Dear all,
I want to thank many of you who take time to read our blog regularly. And for praying for me and my family. We are eternally grateful for your gift of friendship.
Generally, I am well except for some GVHD (graft verses host disesase) problems manifested in the mucous membranes of my body, particularly in the mouth and genital area. I last saw Dr. William Hwang last week after he returned fron Seattle where he was trained. Thank God for a fine, godly doctor like him - not only was he always so warm in his personal concern, professionally he also gave me some new treatment that has helped relieved some of the pain and sores in my mouth due to the GVHD that makes eating and drinking a little uncomfortable.
The minor operation I went for on 21 December was for circumcision. Feel so much more comfortable now that it is CUT off!!! Many friends who had it cut off warmly welcomed me to join the club!!! Of course, we had not become Jews though we now belong to the circumcised group! More importantly, like Paul said in Galatians 5:6, "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The ONLY THING THAT COUNTS is FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH LOVE."
Through this minor operation, God led me to think and ponder a lot on spiritual circumcision-that of the heart. In short, He's teaching me to learn to cut off the fleshly desires of my heart and I am learning to feed my spirit more and more with the word of God in order that the flesh may be weakened. I believe that is the key to walk and live victoriously in the Spirit. (Galatians 5). Interesting, the church where we are 'parking' had been teaching on entering the promised land. One of the sermons was on 'cutting the flesh'. I sense God speaking to me so much about enetering a new phase of my life this year, now that the Lord has blessed me with complete remission since October. Therefore, I covet your prayers for me and my family as we seek God for the road ahead in times of serving Him by declaring his goodness in our lives.
As you pray with, and for us, do feel free to share what the Lord may impress upon you. We want to hear God clearly for He is a God who longs to reveal His heart and His secrets to us. One precious verse I treasure very much is Psalm 25:14 where it says, "The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them." Wow! What a relational and personal God who loves to share! It's hard these days people of kindred spirit who are willing to share. But God is our best friend - and He is always ready to share his secrets with you and me.
Hey friend, if you do hear something from the Lord, please share with us. We love to hear you share with us too.
Hearing God is exciting! One of the things I do with Josh daily is to read God's word together, meditate on His word together and then listen to God together. I believe that teaching and modellling for Josh in hearing God through the meditation of His words is the key to success in his life. When he learns to hear God clearly, he will learn to choose and obey His will and do His will, and become successful in life.
Interesting, last night, Josh told me that God spoke to him through his teacher in class. He said, "God spoke to me when my teacher said we must treat and love other people who are not chinese as well." It brought great joy to my heart to hear that because Josh is learning to be sensitive to the voice of God even through the circumstances around him where the word of God can become alive and real in his life.
I believe God is launching us to a platform to declare His goodness. There's nothing more worth living for me now than to do that. After all that we've been through, we know our lives are not ours but the Lord's. He gives and He takes. And nothing is predictable in life. Anything can happen to us anytime. As we learn to number our days, we just want to glorify Him in the way He leads and directs us as a family declaring,
"As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15)
Thank you for sharing our lives!
david;whee ling & josh
