DIAKONIA 2025 Volume 1
E.G.G. (Evidence of God’s Grace)
Lim Tse Hwei, Melaka Gospel Chapel
This year, our youth group began a project close to our hearts. We call it the E.G.G. Project—Evidence of God’s Grace. During the quiet moments before or after our weekly sessions, our teens take time to write down moments that stirred deep emotions—anger, anxiety, sadness, or gratitude. Each emotion is marked by a different coloured paper: Pink for anger, Yellow for anxiety, Blue for sadness, and Green for thankfulness
Each note is dated, folded, and placed in their own personal jar—shared only with God. These jars, slowly filling over the months, will remain sealed until the end of the year. Then, each teen will open their E.G.G. jar and reflect on their year. We pray they will see how the Lord has walked with them through every high and low. Some of their notes carry the weight of very real struggles.
One teen has no memory of her biological parents, having been abandoned as a baby. She battles daily tension with the woman who took her in. Another pair of siblings recently lost their grandmother. Their mother, a single parent, struggled to cover the cost of burial. One teen quietly admitted that her jar contains a lot of Pink paper. The person she’s angry at most? Herself.
I wonder: Will a year be enough for this teen to begin seeing the love however imperfectly expressed offered by her foster mother? Will the support given to the grieving siblings help heal their hearts? Will the teen angry at herself come to realize the boundless grace of God, who offers second, third, and fourth chances?
The truth is the painful and messy moments often leave deeper marks than the joyful ones. These jars aren’t magical. They won’t transform lives overnight. But sometimes, when I find myself reaching for Yellow or Pink paper, I pause. I see these teens writing their own notes beside me. And I choose a green one instead.
I’m thankful. Thankful that they have a way to be heard by each other, and by their Heavenly Father who listens even when no words are spoken. Thankful that their notes lead to honest conversations, and that they allow us a glimpse into their hearts. Thankful that they spend these afternoons with us not lost behind screens or elsewhere, but here, sharing life.
No, the jars aren’t magical. But perhaps what they contain can point our teens to a greater truth:
That in the good, the bad, and the ugly, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9