FAMILY
*À ma mère (Cheng, L.A.)
Where to begin?
There are so few blessings in the world that God has not provided through you.
I love you and I wish I loved you more than I do, and gave you the credit due to you.
You have loved me unconditionally my whole life long.
You have sacrificed so much for me and been a consistent model of the love of God in Jesus Christ for me.
You have always been there, through everything, always protecting, trusting, hoping and persevering.
You have tried to raise me in the fear and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and God has graciously enabled you to succeed.
You have endured so much in your life and for me and my sisters, and yet your faith is unshaken.
You have always listened to me and I only wish I'd inherited your superlative listening skills!
You have always wanted God's best for me and supported me in all I have been able to achieve through Him.
I thank God for such an invaluable relationship - that of being your daughter. You are the very best mother God could ever have made.
As I have sung for you before, so I continue this song:
That when the heavens and earth are gone, I pray that you'll stand in His day. [Lyrics: L. Tsi-Tje Cheng©2003]
*Ma sœur jumelle (Cheng, L.W.T.)
You are precious in God's sight and in mine, and honoured, and God loves you, and so do I. (ISAIAH 43:4)
We have been together from the time of our conception ever since.
In so many ways that you will not acknowledge, you are my better half.
There is no-one in all creation apart from our heavenly Father who knows me as well as you do.
We have laughed and cried and prayed together so often, struggled together through the daily grind of putting to death our earthly natures, and we continue fighting that good fight to this day.
For all of my life you have been there for me, and I thank God so much for your almost total and complete understanding & support of me.
O that you would ever remember the atoning sacrifice of Christ, in which God demonstrated His great love for us - and never doubt that love He has for you and me both.
I thank God for all He has done in you, and for all that He is yet to do - and how much we both know and hope eagerly for our future of citizenship in heaven! Stay confident of this, the living and unfailing promise of God, that He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
*Ma sœur aîné (Cheng, S.S.L.)
You have been not only an ideal sister but a Christian sister as well.
You were always there, always part of my life, and more recently have walked with me so patiently in my Christian life.
I thank God for your love, your loyalty - especially when we were small - and your listening ears in recent times.
You have backed me, defended me, shaken foolishness out of me (or at least tried) when I needed it, and given me more broad and different ways of viewing the world than I could have conceived on my own.
Your counsel in a variety of situations and the love and concern driving it are of profound value to me.
Your determination not to give up on your faith, your writing or yourself has been a great encouragement to me and I pray that you might continue to persevere.
"Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." (PSALM 37:4)
*Mon beau-frère le plus cadet (Lin, J.)
Jeremy, it has been a delight to watch you grow (from being that runaround toddler who never used to sit still enough to be fed!!) and commit yourself to Christ.
I thank God for His mercy to you, and so much appreciated your support in those times you've found me when I was down.
May you ever rely on God's strength, loving all those He calls you to love because He first loved you.
May you continue to live in Christ Jesus our Lord, just as you received Him, being rooted & built up in Him, strengthened in your faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (COL. 2:6-7)
*Mon beau-frère le moins cadet (Lin, A.)
Anthony, I thank God that we've always gotten along well, and for the growth I've seen in you.
I have valued your moments of helpfulness and willingness to engage in thoughtful dscussions.
I am also thankful for your generosity and creativity - esp. the culinary creations!
May God bless you and keep you; make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; turn his face toward you and give you peace. (NUM. 6:24-26)
*Mon beau-père (Lin, V.A.)
Uncle Victor, in the last 7 years you have shown all the love and support that God intended for fathers to show their own children. I thank God my heavenly Father that you are my step-father; I can't imagine any better choice He could have allowed.
You have cared and fussed and provided and rebuked and admonished and listened as so many earthly fathers just don't do, and I know that just like my mother you want God's best for me (even though I'm often stubborn and resistant).
I appreciate your tireless involvement and interest in my life and future, and pray the same for you as for my mother.
HEBREWS 12:2-3.
*Mon père (Cheng, J.H.)
Dad, you have always tried to listen and give helpful and wise counsel to me.
I wish you could have been around more while I was growing up; things might have been so different. And yet we both know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. (ROM. 8:28)
I thank God that He has kept hold of you, and that through Him you threw your support behind me when my face was towards Tanzania in 2006 - your letting go was of tremendous value to me.
May God supply your every need according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (PHIL. 4:19)
To some of my best friends, thanks be to God for your friendship:
*Mok, L.P.Y.
To this day, dearest 'Onie, I can still hear your gorgeously rare laugh bubble through my ears. As sisters in Christ with the additional perk of being second-cousins-by-marriage, it has been a huge blessing knowing you, meeting so often with you to talk and read God's Word together and pray for each other.
Continue as ever to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power! (EPH. 6:11)
*Soo, C. (now Chin, C.)
Dearest Chris, I know our lives have taken us in different directions in recent times, but your encouragement and faithfulness to me in the early part of this century can never be forgotten. I always appreciated your insights, your consideration, your perseverance and your open affection, and I miss the times when we talked and studied and shared and prayed together.
Through all that life has still to offer you, whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (COL. 3:17)
*Chan, S.L.W.
Captain Chan, we've marched through Sunday School, high school and uni. days side by side. Without God's provision of your occasional steadying words and kind deeds in the last 10 years, I don't know whether I'd have survived! I thank God for your unique military outlook and perspectives, for the lessons I've learned through hearing about your experiences and recommendations.
You then, my brother, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.. ..enduring any and every hardship like the good soldier of Christ Jesus that you are! (2 TIM. 2:1, 2:3)
*Kritsotakis, S.
Simon, nous avons travaillés ensemble at the Alliance Française, in the HSC and through undergraduate French and psychology. We can thank God simply that we got out alive!!
And who could have known that God would give me a friend like you of such great value in all that time? So often since our teenage years, you have understood, listened, counselled, talked me back from the edge of insanity - and stuck with me through thick and thin. God's Word speaks of a friend who is closer than a brother (PROVERBS 18:24) - and you are that very friend! The only sadness I have is that I don't know, on that last great and glorious Day, when Jesus Christ my Saviour and my Lord, my very heart's desire comes in glory, si tu resteras avec moi en ce jour.
O that my God would do His best for you!
FINALEMENT
To these people, my nearest and dearest
- I know God is such a great and loving God, because..
...He so richly blessed me with knowing you!
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