There were a few days which had been an agony [anguish; misery] for my mum and me. My mum had experienced hurt, hypocrisy, jealousy, despise, neglect, pettiness, false accusation and even almost landed up in a conflict due to some provocative acts of one of the parishioners there. In short, she was utterly disappointed with the church community there. She wanted to leave the church but was in great distress because she finds herself enjoying what she is doing in two of the church ministries: St. Vincent de Paul and the Chinese Charismatic Group. It was a painful struggle for her.
I had tried to dissuade [discourage; deter] her from leaving the church and had repeatedly asked her to ignore those irritating people, but she would think that I advised her to stay on because I want to remain in the Chinese Charismatic Group and in the catechism ministry. (Honestly speaking, I am really sick of the instability due to “migrating” from church to church, which my mother and I had experienced a few years ago.) Thus, whatever I said was pointless to her. Totally at my wits’ end, I saw her tears during her prayers. It was truly tormenting [perturbing; upsetting] for both my mum and me.
Fortunately, as each day passed, my mum was slowly recovering from the emotional struggle. Somehow, the Lord always strengthened her during her sleep as she always woke up, feeling less depressed. The Lord also fortified [strengthened] her through a myriad [numerous] of miraculous ways, such as through the psalms I randomly read in the Bible, the Chinese hymns I was downloading from the Internet and the Chinese Christian songs I played in my CD player. (I dare say that these were all so coincidental [totally unplanned]. Nothing was deliberately pre-arranged.) Whenever my mum received God’s healing through these mediums, she would always be touched to tears. She then began to recall her promise she made to God: to always follow our Lord Jesus Christ and serve him. Finally, she advised herself that as she wanted to stay faithful to the covenant [agreement] she made to God, she would stay on in the church, despite the existing imperfections. I immediately thanked and praised God our Father and the Lord for giving my mother the strength to endure all these tribulations [ordeals; misfortune].
That was not the end of this testimony. As my mother was getting ready to go to church on Wednesday, I picked up the book “The Purpose-Driven Life”, which I have been reading recently. Again, I just randomly opened the book and saw this page that highlights the message: “We must passionately love the church in spite of its imperfections.” Then, I learnt that “longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency [self-contentment; pride]. Maturity is living with the tension [pressure].” I realized that it is very naïve to expect the church to be a perfect place as it is made up of real sinners, including ourselves. I quickly shared this knowledge with my mother and we were both pleased that we have made the right decision with God’s grace. What I had read from that book served as a form of positive reinforcement and explanation from God. Thanks be to God.
I had tried to dissuade [discourage; deter] her from leaving the church and had repeatedly asked her to ignore those irritating people, but she would think that I advised her to stay on because I want to remain in the Chinese Charismatic Group and in the catechism ministry. (Honestly speaking, I am really sick of the instability due to “migrating” from church to church, which my mother and I had experienced a few years ago.) Thus, whatever I said was pointless to her. Totally at my wits’ end, I saw her tears during her prayers. It was truly tormenting [perturbing; upsetting] for both my mum and me.
Fortunately, as each day passed, my mum was slowly recovering from the emotional struggle. Somehow, the Lord always strengthened her during her sleep as she always woke up, feeling less depressed. The Lord also fortified [strengthened] her through a myriad [numerous] of miraculous ways, such as through the psalms I randomly read in the Bible, the Chinese hymns I was downloading from the Internet and the Chinese Christian songs I played in my CD player. (I dare say that these were all so coincidental [totally unplanned]. Nothing was deliberately pre-arranged.) Whenever my mum received God’s healing through these mediums, she would always be touched to tears. She then began to recall her promise she made to God: to always follow our Lord Jesus Christ and serve him. Finally, she advised herself that as she wanted to stay faithful to the covenant [agreement] she made to God, she would stay on in the church, despite the existing imperfections. I immediately thanked and praised God our Father and the Lord for giving my mother the strength to endure all these tribulations [ordeals; misfortune].
That was not the end of this testimony. As my mother was getting ready to go to church on Wednesday, I picked up the book “The Purpose-Driven Life”, which I have been reading recently. Again, I just randomly opened the book and saw this page that highlights the message: “We must passionately love the church in spite of its imperfections.” Then, I learnt that “longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency [self-contentment; pride]. Maturity is living with the tension [pressure].” I realized that it is very naïve to expect the church to be a perfect place as it is made up of real sinners, including ourselves. I quickly shared this knowledge with my mother and we were both pleased that we have made the right decision with God’s grace. What I had read from that book served as a form of positive reinforcement and explanation from God. Thanks be to God.
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