One of the BBWIT19 attendees has shared her testimony on BBWIT19, which Megumix reported on this blog.
Regaining a 20/20 vision of myself
Emi Dawn Yokoo
Despite the fact that it was my first time to attend BBWIT, during this short period I experienced that indeed, “the Lord knows everything.” When I found out that the theme was going to be “committing to the vision,” my prayer was a simple one; “to receive my personal vision.” I was initially wary of this, as I was afraid that a personal vision in and of itself was self-centered, but by the end of BBWIT, that anxious thought was blown away by the experience that will forever change the way I view life.
Through each carefully constructed program, I was able to learn about what a vision is. I first learned that because the nature of a personal vision needed the foundation of “God’s vision” and “ministry vision,” it was not necessarily an area for self-fulfillment. During the final workshop, we worked on thinking of our epitaph (the words on our tombstone depicting how we lived our life) and this firmly established my vision.
This vision was “to live in the way God intended to create me.” I realized that I had certain gifts given to me that I had run away from using, and that my heart had chosen to fear man rather than God in this process. However, through Psalm 139:16 I was given an opportunity to look back at my past, and this helped me realize that there was nothing that God had done for me that was a waste. Through this, I was able to savor the undeniable truth that what He what has done in the past, He will continue to do; and will thus guide me.
As I had envisioned a more specific vision, I was skeptical at first, thinking “is this okay? Would this put God first?” But as I thought more on this, this vision itself has a very specific way of living, and in order to live this way, it is necessary to put the relationship with God first. As it is impossible to live out my life on my own without knowing my Creator.
Even after BBWIT, there is another aspect that is bearing fruit. We are using the IBS (Inductive Bible Study) method we learned at BBWIT in our small group Bible study, and every week we are amazed and moved by how we can dig in so deep through just a few verses. It was a blessing how I was able to attend BBWIT with my sister in Christ whom I attend the Yokohama small group with every week.
I feel that God’s love is shown in the fact that before I lived a day in my life, He knew that I was going to attend BBWIT, and that nothing I had experienced up to this point was put to waste. My hope is to walk with this vision in mind and to see it establish the way I live.
