By Betty Young

Molly, our dachshund mix, stations herself under baby’s highchair every mealtime—the better to catch the crumbs that fall from baby’s tray. Dogs have no pride. Molly is satisfied to catch the food scraps that fall to the floor—grateful for even the crumbs, no matter how small. Our grandson eats at the table until he is satisfied. Molly, however, is satisfied with the crumbs that fall under the table.

As I watched Molly eagerly lap up the crumbs, I was reminded of this story in Matthew.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”

Jesus did not answer a word. So, his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

The woman came and knelt before him, “Lord, help me!” she said. Read more →

by Betty Young

My children recently asked me for my best parenting advice.  I have no expertise, advice or revelations to share regarding parenting and raising children. When I look back to my years of child rearing, it was really hit or miss. Parenting is not an easy assignment and when done well, is physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally laborious, to say the least. Now that I am at the latter end of my life, let me say to those who are looking for advice—die to self and pray without ceasing. Read more →

By Frankie Cheng

Have you ever felt like you were trapped or were missing something in your life? I have often felt like this and last year, I signed up for the women’s Empower class, hoping that God would resolve my problems. In the end, God freed me from my spiritual bondage and taught me many things along the way. I want to share the three things that God has done for me during this past year of being part of the Empower class.

God has released me from the bondage of fear. I used to say “no” to changes, new opportunities, things that I have never done before. I am scared of many things, like risks, failure, people’s rejection, and the thing I fear the most is…talking! I even labeled myself as “quiet and not good at talking!” Fear and anxiety have hindered me from personal growth. I could not fully enjoy my life and I often had regretful feelings. God has taken me out of my comfort zone through this class by pushing me to lead groups, pray for strangers, and care for other sisters. God has helped me overcome fear through reading, writing, doing homework, attending lectures, and prayer. I was able to enjoy a solo hike after God empowered me to be brave and conquer my fear. This lesson was rewarding. These days, fear still exists in me, but it is much less impactful. Read more →

God, I know that I’ve been anxious and cautious…I’ve been sharing with you my thoughts about D leaving for college and how it will all play out. I’ve expressed to you anxieties and fears but yet, I realized today I haven’t been straightforward with you. I am using these phrases: “Where the Lord leads…” and “I’m ok with whatever you want.”   “God, you know what’s best for her so I trust you.”  Deep in that tiny little corner of my heart, I’ve not been honest with you Lord.

And you know what God’s answer was to me??? That morning, drinking my coffee, spending time with him, He said this to me loud and clear, “You are being so wimpy! Why are you beating around the bush? TELL me what you want for her…I DARE you to ask of me…stop playing safe and take a leap of faith.” Read more →

By Peter Chow

“…yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
Habakkuk 3:18

For most, 2020 has been a challenging year…the pandemic…social distancing…shelter-in-place….lockdowns.  There are a lot of negativities when we think about these words.  But despite these circumstances, a few things that God has been teaching me through all this are that He is always working in everyone’s lives — including MINE and that each and every day, there is always something we can rejoice in the Lord about.

During the last session of our Missions Conference, Pastor Brett really spoke to me about the dire needs of many living in our county.  But he also offered hope…if 160,000 households gave $730 each, $117 million of rent debt could be erased immediately.  So the very next morning, I wanted to participate in this cause and decided to donate $1000.  God has blessed me so generously throughout the year and this was the least I could do.  Two things happened after this that totally demonstrated God wanted to speak to me through this.

A couple of days after I donated, I received a postcard in the mail.  It was to notify me that I am part of a class action lawsuit against a car manufacturer because of a faulty part which caused unreasonable repairs.  This was a car that I no longer owned, but in fact I did pay for those repairs 4 years ago.  I just had to fill out the form and I could get back up to $1000!  At that point, I knew this was a ‘God-thing’ — it was no coincidence.  It’s not like I get these postcards everyday — but I do get a few of these postcards throughout the year.  Anyways, I submitted the form online but who knows, as a lot of times nothing will come out of this so it’s not a guarantee that I will get any money back.  But the fact that it was for $1000 really confirmed that God was prompting me to make the donation.

Exactly, a week after I donated, I received a letter in the mail.  It looked like a check.  It was from some Claim Administrator.  I opened the letter to confirm that it was a check but I didn’t look at the amount until later.  Usually these checks don’t amount to much.  I think I’ve gotten between $5 to $40 from these similar checks before.  Later that night, when I looked at the check more closely, I became speechless and astounded.  It was for $1,029.19!  I did some research and found out that I had submitted this claim a year ago.

The point of this writing is not to say that when you donate, you should expect God to give you back the money.  What I am most happy about is the fact that God wanted me to participate in His cause, He confirmed it, and how He revealed Himself to me through this incident.  When you have been a Christian for a long time, sometimes it feels these things only happen to other people.  I’m so glad that this time it happened for me.  In the bigger picture, I learned that God is really the CFO of all my finances — I just work in the finance department….with JOY!!!