People often wonder, why is it so hard to serve God?


Facing disappointments after disappointments, difficult circumstances or worse, stagnant situations cause us to find serving God so difficult.
In the past, I would have thoughts like "why is serving God so difficult and tiring?" or "I wish I can just drop everything and not care" and even "God, what if I backslide...".


But deep down inside of me, I know that I won't. Cos God has revealed Himself as Yahweh (or Jehovah) to me. He is my everything. It's to the point that I know I can only rely on Him. I can never live my life independent of Him. It's impossible.


Christian life is never a destination. It's a journey. Receiving Christ is just the beginning. It's a constant walk with God. Just like what Pst Kong always says, Christian walk is definitely not a smooth sailing journey. However, if we want to be a true disciple of Jesus, we should learn to take up His cross. (Getting Started lesson 5)


We have to admit that it does get tiring sometimes to constantly sow into people's lives yet not bearing fruits. You can treat them to meals, spend time with them, pray for them, buy gifts for them, go out of your convenience just so you can meet their needs.. Spending so much time and money but they end up disappointing you, hurting you..


Last week's sermon on the 7 kinds of suffering was a word in season for me. I was feeling very discouraged, disappointed with people and myself. Even during the sermon, I was irritated by the distractions around me. But what Pst Kong preached really hit me.


7 kinds of suffering:
1) Storms of Life
2) Chastening (Dealings of God)
3) Temptation
4) Spiritual warfare
5) Afflictions
6) Persecutions
7) Trials of faith


"For whom the Lord loves He chastens..." [Heb 12:6]
Only true sons and daughters are chastened by God.
I definitely wanna be a daughter of God.


Pst Kong mentioned a statement that impacted me a lot.
He said this, "Only GENUINE Christians (Giants of Faith) are WORTHY to be persecuted."


Wow.


As I am typing now, I'm reminded of a verse. God promises that when we're feeling tired, discouraged or burdened, seek Him and He will provide us with the rest that we need.


"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." [Matt. 11:28-30]


Indeed I need more of God each day. I need to learn from Him. I need His wisdom and direction. Just like what Kenrus shared in Psalms 127:1-2 "Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it..." Unless God directs, all my work and sowing will be wasted.


I really like what Brendan shared with me today. In brief, he shared that we got to be like Christ during His earthly ministry-to do what He did. Not only do we look back at the cross and thank Jesus for what He has done for us but more importantly to look FOWARD to His 2nd coming (having the hope and peace that Jesus is coming back for us to bring us to eternity) and while looking FORWARD, we are to fulfil God's calling upon our lives - making disciples, preaching the gospel etc.


God, I am willing...


Lord, thank You for the work You have completed at the Cross. You died so You can give us life. Thank You for this new God-man race that You have created. Your unfailing love has overwhelmed me time and time again. Thank You for not giving up on me. :)

Pst. Zhuang mentioned yesterday that there are 2 mentality people generally will have when they're in the midst of a difficult situation/crisis etc.

1) Buried
2) Planted

Both are in the same condition - underground; surrounded by darkness (no sign of light)
Being buried means having no hope, no future; we're considered dead.


On the other hand, being planted means that tho' the situation may be dark at the moment, we continue to put our faith in God (holding on to the promises of God). And in due season, we will spring forth out of the ground and bear fruits!!! =D


I truly believe this is so. Cos many times He has proven Himself faithful to me, especially in my finances. There are times where I'm very tight financially, bringing food from home to work. Sometimes I can have a whole week of just 'da bao' for lunch. My colleagues will know. Haha.. This can last for few months (especially during building fund).


But God is a faithful God. When I sow, I know I will surely reap. =)
Seed, time, harvest. The key here is "time". God's timing.


So, let us all press on and "not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart" (Galatians 6:9)

Today is the day the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it! =D


Today is the day where I got my 3A license! =D
Praise God!!! Woohoo~
God is so awesome man!


When I woke up this morning at 7am, the sky was totally gloomy and dark.
Thundering at the background but no rain...yet.
Was praying in my heart that it will not rain but soon after, it did.
Rained pretty heavily in fact.
Amazing thing was, I didn't panic.
I remember Dear's words: God works through faith and not by needs.
I remember his prayers last night too.
No matter how Satan tried to tempt me with negative thoughts, I rebuked him and repeated that God is faithful.
He has never failed to prove Himself faithful and He will definitely stay true to His word.

The rain just kept pouring but deep in my heart, I had this assurance and peace that the rain will stop in time for my driving test. =)
My number 1 supporter drove me to SSDC early in the morning.
Reach at 8.30am.
Met my instructor Mr Tan and we talked, asked him a few questions while he had his breakfast.


When it was around 9am, we went out to wait for his car.
His student was still taking the test; hers was at 845am.
The girl had only 13 driving lessons and she bravely challenged TPT already! Wow.
Unfortunately, she failed. But it was because she mounted the kerb.
She only had 12 demerit points!
Such a pity..


I was pretty nervous, can feel my heart beating hard as the time draws nearer. Haha..
My dear was rooting me on, smiling, assuring me.
At around 9.20am, it was my warm-up exercise.
Mr Tan directed me through the circuit one last time.
It went pretty smooth.
At 10am, he told me to go up to the 3rd level to place my IC, PDL & stuff at the counter and wait for the tester to call me.


What was only 10-15mins seemed like an eternity to me as I waited.
Finally, my tester called my name.
He was quite friendly.
Gave me a sort of brief introduction.
Off I went!


Praise God!
The rain has stopped by then. Woohoo!
God is indeed faithful! HE'S FABULOUS BEYOND WORDS! =D


Circuit went pretty well except when I was about to exit the center, I exceeded the bend.
Don't know why too. Didn't even realise it. Oops.
Road went quite smoothly too.
But there was a junction whereby I stopped and waited for awhile before turning cos I was afraid that the car opposite would chiong.
That's when the tester said I'm not good. =x


Going back to the driving centre, I didn't wait for the car to move fwd before turning in. (Think I forgot)
The tester commented that I'm a horrible driver. =x
So scary~
I don't even know if I passed or not.
Came out of the car and followed the tester upstairs.
Dear was waiting for me, smiling.
But I don't know how to react.
I think my facial expression looked horrible cos he told me he was so scared, thought I failed.
Hahaha..


When I saw the piece of paper... 18 points!!!
My gosh. Almost man.
Phew~~!!
Felt like crying. Tears were welling up my eyes a little bit already.
Not because I was too happy.
But because I was so nervous that emotions just welled up in me.
Haha..
I'm so glad it's over! =)


Went to dear's house while he bathed and prepared for school.
Then he allowed me to drive his car to thompson to eat.
Dear then took over the wheel to park cos it's too challenging for the newbie me. Haha..
We planned to go Miss Clarity initially but because there was no parking lots available, dear drove to the next carpark and we decided to eat there.
We were contemplating between chicken rice, western food, jap or korean before we decided on Tomoe Japanese Cuisine restaurant.
Dear was still telling me that he and his dad dined there before when lo and behold, his dad was really dining there with his employee!!!
We were both taken by surprise. Haha..


After we settled down, it kinda dawned upon me that all these seemed planned.
Me passing my driving test, dear being blessed by his grandpa, us not able to get a parking lot at Miss Clarity and ending up at Tomoe where dear's dad was.
I was still wondering if dear's dad will just treat us.
Next thing we knew, he really did! =D


WOW. Ain't God amazing??!!
Thank you so so much Father!
Your grace is indeed far more sufficient than I can ever imagine! =D


After lunch, I drove to SIM.
My lane changing is still not that good.
Caused my poor baby to gan jiong together with me.
Sorry dear! Xin ku ni le!
But I believe I WILL get better! I WILL improve!
By God's grace. Amen! =)


Wow wow wow. What a day!
But that's not all.
After dear's econs class, we're heading off to ice cream!
Woohoo~
*Happy*


Really wanna thank my dear.
He's always so sweet and assuring.
Waited for me patiently.
Gave me encouragement that no money can buy.
Thank you so much baby!
I'm so glad I have u!
U're a treasure! =D


Thank you people for praying for me, esp N161!
Thank you so so much!
Your prayers have covered me with protection and peace!
Thank you!
Love you guys!!! =D

Labels: My Faithful God

Attended leaders' meeting ytd. Oh boy, was it awesome! Dr A. R. Bernard is simply amazing!!! =)

I love this statement that he made:

Delegated authority should always reflect the character and attitude of the leadership.

Wow.

Everyone was super responsive ytd. Liping said it must be because many ppl can identify with the message. True.

I wanna be a person with the right behavior and achieving. I'm gona work hard! Jiayou to myself! =)

Really impacted by his message and I can't wait for this weekend to hear him again! So looking forward!

After the meeting, Dorcas mentioned about eternal judgment during our briefing. Actually, I've pondered on that quite often; asked God about it too. I really want to bear forth fruits, and fruits that will remain!

Let's never be weary in doing good. Never give up ppl! =)


Cheers~

I was watching Perfect Cut (一切完美 II) last night and I felt truly impacted by this particular episode. I want to mention specifically 2 very meaningful phrases that I learnt from this show. One in English and the other in Mandarin.


"Words should not be hurtful. Use it to say I love you" (sign language involved. My mom, Dominic and I learnt it! Hehe.)


"重话要轻说，坏话要好说，会破坏感情的话最好别说。"


Wow, 2 very simple phrases but how true it is. I got reminded about Pst. Kong's sermons on relationships. I feel that many relationships fail is mainly because of the inability to handle them well instead of a mere lack of love. Most people may think that falling in love is easy. Yes it's true. Falling in love is easy but going into a relationship as a committed couple is not an easy task at all. True love involves genuine care, sacrifice, devotion, time, money, everything in fact! Loving someone is not about loving your partner the way you feel loved but loving him/her the way he/she will feel loved. That is true love.


Communication is one of the essential tools in a relationship. It's one way how we connect to each other soul to soul. However, most people nowadays do not bother to speak tactfully to their partner and most importantly, with love. We may have good intentions but the choice of words we use are often not the best at times. Relationships are strained especially when we fail to control our tongue in the midst of quarrels. In a fit of anger, we may say something we do not mean and the "unintentional words" hurt our partners deep. Words poured out during such situations are often irreversible. They either make or break our partners' hearts. Our tongue is the most deadly instrument of all our body parts. That is why God gave us the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues is a form of surrender to God. Giving Him total control of our most deadly instrument.

Isn't it amazing? How complex a relationship can be? However complicated it may be, only through God, true love is magnified.


It's no longer one-ness by design but one-ness by choice.


Though God does not choose our partners, I believe that Brendan and I meeting each other once again is God's work. We were the right people, meeting at the right time and the right place. It was simply the kairos moment and I'm so glad I didn't miss it! =D However, it's definitely by our personal decisions that we make this relationship a successful one. =)


We live in a broken down world, with imperfect people coming in and out of our lives. However, it's through our imperfection that we bring out God's perfect love.


Dear, I'm very confident that we're built to last! =D We may have our ups and downs but I'm so proud we're both learning to love each other more each day. I'm so full of motivation right this very moment and I can't wait to see you later to tell you how much I love you! =D


I LOVE YOU WITH AN EVERLASTING LOVE DARLING!!! =D

Finally.. This is my first 2009 post! Haha..
Okok I know I'm slow. Super slow. Haven't even update my 21st birthday bash post which is in 2008! Haha..


Anyway, in this new year, I've begun to keep myself updated on world news. I found myself reading newspapers and feeling fulfilled.


I used to find reading the news a chore. Boring, lazy and making my hands black and dirty are some of the excuses. My dad used to ask "Do you know who's the MOE minister? Or who's our MOH minister?" I will always reply, "Don't know." Then he would sigh and say, "Aiyo.. how can Singapore depend on the future generation?" Comments along this line. Haha.. I've always have this "living in my own world" mindset. Being complacent about the knowledge that I have.


I guess it's what Brendan's mom said that inspired me. She said that the information you read from the newspapers will never shortchange you. Brendan also started being diligent in reading the news. He reads every single article! Haha.. I will comment that he's crazy. Haha..


But now I have come to realise that it is indeed true. I have actually found joy in reading the news. Though I find it taxing at times still and do not read every single article, but at least finish reading the whole of the newspaper Today (though it's not as detailed as The Straits Time) gives me a sense of achievement and fulfillment. I no longer feel so much like a "mountain tortoise" I used to describe myself as. Of course there is always room for improvement. So, in this new year I will strive to increase my knowledge and motivate others to do so too! =)


As what Sir Francis Bacon quotes, "Knowledge is Power".


Dear friends, let's incubate ourselves and penetrate the marketplace!!! =D

Labels: Knowledge is Power