Monday, August 30, 2010

29-08-10 (Monday) “Thank You”

This song rings true right now. I just felt the urge to share this with you. I hope that you share my sentiments. :)

Thank You for Your kindness
Thank You for Your mercy
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the price You paid


Thank You for salvation
Thank You for unending grace
Thank You for Your hope
Thank You for this life You gave


There is no one like You
There is no one like You, God
All my hope is in You
Jesus, Jesus


Thank You for Your promise
Thank You for Your favor
And thank You for Your love
And everything You've done for me


To Your name
We give all the glory
To Your name
We give all the praise
You're alive
Our God everlasting
So let Your face shine on us

Have a great week ahead. :D

Saturday, August 28, 2010

29-08-10 (Sunday) “Grateful For The Darker Days”

This may sound a bit morbid and weird but I really DO thank God for the days that were hard, the days that were challenging. Without them, I would not be as appreciative of the here and now as it is. 1 Its so easy to be praising God when everything’s turning out fine, when all your applications go through, when all your work has been given recognition and good feedback, when there aren’t any worries in life, pretty much…IMG_8352 Then when the hard times come… THAT’S when its all revealed. What is your response to all the bad things, all the hard things? It is only the things that hurt that make you remember harder and to learn a stronger lesson from it. And it is those very things that don’t feel nice that wind up strengthening you and moulding you.IMG_8457On a side note… Spring is coming! Praise God for the wonderful weather! Praise God for clear, blue skies with the warm sun shining down on us. Reminds me how God is constantly watching over us!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

24-08-10 (Tuesday) “A Spirit of Thanksgiving”

“Dear God, can You please help me with my plans for the summer?”

“Please, God. Help me concentrate while I study and help me do well for my exams.”

“Oh God, please do something in his/her life. Show him/her that You’re in control and take away all his/her suffering.”

IMG_0339 I think that sounds like the prayer pretty much all of us do everyday. I’m not saying its wrong to ask for stuff. The same way parents enjoy pampering their kids as far as they can without spoiling them nor giving them a false ideal of the world, I’m quite sure God enjoys blessing us with certain desires of our hearts too.

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I just think that things would be very different if we start PRAYING differently. I think our constant prayers of request might end up clouding our vision of what God HAS been doing so far in our lives. We cross out the things that God has answered from our prayer journals then move onto the next point, praying fervently for those points thereafter!

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Our parents have rightfully taught us to say,”Thank you” whenever we receive something. There’s no reason this can’t be applied to the One who gave us life, right?IMG_8506

Here’s my challenge: Change your petition-heavy prayers to GRATITUDE-heavy prayers. Start small. If you can’t give thanks for a lot, try just give thanks for 2 EXTRA things that you haven’t given thanks for regularly. The change in your prayer changes you from being focused on wanting God to fulfil more to being more aware of what He HAS helped you achieve. This doesn’t just apply to Christians. If you don’t believe in prayer, then just be grateful for 2 things that has happened today. Then another 2 tomorrow. See how your OWN perspective change.

Monday, August 16, 2010

16-08-10 (Monday) “Freedom in the lack of it”

As I walked to class this morning, I was a tad early so I decided to slow my pace down and have a good look around.

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The clear blue skies take on a hue of grey as the rain clouds gathered…

The trinklets of rain pattering all over my jacket…

The female duck quacking away intermittently, as if shivering from the cold…

The lone magpie watching me walk by as it picked away at the ground…

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I imagine how care-free life is like for those avians. Wake up when the sun rises, starting looking for food, eat their fill, attack(or threaten to, at least( the annoying humans that zoom past quickly, find a mate, fertilize eggs, fly back to nest, rest, repeat with slight adjustments to their schedule here and there…

 

Does sound like a good life, without having to go through all the stress and worries and frustrations we humans endure pretty much day in and day out, eh? We get one break every half or year (or every year for those of you working), they get a break pretty much their whole life!

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Before you start thinking about karma and how you’d like to be a bird in the next life, consider this as well:

 

Remember the last exam you took, how you had to toil for a whole 2 months and (most likely) more just for the few days of exam papers? Now think of the days AFTER that. Think of the joy and the feeling of liberation upon completing the very last paper! Maybe you didn’t do too well. It just gave you greater reason to do better for the NEXT test, no?

 

And the trying times when a loved one had to undergo heavy medical treatment for a disease/ailment s/he did not deserve at all? If s/he hadn’t gone through that, would you have treasured her/him as much as you do now? Would you have stopped that “Nah… Its only happening over there, its not gonna happen to me.” mentality?

 

What about all the frustrations you had to endure with your friends? Look further down the road and you realize that it was in those hardest times that your most faithful companions could show their support! If life were ALWAYS smooth-sailing and stress-free, then we’d start getting so full of ourselves we start wondering WHY we need friends to begin with, no?

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I think God is just amazing in the way He created us and how He set life out for us. Sure those birds have nothing to worry about. But it also means they have nothing much to rejoice about, right? They get their fill everyday without knowing it cos’ there’s not much suffering(maybe not the case for the birds at the Gulf of Mexico after being smeared with petrol though). We go through tears and pain and hardships but what we get out of it, especially regarding our personal growth, makes it all worth it. We just can’t see it through our teary, red eyes.

 

Emotions. God made it. He came down and had a go with it. Now you can’t complain that He doesn’t know what you’re going through.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

15-08-10 (Sunday) "Who Am I?"

I am constantly and continually encouraged by this song.



Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me


Whom shall I fear?
'Cos I am Yours


There's no further place I have to look if I'm looking for love.

I hope you remember that YOU are loved too. Be blessed.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

12-08-10 (Thursday) “How He Loves Us”

Jesus died not just for those who were grateful and repentant. He also died for those who are still ignorant of Him.

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We, in the same way, are not to only help those who will be grateful to us. We are not called to help only those who look like they WILL appreciate our help. We are called to help ALL the needy and NOT to expect anything in return. Not even gratitude. We are called to love and to help even those who dislike us the most.

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I’ve said it before and this applies still. If it were easy, it needn’t have been a commandment. It’d be no big deal if EVERYONE could do it. It would be plain normal.

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He is jealous for me
Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.

Monday, August 09, 2010

09-08-10 (Monday) “No Man Is An Island”

I can’t deny the truth in it but I find that saying quite scary sometimes. Like now.IMG_8141 We have to depend on other humans, who falter and disappoint at times, to go on with life and there’s really not many alternatives to it. Sure, God is the solid rock we rely on… But He still made us to need each others’ companionship to function properly. Its scary cos’ its true.IMG_7817You know what’s worse? That I’m one of those faltering and disappointing ppl that others depend on as well. Its not an easy burden to bear. I’d like to be of better “use” (for lack of a better word) than that, really.

And I still wonder…

Saturday, August 07, 2010

08-08-10 (Sunday) “Everything”

I remember back in primary/secondary school when our teachers taught us some tips on writing essays/compositions. One of the tips given was that when we ran out of things to write for a list of things, we should just use “etc.” or “… dan lain-lain” in Malay.IMG_7485And then I think of how I’m used to write  cards for others, thanking them for something, or just for their birthdays… And I realize that when I dunno what to say to them, I end up just saying “thank you for EVERYTHING!”IMG_7483 That sounds very similar to “thank you for etc”, no? Not very personal, is it?IMG_6816 The same thing goes into my prayers too. “Thank You, God. For… For everything! You’re just amazing! You’re… You’re… EVERYTHING! You… Made EVERYTHING!!”IMG_7549 I think God deserves even MORE specific praise. Why not thank Him for the cross? For your breath of life right now? For the warm and cosy place you call home, where you avoid the elements of the world? For that friend who helped you pick up the books this afternoon? For the teacher who spends time correcting all your mistakes in calculation? For the clear, blue skies?

You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
Your are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

04-08-10 (Wednesday) “Thorn In My Flesh”

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘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.”

IMG_7133 My prayers have sounded something like this for a long time now. That “the Lord will take it away from me.” Now, I’ve come to realize how even these things have been for my benefit though it may not seem so in the present.IMG_6682 I thank God for the weaknesses in me. Those are what keep me in check. They are constant reminders that I have plenty of work to do with myself, that I am far, FAR (in fact, light years away) from being perfect.IMG_6961 Way to the moon

I’m still not at the level where I can say “I delight in weaknesses, in hardships and in difficulties” but I can say that “I delight in having a God IN THE MIDST of all these. A God Who cares and Who watches over.”

“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”