A Time of Peace!

The challenges of the opportunity to co-manage 8 to 12 orphanages in Qinghai become very intense as we near our year end which in Hong Kong is March.  I recently felt very strongly that it was time we mark this new challenge that God gave to us with a prayer/ dedication service.

The prayer service was led by Pastor Peter Hurricks of Resurrection Church in Sai Kung, together with three of the prayer ministry team from the church.

With us were members of the China team who are in Hong Kong on home leave.

All our colleagues who attended had a very meaningful time of sharing and praying together, putting behind us all the tensions and difficulties that tend to build up wherever human beings live and work together, whether in families or in workplaces. 

We regularly need to have these times of refocusing on the ways we reach our goals and fulfil God’s purpose for our lives. That purpose has been unchanged since the beginning of time – and it is to do His will in all things.

I had a clear sense that God was saying to us what He prophesied through the prophet Isaiah about 700 years before the birth of Jesus: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!" (Isaiah 43:19)  At the end of the prayer service, we experienced a new peace, unity, and determination to move forward, doing God's work God's way as we care for those He particularly cares about – the poor and the orphans.  Cindy Pearson, our Special Education Trainer remarked "I felt that it was a new day of remembering that He has the victory.  We planted a stake in the ground that is a reminder that the Victory is His in Hong Kong and in Xining."

Later that day I enjoyed having the China staff come and celebrate Thanksgiving in my home. The dinner was also a Thank You to two of the American girls, who missed Thanksgiving with their families, and our Hong Kong – China colleagues on home leave.

I pray that like us, you too will set aside time in the midst of your busyness to seek God’s peace and direction at what should be the most joyful time of the year!