(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good morning.

(soft piano music) Hello, good morning, everyone. Welcome to our Women's Ministry event. This is our first and hopefully not last. This is my story, this is my song. We're gonna start off the morning with a time of praise, a time of worship, and then we're going to be hearing from a few of our very own Burian sisters as they recount on God's transformative work in their lives and how God has been so faithful.

We have four sisters who are going to be sharing, and after that, we will be in our groups sharing with one another our testimonies and how God has been working. So we are very excited for that. This is such a special time. I've talked to many people, and everyone was so excited for this because we've been talking about doing something like this but haven't quite done it yet.

And so we hope and we pray that as we are sharing and hearing and listening, that God would really be glorified and exalted and that we would be encouraged. So let me pray for us, and then we'll begin. God, we just thank you so much for being so good and so faithful.

Lord, you are deserving and worthy of all of our praise and all of our worship. What a blessing it is that we can gather together as sisters to share our testimonies and share how you have been mightily working in our lives. Lord, we pray that this time of worship would be acceptable and pleasing to you.

May your name and your name alone be exalted and lifted high during our time of sharing, during our time of worship and fellowship even. As we hear these testimonies of our sisters and as we share our own stories, may it be a reminder of the powerful and transformative work of the cross.

May we be bold in sharing and finding our confidence in only in you. Lord, we pray that we can be honest and vulnerable as we share how you have been working in our lives. Lord, may you be exalted, may you be glorified. In your son's name we pray, amen.

Why don't we stand and prepare our hearts for worship. I sing praises to your name O Lord, praises to your name O Lord, for your name is great and greatly to be praised I sing praises I sing praises to your name O Lord, praises to your name O Lord, for your name is great and greatly to be praised I give glory to your name O Lord, glory to your name O Lord, for your name is great and greatly to be praised I give glory to your name O Lord, glory to your name O Lord, for your name is great and greatly to be praised One more time, for your name For your name is great and greatly to be praised Marvelous grace of our loving Lord Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt Yonder on Calvary's mount upon There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that is greater than all our sin Sin and despair like the sea waves cold Threaten the soul with infinite loss Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold Points to the refuge, the mighty cross Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that is greater than all our sin Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace Freely bestowed on all who believe You that are longing to see His face Will you this moment His grace receive?

Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that is greater than all our sin Grace, grace, grace, God's grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that is greater than all our sin Let's sing "Blessed is Shrine" Blessed is Shrine Jesus is mine Oh, what a foretaste Of glory divine Heir of salvation Purchased of God Born of His Spirit Lost in His love Yeah, this is my story This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long Perfect salvation All is at one I am my Savior And happy am I Watching and waiting Looking above Filled with His goodness I stand here This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long Can you wait, Jen?

Okay. So next we're going to have four of our sisters, our very own sisters, share their testimonies with us. I'm going to introduce them. The first one will be our sister Jen Choi, and then it'll be Bia Lim, Helen Shin, and Cheryl Tang. It's never easy to speak in front of a large crowd of people, so if you can please keep them in your prayers and be attentive as they share their stories, may we be encouraged by all that they have to share.

Okay, thank you. Hello. Okay. Hi, everyone. My name is Jen Choi. I'm part of the family ministry. My husband Jason and I have been married for 14 years, and we have one son, Ethan, who is 5 years old, and this is my story. As long as I can remember, I've always been a very shy and insecure person who was always worried about what other people thought of her.

I'm also naturally a very pessimistic and anxious person, and if I had to describe my life in one word before Christ, it would be "sad." I grew up for most of my life going to church on and off with my family, but I never thought too much of what I actually believed.

When I was in 5th grade, my mom passed away from cancer when she was 41 years old, and I didn't know how to process it, so I just went right back to school and wouldn't talk about it. I didn't have faith or an understanding of who God was in my life and would break down and cry any time I tried to talk about what happened.

My dad remarried when I was 13, and thankfully my stepmom really loved and committed to me and my sister and helped me navigate through my teenage years. She instilled in us the importance of church and reading the Bible, which God used to guide me to bring in even after I moved out of the house for college.

I'm so grateful God has given me loving parents, including both my moms who love me so much, and through this I can see that family is more than being blood-related, which ties into the later part of my story. When I was in high school, I started serving at my church and thought that I was a Christian because I did the right things, but if you were to ask me, "What is the gospel?" or "Why did Jesus have to die for you?" I really had no idea because I never thought about it.

I was just religious but had no personal relationship with Christ. I decided to go to college at UCI and move away from my home in NorCal. My main goal at that time was just to make friends and do well in school. But by God's grace, I still wanted to go to church.

I ended up joining a campus ministry where older sisters and brothers invited me to Bible study and would pick me up every week for church. I felt very out of place at first because I wasn't used to being around people who were so excited to talk about God and want to worship Him and know Him and His word.

It made me actually feel really uncomfortable because I didn't think about those things, but it made me wonder why I didn't. Throughout my freshman year, I was growing in my understanding of the Bible and I was learning more about God's holiness and calling for His people. I realized how sinful I was and why I was in need of God's forgiveness through Christ's sacrifice.

But throughout my freshman year, even though I was learning so much, I was still living a life focused on very self-centered things and prioritizing relationships and my own future plans. I wasn't living according to the calling I saw in Scripture, and I was really unsettled in my heart. I knew deep down that the worldly things I was pursuing didn't fulfill me, but at the same time, I couldn't let them go.

Because of this, I wasn't very open with other sisters at church, and I felt a lot of guilt and shame. But thankfully, in God's perfect timing, He brought me to repentance and a desire to pursue Him wholeheartedly. I continued to grow and be a part of the church, learning from older sisters' examples and learning what it meant to live a sanctified life under Christ's Lordship.

I also realized that God was sovereign over every event and circumstance in my life, and I came to have a joy, thankfulness, peace, and contentment that was never possible for me before. This was 21 years ago, and I wish I could share that since then I've always been faithful to the Lord, but it has truly been a growing process to remember God's promises every day.

When I first graduated from college and moved back home to NorCal, it was the first time I had been away from my church community since God saved me. I had pride that I would not struggle, but I quickly realized how weak I was by my own strength, and I found myself questioning my own salvation.

In my pride, I didn't openly share these feelings with others and would tell myself that once I was doing better that I would share with them, but that led me to feeling more hopeless and isolated. God used that period to humble me and remind me why Christ had to die on the cross for me.

He helped me see that I really could not do anything on my own and truly I need a repentance daily and an honesty with my struggles because only then could I lift them up to him and be able to start again knowing that he is the one who will carry me to completion until the end.

This season of life carried into the early years of my marriage after I finished nursing school. I'm so thankful that God has given me a godly, loving husband who genuinely desires to live faithfully and humbly before the Lord, but we did go through a time of drifting earlier in our marriage when we were living in L.A.

and working really high-stress jobs. I could feel that my heart was distant from God and I couldn't honestly say that I was seeking his kingdom over my own. I thank God that in his grace he caused our hearts to repent and see that we need to abide in him and obey when he convicts us in his word.

Throughout the years, we like many couples had plans for our lives, finishing school, finding jobs, starting a home and a family together, and it wasn't until our life didn't go according to our timeline that I realized I was constantly waiting for that next season of life to be more faithful.

God, in his grace, convicted us through his word to see that he alone is worthy of our worship and pursuits and we needed to change our priorities. During that time, Jason and I had already been open to having children for a few years and I had switched my nursing job to a mother-baby postpartum unit.

In God's plan for me, I never actually ended up getting pregnant, but during those years, he opened our hearts to adoption. Honestly speaking, it was not easy waiting on God's plan for our family and I would have moments of sadness, stress, and impatience. I wrestled with comparing myself with my peers, feeling behind, not feeling in the same season of life as them.

I wrestled with my identity and if I could still live a fulfilled life even if I couldn't have children. I kept coming back to the same question, "Can I bring glory to God without having kids?" and my answer that God gave me was always yes. During those years, God gave us many opportunities to read through scripture in various small groups.

I saw God's sovereignty and faithfulness to his promises throughout all of time and in particular, I remember meditating on Sarah's life when she was waiting on God's promise for children and Joseph when he was wronged and forgotten through the prime years of his life. And yet, God was always working and desired for them to trust him and live faithfully in the circumstances he had ordained.

Jason and I asked God to help us trust him during those times of waiting and uncertainty and he opened our hearts to adoption. During those years of waiting, I worked in a department where all my coworkers were women and could sympathize with infertility which allowed me to more clearly share my hope in joining Christ alone.

And through being familiar with prenatal records and meeting birth moms, foster moms, adoptive moms at work, I grew a heart for them as we started our own adoption journey. God truly wastes nothing. As many of you know, we adopted our son Ethan almost four years ago and he is such a gift and blessing and joy to our family.

Each step of the adoption process was truly in God's perfect plan which I would love to share with you one day when we have more time. God has continually been growing me to see in our salvation. He has purposed good works for us to do in this life and I hope to trust in him in the ways he has planned out for my life, for his glory.

I was also asked to share about God's faithfulness in teaching me to be the wife that he calls us to be and to share an encouragement with you all. Before I was a Christian, my thoughts were always around how could I benefit myself. I wanted to have a successful career, be financially stable and if I were ever to get married, it would definitely have to be 50/50.

I couldn't stand the thought of being taken advantage of or being mistreated and I had fears of commitment. There were many marriages and relationships around me that were broken and I had dated before and knew that relationships don't always last. At one of my first Bible studies at Berean, they were going over Ephesians 5 and I remember feeling really, really upset about the passage calling wives to submit to their husbands.

I believe that submission could never work because of the subjective experiences I had been around but I grew in my understanding that God is the creator and sovereign and that he intended all things including marriage for good and for a specific purpose. I had to reconsider and objectively think about what marriage was intended for and thankfully God allowed me to observe godly marriages at this church and I was surprised to see that their obedience and desire to honor God first, that their marriages were actually more joyful and peaceful than what I had observed in the world.

When I considered marriage while I was dating Jason, I had a lot of fears. Fears if one of us died early, what if we had a lot of difficulties, what if we went through hardships. I wrestled with so many things but ultimately I realized I could trust God with any outcome because he is good and perfect in his plan.

He calls us to seek his kingdom first and to lift up any anxieties or worries to him in prayer. Jason and I have been married for 14 years now and I can honestly say that marriage is such a gift and a blessing which comes a long way from how I thought before.

It wasn't always easy though as our marriage revealed a lot of my own sins, selfishness and ways of thinking that I needed to change. Philippians 2 is a passage that I cling to often and pray and meditate over when I selfishly want to think in marriage, what about me?

Because when I see the humble servant love of Christ, though he was God yet would choose to love simple people like us, how can I say that I cannot give more or forgive more or serve more when I myself am a sinner too? I see more clearly that being a wife is simply being a Christian in a marriage context.

Being a faithful wife is not only a blessing to our husbands but it is a building up of the church and a testimony to the world that God's covenant, love and promises are so good and better than the world has to offer. I have not lived perfectly but in repentance and obedience I've experienced the sweetness and joy of living in God's will as a wife.

I see that I'm called to be Jason's helper to pray for him and see how I can be a blessing to him. In opposition to what the world tells us, as Christian wives we are called to seek the benefit of others above ourselves. Even at times I may feel justified in my anger or frustration or when I may feel discontent, God has shown me that ultimately my own sins are what he wants to change.

I see that being a good helper is not a passive thing but very active and I cannot be a good helper if I myself am not right with the Lord and I need to know God's word to get biblical input when we make decisions together. I hope that I and all the wives in this room can pray and be guided by God's word as we seek to help our husbands so that we can be a blessing to them and know that God's will for us is to be their suitable helper.

There are many godly women in this room and I have personally been so blessed to have examples for me to learn from and I hope that we can all run this race together to be women of God pleasing in his sight. As I was reflecting on a song to sing together with you all I chose one where the lyrics reflect how I see God's goodness in my life and this is my song, "Yet not I, but through Christ in me." Thank you.

What gift of grace is Jesus mighty to give me? There is no more for heaven and earth to give. He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom, my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus, for my life is wholly bound to him.

Oh, how strange and divine I can see, oh, it's mighty yet not I, but through Christ in me. The night is dark, but I am not forsaken, for by my side the Savior he will stay. I'll never run in weakness and rejoicing, for in my need his power is displayed.

To this I hold, my shepherd will defend me, through the deepest valley he will lead me. All that I have has been mine, and I shall overcome, yet not I, but through Christ in me. No fate I tread, I know I am forgiven. The future sure, the present has been paid.

For Jesus bled and suffered for my blood, and he was raised to overthrow the grave. To this I hold, my sin has been defeated. Jesus, now and ever, is my plea. All the chains are released, I can see I am free, yet not I, but through Christ in me.

With every breath I long to follow Jesus, for he has said that he will bring me home. And day by day I know he will renew me, until I stand with joy before the throne. To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus. All the glory evermore to him.

When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, yet not I, but through Christ in me. And not I, but through Christ in me. Hello. Hello, I'm Beatrice Lim, a.k.a. Bia. I'm in family ministry, and I am married to Mark, and I have two sons, Josiah, who is in 8th grade, and Emmett, who is in 6th grade.

And this is my story of God's faithfulness to me. That statement, "God is faithful to me," is so humbling. To think that the God of this universe, the God who created all things, the King who is above all other kings, that he would humbly tie himself to me and work all things for my good.

That is so mind-blowing, and it is at times unbelievable. Yet he has been faithful. Similarly, his loving kindness is increasingly more and more evident in my life. Loving kindness is a description of God's love, but not the sacrificial love, but a love that is loyal, steadfast, and persistent, a persistent kindness.

People say that hindsight is 20/20, and indeed, looking back, the Lord's faithfulness and loving kindness is more clearly seen. I was born into a Christian home, so my entire life I have attended church and have been around Christian things. Despite being surrounded by religion, I had absolutely no interest in God or the things of God.

If I showed any interest, it was for my own gain, to get a ticket, a prize, to brag of my accomplishments. By his grace, this all changed the summer before I turned 12. One day that summer, my tummy was in extreme pain. I had appendicitis. No problem; it's a simple outpatient surgery, usually.

Long story short, after three operations, I lay on the hospital bed, filled with gratitude. For some reason unknown to me, my mind and my heart turned to God. At that moment, I knew God saved me, and I knew that he didn't just save my physical body from death, but he saved me from my sin.

I prayed a simple prayer, "Thank you, God." As I felt a heavy burden lift off my shoulders, I wept. From my perspective, this is when I started to see God's loving kindness towards me. To highlight some evidence of his loving kindness in my life, I turned to his discipline.

As it's written in Hebrews 12, "For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, "and he scourges every son whom he receives. "He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share his holiness. "All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, "but sorrowful. "Yet to those who have been trained by it, "afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." A couple of years after being saved, I grew extremely frustrated at myself.

My sins were ever before me. I still got angry so easily and did not so smart things in my anger. I had learned of his commands, and yet I continued to fail them. I couldn't sleep. My mind kept circling back to doubt. How can God love me? There's no way a holy God can actually love me.

And if that's the case, what's the point of living? I got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the knife drawer, grasped the knife, and fell on my knees. God didn't love me. There was no point in living. But I also knew that God will not be pleased if I take my own life.

I was stuck. What do I do? At that exact moment, my pager goes off. If you don't know what a pager is, ask someone older. The pager code read, "God loves you." I broke down in tears. God does love me. Why, I don't know, but he does. His love for me is steadfast despite all my failures.

The teen years, need I say more? Yeah, there were some battles of the heart that I was forced to fight. While many of my friends were starting to wear makeup and dress to impress, I had a moment of crisis. I began to think I was less valuable, that I didn't have what my friends had.

I wanted to be prettier, but I began to believe that I was ugly, to the point I couldn't even look at myself in a mirror. He was disciplining me, and I had a choice to make. Will I allow my worth to be measured by my looks, how I dressed myself up, or will I believe that God fearfully and wonderfully made me?

Finally, I found the courage to look in the mirror, and the words that came to mind was, "Jesus loves me." Yes, Jesus loves me. During my high school years, I grew in confidence, and shortly after, arrogance. I pointed fingers and rebuked. I thought I knew my right from wrong.

I even rebuked my youth group pastor and had theological debates with him. In my self-righteousness, I yelled at my brother all the time for being foolish. And one day, he had enough. He broke his silence. "You're a hypocrite," he said. I was taken aback. But in my heart, I knew he was right.

Why was I lecturing everyone? It was certainly not driven by the love of Christ. I was crushed. I forgot God. I forgot about His love and His mercy toward me. I forgot that I only stand because of His love for me. My mom would say that I finally bloomed in college.

Apparently, I was a late bloomer. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I did become more social during that time. I had lots of friends-- or I had lots of friendships and began to build a reputation, some good and maybe some not so good, depending on who you ask.

As the reputations formed, a battle began. I wanted to impress. I wanted to prove or disprove my reputation. I began to get obsessed with how people viewed me, the fear of disappointing my friends grew. Their view of me, their love for me, was of great importance. The friends were disappointed.

Some close friendships grew distant. And again, I was confronted. If all my friends left me, will "Jesus loves me" be enough? Yes, Jesus loves me. My parents got married young. My sister got married young. And I was still single. Everyone close to me were worried. My mom set me up with friends' sons and friends' friends' sons and so forth.

My sister kept asking me what I thought about certain guys. They were all worried that I began-- they were so worried that I began to get worried. I want to date. I want to have a lovey-dovey relationship with someone. Should I be worried? Am I too chill about this?

Should I be more out there? What if I never get married? Will I be okay? Yeah, I'll be okay. Jesus has and is and will continue to love me. He is enough. While God's plan for me did include marriage-- I got married in 2008-- the first year was rough, to say the least.

It was not the lovey-dovey relationship I imagined. There were lots of days I didn't feel understood. I felt lonely. In those moments, I didn't know it at the time. But God was disciplining me again. I was tempted and had succumbed to the temptation that my husband was going to satisfy all my needs.

I forgot. Jesus loves me. Jesus is always more than enough. The Lord has also been faithful to me as a mom. Being a mom is tough. It's most physically and mentally exhausting at first. Then sometime around 2, they discover their will, and they begin to explore how to express that will through various means, such as tantrums, crying, pulling, pushing, punching, biting, etc.

Often it turns into a battle of wills-- mine versus theirs. In the frustration, you realize--or I realize-- my child is a sinner. With urgency and desperation, I tried to shower them with the Word. I played praise songs all the time. I got angry to try to control them and make them stop sinning.

I was losing my mind, literally trying to pull my hair out. "Let go," is what God said. "You can't save them. Even if you were a perfect mom, you wouldn't be able to save them." But I want to save them. I want them to be saved. God was disciplining me again.

Salvation is not yours to give. You just need to be faithful. Then the question came. "Even if I don't save your sons, will you still love me?" "Yes, Lord. You are all I want." I'm thankful for opportunities like this to look back and see God's faithfulness to me. I do not have a perfect record, but God does.

He has and always will be faithful. And it makes me say with confidence, as David said in Psalm 23, "Surely, goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." His love for His children is persistent, relentless, steadfast, loyal.

Jesus is always more than enough. The more I trust Jesus, the more awesome He is, and the more I want to know Him. And the closest I'll ever be to Jesus is in heaven, so I can't wait to meet my Jesus face-to-face on that day. And so this is my song, "I Want to Know You." ♪ ♪ ♪ I've tried in a thousand ways ♪ ♪ My fears to quell, my hopes to raise ♪ ♪ But what I need, Your Word has said ♪ ♪ Is ever only Jesus ♪ Let's try that one more time, "I've tried." ♪ I've tried in vain a thousand ways ♪ ♪ My fears to quell, my hopes to raise ♪ ♪ But what I need, Your Word has said ♪ ♪ Is ever only Jesus ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ You die, You reign, You preach ♪ ♪ There's love in all Your words ♪ ♪ And this weary heart finds all in You ♪ ♪ In ever only Jesus ♪ ♪ I want to know You ♪ ♪ Jesus, my Lord ♪ ♪ King of the heavens ♪ ♪ King of my soul ♪ ♪ I'd trade my treasure ♪ ♪ All my reward ♪ ♪ Jesus, to know You ♪ ♪ And know You more ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The sun should curse before Your name ♪ ♪ I have no fear, I have no shame ♪ ♪ You stand with me for all my days ♪ ♪ My ever only Jesus ♪ ♪ I want to know You ♪ ♪ Jesus, my Lord ♪ ♪ King of the heavens ♪ ♪ King of my soul ♪ ♪ I'd trade my treasure ♪ ♪ All my reward ♪ ♪ Jesus, to know You ♪ ♪ And know You more ♪ Sing just the voices.

♪ I want to know You ♪ ♪ Jesus, my Lord ♪ ♪ King of the heavens ♪ ♪ King of my soul ♪ ♪ I'd trade my treasure ♪ ♪ All my reward ♪ ♪ Jesus, to know You ♪ ♪ And know You more ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - Good morning.

My name is Helen Shin, and I'm in the family ministry, more precisely, Jubilee. And my husband's name is Dean, and we have three kids, two adult sons and a third son in his senior year of high school. We've been at Berean for over nine years now, and this is my story.

It's always a challenge to share my salvation story. I don't have a specific date or time that I can trace my regeneration to, but like many of you, it was a journey to rebirth in Christ. I grew up attending an immigrant church, my family having four generations of churchgoers.

My maternal grandmother told me she used to play with American missionaries when she was a child. And I'm so thankful that God used the obedience of others to bring the gospel to Korea. While I read the Bible, faithfully attended Sunday school, and was always at church, my understanding of God was very conceptual and not very personal.

Church was community, where my closest friends were. And from an early age, the Lord made his presence known to me. I never doubted God's existence or that what he said was true, but my understanding was incomplete. Thankfully, though, because of his hedge of protection, my childhood was generally peaceful and content, even with financial hardships like bankruptcy, a lot of moving.

Our family was always fed, clothed, and housed, no matter how dire the finances got. And I remember distinctly my dad telling me while his business failures were difficult, he knew that God used them to humble him and remind him that his hope should only be in God and not in his own abilities.

I remember in eighth grade, just feeling very plagued with where I would go if I should die, and that led me to make a confession of faith to be saved. But my understanding of my true need for Christ was incomplete. I continued to be dutiful in church, serving in many capacities with the sense of responsibility to follow God, but something key was still missing.

Then once I left for college, it was the first time out of my safe bubble, and my eyes were open to this world and its depravity. But more than that, God was causing me to examine my own heart, to question what my core beliefs were, and to question my foundation.

I struggled because I thought I knew what it meant to be a Christian, but my efforts seemed to fall short, and everything felt more like a burden than a joy. This is when God revealed and confronted me with my core pride and my sin. The fact that I still had hope in myself revealed that fundamentally, I still thought there was something redeemable about me.

Because I was raised up in a loving and God-fearing home, there were many circumstances I was never placed in, so where the true realities of my heart were not tested. My brother had asked me, "Wouldn't I lie, cheat, steal, and even murder if my life circumstances were different?" And back then, I self-righteously said, "I don't think so." God had been preparing me to face my true self.

I remember my senior year in college lying to my Russian class TA that I was sick because I had not properly prepared for an exam. And that lie really, really bothered me. I couldn't sleep, and so I had to muster up the guts to go confess and come clean with the truth, and by grace, he still let me retake that exam.

But that was just one of several promptings from the Lord to help me confront my true self. Now I had to honestly answer, not only would I lie, cheat, steal, and murder, but I already had it in my heart. In my blindness, I had compared myself to select "worse people" than I, but when confronted with the truth of who I was, I had to confess that I could not even hold to my own standards of right and wrong.

I told myself I wasn't going to cry, let alone stand before God's standard of holiness. And, in fact, I had in actuality already committed all those wrongs against God. So, where I had previously been self-deceived to believe I was worthy of being called by him, God, in his love and kindness, prompted me by his grace and helped me to see, as Romans 3, 10-12 says, that there is nothing righteous in me.

No part of me sought after God, and in myself, I was useless. There was nothing I could contribute to being worthy for Christ to choose me. It was because of my complete fallenness, not general humanity's, but mine, my own, that Christ had to die. God, in his goodness, gave me a new liberty.

He freed me of my Pharisaic entrapments to be free and being fully known and covered by him. His righteousness now covered my shamefulness, something I could never do with any amount of effort. Titus 2 says he saved us, not on the basis of deeds, which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

And that truly only comes as a gift from the Lord. Since that time, sorry, I'm getting a napkin. Since that time of regeneration, there have been many milestones. Since that time of regeneration, there are many milestones in my Jordan River that I fondly look back on and praise. I call them my Jacob wrestling with God times.

Some of the hardest times where God brought me to submit and obey and trust, while unpleasant or painful at the time, became some of the biggest reasons to praise and honor him. It was his active pulling off of the leaves, whittling, refining, and shaping that he needed to do to bring himself glory.

And I think Bia and I were thinking on this. So as Hebrews 12 speaks of the father's discipline, while I often kicked back in resistance because I was his child, I experienced the blessing of his love as the father that kept his hand on me to subdue me. Some examples of those times include my dating season, when God exposed the wrong value and hope I had tied up in my future marriage and showed me that only Christ is the true husband I should put all my trust in.

Or the time after I had two kids and following Christ felt really burdensome. I got caught up in the lie of the comfort trap, eating into the lie that Satan posed that this "normal life" shouldn't be so hard. God wrestled with me over a year and convinced me not to give up the best life for the easier one.

And he convinced me that existing rather than living would be a huge mistake. There was the sweet season of obedience and abandon for his gospel, moving to Central Asia with our two young children for missions, then pivoting after just six months to move and serve him to minister in New York City.

There were also the several times my husband got laid off and we repeatedly learned to be on the receiving end of generosity rather than giving, resting on God's provision, being humbled and stretched. There was the season when my first child was diagnosed to be on the autism spectrum and we wondered whether he'd be able to hold a pencil properly or button his buttons, or speak, let alone go on to college or be able to get a job.

There was a very long season where our church network of 25 years, for me, crumbled into broken expectations and big disappointments. But then God led us to bring in and solidify that Christ is to be the center of all worship, not man. And most recently, or more recently, there was the season when God led me out of despair over our three unsaved sons, where God's comfort and conviction truly gave me peace, that he loves them more than I do and that I can actively wait and pray with hope.

And these days, there are times daily when I'm caring for my mother with advanced Alzheimer's, changing her diapers and feeding her while struggling with my own aging, where God reminds me in points to how he has proven his love and his full sufficiency in this fallen and broken world.

He continues to prove that his ways are good, that he has plans for a hope and a future, and that he is the only one I can bank on in this life and the next. So this is my reason to sing. I was also asked to share how God's faithfulness-- share God's faithfulness in teaching you-- teaching me to serve him and to provide some encouragement.

So one big light bulb period during college was when the Lord really provoked me to consider, if I call Jesus Savior and Lord, then my life must demonstrate this, right? So if the evidence is not there, can I truly say that he's my Savior and my Lord? Having a lot of head knowledge, yet flaccid spiritual muscles, led ongoing to ask the question, "Am I truly willing to obey and follow the Lord?" So I spoke to some of that in what I just shared, but verses like James 2, 14, about faith without deeds being dead, and 1 John 3, 17 through 18, convicted me that love must be in action and in truth, not just words.

So he's continually prompted me to check and repent if my service to him is just an empty lip service or an action in deed. This is not about salvation through works, but rather his accountability toward my obedience and fruit after being redeemed, where he checked me by asking if Christ is my Lord over and over and reminding me that he owns me, that he can and he will call the shots without negotiation and regardless of my resistance on my end.

If he's my Lord, then he must win every time. Dean and I often chuckle about one of our marriage mottos. We say if there's a choice to be had, God is likely almost always usually telling us to do the harder thing, and it usually isn't really a choice. So it isn't a suggestion, it's not a request, but in fact, you know, since I'm redeemed by Christ, the rights to my life have been relinquished and turned over to the one who knows me best as my master.

So this may have at times graded against my desire not to do anything unwillingly or half-hearted, but I'm so thankful for the Holy Spirit who makes it repeatedly clear that Jesus' call was to consider the cost and take up my cross and follow him. So it was an invitation and command to take the same pathway of self-denial and death, and as I'm now currently likely past the midpoint of my earthly life, maybe really only like 20 semi-good years of walking and actively serving the Lord, I can't help but think, you know, what will I say when I have to give an account of my life before God?

And he asked me, "Why did I not serve him with my whole life "and waste away the time, talent, and resources he lent me "on frivolous, ungodly, and temporary pleasures and pursuits?" I know these sound like words from an old person, which I have become, but, you know, this life truly is a blink.

It's a mist, a vapor, and I do wish I could redeem time from the past to serve him and others with more abandon and less reserve for myself, to be generous to others and frugal to myself. So to do the harder things in trust, I want to expend the life that I've been extended to serve the Lord in my workplace, in my neighborhood, with my friends and my family, pointing them to the liberating truth of the gospel of Christ and demonstrating concretely the love of Christ by following the steps of my servant, King.

So my song--this is my song. I chose "All the Way My Savior Leads Me," and this song is often sung at funerals as a testimony of God's faithfulness through all of life's journey. So as I reflected on the lyrics, it's just such a great summary of how God's faithfulness led me to himself, and he continues to lead me through the joys and difficulties and obedience in this life, and how it is he who leads me to the fulfillment of his promise in eternity and reminds me to only hope in him, for he is the sovereign one leading me every step of the way.

So thank you. # All the way my savior leads me # # Who have I to ask beside me? # # How could I doubt his tender mercy? # # Who throughout has been my guide? # # All the way my savior leads me # # Cheers each winding path I tread # # Gives me grace for every trial # # Feeds me with the living bread # You lead me.

# You lead me and keep me from falling # # You carry me close to your heart # # And surely your goodness and mercy # # Your goodness and mercy will follow # # All the way my savior leads me # # Oh, the fullness of his love # # Oh, the sureness of his promise # # In the triumph of his blood # # When my spirit clouds the mortal # # Winged his flight around the earth # # This my song through endless ages # # Jesus led me all the way # # You lead me and keep me from falling # # You carry me close to your heart # # Close to your heart # # And surely your goodness and mercy # # Will follow # Will follow me.

# Will follow me # # All the way my savior leads me # # All the way my savior leads me # Okay, next is me. (applause) Good morning. My name is Cheryl Tang, and I've had the privilege of leading you all in song this morning. For those of you who don't know me, I am the wife of Mike Tang and mother of three kids who are seven, five, and two.

And this is my story. I grew up in church, and by God's mercy and the faithful labors of those around me, in junior high, I came to understand that I was a sinner and needed a savior. I was baptized then, but meandered my way into the thick woods of the world in high school, questioning the Christian faith and God himself.

I succumbed to the devil's lies and struggled with insecurity and identity, forgetting the gospel and the truth that had freed me. Right before college, by God's faithful hand, I reluctantly attended a Christian conference, and there the Lord spoke to me through the worship and prayer time. I had denied him for so long, but he had never left me.

I had seeked validation from peers and performance. I came out empty, and he was calling me back to him. I repented of my willful ignorance and sought to follow after him, and it has been 19 years since then. I have been asked to share about God's faithfulness in teaching me to worship him.

William Temple defined worship as the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness, the nourishment of mind with his truth, the purifying of imagination by his beauty, the opening of the heart to his love, the surrender of will to his purpose, and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable, and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness, which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.

In short, worship is the posture of abandoned pride, and in the past few years, the Lord has led me through the deepest valleys to see my sin for what it is and to humble me. Before traversing the darkness, I thought I had a good grasp on the sufficiency of Christ in all things, but when I was met face to face with the parasitic weeds of bitterness that had grown large and thick in my heart, I realized I had no idea.

I attempted to resolve difficulties by my own strength, not knowing that I was just sowing poisonous seeds of self-reliance. My time with God was lacking, and maybe it's because, deep down, I was afraid of being honest before him. I knew I could always go to him, but did I believe it?

My actions showed that I thought that I had to get myself right, to be diligent in my disciplines first, so that I could go guiltlessly before him and say, "Look, Lord, here I am, your faithful servant." But when I was left with the ruins of what was supposed to be good, I had no more time to borrow.

I entered his presence day after day in brokenness, with feeble breath. Even before there is a word on my tongue before, "Behold, O Lord, you know it all," I did not need to be afraid. He already knew it all. He knew every doubt and every pain, and he saw every hurtful way.

And then he assured me that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God looked upon me with compassion and turned my eyes to the cross. His steady hand led me to still water safe. It was through his loving kindness that I came out of the valley saying, "Whom have I in heaven but you?

For besides you, I desire nothing on earth." My heart and my flesh may say, "You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever." I have beheld his glory and been consoled by his tender mercy. And it is because of this that I worship him, my comforter and deliverer.

This is my song. As your grief brought you low, as your faith lost its hold, your deliverer knows what your need is. He endured every test. He has felt your distress. As you weep, he has wept. Run to Jesus. Is your shame all you see? Are your sins dark and teary?

Your high priest lives to plead. He'll forgive you. What you owed, he has paid. What was dead, he has raised. All your guilt for his grace, run to Jesus. He will lift your head. He will be your rest. What you owed, he has paid. What was dead, he has raised.

All your guilt for his grace, run to Jesus. Though the journey is long, though the night carries on, your redeemer is strong in your making. He will carry us through. He is faithful and true. He will make all things new. Run to Jesus. He will lift your head. He will be your rest.

He will lift your head. He will be your rest. He will carry us through. He is faithful and true. He will make all things new. Run to Jesus. Oh, thank you, Jen, Bia, Helen, Cheryl. These four sisters have been such a huge encouragement to me, and I'm sure they've been the same for all of you.

Thank you for sharing the ways that God has been faithfully using you to be a wife, a mom, and the ways you serve him, and the ways that you worship him. I was reminded that it is truly by the transformative work of the gospel that we can be saved.

And it's really a humble reminder how God chose to save us. We're so undeserving, but God still chose to love us and call us his own. So something that I was thinking was how am I living in response to this? Do we believe that God is our true Lord and our Savior, or is this something that we just say because that's what we've been taught?

How often do we try to live our lives as if we're the author of it, as if we control it? So I really pray and I hope that we could continue to lay down our lives for God and fully entrust our lives in his hands. And thank you so much again for sharing.

It really blessed me, and I'm sure it blessed a lot of you guys as well. The second part of our event, it's now our turn to share our stories with our group. And if you also have a worship song that you have in mind, please feel free to share that as well.

There is a facilitator assigned to your group who can help guide the time together. I think we have--can we get the--yes. So some of the groups here will be moved to the cafe so that we'll have more room and the tables won't be so close together. This is--oh, the other one, the numbers--oh, no, this is right now.

The next slide shows--that's in the fellowship hall or the cafe. This is the front of the stage, so the numbers will snake like this. And then 27, 29, and 31 are the rooms. And there are table numbers there, so you can use those table numbers and go with your group over there.

I believe--do we have a little break right now? Yes, so we have a 10-minute break, I believe. And then you can go into your groups in around 1140. I'm going to--maybe around 1135, I'll call you guys back, and then 1140 is when we'll meet again for our last time, our closing praise.

And I think that's it. Oh, sorry. Oh, and there's also snacks, so you can get snacks from the back during your break and then go off into your groups. Thank you so--1040, I'm sorry. Oh, no, no. Sorry, us meeting again at the very end is 1140. Do I have that wrong?

I don't think so. It is 1140, okay. And then I will come back with announcements then. Thank you so much. Enjoy your time together.