The Joy of pleasing the Lord ~ Picture Book now available! ~
Tokyo Marunouchi Partnership Staff
Women’s ministry – Satomi Suzuki
Hallelujah! Praise the name of the Lord. I am always grateful for the blessing of partnership in the gospel with fellow Christians. I have two questions for you. If someone asked you what your life purpose is, how would you answer? And what are the life lessons God is teaching you right now? I have been searching for my life purpose since my father died when I was a child, and six years ago I came to faith in Jesus Christ, and was given the passion and desire to “use my gifts and abilities to express and communicate God’s beauty”. This is not just about having technical skills or strength, but about wanting to use what God has freely given to me, with a child-like passion and pure motives. For me, it was writing and creating (mostly painting). When I started composing fairy tales, poems and paintings with gospel themes, I would often experience the precious gift of fellowship with God, so deep and joyful that I would even lose track of time. And I have been praying hard and for a long time for this ability to be used for the LORD. There have been times when I was away from creative work, that I have thought “I may not be very good at this, so what’s the point….” But I’m so thankful that people either from Japan or overseas have continued to pray for me from the time when I was saved, and even when I just couldn’t pray for myself. After I became a Christian, I felt a natural desire to “please God”, but at the same time it sometimes felt like a burden and a pressure. For me, the biggest lesson from God over the past few years was to “praise and glorify God”. Talking with Thierry, Senior Partner at Tokyo Marunouchi Partnership, he once shared a quote from Pastor John Piper: ”God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” The reason I was tired of wanting to please God was because I thought of myself as not having done enough to merit God’s love, which may appear humble on the outside, but actually came from a proud self-image. The idea of pleasing God through works, though it may sound nice, can be nothing more than just self-righteousness. Instead, we have the undeserved blessing of “rejoicing in the Lord who is with us” and when we think about it and continue to dwell in that beautiful truth, we can forget ourselves and be bold and free in everything that we do. I am pleased to be able to publish my first picture book. The story is based on this lesson from God, and I hope it encourages you and that you can share it with others too. There has been so much support in both prayer and practically to make this happen, and I am so thankful. Heartfelt thanks to our beloved brothers and sisters, and everlasting praise to our God and Father!!
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（eBook to be launched soon）
