Thank You Lord for the bad times

When one goes through exams for quite a no. of times, u might become a bit too used to it that sometimes, the tension of waiting for the results is mostly non-existant. Of course, a lot has to do with the fact that one has become very dependent on God and great faith needs to be exercised.

In my case, i sort of didn't really bothered too much abt the date of the release of my exam results till i saw my friends msn nicks. Long story short, i tried to access my results but couldnt view it because the school says i havent seen my prof. Ah ! Luckily, God provided me a calm state of mind + great friends to spend the evening with so when i did the checking at nite, i sort of was too tired to think too much abt hw to solve the problem as well as what's the likely results i could be getting.

Oh well, a call in the morning to a friend abt the problem which she too experienced and an hr later, i could view it and yes i'm thankful i managed to clear everything once again. Weird feeling after u been failing for quite a stretch. Even better is those subjects u think that will fail giving your highest grades and vice versa ! Still, a pass is a pass, no more 3 mth same subjects again !

So whats the point of mentioning this. Of course, the most impt thing is to give thanks to the Lord for what He has provided. Another more significant thing is how this ties in with what i've been learning the past year. How the bad experiences one goes through becomes not only the test to stretch your faith but also becomes the strength to empower you to help others along life journey.

After the results were released, God has graciously given me a chance to share with a friend on how to plan his timetable to adjust and study harder for subjects he has failed before as well as a brother-in-Christ on whats the next steps after his Uni application didn't get accepted. It's only after what one goes through can u be able to share with someone on how to handle the situation and move on stronger.

In the same way, God sent his son Jesus to earth to experience what his creation experiened so that He could share and teach us on how to depend on him for strength and to overcome the obstacles. Indeed, that the son had already been through all that we are going through at the moment meant that since He has won us the victory on the cross, nothing is impossible for him as long as our faith in him is intact!

So how do u view your bad experiences in life? Do u embrace them as you look back in your life journey and know that God was there for you when you needed him most? How abt sharing the weaknesses we have, that God has overcome them for us, that in our friends darkest hours, our sharing of Christ victory in us might just spur them on to trust in him and his goodness.

It isnt easy and will never be. But if we accept that the worst of what life has to offer is God's way to strengthen us and those ard us, maybe, just maybe, we might be able to view the storms of this life in a different light altogether.

Regardless of what things might be, in the good and bad times, Lord help us to continue to give you praise, for its better to lead a life been cheerful and contented with the Lord, knowing the victories You have won for us instead of a doom and gloom life where one is defeated and unhappy. In God's hands, bad happenings will always be used to the fullest extend for the extension of his kingdom and for his people.

Thank You Lord for the bad times (even if it meant we struggle so much with their existances in our lives) .

How much % do we give into each area ?

I sort of wondered a bit abt time management of life in process and came out with a picture that this is where we generally are inputting our time into in our weekly life. There's the major part of work/study (1). After that we have the family time (2), followed by cell & friends (3) and lastly personal time/hobby/interests (4).

Kind of unique that the most part of our week is given to the work/study part. Considering that u work/study 5 days a wk, meaning you're out of the house for 9hrs (and that's not even considering travelling time). Wow, 32%. Amazing usage, which is good and bad depending on how u might view it. It's good u have more time to spend with ppl at work/school, but its still really a very individual task oriented period where u try to get things done in your own means. I'm saying good for the fact u have this 32% chance of your week to reach out to people and try to evangelise but sometimes we can be very unproductive in this area for weeks/months/years even at times. I guess most if not all have been through the experience of sharing and been shot down b4. But oh well, if u don't try, u never know whether u'll get shot or not right? And ya, its the easier said than done part sia, even as i type abt this part of evangelise, i doubt i will open my mouth to share although things are weird in life. I don't say anything but yet its the non-christian that will ask abt your faith. God really is wonderful to open doors.

After work/school, if there's no appointment with friends and you are tired out, it would mean heading home. So what exactly do we do at home, especially the family timing part ? Let's say we spend abt 4 nites at home from dinner to bed time onwards. We'll have abt 12% of our week with them. Not that bad but still we often don't talk much other than during dinner time right ? TV and computer times are moments of silent where we r in our own world, haha. If u come from a christian family, that saves u the trouble of having to evangelise but what do u talk abt other than work ? Sometimes, starting and sustaining a topic is a great challenge. And what abt those from non-christian families. Hitting brick walls that bounce back and hit u inside that will that time to heal b4 u try again yah? But home can be a gd training ground cos what u say and explain abt and the reactions u'll get will most often be carbon copies from total strangers that u reach out to in public. Of course, the most impt thing is still to see them be save. Somehow, time with family shrinks as we grow up, such is the reality of growing up.

Now to the friends part. Already we spend abt close to half of the time working and at home. So what is left? I est abt 10 hrs for both sat and sun combine and u'll get like 6% of your time in church. Add maybe another 4% plus/minus for friends outside of church, giving us a a miserable amt of 10%. Its so little already and due to commitments from work or other sources, it can drop to even lower %. If God made us to spend time to be with people (1 on 1, small or big grp), we really have to squeeze out what we can to give this valuable amt of time to friends. Kinds of make one wonder, if mon to fri already so busy till drain till no energy, how still to give time and energy to people. But, some friendships can last for ages, kind of like an accountable partner who walk through life with you, so its worth investing time in this, dont u agree?

Lastly, its the personal time ! We all have quite a bit of that cos we sort of waste time away doing nothing at times! And everyone has their own unique ways to recharge like going for holidays, taking walks, reading books, driving the car around, exercising and so much more. Not bad, considering we have abt 17% to ourselves ( not counting sleeping times of 7hrs daily). It also means we have 17% of time to spend with God. Not asking you to pray every few secs, impossible really and plus u'll really not be able to do anything at all. Still personal time is impt to all, cos it gives us time to enjoy doing things we like on our own

I suppose its all abt planning what is indeed impt in our lives, In this busy society, its very easy to get carried away and do what everyone else is doing. So its gd to know what areas are impt in your life so that u can give more time to these areas w/o having to give them up when life busyness catches up with us. So the simple msg is what truly are the impt areas in your life. If they are worth treasuring and preserving, it's good to make a continuous effort to set time aside for them. Remember, God gave u the mind to decide for yourself so its impt to know what do we want to see/achieve in life and what exactly are worth taking up a place in our hearts.

Give it a try, est hw many % u r giving in each area and whether u'll need to do some adjustments within your own means.

GDOP

A rather unusual sunday to have this event since it ran along side Mothers' Day. But still, it was a sight to remember of the large no. of ppl who managed to set aside time to go down to the indoor stadium to pray for Spore and the world.

We had a good no. of children from COR going along with us. Abt 21 of them despite the fact that some of them didnt appear as their parents forgot abt the event totally and brought them home, haha. Had a gd time chatting with one of the aunties who shared with me abt her calling to serve in the children ministry for a no. of yrs. There are quite a few husband and wife tag teams serving in the ministry. So her husband is also in the ministry and i listen as she shares hw G0d uses them in diff ways to reach out to kids of diff backgrounds. I think its great to know that somehow or other what u do does have a positive impact on the kids. Esp since most of the time, they dont really want to listen to the impt things which u want them to learn and etc.

The kids had a separate program just for them which was to run along side what the adults would be having. Its great that they learn how to apply prayer into their life and G0d listens to each request from every individual.

7 steps of prayer
> Get rid of junks (sins, own wants, things holding u back)
> Relationshp checks (With God, the bible and prayer)
> Praise and Worship
> Get rid of your own thoughts, ideas and plans (Surrender yourself to God)
> Receive the holy spirit
> Get lost, Devil
> Wait then listen

We had a gd time of learning, singing new songs, praying for the nation and making new friends from ard spore. I believe the kids learn new things and enjoy themselves. Its really funny what they say GDOP means. Some call it the Global Day of playing and stuff, haha.

Had a gd time interacting with them on the way back. Interesting time of conversation with a group comprising pri 1 to sec 1. So the topics flew everywhere but its gd to know them better esp since they know u but u dont really know them since there are so many of them, hehehe. Its wonderful to know that this new generation will grow up to continue on God work in spore and beyond. Plus the fact its really a wonderful cycle of blessing and sharing with one another for my case. Getting to learn new things from both adults and children. Its gd to be in the middle of the age group, haha!

You are not alone

In Christianity, all of life has worth in the highest degree because all of life takes on meaning: the bitter as well as the sweet, the wins as well as the losses. Whether he wins or loses, the Christian knows from the mere fact of playing the right game with all his might that the final outcome will be a win to end all losses. This is why Saint Paul could say of the church: " For no one of us lives, and equally no one of us dies, for himself alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Whether therefore we live or die, we belong to the Lord" (Rom 14:7,8) This is the testimony of a man who found the highest degree of value and satisfaction in both living and dying! And why? Because the game he played was "for the Lord." Think, then, of how it must feel to be trapped in a game that finally has no purpose, no meaning, no importance:



Dont be Discouraged, Charlie Brown," Schroeder tells him. " These early defeats help to build character for later on in life." "For what later on in life?" asks Charlie Brown. "For more defeats!" replies Schroeder. Charlie Brown then invests in five cents' worth of Lucy's psychiatric help. At first her advice sounds a bit more sophisticated: "Adversity builds character. Without adversity a person could never mature and face up to all the things in life!" "What things?" he asks. "More adversity!" she says. Is this all there is to man's existance: facing adversity with "maturity" and then - nothing? Are we really alone in a meaningless universe? Is there finally no one who even knows about our defeats? Is God dead? The Christian hardly thinks so. In speaking of a series of drawings he did on the subject of security, Schulz put it this way: "Perhaps the way I feel about God is best told in this last cartoon of that series. Linus is kneeling with arms on his bed, and the caption reads, ' Security is knowing you are not alone." And how does the Christian finally know he is not alone? Again, we will let Linus speak:



So do u trust that this friend is always there beside you all the time?

Fishing

Our country really is a small place, considering that most of us either never or hardly fish before ! Thanks especially to Marcus for organising such an event for a great experience to share with many, haha, right people ?

Waking up at 5 plus in the morning for all the early fishermen + fisherwomen on a saturday is really, woooo, give yourself a pat on the back. We got a bit lost on the roads, now u know why street directory is so popular, but we still managed to arrive in time to catch a good view of the sun coming up!

Spent some time setting up the rods and off we go ! Wasnt long b4 we caught our 1st fish of the day !

Everyone was having fun, enjoying the wind and the surroundings. Not to mention all the funny things we witness and did, haha. We threw our bucket(tied of course), to fetch some water to store the fishes we caught. The only problem was, our expert(not mentioning who, lol), managed to aim so well, the whole bucket went in and was filled up. And lol, thats where the fun began, how to bring up a bucket full of water ! Took 4 guys to eventually pull it up and haha the ppl ard us thought we caught what sort of fish, needed 4 ppl to pull out of the water!

Other funny events were Marcus setting up a shelter and convincing the uncles and aunties he could do it even when they offered us the bus shelter. Sometimes, the odd fisherman caught a really large fish and ppl were rushing to see it being reared in. They even brought their big nets to help catch it but haha, whenever the string broke, they quickly ran off saying they didnt see anything happen, lol.

Our other contedner for most funniest event has to be the rain the in the morning. Marcus called and check the weather report and within minutes of them saying the sky was clear, it poured! Could even see the rain coming in.

Marcus very funny, keep saying its coming, its coming, 1 more min ! Asked us to help set up the tent, but lol, no one knew how to so we just stared! Hehehe. Anyway, the rain was a short and passing shower and normal routine resumed very quickly when we thought we had to entertain one another in the tent !

The rest came in the late morning and joined in and some even managed to catch their own fishes ! Yeah !

Had a good time of fishing and packed up in the late afternoon cos of the even bigger bomb coming !

Lobsters we may be but hey we had a great time of being in the sun!

Just be thankful

Sometimes, when you think too much about things, they start giving u a headache because there doesn't seem to be a solution/ending to it. So what do u do? Give it up, throw them aside or ask for guidance? U can pray a lot for some things but sometimes they never seem to ever occur, yet at times, things happen the way u want it so one should be happy right? Well, the end result is what G0d does grant to you but he didnt tell you whats in the middle i.e. , the process of getting to it. So it's a bittersweet thing, u get what u want & God makes things happen in the best way he deems it to be pleasant in his sight and u end up thinking why your life is so complicated when the mind wanders too far from the source? Well.. the key word is thankfulness, just be contended with what you get it, be it sometimes the way to get there isn't what u could imagine it to be. Yeah to one less problem to think about !

Put them on eveyday !

Thanks

Thank you everyone for your sms and finding time out to have an unique dinner together !

Remember the saying, " It's the thought's that count ! " Always treasure your love ones be it family or friends cos every single one is a blessing from God in your life !

Happy Friendship Day