None of this will really make sense...

So yesterday... I woke up with an upset stomach, and decided to take the day off. But by lunch, I actually felt quite fine. So I decided to go up to Elim (which was right upstairs from my doctor's office) to check if there were still tickets for the afternoon session at the Kingdom Culture Conference. There were... so I decided to go and check it out. I think God blessed me with a sick stomach so I could get out of work.. to spend some time in His presense at the conference... despite the fact that I was a brat pretty much throughout the whole day!

I will say this very honestly, I tuned out within the first 10 mins... after he started talking about how God took woman out of man, so from 1 he made 2... so to be complete man and woman must come together to become 1 again through marriage... and yes, I totally tuned out! I also walked out of the afternoon session early... and thinking about how thankful I was to God... but I didn't want to be thankful about what He was making me thankful for! He was reminding of all the reasons of why I should be thankful for someone... and let's just leave it as... at this particular moment... that is the last person I want to be thankful for... yes because I am stubborn and being a brat about life.

Then... it wasn't even until the very end of the evening session when God reminded me of something that he spoke about a couple of weeks ago... about the verse in Ecclesiastes where God has placed eternity on our hearts... seriously... all I could think of was "God, you suck today!" My heart was hurting so much... yet there was still so much joy and hope in me... I can't even explain it. Somedays I just feel like I've got split personality or something. *sigh*

God is doing a lot for me at the moment... everyday God confirms that this is what He had intended for me. I have decided to stay at my work, and stay in Hong Kong to do my Masters in Social Work... and at work, we have just hired a full time registered social worker. She's got plenty of experience, and is very keen and eager to help and answer any questions I might have from my studies... it's like a personal mentor/tutor without even asking... How can I say that my God doesn't care about me?! This is one of the many reasons for why I am in a constant awe of my Father in heaven.

Yet my heart is hurting because I'm surrounded by a lot of hurting people. At work, I daily see injustice, or remnants of it on the faces that I see. I see people who are just plain hurting for whatever reasons... and it makes my heart hurt for them. I am also hurting myself as God continues to chip away at things he wants to remove from my heart... I've been seeing a lot of stuff... and I am in need of God time to just sit and process and sift through what is of God and what is not.

Aside from all this, I was talking to a friend about cars today... I love to talk about cars. Hahaha... and was told that Volvo would stop producing the S40 by the end of this year. I am absolutely speechless. Click here to see why I am speechless. hahahaha... Ok...that is all I will say about this.

Happily Ever After...

I really love fairy tales... even now I love them. The stories where good always triumphs over evil, and the heroine marries her knight in shining armour and they live happily ever after. Which girl's heart does that not tug at. I've had my days when I too dreamed that prince charming would come riding through all the crap in my life, sweep me off my feet and we'll fall madly in love and live happily ever after.

Then one day, the world slaps me in the face and tells me to wake up to reality. Happily ever after doesn't happen in real life, these are just stories. How depressing is that?! (But yet the keep making chick flicks which appeal to this in all girls... hahaha... I feel so cheated!)

But you know what, we as Christians definitely get to live happily ever after! Just read the last chapter of revelations where it talks about Jesus coming back for His bride, which is us, and that there "He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain." Sure, the world might not give me a happily ever after ending with a prince charming, but God will! So POOP on the world for telling me to give up my dream of happily ever after, I'm clinging onto it with eternity in mind! Because that's gonna be the most awesome happy ending that can ever be promised! A wedding in heaven with Jesus and we truly will live happily ever after in the presense of God!

I found this thought provoking...

Put Strong Pillars Under Your Case for the Unbelieving Poor:

I only bring this up because I want the church to care more not less about the suffering that comes from poverty. Christians care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering. And “all suffering” includes the miseries of unbelievers who live in extreme poverty.


This is a cause that should have the best biblical pillars under it. When the wrong pillars are put there, the cause is weakened, even if many listeners don’t know they are the wrong pillars, and even if the wrong pillars are emotionally gripping.


It doesn’t help this cause to use biblical pillars that are designed to motivate mercy for suffering believers. Three typically misplaced pillars of this sort are:

Matthew 25:40 — "And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”


1 John 3:17–18 — "If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."


James 2:15–16 — "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that'?"

These are strong pillars for caring for believers in need. And we should do more of it.


But the wealth of biblical pillars for caring for unbelievers in need is so great, why would we weaken our case by using wrong pillars?

Luke 6:27–31 — Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. . . . Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.


Matthew 7:12 — Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.


Matthew 5:16 — In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.


Luke 10:25-37 (The parable of the Good Samaritan) — “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”


Galatians 6:10 — As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.


1 Thessalonians 5:15 — See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

This is a plea for the sake of the unbelieving, suffering poor. They should have better than bad arguments. Don’t defend them with careless exegesis. Don’t support them with pillars that cannot hold. Give them your best defense.


________


Recent posts from John Piper —

• A 30-Year-Old Dream I Have Outlived By One Year
• J. C. Ryle, Holiness, and Bible Density
• The Bible Is Infinitely Valuable

I'm back!

I have returned from my 10 day trip of romping about in Malaysia. Completed my PADI Open Water course, and can now dive up to depths of 18 meters. I came back relatively unskived... minus my scratched up knee from hitting coral and then again from pk-ing whilst walking on land... (apparently I know not how to walk in flip flops...) throw in some intense heat rash.... for which I am now on medication! What a trip! Bodily harm aside... it was a good trip. Soaked up plently of sun (hence the heat/sun rash), and drank in lots of sea water (thanks to "mask flood and clear" - divers will understand what I am talking about)... ate some good food, and came back with lots of things to talk and laugh about, not to mention hundreds of pictures which I now need to go through so I can post some for all you lovely people to see! :)

Regardless of all that, the most important part of it was my conquering of fears. I'm terrified of water... not to the point where I won't touch water or go near water, but I prefer to be in bodies of water where... basically I know I can touch the ground. So swimming in deep water (ie out into the ocean)... not at the top of my favourite things to do if you know what I mean! So why would a girl who is terrified of deep water, doesn't swim well, and has never even been snorkelling want to go and get her Scuba license? Hahaha... that is a very very excellent question! A very honest answer, I don't know. Perhaps I needed to stop letting my fears run my life... and this was my way of making that statement.

I don't lie... it was scary! I had my moments... and almost wanted to drop out and not finish the course! Which all resulted in me having to go for my first dive with the course instructor by myself at 8 in the morning, while the rest of the group got to sleep in and do theirs at 11... BUT it was worth it, and I am glad that I pushed through and finished the course. God's creation underwater is just as amazing as His creation on land... and I'm glad that I got the opportunity to see that for myself. I probably shouldn't have challeneged God by asking "Do I really trust Him?" Cause that's how I felt... being underwater is definitely not something that I find comfortable.... did I really trust that while I am there that no harm would come to me? I don't really know... probably not completely. It's just a scary place for me... and a fear that I can't explain in words! I'm not really scared that something is going to jump out and eat me... nor is it quite just the vast blue open space that is before me that makes me panic... there's just something about all of it that scares me... But the fear itself is not important.... the main point is that God is bigger than those fears... and perfect love (that's God, in case your're wondering) drives out fear! Thank-you God!

I'm totally just rambling now. So... I'll stop! Main point, I finished my PADI Open Water Diving Course... resulting in me conquering a major fear. :) All glory to God, because it wasn't me... it was all Him! I would've given up had it not been for God!

No answer... but God, your will be done?

If you knew someone was gonna have an abortion because the baby was a threat to the mother's health... how would you respond?

This is the one question that leaves me just so confused over this topic. On one hand I want to say that my God is good, have faith, keep the baby and watch God work a miracle. I know someone who is a testament of that sort of faith... they are alive and well as is their mom...

So so so many varying factors that could make this situation so so so complicated. That's why Pro-choice and pro-life debates is not a right vs wrong debate... it's not a christian vs non-christian debate. Do you really believe that there is one RIGHT answer that can be tacked on to every decision? I see situations like the above and I cannot say that one side has the answer over the other.

Would it be so wrong and cliche to simply pray "Your will be done" in this situation? Cause right now that would be my only answer in this situation. *sigh*

Will We Protect the Little Ones?

Will We Protect the Little Ones?: "

Consider the following about babies with Down syndrome:

• Of women who choose to have prenatal testing, approximately 90% of those who discover their child has Down syndrome choose to abort.



• Two companies are racing to provide new prenatal diagnostic tests that could detect Down syndrome as early as the ninth week of pregnancy, without the dangers of current tests.



• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists expanded the clinical standard of care to include giving all women regardless of age the opportunity for Down syndrome screening.



• We are already seeing a decline in the number of children with Down syndrome being born.



• Women routinely report that doctors paint a negative, inaccurate picture of the quality of lives of children with Down syndrome and their families.

Our Culture Is Against Them

Prenatal tests are not the problem. The problem is the bias of our culture against the lives of little ones born with Down syndrome. Our culture does not think that these littles ones should be given the opportunity to live.

And there is no neutral ground on this issue: you are either doing something to protect the lives of unborn babies with disabilities or you are letting the culture pressure parents about what they 'should do.'

You Can Help

Developing programs is helpful, but it does not need to be complicated to get started. You can begin by consistently affirming that God is in control and every life matters. Just last week a dad stood up in a seminar and told the group that it was the strong pro-life message of his church that gave him the conviction needed to welcome his unborn child with Down syndrome into his family.

Earlier this year I met a young couple who, radiating the love of Jesus, told us the story of how their small church — less than 100 people — surrounded them with prayer and love and persistent presence when their baby girl with Down syndrome was born.

Church, please, trust God and pursue the good of these little ones, for his glory and for your good. Soak in God’s word and embrace his sovereignty over all things before the challenge comes:

• He knits little babies with genetic anomalies together (Psalm 139:13-16).



• He will never leave us or forsake us; “The Lord is my helper” (Hebrews 13:5-6).



• He will supply every need (Philippians 4:19).



• He is “righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works” (Psalm 145:17).



• He is purposeful in hard things like disability, and that purpose is glorious: For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Resources

For how to talk about disability, abortion, and the sovereignty of God, I recommend Pastor John's sermon, Born Blind for the Glory of God. For an example of how this issue is woven into other topics, see the blog post, The Inevitability of “Gendercide” and Its Other Deadly Effects.

________

Recent posts from 'The Works of God' —

• Our Weakness and God's Strength: Disability Ministry in the Local Church



• How Do We Know the Words to Speak?



• Disability Helps Protect the Church from Lukewarmness

"

A NEW season!!!

This is the verse that God gave me yesterday whilst at Plus:

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ... I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him." (Ecclesiastes 3: 11, 14)

We spent time talking about our passions and then praying into them for each other. Wow... it was absolutely amazing! Thank-you God for moving in Plus, and for the walls that I see coming down, and the bridges of relationships being built amongst the members. It has been such a beautiful sight! This verse was a reminder that things are made beautiful "in its time"... not when I want or desire, but when God deems that it is the correct time. Such a good reminder of God's sovereignty.

Bringing this a little closer to home... this verse just spoke so personally into my heart as well. I feel like God gave me His words to explain how I've been feeling. I know that everything is perfect when it happens in God's time and in His way, but I love how it says it here that "He has made everything beautiful in its time." I know and understand that everything in my life at the moment is as it should be, and it is beautiful... it's hard to say that my painful times and circumstances are beautiful, but in my heart I know that they are. (Is that too much crazy talk?) I still don't understand everything has happened or is happening, but that is ok.

At the end of it, I know that what is of God will stand firm until the end of time. I'll be honest, this has been a hard one to hang onto, and to keep holding on to lately. God has promised so much... so much greatness has been spoken over my life, so so much... yet I still feel like I am in the same place. Perhaps that was why I had tried so hard to go to Cambodia.. :P When I don't see these words coming to alive... I start to doubt and my faith wavers. In the midst of my frustrations and doubting, God spoke all His promises over me again. So... the things of God... they don't go away. They really don't... and it's good!

I am going back to school in September to do my masters degree in social work... this is finally happening in His time and in His way... and it is good. God reminded me of why He wants me to do this... the people He wishes for me to reach out to... and with His blessings I go back to school to equip and prepare for the places and people He will eventually send me out to. As much as I want to go now, I will a much a efficient tool for Him if I remain obedient and do what He has placed in front of me for the time being.

I'm less scared thanks to the prayers of new friends from California :)... and starting to get excited about this new season that I am about to embark on! Even if I start pissing my pants, be it from excitement or fear, God's gonna carry me into this new season... and He's not letting me off. Hahahaha..  that's reassuring, because I don't think I can do this alone!

There’s Staggering Glory in Your Story

This is good! We are ALL miracles! :)

There’s Staggering Glory in Your Story: "

Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created (Revelation 4:11).

The story behind your existence is wilder than any story humans have imagined. Have you ever thought about it?

Statistically speaking, you should not exist. How unlikely was it that your parents ever met? And even when they came together you were just an argument or headache or television show or phone call away from never being conceived.

Multiply those by millions of converging conversations and glances and illnesses and books and storms and dreams and travels and schools and wars and ambitions and sorrows throughout human history that had they been altered just slightly, you would not be.

And nothing that happens to you today is really ordinary. Every small and great thing you encounter or do has millions of stories behind it that are so enthralling that you would sit dumbstruck for days just to learn about them.

And your extraordinary life is shaping and being shaped by many other lives, human and non-human, as it goes along. In ways both witting and unwitting your words and actions are influencing the course of other lives. Your choice of a parking spot could have a life-altering effect on someone else.

Do not let a belief in the sovereignty of God dull your amazement over this. Let it add, not detract, from your wonder! Just think of how God designed his creation to occur.

15 million birch tree seeds in a season might produce a tree or two. A few hundred ova and a few billion sperm might produce a few children over the course of a marriage. Some 200 billion galaxies and more than 70 sextillion stars might produce a planet that sustains life, not to mention incomprehensively complex, marvelous, conscious beings who can contemplate the glory of such improbabilities.

Some look at creation and see meaningless randomness and natural selection. What do you see? Do you see the staggering glory of divine selection (election) out of all the possibilities? And all that glory before we even get to the most glorious story: redemption!

You live in a universe that is filled with trillions, septillions, bazillions of creations, some incomprehensibly huge and others inconceivably small. And each one, like you, so unlikely, so improbable as to be miracles, whose very existence would cause each of us to exclaim in worship: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created!”

If we just stopped long enough to look.

________

Recent posts from Jon Bloom —

• I Wish I Had a Child Like You



• The Mosque on the Mount



• We Destroy Arguments

"

God Math...

So I have decided that my math degree is completely useless when it comes to understanding and doing Kingdom math. Which is OK!

I used to think in terms of +1 for God... 0 for me... but the other way as I was walking home, it suddenly dawned on me. +1 for God is like +100 for me no matter how much I don't see it at the time. When God wins, I win. Okay... maybe not +100, but for sure +1 instead of 0. It is not Me vs God, but me AND God. We are in relationship, and we are on the same team.

God took me out of my element yesterday, yet at the same time I have never felt so at ease and confident... It was one of my "God, what are you doing?!!?" kinda days... but as God won in my life, I was winning as well, so that is a-ok!

"Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice." ~ Philippians 4:4

That's the verse of the day... hahaha, and I am definitely rejoicing and laughing with my God. he is good! +1 for team God! :)

Let Jesus Argue With Your Soul About Being Anxious

Let Jesus Argue With Your Soul About Being Anxious: "

We should be slow to treat Jesus as if he doesn’t know what he is doing. He is not naïve in the way he deals with our anxiety. In Matthew 6:25-34 he tells us three times not to be anxious (vv. 25, 31, 34) and gives us eight reasons not to be anxious.

Evidently he thinks this will help. So don’t call it simplistic. Call it grace. Believe him. Take every reason and preach it to your soul as true. Say,

Soul, this is true. Jesus Christ says so. Trust him. He died for you. He loves you. He created you. He knows you. No one — no counselor, no pastor, no friend — knows as much about you as he does. Listen to him. Let these reasons sink in. Bank on them. Now, let’s get up and do what we need to do. Be gone anxiety.

Here’s a summary of what he said:

1. Life is more than food and the body more than clothing (Matthew 6:25).



2. God feeds the birds and you are more valuable than they are (Matthew 6:26).



3. It's pointless. It adds not one hour to your life (Matthew 6:27).



4. If God clothes ephemeral grass, he will clothe eternal you (Matthew 6:28-30).



5. Unbelievers are anxious about stuff. And you are not an unbeliever (Matthew 6:32a).



6. Your father (!) knows that you need all these things you're anxious about (Matthew 6:32b).



7. When you seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, what you need is added to you.



8. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Tomorrow's trouble stays there (Matthew 6:34).

________

Recent posts from John Piper —

• How Do the Nations Rage in Vain?



• How Do I Think Tweeting? — A Response to John Mayer



• What Does It Mean to Serve God?

"

Walking towards the promise land... chi seen!

"The place of your greatest pain is the place of your greatest potential and greatest anointing."

I'll be honest, I've been doubting this road that God has placed me on, so hearing that was a huge encouragement for me. It's been over 2 years since I've started on this road... since God started to beckon closer towards Him, and further away from what I had thought my life would be. I have started to wonder if I had done the right thing 2 years ago, or if I have just been acting on a "spiritual high" moment. 

I've been reminded that sharing my story and facing my past was not a mistake. That act humilty allowed God to open more doors in my life, and allowed for more of Him to be revealed to me. That wasn't a mistake. I didn't change course because of a "spiritual high" I felt after some sort of camp or revival meeting. It was a decision that came out of meeting God face-to-face on my knees... In that secret place, God met with me, and called me, and I could not walk away. 

I've been encouraged this weekend. This is all really happening... God said go to school, I am going to school! It didn't happen in the way or time that I had expected, but it's happening! I am doing what God wants me to do, He is opening doors left and right... He is confirming this over and over again... and I am completely overwhelmed at His love for me. I have no idea what this will all look like, and how this will all pan out, but I know that I am walking in the right direction... and that my passions and dreams are aligned with God's heart... and this is gonna be CRAZY!