Marriage

Imagine 2 people. Totally in love with each other. So much so that they decided to get married.

But then....

Imagine this same couple, whereby overtime, something occured along the line and one side of marriage was unfaithful.

The beans was spilled to the other side. The marriage crumbles.

Intense grief overtakes the faithful one.

Betrayal. Adultery. Selfishness.




Do you realise, that this can be reflect with us and God as well?

Marriage (and sex) was suppose to symbolize the unity of us with Himself (Ephesians 5:31-32). Therefore, when we accept Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, God's perfect Son, we are united to the Father.

The thing is, sometimes man becomes unfaithful, and begin to worship others apart from God. We don't put Him first, we don't do His will, we don't acknowledge that He is Almighty God.

Isn't that where 'the effects of divorce' comes in?

Intense grief.

Betrayal. Adultery. Selfishness




Coming from my background, I do know at least to some extend, of how unimaginably horrible a divorce is. Even more so, I've heard testimonies of issues regarding divorce.

Now let me tell you, if a divorce could hurt man so much so that life seems meaningless, what more when we are unfaithful to God.

God loves us way more than anyone could ever love us. Being unfaithful to Him after He sent Himself on the cross to pay for our punishment, it's just the biggest fattest ugliest deal of intense grief for God and betrayal, adultery, and selfishness from us.




Friends, don't ignore God anymore while He gives us a second chance. Put Him first. Or He will ignore you when the time comes.

Matthew 7:21 - 'Not everyone who says to Me, ''Lord, Lord,'' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven will enter'.

H2o

Yesterday, I got back from Harbour Town at night and realised that my house's water supply has been cut off (let's not talk about the cause). I literally turned on every single tap in the house, not a drop of water was found. I was alone at home so I frantically texted my sis, her bf (WY), and my housemate Jaclyn to alert them on this.

Thoughts going through my head:

• cannot shower


• cannot flush toilet


• cannot wash dishes


• cannot wash clothes


• cannot water plants


• cannot even drink water

Shortly after, WY called to tell me that Water Corporation (our lovely water supplier) will require 3 working days to reconnect our water supply.

3 freaking long days. I cried. How would I survive without water? Who can survive without water?

Yes I was feeling scared.

A song popped out of my lips amidst all this chaos in my mind though.

'It is good to give thanks to the Lord and sing praises to Your Name, O Most High,
To declare Your loving kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness everynight.'

It was a song I learnt years ago from Praise Kids Church. This phrase is even found in Psalms 92: 1-2.

About an hour later, Jaclyn arrived home from work. She too was frantic and started to call her friends living nearby, asking for help. After that, we started talking about how important water is, how it is more important than gas or electricity.

Out of impulse (sort of), I began reciting a verse. 'Seek first the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you all that you need.' Jaclyn and I both ended the verse with 'Matthew 6:33'. I then looked up to God, 'God, this is what we really need - water'.

IMMEDIATELY after that, we heard water running nearby.

We both screamed and jumped and rushed to the source. Couldn't believe it at first, I actually thought the water was coming from our neighbour's house. I was such a fool.

'Can you hear water?!! Can you hear that sound?! Is that really water??!!!!'

I reached to the bathroom tap. Felt excited, had faith, but a small part of me didn't know what to expect. I turned the tap on.

THERE WAS WATER FLOWING OUT.

And it wasn't like a drop or two. There was so much water flowing out, the tap looked as if it would explode.

Isn't God just plain marvelous, wonderful, amazing, gracious. He heard my cry, He kept to His Word.

Isaiah 40:8 - 'The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.'

See, ya just gotta have a lil bit of faith. And seek God.

Oh btw, memorizing God's Word is a good idea. :)

Easter Day

Happy Easter!!!!

Okies so I know I'm a day late, but I was at Easter camp. =D


(sorry, bad photo quality. we were in Crystal Cave. )

A friend told me this during Easter camp:

If you look around, you'll see that the world focuses so much on themselves (eg: on fortune, on fashion, on what people think about them, on music) cz that's where they get their confidence from. They gotta be rich, or have nice clothes, or be popular, or listen to a particular band to have that level of self-esteem that they want to reach. But that's why there's so much corruption in this world. Cz they focus on themselves only. That's why there's so much hate and anger and sadness and jealously etc. Cz everything is focused on self.

But, when you receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, your source of confidence becomes on the Lord. Your focus becomes to serve God and the people around you, and everything else just falls away. Nothing else matters. Not fortune, not fashion, not popularity, not music etc. Thoughts on elevating your self-esteem just disappears. Cz you don't need those for confidence. You have confidence through God, knowing that He'll take care of you. That's why your focus is on the people around you, to show God's love to them.

Hope this helps in your walk with God, in some ways, cz it did for me. =)

God has His plans, even for the little baby

Today I received devastating news. My colleague lost her baby. She was 5 months pregnant man. 5 months.

Imagine the feeling of loss and grief. And throughout today, I've wondered many times: 'why God?' She was the perfect person to be a parent. I've never seen anyone controlling kids as well as she does. And she's one of the most joyful, smiley person I've ever met. Adding onto that, she was incredibly excited over her pregnancy. Like seriously, not 1 week pass by when I don't see her face lighting up with joy when she talks about the baby. Moreover, the entire staff in KIS were just as excited as she was. Almost everytime someone pass by her, they would comment about her belly. 'Your belly is beginning to show!', and a huge grin would be plastered on her face.

Today was the first day of going back to KIS after a 3 week holiday. All the staff were talking about the disheartening news. And as I pondered on my original question, I remembered what I read yesterday during devotion:

Things happen not because we don't have enough faith, or because we do not pray enough. God is in control of everything and He has His own plans, for the better. And nothing we can do can change God's plans.

Isaiah 46:10 - I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say ' My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'

I may not know why God did what He did, but I am assured that He knows what He's doing. And I hope my dear colleague knows that too.

Submission

If it's one thing I've learnt in an unpleasant 5 minutes car-ride with a specific someone, it's to lay down my dreams, hopes, passion, and grudges in submission to do what's ought to be done.

I'm not liking you very much. I don't get your jokes and you have the power to crush what I love.

But because you're not my favourite person, I learn to submit to you.

Was my work all in vain?

1 Thessalonians 3:5 - For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

i feel at a loss. i spent so much training, time, effort, tears, prayers into this. there were even conflicts. all these were suppose to assist in building our family up.

when paul left the thessalonians church, he left them in a totally unprepared situation. the thessalonians were new believers, yet they continued to grow in faith. they even became an example to the christians in greece (1 thessalonians 1:7)

when i left, i did not leave the family unprepared. i spent months preparing and training and praying. indeed it was not in the best situation, but i saw potential there for growth in numbers. there were so many opportunities. now it's all gone.

my work was all in vain.

about 5 years ago, this exact same thing happened. there was a leader, she left and then our family broke apart and we went our seperate ways.

about 2 years ago, i had this strong determination to gather the passionate and willing, and to rebuild what we had dismissed. there were hard times. but we managed to pull through and stick together for 2 years.

until i left.

then our family broke apart again and we went our seperate ways.

'history repeats itself'. why is this happening? there were explanations, but all i could hear was opportunities being dismissed and forgotten.

could you see their potential like i could?

here's a tip, before you leave, make sure all your debts are paid, and that all your responsibilities are passed down to another potential and passionate.

i have now 3 months, to try and recover back what was yet again dismissed. may the Lord be my guide.

(photo extracted from http://www.flickr.com/photos/82893918@N00/310808981)

Back to basics

sometimes we get so busy with trying to be holy in front of others that we forget what was suppose to be the main focus. sometimes we focus on getting into ministries, giving tithe and offerings, training of leadership. these are all natural when it comes to christianity, these are the 'add-ons' that we should have.

but ultimately, everything centres on this:

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Hebrews 10:26 - Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins.

christianity isn't about being holy. it's about believing, accepting, and following Jesus Christ's way.

being holy, it's an add-on to christianity. =)