清晨五點鐘，鬧鐘照例無情的催醒了我，天猶未明，週遭寵罩著濃濃的晨霧。睡眼惺松地瞥了桌上仍留著昨晚沒趕完的一堆書，雜亂的堆在那兒；那還留著咖啡殘跡的杯子和杯旁的巧克力糖包裝紙，遺亂在一堆科學教科書中，很顯然地，它們伴著我昨晚一邊啃書一邊和妹妹聊到半夜。喔！我愛我的小房間。

但我更愛那個幾乎沒有空間的小教室！想起今年暑假到台灣短宣的那段日子，仍深深的刻印在腦海裡。是多麼的緊湊，充滿神的憐憫與恩典！

在田尾，是短宣的第二站，以地為席，胼肩胝足共眠。只要鬧鐘一響，不管昨天多麼勞累甚至不知道怎麼過來的；不管外面七月天的台灣有多熱，睡在這四樓的冷氣小教室有多“溫暖”，我們都知道不論如何一定要起來！不得不要起來！

「上帝與我們同在，別擔心！」睡在隔壁沒有冷氣小教室的陳媽媽鼓勵著我們，不知有多少個夜闌人靜時，正是她守望禱告的時刻。是的！我們有信心，也深刻相信祂必與我們同在！事實也是如此。

回想那連一天也不得休息地與那些精力充沛、調皮又可愛的小朋友走過三個禮拜，是神同在！

大箱小篋隨身行李、教材，搬上搬下，打開又收拾；一站接一站，顛波不平的石頭小路，是神同在！

每天面對著不可預測的挑戰要解決，卻又要保持充滿期待與喜樂的心，是神同在！

我只能將每個小小的成就、淚水的安慰、重新的得力，歸榮耀與神。

祂是奇妙的神！祂使我能去愛，也能思念住在台灣那段幾乎沒有空間的小教室的日子。思緒縈繞著又帶回我的小房間，我深知祂差遣我繼續順服成就祂的美事。神的兒女仍舊接力不斷的在台灣傳福音，我相信神同在！只要為祂而活就愈事奉愈喜樂。

（Maria莊惠鈞：南加大三年級，主修生物化學，將來想學醫。興趣是讀書、吉他和教小朋友彈琴。今年隨愛恩台福教會短宣隊回台。）

God was with us by: Maria Chung

It’s five o’clock. The sky is still dark; and the air, freshened by the shower of this early morning’s burgeoning dew. My alarm clock goes off on its routine morning cheers. I am already up.

I look around. Situated to my right is my desk covered with disheveled books from last night’s exhaustive cramming with its effectiveness to be determined. My stained, ancient coffee cup, which has accompanied me through nights of studying and late-night chatting with my younger sister, appeared as conspicuously out of place as ever amidst the piles of my science textbooks. Beside the cup lie two crushed, golden chocolate wrapping foils. I love my room. It is awesome.

But, oh, how I love the room-less days that I spent in Taiwan this past summer! Now I am back in the U.S., the memories of Taiwan remain distinctively clear in the deepest crevice of my soul. Those days were intense. They were full of God’s mercy and grace.

In Tien-Wei, which was the second stop of the mission, we shared one alarm clock in our bedroom. The floor was our bed. Once the alarm clock sounded, in our minds we all knew what was going to happen next. We needed to wake up. We got to wake up. No matter how much toils we had been through the day before, no matter how tired we were, no matter how we loved our fourth-floor air-conditioned room, we had got to get up!

“Don’t worry. God is with us today,” said Mrs. Chen, who had spent countless nights praying for us in the room directly across from ours – the room without the air-conditioning.

And we had faith. We pressed on. We knew that God was going to be with us for the rest of the day, and he faithfully was.

Reflecting on what had happened over this past summer, I have no idea how we were able to survive three consecutive weeks of teaching those eager, energetic and helplessly adorable kids in Taiwan. God had to be with us.

I have no idea how we were able to withstand the labor of repacking and unpacking as we relocated to our next destination at the end of every week. I think about the rough transportation that we had. God got to have been with us.

I have no idea how all of us were able to stay joyful and hopeful, having solutions to the unexpected and the foreseen. I know God was with us.

I can only attribute every success, every comfort to our tears, and every daily renewal of our strengths to God alone.

He is amazing.

He enabled me to love and to yearn for those room-less days in Taiwan.

Now I am in my room again. I know that he has commissioned me to continue doing great things for him.

There are people still doing great things in Taiwan. And, yes, as I am surer than ever, He will provide. He will make his servants love their days – the days that we are living for him.