The past two months being back on campus have been just that. I can’t deny that my relationship with Jesus has been both the hardest and sweetest aspect of my life with lessons being learned, truths being taught, and joy being experienced since I’ve started interning. Recently, I’ve been walking through a season of relearning the sweetness and beauty of the Gospel in my life, the reality that Jesus knows me and loves me more than I could ever imagine, and that he is constantly with me and interceding in my life.
I must share a small amount of the specifics, which comes down to my identity. Though Jesus has called me into an occupation as a full-time Epic intern, that is not who I am. He has called me HIS daughter, and the weight of this identity of mine is glorious! I have been going through life for so long with the pressures of this world, my job and status, and the opinions of others shaping my relationship with Jesus. The reality is that my relationship with Jesus is the source to all that I do and he is the shaper of my life. Rather than relying on ministry to help me thrive in my relationship with Jesus, he has reversed it. He is teaching me again that my identity as HIS daughter and my relationship with himself are what allow me to thrive in all that I do.
Amanda Chiang, intern at University of Hawaii