“Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you this these things, and I do it to safe-guard your faith.” Philippians 3:1 NLT
To safe-guard our faith, to not let circumstances and events to compromise our faith, one needs to rejoice in the Lord. Paul went to on tell us the ingredients of “rejoicing”,
not rely on our own efforts or the law (Ph 3:3b);
look ahead of us even if the past has failed us (Ph 3:13b);
remember the return of Christ (Ph 4:5b);
do not worry (Ph 4:6); and
fixate our eyes on what is excellent and worthy of praise (Ph 4:8).
Lord, it is such a tall order but we know that when we hear and heed, Your presence and spirit fills us; and nothing is impossible when You are within us. Amen.
A couple of months back I was introduced to the concept of celebration at the local CPA Congress. The guest speaker said about the “disappearance” of celebration in our culture nowadays, the “death” of celebration in our lives. The little girl inside of us who would stand out feeling proud, holding our heads high to proclaim a big “ta-dah” before others when we reached a milestone or achieved a not-so-achievable (in our perception); all gone missing. Well, some say that it’s a display of maturity and subtlety, through the “humbleness” rather than “showing off”. So, celebrations are more quiet…. and private.
Today somehow I have a thought about celebration and gratitude – the good feeling of a success or milestone leading to celebration doesn’t have to be self-indulgent? It can originate from a sense of gratitude – “how great it is that I have come this far and taste this now!” To take it further, “how great is our God that He has brought me this far to taste this now!”
I do not recall having big family celebration for anything – I blamed this on being born to a small family. Chinese new year used to be an extended family event and I loved it. As I grew older and extended family event grew to become a blast from the past, celebration grew rarer. I actually began to feel fearful of anything that calls for a celebration; because it was usually rather, well, quiet (yea, I can understand all those who run away on a tour during the long festive period…).
Today I think I would like to begin by linking all calls for celebration to gratitude, with thanksgiving. Slow down and lick the taste of celebration but bring that joy to God’s feet. I guess in that case it doesn’t matter whether I am alone or with an extended family
We were very privileged to have the opportunity to meet a great Bible teacher who was only passing by to visit a family from our church. Gene Cunningham and his wife was on their way back to their home in the USA, but decided to drop by to visit a family friend of theirs in Canberra. They were then being invited to our church for a special meet to share their thoughts with us Monday evening.
I can only describe his teaching as down-to-earth and Biblical based. He answered a few questions from the floor at the end of his sharing and blessings and the pointers he gave were practical and simple. The faith of Gene and his wife (Nancy) was amazing, hearing God’s voice and guidance and simply following wholeheartedly, despite the circumstance.
Our pastor always said that God’s teaching and revelation should be free for all, as He gave us freely so why should anyone profit from it? When I searched for Gene Cunningham’s website and I found all the great resources, and guess what? It is free for all – so I definitely will refer to it!
Look-out for Gene Cunningham’s link in the side-panel of my blog.
Just another sleepless night twisting and turning in bed. After struggling for 2 hours and with no success I decided to get up to read. *Argh* 1 am.
After reading and praying I felt lighter, but still, no sign that I’ll fall asleep anytime soon. Looking at the clock and I wished that it were 6am, which then means I could get out of the house and visit the gym. No such luck. Time is slowest when you are not having fun.
This song came into my head while I was pondering/reading/praying/wondering in the living room, one of the few songs I could (somehow) remember the entire lyrics. You know, when things go wrong you’d wish that it hadn’t - word that shouldn’t have said, things that shouldn’t have done, fight that shouldn’t have started – the list goes on. I’ve heard many people say this, “if I get to live this life again, I’d do it all over once more.” not so sure if I share the same sentiment – why repeat the regrets if there’s a second chance?
I believe in resilience, and I think I am resilient – I fall, I get up and get on with it. But what catch me is having to face the 2nd, 3rd, 4th…. zillion-th fall – will I ever get good at this? Will I ever change for the better? Should I give up and therefore I can avoid the pain? How much resilience is there in my reserve? Yea, my mind is surely against me that point of the journey.
But of course there’s always a light – Jesus is the light in my life, the light that is always kept on, the Father who is always there waiting for the prodigal son’s return.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9
The first sentence of the lyrics caught my attention one morning and I began to chew on the rest of the song, very encouraging and it renews the spirit.
Ever had one of those days your hair just looks out of place, it’s sticking out where it shouldn’t and lifeless where it’s supposed to be wavey? Yea, that’s my kind of day today. Standing in front of the mirror trying to rein my hair in without success, a colleague came around and told me, “You know it’s only you who thinks that your hair looks yuck, really, to me they look fine!”
Yea, that’s exactly right – no one really looks seriously at you and notice the yuck you see within you. It’s all in my head.
So, the fuss has got to do with what kind of an impression we think people have of us – it’s about acceptance. The concept is about if another human being accepts and acknowledges me, I’m alright. Well, in addition to the hair, a brief conversation this morning sent me to that not-feeling-accepted-land. This person said something that disregarded my decision and it came across sounding like ”what a stupid move you’ve made there!” That too contributed to my bad-hair-day.
How do I deal with this bad-hair-day? Something along these lines:
whinge to my husband. If he responds lovingly by saying, “that’s OK, you weren’t stupid at all,” I think I could move on no problem at all.
whinge to my girl-friends. Most of the time girls we “take sides” (just like guys watching a football match) and we cheer each other on. I think that’s a pretty good move too, I’ll be re-assured at once that I am not the problem and I wasn’t stupid. Case closed.
pay someone to listen to me (go see a counsellor). I’ve done that before and they are pretty effective – I mean, this professional will help you see that unhappy things in life is certain and unavoidable. One either learn to accept or learn to accept, and live on. It’s worked for me. After a necessary period of time, my wound heals and I live on.
go get a specialist book on the subject matter of rejection, dissect the incident, self-analyse and adopt measures to self-heal. Works most of the time but it takes a lot of effort and sometimes by the end of it all, I lost track of what took me on this journey in the first place.
The point is get that feeling of acceptance and acknowledgement back in the system, then our engine is oiled again and we’re back on the road. This other person has judged me and questioned my standards, as a result I felt I have lost my worth.
You know, there’s only One who can tell us how much we’re worth and that’s our Maker. He weaved us in our mothers’ womb (Psalm 139:13), He knows how many hair we have on our heads (Matthew 10:30), and He alone knows our most inner thoughts (Psalm 139:1-3). The most amazing thing is, He loves us regardless – we may have evil thoughts, hurt others, plotted against others – but what we are worth to Him never ever changes! On this morning while another individual has taken away the feeling of self-worth and acceptance, but I came to His feet and sought His face, He restored and filled me again, at absolutely no costs! Is that awesome or what?!
Lord, I often forget how precious I am to You. I often let others take that yardstick rather than seek Your opinion of me. Thank you for caring and knowing me inside and out yet still love and accept me. Amen.
I was writing to my penpal the other day when I finally understand the meaning behind a statement I heard a long time back.
This good sister from church left town and of course we miss her a lot. I was very young in Christ then and it came as a great sadness to me – no more interesting chats after church on Sundays, I have “lost” a friend just after having found some being a new arrival in Sydney. I asked her if she would be back in Sydney again and if we will we meet again, to which she replied, “if it is God’s will, I shall be back.”
Well, it’s kind of not what I expected, I was kind of expecting some Terminator response of “I”ll be back!” with some vigour, but instead that came. Puzzled, I thought, “isn’t it something you decide on? Don’t you determine your own path? If you’d like to be back, wouldn’t you just make it happen?” But I didn’t ask then, or ever.
Today as I wrote to my penpal about a “promise”, I realized why the church sister had said so many years back. Nobody is really in control of anything, no matter how hard we try or how we understand things that’s going on around us. Just yesterday we attended a memorial celebration service of a church brother, who 10 days back was greeting us good morning with a big grin after the Sunday service! No one knows when one will be called to heaven.
I also read about news of a pastor who have committed adultery and resigned from the church. It was devastating, knowing a leader who preaches God’s words to be committing a “big” sin. I’m sure at the alter on his wedding day, he would have answered numerous “I do” and “I will” to the questions of being loyal and faithful; but yet he failed. He charted his path then but why didn’t he make it now?
The fact of the matter is because we are not in OUR control – we are either in God’s way or in the devil’s hands – neither of those our control. When we are in God’s way we will do God’s will, when we are in ourselves, we are plagued by our sinful nature; that is just natural.
Having said this, it doesn’t mean that we can never promise anyone anything! We have all good intention to do something and that will come to pass one day if it is within God’s bigger will for us. Of course God would like us to be faithful to our spouses, but that can not be achieved by our own effort, we need Christ to lead us to that deliverance. That’s what I mean – God will help us to our promises if we only invite Him to the party.
The other day a friend told me that his hairdresser was telling him how a nice lady I am, after just having met me the other afternoon. It is a compliment, I guess. A nice one too.
Then I began to think, yeah, for an hour I was “nice”. Anyone who’s close enough to me would know that I’m not even close to “nice” – I can be well-mannered, smiley, kind and sweet; coz it’s easy enough to NOT be myself and put up the best performance in the one hour. But give me enough time and one would find that I’m not such an angel – at home I’m impatient, grumpy, annoying, bad-mouth… and the list goes on. That’s probably why it can be tiring to be with people for a long period of time, my “evilness” begins to creep out of the closet. Well, sometimes I am myself shocked at the thought of me being nice.
God knows how I am, but He is still gracious to me. It doesn’t bother Him that I’m un-nice – that’s why He is here. Thank the Lord.
This morning we sent off my husband’s nephew to the airport (well, the bus terminal, onto the bus which will bring him to the airport..). The bus carries many other passengers also travelling to the Sydney International Airport, most of them you could tell are international students. It seems that nothing much has changed since the 80’s when I was an international student – we used to carry so much wherever we went. Of crouse my husband’s nephew was no different – 3 suitcases full of lanoline cream, Australian chocolate and what-not to share with fellow countrymen when he lands home.
Then along came a young lady with just a sling bag on her shoulder. Wow, I began to admire this sight – when was the last time I travel with ease and such carefree? Even when I go to the local market, I would be carrying quite a few things on me, let alone travelling a few thousand miles?! When will I be able to travel without any baggage, I wonder….
“Cast all your anxiety on the Lord, because He cares for you” 1 Peter 5:7
I have always thought this is a cliche verse, “yea, right, you don’t know what I’m going through, of course you can say that to me?!” But hey, doesn’t the Bible tells the truth and the truth only?
Yes, of course it is the truth, but we can make it our truth when we plunge ourselves into it. This is the story of my journey, or plunge as I put it.
Well, it started with an accidental episode on the radio. I caught a snippet of the “Focus on the Family” and the host shared about his anger encounter at home. He shared about the “anger button” his wife pressed on one Easter holiday when her comment came across as undermining his authority as the head of the house. As the husband didn’t want to make a scene by bursting as usual, he prayed in his heart this prayer, “God, I don’t understand this situation and why she said that, even though I feel very angry inside; but I am giving this into your hand, because you understand and you know better than me how to deal with it. I thank you that you have given me a wife who’s made me pray. Amen.”
Shortly after that when the couple was alone again, the wife shared with her husband the reason behind her seemingly “rude” comment. That all fell into place and how glad was the husband that he didn’t blurt out in his usual way – by submitting the situation to God’s hands they were able to enjoy the intimacy God has designed for them; not to mention his little homework on anger management.
I have a lot of negative thoughts in my head all the time – confusion, depression, anxiety, loss, weariness, fear….. you name it, I would have come across it at some stage. I don’t exactly know how to deal with these thoughts except by feeling really angry and useless. Which doesn’t quite work when I live in a community because feelings multiply – try talking to one who sulker and you’d feel all your energy being sapped away.
So today as I heard the snippet I felt this in my heart – I could try the prayer, you know? So the next time when I came across a feeling I didn’t know how to deal with, I prayed this, “God, I don’t exactly know why this feeling is inside of me, but I am giving this into your hand, because you understand and you know better than me how to deal with it. Thank you and amen.”
Things happen when I surrender it to God entirely, He takes over and it’s gone with the wind. Our pastor often says, “if you don’t understand a particular verse in the Bible, park it. Let God know that you don’t understand it but you are willing to park it until one day He reveals it to you.” Well, this is similar. One day, when I am ready, He will reveal to me what it is He wants me to work on.
I have to admit I’m not there yet. Moments come when I still struggle with ill thoughts but yes, casting my anxiety on God, for He cares for me. Amen.
“[Thanksgiving and Prayer] We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.”
