When its hard to be thankful

Do you agree with me that if you get more than what u asked or expected, it is very easy to be thankful and not complaining, or is it just me?? The thought of failing this semester is always at the back of my head throughout the semester even during and after exams. As much as i dont wanna think about it, i cant help myself but to always have that thought in my mind!! Well, my results came out last tuesday and im very happy with it. I got MORE than what i expected hence i am very thankful for it.


But what if things doesnt go the way i want it or the way i hope it would turn out??


It is deffinitely hard to be thankful when i dont get what i want or what i hope for but to be reminded that God is still in control over all things give me great comfort knowing that i am safe in God's hands. I still remember clearly that day when my cousin told me my UAI results (year 12 results that i need to get into uni). I didnt get what i want and I didnt get what i hope for!! I remember asking THE question "why?" and feeling hopeless. At the same time, i felt peace knowing that my future is good in God's hands even though i didnt know what was going to happen to me with such an unexpected results.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, when life is good, lets be thankful and when life is bad lets also be thankful knowing that God is still in control over all things and that he loves his people so much till the point of sending Jesus to die for us!!
So if he sacrificed his own son to die for us who WERE his enemy, can u imagine how much more he loves us now that we ARE his children?? :D:D

Where has the time gone??

Many says that after you pass a certain age which is sometime after 20, you can barely even remember how old you are because birthdays keep coming time after time and time flies pretty quickly too!!
I am still under 20 (only slightly) but i dont have to wait till i am over 20 to feel that time flies pretty quickly and birthdays come very quickly too...i dont know whether it means that im old on the inside but regardless of anything the more quickly time flies the quicker my heavenly father would come and pick me up :D:D

i have been repeating the idea that my heavenly father would oneday come and pick me up a lot of time in the past few months both in my head and also at bible study..thank you for my bible study girls for their patience and endless smile when i verbally convey the idea and also for continuously sharing the joy with me :D:D

This life is temporary and
This life is coming to an end
When this life comes to an end,
Do you know where you are heading?

Im done for the year

woot2...im done for the rest of the year :D:D
i can sleep in without having to worry or feeling guilty about studying...
i can sleep late and not worry about procrastinating too much...
i am ready for holidays and the plan i have for the next couple of months...


Exams is not something new anymore since i have been a student pretty much all my life and the feeling post exams is deffinitely not something new too!! But what is new this time around is that the peace i have post exams. Post exams is normally when i get freaked out and worry waiting for the results especially when i dont feel confident with my answers. What i tend to do is thinking about what i couldve done better or how i couldve study better.


My approach to exams this semester is surprisngly different in a good way. Let me explain. I came out of the exam room thinking whether or not i answered the questions properly and whether or not i just blabber about the topic and not answering the questons properly because if i did, i wouldnt get any marks no matter how much i write in the exams paper. But even though i was feeling uncertain about what i did in the exam, i was still be able to go home without worrying too much about my answer. I feel that my results are good in God hands and am clinging to his promise on romans 8:28 that says "and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."


Things like failing is deffinitely not good in my eyes but this is when i need to put on my gospel glasses and start seeing things from God's eyes. In fact, i should put on my gospel glasses all the time and start seeing my life in God's eyes so then i would be able to live a life that is pleasing in his eyes not mine.



God, let your will be done not mine.

Studying is hard :(:(

Another year of my uni life is coming to an end. less than 2 more weeks till my last exam for the year then im done!! Cant wait till i finish and i have been waiting for that time to come because i havent been able to find myself being motivated to study or even understanding/getting the materials being taught at uni most of the time :(:( Hence i just wanna skip to the finish line (holidays) if possible so then i dont have to go through this "have to study" period, but i cant skip time!!
I even wish to have that remote control on the "Click" movie so then i can skip this time but then im glad that i dont have that remote control just because i know i would regret at the end of it..

As this week is the peak where i have to push myself to study even when i dont want to. I remember thinking that life would be great when Jesus comes back because i might not have to study and even if i have to study later on, im sure that i would do it with joy not like now with lots of guilty feeling because i am not using my time productively. As i long for that day to come (when Jesus will come back for the 2nd time) i will have to live my life in this world which means that i can never get away with guilty feeling or regret. This is when the idea of perseverance got to me.

My friend reminded me to keep focusing on the hope i have in Jesus that even though i have to go through many things in life at this moment (including trying to study hard at this stage). My friend also reminded me that there is going to be an end of all these things!! The day that i long even more than when i finish my exams in less than 2 weeks time. With the hope that i have in Jesus, i need to persevere a little bit more and be patience in waiting for that day to come.

Taking that idea of perseverance into studying for the moment:

• There is going to be an end of all my exams this year  (in fact less than 2 weeks)
• I need to keep study faithfully and persevere
• Persevering knowing that in the end, i will receive the reward   :D:D

2010 is coming to an end !!

I knoe that its still a few months away but this year is coming to an end very2 soon. Cant believe how time flies very quick...in a blink of an eye 2010 will be a past...It feels like I haven't achieve much this year and yet im close to finishing another year.

With the year 2010 approaching to an end in a few months time, there are a few things that I look forward to and they are:

• finishing my exams
• going on a holiday
• catching up with a few friends without having to worry about any uni work !!
• enjoying a nice and long summer holiday

I know this is too early for a yearly reflection because i still have a few months to go but i'll do it anywayy :D:D i have been reminded that as each day go by, it is closer to the day where my heavenly father would pick me up from this temporary world and on that day i get to be with him and other brothers and sisters in christ eternally where there would be no more tears and suffering and pain.
I do long for the end of the year 2010 to come because I have a few things that i'd like to do and simply because i just wanna get over and done with exams but i am all the more eager for the day that i get to see no more pain or tears as i see many of them everywhere in these days.

Busy Period

Its that time of the year where to do list is mounting up especially since exams are coming up too in a few weeks time!! I cant believe how time flies so quick, its october already!!!
I was just reading this blog post and am deeply encourage by it.

As sometimes there are many things that need to be done, i forget that i cant do them all and find myself not saying no to them because i feel obligated to help people around me. I sometimes push myself too hard and come to a point where im just tired and cant do anything else anymore. I find myself in denial most of the times that I am not God and that I cant do many things. I like to tell myself that I can do many things as long as I push myself a little bit more and find myself feeling dissapointed at the end because I cant do many things. I am not a superman and should stop trying to be one because i am a human with many limitations. I also need to be reminded constantly that i need God to help me go through this busy period and not relying on my power because I dont have the power to sustain myself.

Friends, lets pursue humility in the midst of our busyness just as the woman who wrote the post i shared earlier remind us to do.

My Sinfulness

I was freaking out pretty bad 2 weeks ago because i had one of my major assignment due and also had a mid semester. Both i did last minute studying and finishing up the assignment which i plan not to do but clearly my plan was just a plan wthout action!!

Long story short, for the assignment i didnt quite understand of what i had to do and even till the point of last minute i wasnt sure whether what i was doing was right or wrong. For the mid sem, it was for finance and i knew how to do the quetions and stuff but i wasnt sure which formula to apply to which questions and things like that plus a few other confusing things that took me a while to take in but anywayyy i did it and got my results back this week.

I was waiting for the results with a big hope that God would at least give me a pass and God was so gracious that he gave me more than what i was hoping to get. I still got a pass but it wasnt just a pass 50% but wayyy more than that :D:D
Now you think that i should be thankful for this rite but my sinful and ugly heart wants even more than what i was given. I wanted just a 50% pass and God gave me more, given a more than 50% pass now i wish god would have given me a credit.

I am reminded to be thankful of what God has given me in terms of my marks whether it would be a fail or pass or credit. I clearly didnt deserve that mark considering the effort i put into my study but yet God was so graciously allowing me to pass those assessments and helping me got through that week.
Father, i am sorry for the attitude i had towards your graciousness. You can clearly fail me but you chose to answer my prayer in allowing me to pass. I pray that you would help me to be thankful with my marks whatever it is and to not forget about your goodness and your sovereignty over my life. I ask the same for my brothers and sisters in Christ too, amen.

Identity by Lecrae

I love this video as it is a great reminder that my identity is found in Christ not on temporary things like car, clothes or career.
It is very tempting at times to rely my identity on the stuff that is visible or if theyre not visible for example career, at least theyre like an intangible asset. (Intangible asset is an asset that is not visible but they still have value to the person/ business who ownes that like a brand name). :D:D But whether or not theyre visible, things like career, and fashion dont last forever.

Identity in Jesus or in temporary things??

Knowing name is important ???

I met a few people today and they said that God has a name and that it is important just as my name is impotant. I thought to myself "God has a name and that it is important?" They said that by knowing God's personal name, we may have life through it.

I said that it is not neccesarry for me that God has a more personal name than father or Lord. But they insist that God's name is important so i said " alrighht then if u wanna think that way but for me it is not as important and that what give me life is not the name but the cross."
I also insist that by calling God Lord or father, it is personal already so having the more personal name is not neccessary.I couldnt explain my reason properly to them :(:( oh well next time maybe if i bump into them again?? ;);)

As the day goes by, i thought through my reasons and making it clear in my head so then when i bump into them again, i would be able to explain it better :D:D

• Name is important as it is useful to differentiate one person and another. There would be noone who would call himself/herself God right?? so the more personal name of God is not important as there is one God anyway. Not like we need a more personal name for Jessica because there are many Jessicas out there (sorry for those whose name are Jessica) :D:D
• The people that i met insist that it is important to know God's personal name because it can gives us salvation. Does salvation comes from knowing his name or from the cross?? I think that salvation comes from the cross because without the cross we wouldn't know God and wouldn't even bother to know him. The cross is how i can call God father and he call me children. Hence, the cross is the centre not the name!

Living for Jesus ???

As christians we are ought to live for Jesus because we belong to him now and not the world. But what does it really mean to live for Jesus?? Does it mean that we have to do everything for him?? For example, sometimes when we help a friend with their homework, we just do it without even thinking that we're doing it for Jesus. Does it mean that we have to constantly have Jesus in our thoughts and not thinking about everything else because they are not godly?? Never talk about anything else but the bible??

This skit is a great example of what it means to live for Jesus. It does not neccessarily mean that we talk about nothing else but the bible or the sermon that we just listen to. "Jesus wants us to live in him so then we would understand who we are and what are we living for". It is easy to just go to church or pray and read the bible regularly but if doing those stuff has no meaning at all then whats the point of doing them?? The line "I want something deeper" strucked me!! Often doing christians stuff such as reading a bible doesnt really mean anything to me. It doesnt challenge me or anything like that because i am just reading it for the sake of reading it. As christians, we have to read the bible.

When Jesus open your heart box, would he find an empty box for all the things you said and do, or would he find a heart full of meanings because you understand what it means to live for Jesus??

Keep Persevering!!

The sermon at church last sunday had this analogy that i find very encouraging. I didnt remember the exact words by words but it goes something along this line,
" My parents put me in an orphanage and they promised that they would pick me up one day! Years go by and they still havent pick me up. My friends at the orpahnage tell me to not wait for my parents anymore because they will never pick me up. They tell me to put on my cute face and behave nicely and stuff so then i would be adopted by other parents and move on to a new life."


As christians living in this 21st century world, it is so easy to forget that Jesus will oneday come back and pick me up from this world. Many think that i am stupid following this Jesus guy who is very outdated. Many also says that he wll never come back as it has been more than 2000 years since he said he would so why bother following him and live my life for him.

                                        BUT

I love the picture that oneday he will pick me up and the waiting would be worth it!! and i am grateful that it is not just a picture but it will deffinitely happen. How can i be so certain with what i just said?? the bible say so (John 14:28a). He hasn't come yet because he is being patient waiting for more to come to him. The hope that I have in Jesus that he will pick me up oneday is not just a hope that has no future or uncertain!! Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, Lets keep our eyes fixed on the day where Jesus will come back and pick us up. Lets not be discourage by the world because it is against us and hates us. My prayer is that we would be able to persevere and stand firm together in the midst of our life in this world.

Lets be Thankful

I find it very annoying when i get bad lecturers or tutors at uni especially if they cant teach properly. The first thing that i would do is deffinitely complain about them.
A friend of mine reminded me to be thankful for them no matter how bad or good they are. My friend reminded me to be content with what i have and do my best regardless of how they are. I thought to myself, she's very true! Im sure that my lecturers put an effort in teaching at uni knowing that it might be hard to do so considering that people at uni tend to not listen at class or can be very distractive at times because we would just talk and talk during lectures.

The fact that they cant teach properly is not entirely their fault because they dont choose to be that way. Some people can be very great at teaching and some just dont have the same gift but surely i shouldnt compare them or complain about it.

Repentance

I hear so many people say something along this line
"Since we are forgiven as christians, why bother doing good works then?"

I learned this week that we often forget that we are forgiven through the cross and that God is behind the cross. It didn't come up randomly or all of a sudden but it was plan by God. We are often too selfish to think that we are forgiven already so why bother putting so much effort in being a good person or doing good things.
We are forgiven through Jesus and because of God. Not because we have been forgiven, we can be slacking off and live the way we like to live! We need to repent when we think this way or act this way. We are not saved because of our works in the first place so we need to live a life that is worthy of that salvation. We should live a life that is pleasing to him who saved us!

When a doctor successfully saved someone who was diagnosed with horrible lung problem because of smoking, the doctor would expect he/ she to stop smoking rite?? The same idea applies here. We had been saved from eternal death so God is expecting us to stop doing things that will lead us to that death again.

As part of our sinful nature, we would do things that shifts us away from God. An act of repentance is an ongoing process and action against our sinful nature and leaning towards Godliness. It should be our high priority as christians even though we have been forgiven because too often we forget that we are saved by God's grace and that we need to live worthy of the salvation given to us.

Do you think you need to repent??
How sure are you that when we return to God, he will forgive you??

The Great Escape

I was listening to one of the talk from equip conference 2010 because i just got the mp3 from camp last week. What a great timing to hear the talk from Di Warren about "the greatest escape" as i have been wanting to escape from the business of this life. I had a hectic and tiring weeks and all i wanted to do is just sleep more and escape!!

Di said last night in her talk that we live in a broken world that is caused by evil desires (2 peter 1:4). Because we live in this broken world, we long to be saved from this condition and constantly wants to escape from this situation. I thought to myself " thats so true!" (dont u agree too??) I continuously feel tired from the things that i have to do and even if i have rest, it is temporary because sooner or later i will need to rest again.. the whole rest and tired cycle would go round and round in a circle and i often feel tired of going around in that circle pattern.

I was reminded that as a christian, Jesus saved me from this broken world. I have escaped the corruption of the world which means that i have hope in the eternal rest where i wouldnt have to go through the emotional feeling involved in the circle pattern anymore.

The true escape is not all about going away on a holidays or running away from the business of life but the true escape can be find in Jesus alone because he saved us from the corruption of this world through his death on the cross. Holidays and rest are great and thank God for giving us rest and relaxing things to do but lets be reminded that the true escape from this broken world relies on Jesus!

I am now ready to face the second half of the year by remembering the greatest escape story i  have in Jesus. Life will deff gets busy or even busier (maybe) but when i feel tired or burden, i have Jesus that i can come back to and gain my strength to persevere from.

My 3 Wishes

I was watching the aladin cartoon last night and when it comes to the bit where the genie pops up and said that he would grant 3 wishes. I thought straight to myself "what would my 3 wishes be" What a surprising thing that was for aladin to only have 2 wishes and the last one he would wish for whatever the genie wants. I thought that was sweet... How many of us lets be honest would give away 1 wish for the sake of others?? It certainly didnt came across my head!

The last time we had similar question at bible study, my asnwer was a selfish answer too and i am surprised and glad to hear that some people are not as self centered as me. The questions goes like this, " if you are guaranteed a success in the next 5 years, what would you do?"

Would you have similar self centered answer like me too when u are faced with similar question?? i was rebuked through this simple thing that i am a selfish person and that i need to change that habit! God is not self centered and so as Jesus. If they are self centered, there would be no such things as grace and salvation. And if there is no such things as grace and salvation then what would this life be like?

My 3 wishes now would be:

1. to live a NON self centered life
2. to give away one of my wish
3. still in the process of thinking my thrid wishes :D:D

Bridge to Life

What a great picture to show how Jesus brings us back to God!

Completely Done

Reflection of the song by sovereign Grace Ministries "Completely Done".

This song reminded me that Jesus did everything that is needed to be done to fix my broken relationship with God. I dont have to do anything else to fix it! I sometimes wonder whether Jesus is really all i need to be able to be safe and the answer is YES he is enough!!!
Romans 3 talks about how we all sin against God and we dont meet his standard (v 23). The punishment of sin is death (romans 5:12) and to show his justice and love, God poured out the punishment on Jesus thats why he died on the cross in our place. We dont have to do anything else to be safe from death because all that is needed to be done is completely done in Jesus on the cross. All we need to do is just to believe in Jesus and his death and resurrection! Does this sound too good to be true?? it certainly is and that is the beauty of grace.

Are you personally convinced that Jesus is really enough??


"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3: 23-24)

Identity in Busyness

Check out this post about where your identity rely as a christian here. The answer is Jesus! Most of you would know this answer already, but when you say your identity rely in Jesus, do you really mean it?? I sometimes say it without knowing what it really means to me. I would say my identity rely on Jesus but then my action doesnt reflect on it. I would make myself busy with helping out at church, helping my friends, and work hard in my study because all those things give me identity (identity that can be seen by people too). My life would be surrounded with so many things but Jesus.

That post reminded me that i dont need to do anything to find my identity because it relies on Jesus. It relies on Jesus because he bought me with his blood. It is so easy to fall into temptation like this. So busy with all the things that i have to do and eventually shifting my true identity away from Jesus. I know that Jesus died for me to save me, but because im so busy, my work is much more important than Jesus and this is what defines me. If i fail in completing my work, i would mean nothing. My life becomes me centered instead of jesus centered.

I belong to Jesus now, so my identity would rely on Jesus too. It is like the identity that i get from my parents because i belong to my parents.

100% Satisfaction in Life

"What would you request for if a genie pops up and you get to ask for anything you want but only 1?"

A girl in the bible study said "More Genie." I 100000000% agree :D:D I didnt think of that until she said that. I was trying to think of one thing that will satisfy me for the rest of my life and found one. I would ask to not have to worry anymore for the rest of my life. Comparing my answer with the answer that my friend said, make me change my mind straight away! More genie means more wishes that i can request. Then i thought to myself, if everytime a genie pops up, i ask for another genie, i would ended up with asking a genie and none of my wishes would be granted.

I am still not satisfied with having no worry in life. I am never satisfied and will never be. I am too greedy to feel satisfy in life. I will always look for more and more and more. What can i achieve after i get a pass, move up to credit, move up to dinsctiction then move up to HD...whats after HD?? im sure more HD! (sadly enough i havent been getting HD but i know that when i get HD, i will not feel satisfy and look for more things that is greater than getting a HD in my transcript!)

John 4 says that Jesus offers living water. A water that will make people who drink it never go thristy again. A water that will gives eternal life (John 4:14). The water that Jesus is talking about is salvation. Salvation that leads to eternal life and that can only be receive through Jesus because he is chosen by God and God is pleased with him ( Colossians 1:19-20).

How does salvation gives me full satisfaction in life:

• Full assurance to have eternal life
• I get to have a relationship with God
• It is given to me hence i can stop wondering around looking for something that is pointless
• It is what i need! To be saved from my sin

Have you find antyhing that give u complete satisfaction yet??
Do you wanna receive the complete satisfaction that Jesus offers or would u rather wondering around seeking out other things that can give u full satisfaction??

A little reminder

Life gets busy as the time goes by. We started the busi-ness of life from kindy to primary school to high school then uni and then ended up in work where its for a lifetime until retirement age come. If you have been a christian for a while, there is a tendency to forget or ignore the message of the gospel so easily because we are busy with other things. It feels like we have no time for God because we have many other things that needs to be done as soon as possible.

Life has been busy for me these pasts few weeks primarily because i've been lazy with assignments thus i have to do them last minute. With exams coming up in slightly more than a month, life is not gonna get any easier/ less busy either. Too many things going on at the same time and its just so easy for me to forget the fact that I have salvation in Jesus and to live my life around it. Im too caught up with the things i have to do and i forget that my life is rely on Jesus.

Bible study, testimonies and sermons has been very helpful in reminding me that in Jesus i have life not in this world i have life! Last weekend at the women conference i was reminded that i should not be lazy to live a godly life because Jesus already paid for my ticket to escape. I shouldnt want to go back living ungodly life again because im no longer belong to it thus i should live out the new life i have in jesus.

Setting aside a time to reflet on God's word and seeing how he has been working in me is a great way to get me back on track not being caught up with all the things i have to do. Yes i still have to do my job but then my purpose in doing the job is different. I dont live to do my job but i live to make God's name known among people through doing the job i am given.



"Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"
(2 Peter 1:10-11)

My victory is certain!

I was reading Hayley Lewis' blog from the biggest loser website, dont ask me why because i also dont know why did i do that but i found something interesting towards the end of the blog. She said something along regretting not having the confidence in herself that she will be victorious oneday in her sporting career which cause her lots of stress in life. You can look it up in the website. I was reminded of the book of colossians when i read that ending part where it talks about having confidence about receiving future glory in Christ (not in myself knowing that im not capable of doing that). Future glory = victory of receiving salvation in Jesus.

Knowing that I can be sure with the hope i hold on to now is the greatest feeling ever. I used to hope that I would get great UAI but i didnt. I used to hope that i would never have friends that would ever dissapoint me again and im wrong. I always hope that i would use my time wisely in my days off and again it hasnt been happening the way i hope it would. Im tired of feeling sad because I dont get what i hope i would and its a constant sadness because i will never be sure whether i would ever get what i hope i would!

In this cylcle of unending sadness and dissapointment, God gives me certainty! Certainty that he will wipe away every tears later on when Jesus comes back for the second time (Isaiah 25:8-9). Certainty that I will oneday be with God in heaven because of what Jesus had done for me on the cross (Colossians 1:21-23).

My confident relies on Jesus and not anyone else including myself! It is so because Jesus had done everything  that needs to be done on the cross, so that left me with nothing else to do apart from living under his rule and authority. I am complete in Christ and he is all I need (Colossians 2:9-10).

Are you confident with the hope you hold onto now?? I do hope that you can confidently say "I am 100% sure with the hope i have!"

Uncertainty Avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance was one thing that I learned this week from one of my subject about cross culture. It measures the extent to which people in a certain culture avoid uncertainty (according to textbook definition). It basically says that there are some cultures that don't like to be uncertain in regards to everything that they do in this life.They consider uncertainty as life threatening and must be reduced (again quoted from the textbook :D:D).

I was sitting there in the lecture room thinking, "yup, thats me!"  I am one of those people who doesnt like being uncertain. I would plan most of the things that i need to do beforehand so then i know what am i doing and if needed, i would spare sometime to think about plan b just in case plan a doesnt work the way i wanted it to be. I dont always do that these days, but most of the times i would.

I need something that is certain, something that i can hold on to and depend myself onto. I need more than hope because hope is not certain.

I need an assurance as well in regards to what is going to happen with me after i die?? am i going to hell or heaven?? what am i gonna do later on?? I certainly want to go to heaven and i dont think that i want to go to hell because its an unpleasant place to be in.

Then God showed me that there is this CERTAIN hope where i can hold onto everytime i need. And that hope is Jesus :D:D Many might wonder "why am i so into this Jesus thingy and so sure that he can give me the hope that i need?" Well here is my reason

• The bible says that Jesus died in my place to take away my sin. Which means that I dont have to do good works to go to heaven. I always fail to do so and that makes me uncertain whether i will go to heaven or not. Jesus did everything that needs to be done and its completely done.

Now in Jesus, i have more confidence to say that i am certain i am going to heaven because Jesus did what needs to be done in regards to my sin and i dont have to worry about being uncertain about heaven again only because I keep failing to do things that pleases God.

^"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ"

(Colossians 2:9-11)

I am NOT a hero!!

Having too many things to do will deff make us feel tired. We find ourselves at times not having the courage to say no to take on more things because we want to help those in need or simply because we feel bad. Helping people is a great thing to do and we should be doing them but we cant do everything all at one. We have to prioritise the important things that we need to do and focus on them not adding more stuff each day because it'll just makes u feel overwhelmed and trust me, it is not a great feeling to have and you want to avoid this as much as u can.

My cousin said to me once that I dont have to do all things at once. I am not a hero and the world is not going to end if i say no to do one thing. The world doesnt depend on me!! (thank God for that ) I cant imagine how is this world going to be if it depends on me...

The danger of feeling tired is that you neglect other important things such as eating. Both eating for ur physical and spiritual life. We often caught up doing all the things that we have to do and we forget to feed ourselves as often the case is. I do love food but yet tend to neglect it when im busy because I feel that i dont have enough time to finish the job i have to do if i eat.

For those who are feeling tired from anything (work, study, life issues, etc) just like i do most of the times, lets take sometime to just relax. I knoe that you might feel that your work is chasing you if you stop for a second but taking sometime to relax and be refresh is important. It'll allow u to focus more on the stuff u need to do and be happy with it so then ur work wouldnt become a burden :D:D

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Transforming Grace

I wish I can write the whole book review for transforming grace now but as u can probably guess, I havent finish reading it. Now that uni starts, i dont think i would be able to finish the book sometime soon :(:( and i think when i have the time to read it i might have to skim read the book from the beginning to refresh my memory which means it might take a lil bit longer.

So far, the book encouraged me a lot especially when it talks about "the parable of the workers in the vineyard" It is a story about A landowner who agrees to pay his workers a denarius at the end of the day and throughout the day he keeps asking more workers to come and work for him. In the end everyone get the same amount of wages regardless of how long they have been working for. Many people would think that the landowner is unfair because some poeple have certainly work longer and harder than the other so they deserve to get more wages. I Second that, but Jerry Bridges pointed out a different point of view which is what rights do the workers have to say that they deserve better than anyone else. They agreed in the first place to work for the landowner for a denarius a day (v2). It is the landowner's land not the workers so he can do whatever he wants with his land.

Another point that he also pointed out is that, those workers who work in the lasts hours must be so grateful because they do not have to wait long to receive their payment. We would agree that they do not deserve what they get but they get it anyway which is why it is grace. It is like us who dont deserve to be saved but God chose to save us anyway through Jesus.

Jonah and me

I just came back from retreat last weekend and we learned from the book of Jonah in great detail. I said in great detail because I have never look at the book of jonah in depth and one thing that i always know since sunday school about jonah is that, he is the prophet who run away from God and was eaten by a fish and was there for 3 days. Nothing much more apart from that.

Another thing that I learned about Jonah last weekend is that he is an unwilling prophet who is used by God anyway to accomplish his desires which is to bring many people to him and build his kingdom. Through Jonah unwillingness, God brings the captains and people on board to be christians when they realised that Jonah's God is powerful even he is able to calm the sea ( Jonah 1:16). God also brings the nation of Niniveh to come to him even though Jonah was unwillingly telling them that God is against them. It shows that God is sovereign above all and he will accomplish whatever he desires regardless of our obedience (Isaiah 55:11).

What struck me most from the book of Jonah is when I found out that he was running away from God and his responsibilities because he knows that God is a compassionate God and will forgive the people of Niniveh. Basically, he doesnt wanna to go Niniveh and tell them that God is against them because he knows that they will turn back to God and God will forgive them thus God will not destroy them. He is so selfish that he wants God to destroys the nation of Niniveh.

God deffinitely doesnt wanna see sinners to die thats why he sent Jesus to die in our place, but Jonah selfishly wants the people of Niniveh to be destroyed.

Jonah has God's word but he doesnt have God's heart because he wants to see the people of Niniveh to be destroyed.

When i ponder about the kingdom of God, I wonder whether my attitude is the same as Jonah. I wonder whether i pick the people i want to share the gospel with, whether i love my group of friends too much and dislikes other people, whether the kingdom of god for me is limited to certain people only, whether i have an unwilling hearts like jonah and or whether i am running away from my responsibilities as a christians.

When it comes to the gospel, it is available diffinitely to all people not just my friends or those who i pick.

Are you sharing the gospel to build your own kingdom (that is to build up your own pride) or to build God's kingdom (that is to be God's centered) ???

Big relief

It fees like a huge weight has been taken from my shoulders knowing that tomorrow is my day off. A day where i wouldnt have a burden to wake up so early in the morning and able to sleep anytime i want tonight without having to worry that i'll be tired at work tomorrow because I dont have enough sleep.

Always feel exhausted on sunday night and feeling excited on friday night.

Thinking about future scares me. It will come to a time where i have to work full time continuously (for the rest of my life maybe) and not having add up to around 6 months of holiday in a year. Working hard definitely needs a lot of effort and will not be easy. At times it becomes a burden and becomes so hard to do it and we get tired and stop working hard. 

It is such a huge relief too to know that I dont have to work hard to earn God's favour because Jesus did the hard work for me. I dont have to work hard for the rest of my life just to purchase my ticket to heaven. I fail everytime i attempted to have a good habit so then it can balance out my bad habit because of my nature that is so reluctant and lazy.

I once read a blog post about feeling exhausted and the writer was saying that one of the reason of us feeling exhausted is because we rely on ourselves and we always fail.

I reckon this is a good news for everyone who doesnt wanna feel weary and burden by all the things that we have to do which are overwhelming. I feel tried already now having to think about working hard all my life to earn happiness because i know that my attempt would never meet God's standard. Many might think that after we submit our lifes to Jesus, we still have to work hard to do good things because we have to live a life that is pleasing to God which is putting off our sin aside. Are we signing up to a bunch of rules if we submit our life to Jesus??
I am reading a book called transforming grace by jerry Bridges at the moment and he discuss the issue of grace and good works which I would share later after i finish reading the book :D:D

Yup, there is no such free gift in this world, but through Jesus I received my salvation in full for free :D:D

I Love Church because...

Joshua Harris posted a blog a few weeks ago about wrong reasons to love the church which i find interesting and something that is worthwhile to think about as a christian.
I personally agree with his point about if you love the church because of the human leaders, they will let you down and yet I dont think that it only applies to human leaders. I think it applies to humans in general, the fact that we cant rely on human to give us complete satisfaction.
 

Love is Not a Fight

If you have the time, go and check out Warren Barfield's song called "Love is not a Fight" which lyrics I used to shown in this page because I wasnt aware of the copyright issue.

Google it up and look into the lyrics because I think that they are sweet and great. The definition of love in this song is definitely different to what the world's definition.