By Cindy Leong
To me, the most romantic love story is not about two parties, but three. It is only when these three parties are madly in love with one another, will the love be strengthened and flourish.
“This is Shine, our driver for today,” said Lucia on the first night of my third trip to Taiwan. We were on an outing to a beach near the Fisherman’s Wharf. He was friendly, thoughtful and helpful. You could tell he was the kind of person who was consistently good to his friends, regardless of the gender. He went the extra mile to take me to the easternmost tip of Taiwan to view the most beautiful sunrise. “He is really a sincere friend,” I thought to myself. Spiritually he wasn’t so doing well then, because his cell group was going through some transitions. The domineering side of me thought that was really a bad excuse so I was totally on guard as I was at the peak of my ministry. I returned to Singapore with beautiful memories of Taiwan and a new friend on my Skype contacts.
Two days before my 20th birthday, I finally got water baptized. It was after five years of begging and crying out to my parents that they finally signed the parental consent form. The very words that God spoke to me made me tear. “Do you know why you are baptized at this age? 2 symbolizes greater strength, and 10 symbolizes perfection. Your 20th year will be a year of perfect and greater strength for you. You shall accomplish something great for me before you turn 21. Something you have never done before and it will bring glory to my name.”
Never could I have guessed that God had something greater for me. In Feb 2007, God challenged me to do something with my passion to make an impact in the marketplace. What am I passionate about? Drama! I wanted to bring our zone’s drama production up another level. God wanted me to do a public drama production targeted at youth. It was something I had never done before. This production was successfully staged on August 23, 2007.
“I felt led by God to bless you to go for the Emerge conference in Taiwan,” I told Shine excitedly on Skype one night. Shine went and was tremendously blessed by Pastor Kong’s message. He came back a totally transformed person. “Cindy, God has given me a vision to reach out to the Aborigines here in Taiwan, and also to pursue my dream to be a pilot. I believe that is when I can bring influence to the rich and influential, and to bring the best from all over the world, back to Taiwan!” he exclaimed.
“So, tell me more about you, about your past and all,” Shine probed, after two months of chatting on Skype. He was probing into the part which I least felt like sharing with him. For someone who has gone through an abortion, talking about it is never a piece of cake. I once tried telling this to the wrong person and that relationship turned sour. What could happen if I told Shine the truth? I was afraid. I told God that unless He wanted me to open up my past to the right man, I will keep my mouth sealed. Moreover, when Shine’s friend got a girl pregnant and ended up in a shotgun marriage a week ago, he showed much disapproval. “This is the kind of action I hated most,” I vividly remembered him telling me. Upon facing such a righteous man who holds high moral principles, how would I ever be able to reveal my past to him? “Come to Singapore to watch my play in August and I will tell you,” I told him jokingly.
I never thought he would take that seriously, but he flew to Singapore to watch my drama production and to celebrate my 21st birthday. “True Love Waits” was the title of my production. The story is about a girl who is constantly looking for love. She had a decent boyfriend who “plays by the rules” but she felt that was not enough. She fell in love with a man he knew in a pub and got herself pregnant, She found out that she was being cheated and she had to reveal the truth to her boyfriend. In the end, she returned to her boyfriend, having learnt in a hard way that true love is indeed worth waiting for.
After the drama production, we sat by the Singapore River and I was ready to reveal my past to him. It took me a lot of courage to bring myself to this point, and I knew God had given me the assurance that I needed. “Actually, this drama is not simply a drama. It is a story of my past,” I said calmly. His reply melted my heart. “I knew it all along. I saw it in my prayers a month ago. Yes, it was against my moral principles but God made me see that you have a beautiful heart and that it was childish to judge a person based on something that happened. I will accept you for what God made you to be,” he explained lovingly.
We did not get attached immediately after that night. We knew that there were more important things to be done. He left Singapore with the goal to be a pilot in a well-known airline in Taiwan, while I put my heart and soul into growing my cell group. After two weeks God spoke to me during worship in a zone meeting. He showed me what Shine had done for me, and the traits that he exhibited. “Isn’t this love?” God asked. I burst into tears. That night, I went on Skype excitedly. “God showed me that you love me very much during worship today!” “Oh, Jesus is my best friend!” he rejoiced.
One day, something significant happened to our lives. A female friend who is in the midst of getting an unwanted child aborted approached Shine for help. After meeting up with her, he sent me a message which once again, gripped my heart for a moment. “I saw the helplessness in her eyes. I could see she was very frightened. I would see how difficult it was for you in the past. It hurts me so to know that you had to go through this by yourself. I thank God for giving me this opportunity to love you with hundredfold of the love you deserve. I will do my best.”
After much consideration, we finally got attached on my fourth trip to Taiwan on December 3, 2007. Our friends were happy for us. Many asked, “How are you able to stay in love in a long-distant relationship like this?” I believe once they knew know what had gone on behind the scenes, it was not hard to explain why our love went on, even after one year. Happily, in the last nine months, I became an exchange student in Taiwan and served actively in church with Shine. We were worship leaders, cell group helpers, hosts for the church retreat. We did everything we could to put God first in our lives. I knew I was a step closer to my dream to China for missions. In the midst of it all, God granted the desires of Shine’s heart. After a year of interviews and waiting and body checkups, he became a trainee pilot in November 2008.
If Shine is to “shine like stars”, and Cindy is a “reflector of light” (moon) in Greek, the third party in our love equation is none other than God Himself (sun). He has made everything perfect in His time and I am convinced that true love is truly worth waiting for.
