Desert Song

I wept and I wept on hearing this song...
Brooke Fraser just does magic with her lyrics


This is my prayer in the desert
When all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is the God who provides

This is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flame

I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

This is my prayer in the battle
When truimp is still on its way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll Stand

All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

This is my prayer in the harvest
When favour and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow

A letter from Sella

How amazing! I received a letter from Sella!

I came home, saw a Compassion envelope on my table, opened it and hoping it's not a random letter from the organisation... TADAH! it was Sella writing to me!

She said the fighting is over in Kenya and things are peaceful now... Praise God!

And I'm just super amused, she sent me her "report card"...
Term 1 : 219 out of 250
Term 2: 287 out of 300

Oh my gosh! She's good in Maths! like me! (Maths is one of my best subjects)
And her favourite colour is green! How cool is that?

And she wants to be a doctor when she grows up!

I'm happy, just happy she's writing to me to say she's doing good...

Praise God!

A Prayer for Sella

At Hillsong Conference last year, I signed up with Compassion and sponsored a Kenyan girl, her name is Sella.

I attended mass today and I sat beside this African girl, I think she's about Sella's age, and I thought about Sella. I haven't heard from her for about 5months? I'm quite worried actually. I don't know why... should I even be worried?

Anyway, it was quite funny. She was so fidgetive, she kept prancing up and down, elbowed me, accidentally kicked me... aiyor all over the place! I couldn't concentrate for a while. And each time she accidentally kicked or elbowed me, she would look at me sheepishly... and she kept staring at the henna on my hand! Oh i just got a henna on my right hand yesterday...

So it was time for the "Our Father"... So she stretched out her hands... and I stretched out mine...

She was looking at me.

I looked back at her.

And I held her hand.

She smiled back at me.

And I closed my eyes, felt this overwhelming sense of the Holy Spirit and prayed for her.

And for Sella.


Father Lord,

I pray this prayer of protection over Sella and her family. I don't know how she is now, but I trust that You are taking care of her. And I trust that You will meet her every need. Speak into her heart and keep her close to You, that she'll never lose faith and hope in You. I don't know if the situation in Kenya has improved, but I know You will take care of Your people. I ask for Your mercy over the nation.

I love her, and I know You love her even more.

Because You died for her.

Amen!

it's all about You, it's not about me

Just got back from Amp Fri, 1st session after YI... man! The room was packed! I feel a bit taken aback like wooooowww... These are the people we've been praying for to come! And now they're really coming!

And this is what I took home with me, "It's all about You, it's not about me."

I just have to make sure I take care of His business, it's not what I want, it's what He has intended for me to complete... really, I say that all the time but it has taken a whole new meaning for me.

I love God too much to disobey Him, put it this way.

Praise God!

Obedience all over again...

God is the love of my life... He really is!
At this point, I really just need to say that I love God so much... And I know He loves me back more intensely than I can ever imagine!

I just finished this conversation with Thelms, was just sharing with her about the whole randomness in me now... i feel random, i feel a lot of thoughts going through my mind, i feel like i really need to pray and just seek God...

And at one point, I was so glad that I have a friend like her to rant at and pour out all my feelings to! haha! praise the Lord!

And she reminded me that I needed to be obedient... yes obedience! it suddenly hit me again! that's what God wants of me! That is His will for me and I'm going to pray for the grace and strength to do what He called me to do...

Ok i'm done, i'm going to run into His loving arms now!


Good Bye World!


Oh and did I say YISS was just so filled with His presence? Like i still feel it now? He's been so faithful and I just can't help but stand in awe of Him! He's opened my eyes to a whole new perspective of who He really is and how great He is!

Acts 16:11-15

I opened my gmail yesterday and this unknown person, ok at least i don't recall myself knowing this person, sent me an email saying, "Hello Lydia! Today's reading mentions your name. God bless!"

I was like Ok, great... I can't even recall if I actually know you. And I didn't have the time to go read the reading of the day.

And today Thelma told me the same thing! She said, "oh well, it's a short mentioning of you in the book of Acts, but it didn't mentioned where Luke was though." HAHA! ok great! If you guys get the joke. So anywayz, it says:

Lydia's Conversion in Philippi

11From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

13On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.

I picked up Word Among Us to have a read at it:

Monday, 28th April 2008

In today’s first reading, Paul journeys to Europe, where he meets a businesswoman named Lydia. And what began as a normal day by the river turned into a life-changing spiritual encounter for Lydia and her family. Lydia, a Gentile, was already a worshipper of the God of the Jews, but God had plans for her to know his Son as well. Luke tells us that God opened Lydia’s heart to Paul’s preaching, and she became his first European convert to Christianity (Acts 16:14). From this point on, Lydia’s life would now be characterized by a loving, life-giving relationship with Jesus.

This is the very nature of conversion: God touches our hearts and makes us aware of his love, our sinfulness, and our need for his mercy. Such an awareness moves us to turn toward him so that he can begin a process of teaching and empowering us to embrace his goodness and reject the glamour of evil.

While the story of Lydia in Acts is short, we can be sure that it didn’t end where Luke leaves it. Lydia’s conversion not only prompted her to accept baptism; it also moved her to welcome Paul and his companions into her home. Such an act of generosity shows that “conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures, and works of penance” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1430). It also shows that conversion is not just a one-time event but a lifelong process. It involves continually being open to God and bearing good fruit as we learn to cooperate with his Spirit.

As God continues to help us open our hearts to him, we are transformed bit by bit. The most important changes we experience do not come as a result of big, spectacular events but from the ordinary events of our day. We leave behind the marks of our old life as selfishness gives way to service, wasted time becomes opportunities for prayer, and the approval of God eclipses human praise. So let us keep the door of our hearts wide open to Jesus so we can be remolded into his beautiful image!

Happening!

And it reminded me of the time when I encountered this story from the bible, it was through a good friend of mine. I remember what she said to me. We sat down one day and she read this passage to me. And she said, "Look! It says Lydia was a worshipper of God!"

I went, "Oh great! I love worshipping the Lord and I love singing to God!"

And she continued, "And you know what? She invited Paul to stay at her house! And you know, Paul, he don't anyhow stay in people's house when he goes on his missions to spread the gospel one!"

I didn't get it. So i went, "Ah huh? So what does it mean?"

She said, "Babe! It means Lydia had such a great gift of hospitality that Paul couldn't reject her offer!"

And i went AHHHHH!!! Praise the Lord!

It's so profound how important/meaningful/prophetic a name is to a person. And I thank God that my parents gave such a wonderful name! I could so identify myself with the story.

So parents-to-be out there (not that many that I know of except my colleague, who's expecting a boy, she just got the results yesterday!), choose a prophetic name for your kid! Like really, it will speak a lot about them.

I love Jesus! Weeee......

C.S. Lewis Song

If i find in myself
Desires nothing in this world can satisfy
I can only conclude
That I, I was not made for here

If the flesh that I fight
is at best only light and momentary
Then of course, I'll feel nude
When to where I'm destined I'm compared

Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the morning
I will sigh and with all creation groan
As I wait for hope to come for me


Am I lost or just less found
On the straight or on the roundabout of the wrong way
is this a soul that stirs in me
is it breaking free, wanting to come alive

cos my comfort would prefer for me to be numb
And avoid the impending birth of who I was born to become

Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the morning
I will sigh and with all creation groan
As I wait for hope to come for me


For we
we are not long here
our time is but a breath
so we better breathe it

And I
I was made to live
I was made to love
I was made to know You

Hope is coming for me
Hope is coming for me
Hope is coming for me
Hope, He's coming


Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the morning
I will sigh and with all creation groan
As I wait for hope to come for me


If there is nothing on this earth that can satisfy the desires of my heart, then I don't belong here...

Choices

Strangely... I thought i was faced with choices...
To realise that all I had to do was just to be myself... It's not so much of the choices I have to make in the first place...

Why have I become the person I'm not?
I knew i was in a mess, but I didn't realise it was this messy

Ok i need to undo this mess now... I'm gonna go to Jesus to seek help..

I need to say goodbye to the world for a while.


p/s: a good friend of mine told me today, "I don't think u're just walking around and not daring to launch and take off. U're sitting there, and don't even dare to get up and walk!"

OMG! so scary! he's being too honest... but it's good... honesty is good. That's what i need to hear now actually... haha!

10 things i discovered in 2007

10 things i discovered in 2007...

1. i'm actually quite emo

2. i'm not as strong as i thought i was

3. But i know i can find strength in God... and i found it

4. i actually don't really know much about myself

5. hence, by God revealing it to me, i'm got to know myself better

6. i actually don't know God very well

7. hence, by God revealing Himself to me, i got to know Him better

8. i belittled God... He showed me how great He was

9. what God revealed was only a small tiny fraction of His glory

10. hence, i know if He were to reveal His full glory, my weak heart won't be able to take it... i'll faint & die in joy... WOW that thumb really is the "to die is gain"

this and that, this or that

random thoughts:

have u ever wondered whether This or That is better?

and when u have to make a choice between This and That, u struggle with making that choice between the 2...

read a book on the train just now, i love travelling time!
it's the bestest time to have my quiet time with the Lord...

it doesn't take much effort to convince urself to believe what the world tells u, but it takes effort for us to purposely choose what is the right thought to think of.

so which do i choose?
i'd been choosing this... when i know at the back of my mind, the right track to take is that... that's where God is and that's where He wants to take me to... the path that's more difficult and requires more effort. out of convenience, i chose this.

it's difficult but i'll take the road less travelled... i choose that

10 things i wanna do in 2008

1. stop shopping (cut down i mean, oh & prob have a garage sale to sell my stuff =P)
2. stop taking cabs (take when bo bian)
3. stop eating expensive food (stop ordering excessively & think twice before i step into a restaurant)
4. Pass my driving?!??!?! IN JESUS' NAME!
5. finish reading the books i bought (all 12 of them, which means 1 a month)
6. read deeper into the Word
7. take 2 days leave & spend "God & Me" time at the beach
8. pick up Guitar AGAIN (the first song i wanna play: None But Jesus)
9. build, journey with & start cell within Hospi Team
10. see the final product of Eden Cafe

In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

and it shall be an amazing year...

i'm finally updating the blog... after 2 months!

it's been a dramatic Nov/Dec and i'm so glad i survived through 2007! Praise the Lord!
After all that drama, the December YISS and the 10,000 parties after, I'm done & all set to go into the new year!

it's been amazing, exciting, nerve-wrecking, a roller coaster ride, there were periods of disorientation, there was a regain of confidence, but above all that, i know God has been hiding me in His shadow... revealing Himself to me & revealing me to me in the process!

Though there were periods i have absolutely no idea what God was trying to do, but I trust He knows what He's doing! He's God!

I'm excited about 2008, since 2006...
I've been looking forward to 08 since a long time ago... and it's finally here!

I'm really excited to see the fruits that will bear this year, and i'm just gonna sit back and be a happy girl! happier than usual...

I love You, Jesus!!!

i love mac

i need to record this! haha! Defining Moment!!!

i've finally ended my long misery of having a laptop that cannot type the letters 'O', 'I' and 'L'! ok lah not only that but i spent a lot repairing components here and there the past 3 years! keyboard spoil lah, battery spoil lah, kena virus left right centre lah... wahh i think i've had enough! problems all over the place!

it got so frustrating that I really wanted to just end it all by getting myself a Macbook. I'd been thinking about it, like OK the next laptop I'm getting would probably be a Mac... i've heard too much raving reviews from Mac users that I got totally convinced! 

The breaking point happened a few days ago when I started to type on my old laptop and the number '4' starting coming out when i typed 'U', then 'P' became '-', 'M' became '2' and so on and so forth... it totally went bonkers! And the cover, which i just repaired like 3 months ago, started to give way again... WAHHHHHH! enough is enough! 

My Daddy: "aiyor just go and buy a new one lah! don't so pek chek already!"

Yes Lyn the Aunty got hers on Saturday and she was telling me there's this promotion going on! Wahhhh, Sunday evening I faster cheong down to EpiCentre to have a look! Quickly called Charles Lim and told him about the offer... He wanted to get a Macbook too! 

So anywayz, we both decided YES! Let's get one! First thing in the morning on Monday, I went down to buy it! OMG! Praise the good Lord! i love it! I finally understood what it means "once u use Mac, you won't wanna switch back to PC"! 

And on Tues night, I found out that Don got his macbook too! HAHA! Join the club! And he told me something really hilarious! He said MacNUS Society has this Tshirt that says...

Mac Users swear by their computers, PC Users swear AT their computers

Praise God for creating this! 

18th Youth in the Spirit Seminar

18th Youth in the Spirit Seminar

6-9 December 2007

Catholic Spirituality Centre

Be renewed in faith & transformed in Christ!

Embark on a journey with the Everlasting God and embrace His never-ending love!

Fuel Up Fridays

Amplify Fuel Up Fridays, 8pm

2-30 November 2007

Catholic Spirituality Centre

5 weeks prep to YISS 6-9 Dec 2007 

This week, 9 November

 

070707 @ Andrew's

omg! can u believe it? it's been 6 months since i came back from Syd and i'm only posting the photos now! OH MY TIAN!

u know what? i'm back dating this entry just cos i don't want it to be seperated from the rest of the other Sydney entries... I'm a DING DONG QUEEN!

This was the after conference party at TAJ's on 7 July 2007... 070707

kenny, flo and i were like the slaves to TAJ, we prepared all the party food while he ding dongs round the house lighting candles everywhere, aroma everywhere... his house smelt like a spa! he wants to burn down the house... dunno what he doing la...

all ready to go! we have 4 hrs to prepare everything!

we weren't as chirpy happy by the start of the party!
by that time, seow chun kiat, flo and i were tired like mad!

chop chilli chop chilli chop chop chop!

besides lighting candles, he cut the mushrooms! ok great contribution!

and he made me dress up as G.Y.M.!

ok we're all done and i think the guests are here!

tak glam mode by the start of the party!
we looked like we just fought a war in the kitchen

my aussie cousin was there too!

chun kiat took this with the white patch there...
i asked him to take again

by now, he is like cannot be bothered... his face black like dunno what!
from all the cooking...

i didn't dare to ask him do it again

"skews me" emma! what r u doing?

i notice syl loves to do this when she takes photos

bread & butter pudding lai liao...

yummy!

chun kiat makes yummy food! oh by the way, chun kiat means kenny

sing sing sing to the freedom we know...
heehore & ryan played and sang non stop! and i really mean non stop... the time they arrived till the end of the party!

they've not touched their guits for a week... and this is what happens!

but we had great music all night long...

The End!

Sunday after Conference 8 July

woooow... Bright cheery Sunday Morning... dragged ourselves outta bed so that we could all make it in time for mass at the church in the city... 

i received an sms first from Christine Gan that Louie Giglio was gonna speak at 1.15pm service at Hills City Church, then received another from Andrew Tan... gosh i was like WAHHH let's go! GO GO GO!

wasn't sure if we could make it in time though but nevertheless, we managed to catch the Hillsong Bus near Central station! yay!!! 

i wouldn't wanna miss it if Louie was giving a session!

I can't really remember what he spoke about though! hahaa.. but not to worry.. i bought the DVD! 

my fav speaker in action! 

Ok anywayz... met up with TAJ after service for lunch. please take a look at the photo lah! SEE LAH SEE!!!

i was like : WAH! TAJ! your new trench coat hor? Thelma! help take a photo of his trench coat leh! 

and she literally followed my instructions and didn't take his face! OMG?!?!??!

i think she brain freeze... too cold!

We went for lunch with TAJ & his friend, Joshua Park in this Hong Kong Cafe in the city, gosh! the portion was sooooooo huge... I barely ate half of it!

i remember it was raining the entire afternoon/ evening/ nite and all of us (the gals) were just shopping around the city, ohh that was the nite i went to Woolworths and bought 10000 packs of Pods! haha! omg!! happily grocery shopping away like an Aunty! And it was raining! i was amazed at how i survived through the rain, carrying the groceries. 

The ongster and I got too bored! we started snapping pictures away while the rest of the girls were buying stuff in this shop...

And yar! that nite, we were suppose to meet back at the apartment with Bern to do "The sharing that never happened"! haha! During the start of the Conference, we said we wanted to do like a short sharing about our experiences every nite! yar every nite, as if lor pls... haha! by the time we got back every nite, we're like OMG very tired! need to cheong somemore the next morning kind... 

So... "the sharing that never happened" was suppose to happen this very night...! 

We wanted to have coffee and yeah just something hot to drink while we do our sharing and i remember we didn't really wanna go back to the apartment, we wanted to find a coffee place somemore to just sit, chill and do the sharing! 

We were waiting for Bern to come meet us and while waiting, we went to the Mac Cafe near our apartment. We did half the sharing there and continued the other half back at the 

apartment! gosh amazing!  we each had an amazing testimony... be it placing visions in our lives, be it a stirring in our hearts, God is certainly taking us into an exciting season... Amen Amen!

Family Day 9 & 10 July

After conference week... wow!! it was like the "can sleep in week"... ok i'm really trying to remember what happened here.. i procrastinated for too long to update this! NO!!! actually it's because it's so hard for me to update my blog! that's why i didn't update it for a very long time...

my old laptop went BONKERS! first, some characters couldn't be typed, then it just went haywire! so i got really lazy and didn't wanna do anything with my laptop!

anywayz... yeah it was a super lazy day on the 9th July and we all got out of the apartment at like 1pm! we DING DONG-ed around the apartment all morning and everyone was just too lazy to get our butts out of the place! well the day was already very short! we didn't have much time to do things already... but just too tired after conference, that's why!

Anywayz, we went to Paddy's to shop for MORE Cotton On! considering the amount of stuff we got previously already.. we bought like SOMEMORE! biangz... unbelievable! by the time we finished lunch, it was already like 3pm? 2 more hours and the shops all start closing... 

we planned to go climb the Bluey Blue Mountains the next day, and we went to Circular Quay to get the day trip thingy! and later i decided that i would give it a miss since i've been up the mountains twice already! i think it's quite enough for me this lifetime! hahahaaaa...

and i decided to spend the day with my family while the rest were up in the mountains taking pictures with the 3 sisters! 

didn't have any other day to spend time with my family liao... so i decided to stayover and go out with my cousins the next day! OMG! SHOPPING! we went Westfield Miranda and i was like wahhh shopping the entire day and just spending time with the kids... ok not kids anymore but gosh i watch them grow up! 

Nathlene posing like a super model!!!

happily taking pictures all over after dinner.. ohh and i went to visit Uncle John & family too! both my uncles stay really near each other..

OMG! i saw this photo and i'm like WAHHHH!! i really watch these gals grow up! 

that's Tiffany and Marilyn (the rocker chic)

Tiff siao liao... what's with the scarf on the head? 

family outing to Miranda!!!

Nat's such a drama chic! 

i was trying to prove 2 of them looked really alike!

smile.....

she has never taken a photo with a straight face...

omg i love this shot!

see what i mean? Lyn is like super mischievous!

ask her to smile, don't wanna smile..

basically she does the opposite of whatever you say!

Lyn's a monkey!

pictures galore all over the place!

i love taking picturesssssssssss........

after i was done, went back to the city to meet the rest who came back from 3 Sisters visit.. suppose to meet them for dinner somewhere in the city but all of them were soooooo tired that they didn't wanna get out of the apartment lah! 

so anywayz, i grabbed some pizza and brought it back for them... was carrying this HUGE box in the cold... wahhh faster walk lor... cold like siao at nite... 

ok that's the end of my story! haha... like no conclusion but NVM!