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3/2/25牧者之言

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感恩之心的力量 魏愛玲師母 2025 年 2 月 7 日 清晨祈祷会

经文：诗篇 9: 1-2；希伯来书 13: 15-16；诗篇 28: 7；诗篇 100: 4

2025 年新年伊始，我在思考我可以对我的生活、习惯和态度做出哪些改变！ 我感觉自己处于一个过度思考、过度担心我们的孩子和孙子以及他们的未来的时期。 魏牧师和我都处于人生的这个年龄，我们看到越来越多的朋友失去伴侣，或面临绝症或残疾，或面临其他令人悲伤、痛苦和沮丧的危机。我们经常会收到关于朋友生活中遇到的严重困难的信息或电话。我们参加的追悼会越来越多。 除此之外，我们的文化、我们的世界正变得越来越令人不安！当然，魏牧师和我每天都会为这些事情祈祷，我们也与许多朋友保持联系，为他们祈祷和鼓励。 我之前分享过，三年前我们也开始每周禁食祈祷一天，特别是为我们的孩子和孙子。 有时他们似乎没有看到我们所处的属灵争战，或至少没有认真对待它。例如，他们知道花太多时间在 iPhone 和 iPad 上是错误的，他们甚至会感到有点内疚，但他们似乎并不关心这件事的严重性，也不会试图对此进行限制。他们年轻，不成熟。我们觉得，随着他们年龄的增长，他们在年轻时没有时间进行祷告或定期去教会。 我知道上帝听到并回应了我们的祈祷，我也知道祂不希望我们作为父母因为这些担忧而感到压力或专注，甚至因此失眠。 在 2025 年新年里，我做出了一个有意识的决定，开始更加感恩，更加感激上帝在他们生活中所做的工作，即使我还没有看到。 上帝的计划是让我以及我们所有的父母都安息在祂里面，不会因为家人或朋友的负担而失眠。 我请求上帝原谅我不信任他，我决定无论是白天还是晚上，如果担心、忧虑开始困扰我，我会立即说：“感谢上帝，我知道您在我关心的所有人身上发挥作用！ 你正在带领、感化、保护和安慰他们所有人，因为你也非常爱他们！” 我永远不会停止为我的孩子、孙子和朋友祈祷和鼓励。 我永远不会停止抓住每一个机会来提醒他们与耶稣同行所带来的财富和祝福……他们将拥有智慧、平安和喜乐，把耶稣放在他们生命的首位，并在一切事情上仰望他。如你所知，上帝的话语告诉我们要常常喜乐，不住地祷告，在任何情况下都要感恩，因为这是上帝对我们的旨意！ 上帝喜爱一颗感恩的心，因为感恩的心能带来上帝的存在！ 祂因我们的感恩而喜悦！ 感恩的心会加深我们对上帝的信赖并增强我们的信仰。 它激发了快乐！ 我的新年计划是真正专注于拥有一颗感恩和感激的心，这个计划对我来说非常有效，我觉得它对我有帮助，上帝也对此感到高兴！ 我会开始回到旧习惯……担心，想太多，祈祷……晚上保持清醒，然后我会立即开始向主做“感恩祈祷”。它让我感到非常平静，很快我就会重新入睡。 然后我就生病了！ 没什么大不了的吧？病情持续了一周、两周、三周。当我的情况好转一点时，它就会再次复发。我必须不断回到医生那里开新药……4 周、5 周后，魏牧师也生病了，我仍然觉得不舒服。 我的病并没有那么严重！ 这真是令人恼火和沮丧，因为我似乎无法好起来，而我认为以我的年龄来说我是健康的！ 王妈妈总说自己的病只是“小事情”。所以与我认识的很多人相比，这真的是一件小事。 因为上帝无所不知，所以祂也知道，在我决定专注于感恩和感恩的心之后，我们的健康会遇到一点困难。我们的奋斗总会让我们的信念更加坚定！ 有趣的是，尽管我对此感到沮丧，但我并没有因此而感到困扰。 我继续我所有的“感恩祷告”……感谢我的医生，感谢所有互相祈祷的兄弟姐妹，感谢魏牧师照顾我。 我会康复的，我对上帝的治愈能力有信心！所以，今天我想分享感恩之心的力量可以发挥的 7 件事。 第一，它让我们不再专注于自己，而是帮助我们重新将注意力集中在上帝身上。 第二，它提醒我们，我们无法掌控一切，但我们侍奉的是一位全能的神。它让我们保持谦卑，依靠他，因为我们认识到我们多么需要他。 第三，它帮助我们体认到，我们有太多值得感恩的事情，即使是所有小事，我们常常会忘记感谢祂……但它们确实是我们生命中最大、最重要的事。 它使我们的注意力从问题上转移，并帮助我们反思和记住祂的诸多祝福的美好。 第四，它提醒我们上帝是一切美好礼物的赐予者。 我们从来没有打算在今生实现完全自给自足。 感恩的心提醒我们，最终上帝是我们的供应者，所有的祝福和礼物都是祂慷慨地赐给我们的。 第五，心存感恩，就不会有抱怨。人们不可能同时真正心存感激和充满消极和忘恩负义。 第六点，它让敌人逃走！ 黑暗势力无法忍受存在于感恩和敬畏上帝的心灵周围！ 我们的赞美和感恩会让敌人离开！ 第七点，它为持续的祝福打开了大门。它邀请主的同在。我们的灵性在祂里面得到焕然一新和重生。上帝喜欢给祂的孩子好的礼物。祂喜悦我们的感恩，并将祂的灵性和恩惠倾注给那些敬畏和感激祂的人。 让我们每天练习一颗感恩的心！

THE POWER OF A GRATEFUL HEART Elinda West On February 7, 2025, Early Morning Prayer

Scriptures: Psalm 9: 1-2; Hebrews 13: 15-16; Psalm 28:7; Psalm 100:4

At the beginning of the New Year 2025 I was thinking about what changes I could make in my life, habits, and attitude! I had felt like I had been in a season of over-thinking, over-worrying about our children and grandchildren and their future. Also, Wei Mushr and I are in that age of life that we see more and more friends who are losing their mate or facing terminal illness or disability or facing some other crisis that is sad or painful and discouraging. We often get a message or phone call about a deep struggle in a friend’s life. We are attending more and more memorial services. On top of that, our culture, our world is becoming more disturbing!! Certainly, Wei Mushr and I pray for all these things daily and we have many friends we keep in touch with to pray for and encourage.  I’ve shared before that 3 years ago we also began to fast and pray one day each week particularly for our children and grandchildren. Sometimes it seems they aren’t seeing the spiritual battle we live in or at least not taking it seriously. For example, they know spending too much time on the iPhone and iPad is wrong, they might even feel a little guilty, but they don’t seem concerned about the seriousness of it or try to put restrictions on it. They are young and immature. We feel they don’t take time as young adults to have devotions or go to church regularly as they’ve gotten older.  I know God hears and answers our prayers and I know He doesn’t want us as parents to stress about or focus on all these concerns and lose our sleep over it. I made the conscious decision in this New Year 2025 to start being more focused on a thankful, more grateful heart for the work I know God is doing in their lives even if I don’t see it yet.  It is God’s plan that I and all of us parents rest in Him not losing sleep over our family or our friends’ burdens. I have asked God to forgive me for not trusting Him and I decided that in the daytime or in the night, if the worries, the concerns began to trouble me I would immediately say, “Thank you God, I know YOU are working in all these people I care about!  You are leading, convicting, protecting and comforting all of them because you love them so much, too!” I will never stop praying for and encouraging my children and grandchildren or my friends.  I will never stop taking every opportunity to remind them of the riches and blessings that come from walking closely with Jesus…. the wisdom and peace and joy they can have put Him first in their life and looking to Him for everything. As you know God’s Word tells us to be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for us!  God loves a grateful heart because it invites His presence!!  He delights in our thankfulness!  A grateful heart deepens our trust in God and strengthens our faith.  It inspires JOY! This plan of mine for the New Year to really focus on having a thankful and grateful heart was working pretty well for me and I felt it was helping me and God was pleased with it!   I would start to go back to the old habit…. worry, think too much, pray…. stay awake in the night then, I would immediately start my “Thanksgiving Prayers” to the Lord. It gave me great peace and soon I would go back to sleep. Then I got sick!  No big deal, right?! The sickness continued for one week, two weeks, three weeks. I would get a little better then when it came back. I kept having to go back to the Dr to get new medicine …4 weeks, 5 weeks and then Wei Mushr got sick too and I continued to not feel well. My sickness wasn’t so terrible!  It was annoying and frustrating because I couldn’t seem to get well and I think I’m healthy for my age!  Wang MaMa always says her sickness is just “Xiao Shi Qing” (meaning “a small thing”). So, this really was a small thing compared to so many people I knew. Since the Lord knows all things, he also knew we would have this little struggle in our health right AFTER I decided to focus on thanksgiving and a grateful heart. It was His Plan to USE THIS STRUGGLE to make me stronger in my trust of Him! Our struggles always make us stronger in our faith! What is interesting is that even though I was frustrated about it I wasn’t so troubled by it.  I was continuing all my “Thanksgiving Prayers” …. thankful for my Drs, all of you brothers and sisters praying for each other, Wei Mushr taking care of me.  I WILL get well; I have confidence in God’s healing power! So, today I wanted to just share a little about 7 Things that the POWER of a grateful heart can do: 1. It gets our eyes off ourselves and helps us to focus back on God. 2. It reminds us of we’re not in control, but that we serve a Mighty God who is.  It keeps us in a place of humility and dependency on Him, as we recognize how much we need Him. 3. It helps us to recognize we have so much to be thankful for, even all the little things, which often we may forget to thank Him for…but they really are the biggest, most important things in this life.  It takes our attention off our problems and helps us reflect on and remember the Goodness of His many blessings. 4. It reminds us that God is the Giver of all good gifts.  We were never intended to be fully self-sufficient in this life.  A grateful heart reminds us that ultimately God is our Provider, that all blessings and gifts are graciously given to us by His hand. 5. A heart of gratitude leaves no room for complaining. It is impossible to be truly thankful and filled with negativity and ungratefulness at the same time. 6. It makes the enemy run away!  The forces of darkness can’t stand to be around hearts that give thanks and honor God!  Our praise and thanksgiving will make the enemy leave!! 7. It opens the door for continued blessings. It invites His presence. Our spirits are refreshed and renewed in Him.  God loves to give good gifts to His children. He delights in our thankfulness and pours out His Spirit and favor over those who give honor and gratitude to Him.  Let’s practice a grateful thankful heart every day!

2/23/25 牧者之言

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请为2025年教会暑期圣经学校代祷并参与

太19:14耶稣说：“让小孩子到我这里来，不要禁止他们，因为在天国的正是这样的人。”暑期圣经学校（Vacation Bible School, 英文简称 “VBS”）是教会向社区提供的外展服侍，旨在教育孩子认识上帝，包括信仰课程、艺术、手工艺、游戏等。每间教会可以设计自己的信仰课程或购买适合的信仰课程。与孩子们分享福音至关重要。魏荣恩牧师见证说，70年前他和魏师母小时候参加VBS的场景仍历历在目，当时主日学老师讲的是什么他仍然记忆犹新，他们现在还保留着当时作的一些手工。我们期待我们教会的VBS也能在孩子们心中留下深刻印痕，并影响他们一生跟随主。
太19:14耶稣的话是教会作儿童事工的依据和基础。主耶稣教导我们说：“让小孩子到我这里来，不要禁止他们；因为在天国的，正是这样的人”。积极作儿童事工是讨主喜悦的。感恩的是，我们教会已经举行过两次VBS ( 2023, https://thebaptistpaper.org/little-rock-chinese-church-thankful-for-year-of-growth-unity-and-answered-prayers/; 2024 “海底探险”https://lricbc.org/?p=1380) ，今年是第三次。我们上周日晚召开了2025年第一次VBS筹备会议，确定以下内容。

  • 主题：诸天诉说，带领孩子从自然界最微小的植物中发现上帝的伟大
  • 日期：7月15-18日 晚5:30-8:00（周五“家庭同乐夜”）；志愿者5点摆放桌椅
  • 预计目标：求主预备45个孩子
      以下是今年的祷告指南：
  1. 为参加VBS 的孩子们祈祷
  • 祈求赐予许多孩子来参加
  • 祈求那些不认识基督的孩子能邀请基督进入他们的生命
  • 祈求基督徒孩子能与天父更加亲近
  • 祈求不定期去教会的孩子能固定参加教会
  • 为所有年龄段的孩子在VBS 期间听到和认识福音祈祷。
  1. 为 VBS 的志愿者祈祷
  • 祈求VBS 带领者在准备期间有智慧和能力
  • 祈求赐给我们足够的志愿者来正确教导和照顾孩子
  • 祈求上帝赐给我们 VBS 团队力量、耐力、良好的态度以及向每个孩子展示基督无条件的愛的能力
  • 祈求我们整个VBS 团队的言语和行动能荣耀主的名
  • 祈求主预备更多青少年志愿者，使基督徒青少年成为基督的精兵、慕道友青少年能向基督敞开心灵
  • 祈求周五晚“家庭同乐夜”的各项活动进展顺利，更多家长来参加
  • 为VBS之后的跟进行动祷告，祈祷我们能在社区建立更多联系。
       大体上有这些方面的服侍，需要志愿者。1.   教师组；2. 宣教组；3. 手工组；4. 敬拜赞美团队；5. 食物组；6.接待登记组；7.    布置组； 8.宣传组；9.音响组；10.摄影及Video制作组；11. 筹备剧目组等。有意参与服侍者，请与应岚姐妹联络。
愿主赐福带领今年的VBS圆满成功，大大荣耀主的圣名！

 

Pray for and Participate in the 2025 Vacation Bible School

Matt.19: 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Vacation Bible School (VBS) is an outreach service provided by the church to the community, aiming to educate children about God, including faith courses, art, crafts, games, etc. Each church can design its own faith courses or purchase suitable faith courses. Sharing the gospel with children is crucial. Rev. Ron West testified that he and his wife attended VBS as children 70 years ago, and he still vividly remembers what the Sunday school teacher taught. They keep and treasure some crafts they made at that time till now. We hope that our church’s VBS can also leave a deep impression on the children’s hearts and influence them to follow the Lord for a lifetime.
Matthew 19:14 Jesus’ word is the basis and foundation for the church to do children’s ministry. The Lord Jesus taught us, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Actively doing children’s ministry is pleasing to the Lord. Thankfully, our church has held two VBS (2023, https://thebaptistpaper.org/little-rock-chinese-church-thankful-for-year-of-growth-unity-and-answered-prayers/ ; 2024 “Scuba”-2024 Church Summer Bible School https://lricbc.org/?p=1380 ), and this year is the third time. We held the first 2025 VBS preparation meeting last Sunday night and determined the following content.

  • Theme: Magnified–Discover the bigness of God in the smallest of things
  • Date: July 15-18, 5:30-8:00 p.m. (Friday “Family Fun Night”); volunteers will set up tables and chairs at 5 p.m.
  • Goal: We ask for 45 children

Here is the prayer guide for this year:

  1. Pray for the children attending VBS
  • Pray for many children to attend
  • Pray that children who do not know Christ will invite Him into their lives
  • Pray that Christian children will grow closer to their Heavenly Father
  • Pray that children who do not attend church often will attend church regularly.
  1. Pray for VBS volunteers
  • Pray for wisdom and ability of VBS leaders during preparation.
  • Pray that the Lord will give us enough volunteers to properly teach and care for the children.
  • Pray that God will give our VBS team strength, stamina, a good attitude, and the ability to show every child the unconditional love of Christ.
  • Pray that the words and actions of our entire VBS team will glorify the Lord’s name.
  • Pray that the Lord will prepare more youth volunteers, so that Christian youth can become Christ’s soldiers, and that young seekers can open their hearts to Christ.
  • Pray that the Family Fun Night activities will go smoothly, and more parents come to participate.
  • Pray for follow-up after VBS and that we can build more connections in the community.

We divide into several groups and need relevant volunteers: 1. Teaching Team; 2. Mission Team; 3. Craft Team; 4. Praise Team; 5. Food Team; 6. Reception and Registration Team; 7. Decoration Team; 8. Promotion Team; 9. IT Team; 10. Photography and Video Team; 11. Skit Team, etc. If you are willing to participate in the service, please contact Sister Ying Lan.
May the Lord bless this year’s VBS to have a great victory and glorify the Lord’s name only!

2/16/25 牧者之言

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关于人工智能与新兴技术

诗篇119: 89耶和华啊，你的话安定在天，直到永远。
注：上周有一位弟兄问起关于人工智能的问题。我特将2023年6月13-14日在新奥尔良召开的美南浸信会年会上关于“人工智能”的内容摘录出来，与弟兄姐妹分享。

祷文：
主啊，我把以下这篇“关于人工智能与新兴技术”的内容交托在你的手中，求你使用它，借着它启发弟兄姐妹的灵命、擦亮我们的灵眼，使我们生活在高科技时代的弟兄姐妹能识别是非善恶真假、除去谬误，弃假从真，追随真理。主啊，这篇文章中若有不恰当之处求你更正、不足之处求你补足。主啊，你的话就是真理，求你使我们在真理圣灵的引导下一直走在你的正路上。以基督之名，阿门！

日期：2023年6月15日
活动：2023年度会议
主题：人工智能、技术
参：https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-artificial-intelligence-and-emerging-technologies/（访问日期：2025年2月11日）。

鉴于，所有技术，包括人工智能（AI）等强大的工具，都是由上帝赋予人类的恩赐和能力所创造的，这恩赐和能力是受造秩序的高峰（创世记 1:26-28，2:7，5:1-2）；当我们寻求愛上帝和邻居时，这些技术可以用来促进人类繁荣（申命记 6:4-5；利未记 19:18；马太福音 22:37-39；马可福音 12:30-31）；

鉴于，尽管这些工具的设计初衷是出于不同的价值观和目的，并以微妙而有意义的方式塑造我们——包括我们对上帝、人类和我们周围世界的理解——只有我们，作为上帝创造的独特道德主体，对它们的开发和使用负有道德责任（罗马书12:1-2）；
鉴于，堕落影响了受造界的每个方面，包括这些强大技术的开发与使用；

鉴于，人工智能提出了一些深刻而关键的问题，这些问题挑战了社会对人类本质的错误假设，而这些假设往往仅仅基于人的能力，而非神所赐予的本体性地位；

鉴于，人工智能和其他新兴技术为各行各业和整个社会带来了前所未有的进步机会，但如果不以敬虔的智慧和辨别力加以使用，也可能带来危险的和非人性化的后果；

鉴于，技术的开发和应用往往仅仅以最大化利润、效率和生产力为目标，甚至以牺牲我们同为神形象承载者的人的尊严为代价；

鉴于，这些新兴技术将逐渐承担过去属于人类的任务，甚至在某些方面超越人类能力；

鉴于，《浸信会信仰和信息》声明：“基督徒有责任寻求基督的旨意超越我们的生活和人类的社会”，并且“应当努力使工业、政府和整个社会服从公义、真理和弟兄相愛的原则”（第十五条）；

鉴于，我们的伦理与宗教自由委员会（Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission）在 2019 年领导制定的《福音派人工智能原则声明》（Evangelical Statement of Principles on AI）指出，基督徒被呼召以不变的福音信息——盼望与和好——来影响我们周围的世界，并且“教会在宣扬所有人的尊严和倡导人工智能在人类社会中得到人道应用方面具有独特的角色”；因此，

决议如下：
第一，2023年6月13日至14日，在路易斯安那州新奥尔良召开的美南浸信会大会的会差们（messengers）承认人工智能和其他新兴技术的强大力量，并希望以末世的盼望来应对，而不是不加批判地接受或恐惧地拒绝；

第二，我们坚信，当这些技术不断发展和应用于我们的社会时，神不变的话语足以应对今天及未来我们可能面临的任何伦理挑战、问题和机遇；

第三，我们明确声明，我们的内在价值在于我们作为神形象的承载者，而非基于我们的成就或我们对社会的贡献。因此，人的尊严必须作为所有涉及这些强大新兴技术的伦理原则、指南或法规的核心；

第四，我们必须主动参与并塑造这些新兴技术，而并非仅仅在人工智能和其他新兴技术影响我们的教会和社区之后再被动地回应；

第五，我们呼吁公民、行业和政府领导人以最高的谨慎和辨别力开发、维护、监管和使用这些技术，维护人类作为神创造的巅峰之独特本质；

第六，我们鼓励所有使用这些工具的人以诚实、透明和基督徒的方式行事，专注于愛神并愛邻舍，绝不故意欺骗他人，或利用这些技术谋取不正当利益或权力的积累；

第七（最终），我们承认唯独神有创造生命的能力，并且“神有自己的时间，并用祂自己的方法，使这世界有完满的结束”（《浸信会信仰和信息》，第十条），任何创新或新兴技术都无法篡夺神的主权与权能。

2/9/25 牧者之言

Posted on

关于张惠玲的见证
2025年1月29日早祷会分享
魏愛玲師母

你是否曾对某人的生活产生过积极或消极的影响，而你自己却浑然不知？

经文：歌罗西书 4:2-6

1990 年，我们刚搬到台湾台中一个新地方，准备建立教会。我们谁也不认识，我们知道必须从家里的圣经学习开始。一天早上，我一边读歌罗西书 4:2-6，一边祷告。那天我祈求上帝“给我们开传道的门，能以讲基督的奥秘” 。 我特别注意道要“用智慧与外人结交，并充分利用每个机会。” 然后我出去，走到市场买水果。当我走进市场时，一位女士在马路对面朝我走来，开始微笑着挥手，然后穿过马路，挽着我的胳膊，好像她认识我一样。在台湾，中国人通常不会对一个陌生人如此大胆——虽然总是微笑友好，但不会如此主动！我想，哇，上帝已经在回应我的祷告了！她和我聊天，并坚持要我去她家见她的女儿！虽然有些奇怪，但我不正是刚刚祷告求上帝开门并要抓住每个机会吗？于是我跟着她去了！一路上我都在祷告！我们悄悄地上楼，因为她说不能吵醒她的丈夫，否则他会非常生气！她突然打开了一个年轻女孩的卧室门……我微笑着为闯入她的私人空间道歉，并告诉她我的名字，邀请她来我们家参加英语圣经学习。她非常害羞，但还是笑了。我很快感谢了她的母亲并离开了。我想，我可能再也不会见到那个可怜的女孩了！
这是从我的角度看到的故事开头。现在，我将分享张惠玲对这次初次见面的回忆。这是她在十年后（2001年）为一次课堂作业写下的故事，我将按照她的原文分享。

“一个充满愛心的人”（这是她为故事起的标题）

当我告诉别人我曾经是一个害羞、安静、严肃且缺乏自信的女孩时，他们总是露出难以置信的表情。“你现在看起来非常独立和自信，我无法想象你以前的样子。”是的，我确实和以前不一样了。作为家中的长女，我从小就必须学会照顾自己。由于父亲的严格管教和母亲的精神病，我学会了压抑自己的自然情感。在我的脑海里，从来没有“我想做什么？”的问题，只有“我应该做什么？”。在遇到我的干妈Elinda之前，人们可能认为我是一个冷漠的人。

         我不知道被愛是什么感觉，因为我的父亲除了责骂之外从未向任何人表达过愛。我部分理解父亲的沮丧——他娶了一位患有精神病的妻子，被迫离开自己的祖国（中国大陆），并承担起家庭的所有责任。为了帮助父亲，我从5岁起就开始分担家务。我从小就非常成熟，但却失去了孩子般的天真。我不喜欢与人交谈，因为我觉得没有人能理解我的感受。我的态度非常消极和愤世嫉俗，因为我从未对生活的任何部分感到满意。

        大学二年级的一个夏日，我的母亲把一个陌生人带到了我的房间。“哦，不！我母亲又开始发作 。”我低声自语。每当母亲行为异常时，我都非常讨厌这种情况。突然，一位金发、面容姣好的中年妇女 Elinda当时42岁）出现在我面前。“你好，我叫Elinda。我在街上遇到你的母亲，她想告诉我哪里可以买到苹果。她坚持要我来见你，因为她说你喜欢学英语。”她用带有美国口音的中文向我介绍自己。我忍住没有对母亲发火，保持冷静。她注意到我的恐惧和戒备心。意识到自己可能打扰了我，她在友好介绍后没有再多说什么，只是留下一张纸条，告诉我如果想学英语可以打电话给她。几天过去了，那张纸条一直在我脑海中盘旋。一种奇怪的好奇心最终给了我勇气打电话给她。

        “嗨，我是惠玲。你还记得吗？你说如果我想学英语可以给你打电话。”“当然，我记得你。”我们约定了第一次见面的时间。我很少给陌生人打电话，但不知为何，一种未知的感觉促使我尝试了解更多关于这个女人的事情。到了她家后，我发现自己并不是唯一的客人，我立刻意识到这是一次团契活动。我的直觉告诉我要有礼貌。我保持安静，直到活动结束。那天晚上，我认识了七八个年轻学生。我们一起唱歌、吃点心、读圣经故事。结束时，Elinda问我下周一晚上是否有空，我点了点头。“你不如来我家，我们可以做你想做的事？”我答应了。我有些责怪自己相信她会教我英语，但我也感受到了一种从未有过的情感。这种新的感觉让我在团契中感到更加平静、快乐和美好，这是我以前从未有过的。

        那个周一晚上，我带着我希望Elinda帮我学习的英语书去了她家。我问她我应该付多少钱。她的回答让我震惊：“我不收你任何费用。如果你需要帮助，尽管问我。”与以往缺乏动力的我不同，我每周一晚上都会去Elinda家参加我们的私人聚会，每周二晚上参加团契。我注意到Elinda总是问我感觉如何，我的家人怎么样，我的母亲怎么样。我感到很感动，因为她真的关心我和我的家人，而不仅仅是出于礼貌。我很少向任何人透露我的家庭或我自己，因为我害怕别人会嘲笑我、甚至鄙视我。在与Elinda交谈时，我能从她的眼神中看到理解和关愛，我意识到她真的关心我。有时，她会给我看一些她家人的照片，或者分享一些有趣的故事。起初，我并没有完全准备好接受她的友谊，因为我很难轻易相信别人。我一直在等待，想看看她到底想从我这里得到什么，否则她怎么可能有如此耐心和愛心去给予别人？

        有一天，她邀请我参加一个派对。“你参加过派对吗？”“没有。”“你愿意今晚和我一起去参加一个派对吗？”“愿意。”她让我在派对前一小时到她家，如果我没有合适的裙子，可以从她的衣柜里选一件。我坐在椅子上时，她帮我梳头。这是第一次，我的第一次，有人帮我梳头。她的手指触碰我的头发时，仿佛有电流流过我的全身。我感动得几乎要哭出来。我问她为什么对我这么好，我应该如何回报她。她回答说，她不求任何回报，只希望看到我在幸福和盼望中成长。她告诉我，她的愛来自上帝。如果不是上帝的愛，她会感到软弱和疲惫。上帝的奇妙恩典给了她生活的热情和奉献，无论生活多么艰难。

       以前有很多人试图向我传福音，但他们都失败了，因为我拒绝相信上帝的存在。由于Elinda的愛心和耐心，我终于在大学四年级时接受了耶稣基督。有一天，我的一个同学告诉我，我看起来不一样了。当我问他有什么不同时，他说我看起来光彩照人，充满信心，我的微笑让我看起来比以前更友好。我始终感谢上帝让Elinda进入我的生活，改变了我的生命。如果没有她持续的愛心和友谊，我永远不会知道什么是愛，如何信任别人，如何向这个世界敞开心扉，以及如何接受耶稣进入我的生命。以前我不知道世界上有这么多美好的品质，但她让我体验到了生活的美好一面。Elinda提醒我，我可以把我的愛给予那些渴望愛的人。我仍然与她保持联系，因为每当我感到沮丧或烦恼时，她总是鼓励我。虽然我不像以前那样经常见到她，但她的言语和形象已经深深印在我的脑海中。（她的故事到此为止）

我和惠玲在她得救之前度过了很多时光。我们在1990年相识。她在2001年在美国学习时为一次课堂作业写下了这篇关于我的文章。她回到台湾后给了我一份副本。这篇文章深深触动了我，让我意识到我们的言语、行为、肢体语言，甚至是我们对他人所做的最微小的事，都可能产生积极或消极的影响。我非常感谢上帝在这位年轻女性的生命中引导我每一步。我深感谦卑和感激，因为祂允许我在带领她归向耶稣的过程中扮演了一个角色。她是魏牧师在我们新教会中施洗的第二个人。第一个是我们的幼子！已经过去了35年，她仍然称呼我们为“妈妈”和“爸爸”。

  • 注：感谢魏愛玲師母允许我们分享她的故事。她对自己被提及感到有些不好意思，但李春海牧师认为这是为了荣耀上帝，通过分享个人见证可以激励和鼓励他人更忠实地愛主爱人、并侍主侍人。

2/9/25 Pastor’s Word

A Testimony about Chang Hui-Ling
Sharing on January 29, 2025, Early Prayer Meeting
Elinda West

 

Have you ever impacted someone’s life in a positive or negative way and had no idea you did?

Scripture: Colossians 4: 2-6

In 1990 we had just moved to a new area in Taichung, Taiwan to start a church. We knew no one and we knew we had to start with a Bible Study in our home.  One morning I was reading Colossians 4: 2-6 and praying. I was asking God that day to “open a door for our gospel message, so that we might proclaim the mystery of Christ.” I particularly paid attention to “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” I then went out and made my way to the fresh market to buy some fruit. I was near the market when a lady was walking toward me on the other side of the road and started smiling and waving and came across the road and took my arm as if she knew me.  It was so unlike Chinese people in Taiwan to be THAT bold to a perfect stranger…. ALWAYS smiling and friendly yes, but not like that! I thought WOW! God is already answering my prayer.  She chatted with me and insisted we go to her house immediately to meet her daughter!  It was strange, but hadn’t I just prayed for an open door and to make the most of every opportunity! I went with her!  I was praying all the way there! We went up the stairs quietly because the lady said we couldn’t wake up her husband who would be very angry!  She opened the door suddenly to this young girl’s bedroom……I smiled and apologized for invading her privacy. I told her my name and invited her to our home for English Bible Study.  She was so very shy, but she smiled.  I quickly thanked her mother for the introduction and left.  I thought…. I will never see that poor girl again!!
This is how this story started from MY perspective.  Now I will share this story and that first meeting with Chang Hui Ling from HER perspective. I will share exactly as she wrote it down for an assignment for a class 10 years after it all happened!
“A Loving Person” (This is the title she gave her story)
People always look at me with incredulous expressions when I tell them I used to be a shy, quiet, serious girl who lacked self-confidence. “You look very independent and self-confident now.  I can’t imagine what you were like before.” Yes, it’s true that I am not the same person I used to be.  Being the eldest child in my family, I had to learn how to take care of myself when I was a small girl. I had learned to inhibit my natural emotions as a result of my father’s strict discipline and my mother’s mental illness. In my mind, there was no asking, “What would I like to do?” but only, “What should I do?” People probably regarded me as a callous person until I met my Godmother, Elinda.
         I didn’t know what it was like to be loved by someone because my father never showed his love to people except by scolding. I could partly understand my father’s frustration caused from his marrying someone with a mental illness, being forced leave his own country (mainland China) and trying to take care of all the responsibilities of my family. Trying to assist my father, I shared some housekeeping with my father since I was 5 years old. I was quite mature when I was young, but I lost the innocent nature of a child. I didn’t like to talk with people because I thought nobody could understand my feelings.  My attitude was very negative and cynical as I never felt satisfied with any part of my life.
          One summer day when I was a sophomore in college my mother brought an unexpected stranger to my room.  “Oh! No! My mother was acting up again.” I murmured to myself.  I hated the situation whenever my mother didn’t behave like a normal person. Suddenly, a middle-aged woman (Elinda was 42) with blond hair, good-looking features appeared in front of my sight. “How do you do? My name is Elinda. I met your mother on the street because she wanted to show me where to buy apples. She insisted I come to meet you because she said that you like to study English.” She introduced herself to me in Chinese with a soft American accent. I held myself back by not shouting at my mother and stayed calm. She noticed my fright and protectiveness.  Having realized that she might intrude into my space, she didn’t speak more after her friendly introduction.  She just left a note and told me that I could call her if I wanted to learn English. Several days passed by, the note kept whirling in my head. A strange curiosity finally gave me the courage to call her.
        “Hi, this is Hui-Ling. Do you remember? You said I could call if I wanted to learn English.”  “YES, sure I remember you.”
         We scheduled the time for our first meeting. I seldom called a stranger, but somehow an unknown feeling grabbed me and encouraged me to try to discover more about this woman. After I arrived at her house, I noticed that I wasn’t the only guest, and I immediately figured out that the meeting was a fellowship. My instinct told me to act politely. I stayed quiet until the meeting finished. During the night, I was introduced to 7 or 8 young students. We sang songs, ate refreshments, and read a Bible story.  At the end when people were dismissed, Elinda asked me if I was free the next Monday night, I nodded yes! “Why don’t you just come to my house, and we can do something you want??”  OKAY, I answered. I was kind of blaming myself for believing that she would teach me English. However, I also felt a different emotion which I never experienced before. This new feeling made me feel more peaceful, joyful, and wonderful during the fellowship than I had ever had.  I brought my English book that I wished Elinda to help me with on that Monday night. I asked how much I should pay her. Her reply made me stunned. “I don’t charge anything from you. Just feel free to ask me if you need help.” Instead of being unmotivated like I used to be, I kept going to Elinda’s house every Monday night for our private meeting and every Tuesday night for the fellowship. I noticed that Elinda always asked how I felt, how my family was doing and how my mother was.  I felt touched because she really cared about me and my family rather than just being socially polite. I seldom disclose my family or myself to anyone because I was afraid people would laugh at me or even despise me. While talking with Elinda, I could see understanding and affection in her eyes and I learned that she really cared about me.  Sometimes, she would show me some pictures of her family or share some interesting stories with me.  I was not quite ready to accept her friendship at the beginning because I couldn’t easily trust people. I waited and waited to see what she really wanted from me, otherwise, how could she have such patience and love to give to people? One day, she invited me to attend a party.  “Have you ever attended any party?”  “No!” “Would you like to go with me tonight to a party? “Yes.”  She asked me to come to her house one hour earlier than the party if I didn’t have a dress for the party. She let me choose any dress from her closet. While sitting on the chair, she helped me comb my hair. It was the first, MY first, that I had somebody comb my hair. It seemed electricity flowing all over my body from her touching my hair. I was so moved that I almost burst into tears. I asked why she treated me so well and what I should do to return to her. She answered that she didn’t ask for any return but to see me grow up in happiness and with hope. She told me the well of her love came from God. She would feel weak and exhausted if it were not for God’s love. God’s amazing grace had given her enthusiasm and devotion in her life no matter how difficult the life would be.  There were many times that people tried to evangelize Christianity to me, but they always failed by my rejecting God’s existence. Because of Elinda’s love and patience, I finally accepted Jesus Christ in my heart when I was a senior in college. One day, one of my classmates told me that I looked different. When I asked him what the difference was, he said that I looked glamorous with faith and my smile made me look friendlier than before, I’ve always thanked God that He had brought Elinda into my life and changed my life. Without her consistently give of her love and friendship to me, I would never have known what love is, how to trust people, how to open my mind to this world, and how to accept Jesus into my life.  Before I didn’t know there were so many good qualities in this world, but she made me experience the wonderful side of life. Elinda reminded me that I could give my love to people who are eager to love. I still keep in touch with her because she always encourages me whenever I feel down or frustrated. Though I don’t see her as often as before, her words and image have become embedded in my mind.    (End of her story)
Hui-Ling and I spent a lot of time together before she was saved. We met in 1990. She wrote this paper about me 10 years later in 2001 as an assignment for a class while studying in the U.S. She gave me a copy when she returned to Taiwan after her studies.  It has touched me so deeply and makes me aware of how our words, our actions, our body language, the smallest things we do around other people can have a positive or negative impact. I’m so thankful God was leading me every step of the way in this young woman’s life. I am so humbled and grateful that He allowed me to play a part in bringing her to JESUS.  She was the second person Wei Mushr baptized in our new church start.  The first person was our youngest son! It’s been 35 years, and she still calls us “mom” and “dad.”
  • Note: We are thankful for Elinda West’s permission to allow us to share her story. She feels a little embarrassed of mentioning herself, but Pastor Chunhai Li believes it is all about the glory of God by sharing a personal testimony, and this can inspire and encourage others to love and serve the Lord and others more faithfully.