Rejoice!

We begin life wearing diapers and for some that live long, they have to end their lives wearing diapers too.

Babies are helpless and it’s normal having someone to take care and clean up after them. But for the elderly, they once had control and lost it. They go back to the same helpless state that they were as babies, which makes them feel humiliated.  It’s no wonder why so many of them suffer from depression.

It’s sad but it happens to A LOT of people when they grow old.  And no matter how much we try to empathise, it’s not something that we’ll be able to comprehend because we’re still “young”.

I can only pray that God will let me be victorious to the end,  let me have a short and sweet death without ever having to trouble anyone to take care of me.

I guess we just need to constantly remind ourselves not to take things in life for granted. Rejoice that we are capable to make our own decisions and take care of ourselves.

From now on I shall not complain and I will rejoice whenever I can pour myself a glass of water, cook or feed myself. I shall rejoice for the fact that I can shower without someone having to help me. I shall rejoice in all the little things that I can do and rejoice in the fact that God has given me the ability to do things for myself and others everyday. And I shall rejoice that when my problems get too big, there is a God who’s always there to take care of me.

Life indeed is a wonderful gift and we should rejoice and celebrate every day.

“Rejoice in the Lord always.” (Phil 4:4)

Lessons learnt from an Assassin

I (Steph) just saw “Wanted”. It’s about a depressive miserable young man who works at a dead-end accounting job, leading a meaningless life and thinks of himself as a failure. One day he meets a woman (Angelina Jolie = AJ) who tells him that the father who left him when he was just a week old was part of the “Fraternity”, a secret assassin group, and that his father was just murdered so he should become an assassin and avenge for his father’s death.  

Of course, as a man who has always thought of himself as a failure, he doesn’t believe  he can do it,  he thinks the Fraternity made a mistake and runs away. But eventually he decides that his current life is crap anyway and decides to join them.  He undergoes  “assassin training” but for the longest time, he doesn’t take it seriously and doesn’t excel. Throughout the training, AJ keeps asking him the same question, “Why are you here?!” and he can’t answer, until one day he finally says, “Because I don’t know who I am”.

And that’s when they show him his father’s room. Seeing all of his father’s possessions, what his father’s life was like, he finally gets to know who his father is and in turn, finds his identity and learns who he is . And from then onwards, he works and trains hard, and finally completes his training to become a good assassin. The story then goes on with a twist and you can read more about it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/

While this movie is as ”secular” as movies can get, it actually reminded me a lot of the Christian walk.

When the man was first told that it’s his destiny to be an Assassin, that it’s in his blood, he didn’t believe it and ran away. How often do we tell people that they’re destined for greatness and a life of abundance because of what Christ has done and they don’t believe it? I know I struggled with it before I became a Christian. For most of us, either we think we don’t deserve it or we just think it’s just too good to be true. Normal mentality – be good for good things will happen.  You have to earn and work for things to happen.  The whole Christ thing can’t be real,  it’s “too good to be true”!  So we deny God and run away.

And when we finally decide to take the leap for whatever reasons, maybe we’re like the man who realises that there really isn’t anything good in his life to hold on to anyway so he might as well join the fraternity. For whatever reasons that we do decide to become Christians, we make the effort but we’re still short-changing ourselves when we still don’t actually know WHO our Father is. Kind of like the man. Until he was really introduced to WHO his father was, he didn’t know himself and he was just going through the motions and not getting anywhere.

We may be “Christians”, guaranteed a place in heaven because we believe that Jesus died for us, but unless we actually take it a step further to understand God’s character, WHY He sent Jesus, the cost of our salvation, unless we truly KNOW WHO WE ARE NOW because of what Christ did, we’re just going through the motions and falling short of the life that God intended for us.

John 10:10 says “I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Because of what Christ did, we’re cleansed from our sins. It’s not what we have or have not done, we cannot earn God’s love, and neither do we need to because everything has ALREADY been done by Jesus. We simply have to come just as we are to receive. And once we do, in God’s eyes, Christ’s righteousness is upon us and we’re ALREADY holy and perfect.

If we continue to see our flaws and think of ourselves as “failures”, that undermines what Christ did for us on the cross and shows that we don’t know God. Because if you truly know someone, you would understand and be able to see things from His perspective.

God sees us as His Princes and Princesses. With God who created the universe as our Father, Jesus as our intercessor and brother, is there anything that we need to fear? What’s keeping us from living life to the fullest?

That indeed is a very liberating thought and it was all from watching a “secular” movie.  I say God can speak to you, using whatever He wants, however He wants, it’s just a question of whether you’re listening.

Thank you God for putting things in my life that will inspire me to think about you.

Little favours from God

I was listening to a Joyce Meyer sermon about the grace of God and she talked about how we need to expect and learn to pray for favour. Our words have power and so we need to declare that “we have favour with God and He gives us favour with men.” http://jmm63026.edgeboss.net/download/jmm63026/podcast/tv/december/122808_video.mp4

That’s very true in my life. Very often, God gives me little favours to remind me that He really is a Father who provides. But the question is, how often do I actually see it?

This morning I drove to the pool so that I could practice my parking. After arriving safely with my car nicely parked, I realised that I didn’t have any parking coupons. That’s when I went, “you have got to be kidding me, I drove all the way here!!” It was pretty early so there wasn’t anyone around but thankfully, there was a construction guy walking towards his truck so I went up to him and asked him if he could sell me some coupons. He asked me how much I needed, I said a dollar and he just gave it to me. I wanted to pay him back but he just smiled and told me to take it.

It was a rather refreshing experience having someone just give you something without asking or expecting anything in return. I didn’t have to “charm” or do anything and the person was just nice! I know Jesus did it on the cross but the average man on the street isn’t exactly Jesus… These things don’t happen very often in the “real world” and even though it was only a dollar, I wonder if the guy knows that his simple gesture made such a big difference.

That was a favour from God. I don’t deserve it but God showed me favour by providing someone to bless me in my time of need. It may be small but it’s moments like that that shows that my God is real, very very real.

As 2008 comes to an end today, I pray that God will continue to show me His favour and more importantly, give me a heart that seeks Him so that I don’t take His favours for granted. 

My resolution for 2009 is very simple. May I be like what it says in Ephesians 2:20, “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” May His grace truly make a difference in my life so that I can be a good testimony for Him, “for we are God’s workmanship, created in Jesus Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10)

All this reminds me of a question my pastor asked a while back, how has knowing Jesus made a difference in your life? Hmm… I guess that’s something I need to remind myself think about as we approach the new year!

Humorous Bible Illustrations

I bought a new dvd of the collection of Pastor Prince’s humorous bible illustrations. I’ve been laughing for the last one hour and jokes and hilarious illustrations aside, I must say I am totally blessed under his ministry.While I’ve heard endless attacks on Pastor’s sermons, I must say, I am transformed and lead a very blessed life because of his powerful, anointed sermons that focus on the bible and always on Jesus.

This is the 3rd church I’ve been to and have been here for the last 5 and a half year and I thank God that He has brought me to New Creation church.

(again, i am not publicizing for anyone but just to share my blessings and pastor’s really powerful and very funny sermons).

Here’s an excerpt from You Tube to share

Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good like a medicine.”

Thank God, simply because we are healthy

I have been ill for several days, common flu but it’s enough to drain my energy and cause frustration and anxiety. It was worse when I had a press conference to work on and could hardly keep my nose from running, while trying to get work done.

At some point, I felt so miserable, I started to think of how people who are severely ill manage with life everyday. It also reminded me of how we should really slow down, take care of our body and thank God for every moment we are alive and healthy. Some times, we really are ill-treating our bodies and taking our health for granted.

I prayed many times a day when I was ill, thanking God that I am healed (even when I was blowing my nose till it turned bright red). And I was on my feet just right on Christmas eve.

Thank you, Jesus, for by His stripes, I am healed!

Isaiah 53:4-5
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken,Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

Steph can now drive!!

By God’s grace, I (Steph) finally got my driving license!! It may not seem like a big deal since almost everyone can drive but it is a big deal to me, not because of the actual license but because God has once again shown Himself strong and been with me each step of the way to get it. 

People who hear stories of my driving lessons are always very amused at how I can make something so simple difficult. They’re also very entertained by the comments that I get from my parents, like how I “need to learn how to drive so that I can be more driven in life“and questions like, “even grannies and grandpas can drive, why can’t you?”

When you have people constantly on your back hounding you with comments like that to do something you’re not very good at, you naturally become annoyed and your desire to accomplish the outcome diminishes, which is exactly the case with me and my driving.

It was always a chore dragging myself to the driving school but thankfully as a Christian, God gave us the and the word of God says, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Tim 1:7) and everything is possible with God because “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4:13) 

These were the verses that kept me going and before every lesson, I would always pray very hard for God to give me grace, be with me and most importantly, keep my instructor and all the other cars safe. After what seemed like forever and a lot of lessons, it was time for me to take the test. I remember praying and telling God that all I really wanted was for Him to take my fear away so that I can do the test properly.  Ultimately, it’s all based on His time and it doesn’t really matter if I passed. And as usual, God didn’t fail me. I wasn’t afraid, He gave me a very friendly tester and I didn’t make any big mistakes or get in any accidents. While I would have loved to have passed on my first attempt and write a glorious testimony about it, a combination of silly little mistakes added up and I ended up failing.

Which is just as well cause I knew I wasn’t ready. The confidence just wasn’t there and I would have been one of those panicky drivers that would have annoyed everyone on the road. But I guess God already knew that, which is why He wanted me to have more practice and do it again. I was actually quite relieved with the result but everything went downhill when I called my family. My dad didn’t believe that I failed and said, “No one in our family ever failed at driving, how could you?!” The rest of the family thought I was joking and took turns calling to congratulate me. While I knew they meant well, I couldn’t help but ask, “what part of the word FAIL do you guys not understand?!”  

Anyway, after much procrastination, I finally booked myself a second test date. Having not driven for six months, I thought I would have to pick everything up from scratch. But with lots of praying to ask God to renew my mind and take all my previous fears and thoughts away, I was surprisingly ok and became much more comfortable and a more confident driver this time round.

But maybe it was stress, two lessons before the actual test date, I was making all these ridiculous mistakes that I’ve never made before.  Thankfully, I read the bible that morning and I heard these verses in my head, “”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corin 12: 9-10) And I told myself that I should be happy, maybe God wants me to make all these mistakes now so that I wouldn’t make them again during the test.

The night before my test, God knew I needed some encouragement and He provided without me asking for it. I couldn’t sleep so I randomly opened one of the unread Rick Warren daily devotionals in my email and came across this verse, “But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!” (2 Chron 20:17) And the devotional said this, “The fact is if you are God’s child, then your problems are his problems. And he’s much better at fighting your battles and solving your problems than you will ever be. Your job is to trust him to work it all out… Trust that he is able to deliver you. And then watch him do it! “

“Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you”.  Nothing happens by chance in God’s kingdom and with God being so real in my life, what did I have to be afraid of? That night, I went to bed in peace and slept like a baby.

The next day was the day of my test. Eventhough I prayed, I guess I was still nervous and ended up making a lot of mistakes during my warm-up session. Even the instructor with me was a little worried and told me that I needed to do more safety checks and be less careless. So that was rather discouraging, since it was only minutes to my test when he told me that. But I kept telling myself that the battle isn’t mine and I was reminded of the Psalm that I read that morning about how God strengthened David’s hands and feet to raise him against his enemies. I don’t have any “enemies” but God is the same yesterday, today and forever and I believe that just as He delivered David, He will deliver me as well. All I needed was His grace.

With that I went and did my test. Thankfully it was lunch time so the circuit was pretty empty. But I had a really grumpy looking tester who made me turn at very short distances with very short distances so the test felt more difficult than the first time. And unexpectently, I did something that I’ve never done before on the S-course, I hit the curb! I asked the tester if that was an immediate failure and he said no and told me to continue. I remember feeling nauseous at that moment, thinking that I had already failed but that’s when I heard a voice in my head telling me not to be discouraged and not to be afraid for God is with me.

So I continued on with the test, moment by moment, by God’s grace, just trying to do my best. When it was all over, I thought I had failed. And since my tester just kinda grunted and didn’t tell me to go upstairs to the office with him, I thought it was an immediate failure. But I figured that even if I did fail, he would still have to be polite and tell me outright so I went to his office and sat down anyway. As he went to print my test results, I remember telling God, “God, thank you for being with me during the test and it would really be a miracle if I passed, Maybe I made all those silly mistakes so that if I pass, it’s REALLY obvious that it’s not me and all you. Whatever happens, I leave it all in your hands now.”

Immediately after, the tester came in and sat across from me with his usual grumpy look. As he was telling me about all the mistakes that I made, he laid my test results on the table and reading upside down, I saw the word “PASSED” on the second page. I blinked and couldn’t believe my eyes. Here my tester was telling me about how horrible I was and yet I passed? Am I missing something here? For a few seconds I kinda blanked out and wasn’t listening cause I was just staring at the paper. And when I looked up, I heard the tester say “Go and watch the video.” And I was like, “Huh? What video?” and my tester looked even more annoyed and said, “the video to get your license”. And that’s when I burst out, “Sir you mean I PASSED?!”

So yes, that is the story of me getting my license. Truly it was all God and not me. It’s a very long entry but because God has been so great, I just wanted to share what He has done. Getting a driving license is actually a very simple thing but this just goes to show that God cares for every aspect of our lives, even if they may be small and insignificant to many. Another thing I learnt is that God’s word is real, and if only you would seek, you would always be able to find His presence.

I come from a very strict Taoist/Buddhist family and people always ask me how and why I became a Christian. And to that I answer, having had mountain top personal experiences like that with Him, how can I deny God and not be a Christian?!

Thank you Father, for being faithful even when I wasn’t.

The Thanksgiving Blog

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the number of negative news way surpasses any good news when you flip open your newspaper each morning? Sure, there are terrorism concerns, economic crises and many more everyday hiccups in life that take joy away from us.  But rather than sinking to feed on those negative news, my co-author of this blog, Steph and I decided that despite all the bad news, we should always remember that there is a God who is GREATER than the bad news and our problems. Even in the midst of bad times, we want to find time to thank God for all the blessings He has given to us.

As Christmas draws near, we thought this is the perfect time to start this blog!

We want to celebrate life. And eventhough we may at times post our struggles and share our problems, our goal is to pray and look back some day to say ”hey, look what God has seen me through and blessed me with!” That ultimately, God has always taken care of us and been in control.

Stephanie is an ex-colleague, a great friend and a beautiful sister-in-Christ. We often meet to share how rough the world has been and how people and work have caused fear and discouragement in our lives, but we never forget to remind each other that if we really take a step back and see all the good things that happen, even if they are just little things, we should still be giving thanks.

We hope to share these little joys, revelations and little thanksgiving notes with friends and whoever comes across this blog.

So, join us in our celebration! And when we fall, pray for us!

(PS: we are not preachers or full time church workers. We are just two ordinary girls who believe that God sent His Son to redeem us and with that comes prosperity, grace, health and endless blessings).

Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;