Sung Neng Yee/Nora Sung

I just finished the book China Cry, the story of a little Chinese girl named Sung Neng Yee born in pre-Communist China. She grew up to be called Nora (Lam) Sung in the the United States. From her birth in Peking (Beijing) to a mother who could not keep her to her loving and wealthy adoptive parents; to being forced to flee from the invading Japanese; to being given hope and relief when the Japanese were defeated; to a devotee of Communism, thinking it a great new order; to re-seeking God, whom she knew as a child, as a result of Communism's suspicious persecution. Then, through many, many hardships and faith-building steps and leaps, from China to Hong Kong to the U.S. and then back to Hong Kong and, at last, China. The story is incredible, and I HIGHLY SUGGEST you read it for yourself. I was SO encouraged by all the amazing miracles God did. There were so many times Neng Yee protested or questioned God because she couldn't see the big picture, but then she many, MANY times found out later how huge an impact these difficult events and her obedience had had on bringing others to Christ. What an indescribably AWESOME God we serve! I wish that Neng Yee were still alive (she died in 2004) so that I could personally write and tell her how powerfully I have identified with her. Through her story, I have seen confirmation of the importance, beauty, and worthwhileness of submitting oneself to God and boldly believing that He will cause everything to fall into place as a result. Maybe not in the ways my little mind forsees as "best," for how often my plans and expectations of what is "good" or "best" are wrong, but only seen as such in hindsight! But He will cause them to fall where they truly will be "best," for He is omniscient AND has my best interests at heart. How awesome! And He has chosen to use ME and YOU in that process of implementing his good and perfect will!!! Can I get a "Hallelujah!" from anyone out there?

Thank you, God, for your indescribable goodness, faithfulness, love, and majesty! As it says in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do," and in Isaiah 64:6, "...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." You are the Potter; we are the Clay. Mold us, please, into beautiful things, and help us yield to your will, and help us to humbly realize that it is by Your power alone, and in no way our own that great things are done. Soli Deo gloria.

What I have been doing since graduating:

I have been working as youth intern at my church! It was a job without any description beyond what I could recall previous interns having done, but I had a very strong desire for the job, regardless of unknowns--it was something God was putting in my heart. I sent a few emails in early May and, at long last, heard back in late May: I was hired!

Since then, I have been learning all kinds of things about what it means to be a leader involved in youth ministry. I make phone calls & reservations, write emails, buy hot dogs & hamburgers, stay up all night (ALL NIGHT!) with two middle schoolers while the rest of the kids crash on couches and the floor. I write facebook messages, make more and more facebook friends; I hang out with kids and talk, but more often I listen, listen, listen. I encounter persons from ages 9 to 12 to 16 who think I am 17 years old, and then I laugh--especially because the 9 and 12 year olds still think that's old:).

I read the Bible and I pray, pray, pray. A dear woman in our church, out of her amazing heart for our youth, comes each week and asks each student if they would like to fill out a prayer request for that week. She then takes the entirety of our youth group time to pray, pray, pray, and then she makes copies for another leader and myself so that we all may pray for these precious students, their highs, their lows, their struggles, their victories, their hearts' desires, week after week after week.

I teach Sunday school, trying to learn to be a better organizer-of-thoughts, a clearer speaker. I teach youth group and try for the same. And besides all these things, there are more hopes and dreams on my heart, just waiting for the opportunity to be introduced and fulfilled in the lives of these kids. The resounding question: How do I help them care? I can have all the service projects and spiritual growth and bonding events and activities in the world planned outside of youth group and Sunday school, but in this day and age of "Too Busy-ness," who will come? Who will care? Over and over I ask God, "How can I reach these kids?" We have to work to figure out how to make the most of the time we have with these young people of whom I was so recently one.

My heart desires to continue in this vein, whether there is money in it or not. I am hoping that my church will want to keep me on in an employed capacity, having seen me work and relate with these students throughout the summer, but even if they do not, I will stay until God directs me elsewhere. It takes time to build trust and relationships, and I don't want to throw those away--neither the time nor the relationships invested in this summer.

For me, you can pray for God's direction in my life. Somehow God will provide the means to repay my school loan, I know it, but I'd love it if that plan involved more-permanent employment with my church. It could also involve another part-time job, for unless they have very direct leading from God, I do not think I would be hired in a full-time capacity. Pray for me to grow continually closer to God as I seek his will for my life; pray for total surrender and complete obedience and submission as God asks me to be a fool for Christ--as he so often does in the littlest of ways.

~Soli Deo gloria, or To God alone be the glory.