Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010.
Looks like I need to get hosting soon – couldn’t find a theme that’s wide enough.
Will have to make do with this for now – besides, looks good.
The last day of 2009. And you can’t do new year without some resolutions. (Not that I’ve met all the resolutions I had for this year. Wait, what was the resolutions for ’09? …)
Let’s see. 2009 has been pretty eventful like every other year. The difference? I’m more aware & seeing the hands of God in my life through the difficult times. As much as I’ve often complained about the pain in the struggle (who doesn’t anyways), I think I’ve made much progress this year. And all thanks to God for his grace & mercy in my life.
I was flipping through the diaries I wrote this year & last. Despites the discomfort and setbacks, I can say with assurance that I am a lot happier this year compared to the past. And writing consistently, not just the bad times.
Romans 5 (ESV)
Peace with God Through Faith
5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, bwe1 have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith2 into this grace din which we stand, and we3 rejoice4 in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering gproduces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hhope does not put us to shame, because God’s love ihas been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
——
James 1(ESV)
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
——Philippians 4 (ESV)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
——
1 Corinthians13 (ESV)
3 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
—–
Many lessons learnt, and many more to come. Hopefully I’ll grumble less, put in effort to be consistent with Bible study and other stuff, slow to speak and quick to listen. And above it all, set my heart to continue to allow Christ to be glorified in my life – to do justly, love mercy & walk humbly with my God (from Micah).
And knowing that God has indeed spoken and assured me of who I am… I stand justified in Him alone. :]
Goodbye 2009. Hello 2010
watermelon & longan ice blended cools the day
It was nice to have the off in-lieu holiday on Monday.
Other than the much needed sleep, and I never have enough of those, munching breakfast away in front of the TV was sheer luxury and delightful.
- Yoshi needs a drink. It’s really too hot.
The heat of the midday sun was scorching and unbearable. Gleefully gulped down watermelon & longan ice blended from Cafe Galilee while waiting for spaghetti to be ready from Aston’s express at the coffeshop.
Yoshi felt the heat too, but the drink was all mine…
Took a cab down to cell leader’s house, couldn’t stand the heat.
A good afternoon hanging out and chatting with cell leader, and dinner with her family.
A nice chilled Monday. If only every day was this relaxed, and I get to drink watermelon & longan ice blended.
- Yoshi says “Watermelon and Longan Ice blended looks goood!”
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I can’t remember which year wasn’t eventful at all, and maybe the list of stupid things I’ve done could have rolled all the way to the end of the block.
Sometimes I’ve taken the backseat so much, I’ve forgotten to keep track of time and things just slipped through.
I like to take my own sweet time, holding things off till something has to happen to me before I wake up from the slumber.
Better start being more proactive. I know I can do it, just need to put my heart to it…
I have to remember that one may have insecurities, but that doesn’t make the person insecure.
i miss…
I miss my ex-colleagues from years back from various places.
Sure, a lot of things wasn’t to my liking. But I made friends who understood who I am, versus people who want me to be who they want.
Isn’t that life? I behave exactly the same way as well at times.
Maybe that is the lesson I’m suppose to learn.
What do you fear?
If you have to be afraid of something, then fear mediocrity. – Bogusky
http://alexbogusky.posterous.com/if-you-have-to-be-afraid-of-something-then-fe
This is officially one of my favorite quote.
Sept came too soon
I can almost see my birthday on the horizon from here. At this age, I still feel in between, neither here nor there.
Is this how Gen-Y looks like? Restless, unsettled, still searching for our passion?
—
Hanging out with euphe on Sun evening was great. Singing our lungs out along with the tunes from our favorite band. Again, met familiar faces and yet feeling distant. And such is life and the world we live in.
I wonder why. Life is too short to be in our comfort zone and holding on to the burdens and baggage of the past. The older we get, the less willing we are to open our arms to embrace and receive others.
Probably the reason why Jesus often mentions about having child-like faith, little ones…
It’s true, children tend to be fearless. It’s ok to have the wrong answers, to be courageous. And most importantly – to try. And try again. And again. Fall down, pick up and try again. Always curious about what is around them, eager to learn and open their hearts to people around them.
Someone just reminded me today of the resolve I had wanted to make. Had some hits and misses.
its great that you did it regardless of the response anyway. You did what is right in His sight and God is pleased.
It’s strange how those soapbox drama are written – whenever there’s conflict or misunderstanding, people don’t clarify nor do they ask. You’ll see moments to themselves, thoughts projected out loud about what they feel/worry/think about the event that just happened. And whenever there is confrontation, its always ultra super duper drama mama. We’ll always say when we watch such show “idiot leh, why not just ask the person?”.
That is exactly how things are in real life. We assume, we assume some more and never ask the subject.
—
Be Still season still lingers around. And now it has expanded – quiet heart just came up for the last few days.
I wonder how everything is fitting together…
Can I, and will I?
Mid Aug …
So the movie tonight compensated for the not so appetizing dinner.
And it’s always the people that makes the difference.
————-
Life is an adventure, and we fill each pages of the adventure book with what we do today.
It was totally unexpected trip up to the ex-office.
Great to see familiar faces again and chatting up with them.
I guess I’ve taken a lot of things for granted.
Life’s like that – the process of learning along the way.
Making stupid decisions/mistakes included as well.
As much as I’ve blamed my ex-colleague for getting me into this mess, it’s some what a blessing. It had to happen for some reason – reason beyond my understand though it was by my choice.
I’ve often wished to run the opposite direction. Why me? Did I deserve it?
It’s even harder when you know precisely that God will discipline those He loves, every child He receives – Hebrew 12:3-17.
It’s like what Sanctus Real sang in this song:
Whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there’s peace
It’s hard to surrender to what I can’t see
but I’m giving in to something Heavenly
Crawl, stumble, walk, run…
Life is an adventure.
What are the things do I want to fill the pages of my adventure book with?
————-
New CD! Very interesting… the tracks are growing on me.
rusty
I’m feeling quite rusty these days.
Thoughts are rolling and churning in my head. By the time I get my hands on the blog, the moment’s gone.
I guess sleepy hollow really dulls the mind.
I need to blog more often…
Be Still
Be still.
Being screamed at in the public saga didn’t kill me as much as thought it would have.
Be still.
I finally have a picture of how things became what is is now at the place where I spend 8 hours a day – thanks to personal agenda and plots of some…
Be still.
Staring into the face of my weakness and flaws. A fragile heart, hopefully not harden.
Be still.
What I detest – being misunderstood and misinterpreted. Yes and my own stupidity too – for having to be too naive and open with some people. How many times do I have to go through the same mess to learn a lesson?
Be still.
I can’t remember when did the 2 words ”Be still” started to resonate in my life recently. Maybe for the last 1 month or so?
Such a simple action.
It’s been a long time since I get to stargaze. The only time I got to see a star filled sky was eons ago before the beach was beautified with street lights – and it wasn’t even in it’s full glory.
Although having a limited view within the coach to Malacca, it was amazing to see the star filled sky. I don’t know much about the constellations but I did notice some stars are larger and looks like part of a pattern. (Nana was saying she was thinking about the song God of wonders, I was thinking more about God’s promise to Abraham…).
This was almost close to the real deal.
Be still is THE moment where the world fades away and you stand in awe beyond words, and marvel at the majestic display of millions of stars gathering together and shinning bright in the darkness.
Be still is the time when there was no one who stood up to protect.
Be still is the place of humbling oneself and acknowledge failure, inadquency and shortcomings.
Be still is the decision to let it go God and let God do His work, no matter how much pain and hurt you had to endure.
Be still is the posture to wait. To wait for the known, the unknown, the expected, the unexpected. Everything.
Be still is to acknowledge that the Creator of the world, the universe, is in control – He who calls the waves to crash, the moutains to rise up, the rain to fall, shaking up kings and kingdoms…
………..
Majesty, worship His majesty. Jesus who died, now glorified, Name above all Names.
………..
包容，宽恕， 放下。 (inspired by words of a famous actress…)
its a new day…
Can’t imagine that it’s almost mid year.
6 months gone in a blink… Just came back from my uncle’s wake… life’s fragile. He was on the machine for 3 days… and I think he went peacefully.
Strangely, the last few post on this blog was related to the same matter.
Had to deal with the same matter again… although the matter of dealing with it was too shocking, sad and disappointing. Along with some shock & pain at work, life… and more.
Life’s too short to fight every battle.
Seems like recent events are mostly rude shocks, shaking my boat… wake up calls that rang through the sleepy halls…
Nana has a good msn status message — It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about? – Henry David Thoreau.
I heard a sharing recently – probably harmless but that person’s view was that Solomon wasnt that a wise king, lamenting away in Eccessletics how meaningless life was, and that he should have look to the sky instead of at the world. (the sharing was about looking to the sky and be reminded of God’s goodness & power… in reference to how God appeared to Israelites
Sounds true in some way… flawed in that sense. Solomon knew precisely as he survyed the kingdom, the toil of work… for one who has many, and yet these things did not fill the emptiness felt inside – hence he expresses “meaningless, meaningless – all is meaningless…”.
Losing a close relative, or losing friends – which pain from the 2 goes deeper? Would like to fight, or take the flight… or simply to be still before Him and look up…
Reading Streams in the desert… (strangely the book and online version is different…) http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/desert/1397011/ God allowed the crisis to close around Jacob on the night when he bowed at Peniel in supplication, to bring him to the place where he could take hold of God as he never would have done; and from that narrow pass of peril, Jacob became enlarged in his faith and knowledge of God, and in the power of a new and victorious life.
God had to compel David, by a long and painful discipline of years, to learn the almighty power and faithfulness of his God, and grow up into the established principles of faith and godliness, which were indispensable for his glorious career as the king of Israel. Nothing but the extremities in which Paul was constantly placed could ever have taught him, and taught the Church through him, the full meaning of the great promise he so learned to claim, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” And nothing but our trials and perils would ever have led some of us to know Him as we do, to trust Him as we have, and to draw from Him the measures of grace which our very extremities made indispensable. Difficulties and obstacles are God’s challenges to faith. When hindrances confront us in the path of duty, we are to recognize them as vessels for faith to fill with the fullness and all-sufficiency of Jesus; and as we go forward, simply and fully trusting Him, we may be tested, we may have to wait and let patience have her perfect work; but we shall surely find at last the stone rolled away, and the Lord waiting to render unto us double for our time of testing. –A. B. Simpson
Resolved… a small tiny step…
Maybe the most amazing thing that has happened so far among all the eventful times.
Looking foward…
