I had the incredible honour of visiting Seoul Foreign School (SFS) and the British School (SFBS) as an alumna guest speaker for a live in-person (and virtual) painting event with all the students and the whole school community.
My first session was with the Middle School students, where I got to share my story and then facilitate a prayer exercise to help them release some of the fears and lies that were holding them back and receive some words of truth and encouragement in exchange — to have hope, trust and share with others and to keep moving forward.
Followed by a powerful and insightful Q&A session with the students that included questions like:
“How did you let go of the fear of being judged by others?”
“What are the 3 main sacrifices you had to make to become an artist?”
“What would you say to your future self?”
“What would you say to yourself when you were a middle school student?”
Then, in my second session with the Elementary School students, they got to have a chance to reflect on what gifts they have to share with others to make a difference in the world.
Once those words of hope, love, courage and dreams filled the blank canvas, I got to do what God calls me to do — to be His paintbrush!
In my moment of stillness, I got to listen to the voice of my heart through my 5yo who told me to paint a star — the star that shone brightly over the stable where Jesus was born. The star that is a symbol of love because it was the brightest star that changed the world; showing the world what love looks like.
The truth is, each and everyone of us is a star that is meant to shine. No matter what you are faced with, we are to have faith — the faith that says that you were born to shine, you have a purpose and God has a plan for you.
And you are not meant to shine on your own. When we look at the (night) sky, there isn’t just one star, but there are so many stars that we can’t even count how many they are. Can we ever measure how brightly they could shine if they were to come together as one?
You were born to shine — not alone, but together — with the light that would be even brighter and more powerful than you can ever imagine if you are united as one — by choosing love, choosing kindness and choosing to share the gifts that you have; to do, not just good things, but to do extraordinary things that make a difference in this world.
And then our Q&A session included questions that were filled with curiosity:
“How do you do daily tasks without your arms?”
“Do you think it’s more comfortable with or without your arms?”
I got to impart a message of courage, perseverance and faith for the students and then ended the day with two workshops with the British School (my alma mater) where we got to draw our self-portraits with our toes and go deeper with questions from the students like the following:
“Do you still experience discrimination in any way and if so, how do you overcome them?”
“Did you ever feel like God was unfair to you?”
It was truly a heartwarming experience to walk down memory lane and reminisce my childhood memories being at the school. I hope the students will forever be inspired to hold onto the belief of who they truly are, share their God-given gifts with others and be extraordinary rather than ordinary!
𝙿𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝟸:𝟷𝟹-𝟷𝟼 (TPT)
“𝙶𝚘𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚒𝚖. 𝙻𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎, 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚜. 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚏𝚊𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝙶𝚘𝚍, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚍𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎. 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎, 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎.”
extraordinary rather than ordinary 