The Christian couple Jeff and Shell were our co-workers when my wife and I served in Northwest Mandarin Church in Oklahoma. Although we left Oklahoma City at different times, we have kept in touch with each other in the Lord, exhorting and praying for each other. When I mention Jeff, I immediately think of at least three things: First, he was one of the “Faithful Five.” After he became a believer while studying in a university in China, without special occasions, Jeff never missed attending fellowship and worship even though when he was very busy with study.  At that time, there were five brothers and sisters in the fellowship who regularly attended, and the name of one of the “Faithful Five” came from this. The faithfulness Jeff has encouraged many brothers and sisters. Second, Jeff graduated from Seminole State College in 2010 and went to Oklahoma City University in 2012. He took the initiative to find the church. when I drove him back to his dorm, I said to him, “The college you graduated from probably will be where you will work in the future.” As a result, his first job after graduation was to teach at Seminole State University. This was God’s special plan and arrangement. Third, after graduating from Oklahoma City University in 2014, Jeff came to the point of looking for a girlfriend. At that time, the church organized people to attend the Pioneers Conference in Texas. On the last day of enrollment, I encouraged him to attend and casually told him that he might find his future wife at the camp. In all things God makes every work for the good. In fact, it was at that camp that Jeff met Shell and later walked on the aisle of wedding ceremony. About two weeks ago, my wife Shasha told me that Jeff and Shell had a baby. I was very excited when I heard the news, and I called Jeff the next day to congratulate them on the birth of their daughter. On the phone, he told me to check his Facebook. On June 24, 2024, Jeff shared on Facebook: “In Baby Shower Party, many new parents choose to have a gender-reveal party, but we decided to do something different and have a name-reveal party. For those who do not yet know, we will have a girl! Daddy’s girl! For many years, I have always wanted a daughter. In Chinese, there is a saying, ‘女孩子就像是爸爸的小棉袄,’ which means ‘Daughters are like a little cotton-padded jacket for their fathers.’ This idiom conveys that daughters provide warmth, comfort, and closeness to their fathers, much like a cotton-padded jacket offers warmth in cold weather. Over the years, I had never considered having a baby boy until a few months ago when Shell was pregnant. And we initially thought that it was a boy, so we had to come up with a boy’s name just in case. However, we had already decided on a girl’s name long ago. Shell and I were married in October 2015, about nine years ago. In our home, we have always kept a prayer list on the wall, which shows roughly 7-10 prayer requests. We update it two to three times a year. Since we started this prayer list in 2016, we have consistently prayed for God to bless us with children. Starting in 2017, the request for a baby has always been at the top of the list. God is faithful! Most of the prayer requests on the list have been fulfilled, except for this top one. Over the years of prayer, you may imagine that there were many moments of discouragement, disappointment, doubt, and questioning God. In my prayers, I often asked God, ‘When will you give us a baby? Will I ever have a baby?’ Over the years, I have heard testimonies in church about couples who, after many years of prayer, were finally blessed with children. I always wondered when I would have the opportunity to share a similar testimony with everyone. Once again, God heard our prayers! Until last November, we found out Shell was pregnant with the baby girl. I could not help but cry, with a flood of emotions. On my way home from work, I listened to the song ‘God, you’re so good,’ over and over, which says, ‘Oh God, You’re so good. You’re so good to me.’ In 2017, one Sunday morning, our pastor gave a sermon about the ‘abundant life’ that Jesus talked about in the Bible. He introduced us to the Greek term ‘Zoe,’ which means life. It refers to the divine, eternal life that comes from God. In John 10:10, Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” This emphasizes a rich and fulfilling life found in a relationship with God. At that moment, Shell and I looked at each other and knew what we were thinking. After the service on our way home, we decided to name our future daughter—Zoe, even though we did not even know when we would have a baby. We knew God is the creator of life, and we hoped for our daughter to have an “abundant life” through her faith in Jesus Christ and her relationship with God. With that said, our baby girl’s name is—Zoe Grace Cheng. Grace is the middle name. So, it means because of the grace of God, He grants us an abundant life… Fourteen years ago in 2010, I came here as an international student all by myself with one carry-on and one suitcase. For those of you who do not know my background, I grew up in a village in China. My mom had one year of elementary school education, and my dad graduated from middle school. Due to their limited education, they could only do labor jobs and earned very little money. Since I became a Christian in 2008, God has completely transformed my life. Over the past 14 years in the States, God has fulfilled His promise repeatedly in my life. He led me to complete three college degrees, provided jobs, blessed me with a wife and family, surrounded us with lots of friends and church communities, and now a baby girl, Zoe. My cup overflows. I could not ask for more. We are both so blessed and loved by our friends! In August 2010, the night before I came to the United States, our friends in Christ had a sendoff party for me. They gave me a brand-new Bible with many messages written from brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the verses is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This has become my life verse. Whenever faced life’s challenges, difficulties, and crises, I always remember God’s promise to me.” Zoe Grace Cheng came into the world safely at 8:13 am on August 13. At the moment of her birth, Jeff was deeply moved and burst into tears. The baby is so adorable. On her shirt, it says: “I Am Proof that God Answers Prayers.” God is a God who cline his ears and listens to our prayers. Little Zoe’s testimony reminds us to pray, pray, and pray again. When the time comes, God will eventually fulfill His good will. We pray together that the Lord will continue to bless little Zoe to grow up healthily, know the Lord as soon as possible, and gain eternal life; and that the Lord will give Jeff and Shell wisdom, strength and grace, so that their lives will become more abundant in the process of being new parents, and give more glories to God our Heavenly Father!

Elinda West

        We are reading some scripture today about Jesus’ weeping!  I am so touched by tears, but I’m even more moved by Jesus’ tears and what that means!  We know what Jesus has done for us and we’ve already believed and are so grateful that we want to live for Him every day and share the Good News of Jesus with everyone who will listen! Especially our family members! In Luke 19: 41-42 Jesus is coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the week before his crucifixion.  As he approaches Jerusalem, he sees the city and we read that Jesus wept over the city. Jesus feels sorrow that his people didn’t recognize who He really was and missed the chance to have eternal peace. They were blind to the truth. The essence of sin is blindness and ignorance. People still are blind to the truth.

When I was 9 years old, I came under great conviction of sin for 3 days. I was miserable and I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t understand it.  I believe that it is significant that my conviction of sin was heavy for 3 days. Our church was having a REVIVAL meeting, and the pastor was preaching the gospel every night. My mother noticed I was being very quiet and troubled during those days.  I was not sleeping well in fact I was so afraid I would die and not go to heaven. My mother talked with me and took me to visit the pastor.  One night during the revival meeting during the singing the pastor asked if anyone would like to come and invite Jesus to come into their heart. I was so nervous, but I couldn’t wait any longer …I walked down to take the pastor’s hand and told him I wanted to believe in Jesus. I cried a lot of tears that night….my tears were my sorrow over my sin and immediately when I said YES to Jesus, I felt the most wonderful PEACE in all my life. I can still remember that moment so clearly. It was the first time I experienced the “peace that passes all understanding” I knew Jesus forgave me and I received Jesus into my life. The tears of sorrow over my sin became tears of joy over my salvation!

There was another time I want to share about that I shed tears that was very meaningful to me.  We had been in Taiwan for about 2 years and my father passed away from cancer.  It was the first time I experienced such a great loss of someone very dear to me. I could not return to America to attend the funeral. Our missionary friends had a service in their home to comfort me and Ron and our boys. They invited our Chinese Church friends and pastor.  It was early in the morning, about 5 A.M., of course there were a lot of tears on that day. I expected I would cry, and I expected my missionary family would cry and it comforted me.  But I was most moved by our Chinese Church brothers and sisters who came, and tears were coming down their face as they took my hand and expressed their grief with me.  It was like they knew my father, but they didn’t.  It was such a beautiful comfort to me to see their love.  We had only been in Taiwan for 2 years and yet their love was so real and comforted me so much.

Sometimes our tears come in deep sadness, sometimes in overwhelming pressure and circumstances.  Sometimes our tears come when other people cry. Sometimes our tears are happy tears.  My mother told me that my daddy cried on that night I surrendered to Jesus.  She also told me daddy cried on my wedding day. These were happy tears! I never saw my daddy shed those tears.  He was very private. But I’m thankful my mother shared with me about daddy’s tears because it assured me of his deep love.

Tears can be such an expression of love! Great love! When we read today about Jesus shedding his tears, we are overwhelmed that God loves us so much. He is a God we can trust when we hurt, when we feel frustrated, overwhelmed. When we suffer, we can have God’s arms around us and our tears fall on His shoulder.  Praise the Lord!  When Jesus’ good friend Lazarus died, we see in our scripture that “Jesus wept.”  This is the shortest bible verse in the bible. It is significant with only 2 words! Why did Jesus cry when he knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead?  I think he was weeping because his friends were hurting.  We can identify with Mary and Martha; we can see their hurt and grief! “IF ONLY YOU HAD BEEN HERE…Mary said.”  Maybe by his tears he was saying, “I’m sorry I had to let you go through this.” It didn’t matter that the pain would soon be over.  The pain of his friends mattered to him.  Jesus hurts with us. Even though he knows better days are coming, He hurts with us today. Wherever we are… at home, at our desk, in our car, beside the hospital bed, standing in front of the tombstone. He weeps with us. Because our pain is real.  That is LOVE. This is a God who loves us so much. We can trust Him no matter what we experience! Isn’t it amazing that our Creator created us with a way to express our emotions in such a tender way with tears coming from our eyes. Our tears speak words that cannot be said! They are another gift of God’s Grace to us.

What are we focused on when we face sorrow? Am I focused on what I feel God SHOULD have done differently? Or am I anchored by the truth of how very deeply he loves me and that He is with me?  God’s tears remind us that God cares. He remembers every sorrow, every tear.  When King David was going through a dark time, he said in Psalms 56:8, “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle (list my tears on your scroll) (or your wineskin …CHINESE TRANSLATION says put my tears in your leather bag). We don’t understand God’s ways sometimes, the things he allows but we should pray the Holy Spirit impresses on our heart to the deepest level that God loves us with an everlasting love.  The Lord never intended for us to live in a broken world full of wars, suffering, and loss. In the story of Lazarus, we are caught up in what is about to happen and how Jesus is going to change everything… we might miss the middle part of this story. Jesus stops to weep with Mary and Martha.  He knew he had the power to fix this. He knew what he was about to do but he took the time to stand near Mary and Martha and grieve with them.  He met them in their grief.  He also loved Lazarus dearly.  Since he knew he was about to bring Lazarus back to life, there had to be more to his tears. He wept because those around him had great heartache. Some people say He wept over the brokenness in this world. Maybe He wept for the fall of creation, he wept over the heartbreak of death. It’s not supposed to be this way. We can only imagine this might be going through Jesus’ mind.  There is going to be a day when Jesus comes back and restores everything.  He will wipe away every tear from our face.  He will make all things new again. He has loved us with an everlasting love and with lovingkindness he has drawn us to Himself! Amen! PRAISE THE LORD!

(Mrs. Elinda West’s sharing at 5:00 am early morning prayer on August 29, 2024)