Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1).
Then God created Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, the first love story.
Then from them, all of history unfolded and many nations were born...
Fast-forward to 1986, in the nation of South Korea,
God created a beautiful baby girl called Esther Shin.
Less than a year later in the nation of Taiwan,
God created a handsome baby boy named Tony Chuang.
Now Tony was created with Esther in mind, to be her other half,
and so was Esther for Tony.
They complemented each other perfectly in every way.
A few months later, God brought Esther to the United States, to Texas.
While Esther was learning English, playing the piano,
praying to God to become a great pianist and tour around the world,
in Taiwan, Tony was dancing, being a robot,a frog,
and... staring off into the distance.
He did always have an attraction towards public speaking though,
which didn't fully take shape until much later.
When Esther was 7 years old, she and her family travelled to Hawaii.
She was scared of the tropical fish in the sea;
so while her family was swimming, she stayed at the shore,
feeling lonely and wishing she had a friend.
Only a few months later, Tony and his family also went to Hawaii.
They sadly missed each other.
He would have been an excellent playmate at the shore.
After Hawaii, Esther moved to Korea and Tony moved to Malaysia.
When Esther was 12 years old, in order to pursue her dream of becoming a great pianist,
she and her family moved to New York City and she started studying at Juilliard pre-college.
While Esther was very busy practising piano 7 hours a day,
Tony was busy traveling to New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and across Asia.
He started having a dream of visiting every continent in the world if not every country.
In 2004, both Esther and Tony graduated from high school and began university in America.
Esther went to Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Tony on the other hand went to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia.
All throughout their university careers,
both Esther and Tony were very devoted to campus ministry.
They both served as leaders to further the kingdom of God through the gospel.
They may have done it in different ways, but the result was the same:
people came to Christ and God was glorified.
But God wanted to use Tony for even greater things, so God had to first break him.
Tony was forcibly removed from the States in 2007.
He had to return to Taiwan and Malaysia, during which he was broken, weak, depressed,
and often weeping.
Around the same time,
Esther was being broken because of the difficulties she faced in life as well.
She too had no choice but to cry out to God.
But God was using all this for good (Rom 8:28).
God was breaking them so that he could restore them,
to use them as His instruments (Acts 9:15).
They matured so much and grew in their relationships with God in unprecedented paces.
A year and a half later, God brought Tony to Canada where he finished his degree,
and God brought Esther to New York where she pursued a master of music degree.
They continued to be influential leaders in ministry and serving God tirelessly,
but still separately.
After her master's degree at Manhattan School of Music,
Esther was called by God to go to Moody Theological Seminary.
She moved to Chicago in 2010 to be further equipped as a minister of the gospel
through music.
Around that time is also when Tony was called by God to be a minister of the gospel
through preaching.
Through Moody and the friends she met there,
God opened many doors for Esther to do ministry through music.
She started leading worship and sharing her testimony in many cities and countries.
In summer 2012, they both ended their past relationships at around the same time,
which made them even more completely broken than before.
After the heartbreak Tony and his family went to Paris.
Tony went up to the Eiffel Tower by himself where depression hit him like a crashing wave.
Only a few weeks after Tony left Paris, Esther also visited Paris and felt the same sadness,
wondering where her other half was. They had missed each other again.
A year later, in August 2013, Tony moved to Chicago, determined to pursue singleness.
Little did he know that this was the place where he would meet the person that he has
been narrowly missing all these years-
across Asia, in Hawaii, in the States, and in Paris.
This person who is now his other half.
When Tony and Esther first met, they were instantly attracted to each other
and after forty days of solemn prayer, they knew that the other person was the one.
They knew that they had finally met the other half God has created for them.
Esther saw that Tony has the same heart for the nations that she has.
Tony saw that Esther has the same passion for the gospel that he has.
Since then, they have traveled together.
As one, they will continue to go forth to all nations, making disciples (Matt 28:19-20)
and making Christ known (2 Cor 4:5-6),
bringing healing to people just as God brought healing to them.
As long as Tony has breath, he will preach the gospel.
As long as Esther has breath, she will worship God.
The God who created marriage is the same God who created everything, the God of all nations.
Esther and Tony's lives are devoted to making this God, who is our Lord Jesus Christ,
known in all nations.
And now, instead of separately,
they will do it as one.