Photo by vunamtuan

By Vivian Mabuni

She Reads Truth is an online community of an estimated 300,000 women who are seeking to be in God’s Word daily. I’ve been invited to guest write for them a few times. Asian American women leaders come in all shapes and sizes. This post from the Fruit of the Spirit series on Gentleness came to mind as I thought about our AAWOL community. May these words bless and encourage you today.

**you can read the full post by clicking here:
http://shereadstruth.com/2015/05/20/gentleness/

Helen’s eyes were kind and steady. Deep, deep brown like a doe. I admired everything about her. We spent my first year of college in Bible study together and had grown to become good friends. The college ministry we were involved with sent students all over the country and around the world on summer missions. Most of our friends were off to those exciting, exotic locales serving God and we were stuck back at home taking summer school classes and working. We decided to stay connected and support each other throughout that summer by meeting together for Bible study.

I grew up culturally Buddhist. In high school I began a relationship with Jesus, so the Christian faith felt relatively new. Helen was not only two years older than me; her spiritual maturity exuded a deep, intimate relationship with God and her knowledge of the Bible proved equally admirable. I happily anticipated time with Helen in hopes of becoming more like her.

We sat cross-legged on a large boulder next to a babbling stream. Our Bibles open, the birds chirping, the sky a Colorado summer vibrant blue…a truly picturesque, Pinterest-worthy scene.

We closed our eyes to pray for our friends far away and for each other.

I opened one eye in time to see an ugly creepy crawly bug scurry across the pages of my Bible. I lifted my hand ready to smash bug guts everywhere, but in that split second I watched as Helen cupped her hands and let the bug crawl onto her hands. She carefully released the bug in the nearby grass.

Helen, to me, embodied gentleness—reserved, quiet, shy, soft-spoken, introverted. When friends sought her out for counsel, her deep brown eyes would close slowly as her head tilted in a slow nod of understanding. Kind to all God’s creation, she did not squish bugs.

Helen embodied everything I was not.

(to finish reading click here: http://shereadstruth.com/2015/05/20/gentleness/)

Other posts I’ve written for SRT can be found here:
http://shereadstruth.com/2015/04/29/honor-the-image-bearers/
http://shereadstruth.com/2015/06/30/bathsheba/

Vivian Mabuni and her husband Darrin work with Epic Movement, the Asian American ministry of Cru. Vivian is a mom of three kids and a cancer survivor. Her first book, “Warrior in Pink: A Story of Cancer, Community and the God Who Comforts” released in April 2014. Connect with Vivian on Twitter/Instagram: @vivmabuni