The other day one of the teachers I work with said, “You have so much courage to come to Taiwan. You didn’t know where you would live. You didn’t know the other Americans. You don’t even know how to speak Chinese.” I felt like laughing because at that moment I certainly didn’t feel very courageous! In fact my first thought was that maybe it was more of a stupid thing that I had done than a courageous thing. My next thought was, “Katrina, on your own you aren’t courageous. The only reason you are here is because of the courage and the strength the Lord gives you.” And so instead of laughing and explaining away what she saw as courage in my life I was able to share with her why I’m in Taiwan. I shared with her that because God wants me here I can ask Him to give me His grace, wisdom, and strength, to make it through the difficult times when I feel alone, confused, frustrated or scared.
And so when I’ve planned my teaching schedule for the day and one period’s plan gets thoroughly changed half a dozen times before the period is over I don’t need to become frustrated because the Lord’s grace is sufficient. When I have no idea how to motivate a class of sixth graders to learn I can ask the Lord for wisdom and He has promised to supply it liberally. When I’m not feeling well and am physically weak and tired I can claim the promise that the Lord’s strength is made perfect in my weakness.
During the past months I’ve been learning a lot about God’s grace. I’ve had many of the things that I placed my security in removed or taken away from me. I’m beginning to see that there are a lot of things that I held on to and looked to for my strength that when things got tough simply didn’t cut it. Today as I was thinking about the past few weeks the chorus to a song came to mind: “You can hold on to sorrow, hold on to pain. You can hold on to anger but there is nothing to be gained. You can hold to a thread at the end of a rope. But if you hold on to Jesus you are holding on to hope.”
For me right now, that’s where it’s at – holding on to Jesus and the grace that He offers me for every situation. And that my friends, is the only reason why I can face each day with courage.
Katrina Nisly
Hualien
