Do You Believe God
Has Appointed You?
by Denise Chan
28 August 2005
Do you believe God has
appointed you to the position you are in today? Why?
Yes, I believe, by God’s grace, He has called me to the position
where I am today at LYNC. The sequence of events has been very
exciting. Putting them into words always gives me goosepimples.
Since I’ve accepted Christ in April 2004, I’ve always felt a
longing to reach out to tell people about Him. This is especially
so when it comes to sharing the gospel with youths. Unbelievable
as it may seem, I’ve never heard about Jesus in my secondary nor
college days. Looking at the youths that I know from my relief
teaching days, and the friends who had grown up with me since
secondary school days, it’s very saddening to realize how little
exposure/opportunities we had to even hear of Jesus.
When I came to St Andrew's Cathedral, I had this fuzzy feeling that
I will work with youths one day, and it’ll be very evangelistic in
nature. However, at that point in time, I seemed to get the
impression that the teenagers of the church grew up from Christian
families. I really hoped to work with youths from non-Christian
backgrounds which is similar to mine.
It was later in the year that I joined teaching as a profession.
When I was posted to a secondary school, it deepened more compassion
for the
teenagers who do not have a personal relationship with God.
During the past year, I’ve always wanted to serve in greater
capacity. But God had taught me to submit my pride, and be patient,
to wait, and to just grow in Him. Those were precious lessons of
faith-building: to be faithful in serving God in small matters, and
to learn about servanthood and servant-leadership.
By the time I finished my confirmation at SAC, I wanted to try out at Cityteens. However, by a
twist of events, I ended up at Citykids. It was a very trying time
as I struggled between speaking up to try out with youths, and
whether God had in fact been actually wanting me to work with kids.
It was that point in time when I lost confidence in myself. It was
also breaking point for me as I seek God with nights of tears. I felt so isolated, and very hurt from the reactions that I
got from people around me.
One day at CityKids, I decided that, youths
or kids, God love all of them. It doesn’t matter who, but as long as
God calls, I will go. It was also on that particular day, when Uncle Hali recommended during the debrief that I should try out at
Cityteens. On hindsight, God had been teaching me a very precious
lesson. To simply trust, and to obey, and not discriminate against
any age group. All children are precious to Him.
When I came to Cityteens, Aunty Joyce
announced the news for a new Youth Fellowship over lunch one day. I
cannot explain the burst of excitement that erupted in my heart when
I heard the news. Oh God, how timely!
Over the next few weeks, God spoke to me over many different
instances, not to be afraid of taking up a leadership position; and
to really work on evangelism. Praise God, He was in charge all
along, and had prepared, and ultimately broken me during the past
year for a time like this. On hindsight, I realized that if I had
joined Cityteens earlier, I knew that I would not be ready.
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but of power, love
and sound mind (self-discipline). – 2 Tim 1:7
God spoke to me through this verse during those few weeks; to be
bold in witnessing for Him, to live and serve in love, and also to
be self-disciplined wherever I am.
As a teacher in training, I realized that I can help out in the
study groups in the new fellowship; the subjects/chapters that I
taught were the ones that the teens needed help. To me, it was God’s confirmation. Today, LYnC’s
study groups continues every Saturday and it is exciting to
be God’s vessel. I get to teach the youths the very subjects that I
teach in school.
At the leadership cell, we were told to pray about the ministries
that God has called us to. There was only one word that God seemed
to say to me – Evangelism. But I realized that only the youths will
be taking up the posts, so I thought that God simply meant that LYNC
will be evangelistic in nature, and not to lose sight of it.
While the other posts were taken up one by one. The evangelism ministry lies vacant.
But I knew that the Lord will provide. He has been doing that all
along.
About two weeks later, I received Aunty Joyce’s email out of the
blue.
She had emailed me to help kick-start the evangelism ministry in
the new fellowship.
Over the past year, the Lord has been my strength and my tower as I
learnt to balance between working as a school teacher and serving in LYnC.
I am grateful for the miracles He has given to me.
Yes, God had indeed put me into the position I am in today. All
glory to the Lord!
Denise
