Faith & Trust in God

Hi, I'm Cindy Magdelene! (Young working cell) This is a testimony which I would like to share with all of you guys n gals, regarding my process of job searching during the past few months. =)

I applied for teaching in late May this year and was short listed for an interview on 20th June 2005. As I had pinned all my hope and confidence on this job, I stopped applying for all other jobs upon receipt of a letter from MOE. I even went to the extent of asking friends who are teachers/training teachers the questions that they were being asked during their interview. Knowing that I am not a spontaneous person, I conscientiously prepared my responses for these interview questions.

On the eve of my interview, which was 19th June 2005 (Father’s Day), I did my quiet time using My Daily Bread, in the hope that God would reveal to me and assure me for my interview. However, the devotion that day was regarding the honoring of our father since it was Father’s Day after all. I was a little disappointed because this had nothing to do with my long waited interview. Out of curiosity, I peeped at the punch line of next day’s devotion without going into its content. Much to my surprise, it was talking about the all-presence of God. It was just so appropriate, isn’t it? I could feel that God is trying to assure me that He will be with me when I am in the interview room tomorrow and I will not be alone. With such a comprehension, I looked forward to the next day’s devotion with much gladness and anticipation.

On the next day, I did my quiet time before I went for my interview scheduled in the afternoon. However, out of my horror, after reading the content of the devotion (which I had read the punch line the nite before), I realized that things were not as wonderful as what I had thought to be. In fact, the devotion was bringing across the idea that even in times where the things that we relied onwere gone (such as the loss of our loved ones, good health and jobs), we should not feel distressed. This is because we still have a God who is our Rock and He will, in no circumstance, depart from us. Upon such realization, I just felt that my interview may not turn out well. Having had that thought, I still picked myself up and hoped for the best.

Truly enough, the interview did not turn out well. All the interview questions (even the very common ones) that I had prepared beforehand were not asked. The interview only lasted for five minutes. I was absolutely upset over it. All the hope that I had on this job seems to be shattered. I convinced myself not to think about this job anymore by giving myself reasons such as teaching was not my cup of tea, maybe God has a better plan for me, and if I can get into teaching, it must be a miracle from God.

Three weeks later, I was surprised to receive a letter of acceptance from MOE. I had totally forgotten about the whole issue of being a teacher then. At that point of time, God recalled my memory and I remembered what I had uttered to myself previously, that if I could get into teaching, it must be a miracle from God.

Looking back now, I believe that God was putting me through a test during the process of granting me this job. He taught me to place my trust and hope in Him alone and nothing else for He knows that only He, The Most High will never disappoint me.

Right now, though I am teaching, I am still in the process of learning and coping. Students may not always behaved in the way that I want, but I believe that since God has placed me in a school to teach, there must be a purpose and He will surely see me through!

Praise God for your wonderful works among us! Surely your ways are higher than ours and your thoughts beyond what we can comprehend!! Hallelujah!

Where does Water come from?

I was just teaching tuition just now, and I asked my kid if she had water to drink, and so she went to get me a glass of water.

A little bit of background about my kid, she doesnt believe in God and has no religion.

And so as I was drinking the water, I looked at it and said...

I: hmmm... isnt it amazing? Water is clear, and it's drinkable. Have you wondered who made water and how it came about?

Kid: Hmmm... good question. Water came from clouds?

I: Then who made clouds? And clouds came first or water came first?

Kid: Hmmm... I dont know. Er... scientists are capable of making water right?

I: BUT HOW CAN THEY MAKE SOOOO MUCH WATER TILL IT COVERS THE SEA?!?!?!

Kid: Hmmmm... yar that's true. Hmmm... So made water?!?!

I: See? For everything that is made, there must be a MAKER right? And God made the water and He made the land, and the soil... So everything on earth is made by God, so how can we ever doubt that there is a God even if we cant see Him, when all these reflect on Him?

Kid: Ok... Fine... I get the point. There is a God. And He made all these that we will never be able to make.

And I went on drinking my water happily. Hopefully if any of your friends do ever doubt the presence of a God, perhaps this little conversation might help =)

Reflections on Mark 4:35-41

35 That day when evening came, He said to His disciples, "Let us go over to the other side."

"Let us go..." Jesus always invites us to partner with Him and to walk with Him as we go through life. He doesn't say "Now you go while I stay here..." or "Let me leave you here while I go over there..." Instead, He calls us along, and has even promised to be with us always. How will obedient will you be to answer God's call and follow His leading today?

36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. There were also other boats with Him.

There were many boats in the water that day, but the disciples had Jesus in their boat. Do we have Jesus in our 'boat' today?

37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

There is no guarantee, that as Christians, our lives will be trouble free. Times will come when circumstances overwhelm us, and it may seem that we are not strong enough to pull through the trying time. I can just imagine the disciples struggling to control the boat, wide-eyed, with hearts pounding as the waters rose and thrashed wildly around them.

38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

This verse talks about the reaction that the disciples had to Jesus. At that point in time, they actually began to doubt if Jesus really did care for their safety at all. These men had been with Jesus, walked and talked with Him, and they were probably the ones who knew His heart best, but yet they doubted. Reflect upon your own life; was there ever a time where you doubted the goodness of God?

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to His disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

FAITH! That's what God is calling for! We've seen God work first hand in our own lives, experienced His comforting presence, heard testimonies and maybe even witnessed miracles, but where is our faith when our lives start to shake? How strong is our faith today, and if Jesus looked into your heart today, would He find faith?

41 They were terrified and asked each other, " Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him."

Miracles...Miracles!

This is another miraculous act from God...

We had a street soccer game on Saturday, and I had a bad knock on my right foot.
But as I was pretty engrossed in the game, I did not really attend to the foot.

But upon reaching home that evening, the foot has gotten so painful, I could hardly walk. I was practically limping arond.

So bad, I would not be too far wrong to guess I had fracture a bone or torn a ligament.

The next morning, I woke up to see the right foot swollen and...I could only walk slowly, being extra careful not to put too much weight on the right foot.

I went to church as usual, as I believe unless we are totally bed-ridden, God must receive our worship in His house.

So I tried my best, made my way there, on the way kenna suaned by Chee Hoong and Canon Kuan for my "bai kah" (Hokkien for broken legged)...!

And worshipped God as usual.

The first song of the morning had these lines:

"I'm trading my sorrow...I'm trading my pain...I'm trading my sickness...for the joy of the Lord!"

Man...can you imagine how hard it is to sing all that? But still..must sing right...so I sang...

And found God opening up my heart to worship Him more and more...despite the pain.

And God is indeed a God of miracles.

By the end of the service, I realise I could twist and turn my foot, I could walk without problems...all in a matter of 2 hours! I was totally dumbfounded!

And of course I went to Chee Hoong and Canon Kuan to hao lian how God has healed me...hehe! Glory be to God indeed! Praise God!

And you know what...I checked my foot this morning (Monday) again...and found my foot is STILL SWOLLEN.

But no pain at all.

It is really supernatural.

God is really beyond our imaginations so often.

GLORY TO GOD!!! HALLELUJAH!

Are we ungrateful creatures, incapable of giving thanks? =P

ThanksGiving

Do we give thanks to God every single morning that we wake?
That we are able to see the beauty that He has created for us?
That we are able to breathe in the air and that we are still alive?
And when we are changing to our uniforms to go to school, or clothes to work...
Do we thank God that He has given us PROPER functioning brains to brush our teeth and do our every morning thing?
And when we cross the roads...
Do we thank God that He is stopping traffic for us?
That He has sent His angels to protect our little lives?
And when we are having our lunch...
Do we thank God that He has provided us enough money to eat decently?
That when we are chewing our food, we dont choke on them?
And when we are in school and at work...
Do we thank God that He has given us friends around us so that we arent so bored?
And when we are tired and come home...
Do we thank God that He has given us a family to take care of our every little whiny complaints?
And Lastly, when we decide to go to sleep...

Do we bother to thank GOD that He has given us a wonderful yesterday and a perfect tomorrow?

Expectations.

It's such a difficult word to swallow.
as we grow up we realise that the people around us expect so much more.
our parents expect us to do well for our exams and get into good schools.
we are expected to be responsible, have good attitudes and make decent friends.
we are expectd to know what we are doing and where or how we go about living our lives.
after we graduate, we are then expected by society to get a good job
earn our keep, provide for our parents, save for our future and be busy with work & life.
After working for several years we are then expected to settle down,
find a spouse and get married.
then we are expected by the govt. to have babies and populate the earth.

so then.
whose expectations do we keep up to.
whose expectations do we meet up with?
Our parents? our friends? society's? the government's?

We are called to be IN this world but not OF this world.
We should be lookg at what God expects of us.
What does He call us to do? Busy ourselves with work and money and neglect the eternal salvation of our love ones? Provide for them in this lifetime yet do not desire for their eternal life in heaven?

Nope. i'm not asking you to neglect your studies quit your school or quit your job.
i'm also guilty of the above mentioned. Very much so i am.
i'm just asking you to have an eternal perspective on your life.
to spend your time which you have on earth wisely.
but at the same time realise that you have an eternity with Him.
all of us have 24hrs a day. and we never know when God will take us home.
we all look forward to the day when God will say to us,
"Well done, good and faithful servant"
but we shld also look forward to our family members and friends hearing the exact same words.

So please, dont keep this great love of Christ to yourself anymore.
Let's move forward together, love one another, edify one another.
So that we can in turn go out into the world as ONE BODY,
planting the seed of the gospel and the good news of Jesus Christ
Into the lives of our loved ones.

OT 4 Daniel- Malachi

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. Nahum 1:2

• God is jealous. Although jealousy often has a negative connotation, here it reflects God's intensity of love for His people. He created us for his love and wants that love returned out of our free will. When we do not do so and love other gods or objects, jealousy burns because it is felt so deeply in His heart. This shows that God is also personal and has feelings.
  
• Being sovereign, God has the right to work His purpose in the world. Judgement against sin is what that makes Him a just and holy God. This seems to contradict the view of God being loving and gracious, especially when sins are judged and punishments await. To reconcile this, it is conceivable that God's wrath comes from His love. If He doesn't love us, why would He even bother getting upset over us?

Just one verse of a scripture and there so many valuable insights. Want to find out more? Check out DLT class at SAC on every tue evening, 7.30pm. ;)

Urgent Prayer Request!

Dan's father suffered a rapture in one of the arteries of his heart on sunday morning.

Please pray for:

1) Dan's father, that God's hand would be over him.

2) Dan and his family, that God's peace and strength will be with them in this period of testing.

[ For those of you who may not be familiar with Dan, Dan is a friend of Alvin, who was with us for a few Sundays back. ]

Why Read The Bible?

'"I'm a busy person with a lot to do. Why should I spend time reading the Bible? I don't have time to do all I need to do as it is."

"I already believe in Jesus Christ. I've already heard the Gospel."
"Why should I read the Bible?"

The following Scriptures should answer the question.

JOHN 8:31-32 RSV31 Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples,32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
JOSHUA 1:8 Beck 8 Don't stop reading this book of the Law, but day and night think of what it says, so you can be careful to do everything written in it; then you will prosper and succeed.
ACTS 20:32 LB32 "And now I entrust you to God and his care and to his wonderful words that are able to build your faith and give you all the inheritance of those who are set apart for himself.
MATTHEW 4:4 NLT 4 But Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say, 'People need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every word of God.' "
JOHN 6:63 ICB 63 It is not the flesh that gives a person life. It is the spirit that gives life. The words I told you are spirit, and so they give life.
ROMANS 15:4 CEV 4 And the Scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope.
JOHN 14:23-24 Rieu23 Jesus replied: 'If anyone loves me he will cherish my word; my Father will love him and we will come to him and make him our abode.24 He that does not love me neglects my words. Yet the word you hear is not my own but that of the Father who sent me.
2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 NLT 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. 17 It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.
HEBREWS 4:12 NLT 12 For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are.

God's Word is alive! The more you expose yourself to it, the more it will expose itself to you.
To know God better you must spend time hearing what He has to say. The Bible is His message to you. If you want Him to listen to what you have to say, you should also listen to what He has to say.

Although God can also speak directly to your heart, you need to know His written Word so you can judge whether God is speaking to you, or the enemy is trying to deceive you.
God will not love you more because you read the Bible. It's for your benefit -- not required to make God love you. However, without reading the Bible, you will not grow spiritually, and you will be more easily deceived.

Prayerfully reading the Scriptures yourself is the only real defense against being misled.
God's Word is truth (John 17:17). Don't you want to know the truth? Why waste your time on lesser, unreliable things?

Your spiritual life is important. You always have time for what you consider important.
Jesus taught that God's Word is a seed (Luke 8:11). Plant the seed of God's Word in your life and you will reap blessings.

The promise of Jesus in John 8:31-32 is for you. If you continue in the Word of God, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free!

Only those who continue in God's Word come to the place of knowing called faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

Here are some articles for further reading:
The Bible Is The Word Of God
God's Word Is A Seed
God's Word Will Make You Free
God's Word Is A Medicine

Which is more beneficial?

I received a sms from a good old sec. sch fren this afternoon and realise that a friend of mine had passed on. He was running and playing soccer one moment and suddenly collapsed and went into fits.

When i first heard the news, flashes of the times i spend with this fren kept running through my mind. His laughter, his stupid jokes and even the way he liked to flip his fringe with his hands. He was a friend of mine when we were in secondary school, we were from different classes but we did work a few times together in school projects as we both were prefects.

The point of this blog is.

When i contrast the sudden death of this fren and the petty quarrels and arguements which i see arnd me, plus those which i am personally involved in, I feel kinda discouraged. It's like all those time wasted on quarelling, arguing and being angry can be used to encourage, edify and even spread the Word of His love to my frens!

However, from the death of this fren, i also realised that God has opened a single door for me to share Christ with another friend. I pray that God will use this and make it into a miralce. I pray that I will not allow the devil to have a foothold in my life and that I can be used by God as an instrument to not just serve Him in church but also to most importantly fulfill His great commission which is to make disciples of all nations... may God help me and all of us.

"Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." 2 Tim 2:19

Shining Like Stars

Here are some brief notes that I took when I visited the youth service at COSB last Saturday evening. The reading was taken from Daniel 12:1-3, but I'll just be focusing on the third verse in this entry.

Daniel 12:3
"Those who are wise would shine like the brightness of the Heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever."

The message was entitled "Shooting star or Shining star?" and the challenge was really for us to be shining for Christ in our daily lives.

1) Shining stars will last. Shooting stars are shortlived. Do we shine transiently for Jesus, or are we consistent in living our lives worthy of our calling as His disciples?

2) Steadfast or unpredictable? We look up into the sky on a cloudless night and know for certain that the stars that have existed for centuries will still be there. Orion, The Big Dipper, The Southern Cross etc... we know for sure that they will be there. No one really knows however, when shooting stars appear. In shining for Christ, we need to be steadfast and always shining for Christ. It is not according to our whims and fancies when and where we would like to shine for Him, we need to be 24/7 Christians.

3) The Practical Value of a Shining Star--Shining stars can lead us in the right direction and help us find the way if we get lost. Similarly, each of us are pointers to Jesus. Have you pointed someone to Jesus today?

One more point that I thought about after the sermon and while typing this out is that whether we see them or not, shining stars continue to shine in the sky. In the daytime, we might not see them, but they are there, whether we are aware or not. Sometimes, it might seem that others do not take notice of us, but that doesn't mean we can stop living our lives as a testimony and a witness for the Lord.

SELF-CENTREDNESS

The strongest opposition to Love,

is Self-centredness. (Or, Pride.)

Hatred is definitely not the strongest opposition to Love,

as Hatred says that it wants Love...
but it just does not have enough of it.
(Hence, hatred is often a result of insufficient love, or unreciprocated love.)

However, Self-centredness is not so.

Self-centredness says that he himself is greater than anything else, even Love.


Self-centredness looks down on Love.

YOUTH FUSION MINTS!
Dearest WACky Youths and not so youthfy youths! =p
Pls do take note of the great and wonderful YF mints which would be distributed after service this Sunday! This is part 1 of our efforts to promote YF and the blog which you are reading now. =) Also do lookforward to the many other publicity stunts which we will be doing to help create awareness about Youth Fusion in W.A.C. and among our pre-believer friends! So keep Fusioning and keep running this race for Jesus Christ!


Like to give a big THANK YOU to the following for helping in the creation of the Youth Fusion Mints!

1) Uncle Jimmy/Sabrina - Supplying us the mints.. for free! =)

2) Peixuan - Layout and design

3) Huiling, Sabrina and Vincent (in alphabetical order) - Wrapping of sweets

4) Chee Hoong - Bringing the sweets to service on Sun

Remembering God

"On my bed I remember You; I think of You through the watches of the night"--Psalm 63:6
I came across this verse last week during the weekly Campus Crusade meeting in school. How in love with God the psalmist must have been when he penned down these beautiful words to God. Even through the night, he meditated upon who God was. I'm sure that brought gladness to God's heart.

Many times, our minds are filled with our own thoughts, our cares and concerns. Throughout the day we think about our work, school, what we're going to do after class etc... there are just simply so many things that flood our mind, that we spend so little time remembering who God is and what He has done for us.

This verse impacted me because it caused me to realize, that even before I go to sleep, my last waking moments are spent thinking about school, people, ministry etc... I also realized that what we think about the most, are often the things that are of great concern to us. The question that came to me was: If I love Jesus so much, why do I spend so little time thinking about Him?

My application point for this verse is to remember God throughout the day, and even at night before I drift off to sleep; to meditate on who God is--my Good Shepherd, the Bread of Life and the Light of the World.

How will you remember God today?

Girls' Brigade National Bible Quiz 3 Sep'05
"Follow Jesus Trail"

This is us, in the beginning, fresh, energetic and surging forward to our very first station:


The girls cracking their head to put the broken verse back together again...

Trying to spot the differences in 2 similar pictures of Jesus & His disciples

Tired liao...

The End {Phew}

some of my kids were talking to me on msn yday after their lessons
soon, we combined everyone and chatted in one message conversation itself.
we were talking about various topics when one gal asked for my religion
before i could reply, another malay gal answered "christian"
the gist of the conversation went something like:

jaslyn: what's your religion?
hanisah: christian
ivy: im a christian. hanis, how you know?
hanisah: you got the face, the christian face
ivy: what's a christian face?
hanisah: i dunno. you just got the face.

this particular portion of the msn chat made me think about what my kids said
i was just thinking about it on my way to school today that do we christians have the christian-look?
other than us wearing a cross pendant and carrying a bible or any other identification, is there any way the world can tell that we are christians?

can your friends and colleagues tell that you're a christian?
are they able to see Jesus in you?

i'm also reminded of a very old song that goes...

While passing thro' this world of sin,
and others your life shall view,
Be clean and pure without, within;
Let others see Jesus in you.

Let others see Jesus in you,
Let others see Jesus in you.
Keep telling the story, be faithful and true;
Let others see Jesus in you.

Your life's a book before their eyes,
They're reading it thro' and thro'
Say, does it point them to the skis,
Do others see Jesus in you?

Then live for Christ both day and night,
Be faithful, be brave and true,
and lead the lost to life and Christ.
Let others see Jesus in you.