New Year Resolution 2011

Happy New Year..!

As we entered into the new year..

New Year is a time where people would feel that all things have become new.. the old has gone (good time or bad time).. it is like a fresh new heart.. new hope.. new inspiration.. new motivation in life..

And for those who are in Christ, we understand this meaning full well the moment when we said the sinner's prayer.. entered into a new life in Christ. The unspeakable joy.. peace.. love.. and hope.. even though we may not be knowing God very well just yet for that time.

Human is not perfect and are therefore tend to make mistakes in life each and every second. Therefore we need this inner assurance from God that.. His mercy is new every morning.

Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. - Lamentations 3:22-23

Though it may not be that easy for some to forgive people from their hearts (for different reasons behind.. personality etc.).. but once they made up their mind in doing so.. they would realize that how wonderful it is.. to let go of the emotional baggages and walk 'lightly'. It is also the time where the healing of the wound is started..

Let us pause and ponder about the meaningful of Love once again in this new year. What is Love? You may ask yourself.. and you may not have the answer just yet.. or you may have your own definition in your own dictionary..

Love is in the Bible.. the Bible has clear definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a.. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bear all things, believes all things, hope all things, endures all things. Love never fails.. and we know that God is Love full well. When we speak of love, it is very common for most people to think of romantic love above all else.. some may get reminded of family love or friendship love. No matter what.. we can't deny the fact that.. deep inside the heart of each human.. they hunger for love (God is love). Subconsiously, they try to do everything to 'hunt' for love.. for acception.. for appreciation.. love is just like the physical food that we consume each day.. we can never have enough and stop. We need it on a constant basis.. a daily supply of love.. one that would never run dry.. the question is.. from where can we can this kind of love? Can we place our whole hope on getting it from human who may be here and gone tomorrow? Can we rely it on God alone.. the only Constant in this universe?

My new year resolution for this year:

1) to continue fathom God's Love in life

2) to forgive.. and forgive.. love despite the risk of being hurted/vulnerable in heart.. choose to trust people in love despite some people may not be so honest for different reasons behind.

3) a better world for everyone.. especially those who are not feeling well spiritually, emotionally or physically.. the widows and the orphans.. people to find their identities in life.. to live out the life that God had planned for them before they were placed in the mother's womb.

Lastly, i would love to encourage you to ponder about this truth once again.. especially if you have entered into a loving relationship with our Heavenly Father. This would change you inside out.. as you begin your new year with this beautiful assurance..

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. - 2 Corinthians 5:17

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven.. no matter what are you facing now.. let us get reminded of this passage once again. And as you open your arms to embrace this new year, let us understand about this truth together.. it would changes your outlook in life and starts to accept things (good or bad) in life gladly..

To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, And a time to die;

A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;

A time to kill, And a time to heal;

A time to break down, And a time to build up;

A time to weep, And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, And a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to gain, And a time to lose;

A time to keep, And a time to throw away;

A time to tear, And a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;

A time to love, And a time to hate;

A time of war, And a time of peace.

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

No matter what.. let us together make this world a better place to live.. just like Heaven on earth.. by introducing love into our lives.. in this new year..

He taught me how to LOVE

As i was pondering for what to write in this season of love. I felt a voice whispering in my ear.. about love. Looking at the one of the new year resolution which i blogged last year.. isn't it about love too? I was stunned for a moment.. for how God had answered my prayer.. in a very special way.

The 3 branches of my 2009 new year resolution:

1) Growing deeper with Daddy God in the love relationship.

2) Sharpen the life-skill on loving people as Jesus teaches me.

3) To be in the centre of God's will in all areas of life.

God had taught me a lesson on how to love in the past one year. He taught me how to trust Him more each day too. Growing up as the only girl in a family with two older brothers, i hardly know how to love people except receiving all the love. I hardly know what is give... but to receive.. receive and to receive. Love is sacrificial.. it takes time.. enery and money... it's about giving. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truths. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Love is unconditional. Love hurts.

When you love people, you have to open your heart, and for sure you would get hurted as no one is perfect in this world and none can satisfy all our expectation (especially when some are unrealistic at time) except Him alone. Love is also about forgiving (i would say forgiveness is one of the most beautiful virtue). Love is not judging. When you judge, you have no time to love.

However, we can't really love until we understand how much God loves us.. for who we are. His never ending mercy each morning. When His love overcome fears in our lives. Fears prohibiting us from love but perfect love casts out fears. Indeed, we love because He first loved us.

The key of the gospel is love. People can't see the invisible God but people can see love. And God is love. I love to see Christ in your eyes.

First Chinese Worship in Church

Today we had our first chinese worship (as bilingual) in church. God is good. We sang some of the songs in Mandarin besides English. I could see the joy in the pastor's eyes and face. The pieces of puzzle just fall into its place perfectly, in His time. I never thought that it would be possible as i recalled back to the time when i first attended the church about 1.5 years ago. Back then, we used to have the regular Russian service in church every Sunday.

As for me, i knew little about Russian especially when I first got here. Therefore, i was like more on trying to read the lyrics on the screen rather than singing the songs or worship. I remember a senior cum fren of mine (he was the one who first brought me to the church when i was seeking God's will for church to attend) so kind.. very often he sang louder.. so that i could follow him.. maybe he wasn't knew that i followed him (you know who you are). Sometimes when we came to a familiar song.. once which have its English version.. then we would be singing in the English version as my fren started it. The whole thing.. on and off.. sometimes i went to other churches.

Earlier last semester, I felt that an inner voice called me to keep attend this church even though the whole thing was still in Russian which I couldn't really understand much. Although we were attending the Russian service, however, most of the time God provided brother or sister in the church to do the translation for us. A couple of weeks after the start of the new semester, the pastor in church decided to hold a service that would be conducted entirely in English for us. It's a good news for us.. a love gift from God.

Last November (14th-16th, year 2008), me & a couple of frens went for a Chinese church camp somewhere in the outskirt. From there we met a group of new frens who came from China. Most of them accepted Christ during the camp and we became good frens after the camp. When we get together, we felt like a family, a bond which couldn't described by merely words except owing it to the love from our Heavenly Father. By then, I could tell why God put a seemingly strange desire in me.. the desire to make fren with Chinese (especially those who come from China mainland) and share gospel with them whenever i met some Chinese out in the city.. whether it's in the theatre.. in the bus..

As we sang the first worship song in Mandarin today, i was so touched... and the tears just dropped... simply cause i could tell how much God loves His child...

Reaching For You

Just got back from my Philosophy class.. in between class... awaiting for my Russian intensive class. This morning we watched a film on how the earth was formed etc... i wanted to say.. the answers that the Scientist or Philosopher trying hard to find.. are all in the Bible... Genesis chapter one till early of chapter two.

The song "Reaching For You" was playing in my mind... so i just searched for it from my mp3 playlist. As i listened to it again, i really like the lyrics... especially the very 1st sentence and the last one.

"I can't believe the way Your love has got a hold on me... I stand here before You... In wide opened wonder... Amazed at the glory of You... The power of heaven... Revealing Your purpose in me... As I'm reaching for You."

This is a song that reminded me of the memories back in Sydney - a quiet time with God and also a time for emotional healing... also a time for reflection in life. Sometimes you just get tired of the walk of life, and need the rest... in Daddy God's arm - the hiding place.

Here goes the lyrics...


"I can't believe the way
Your love has got a hold on me
Each morning I wake to find You near
You lift me above my fears
And set my feet on solid ground
All of my days belong to You

And I breathe in Your breath of life that fills my heart
You are my all consuming fire

I stand here before You
In wide opened wonder
Amazed at the glory of You
The power of heaven
Revealing Your purpose in me
As I'm reaching for You"

The Pain of Child Bearing

Yesterday morning was suddenly having this thought again.. the thought about the pain that a woman has to go through when she's giving birth to baby... the excruciating pain... i wonder i could stand the pain too. Couldn't understand fully why suddenly i would have this thinking... until later...

Once a fren of mine smsed me... to tell how fearful she was... while she was having the excruciating birth pain and was about to being sent to the operating theatre... i could imagine how traumatic it was...

The birth pains.. also reminded me of what God said to the serpent in Genesis chapter 3:

16 To the woman he said,

"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;

with pain you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you."

But the good news is... Christ has redeemed us. There are testimonies of women giving birth to babies without having to go through the usual birth pains (miraculous birth).. it does happen today.

Later while i was spending time with God.. i opened the Bible and my eyes fall on Isaiah 26. I was feeling a bit discouraged and down 2 days ago.. my heart feeling so pain (the pain of being misunderstood, rejection etc)... at the edge of giving up... standing near the corner of the street... i need the presence of God like never before...

The verses on 17 & 18 really shaked me up..

17 As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O LORD.
18 We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world.

Just the same for the process of physical child delivering, there is normal to have birth pains for spiritual child delivering too. My spiritual eyes were opened widely for that.

i checked the meaning for 'writhes' in the online dictionary.. it means:

-To twist, as in pain, struggle, or embarrassment.

-To suffer acutely.

Later in the evening, God blessed me with the opportunity of sharing God's love to a fren again... and what was spoken actually turn out to be the same message in church during Sunday service.

I feel that God is assuring me that... "my daughter, dun have to worry, it's about me working through you.. and I would help you through it all... dun give up... perseveres on it... just like the joy that a mother has after she has given birth to baby/s... one day your joy would be complete too!"

Now i'm able to understand fully why i would have that 'thought' on a Saturday morning.

當你走到無力 Spiritually fatique?

Came across this hymn from a fren on facebook.. a note that posted there. I was stunned for a while when i first look at the title of the note as it was something that in my mind which i'm finding it hard to put into words. A syndrome which has been there for a couple of days... mixed feeling... multiple factors... come together with insomnia as the symptom (or should i say it's a package?). If to put it into a graph... i would said the graph reached its peak today after church. Feeling a bit "fatique spiritually"... wasn't talk or listen as much to one of my gal fren as i used to on my way back from church too. I reckoned that the tiredness is partly caused by insomnia... the impatience to wait for the harvesting season (just like what pastor preached in church today) by forcing things to happen before the ripen season etc.

Nevertheless, here goes the lyrics for the hymn...

詩集：美麗傳奇第二集－神蹟，第5首

當你走到無力繼續下去，當你感到寂寞困惱空虛，
只要相信神隨時扶助你，願助你解開困惑拋開痛悲。
當你跑到疲乏難再下去，當你感到疑惑說我是誰，
只要相信神完全明白你，就讓你伸手接受祂深愛你。
別害怕祂知你難受，擔當軟弱與困憂，
不需再懼怕，耶穌必拯救，願你開口接受，張開你手。
別害怕祂知你難受，擔當軟弱與困憂，
不需再懼怕，耶穌必拯救，讓你一生快樂展翅高飛，一個全新的你。

禱告 I Pray

A Chinese worship song by Stream of Praise that i really like when i first listened to it... every single word of the lyrics is speaking to my heart...

Thanks to a sis who brought it to me...

禱告 I Pray [讚美之泉10] (林後12:9)

詞、曲: 鄭楷 Kevin Cheng Key: E (原調) 4/4

禱告因為我渺小

禱告因為我知道我需要

明瞭 你心意對我重要

禱告已假裝不了

禱告因為你的愛我需要

你關懷 我走過的你都明白

有些事我只想要對你說

因你比任何人都愛我

痛苦從眼中流下

我知道你為我擦

在早晨我也要來對你說

主耶穌今天我為你活

所需要的力量都天天賜給我

你恩典夠我用

9 他 对 我 说 ： 我 的 恩 典 够 你 用 的 ， 因 为 我 的 能 力 是 在 人 的 软 弱 上 显 得 完 全 。 所 以 ， 我 更 喜 欢 夸 自 己 的 软 弱 ， 好 叫 基 督 的 能 力 覆 庇 我 。- 歌 林 多 後 書 12:9

9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. - 2 Corinthians 12:9