More From Lei Cao Garcia-Bote

I am so grateful to God that my devotional article entitled “Trust in the Lord” will be published this year.  The article is about the call of God to trust the Lord with the unknown. Five years ago, our family made a tough decision to leave our country, the Philippines, and move to Malaysia because my husband was given a new assignment by his employer. I praise God for giving us the strength to obey God’s call. So many beautiful experiences have happened since then — all pointing to God being faithful and true to God’s promises.

God turned my fear about the education of our children into reverence of God and gave our children opportunities beyond what we could imagine. They were accepted into an international school in Malaysia where they both enjoyed tremendous growth in their schooling.  Our daughter graduated as class valedictorian in high school. She is now finishing her college degree in one of the best universities in London. Even before her college graduation, she already received a doctorate program scholarship from one of the world’s premier genomics research institutes.

God is also giving our son extraordinary opportunities. He will graduate next school year in an International Baccalaureate program. He got an excellent score on his SAT and is now receiving invitations from some universities in the US. Years ago, during his eighth grade graduation, my son was chosen to give a speech encouraging other students to enjoy school and place a high value on education. Our family is so excited to see what the Lord has already planned for his future in college and in his professional career.

With regard to my husband, the Lord continues to grant him wisdom to do his work excellently. He is now the country manager of a multinational company. Given these bigger and greater responsibilities, the Lord created in him a heart overflowing with gratitude, humility, and love for family. He is taking both his role as the leader of the company and the spiritual leader of our family intentionally. Our family became part of a fellowship that started a Christian movement in Kuala Lumpur. My husband and I are now discipling other couples to grow together in Christlikeness.

As for myself, I have always been excited about writing and sharing personal essays about the goodness of the Lord to me and to my family. It is my desire to encourage other people to experience the love of Jesus for themselves. If I can inspire one person to pursue a relationship with Jesus, to me that is an amazing blessing. Therefore, my heart leaped with joy when I learned that my article will reach millions of readers around the world through The Upper Room. I knew that God orchestrated that moment in time for me.

The scripture says, “From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace” (John 1:16, NRSV). The truth of this verse is undeniable. God took our family on a journey unknown and held our hearts in the palm of God’s hands and never let go. God showers us with lovingkindness in a place where our faith is made stronger with God’s presence abounding.