I am 27 years old and have been a Christian since 14. For many years, I was away from God and church. I lived a life like a non-believer.
In recent years, God has shown me the way back to church. This was my second time joining the Pa’ Adang mission trip which fell from 17-24 July this year. It was truly by the grace of God that I was able to participate.
Prior to joining this mission trip, I was full of guilt as I did not take my studies seriously last semester. I had low confidence to pass all the four papers and worried that I would probably have to take supplementary examination concurrent with the timing of this mission trip. After examination, I asked God that if He really wanted me to go for this mission trip, He would let me pass. Meanwhile I realized that I was just praying out of desperation; an act people sometimes do during difficulties. When the results were released, I passed all the units and gave thanks to God. However, in my mind, I still doubted the power of prayers.
When I departed for this mission trip, I was expecting everything to go smoothly like before. In fact, from our trip from Miri to Pa’ Adang, including jobs like painting the buildings and moving stones, all went smoothly. Towards the end of the mission trip, something unexpected happened.
We went hiking in the afternoon during a time allocated for us to relax at the riverside. Feeling the heat of day, I went ahead and dipped myself into the water to cool myself off. Then I swam in a playful manner. Unknowingly to me, I approached an area where the water current was fast. In a blink of an eye, I was swept away by the strong current. I swallowed water and started to drown. My spectacles slipped off my head and I could not see anything at that moment. My mind went blank as I got in a state of panic. I practically imagined I would have been swept far away from the village.
In that instance, I could see someone leapt into the river and swam towards me. I began to have hope. As the person approached me, I recognize him to be Ithra Ting. My hope was short-lived. I was gasping for air and ended up dragging him down. With two persons being swept away by the current, we could only hold on to each other.
Then I could see another person jumped into the river and swam towards us. This time it was Dean Ling. However, despite his effort, Dean ended up being dragged down by me as well. Now three persons were in great peril. It was truly a scary moment.
As I was being swept away together with them, I repeatedly tried to reach something at the bottom of the river with my feet. The middle of the river was so deep and miraculously, I could feel rocks at the bottom of my feet where I could stand firmly. At that moment, I could really feel the grace of God.
Meanwhile, at the riverbank, a few brothers-in-Christ took a long branch for us to grab. We made it safely to the riverside. I was truly astonished and speechless by the time I made it back to the ground.
This was the first time in my life I was truly thankful for God’s blessing upon me. I realized His presence was with me all along. It was me who neglected God and only seek Him in times of difficulties and distress. I should have trusted God fully because of who God is. He is the almighty, the most powerful, yet loving and merciful to His children.
Our heavenly Father could have let us have our own ways. But He patiently deals with us so that we get to repent and live in accordance to his ways. After this mission trip, the devotional notes on waiting on God started to make more sense to me. We should wait on God especially since He has been waiting for us even before we were born to this world. Pray not only in times of despair and darkness but on everything because God desires an intimate relationship with us.
I really give thanks to God for the opportunity to serve Him and His people even though the journey was not easy. So, let us pray for each other for His strength to overcome temptations and obstacles along the way. If the journey is easy, we will brag and boast that we have accomplished by ourselves only. If it is easy, we will not bring all the glory to God alone.