The Greatest Gift
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
1 Corinthians 13:4-7"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13God, my heavenly Father has given me an abundant life! What can I seriously complain about? Nothing..nada....I have a job that I'm passionate about, a family that I love, done a lot of traveling that I've dreamt about, & have finally realized my dream of teaching abroad being here in Taiwan!
Jesus, the lover of my soul, savior, and friend! Your example and life has been the standard in which I strive to live daily. Your sense of sacrifice & service to others has been an inspiration for me. I've been touched again & again by the beauty of your life. In our world, where people covet being served, I have no shame in serving those around me. Gravitating to others through service helps me feel connected to God and to help express His love to others.
"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose"
Philippians 2:1-2As my time in Taiwan winds down, I'm reminded in a powerful way how much I've been affected by the gift of friendship in my life's journey so far. Friendships haven't always been without their pitfalls. In fact, some friendships have ended in due course. Even with the good and bad, why has the gift of friendship been especially heartwarming to me? My first feeling is that God has blessed me with & provided the very needs that satisfy my life. God knows my needs & surrounds me with people. My second feeling is that life would be so boring and bland without the adventure of friendship! As such, God satisfies our life here on earth with people we meet and share life with! My third feeling is that we can benefit from the experience & knowledge of others. I believe it's true that others can help to complete the individuals that we are. Friends affect us, inspire us and uplift us.
With the good times, I have people with whom I can rejoice & share my joys. WIth the down times, I can cry on a friend's shoulders and completely bare my soul to another. Sharing lifes' "everything" & having different friends to walk through life is an amazing gift that words cannot simply describe.
The friends that I treasure are the ones in my life who accept me for who I am..100%. They are those who respect me and accept me for being "ME". They enjoy that I have unique qualities and they encourage me to be the best that I can. They challenge me to reach for the stars. My close friends understand me. They listen to me. They let me know when I've done something wrong or bad. They love me.
Without friends, my world would be awfully bleak and there would be a wilderness of loneliness.
No matter near or far, distance does not take the place of genuine friendship as genuineness expresses a uniqueness that cuts through the barrier of time, distance & place. Friendship requires effort, time and sacrifice. It's a gift of substance and often, it's not easy! Friendship develops with time & if you hang-on long enough & persevere, you may be able to reap the benefits of true friendship. True friendship survives through betrayal, mistakes, failures, joys, sorrows, sadness and time!
I have been richly blessed & I have tasted a good life. I can attest to this because of the wonderful and truly amazing friendships that I've encountered in life. I have met some extraordinary people whom I've had the honor of calling "friends". I have tasted a good life because I've been blessed in life to have met many of you who I consider to be a part of my heart.
I'm thankful for you & thankful to Jesus, my Lord, who continues to teach me the meaning of the word, "friendship".
My life is richer because I've known & continue to know you. With a grateful heart, I say, "thank you!".
My Testimony
During my elementary school years, public schools were handing out copies of the New Testament bible. I remember distinctly the red covered ones which we got every year. Since I had multiple copies and perhaps quite a few with siblings also attending the same school that I made sure that when I cleaned my room, I ended up keeping at least one. After all, I felt that throwing it away wouldn’t be so good. For some reason, I felt guilt in throwing away a Bible! Over the years, I never flipped open that little red covered book. It wasn’t until grade 5 that I would come to realize the existence of a heavenly father we call God. Every year, we have a 2 week winter holiday to mark the ending of the first term. Every year, at the end of the first term, it was also customary to have a class party. Each student brought snacks and we played our favourite board games and did fun activities. That winter, I had been given some really cool hand held video games that I really wanted to bring to school! So, I brought two that afternoon to my class party. I had fun of course showing off these really cool games to all my friends! After school, a group of us decided to stay to play some soccer in the winter snow in the yard. I must have played for an hour or so before heading home for the holidays. Upon reaching home, I realized that I was missing something...MY VIDEO GAMES! Upon my discovery, I bolted back to school and made a desperate search around for my tote bag which contained those video games! First, the school yard was deserted and secondly, there was NO tote bag in sight! My life had ended! I was dead! What was I going to do??? How was I going to explain myself out of this one? I was in deep trouble! To make matters worse, I didn’t have any of my classmates telephone numbers so I couldn’t call anyone. The only thing left to do was to wait in agony for 2 weeks to quickly go by! For whatever reason, my only comfort and hope lay in the idea of praying to an almighty God pleading for help to ensure that my video games had been picked up by a classmate of mine! That night and every night following, I began to pray. I prayed to God, asking him each time to please allow my video games to be in the possession of one of my classmates! I prayed earnestly and without ceasing for 2 whole weeks! Up until that point in my life, I didn’t recall having ever prayed. When we returned to school from our winter break, I rushed to find my classmates and to inquire about my tote bag of video games. Thankfully and to my delight, my prayers had been answered! My classmate had noticed the tote bag on the ground and picked it up for me. Wow...my prayers had been answered! That was the day that I began to take notice of God. That was the day I knew that there must be a God that exists! God does answer prayer!
It wasn’t until roughly six years later in high school that I came to forge a personal relationship with God. When I was 16 years-old, a good friend of mine invited me to join a winter sports camp with her church’s youth group. During those few days in Muskoka, I would begin learning about a loving God whose Son, Jesus, died on the cross so that we may have a reconciled relationship with God. At first, I accepted Jesus Christ into my life for fear that I would burn in an eternal hell. That’s the truth, although I was touched by God’s forgiveness and love for us as sinners, I was more petrified at the thought of agony in an eternal fire! However, most importantly, I left that Muskoka Woods camp knowing that I had met with and experienced our heavenly Father. Shortly after that time, I began attending church. I joined the youth fellowship and had mentors that help to shape and support my spiritual growth. With these brothers and sisters who walked alongside me, I was able to grow in my knowledge of Christ, study the Bible, pray and strengthen my faith. One year after I accepted Christ into my life, I made a decision to get baptized on Easter. This would be the event where I would publicly profess my love for God. For now, it was not out of fear that made me want to accept Christ but it was simply an abounding “love” and knowing that God desired to know me personally and wanted a relationship with me that motivated me to want to become baptized into His family. And so my journey as a follower of Christ began in the year 1994...
posted by © 2013-2014 Sophia Yee. All Rights Reserved at 5:57 AM
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