An encouraging sign! :)
Yesterday was Sunday, and I went to church as per normal. Went through all the youth activities, then went for service. After service, I was just talking to some of the youths, when an unexpected appearance by one of my friends surprised me! At the same time, his appearance was an encouraging sign to me.
For several months, this friend, who was born into church, had not been going to church. Caught up with too many other things, I didn't start trying to reach out to him till a few months after he started disappearing. Some time after that, we met up with a group a few times, but as other things kept on coming in (actually I probably was trying to reach out to too many people), I kind of lapsed in keeping in contact for him for several weeks. Over the past 3-4 weeks, I made repeated persistent efforts to try and contact him, but largely to no avail, until last Thursday morning, when he replied the sms (and the missed call) I sent to him on Wednesday night. And next thing you know, he appeared back in church, after months of disappearance!!
Many times, when I try reaching out to people by contacting them, I often worry that I would end up irritating them. For example, if someone left church and I try to contact that person over and over again through sms and calls, it may end up irritating that person right? However, I slowly came to realise that it was better for me to try contacting others several times and stand the risk of irritating them, but at least show that I care for them and have not forgotten them, rather than not contacting them at all as it shows apathy. Sometimes, people who have left church won't respond when people from church try contacting them. However, through repeated attempts to contact them, showing them that I care, I've found it possible to regain contact with people who I've lost contact with for quite long.
For my friend, when he ignored my repeated attempts to contact him over the past few weeks, I knew it wasn't a good sign. He could be having problems and didn't want to talk to me, or he could have already decided not to come back to church. I knew time was running out (or I feared it had already run out) and risking irritating him, I smsed and called him repeatedly over these few weeks. I had no idea how much chance I had of bringing him back, and that didn't feel very good, but I continued to pray for his response. Hope was just a silver lining but I gave it my best and let God do the rest.
Seeing my friend in church yesterday, it really felt like all the hard working reaching out to him had finally paid off. Doing what I could do and leaving the rest to God really had encouraging rewards. Personally, I feel that this is an encouraging sign from God to do my best even in unlikely situations. For now, I will aim for my next goal, even though it really seems quite improbable. Yet at the same time, I will continue to invest time and effort for reaching out to my friend.
For several months, this friend, who was born into church, had not been going to church. Caught up with too many other things, I didn't start trying to reach out to him till a few months after he started disappearing. Some time after that, we met up with a group a few times, but as other things kept on coming in (actually I probably was trying to reach out to too many people), I kind of lapsed in keeping in contact for him for several weeks. Over the past 3-4 weeks, I made repeated persistent efforts to try and contact him, but largely to no avail, until last Thursday morning, when he replied the sms (and the missed call) I sent to him on Wednesday night. And next thing you know, he appeared back in church, after months of disappearance!!
Many times, when I try reaching out to people by contacting them, I often worry that I would end up irritating them. For example, if someone left church and I try to contact that person over and over again through sms and calls, it may end up irritating that person right? However, I slowly came to realise that it was better for me to try contacting others several times and stand the risk of irritating them, but at least show that I care for them and have not forgotten them, rather than not contacting them at all as it shows apathy. Sometimes, people who have left church won't respond when people from church try contacting them. However, through repeated attempts to contact them, showing them that I care, I've found it possible to regain contact with people who I've lost contact with for quite long.
For my friend, when he ignored my repeated attempts to contact him over the past few weeks, I knew it wasn't a good sign. He could be having problems and didn't want to talk to me, or he could have already decided not to come back to church. I knew time was running out (or I feared it had already run out) and risking irritating him, I smsed and called him repeatedly over these few weeks. I had no idea how much chance I had of bringing him back, and that didn't feel very good, but I continued to pray for his response. Hope was just a silver lining but I gave it my best and let God do the rest.
Seeing my friend in church yesterday, it really felt like all the hard working reaching out to him had finally paid off. Doing what I could do and leaving the rest to God really had encouraging rewards. Personally, I feel that this is an encouraging sign from God to do my best even in unlikely situations. For now, I will aim for my next goal, even though it really seems quite improbable. Yet at the same time, I will continue to invest time and effort for reaching out to my friend.
posted by Guangrong at
11:12 pm
