Family Visit to Taiwan

After six years, we visited our parent in Taipei this time. The plan was first initiated by our youngest daughter about six months ago. She started praying to God to allow our family to be able to visit Taiwan. When I first heard, my innate response deep within was, it would be difficult considering the cost for flight tickets and many other expenses. I did not pay much attention to it then, reckoning the prayer as childish. But later, it was proved as a childlike prayer in simplicity with faith. As she continued to pray every night ferventy in our daily prayer meeting, I began to consider seriously before the Lord. When I prayed about it and fellowshipped with my wife, I realised that it was the Lord’s desire for us to visit Taiwan.

One day, a co-working brother was with us after a training and we had to drop him to the Airport in New Delhi. As I drove him, he fellowshipped with my wife about our parents and even suggested that we visit them. This to me was a confirmation to the prayer initiated by our young daughter of 10 years old. A few days later, he informed us that we could also visit Singapore on the way. The suggestion sounded very good to us. Then, we started praying about it daily as a family and even in my personal prayer. Gradually, the matter became very clear. 

Once I was sure it was from the Lord, I had the faith that the Lord will also provide the needed money for our flight tickets and other expenses. Then, my prayer turned from the will of God to the way of God. After a month or so, the Lord also provided the needed money for the flight tickets. Then, the prayer went into more detail on the date, duration, and carrier. All this became more and more clear until one night I finally booked the tickets. Along with this, I also planned for joining the church administration visit of the brothers from India to the churches in Taiwan. Everything fit right in!

Even only the process of prayer, planning, and preparing itself taught me a lot of spiritual lessons and experiences of the Lord. His definite leading and provision added to the riches of experiencing Him subjectively. 

When we actually carried out the plan, we enjoyed the Lord’s bountiful supply in His tender human care. The Lord was so good in meeting all our human needs, even making us happy emotionally. He is indeed the God of small things too! He used the brothers in Singapore to take a good care of us in a fine and detailed way to the extend the we spent nothing from own own pocket in the entire trip, yet on us it was spent a lot. The saints took care of our evey need; food, lodging, transportation, and even our visit to different places of tourism and sightseeing. On top of that, we received double offering in Singapore Dollar and Taiwan Dollar. Our God is a living God. Even so living to take care of even a very practical and human needs too.

In Taiwan too, the Lord provided offering through various channels to meet all our expenses to the extend that we could offer to a needy saint who was in a hospital and also offered to the church giving us hospitality. Besides, we could vist various places of interests to my children, bought gifts for the saints and families in India apart from buying whatever needs for ourselves. The Lord provided everything abundantly even to meet our human needs. Praise the Lord!

Most importantly, we also spent time with our parent, grandpa who is 88 and grandma 82. Our presence itself was their joy though we could not converse much. Each time we met, the best we could do was just pray together. And on our final day, we printed a family photo, framed it, and presented to them along with a laminated photo of grandpa, me, and my son and captioned, "Be a Pattern!" This was the phrase I selected from the verse:

Let no one despise your youth, but be a pattern to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12, RecVer)

I added a banner, "Jesus is Lord! Christ is Victor!" Above my signature I also wrote, "God Blessings in Three Generations! 23 June 2024 (the date we took the photoshot).

After 21 days of family visit to Taiwan, 14 days for me as I joined the brothers in India for a week of church visits, then we flew back to India today. The trip taught me a lot of spiritual lesson in a deeper way and a lot of experiences and enjoyment of Christ and His church. 

For all these visits to Singapore and Taiwan, we did prepare sufficient money from our side for our expenses. But we spent nothing from what we had prepared. Instead,  in addition to spending from the Lord’s provision, we received much much more offering, even more than double the entire flight expenses. The Lord blessed us in abundance. True indeed that where the will of God led us, the grace of God provided us, even in abundance!

Lord, continue to bless the churches in Singapore and Taiwan!

Lord, prepare and perfect us to be patterns from what we have seen, heard, and learned from the patterns.