Be encouraged by this great testimony from a member of our Taiwan mission team…
What did God teach you on your trip to Taiwan?
God is so gracious and taught me innumerable things on this trip! Two of the biggest things God taught me was about His sovereignty and how He is our Sustainer. So many times I/we would be exhausted or feel inadequate (only because we are) in situations throughout the week, and He was our Sustainer each and every time and in every situation. His power is made perfect in weakness and I saw that demonstrated over and over. Additionally, I had never had the opportunity before to share Bible stories and ultimately the Gospel with someone who had never heard it! That experience in and of itself was amazing, but it also was a reminder of how sovereign He is, and that He is able to use someone who “isn’t good with words” or does not have a degree in communication or seminary to proclaim His truth. He simply wants our obedience and He will equip us at that moment because He is God! One other thing I really want to share was something that I learned while visiting a temple dedicated to one of the Taiwanese idols. On our final day in Taichung, we toured a temple with the Blackhursts and a few of our new Taiwanese friends. Before even entering the temple, you could smell the incense they were burning to their god. There were tables where you could buy fake money to burn as a sacrifice to the god. Once inside, the temple had numerous people performing various religious rituals and trying to sacrifice enough, do enough, and be enough for their god. They would have to reintroduce themselves to their god when they would go to a different temple dedicated to the same god. While watching these beautiful people whom I had grown to love worship this false god, my heart was heavier than it has ever been. I had never before seen or felt such hopelessness and wanted to tell everyone there about the One True God, who knows your name, who created you, and who wants a relationship with you… not just a bunch of burning of fake money. I had been around beautiful individuals the entire week who had spent their entire life believing in false gods such as the one represented in that temple, and this week may well have been their first opportunity to hear about our amazing God! This leads me into the second question…
How has your life been different since coming back?
After being around the amazing people of Taiwan, interacting with them, building relationships with them, and loving them, I realized that there are people in desperate need of the Gospel all around me every day; whether I am in Taiwan or in Amarillo. I have been convicted of the need to live with an urgency to proclaim Christ and the amazing news of the Gospel, rather than the complacency in which I often live. I also have learned the importance of living in daily obedience to God. I wish I could say that I am always walking around with this in the forefront of my mind, but I often become self-absorbed and busy. I will say that my trip to Taiwan has been the beginning of what I pray will be a lifelong commitment of living my life all for the glory of Christ, whether I am on a trip to Taiwan, working in Amarillo, or wherever I am.
Emily Blanton