was coming to HK to teach for a year and recommended my church to her. She came and for some reason knew it was me when she saw me though we never met. I invited her to House Church where she began to share her struggles of moving to HK. I literally could feel the pain. When we prayed for her at the end together as a House Church, I began to read Deuteronomy- a chapter in which God formerly used to speak into my life when I was in NYC and the first time I remarked that I ever cried reading the Bible. I don't know but because I felt her pain I started crying and praying for God's covering. I knew, I KNOW what it feels like. But I was crying because I know God's Sovereignty and how He delivers us when we feel most alone and confused.
Anyhow now she is firmly a part of our House Church and church.
All because of a simple Offering prayer.
Juanita- the intercessory prayer woman for our pastor calls it 'Sam's branch'. I guess the year of pruning was last year, and this year is the year of bearing fruit.
God, what next?
I'm not sure why I visited this blog today- perhaps out of sheer curiosity now that so much has happened that I can't really express here.
But it's amazing to see how God has worked in my life and how 'The Year of Favor' is really taking shape.
You see all the anger, the questions and the rage pent up in the last few posts in 2010- well I just reread them and cried because God has answered and healed every single aspect. The doubt and fear of myself, the hopelessness and loneliness in church and the question of vision in what I was doing culminating at the end of this year.
Retreat really was the turning point- the unleashing of something greater and a dynamic sense of healing and moving forward.
Ever since then much has happened- and I'm not even addressing very tangible things like my blog. No, I'm speaking purely from the spiritual. It's true that when we see a glimpse of God's glory, everything in this world fades away. I could care less about all the fashion parties that we cover because it truly is nothing compared to what God is doing in this city. God is really really moving in Asia, in Hong Kong and in my church.
It's not to devalue fashion and blogging but it's just amazing because...
My blogger friend became Christian. All I did was introduce her to church and it just snowballed from there. We sat in a fast food restaurant and prayed for her with my house church leader. We went through an inner healing session and went through the many painful memories that she went through that shaped her... we even had to go outside to pray because the restaurant had to clean and close.
The remarkable thing is that God is showing Himself every time. She sees a vision of three tacky angels circling around. In Hollywood style sign God tells her that the angel is called 'Israfel'. Initially I thought it was because English isn't her first language, she was actually trying to say 'Israel'. She suddenly starts repeating 'Serafel! Serafel!' and my house church leader thought she was speaking in tongue. I asked her if she meant 'Seraphine' which is technically a restaurant in NYC.
She then starts saying 'trumpet!'
We look it up on our Iphones- God basically revealed to her an angel from the Qu'ran who sounds the trumpet on the Day of Judgment also known as Serafel.
Amazing. Talk about goosebumps.No one even knows these angels 'exist' nor did our pastor after we spoke to him about it.
As her faith grows- it's so simple and so pure and childlike that it makes my faith increase greatly because I see God work in her. You know how when a new Christian just utters God's truth and meditates on it because it is new to her? How much more should the 'mature' Christian be refreshed and renewed by Scripture he has seen many times over.
I honestly feel more blessed to see her grow than she being blessed by my invitation to church.
The second story is this. Our House church was assigned to do offering prayer for the month of October and I dreaded having to do it. Anyhow I did it rather clumsily. Afterwards a girl comes up to me and asks me if I'm Sam. She's from Toronto and my parents saw her briefly and found out she was coming to HK to teach for a year and recommended my church to her. She came and for some reason knew it was me when she saw me though we never met. I invited her to House Church where she began to share her struggles of moving to HK. I literally could feel the pain. When we prayed for her at the end together as a House Church, I began to read Deuteronomy- a chapter in which God formerly used to speak into my life when I was in NYC and the first time I remarked that I ever cried reading the Bible. I don't know but because I felt her pain I started crying and praying for God's covering. I knew, I KNOW what it feels like. But I was crying because I know God's Sovereignty and how He delivers us when we feel most alone and confused.
Anyhow now she is firmly a part of our House Church and church.
All because of a simple Offering prayer.
Juanita- the intercessory prayer woman for our pastor calls it 'Sam's branch'. I guess the year of pruning was last year, and this year is the year of bearing fruit.
God, what next?
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