Happenings of the Wu Family

Ok, I know it's not fair to just post on FB:

"Today the DEVIL made me an "in your face" dare!!! To my surprise, it made me smile..."

So... I shall explain...

In order to do that, I need to take you back a few weeks, no, a couple of months... wait! Actually it's more like, a lot of months... Sorry, mommy-brainism tends to not do so well with timelines these days...

Anywaaaaaay... As some of you know, our church will be planting a new church, www.imprintchurch.org this year. Having been with a church plant (back in our PHX days), and having been so blessed by our friendships and growth there - we were naturally excited! Excited at the thought that God's church is multiplying, excited that we get the opportunity to pray for the leaders and excited for all the lives it will touch!

Then a few weeks ago (ok, this is for real, a few weeks) we had the opportunity to do lunch with the church planting family. Our initial thoughts, when we schedule the lunch, was to hear more so that we can pray for those who will be sent. However, as we chatted with Darren and Kelly, we couldn't help but get the sense that we were invited to considering going with them. Yes, you can kind of say we walked right into that one! All jokes aside, Chiyang and I decided it was time to really pray about it.

As we put more thought and prayer into the decision, I started feeling like this was a decision that really could go either way. There were areas of ministry we could step up to support in NSB and there was Imprint where we could go and be a support in whichever way God wanted us to. You know how when you are trying to make a decision, there are always "pushes" and "pulls". In this case, there were many "pulls" but no "pushes". This can sometimes make decision-making harder. However, the more I pondered on them, the more excited I just kept getting for both options. Giving it to God was all I could do, and asking him to show us more clearly, would be the best decision. I did however, feel more convinced that God was telling us our time of rest from service is coming to an end.

As we considered the options of staying at NSB or going to Imprint, I also started to feel illness creep up on me. It started with a sniffle, then sinusitis, then uveitis, then epi-scleritis, arthritis, then the dreaded round two REPEAT... Then a thought came to me on Sunday afternoon... What if the devil is behind my bout of sickness? Wow! We are "just" praying about this decision, it's "just" a conversation... Isn't it? And, he is already attacking my health? Wow!

Fast forward to this afternoon. As I was leaving the grocery store, Carol Mullen, the first face I met at NSB 4 years ago, came running towards me from the parking lot. We haven't seen each other in a while, for she had gone to support another church planted by another NSB pastor. We gave each other nice big "I've-miss-you" hugs. I asked how was she doing, how's church, chit-chat stuff. She started saying things are alright. I smiled. She told me she is now the women's ministry person for that church. I was thrilled for her. Then I asked her about a little scab on her forehead, and she proceeded to tell me she got something removed because it was pre-cancerous. I told her to take care of herself. Then she told me about more health issues with family and the list went on... The kids started to require attention and we quickly exchanged "hope to see you around again-s" and scurried off to our errands.

As I drove home, I reflected on what Carol told me. I thought back to our time in Phoenix with a church plant (odd co-incidence, I was also the women's ministry coordinator). How excited we were when we jumped into serving at church and how I got really sick. The kind of sick you feel like you are going to die sick... So sick that the people who I foolishly thought I had "signed up" to serve, were instead, serving me and my family dinners while I was flat on my back sick. Then, in the midst of my thoughts, the DEVIL'S DARE came to me... It wasn't loud, it wasn't dramatic, it was "just" a short quiet whisper, but very bold. He said, "yeah, you go jump into ministry, and we'll both see how sick you'll get this time round." I could almost hear him wink after his finished speaking that. I caught my breath, then my face broke into a grin... I couldn't believe my own response... All I could think of was "I have to tell Chiyang!!!" We just got "pushed"!!!

After sharing with Chiyang about my day, he quoted William Carey, "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God".

We had never meant to share so publicly so early in our process, however, after this afternoon's "dare", I feel like we need all our friends to pray for us. To pray that the spirit of fear will not take hold of our hearts, that we will hear God clearly and we will serve him only... We will spend the next few weeks, maybe months (there I go again), praying for clarity... Till then, thank you for reading this entire post.