By Dorcas Cheng

What happens when you end a season of serving many years at Kids Club? You prayerfully move on, trusting in the Lord to direct your path. Yet, the Lord reminded me that before I move on, I need to remember the mighty acts He has done already. In order to move forward with faith, it is important to remember the truths learned in the past. One of the truths that I learned and witnessed first hand is that God’s powerful love transforms. His love transformed me to lead with passion instead of fear. His love transformed our wonderful team to serve in unity instead of disaccord. His love transformed the students at Kids Club to live with hope instead of hopelessness. All this and much more, the Lord brought to my mind. But one transformation, in particular, is most near and dear to my heart.

I had been part of the Kids Club at Stonegate Elementary School for seven years. Within the past seven years, I had the privilege to serve alongside my daughter Elisa for three blessed years. I recall the first year she stepped into Stonegate Elementary–she was 14 years old at that time and had just started homeschooling, so she came with me and helped out with Kids Club. She was paired up with Christina Cheung, a gifted and loving teacher, to teach a group of 1st graders. It was there that Elisa learned how to interact with students from all different walks of life. That first year, it was fairly easy since Christina did most of the preparation and behavior management.

However, in the second year, Elisa had her own group of 2nd graders. This was a year of many tears and frustrations during and after Kids Club. I remember seeing her pull out a student from her group once, scolding her. I will never forget that look on Elisa’s face as she was scolding the student…it was like I was looking at my reflection in a mirror. She looked exactly like me when I am frustrated. And like me, she would hold in her frustrations until the car ride home. Our conversations would often go like this:

“How did it go today?” I would ask.
“Mommy, they don’t listen to me at all!”
“I know, I understand.”
“I try to be patient, I give them stickers, I even give them warnings, but they still do not listen.”
“I know, I understand.”
“It’s so frustrating!”
“I know it is, baby. You are doing a great job! Hey! You want ice cream? Boba? A burger?”

Despite the difficulties, Elisa remained committed to her students at Kids Club. The third year of teaching at Kids Club was the year of transformation for her. Elisa had a different group of 2nd graders, and the group was very sweet but very talkative. As expected, she struggled with a few students, but this time I noticed that something had changed in Elisa. She was laughing and having fun with her group. No more tears during the car ride home. Instead, she shared about the funny and sweet moments with her students. What had changed? I realized that God had poured His love for the students into her heart. Her eyes were opened to see her students through God’s eyes. Yes, they were still rowdy and excessively talkative, but the love of God gave her patience, grace, and kindness. Not only that, the love of God also prompted her to pray diligently for her students. Every Thursday, we would pray in the car as we headed to Stonegate, and I witnessed her prayers grow deeper and more intimate. I witnessed God’s faithful love pull her closer to Himself.

All of this was not my doing. It was the Lord that transformed my daughter. The power of His love transformed her to serve with love. Remembering God’s faithfulness and the power of His love gives me faith for the future because I know and I believe that the power of Abba’s love transforms.