The day is finally here. It is hard to believe that our family has been here for 12 months. As we were eating our final meal in Indonesia, the family and I spent some time sharing some memories throughout this past year. We laughed a lot and we felt so blessed that God gave us the privilege of experiencing His goodness here in Indonesia. God has truly been faithful.
With all the packing and cleaning done, we are about to head out to the airport soon. I just wanted to take this time to share several things that I am thankful for:
2) God’s People. More than anything else, the part that I am going to miss the most about Indonesia is the people. So often we come with a mentality that say, “I am here to serve and minister to the people” but the irony is that the people in our church ended up serving and ministering to me and my family. I feel like God sometimes brings certain people your way to show us what it means to love and serve people. With all the beautiful examples of servants in our church, I realized how much more I need to grow in my love for people.
3) God’s Provisions. I remember before coming to Indonesia, I asked God, “how are we going to start this church with the little resources that we have?” But without fail, God kept on providing people and various circumstances to remind us that He alone is our Provider. Everything that we were able to accomplish this year was through the gracious provisions that God gave through His people and even through unexpected means. A person’s trust level increases when God continue to show Himself faithful in providing for His children.
4) God’s Power. The more I reflect on the things that were accomplished in our church, the more we have to come to the conclusion that it was the power of God that transformed every single person in our church. We have seen people awakened to the Gospel. We have witnessed people being set free and released to do ministry. We have seen marriages strengthened. We have seen people more excited about living for God’s Kingdom. And the list goes on and on. It is only by His power we were able to experiences these things. We were just mere vessels.
For Christ-followers, it is never, “good-bye” but rather, “see you later” because whether in this life time or in heaven, we will be together again. I want to thank all of you in Indonesia who have blessed and graced our lives in our time here. You will never be forgotten. Though our roads may diverge for a little while, the imprints that you have made in our hearts will stay for eternity.
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Php 1:3-6).