I am reminded

Today, I am reminded to give thanks to God no matter what happens in my life, no matter what I am feeling at this point in time, no matter how difficult things or how wonderful things may be.  For the past week, I realised that I was choosing to be critical, to be mean, to be nasty and what not.  This is because I was feeling miserable, feeling upset, feeling down and all.  Yet through out the week, God, through His word and through the devotion I was doing, reminded me the importance of giving thanks.

This morning, even before practice starts, though we were late to start and all, I chose to give thanks to God for the opportunity to serve Him that morning with all my brothers and sisters.  I wasn't feeling it really, and I could've allowed whatever I was feeling through the week to bring me down, to make choose not to do my best for God.  But I chose to remember what God was trying to tell me, and to give thanks to Him.  I gave thanks to God for the opportunity to serve Him, for the opportunity to sing for Him.  I gave thanks for the freedom that we have in worshipping our Lord without fear.  I give thanks for the freedom to lift up my voice and to lift up my hands and to be able to freely proclaim His name to people around me.

Even right now, I choose to give thanks for being able to write this post, to have internet to post it and to share with those who are interested in it.  I truly am grateful.

I guess sometimes, we, living our lives everyone, threading on that path that we think will lead us to a better life, we forgot to stop, reflect and thank God for those little things that He has blessed us with.  Sometimes, along my life, I do have to admit that, thinking of what I want and dwelling on all those big issues and worries of life, I forgot to thank God for those blessings He have placed along my path.

Lord, thank you for your wonderful and timely reminder.  Forgive me for always criticising, thinking of the bad side of things, being negative and even being sarcastic.  Help me once again to be positive, to be reminded to give thanks at all times.  Change me oh Lord I pray, and make me anew once again in You.  I pray this simple pray from the bottom of my heart in the name of my wonderful Lord and Saviour, Jesus... Amen

Weddings

It's that time of the year where I get bombarded with many wedding invites.  At this age and this time, it's pretty much a frequent happening in my life, as many of my friends are getting married and all.  I always am touched when these people share their love life and love story with us all.  Although to some of us, it's just another wedding dinner that we attend, but I guess, to those lovely couples, it is an outward sign of their desire to share their happiness with us.

To those of you who are married, remember, the wedding ceremony/ dinner is the very first outward sign that you show to the world that you are spending the life together.  Remember that this is the very beginning of a long journey together.  Maybe along the way, you face some disagreement, or even argue and fight each other.  Maybe along the way, there are times when you are tired and wanting to get away from each other for that little bit of "me" time.  Always remember, you made  a commitment to spend your life together, till death do you part. Remember, those arguments, those fights, those private times that you yearn, are still all there.  Don't hold on to those negative things, but learn to see those lovely memories of your relationships.  Remember those times when you smile just because he or she is by your side, remember what those moments when you decided to fall in love with your partner.  Remember those times when you laughed with each other over those silly antics or actions you've made to each other, remember those times when just a mere thought of him or her brings a smile to your face.

Even if you are in the midst of difficult moments, be thankful for those moments, because I believe those moments allows you to get to know the person better.  Not just when things are good, but you see how that person is when things are bad too.  For better or for worse.... that's the vow you made before God and men. So, when the worse comes, don't let it overwhelm you, but rather, turn to your partner and say, I know things are tough for us now, but I am thankful for that we are in this together, so that we can walk through this together and come out of it together as well.

To all my lovely couple friends, may the good Lord continue to bless the two of you at all times, no matter what circumstances that you are facing or you may be in.

One by one leaving...

It seems that more and more people are leaving.  Yet, I am still around.. sometimes, I wonder if I made the right decision coming here, but since the decision has been made, I have been sticking around to see how things will go.  Yet, looking at things, I am unsure if I should stay on or move forward.

Friends can be upsetting sometimes

I can't believe that there are friends who can really upset you at times.  What's more these are friends with whom you have been close with for so many years.  They know you well enough and yet, they still do crazy things to you.   Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it, to take the time to hang out with them and chill with them, yet in many things you're forgotten. 

I am just feeling very upset right now, and I don't like my feelings right now.  Things are not easy for me and it's saddening to know that you're being neglected or being treated as something else.

The Reason to Worship

Why do you worship?  What are the reasons/driving factor for you to worship?  Is it the passion to play the instruments?  Is it the passion to sing?  For me, it's just as simple as a desire, a desire to sing for Him.. That's my motivation to sing, my motivation to worship, my motivation to lift my voice to Him.

Decluttering Process in my Life

I read somewhere in Organising Queen that organising takes time and effort.  You also need discipline (I slack on that part) and to set aside time to do it.  It doesn't mean that you need to set one full day.  Just some time everyday to re-organise things.  Well now, before we go into organising things, we need to get rid of old things.

By habit and nature, I like to keep things.  If I do look/ dwell deeper, it runs in the family.  That aside (something I will explore later in my life), I realised that in order kickstart the organising of my life, I first need to do some decluttering in my life. 

I have a lot of papers lying around in my room.  Some I don't even know why I am keeping them and etc.  That aside, my chest drawer is a mess, it contains clothes and other stuff!  Woah, talk about being disorganised.  Taking the cue that I can do just a little bit a day, I decided to get started with my chest of drawers.  Like I said, the drawers are full of things!  I made a mental note of what I really want to be kept in each drawers (4 of them) and I decided to tackle them! Sorry, no pictures to show, too shy, coz it's in a serious mess.. haha... Well, I did not actually tackle all of them in a go, but I decided to tackle the 1st two drawers.  One is for shirts and another is for pants.  What I did was I pulled out everything that's in there, chucked aside all those that doesn't fall into the shirt or pants category and refolded my shirts and pants so that it could fit into those drawers.  End result's good!  I'm satisfied with it too.  

Doing this makes me think of my spiritual life too.  We always think that we need to do a whole lot of things and set aside a lot of time to God.  As I was sharing with my pastor, she said exactly that we just need to allocate time to God and we need to learn to be creative with it.  What I can do is, to wake up and spend half an hour with God; be it singing to Him, reading my devotion for the day, or just praying, talking to Him.  And I can end my day by allocating another half an hour to be with God; by doing my bible college study materials.  Then it just hits me, hey, that ain't so bad afterall.  I don't actually need to force myself to do it everyday and then feel bad because I'm tired and thus ended up not spending time with God at all.  Ever felt that way?  If you do, do join me to take some time and play around with time so that we can organise ourselves and set discipline in our lives, both in the context of spending time with God, as well as in the context of getting ourselves organised.  It's a process; like what my pastor said; it's a process which we need to learn to implement in our lives, so that we may learn to be able to discipline ourselves more.

So easy

Why is it so easy to give up? Why is it so easy to let go? Why is it so easy to forget sometimes?  I do wonder, I often wonder, yet also, I often push my thoughts aside and not think.  Oh Lord my God, help me to focus on what's right, good and correct.  Help me to see beyond the now and into the future.  Help me to look beyond the situation right now but think of the possibilities.

Is it ever possible for us to see? Is it ever possible for us to think beyond ourselves? Yet, many a times we are slaves to ourselves, allowing ourselves to buy whatever we want, do whatever we want because we think that pleasure is all that there is.  But Lord, U know that there is always more.  We are the temple of God, our bodies are it.  Do we serve man (ourselves included) or do we serve a mighty God.  Need to learn the fact that we need to look beyond self in order to look toward God.  That is it not always about ourselves, not just bless ourselves with the finest.

I've seen, that when one gives beyond what they are capable of (be it finance, time and themselves), the amount of blessings in the from of joy from the heart overflows.  My God is not just a god whom we serve, but He is a God who desires relationship with us.  He wants to talk to us, He wants us to know Him so much that He was willing to give His son for us.  Who could ever do that?  Man can say that they are willing to give their lives for their loved ones... but remember, words are easy.  Marriages tumble here and there and relationships get broken along the way because sometimes, words are just that easy.  Yet, with God, He proved it when Jesus died on the cross.  Oh Lord, U are just so amazing, and again, I am left speechless in Your presence.

Even as Your hands continue to touch me and touch my heart, please oh Lord, remove the pride that is in me, remove the selfishness that's within me, replace it with Your heart oh Lord.  What do I really want is for U oh Lord, to always dwell in me, to always live in me, to always be with me, to always hear my cry and know where I am.

Teach me to be content with what I have, to be content with the fact that U will provide all that I need....