Sunday, November 28, 2004
I was asked to share my testimony about how I became a Christian this Sunday (which is today) by my youth pastor. I was kinda reluctant when she asked me a few days ago because I was worried I won't have the time to write it given my trainings, youth comm meetings and preparing for grad night (okay maybe the last one's not a valid excuse). I didn't really want to write it, and I prayed to God about it, asking for wisdom. Somehow, God reminded me that I had already written a testimony 2 years ago when I went to Myanmar for a missionary trip. All I had to do was to edit it a little. So that was exactly what I did.
So with my modified 2-year-old testimony, I went to church today. I was feeling quite nervous (those type of jittery feeling before you go on stage for a speech) because it wasn't any attention-seeking, head-turning, captivatingly exciting, explosive type of testimony. It was just a plain, old, recount of an important part of my life. Moreover, we had guests. A team of external speakers from YFC (Youth For Christ) were there, but its a good thing I know them because I won't be so embarrassed if I flop.
All I asked God for the previous night was for the delivery of my testimony speech to be a smooth one without hiccups, but God did more than just that. Miraculously, before I went up to speak, I was feeling relatively calm and at peace. My hands weren't cold, and my heart wasn't pounding. I scanned the audience, took a deep breath, and began.
It was over faster than you could say Jack Robinson (I learnt this phrase from Enid Blyton's books).
And then there was a warm round of applause, even though I think I didn't deserve it.
I don't think I did a fantastic job, but I do thank God that it was smooth, and for giving me confidence, and that its finally over. Amazingly, after the whole sermon was over, many people came up to me to say it was a good testimony. I even received an SMS from Matthew to tell me the sharing was good. And the feeling of being complimented after a speech is so good, I can't properly use words to describe it. All these made me reflect about how I felt before the speech - I was feeling worried because I was afraid people will find it boring and fall asleep or something, but God showed me otherwise. Through all those nice things that people said to me after the speech, it was as if He was reassuring me and telling me it was okay.
He made me feel like it was the best speech ever made even though I was feeling quite inadequate about it. God truly is a wonderful God, and even though I know no amount of thanks is ever enough for all the things He has done for me, I still wanna say, thank You.
~
I hurt my right elbow yesterday during training. During one of the service drills I think I shocked it somehow because I was too lazy to move my feet, and my whole arm was in a weird position when I swung forward to hit the ball. It felt as though a lightning bolt just shot through my elbow, with a tingling pain as after effect. It hurts alot when I serve upperhand, so to not aggravate it, I have to resort to serving lowerhand. I thought it was gonna be alright after a while, but this morning I woke up and the pain was still persistent. It hurts alot everytime I bend my elbow. :( I don't know what's wrong, but I hope it gets better quickly.
I guess time is the best healer of all wounds.
writing at 10:43 PM