This month marks
my 1 year anniversary for living in Thailand and what a roller coaster it has
been. ONE WEEK after my arrival to
Thailand I was in a motorbike accident that broke my shoulder in 6 places and
left me totally dependent and at the mercy of others to do basic things for me
such as getting to language class, braiding my hair, eating, or taking a
shower. But God poured out His love to
me through the kindness of strangers and acquaintances and I was able to make
it through. (Romans 5:3)
After the accident I was in the
hospital recovery room for 5 days. After
that I had to go back for check-ups and therapy several times a week for over 3
months. The nurses at the hospital were
some of my first friends in Thailand and we became very familiar with each
other. They would come hang out with me
in my room and I had many opportunities to share why I was there and about
Jesus.
They
loved the fact that I was studying Thai and so I wouldn’t get behind in school
they offered to help me. After a couple
days some of the nurses asked if I wanted a Thai name! I couldn’t believe I was
already getting a Thai name so quickly and I gladly accepted. They thought about it for a little bit then
came back to tell me the Thai name they came up with.
My Thai name is Jow-Ying, which
translates to Princess. I accepted the
name but in the back of my head wondered, “Why on earth would they give me that
name?” One of my teammates jokingly said
it was because I acted like a “high-maintenance” princess but I knew there was
something in me they saw that caused them to choose that name and I was curious
as to why.
Fast
forward to this past week at DTS where we learned about the Kingdom of God
(Matthew 13:11). During Workshop Night we
had the room dark and lite with candles.
There were several booths we could go to and one of the booths was set
up with a full-length mirror. On the top
of the mirror it said “Who I Am In Christ” and around the sides were bible
verses related to that topic.
While looking into this mirror I
realized how special my Thai name is.
God spoke to my heart that it wasn’t given to me by accident. God knew what I was going to face this year and He used those non-Christian ladies who didn’t know
me well; to give me a name that literally describes how God see’s me and who I
am to Him! (Romans 8:14-17)
I’ve
had a hard time seeing God’s love for me and trusting His plan through all of
these trials I’ve been facing this year.
Since life this year has been tough God has used this name constantly to
remind about who I am in Christ and how special I am to my Father, The King of
Kings. Nothing can separate me from His
love for me, including all this physical, spiritual, and emotional hurt and
pain I’ve experienced from this past year.
Not only that, but every Thai person
I have shared my name with adores this name.
Many of the girls I worked with would say things like, “I want to be a
princess too!” and I would tell them, “you are a princess!” They would smile and blush then we would call
each other princesses and talk about how much we are loved by God and how
special we are too Him.
This
name brought so much love into the lives of so many who have come from hopeless
situations and found themselves in the loving arms of the King of Kings. It gave me many chances to explain to
believers and non-believers alike about how God sees His children and the
privileges we receive by being His children.
Every single person on this earth
has been given an opportunity to be a prince or princess of the King of Kings yet
some choose to live outside of that inheritance. Some choose not to have a relationship with
the King of Kings. They choose to
believe that He doesn’t exist and turn their hearts to something else. Because of this they never gain their chance
to fulfill their purpose in life, to spend eternity with Him, and to be
recognized as a prince or princess. God
didn’t create hell for these people but because they choose to reject Him they
choose to forfeit their inheritance spending eternity separated from their
loving Father and Creator in a place that was never made for them to begin with.
Believers, you aren’t exempt
either. We can also deny our title. This whole year I had the Thai name Princess
yet I continued to live in defeat as a victim of “stinking thinking” that the
enemy Satan constantly feed into my mind.
There are so many believers who live defeated in this world! But God has
given us victory for every battle we face.
We have the tools to live victoriously we just need to receive them, pick
them up, and use them!! Stop using your
own crappy tools that get you nowhere except feeling more defeated. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
So my question for you today is
this, have you chosen the title you were created for? If so, are you living out your title with
victory or are you living in defeat? The
King of all Kings is a gentleman. He
will not intrude in your life. He wants
to be in a loving relationship with you but the choice is yours! He wants to defend you and carry you but
cannot do so if you don’t trust Him. What
choice will you make?
No comments:
Post a Comment