Working as an intern at the C.S. Lewis Foundation in the fall of 2010 was my blessing. Since our globe is increasingly interconnected with the advancement of the aircraft industry, it is not uncommon for many people to take high mobility for granted. One can travel to anywhere he or she wishes as long as they can afford it. Yet growing up in an agricultural family, I believe this experience, traveling from 22.5 (Hong Kong) to 33.7 (Los Angeles), was a precious gift from God.

Over the six months, with the grace and faithfulness of our Lord, and the help of others, I was able to successfully complete the internship. More importantly, I underwent some remarkable breakthroughs in my spiritual growth.

Before the Journey

Ever since I was a senior in high school, it has been my long-cherished dream to work overseas. I believed that dreams, freedom and independence would help create more room for my development. To make my dream come true, I applied for the overseas exchange program offered when I was a second year student. Disappointingly, the plan did not happen because of the keen competition. Despite the setback, my dream did not vanish; it even became stronger and stronger. I put my thoughts into prayers and simply trusted God for His will in my life.

My dream did not come true until my cousin told me about the internship at the C.S. Lewis Foundation. She presented a paper at the Oxbridge Summer Institute in 2005 and stayed in touch with the Foundation through email. Impressed by the vision of the organization and the Founder’s dedication to revive Christianity in higher education, she highly recommended that I apply for the internship. With prayers and careful consideration, I asked God to offer me peace, patience, and boldness in preparing the journey of grace.

God is my Provider (耶和華以勒)

When I was preparing to buy my air ticket to LA, I experienced the greatness of God. The air ticket to Los Angeles was unexpectedly expensive in the summer of 2010, as it was around USD $2,000.

Despite the high price, I still trusted God and put this in my prayers. While I was praying for the provision, my family and I thought of different ways to work out my plan. What graciously appeared in my parents’ mind was our old car located in our garage. If it was sold; I would have enough money to buy the ticket. A miracle did happen on the following day.

After my parents’ comforting idea, a young Nepali, who spoke Cantonese, unexpectedly came to the farm and asked whether my Dad would sell him the old car. What? Well, why did the young man come to a farm for a car? How did he know that we had an old car for sale? My family and I were totally surprised about what happened and could not think of any answers to these questions. What we really knew was God answered our prayers. We praised the Lord for His abundant provision. This was how I started the journey of grace.

During the Internship

In this period, my main role was to assist Steve Elmore, the Communications Director at the C.S. Lewis Foundation, to accomplish various projects. He patiently guided and introduced me to the art of analyzing communications in terms of audiences, purposes, and strategy whenever there were new publications being published. I worked on various publications’ layouts, designs, content, and mailings; and I updated website content and images using different types of software such as Dreamweaver, InDesign and Photoshop. It helped equip me better with basic computer skills for my future career in areas of communications and publications.

Personally, working and living overseas helped me mature in many ways, in addition to providing precious friendships. To a large extent, my language and interpersonal skills improved through interacting with others at work or at home. After observing how people talked, behaved and worked, I reflected on my observations, accepted different opinions, and appreciated their strength and goodness. This helped me achieve my personal goal – to be a warm, decisive and faithful person in the palm of God.

Spiritually, the grace of God gave me courage to look upon and completely trust Him regardless of how difficult the situations were. I encountered some moments when I really wanted to give up. For example, many people expressed their concerns regarding my decision in participating in an unpaid internship. At first, they thought I was superficial and disagreed with my plan. Truly, many people evaluate worthiness of doing certain things according to remuneration. Instead of feeling upset, I prayed for wisdom, boldness, uncompromising faithfulness in the will of God. Eventually, I was able to endure in times of trial and temptation.

“When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” I am so glad that I am able to end the internship with the care, love, and support of my friends, co-workers and host families, who made my dream come true. More importantly, I praise the Lord for His greatest love.