God has been leading us to meditate on the truth of marital relationships through the Song of Songs. Coincidently quite a number of branch church pastors are returning to Hong Kong to connect with us and to be discipled within the Tree of Life community. Thank God for using us to bless many couples, and even pastor couples, over all these years.
Peter, the Senior Pastor of our Taipei branch church, and his wife Daisy joined the Pastor Couples’ Camp nine years ago. Peter was living in inferiority and selfishness then, heavily burdened with guilt due to his extra-marital affair. Daisy was full of shame as she faced all kinds of accusations and grievances due to the fall of her husband. As pastors themselves, they were anxious about what other people thought of them. They found it hard to trust and open up to C-Mo and me.
Thank God for working in the Couples’ Camp. When Daisy saw that Peter repented in tears and admitted his wrongdoings publicly and that C-Mo and I chose to establish their relationship in parenteral love, they were willing to stay in Hong Kong to be loved, accepted and discipled. Knowing how difficult their relationship was, I acknowledged that Tree of Life is their way out. Thank God that they chose to trust us and hence their lives were transformed and renewed. Finally, they were ordained and commissioned by us to found the Taipei 611 Bread of Life Christian Church.
Feeling inferior, they found themselves unworthy to serve. But today they are building up the Tree of Life community in Taiwan. As I encouraged them at first, “God uses sinners to serve sinners so that nobody shall boast. Everything is history now.” Now they have become humble servants and are able to openly talk about their weaknesses. As they have been transformed, their family and the next generation are also changed. The atmosphere of their church is also refreshed. Many brothers and sisters benefit. When a man repents, the whole family is freed from grievance. When a pastor repents, the whole church can really be filled with God’s presence! This is also my personal experience. With my own efforts, I merely established a church of 100 members. However, when we rely on God in humility and are filled with the Holy Spirit, God’s work has enabled us to establish a church with over ten thousand people. We know that all is by God’s choosing and grace.
Dear brothers and sisters, in love and trust, let us keep being discipled. We shall admit our weaknesses, and open up our lives to receive the goodness brought by breakthroughs in relationships. We should also continue to follow God humbly and plant trees of life everywhere together.■【2022.09.18】