Isn't God good?

I was silent yesterday. Yes. Many will know how significant this sentence is. Wahahahah... So, what’s the reason for Aggie not to open her mouth? Erm... Aggie has sore throat. Hahaha... And fever... Hehehe..

For those who have been reading my blog, you know that I've been very busy since the start of July and this will increase till end of August. So, I was feeling feverish and my throat was a little sore last week. So I cooked chrysanthemum tea, barley with gingko nuts, honey with lemon last week. It worked. Hehe.

But this week, I guess, with the change of season and weather, by the way, it’s Summer in full glory now, means the weather is extremely hot and humid, I had fever again on Tuesday night and sore throat too. It’s extremely painful to swallow every drop of saliva.

Thank God I have no classes on Wednesday. I did not utter a single word on Wednesday. Amazing! I thought so too. Wahahaha… The fever left by noon. Thank God. I drank many cups of honey with lemon. No other available medication. It’s ok. By night, my throat was still painful. As in, it’s still painful to swallow saliva. So I prayed and asked God to heal me as I have lessons on Thursday, the next day.

When I woke up on Thursday morning, the sore throat disappeared! Praise the Lord. I swallowed my saliva several times to check and confirm. So miraculous! First time in my life!

Next, I got ready for my lesson. First lesson at 10am, and second lesson at 11am. Today, I decided to share from Matt 13:45,46 (The kingdom of God likened to the finest pearl). Personally, I didn’t understand this parable until last year when the Holy Spirit prompted me to share this when I did home visitations during my Philippines missions trip. At that time, I shared with the revelation of the Holy Spirit. I mean, it was as if the Holy Spirit tell me what it means sentence by sentence, and I shared it to the Filipinos sentence by sentence. I don’t know if you understand what I mean. Till now, I’m still amazed by that. Heheh.

Anyway, with God-given boldness this morning, I shared about the pearls. As you know, Japanese all love pearl necklaces. They wear them for formal occasions like weddings and funerals. So, my students could relate very well to this. I have 2 non-Christians for the 11am class. Usually, the students could only understand half to 3 quarters of my sharing. But today, completely. It’s God, not me.

The better student, Mrs Mamiya, was shocked that the merchant sold all that he has to buy that finest pearl. She asked, “The kingdom of God equals to the finest pearl?”

I replied, “Yes.” Then I went on to describe the kingdom of God. But it is difficult to describe the kingdom of God, I don’t know about you. Hehe. In simple terms, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I explained that to have the kingdom of God is to have God in our hearts. When we have God in our hearts and lives, we’ll have His love, joy and peace. When we have all that and much more, it’s worth it to sell away all that we have, just to have God in our hearts.

For example, I told them that I left my high salary job, left my family and left my church to come as a missionary to Japan. Coming here is God’s plan for me. So I’m happy. I have love, joy and peace from God. I continued that we may think we can get love, joy and peace from our families. But not true. Then they nodded their heads, especially Mrs Mamiya. Sometimes, I told them, our families make us angry, sad, and so on. Mrs Mamiya said, “It’s everyday, not sometimes.”

To conclude, I asked them if they want to buy this pearl today, if they want to receive Jesus into their hearts. By now, Mrs Mamiya’s eyes are wet. She whispered, “But I have Buddha at home.” So I told her, “Since you’ve now moved into a new house, don’t bring that Buddha to your new home. New home, new life. Since your Buddha you worshipped has caused you to have family quarrels everyday, this Buddha is not working. No use. Tell the Buddha, I’m sorry. Goodbye.” We all laughed. Wahahaahah…

I gave her a minute. Then turned to ask the other student. I could sense that she’s not ready yet though. So I turned back to Mrs Mamiya and asked. Atmosphere turned tensed. Another day, I decided. I told her that I didn’t want to put any pressure on her and that I will ask her again. But the longer she waits, the longer she’s going to suffer from the constant quarrels in her house. Well, I did tell her that becoming a Christian doesn’t mean the absence of fights and quarrels, just that, there’s God in the picture. Hehe. And there’s God’s love that protects the family and her.

This bible study and Mrs Mamiya’s changing of heart is a miracle to me because I don’t share evangelistic bible study every week. The reason is because the students will feel the pressure and stop coming. That will defeat the purpose, right? Also, this is a beginner’s class. It’s difficult to share. I’m learning Japanese on my own. So it helps when I can use a word or phrase in Japanese here and there during my sharing.

Please continue to pray for me that I will be sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit every moment of my life. Please continue to pray for my students. I can sense that the Holy Spirit is working in many hearts. One by one, they’re getting curious and hungry and comparing the difference between Christians and non-Christians. Please pray that I’ll have a spiritual immune system in this country. In my last letter, I wrote to you about the national depression that’s becoming worse. This was caused by culture. I was affected for a while too. I started to play guessing game, questioning if every compliments I received was sincere or not. I even started to doubt some members in church. This realization came last night during my devotion. I immediately nipped it in the bud and asked God for forgiveness. This is because, if I start to doubt even brothers and sisters in Christ, I will not be able to be honest and real before them and somehow, it’ll also affect my relationship with God. Most importantly, this is exactly what the Japanese Christians in Japan churches are struggling with. Many Japanese Christians can’t confide in each other because of doubt and fear, and lack of trust. So they suffer in silence and it turn into serious depression and they become suicidal. This also affects their relationship with God.

Ok. I will end here. It’s too long. Hehe.

Thank you for your time and patience. Thank you for praying for me. I need it desperately.

May the Lord bless each of you greatly, more than what we can ever ask for or imagine.