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“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4)

I thank and praise God who, in spite of myself, has brought me to this place.  It has been a long, 22 years journey since I first began college and Bible study.  During those years I have faced numerous hardships, sufferings and trials, but through it all God has remained absolutely faithful to me.  When others felt like just giving up on me, I always knew that God never would.  God showed me how much He loved me time and time again, and even when I wanted to give up, He wouldn’t let me.  He kept reminding me of His one-sided grace to me and the extent He was willing to go to purchase my salvation.  God sent His one and only Son to pay the price that I deserved for my countless sins.  God was willing to die for me, so how could I ever give up on Him.  I decided long ago that no matter what happened I was not going to quit on God.  I evaluated my life and concluded that God had brought me to UBF so that I could know Him and grow as His disciple.  So in the early 1990’s I made a simple decision never to leave this church family unless God removed me Himself.  This sounds like a very simple decision to keep, but I can assure you this was not at all easy for me.  Over the years I experienced so many personal failures and hardships it seemed like I would never be able to keep this decision.  At times I felt like the blackest of all the black sheep and I felt that nobody wanted me around.  Yet in spite of myself God helped me to persevere by continually reminding me of His one-sided grace through His precious servants.  Over the years, I’m sure most people came to the conclusion that I would never graduate from college.  Even when I returned from Korea for this purpose I am sure that many, if not most people in UBF thought that this would not happen – heck I didn’t even think it would happen.  But by the grace of God, it has happened faster than anyone thought possible.  In fact, it is a miracle that I am graduating tomorrow on May 7, 2011. I needed two Math classes in order to graduate and one of them was a prerequisite for the other.  The prerequisite class has not been offered in the spring semester for at least the last four years. And even though it wasn’t listed in the class schedule it was added this year.  Secondly, the professor who taught the higher class was a man who did everything strictly by the book, so the undergraduate advisor told me not even to bother asking him to get into that class – she told me there was no way he would let me in.  I asked him anyway and he said OK, but he only gave me a 1% chance of passing.  By God’s grace I was able to get the two classes I needed and by His grace alone I was able to pass them both.  So here I stand and this is my testimony – if we persevere through any hardships for the glory of God, He is able to give us the victory.  Through the past 22 years God has shown me the truth of these verses (see key verses). Through perseverance God has built my character and God has given me hope.  He has opened doors for me and given me hope that one day I can go out to serve Him in any mission field He has prepared for me.  Now I am praying to enter a master’s program in TESOL so that I can be fully equipped to serve Him as a permanent missionary anywhere.  He has also given me hope that in His time, if this is His will for me, I can establish and support a house church.  But most of all by persevering through all of my own failings, hardships, sufferings and trials, God has given me a glorious hope that He will never give up on me until the day I meet Jesus in His glorious heavenly Kingdom. 

One Word:  Persevere and God will give you victory and hope.