TRANSFORMERS

Have you watched transformers 2, the movie?
I thought that it was not a bad show and i asked like quite a few ppl!
some said it was worth watching, some said it was boring, some said it was too long...etc..
But there was something that the male lead said and i got really inspired^^

You know the ending part whereby the guy went to the location of his brain signals at the pyramid there...
Then rite, he saw the key amongst all the robots?
The key to save optimus prime?
He found hope and when he took it, it turned into dust because it had been there for such a long long time..
The people who followed him there, they all said it was over and gave up..
But he collected the dust in his socks.
The rest asked him what he was doing and why he had to do collect these dust cause it is like of no use anymore..
He said, "because i believe." "there must be a reason for us coming here, there must be a reason for everything that had happened!"

After he said that, i was reminded of one particular friend..
She said that she do not believe in prayers because i tried to pray for her in her times of despair and she told me it doesn't work at all..
i was kinda shocked..because i thought like in times of helplessness and despair, these are times whereby ppl turn towards God.
She is like those ppl that followed the guy in transformers to the place..they lost hope.

But i believe that everything begins with one word. "BELIEVE"
just like the transformer guy.
It is because he first believed that he saved the entire world from the bad robots..

I believe it is the same regarding our faith in God..
It really all begins with a believe that brings us closer..
it all begins with a believe that miracles can actually occur..
it all begins with a believe that prayer works thats why we pray..
it all begins with a believe that God exist in the first place^^
And i am sure the ending for us will be much better than the transformer's ending.

So think about what you really believe in today!
And hold strong to this believe.
Because only when you believe, the unbelievable can happen.

God loves you

God loves FOREVER!

Hey ppl!! yesterday and today i went for church and i sang the song, "Forever"
I didn't really like the song..dunno why..and ths caused me to focus on it even more today..
the song has a line that is repeated over and over again..."His love endures forever.."
Today, i wanna focus on the word "forever"

How many of you have experienced and know that people around you who loves you are willing to die for you?
And i mean really die for you?
Or, are you willing to die for someone?
I think for me personally, it is a very tough and difficult decision to make..and one must really really LOVE that person before he/she can die for him/her.
And this LOVE have to exceed and go beyond the LOVE for oneself..which goes against the selfish human nature.

Things change, people change, scenery change, your environment change...etc.
They grow and die as the day passes..
Nothing is everlasting, don't you think?
There is nothing on this earth that lasts forever and is stagnant.

As i was singing that song, i really appreciated God alot...
Like, He is the only one who doesn't change, who is everlasting, who provides promises and never fails.
Don't you think it is amazing cause He can go against all the nature of change?

I was reminded of economics..and there was one chapter about exchange rate..
If one country's currency keep fluctuating throughout the year, up and down, it will create the problem of uncertainty and it inturn affects the amount of investments that are going to come in..be it long term or short term.
This is because the investors will be very scared and cannot trust that the country can make funds because of its instability..

Same for relationships..
If your friend keep on changing in character like throughout the year or in a few years, do you think your friendship can still withstand and be maintained?

Thats why i hold trust and faith in something that is never changing and can last forever, because it is firm and stable..
And that is Jesus Christ.
Besides, He loves us so so much, more than Himself as a God that He is willing to suffer and die just for you and I. Because God thinks that we deserve it.
Bet you all heard this like many many thousand times already..But i still wanna emphasize on the fact that He died for you, shouldn't you love Him back the same way?

I mean, if someone, anyone, is willing to die just for you, won't you get touched?
This is sacrificial love.
And what i found out was, Jesus is the only God that is willing to do so just to save us..

There was another thought that i had while i was listening to the sermon for the second time..
Joel was preaching and he talked about facebook...he said something like "if you are transformed from the inside, it will show it on the outside..", "out of the outflow of your heart, your mouth speaks." and "when is the last time you ever talked about God or even mentioned his name? what was your last update on facebook?"

I was reminded of something and i really want to ask you all this..
Do you pass by something, anything whether it is a shop, an item..etc, with the word "Jesus christ / God" on it and not feel anything?
Do you feel anything at all?
What i mean is, do you feel a sense of excitment and it really attracts you to go and look at it closer, even more..
Or will you just not feel anything but just walk past without bothering to look at it...

This shows how much you really love God and how much He really means to you and where you placed Him in your life..
Are you taking God for granted...thinking that He is just there for me to call when i need help and He will help..
Reflect upon this.

It is never too late to pray for a transformation to happen in your life today!
God will be more than happy to change you from the inside out.
Just remember two simple things you must do..
START PRAYING + BELIEVE..
If you don't start you never will..
If you don't believe then there is no point of praying.

GOD LOVES YOU ESPECIALLY!!

For who He is!

Here is the retreat theme song=) "for who you are"
Standing here in Your presence
Thinking of the good things You have done
Waiting here patiently
Just to hear Your still small voice again

Holy
righteous
faithful to the end
Saviour
healer
redeemer and friend

CHORUS I will worship You for who You are
I will worship You for who You are
I will worship You for who You are Jesus

BRIDGE My soul secure,
Your promise sure
Your love endures
always

My soul secure,
Your promise sure
Your love endures
always

Before retreat and during retreat my church sang this song many many times during worship..
I have been thinking about what it really means to say that "i will worship You for who you are."
whenever i sing the song..

In my point of view, i feel that to worship God for who He is is not easy...
Why?
Cause usually i will fall into the trap of worshipping God for what He can do, or what He does and not who He is.
Like many times, we only praise God and like rejoice in His name whenever we encounter something amazing that happens...or when God touches our lives, or when we pray for something and it came true!
When something just don't go the way we want them to and think it is right, we may blame God or just stop worshipping and claiming victory in His name...
i realised all these through several experiences that i have with God..
I don't blame Him, but i also don't thank Him..

Worhipping God for who He is means to put aside everything that He can do, the blessings that He can give to us..
It means to just rejoice in every situation we are in because our God is in control and He is so much bigger and more powerful..
It means to know Him better through the Bible so that we know exactly who He is..

Have you ever get treasured for who you are and not what you can do?
everyone can admire someone who is all talented in every area, the most popular, the cleverest..etc. (all these 'love' can be easily seen from the world) -everyone try to prove one another as to who is better and stuff..
However, would you rather someone loving you for who you are on the inside and not what you can do?
The measurement here is on the inside of ppl not on the outside.
And God is looking for that kind of love from us..
And this differentiates us from the other people of another religions (they worship their gods to ask for the things they want and need)

We must recognise that God deserves this kind of true love from us.
Because He is God.

Are you willing to worship Him for who He is today?

God loves you for who you are

Servant? God? huh? no link.

I wanna blog something first before i go for church retret next week!! yay!!
Yupps=)
You know i went for judo camp for 1 day today (supposed to be 3 days but i got things on)..but today was the most intensive...i came for training from 9am to 8.30 pm...
during the training camp i really felt like i was going to die anytime..i was like gasping for air and screaming to God for help..
This is the first judo prac that i cried so so much..over and over again..(not that i want to) but i shan't go into the details..
What i wanna talk about today is the lessons and things that i learnt from this whole day as the Holy spirit speaks to me..

Because we were having lunch at the canteen and i was like sitting with the other seniors (all guys) and the girl coach (who takes care of this whole camp) and after lunch, we stayed at the table just to talk to the seniors and stuff...
Therefore, there were only me and my partner (xing yun) who were the only j2s left there because the rest went up to the classroom to rest..
And the other male coach told me and xy to clear all the rubbish because we were the only ones left..i was like huh?
the male coach said "unless you wanna ask the seniors and the female coach along to clear the rubbish also."
The seniors's reply was, "no no you all should go and clear."
I said," but we clear together issn't it better cause then we will have unity!"
they didn't want and the male coach added on saying, "but there is only 1 big trash bag for you to clear only"
so, at the end, my and xy had to clear it..

I understand that they may want us to toughen up and be responsible and stuff...
But i was really reminded of Jesus Christ..
Ask you, who in the right mind will be willing to step down to a position so much lower than the position that you are presently in?
Lets say for example...would a director of a company or a ceo be willing to suffer a lack of money and become a begger on the streets?
No one in the right mind will do that right?
It is just like a seniors..they are also unwilling to step down from their senior status to help us..

However, there is one person that loves us so so much that he would even do such a foolish act of just stepping down..
And it is not just stepping down to a lower position, but to a lower of the lowest position..
Jesus christ who is the king in heaven, so big and majestic, so boundless, so amazing and had so many angels serving Him and stuff, why would He want to come down to this earth and to limit Himself as a small, fragile human being (somemore, human beings are part of His creation)...
I mean like, if it was me, i would want to reign over everything what..

And Jesus didn't just come down as a human being on earth to enjoy His life and stuff, He came down to endure all the sufferings of mankind. He came to get humiliated by His own creation, laughed at, hit, tortured physically like real badly just for us!
Shouldn't we repay back the amount of love He has for us?

There was once during cell, someone commented, "But Jesus is God and He knows that He will rise from the dead like after 3 days, so it is kinda unfair don't you think?"
Su hui jie (one of the leaders) told us, "it wasn't even fair for Him to come down to suffer even for 1 day and get tortured by us. was it even fair?"

When i was studying for GP midyears and i read about death penalty and stuff...there was one article that says, "it is not morally right for anyone to stand in for a guilty person even though she/he is willing to do it."
Jesus christ is willing to do it, He carried the sins of all of the world just to provide a way of salvation for us!" Isn't it amazing?

There was another thing that i thought about during the training..
because during the training, i saw the seniors and stuff just sitting around...and what some of them did was that they just tell us.."eh! hurry up leh!, do faster, turn in more!, do properly leh!"
These are some of the comments that they made..and we were all super duper shag like really going to die and in pain kind of feeling..
people started telling me about how one of the seniors think it was so easy to do the pt in the morn because they didn't do what my other cca members did early in the morn ( i wasn't there)

This brought me to think about things like....if they have never been through it, how would they know?
They think it is so easy but it is actually so tiring and difficult, not that we didn't put in effort and stuff in doing it..
it is so easy for them to make all the comments when they ain't the ones suffering and training..
If those who train with us and give the comments then i have got nothing to say la..but..
I started to think about God..
think about how God knows how we are feeling exactly, and the several sufferings we face in life because He has been through it?
Because He has came down to earth to suffer in a more extreme manner gives Him the right to tell us what to do and not to do..
He also has the authority to do so because He created us!

But, he didn't exert His authority over us.
He treated us with love that no other human beings could have..
Just like how many other seniors and the guy coach cared for our welfare (which is really very touching especially in the times of need), God cared for us much much more^^

We only have to respond to this love that is free and available...(it really takes 2 hands to clap)
Are you willing to accept this love that He has for you?
Are you willing to run back to the cross?

GOd loves you!

Surrender

Sorry..haven been blogging..cause i have been very busy with school and stuff..
Sometime in this week i felt spiritually drained..
I dunno why but i felt this sense of emptiness in my heart and i couldn't really feel God talking to me anymore...
I do not feel the compassion for the people around me, i started to feel like this passion is not there...
I felt this need and yearning for more of God because i seemed to have lost Him..
I started to pray about discernment from His voice and mine and the many others..
I started to pray for God to speak to me like the past, through songs, friends and the Bible...
I realised that life without God even if it were just a short moment was not a good thing..and i really cannot live without Him..
And finally, today, God spoke alot of things to me..

I have been asking questions on surrendering and placing everything to His control..
Have you ever asked questions as to how to surrender?
What it means whenever you say you surrender everything to God?
i mean like you can say you surrender everything and put everything into His control but still worry about it..eg. exams..
So how exactly do you know that you are surrendering?
By feelings?
How can you tell how much you are actually surrendering to God?

I have been praying about it for a week and...
As i was listening to the song "completely" this morn on the way to school for exams, there was this line that i heard was so distinctively different from the rest...the line was, "take my heart, take my soul, i surrender everything to your control..."
God spoke to me and i realised that surrender really depends on how much trust you put in that person..
And when you surrender, you will really rejoice in any outcome as you know that God is always in control...
Whether good or bad results and outcome, you will rejoice in Him..
And only when you do that, you can say that you have surrendered everything to His control...
So i would like to encourage you all that no matter what may happen in life, no matter what situations, problems and circumstances that you are currently facing now, learn to surrender...it is not easy but only when you learn to do that, you can truely walk in the will of God..
What i know is that the characters in the Bible like paul and many others, they chose to rejoice even at the worst circumstance. They chose to sing praises to God even though they were going to get persecuted..
So, ultimately it depends on the choice you make^^

Another incident was also on the bus this morn..
I was listening to christian songs as usual and the volume was like just right, not too loud and not to soft..
Then there was this guy that sat next to me...
He had his earpiece on..
and the amazing thing was tat i can hear his music loud and clear!! and every single bit, every single tune..
so it is like his music is so loud that it can penetrate through his ear piece, through the air and through my ear piece into my ear!
amazing right? i was kinda amazed also...
And suddenly, it dawned upon me that this is especially true in the real world..

I dunno why but last sat when i went for the church's revival service, i really didn't want to go back to school cause i know i will face the many challenges and temptations once again from the people that i come into contact with in school..
I really just hope i can remain safe in the church forever..
I started to realise that when we are alone, we are like listening to christian music by ourselves like at home or in a quiet place..it is loud and clear..
But once we step out into the world, all these music is interupted and mixed with many other sounds and the words of the music becomes blurred and almost inaudible..
It is just like how we as christians try and struggle to live our lives as children of God when others are not..
Sometimes, it is just very hard to stay on focus and keep yourself in track, you seem to tend to fall into sin unknowingly and so easily..
Not easy for me too..
But i always try my best, tempted to do what others are doing and sinning and at the same time trying to focus on the question on "what would Jesus do" in every situation is not easy..
But as long as we try and pray, the Holy spirit will lend us a helping hand and give us an extra push..
I would just like to encourage those who try so hard but seem to fall back into sin and the ways of this world..
Just keep praying, just keep pressing on and seek for revival from God every single day.
It is not easy, but remember that what you are facing, Jesus faced the same or even greater amounts of temptations..
What you are facing is also faced by many other christians out there!
Jia you! just keep your faith in God and He can do wonders..
Learn to surrender.

God loves you!

Here today, gone tmr

Do you rmb the "who am i song" that i was sharing like a few post before?
Today i was singing it when i am bathing..
And i felt a sense sadness and it was kind of depressing..

I would like to focus on the first 2 lines of the song chorus, "I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow."

I am reminded again of how fragile life really is and how many are focusing on what can they gain from this earth...
I started to think of my studies...
Sure, many will say, studies is very important! cause you can get a good degree, then go university, then can get a good job, good pay, good life!
But is that what life is really all about?
Yes i agree that studies can help me gain survival and a easier life in future...
But besides wealth riches and all the material stuff, what else can we take or gain?
I can be the cleverest, smartest or even the riches person on the face of the earth, but is there anything beyond this that i can take?
so what if i got all these?
I realised that there is nothing to all these things..at the end of the day, all these things will mean nothing...
Nothing much will come out of it..
Thats why i cannot understand what the people are chasing it for..

Anws, i was also reminded about the story that kenneth (my regional leader) said today..
He told us about his friend's friend.
She committed suicide just recently..
Guess what, she is sec 2 (14 years of age)
She jumped down from the 4th story and didn't die immediately..
It was when she was sent to the hospital, on the way, she died of internal bleeding..

And kenneth's friend had been feeling very guilty about this matter because she didn't tell her about christ at all and she didn't know that she was facing problems.
She really regretted alot..

Someone gave a comment when the story was heard..."Huh? sec 2 only leh...how much suffering she have to go through? why is there a need to end her life?"

I started to think about the comment when i came home..
It is because that person has lost hope...
She has lost purpose in her life...even at such a young age..
She couldn't find anything on this worth on this earth that is worth living for..

you know, i ever felt that way before...
I will wake up in the morn and prepare for school and think about what am i doing all these for..

The reason why i am writing this is that i really want to encourage you all to keep this flame for God burning
Keep the passion of saving and sharing about God's word to the others burning always...
It may be difficult at times, fear may overwealm you and stop you..
Disappointments from all the rejections of your friends and family members may cause you to stumble and lose faith...thinking that it is kind of impossible and you have to wait for a long long time..
You may also think that someone else will do it for you...someone else will share the gospel in your place..

No matter what the reason may be, just remember that you will never know what is going to happen to the people around you..
You will never know when they will die, what they are facing and stuff...
When you share the gospel, you are actually providing hope to the person in despair and helplessness..
Don wait until it is too late...do it today...
But always rmb to pray and ask God to use the holy spirit to say what God wants to say to the people around you..because God always wants to save them more than you want them to be saved...
Lastly, learn to be patient...God has his perfect timing for them..
YOU can be one of the little chains that joins up and save the people around you...

God loves you always

Have? Don have?

I went to the hospital today and i felt that God spoke alot of things to me through the holy spirit..
You must be wondering why i went to the hospital (SGH) rite?
My grandma is really really sick..she got kidney failure and she did an operation on her neck area to stick 2 thick needles into her neck for blood washing, she cannot walk, she cannot control her pee, she cannot swallow properly then the water that she can drink have to be thicken by adding some powder thingy to prevent choking...and stuff..it is really very cham one..
Pray for her k!

Anws, my emphaize today is about my trip there^^
There is this maid that attended to her like almost 24 hours (the maid is last time from my uncle's house de) because my grandma was like very scared..she don want to be left alone..
When i went there for the first time today, the room was without aircon and i talked to my grandma and the maid..then when my grandma fell asleep, i talked and laugh with the maid..

As i see how the maid take care of my grandma, i started to realise that it wasn't easy...
Cause when the maid go off for a short while, my grandma wanted to puke and stuff..even i have difficulty trying to help her..
I think people like my grandma and many other grandma's in the ward requires alot of patience to be taken care of..
Every single action that my grandma do, auntie budi(the maid) will take note..even when my grandma speak very very softly in hokkien, budi will still be able to hear and she will immediately attend to her with a cheerful heart...
it ranges from taking the tissue, wanting to turn the body to sleep, wanting to adjust the bed up and down, wanting to place the pillow in a certain direction, wanting to vomit...etc.
budi also do not even have a nice bed to sleep at night, every single night...she could only sleep on the chair...but she always attend to her happily and really go all the way out for her, even when she wants to sleep..
It is like my grandma will wake up anytime and budi must be there to help.
And whenever my grandma want to eat sweet stuff, budi will say, "Don't eat" in hokkien..and my grandma will insist and of course at the end budi gave her alittle..
Because of that, she vomited...

Sometimes i look at her, and i really admire her for the things she has done.
Think about it, she has no blood relationship with my grandma and she has to do all these, i really don understand how happy can she feel...but still, she do it will love...
At my grandma's most helpless and vulnerable state, she is there to lend a helping hand..

As a look at my grandma's back view when she is sleeping, i realised that she is just like a child that needs to be attended and supported alot as it grows..

I started to think about God's love..
i think God's love is just like how budi cared and loved my grandma..
Always taking care very sincerely and always there whenever people call out to Him..
Every single time we call for help, He has always been there helping and just being side by side with us, walking through the problems or situations that we are facing with us...
He is always carrying us on his back.
Everytime we want to do certain things (like how my grandma wanted to eat sweet stuff), God will be there to stop and correct us with love and the intention that he wants to give us the best and what is good for us...and if we do not listen and still want to do it, he will not forcefully stop us, but to help us to learn and to stand up on our own feet with his help, after we suffer the consequences even though it may hurt him to see us suffer...
Even for those who are not children of God yet, those who are unsaved, God still provides for them, God still give them the many blessings..whether it is in material terms or people around them who cares for them...etc.

I ever read this book, and it talks about God giving us a taste of abit of heaven and abit of hell on earth...so there is good and evil (suffering) on earth until we die..
So it is up to us to make a decision as to what kind of life we want to lead and choose in our afterlife..
And i feel that it is quite amazing as to how many always choose hell in a way..
Alot of times they know that doing something is wrong but they still do it anyways...

I started to shift my view towards the bed next to my grandma's.
That patient is also another grandma..and she have a huge thick tube stuck to her neck and is connected to some machine..
i heard from my brother, who heard from budi that she also have a huge tube-like thingy stuck to her stomach..
That means, she got a hole at her neck and stomach..
and it is only through those holes that she can then breathe and eat because her body could no longer do that for her..

Just breathing and eating, such basic tasks of a human body, she cannot even do and have so so much difficulty doing it..

I started to think about the question on, "Are we taking our lives for granted?"
We always think about the things that we don have, then always say, "i hope, i wish this this this will happen/ i wish, i am born pretty/ i wish i didn't have to live/ i wish my family wasn't like that..etc" All these hopes and wishes shows us that we are focusing on the things that we don't have that are beyond our control..
And as we focus on the things we don't have, we will tend to neglect and forget about the things that we actually do have...
People out there are trying their best to survive..
People like the grandma, she cannot even breathe and eat!
Shouldn't we appreciate and treasure the fact that we are healthy? the fact that we are able to breathe...etc.
For everything in your everyday life, there is something to thank God about..
for the grandma, she can be thankful to the fact that she is living in singapore and have the technology to help her...at least she got a bed to sleep on, at least she got hands and legs, at least she still has a God that loves her..
It depends on how you view things in the many situations that you are facing..

If we keep on focusing on the things that we don't have, we will be a very very unhappy and uncontented person..
Just rmb that there will always be someone worst than you in everything that you face, you will feel that you are really already very blessed by God.

Learn to treasure what you have today! especially on the things or people that you have difficulty loving and treasuring.

God loves you more than you can expect!