In Christ Alone

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in Christ alone ♥
3:17 PM

Above All

Above all powers

Above all kings

Above all nature

And all created things

Above all wisdom

And all the ways of man

You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms

Above all thrones

Above all wonders

The world has ever known

Above all wealth

And treasures of the earth

There's no way to measureWhat You're worth

Crucified

Laid behind the stone

You lived to die

Rejected and alone

Like a rose

Trampled on the ground

You took the fall

And thought of me

Above all

Labels: God

in Christ alone ♥
11:31 AM

Finish His Work - 20 Dec 2007 to 25 Dec 2007

Honestly, before the trip, i was dreading to go. the thought of taking a plane on my own and being away frm sg during christmas for the 1st time was overwhelming. but right now, i can confidently say that i thank God for allowing me to go on this trip and i dont regret gng a bit!!!

God had been really good to us. He had been our Sustainer and Provider and He is sovereign. during the 5 days, the team did a total of 6 performances. we felt like a circus troupe - unpack, perform, pack, go. but i thank God for the opportunities to sow seeds in thailand. we performed in schools and on the streets in the night market. It was a really great experience! during the open-air performances, people walked right past us and less than a handful stopped to watch. it was a really different scene from home, where most people would stop to watch. it just reminded me that there is so much to be done in thailand, and we were just merely sowing seeds. we performed to students and children who were naturally more excited. but no matter where we performed and who were the audience, i just thank God that He gave me this opportunity to serve Him in a different way in a foreign land this Christmas :) and i know that somehow, in His own time, the work that we had done now would bear fruit.

this is my 3rd trip to Chiangmai, and i returned from each trip with different lessons. the 1st trip taught me to treasure the education that i receive here in singapore and not to take things for granted. the 2nd trip served to reinforce what i gained frm the 1st. this trip was different, probably cos i am no longer studying. during this trip, the friendships built with the thais and within the mission team strengthened and it is something that i am grateful for :) one thing that i had learnt from the thais is that they are definitely a more contented lot than us singaporeans. and i believe it has to do with the environment we are brought up in. here at home, we have so much more and thus, it leads to greater discontentment with life. in thailand, where there are much lesser comfort and entertainment, the thais are contented with just ice-cream and company. when the mission team met with a diff situation - we were stranded as the truck battery was stolen - a typical singaporean will probably fret and worry about what will happen next. however, the thai friends continued to smile and chat the waiting time away. it really caused me to think about what i should do the next time i'm caught in a difficult situation.

the thing that i missed most about tis trip was the fellowship that i had with the others. i missed it the moment i was on the plane back home! i found out so much more about the youths, uncles and aunties. one thing that really touched me was aunty christine's testimony. God was not only faithful to her now, but He had been answering her prayers ever since her first pregnancy 15 years ago. as i heard her testimony, i could not help but feel ashamed of myself, how i will sigh and complain when the littlest of things do not go my way. here is a woman, who is in a position that no one will want to be in for the 3rd time in the last 6 years and she can still praise God and serve Him in this mission trip. i also got a chance to hear aunty amy's testimony who went thru a similar situation as a.christine during her younger days. both their stories reminded me of how precious life can be and how we must treasure each day that we are alive because we do not deserve it, but God gave us each new day out of His mercy and grace.

i thank God for the many lessons that He had taught me. though i was there for less than half the trip, God's plans and timing are perfect. i gained so much out of this trip. God willing, i will want to serve Him in the mission field again :)

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalms 46:10

Labels: God is faithful, lessons learnt from God, moments of life

in Christ alone ♥
3:18 PM

my class :D

darling and me :)

a nice collage by Ruth!

my dearest class of sec 1/2 girls!

22 candles on my cake :)

my birthday card :)

today was my 2nd birthday celebration and it was indeed a meaningful and precious one :) cos my class girls decided to spring me a surprise and they succeeded! haha..it all started when 1 of the girls requested to do praying and sharing instead of having lesson today. I was for the idea and thus, today's lesson was just asking them to write down what they're thankful for and prayer requests. However, throughout the entire lesson, i could not help but notice that the girls were extra secretive and giggling more than usual. it was only towards the end of the lesson that they brought the cake in and sang me a bday song :)

i really want to thank God for these bunch of girls. they were my 1st grp of students and halfway through the year, i was feeling rather discouraged that these girls were too quiet during class. but now, i am greatly encouraged by their kind gesture! and it is a timely one :) being a mentor for the 3rd consecutive year had also allowed these relationships with the girls to be strengthened.

to these girls, i just want to say a big THANK YOU! and my prayer for each and every one of you is that you will always remember that you're a precious jewel in God's sight and that you'll grow up into a fine young lady after God's own heart :)

Thank you for this meaningful and precious gift.

Labels: moments of life

in Christ alone ♥
10:41 PM

This day marked the end of a 4.5 day camp and my 3rd yr of service as a mentor. As I read through my campers' testimonies, i cant help but start tearing - tears not of sadness, but of joy. The camp committee spent 3 months preparing for this camp. Throughout this camp, though not all the plans were fulfilled, the testimonies told me that the campers had a meaningful time, studying about God and fellowshipping. Indeed, all these can only happen because of God and i just want to give all praise and glory to Him! God had been faithful and true to His word. This camp allowed me to practice what I had learnt during YAF’s Bible study – Experiencing God. I thank God for giving me many opportunities to see Him accomplish His purposes in the lives of the campers and helpers in this camp.

These are the lessons that God had taught me during this camp:

1. God is sovereign – This camp taught me that we can plan all we can, but at the end of the day, God can change them. There were a few times when things did not happen as expected (like how we had to make do with using our church compound for the intended outdoor games at West Coast Park), but when we acknowledge that it is God’s will and adjust our plans according to Him, everything worked out perfectly!

2. God is the Creator – For the 2nd consecutive year, God had allowed rain to fall and stop just before the swimming carnival. For the 2nd consecutive year, the dark clouds filled the sky, yet the rain did not come until the carnival was over. Indeed, this was such a marvelous sight and it reminded me that our God is a God who answers prayer and He controls the wind and the rain.

3. God is Jehovah Jireh, our Provider – God had provided for each and every one of our needs throughout the camp. He brought help from unexpected sources. During this camp, help came from people whom I never really talked to in church on Sundays and their willingness encouraged me greatly and I learnt that we should never underestimate how God can touch individual hearts to come forward and help.

4. The messages brought by Rev Yap were reminders of God’s grace towards mankind and how He provides help and answers prayer. These messages re-emphasised the need to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I was also encouraged by my group’s sharing of how God had answered their prayers and the lessons that they had learnt.

I thank God for the privilege to serve as a mentor for the 3rd consecutive year. During this camp, new relationships were created with the youths and younger campers while older relationships were strengthened. It just greatly encouraged me when those whom I mentored during the previous camps were willing to share about how they were getting on in their lives and their spiritual walks with God. I thank the Lord for giving me the opportunities to have meaningful conversations with most of my Sunday School girls, something that I do not get on Sundays. Lastly, I thank God for the resolutions that many campers made and that is, to have a more intimate relationship with their Heavenly Father. God willing, I will definitely love to serve in Sunday School Camp next year!

All glory belongs to the Lord!

Labels: lessons learnt from God

in Christ alone ♥
7:07 PM

in September, the SS Camp committee met for the first time. Plans were made, programs were suggested. One of them was Peter's Walk, an activity alex went thru while attending the campus crusade camp held in his sch. He found it meaningful and wanted the ss campers to benefit frm it too. Being smthg that we had never did before, deborah, gwyn and me gamely accepted the responsibility of running this activity.

2 months had passed and now we are less than 2 weeks to the start of SS camp. even though we are still lacking in some areas, God has been wonderful and awesome! Throughout the preparation for this camp, esp for Peter's walk, God has been speaking to me thru my quiet time and circumstances. He taught me so many lessons and I had been experiencing God's goodness in a way that I had never, which really humbled me so much.

1st lesson: GOD IS REAL. Some of the people that I had to approach are those whom I never spoke more than 10 sentences to on a typical Sunday. and if you guys know me well, i am bad at persuasion [tt's why i'm not in a sales job :)] it can only be God who moved them to offer their help.

2nd lesson: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE WHAT GOD CAN DO. This is a very humbling lesson for me. I had hesitated approaching certain people to help out because with my own finite and limited knowledge, I concluded that they "CONFIRM wont help wan laa". but God has proven His word to be true because His ways and thoughts are indeed higher than mine. He moved me to type that SMS and send it out to these people, and most responded with a YES :) and the thing was, those whom i expected to help said no, and those whom i did not expect said yes. this just shows me how little my faith is in the Almighty God who can do all things. I am reminded of something that i learnt in my quiet time tis wk - if we do not take that step of faith, we will never be able to see what God can do.

3rd lesson: WHATEVER GOD PURPOSES TO DO, HE WILL BRING IT TO PASS. if He cant do this, He is not God at all right? but this lesson is so reassuring, esp at this time of the year, where we are all bogged down by so many commitments in church. it's been physically and mentally tiring for me but i thank God for His promise! that i am not in this alone, that it is not what i want to do for God, but what He wants to do through me :) i just got to have faith, obey Him, do what He wants me to do, and He will accomplish His purposes through me.

I am really grateful to God for these lessons which i can never learn through books or at work. and these lessons mean so much more even as i am reminded by the dragonboat tragedy, that our lives on this earth are really like bubbles which may burst anytime. It just reminds me to number my days and invest my time in things that count for eternity. What a timely reminder!

with camp just right around the corner, i am very excited to see how God is gng to work!!!

"Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." - William Carey

Labels: lessons learnt from God

in Christ alone ♥
12:40 PM

it's been a long time since i've blogged, and now, as much as i want to blog, i find that there are so much to say that i dont know where to start!!! so, i decided to blog in parts. God has been so good and so real to me in so many ways for the past month and I just want to proclaim His goodness towards me! : )

so for the first part of this long blog entry, i guess i'll blog about the preparation for the mission trip to Chiangmai in Dec. By faith, Dn Kok Wah and aunty Amy booked 20 air tickets to chiangmai in July/Aug for the trip to Chiangmai, even when the no. of people confirmed for this trip was less than half. And God honoured their faith! 23 people will be gng to Chiangmai this Dec : ) and they consist of not just youths, but kids and adults, gng as a family. Truly, Isa 55:8 says "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." We should never underestimate what God can accomplish and how He can move His people to invest time in mission work! and the preparation for the trip had been smooth-sailing so far. Initially, with only about a month left to the trip, i wondered whether we would be able to master thai carols and prac on our puppet show, but God had been wonderful to us! Doing all these with our own strength will be difficult, but when we asked for wisdom from above, God is faithful to provide, just like what James 1:5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

even as there are still much to be done, i strongly believe that God WILL give us His best and He will be able to accomplish His purposes thru this group of 23 singaporeans. In Chiangmai, we would not only put up a Christmas puppet musical, but go street carolling as well, among many other activities. I cant wait to see what God can do through us!

The words of this song has so much meaning and brings the message of salvation. We would be performing this song, together with actions, which I pray will give the people in Thailand a better idea of how God loves them so much that on Christmas day, He gave His only Son to die on the cross for their sins.

So you would come

Before the world began,

You were on His mind.

And ev'ry tear you cry

Is precious in His eyes.

Because of His great love,

He gave His only Son,

Ev'rything was done,

So you would come.

Nothing you can do,

Could make Him love you more

And nothing that you've done,

Could make Him close the door.

Because of His great love,He gave His only Son.

Ev'rything was done,

So you would come.

Come to the Father

Though your gift is small,

Broken hearts, broken lives,

He will take them all.

The power of the Word,

The power of His blood,

Ev'rything was done

So you would come.

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us," Eph 3:20

Labels: God is faithful

in Christ alone ♥
4:18 PM