“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing…So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…’ “

Genesis 12:1, 4

Two Sundays before moving to VA, the pastor at my church in NY preached about God calling Abram out to Canaan. With little context or explanation, Abram faithfully followed God in obedience. God spoke to me through these verses, calling me to leave the comfort of home and family in NY to new endeavors in VA. Being the youngest in my family, I was apprehensive about why God was calling me away from my parents to begin a new journey in VA. However, just as God promised to be with Abram through many blessings, God has truly been with me and blessed me more than I can imagine.

“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ “

Genesis 15:1

Since March 2025, a year and a half ago, God had already provided a wonderful family for me to stay with in VA. I was a Junior at Patrick Henry College (PHC) and had been struggling with chronic GI issues for many years (still ongoing). One week I experienced slight esophagus issues, where I felt a lump in my throat and had difficulty swallowing and taking deep breaths. I was in extreme discomfort and fatigue, and my roommate at the time brought me to the ER to be checked out. This was my first time at the ER that I remembered, so I was incredibly nervous, but my roommate was very kind and brought her homework to stay next to me the whole day at the hospital:)

Thankfully, after running tests, my condition was not severe, but the doctors and nurses encouraged me to visit a specialist for further checkups. Because my medical insurance only covers doctors in NY, I decided I should go home to recover and to visit a doctor. Only by God’s providence, a family who has known my parents for a few years lives 45 minutes from PHC and was planning to drive to NY to visit my parents that exact week!

God allowed me to rest at home the following week, and thankfully, the doctor told me that my symptoms were not serious.

Over the next year, the family quickly became my second family, as they invited me to stay with them during semester breaks and we spent more time together. During the Fall semester of 2025, God led me to visit the Career Fair at my college where I met the director of a Christian Private K-8th Gr. school. Even though I only had a brief conversation with her, I admired the director’s genuine joy and enthusiasm. I asked about the possibility of observing classes at the school, and later that week, I found that the school was only ten minutes away from where the family I often stayed with lives!

Little did I know, God would provide me with a Teacher’s Assistant position along with housing (with the family friend) the following Spring, guiding my steps after my college graduation.

Another provision was graduate school – again, only 30 min. from the family friend’s home, I visited a university to take a tour and have a trial lesson with the teacher there. The trial lesson then became an audition for me to enter the following semester, and immediately after my audition, I began my application for the university. God’s ways are not always linear! A few days later, I submitted my application, and during the next month, I sought God’s wisdom about attending the school.

After much prayer to God and seeking wisdom from mentors, I have decided to defer my enrollment to next Fall. But I am thankful for God’s provision in every step, as I am currently in VA: close family friend who have truly adopted me as their own daughter/sister, beautiful room and home to live in, car on loan from my parents, convenient commute to the school, wonderful work environment, private violin students, mentors/teachers in the music field, loving friends and family on call, and countless more blessings.

However, I must remember that God’s promise to Abram was to bless him so “[he] will be a blessing” for future generations, not for himself. And I need to intentionally “build altars” to worship God for His faithfulness and steadfast love. Lastly, as Abram did, I must continue on the journey to wherever God calls me.

“Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him…And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.”

Genesis 12:7-9

My prayer for each step of life:

to walk by faith through God’s Word,

to be faithful to God alone, and

to praise God for His faithfulness.

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land…For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”

Hebrews 11:8-10

Until next time,

Elizabeth Faith Cheng