As an amateur writer, I find almost every article a bittersweet experience each month. Deep down, I understand that writing is the right thing to do and I have enjoyed it despite the “headache” during the process. Meanwhile, the times that there was lack of inspiration and thoughts were truly painful to me. It makes the production even harder if there is external pressure from work or routine life.
This is one of those times that I have no clue what to write about while battling inside with work pressure. I sat in front of the laptop and changed through topics for this article. They were mainly about the restlessness that I had been through in the past month. None of them related to the one that you are reading now.
In the midst of my struggle, it suddenly occurred to me that I paid too much attention to what I desire, and hardly recalled what God has blessed me with. The change of mindset removed my anxiety, and I decided to record God’s blessings in this article instead.
Spiritual growth
It’s no doubt that God has blessed me with my spiritual growth as I solidified some useful habits this year. For instance, daily Bible reading, regular fasting and prayer schedules, and weekly Bible study. All these habits have empowered me for deeper understanding of the scripture and knowing God as who He is.
Meanwhile, with the lockdown and offline gathering limitation earlier this year, I was able to find some helpful resources online. One of them is a Bible study project which offers line-by-line analysis from Genesis to Revelation, which provides an overview of the Bible, as well as detailed study for each book.
Compared with last year, it’s noticeable that I had made progress in fasting and praying. It not only draws me closer to God personally, but also equips me to plead for the needs of family, friends, churches and nations. With the assistance of several useful habits and intelligible Bible teachings, I comprehended the Bible deeper and broader, which enabled me to act out the truth and serve with a solid foundation.
Opportunity to serve
As our face to face gathering was resumed, the need of Sunday school teachers emerged, because some teachers had left Beijing due to Covid-19.
I decided to give it a shot when I heard about the situation. It has been a month since I started learning to be a Sunday school teacher. Even though the time is short, I recognized that the opportunity to serve was also a great blessing. I was tremendously blessed to be children’s trustworthy friend, to witness the progress that each child made every lesson, and to embrace my new role as a teacher.
As requested by the church, Sunday school teaching should be tightly focused on Bible, which requires a Biblical and thorough understanding from teachers first. To fulfill such purpose, I read the chapter assigned and prayed for God’s enlightenment more diligently than before, consulted seasoned Sunday school teachers and polished the course arrangement over and over again.
Although it’s not easy, it’s a rewarding and fulfilling experience to prepare a class and learn the Bible with children.
Friendship in Christ Body
During the past month, I made friends with another three Sunday school teachers as we gathered to discuss Sunday school arrangements. They welcomed me as an old friend while I was new to the group. We met together to study the content that will be taught next month, enjoyed dinner together as a family, and prayed for each other as we departed.
All these allowed me to understand each one of them and my role in Christ body better. I never thought that I could be in a group like this and undertake a meaningful mission with a group of passionate people, who brought much laughter and encouragement to a loner like me.
I was released from gloom as I wrote this article down. I have no reason to worry that the Lord will withhold any good thing from me for He has already given me Jesus, plus all the blessings that He had granted me in the past.
When you are burdened with a load of care, I would like to invite you to count your blessings as well. You will be surprised about what the Lord has done for you.
Cindy Cheng was born and brought up in central China. Cindy enjoys travelling and reading history books. Cindy is inspired by talking with local people when travelling abroad experiencing different parts of the world, as well as herself.
Cindy’s previous articles may be found at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/cindy-cheng.html