Dawn Watch

We thank God and are overwhelmed in our second morning prayer when we see 10 people show up. Four of them are new believers, have not received baptism. Two of them just became Christian 2 days ago. God is at work, no doubt! May He bless these new converts of His.

The first convert of our church

On Saturday, as usual, we went to the park nearby our house for personal evangelism. After having devotion, four split up into four directions. We often do this to create contacts and share Christ to those spending their weekend there. After almost two hours, I came to Thuan's place to go home with him. I saw him sitting on the bench, expecting me to share with the girl reading beside him. Looking at the watch, I hesitantly sat down and start conversing.

I came to know that Vy, her name, is going to graduate from the Economic University. Hearing to my personal testimony, Vy said she is also experiencing such kind of hardship. I asked how. With a meditating face, she told me about her life story: to her father, mother, and her step-father, she is a child of mistakes; her uncle is the only relative she has and with whom she has been in touch. She has been living alone. Now, she is washing dishes for restaurants for her living expenses and school fee. A courageous and persevering girl! I thought. Then I took a closer look at her; I saw her wearing a stretched and old shirt, a threadbare and worn out pants with an old bag.
Appreciating her courage and determination in overcoming life hardship and difficulties, we invited her home for lunch. During the meal, Thuan shared Christ to her, and then he lent her a Bible. The four of us started praying for Vy, asking God to save her but did not thought He would make it that fast.

On Sunday, we planned to visit her but we failed to do that. Therefore, we made a call to her, intending to set another appointment. Through the phone, we came to know that she was being sick so seriously: headache, dizzy, fainting, and even hard to breath. We prayed for her right that moment and told her that God is every where, if she calls upon His name, he will answer to her prayer.

On Monday, Thuan and I rode to her place. We could not say a word when we saw her rent room. We did not know what to say. She shared a leaking and dilapidated room of around 6 square meters with another girl. It was built temporarily so there are holes on the roof which give them hard time when it rains. She looked fine and smiling when we came. Being asked about health condition, she said she is ok then. We asked her whether she read the Bible we gave. To our amazement, she read from Matthew up to I Corinthians of NT, finished Genesis of OT and half done with Exodus.

We then asked if she prayed yesterday to God. Vy replied: “I don’t know how to pray. I just merely said, ‘Lord, save me through this severe pain.’ And I think He did answer my prayer. Because I have heart disease when I was a child, so every time I get problem with my heart, it would be very serious and it took me long time to recover, not like this time. I know He healed me.”

We then asked her if she found anything similar in Jesus’ life with what she experienced. Surprisingly, she answered us as if she is a long time Christian: “Jesus came, healing the sick and he requires faith. He once said that if we have faith in Him, we can do all things, even removing mountains.” Thuan asked: “Do you now have that faith in Jesus?” “Definitely!” She answered, “Because I experienced that last night.”

Thuan explained further to her about the cross, Jesus’ forgiveness of her sin and the promise of everlasting life, then he invited Vy to receive Christ. When she prayed, she wept over my shoulder: “Jesus, I know You love me. Though I just know You now but I know you have walked with me long time ago already. It is why I could overcome life hardships up to today. Now, as I have You, please be with me and listen to my cry...” We cried together in joy.

We shared a meal with her in her room. I was broken-hearted to what she said to God after her experiencing of God’s healing: “Lord, why did you find me so late? Before I had more difficulties, why did not you come that time to save me?” To us, we know He has His own time and His own way. That’s why we are grateful that He used us. We are grateful, too for this first seed and first ever member of our church. Praise God for what He has done! Please pray for her to stand firm in Christ and grow in Him daily. We are doing our best to be the family to her.

Kairos' Dedication

"Father, we thank You that You gave us Kairos and we offer to You so that You will use Him for Your honor and glory. We are so blessed and grateful that You have found us worthy to birth him and raise him. He is so precious. We are always grateful to You for him. Help us to be goldy parents who would raise Him with the complete fear and love to You. Amen."

Kairos:"Where is my other shoe then?"

Kairos: "Mommy, do you know where is my other shoe?"

Kairos: "The pastor called my name.. =)"
Kairos: "Amen!"

"Things come hard will be more appreciated"

Once answering to the interview, Rick Warren shared his insights on life: "No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for." I totally agree with him.

The due day of Kairos' birth according to the doctor went, Thuan and I had to wait for the day according to God, Thuan and I and Kairos' heavenly Father. Waiting is always an umcomfortable experience. Kairos' two grandmas came just to be there when we were worriedly and eagerly longing to see our baby. God's perfect time came as our his name, Kairos, God's appointed time. I was so sure that I was going to experience a natural delivery. Nervous. Worried. But excited. After 5 hour laboring, the nurse hurrily brought me to delivery room, telling me that everything went so fine and I could deliver Kairos after some more spasms of pain. That's great! God had strengthened me throughout my delivery would surely sustain me these moments. I kept all my breath in my mouth, saving for the last effort when that time came.
Just 5 minitues entering the delivery room, amniotic fluid in my tummy flowed. After the doctor checked. To my fear, he said I needed to go through a surgery due to baby's unconvenient position. They needed Thuan to sign a contract in agreement for me to be operated. I was not prepared for this at all. In pain, a series of question came to me: Why? Why a surgery? Why couldn't I deliver my baby normally? I don't want to be operated. Since my birth, I never had an injection, why now operation? If I accept to be operated, is that an act of submission or lack of faith? What does God really want me to do now? I asked the doctor twice if I could try to make it naturally. The answer was no.

After wrestling with God and myself in pain and shock, Thuan and I decided to trust God for whatever would happen. The surgery went very well. God gave me the peace of mind, expecting my Kairos. Just after few minutes, I heard a crying. It's my baby! It's Kairos! The assistant nurse took him to the adjacent room. I silently saw my baby from far, my tears just overflowed..! There is God's given gift to us, Kairos and here I am, still alive!

Although to avoid pain many women nowadays tend to prefer having an operation than a natural delivery, going through an operation was not what I expected. However, I have seen God's grace upon me through all of these. No matter how unexpected things came before I could see Kairos, there was actually many things good I could thank God for.

Moreover, I thank God for He has used that event to help me feel my family's love in a deeper and a more real way. And now the more I think about Kairos and how God has brought all things work together for our own good, the more I treasure Kairos and appreciate God's work!

"Things come hard will be more appreciated!"

Kairos - God's gift came in person

There are no ways in which we can express how grateful we are to God for you, Son. You are precious! You are our treasure! It was so hard for us to wait for your birth when your due day was over and it was tough to accept that Daddy needs to sign the contract for Mommy to be operated in the last minute because your unconvenient position during the labour. However, God is good in all! We praise God for you and your existence. You are a perfect gift of God for Daddy and Mommy.
Mommy cried over and over in expecting your birth and then came to acknowledge God's awesome work when your grandpa discovered the blessing of your birthday.

You were born in 1.30.09 at 16:00 pm. So when you think of your birthday, just remember Psalm 139:16, which says,

"Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your

book before one of them came to be."

Praise Him! This is the verse including in your "countdown to your birth calendar" (Dec5, 2008 entry).

You are Kairos! You are God's appointed time!

The verse for a New Year

In my personal time with God this very first week of the year 2009, Hebrews 7:25 came to me as a promise from God which moved my heart to worship Him. Jesus is our forever Intercessor!

Each year is an exciting and adventurous journey for me to walk with God and discover His plan for my life. However, this year will be a year with many surprises when I am going to take my noble role of a mother. Things may get harder and life may be more tough than ever since in many ways but I am ready to take that unfamiliar path because I know He will be there, being my Father and taking me through all days of a coming year. I am confident for the fact that Jesus is my Intercessor and He is able to save me completely when I come to God through Him because He always live to intercede for me.

My prayer is that I will be reminded always in time of troubles, of needs, of discouragements, confused, and even happiness, joy, and peace.. that Jesus always intercedes on my behalf and I will be receiving a fruitful and blessed year as God wants.

Please also pray for me. Life has its own periods. I am not a "family" lady but I am learning everyday to finish this period well before I can take another step to finish all well.

Count His blessings

The year of 2008 is over. As we are looking forward to God's new surprises, Thuan and I had our special time to reflect to thank God for the 2008 and pray for 2009.


At first, I spent some time to go through my Thanksgiving Diary which I recorded each time I received a gift from God. Of course there have been more than those many things that God has done for me but the Thanksgiving Diary always helps me to count His blessings well because I am forgetful as other human beings. Amazingly! God had done so many things! And none of them was what I deserved to receive at all. This truth is not just something theological but experiential when I recalled all of my weaknesses and shortcomings in the past year. His strength indeed manifested during those circumstances.


Then, I also reflected on lessons He had taught me this year. I realize that I am not a good student of His. I might have been teachable sometimes but I failed most of His classes. Just like a teacher who comments "grace" for a student to pass his class, He had to do it many times. But it's still a blessing. Because the fact that I am still His student. And I can still sit in His class till I see Him face to face. He never fails me!


Count His blessings, name them one by one... I see His works on me, though not completely and beautifully as how He had designed for but I have learnt to appreciate more His corrections and blessings upon my life. Besides, I also relize that there are so many people God had used to convey His blessings to me throughtout the year and I just could thank God for each one of them and offered special prayers for them each.

"Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits"

Psalm 103:2

A gift to thank God for

Yesterday Thuan's sister-in-law bought all stuffs for our baby as they are also expecting his birth. Another gift to thank God. I have a habit of recording God's gifts in my thanksgiving journal so I added one more gift. They may not know how much it means to me, an expectant mother, to receive clothes and things Kairos. Not things but even a question how I am doing with the baby, how I am feeling, how I am expecting, does he moves in me...? These kinds of questions always brigh smiles to me... It makes me feel the whole world is expecting my baby...


I washed his clothes before putting them all in cabinet. It feels so good! The shirts, socks, hats, handkerchiefs.. are cute and so small...! Looking to my tummy, I told Kairos: "Mommy will be washing clothes for you from this small till your clothes will be bigger, bigger, and bigger..." What an experience!


As I was washing the clothes, I was also thanking God for our sister-in-law and I prayed for Kairos that God would be pleased to choose him for His work. I prayed that Kairos will meet Jesus personally in his young age of life and commit to serve Him. I am overwhelmed by the thought that my son will be used for God's glory in our country.


A gift can be just a gift if we just take it. But it will be more than just a gift if we think about the giver and his or her care and especially the ultimate Giver and His great love in providing it for us. When we think that way to come to God in thanksgiving and giving back to Him all that belonged to Him, we may find another kind of joy. Those moments are precious more than the gift.

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Note: The picture is Thuan when he was around one.

The JoY of The Christmas

"Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan- The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. " Isaih 9:1-3

We thank God for all of your prayers for our ministry this month.

This Christmas has been a great time for both of us.

God had blessed us a good time in the Christmas service last night.

My highlight was the song "Silent night" with the candles of the choir.

It pictures the light which came to the people in darkness.

Thank to the Christ who was born for us and we pray that Christmas will remind and empower each one of us to conduct a Christ-centered life for our heavenly Father's glory.

Pray specifically and receive exactly!

Dear God,
We thank you for leading us to pray specifically for our financial needs. As we prayed for our baby's delivery, we asked You with a strong confidence in Your promise: "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jer. 33:3) And there were times we felt worried, especially when days passed and the unexpected day of the delivery was coming soon, You gently reminded us about our baby's name. We name Him Kairos - God's appointed time. So why we need to worry? You asserted us that You had appointed a time to provide for us. We were lifted up in faith, peace, and confidence by Your gentle reminder. Oh Lord, Your ways and thoughts are unmesurable.
And we could not keep ourselves from shouting "God is so good!" when you provided us exactly the amount we asked for the delivery. When we got it, we knew for what You want us to spend that amount because we asked exactly that much.
We worship You Lord for You have not refused to do good for Your people. We worship You for You remain faithful although we are not faithful many times. We don't deserve to receive Your gift but You have granted them for us, assuring us that You accept our weaknesses and help us to develop our faith in You daily.
We thank You!
We love You!
And we worship You for who You are and everything You have done!
Our baby is blessed though he is not yet born. Praise You!

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!

Thuan: I came to the Philippines, bringing with me a precious gift - the promise that God gave in Isaiah 43“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God.”

I did not know what would happen to me in a foreign land since I could not speak a complete English sentence or pronounce words properly. I came because God called me but I was afraid. The first night I arrived here in Manila, my roommate was very enthusiastic in explaining some house rules to me. I listened but I could not understand what he was talking about.

One morning, while all of my classmates were in class, I was alone in the library. I sat there, feeling frustrated, thinking to quit. An admission staff came to me asking why I did not attend the class. I did not know how to answer. I went home feeling so lonely. That place is called “home” but no one could understand me and I could not understand any of them, too. I cried to God and poured my heart to Him. The Lord gently reminded me of His promise in Isaiah 43 again that He would be with me. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God.” Joy overflowed in my heart. A song came to my mouth. Difficulties were still there but at that moment, I had Him who is always faithful to what He has promised.

Three months later, before the English test the Lord led me to change my two-year course Master of Arts (MA) to three-year course Master of Divinity (Mdiv). I agreed but being alone for three years in the Philippines is too long for me. I asked God that He has to bring Esther, my fiancée to the Philippines to study with me. Thank God I passed the English test and was qualified to take Master of Divinity. I then kept reminding God everyday about Esther’s coming to the Philippines and was sure that was God’s will. But Esther did not feel the same. She was doing pretty well with her business, making quite good money. Therefore, she did not want to come. I forced her, commanded her, beg her. But none of them worked. So I gave up and completely forgot about it. However, the Lord did not. An event caused Esther to seriously reconsider going abroad for theology studies. When she told me, it was too late for the application at the school. In such a late time, the school never gives admission. But in her cause, the school gave a special consideration. God intervened! Her family was convinced this was from God and allowed her to join me. God is faithful.

In my second year it was so wonderful and romantic going to class with Esther, experiencing His faithfulness in many ways. We were encouraged to get married so that we may better support one another in the ministry. We were allowed to go home to get married last December 2006. The given time was short. As students we did not have any resources for the wedding. We could not do anything for our wedding and, we prepared our wedding by prayers alone. God used many friends to prepare every thing for us. He also provided financial needs for us from many different people. We will just go and attend our own wedding in Vietnam. However, we did not know that it was an opportunity for us to prove that God is faithful in a deeper way and to learn how to respond to crisis.

Esther: I was excited that we’re getting married after 6 years in the relationship. We trusted God’s goodness for a blessed wedding. I did not expect that His goodness would be expressed differently to accomplish His purposes. Since my house is far 1000 kilometers from his house, we need to travel at least 16 hours to get there. And while my family and relatives were about to reach his place, they met an accident. Just thirty kilometers near to his house, the truck they were following malfunctioned and the logs that it was carrying hit my parent’s van. Six people got injured, including my parents. When I first heard the news, I was so shocked. I could not believe it. I could not even cry not believe that the incident happened on my own very wedding. My mother had to be hospitalized for surgery. My father was allowed to attend the wedding ceremony but he could not speak a word or even breathe properly because of three broken rips in his chest. Moreover, it was painful for me to accept that my mother’s face was never the same again after that accident. How could I say that God is faithful in the midst of this painful experience? Is this really a blessed wedding for me? However, my husband gently told me, “I know we have a lot of questions in mind about this incident but let us try to think what we can thank God through this?” so, I paused for a while, being silent before God in remembering from the day we started preparing for this wedding, thankfulness overflowed in my heart. I started to cry, I do not know why at that moment! I just wept literally. Three things I surely could thank God came to my mind. First, traditionally, my husband and I should travel with my family but we asked their permission to leave one day ahead that’s why we were not in the van during the accident. Second, my grandma who is 84 years old now wanted to join the wedding but she stumbled 2 days before my wedding, that’s why she stayed back and avoided from the accident. If she was in the van, she must have died. Third, even though the accident might cause 4 or 5 people to die but God protected all, no one died because if it had ever happened, our wedding definitely could not proceed then. My husband asked me to pray aloud a thanksgiving prayer. We cried and asked for His peace and His help so that we can see Him in this incident. Thanking God and acknowledging His sovereignty we declared His faithfulness before hundreds of guests attending our wedding. Many of them are nonbelievers.

Those who attended our wedding said that God used our faith in Him to turn sufferings into blessings. However, the process to fully praise God in trials and sufferings is not fast and easy at all. I returned to the Philippines to continue my study. I dared not think about that incident, afraid that I would complain to God thus making Him sad because of repeatedly questioning why He allowed it to happen. However, when I studied about God’s attributes, I was finally convinced that GOD is FAITHFUL and GOOD. I understand personally that His goodness is not defined by human terms. The sufferings we went through were His plan to accomplish His purpose for each one of us in my family. Certainly, His purpose is always perfect. We have become more humble and dependant on Him after that incident. Truly, I was not mistaken in choosing to trust in His faithfulness. We praised Him for He remains faithful even if we could not understand.

"All things work for our good though sometimes we don’t see how they could. Struggles that break our hearts in two sometimes blinded to the truth. Our Father knows what’s best for us His ways are not our own. So when your pathway grows dim and you just don’t see Him, remember you’re never alone.

God is too wise to be mistaken God is too good to be unkind. So when you don’t understand when you don’t His plan when you can’t trace His hand trust His heart.
He sees the master plan and He holds our future in His hand so don’t live as those who have no hope for our hope is found in Him. We see the present clearly but He sees the first and the last and like a tapestry He’s weaving you and me to someday be just like Him.

God is too wise to be mistaken God is too good to be unkind. So when you don’t understand when you don’t His plan when you can’t trace His hand trust His heart. He alone is faithful and true He alone knows what is best for you. (TRUST HIS HEART)"

MY SALVATION TESTIMONY

MY EVERLASTING HOPE

Have you ever been in despair? It was a terrible experience in my life!

I was born in a religiously diverse family. My grandfather was a Confucian and my grandmother was an ancestor worshiper. My father was an atheist and my mother was a Buddhist. Following our mother, my five siblings and I went to the Buddhist pagoda regularly. So, we obviously had no relationship with Christ and Christianity, and because of these reasons, I did not like Jesus. In fact, when I was about 2 years-old, while playing with my older brother I fell down from the bed to the ground and became unconscious for few hours. My grandmother who was a very strong ancestor worshipper found out that one old lady, a spinster who had a very far relationship with me died but no one worshipped her so her spirit caught my life. Knowing that from a sorcerer, my grandmother built an altar and worshipped that spirit on behalf of me and I was alive again.

I had a prosperous life in our remote mountain village. My parents lived kindly, so, during my childhood, I was safe under their care and love. I thought my life just was smooth. However, trouble began occurring when my grandfather got cancer. We sold all our property to heal him but he died, leaving us with poor. Since then, quarrels some times occurred in my family. We worked hard to maintain our status as well-to-do family, but could not. I soon realized how disappointing that was, and began searching for hope.

Not long after that, my father was arrested because he refused to receive bribe to sell the forest in our hometown. He was sentenced to three years in prison. As a 14 year-old girl with 4 younger, very young brothers and sister, my darkest time really came then. We were so poor that we ate rice with salt for long time. We intensified our prayers to Buddha and ate vegetarian food more than usual, hoping that Buddha would save us.

However, many other troubles came. To my horror, my mother became seriously sick and my older brother began going with bad friends and causing many problems. Those were my horrible days. I both studied and shared my mother’s burden by doing various kinds of hard work, such as: selling food in markets and streets, serving at bus stations, and working on the fields. I lived such a miserable and hopeless plight.

After that, my father was released but our situation was not better and we could not live in our place any more. So, we moved to a city, hoping to survive. And yet, different from our expectations, we fell into unemployment, famine, debt, and lived in a miserable rental slum dwelling. My father could not suffer the situation any longer; so he returned to our hometown and left us in the city. We were such despair that many times we wanted to commit suicide to end our miserable lives, and my mother ever tried to kill herself but she did not succeed.

We tried to cling to each other in a bad rental room until we could not pay monthly rental; then we had no place to live. After wandering overnight, we sat down on the rubbish area. My mother comforted us: “After a storm comes a calm. Tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow will come. . . The brightness will come. . . ” I asked her: “Mommy, but when will be our tomorrow? When? ” In the gloomy darkness, I knew she was crying.

Finally, “tomorrow” came. One old man shared with me about the hope of life found through Jesus’ salvation. He said that Jesus cared my entire burden and if I came to Him and brought Him my burdens and misery, Jesus would carry them for me all. I was like a drowning person grasping for a life boat. He was just a one-week old believer. He also lived with us in the same place, experiencing the same despair and misery but I saw something change in his life. He looked more happy, optimistic, and peaceful. In my mind, I had a concept that Jesus must be very powerful that could change his life. Though I did not understand clearly who Jesus was and how he could share my burden, I willingly accepted Jesus with three other members in my family. I wished I would to be like that old man, experiencing joy and peace.

Truly, Jesus was my “tomorrow.” He was the true and eternal hope for which I was longing. I invited Jesus come into my heart and offered my entire burden. I told Him that I no longer wanted to die; but, from now on, I desired to live in order to discover who He is and experience how good He is. I also asked His forgiveness for worshipping other gods but not Him. The four of us promised together from that very moment, we would worship Him only. Also on that very night, we threw out of our house the idols of two gods that we were worshipping, one is the god of money and another is the god of soil.

I will never forget the unusual hope filling each of our hearts at that moment. Actually, I can not explain why I experienced that unusual feeling but I just had faith that Jesus was in my heart and that He would bring me a new life. Even though I did not know how He would help us, I trusted in Him absolutely. I told my mother that Jesus was so real, unlike Buddha. We all agreed that we did not experience anything when we prayed to Buddha but right that night after praying to Jesus, the overwhelming joy poured out over us. We eagerly planned how we could attend Christian meetings to know more about Him and we also discussed the best way to share this good news to my father who was hard-hearted with his atheism.

Miraculously, God started His good works through our lives to unify us in one faith. During next six months, seven others in my family, one by one, received Jesus, including my father. Jesus became the God that my whole family worshipped and adored, since He is the source of all true hope for us. I still remember the overwhelming joy that I experienced when I led my grandmother in the prayer to receive Christ. And on that very night, in the name of Jesus I destroyed most of the altars in our house, including the altar of my grandfather. Later on, we destroyed also the altar of the old lady spirit that my grandmother was worshipping on my behalf.

God helped us to face all of difficulties by His strength. My whole family sat down together, prayed to Him, and shared our troubles. Amazingly enough, God provided us a place in the city to do our business. Therefore, we not only could live but also pay our debt.
Furthermore, He changed each of us in different wonderful ways. My father enjoyed his work and cared for my family, my mother got strength from God to do her job, and my brother, he left his bad friends.

Though some financial troubles remained, we absolutely trusted in God’s help. Though we lived in any places and circumstances, His hope dwelled in our hearts. We knew for sure that He had a wonderful plan for us. Therefore, we lived hopeful and meaningful lives.

After our conversion 3 years, we returned to our hometown and my family was the first members of the first church established in the area since we were the first fruits of the gospel there. We are now a pastoral family with all of memebers having heart for God's work. We will be always grateful about the day that God came, touched our lives, and bestowed His mwercy upon us.

Jesus Christ came and shined the light of hope in my life. Living in Him, despair turned to hope; as it says in the Bible, “In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope (I Peter 1:3).

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For the video of the testimony, click in http://karisphan.multiply.com/video/item/93/My_everlasting_hope

It was recorded during my sharing opportunity in CCF, Philippines. And here are some pictures which may show you our family's transfomation.

Six of us in 2001 (I am the second)

In 2002
In 2003
In 2004
In 2005