Rest..

Matthew 11:27-29
27“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. "

Funny how all things seem to speak of the same things at a certain season, at a certain time. The verse above was shared by the speaker at church on Sunday. She was sharing about missions.

I left for Cameron Highlands on Monday afternoon to get some much needed rest and as I've mentioned in my previous blog entries, to get some solitude. I got all that and more. Funnily enough, missions have been foremost on my mind this week as I reenergized and "find my center"- as I've cheekily told my mum last week before I left.

I went up with a pastor that's involved with missions. Also blessed some Orang Asli with whatever little I had by buying groceries for them. Met this person who went to Banda Acheh who went to do relief work with the tsunami victims. He showed us a picture of dead bodies in a river. You cannot see the water in river at all because of all the dead bodies covering it. He shared with us that the stench of the dead bodies are so great. At the same time, it seems hopeless to bury all the dead body in time. Already their bodies have rotted to the extent that if you were to pull them out of the river, their flesh would come out. The sight of the bodies are also horrible as they have been battered. Even though he's done some really tough things like climbing Mount Everest, he cannot forget the stench and the sight of all who died. He gets nightmares. A Korean drove me back home. He's doing tentmaking here with his wife and kids. I marvel at how they would give up the comforts of familiriaty just so that others can come to know Christ. Learnt a whole lot more about Korea on the way home.

In retrospect I learnt a lot while I was away. Yes, I did get my rest: I had more time to read, did a spot of photographing nature and scenery, gaze at the stars at night as I used to do during summertime in Melbourne, stood in awe at God's work around me - both in people and in nature. But I did learnt a whole lot more than I expected. I rediscovered a yearning inside me that he's placed for missions. Before I went, I was seriously thinking of stepping down from missions department. But I saw how much more needs to be done. How important my role of where He has placed me to be for now. How much more people need to hear about Jesus and the hope and life he can bring to them. How I cannot lax in all the responsibilities He's given under my stewardship and how I have to push on no matter how hard the going is. How I need to continue to mature and to put my childish ways behind me.

A prophecy came to me on Sunday worship. It was a reminder that He has placed me where I am cos He's continually preparing me for what's ahead(there was a mention of God putting me in another country with things that are beyond my imagination in store for me). And my heart yearns to go already. And yet, I know I need to faithfully finish this current mile before I can go to the next milestone.

Dear Jesus,

Please help me to run this mile well. May I fit into Your will and not mine.