Called and Empowered

Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

Morning Quiet Time

Sometimes I’m completely stumped by God’s goodness. I keep trying to figure out a way to describe how incredible it is to be a part of this CI trip, but my words just understate how blessed I feel. Taiwan is beautiful, its people are beautiful, and I didn’t have a clue what kind of gift I was in for when I set out on this trip.

Anytime God allows me to take part in His work like this, I really struggle with feeling inadequate for the role – not in a humble way that highlights God’s strength, but an insecure way that makes me focus on myself and worry. As familiar as I am with this situation, you would think I’d recognize it immediately as an opportunity to acknowledge my weakness and ask for God’s strength, but it usually takes a series of unfortunate events to get me to that point.

Working on songs in small group

I ended the first CI evening surprised by how difficult it was to teach through a translator and how much harder it is to connect with kids when you can’t speak their language. I felt like everything I tried to do that night was a total fail (I’m actually not exaggerating, it really was pathetic) and I left a little irritated with God for setting me up for failure by sending me here. My night ended in sending some dramatic “woe is me” texts to my family, and a sad little prayer that tomorrow wouldn’t be quite as awful.

The next morning, I was reading of how Jesus selected his twelve disciples and then sent them out into the villages to heal the sick, cast out demons, and preach without him. The kind of men he chose always strikes me as interesting: fishermen, a tax collector, and a man who seemed to have his foot in his mouth more often than not. Jesus intentionally picked out a group of men who were inadequate and gave them a task outside of their own abilities, but then He gave them His power to carry it out.

That’s the way God works. If He calls, He enables. His power is there just waiting on us to ask Him for it, waiting on us to give Him the credit that He deserves.

Silliness is a universal language.

Sometimes I just need to be reminded of what I’m always telling other people – we really can’t do it in our own strength. Thankfully, the past couple of weeks have gone so much smoother than that first night! It’s been fun figuring out how to communicate in ways that don’t involve using words. It’s also fun to have seven-year-olds give you Chinese lessons . . . and then laugh at your pitiful attempts (I still don’t hear the difference between what they’re saying and I’m repeating).

We have one full day left of our CI in Tainan before we head of for our final week in Taipei. Please pray that every child would see and accept God’s love and truth before leaving tomorrow evening. We don’t want to miss any opportunity to show them Jesus, and we want to see Him finish the work that He’s already started this week.

Charity Roberts