Monday, September 27, 2004
-8:29 pm
Phooey. I'm bored to tears being stuck at home nursing a horrible flu and sore throat that I caught from my Dad. But I think it's a blessing in disguise for me to get more sleep. Better to fall sick now than nearer the EOYs yes?
I do hope I can catch up in terms of school work when I get back. I really need to get started on proper EOY revision or else I'll totally bomb out.
A call to every student out there: Take care of your health. Drink lots of water, eat fruits and take Vitamin C supplements or risk ending up like a sniffling toad I am.
If you do fall sick (which I hope will not happen), do stay at home to rest. We don't need more people passing the bug around.
On the bright side, I FINALLY GOT MY HANDS ON THE HILLSONG LONDON CD!!!!! *screams joyfully* Gosh, it cost me $21.90 but it's soooooo worth it. Go listen to it!
God bless!
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Tuesday, September 21, 2004
-7:19 pm
Hillsong London- Shout God's Fame
.You Are My Rock.
There's a voice in the silence
Piercing the darkness of my own selfish soul
There's a cry deep within me
A yearning to feel you I look to you Lord
I can't pretend I'm not running from
The feelings I'm trying to hide
Must get the focus off me and my problems
I look to the cross
Chorus
You are my Rock, on You I stand
Safe from the storms that surround me
You're my only Rock, in You I can
Don't have to rely on my own strength
I was truly blessed by this song. The best advice in the world: GO BUY HILLSONG LONDON CD!!! I'm using my $20 from ORA to buy it. Believe me, it's powerful, rocking praise and soulful worship. Let's SHOUT GOD'S FAME!
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-7:14 pm
Just wanna share this wonderful article, courtesy of MZ kor's webby...
--- Email Article ---
God : Hello. Did you call me?
Me : Called you? No. who is this?
God : This is GOD. I heard your prayers. So I thought I will chat.
Me : I do pray. Just makes me feel good. I am actually busy now. I am in the midst of something.
God : What are you busy at? Ants are busy too.
Me : Don't know. But I cant find free time. Life has become hectic. It's rush hour all the time.
God : Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results. Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it.
Me : I understand. But I still cant figure out. By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.
God : Well I wanted to resolve your fight for time, by giving you some clarity. In this net era, I wanted to reach you through the medium you are comfortable with.
Me : Tell me, why has life become complicated now?
God : Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated.
Me : why are we then constantly unhappy?
God : Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit. That's why you are not happy.
Me : But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?
God : Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional.
Me : But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty..
God : Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.
Me : If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?
God : Diamond cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter.
Me : You mean to say such experience is useful?
God : Yes. In every terms, Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.
Me : But still, why should we go through such tests? Why cant we be free from problems?
God : Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons to Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you are free from problems.
Me : Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading....
God : If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.
Me : Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction. What should I do?
God : Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing you rode ahead. You work with the compass. Let others work with the clock.
Me : In tough times, how do you stay motivated?
God : Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing.
Me : What surprises you about people?
God : when they suffer they ask, "why me?" When they prosper, they never ask "Why me" Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth.
Me : Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here. I cant get the answer.
God : Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be. Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not a process of discovery but a process of creation.
Me : How can I get the best out of life?
God : Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.
Me : One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.
God : There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO.
Me : Thank you for this wonderful chat. I am so happy to start the New Year with a new sense of inspiration.
God : Well. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live.
--- End of Email ---
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Friday, September 17, 2004
-7:55 am
This has really been a fruitful week for me though I thought it was going to be a pretty rough week with my Math and Lit test, as well as the Chinese performance task presentation. But by God's grace and stregnth, I practically sailed through my Lit test with a very prepared mind (I studied everything from plot to characterisation to themes!), and my Math test was ok (there was this difficult kinematics question though, urgh!). At least I know I'm not going to fail it. Doing TAWG each night, I always remembered to commit everything little thing to God because I know He can work in ways we cannot see.
God has really blessed me today. During last week's vision rally, I pledged quite a large amount (to me) that God put in my heart, in faith because I've never given that much before. And the Lord is good, honouring us when we honour Him first. Today, I've just received news that I've gotten the S'pore Commissioner of Police-Lee Foundation study award grant! The amount of money is more than twice of what I pledged! Isn't God great? PTL!
Last week, KWYB came to a close for me and I've learnt so so much: more about God and the fundamentals of my Christian faith. I now feel so rared up to go and be a witness for God by going through water baptism. KWYB has really achieved its purpose of making sure that I know what I believe and so much more. God gave me a precious opportunity to share about the end times and the rapture with my friend Xiumin yesterday. She is a Christian from a Christian home but does not attend church regularly. She was quite fascinated by what would happen to us when Jesus comes back and thanks to a very informative lesson from KWYB, I was able to share with her everything from tribulation to the Judgement.
I'd just gotten back my English exposition test today and I'm sooooooooooooo thankful that I passed. From what my teacher said about them trying not to fail us, I sort of got the idea that I would do very badly because I was in quite a blank state when I did the test- not good for writing an argumentative essay. I thank God for my humble 23 out of 30 because I imagine I could have done much worse. But, my chemistry assignment turned out to be a disappointment, although I was one of the few who actually handed it in on time. I'd better take it more seriously next time and double check my answers with my classmates before handing it in. Oh well, so much for getting an A2 for chem.
If you're reading this, I hope that you will also join me in praying for the affected people in Russia (the school hostage incident) and Indonesia (Aussie embassy bombing). It is easy to forget sometimes that we are the minorities in the world who can enjoy such comfort and peaceful living in Singapore. Keep them in prayer, during your quiet time or whenever, because I believe that we need God's protection and providence for them, especially comfort for the affected families. Pray also for the Christians over there to stay strong, using this time of crisis to spread the gospel and good news, being the extended arm of God to touch others with His love and power. Prayer changes things, amen?
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Sunday, September 05, 2004
-6:17 pm
Gosh yesterday totally rocked. Not only because we won the pageant, but because we had so much fun preparing for it. Hannah had more make-up stuff than my mom! And it was the first time I put on make-up since my kindergarden days when we had concert performances and stuff. And I also realised how fashion deprived I was. I was panicking the night before because I could not even find a decent T-shirt to wear and ended up trying to make an explanation out of the black tee I wore. At first I thought only Amanda and Hannah will be helping with the prep and it turned out that Sherlyn, Jeanette (Lek), Cheryl and Shuang came as well. Thanks for helping me look decent enough for the pageant ;) The make-up did a fabulous job, though it was a subtle sort of make-over. The power of simple foundation, eye shadow, liquid blush, light lipstick and face glitter. And the marvellous dangly star clip-on earrings that Hannah lent me- gosh the earrings she bought from England were soooooooo nice! My grouse is that Singapore doesn't even sell these kind of stuff. Phooey.
Anyways, I was quite a bundle of nerves through the whole thing. Never did anything like this before so, yea it was quite an experience. My heels hurt though after standing for so long, wearing that pair of black heels "to make you look taller" according to Hannah. After the Q&A ended, I thought I did a really bad job and expected to get one of the "most ____" consolation prizes. But it was a real surprise for me as I was standing on that beige block up front, first entering the top three, then realising that I've won. Goodness, I was so flabbergasted. But I then I felt really proud to win it for my section :) I've never expected to be nominated to represent my section; I'm not that kind of beauty queen material. On top of that, I have really never entered something like this and I was kinda glad that it turned out great. Kudos to the gals for helping me, especially Sherlyn and Jeanette who did the golden glittery star on my hair, though we littered the toilet cubicle with golden glitter (it was fun!). Contrary to belief, I didn't have that hard a time washing it off. Warm water really helped. I'd like to thank God for this experience, and it really did boost my self-confidence to be myself in the competition because beauty really is beyond skin deep. This is a great year for us Sec 3s don't you realise? First we won Games Day and now we have another victory in the pageant :) All I can say now is that I can't wait for next year when we can get another person to represent our section (maybe it'll be a guy next time haha). Next year, we'll be the unbeatable Sec 4s! Rock on Sec 3s '04!
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