Psalm 3:5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; (I hope you remember verse 6 haha)
1 Corinthians 3:5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
Galatians 3:5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
1 John 3:5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.1.. More.. Month.. to ORD LOHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
I started watching Francis Chan's sermons on YouTube and I really love them, because of Francis' love and reverence for God. His love and reverence is so passionate that you can see it just by looking at him. As I watched, it helped me to awake much more to all that God has given me, to how truly powerful and holy he is, to how much Jesus loves me, to my identity and access to talk to him and receive from Him that I so often don't see. I encourage you to watch a sharing by Francis Chan too as it'll impact your life and relationship with God :)
Things haven't been smooth sailing recently. In my family, my mother has overwhelming responsibilities and work, especially with regards to her businesses. Finances is an issue too. However, God showed his fingerprints of grace to her even in this trying stage. Such as the opening of opportunities to host booths at SAFRA, my father helping my mum more actively in her business even in his busyness, and most recently to connecting her to the Business & Artist LG & Pastor Claudia in Hope.
In my LG, there are many who are facing trials and we rarely get to meet altogether, to spur and encourage one another. My sheep are facing trials too. One who faces many work, study and ministry commitments at the same time; and is even falsely accused/framed to have broke the law. Another who is a sergeant in guards (always xiong) and it isn't encouraging when others around chao keng; and is also having an overseas exercise now. And another who was finally more free on weekends, but just happened to be activated for mobilization, and during mobilization was punished with 6 extras for removing the cardboard out of a tissue roll (seems quite ridiculous). However, even in these trying times, I believe that God's grace can still touch each of our lives, and bring us to more than our current circumstances and whatever the Devil throws at us.
As for me, I was informally punished about 1.5 months ago. I got 5 Saturday extras, as well as some other informal punishments along with 2 other section mates; like that of wearing Helmet and SBO, banned from entering my office, 1st parades, daily stand by stores, and booking out at a later time.
It wasn't nice to suddenly be unable to go for service, and to lose privileges I once I enjoyed and took for granted in camp. However, I did not grumble as I know that I did break the rules. I'm also reminded of how sin leads to destruction, a moment of compromise can have dire consequences; not just in my intimacy with God, but even earthly pain and cost.
In a week or 2 after the punishment started, I gradually developed worsening Vertigo. It came to a point where, I will feel extremely light-headed through the day even when I'm not doing anything. It even makes me walk like a drunkard (almost falling and walking slowly), affects my cognition process, my speech, as I felt the spinning sensation in my head. This condition was due to my underdeveloped right ear canal, that affects my body balance. My brain is usually able to adapt and displace the balance loss, such that it does not make me feel very giddy all the time. However, when I started staying under the sun more, to do more manual labor, and not go indoors for the prolonged period during punishment, my brain temporarily loss it's capability to displace the balance loss. Thus I started experiencing serious vertigo, and had to take MC, rest and eat several strong medications. I thank God that I'm almost back to my usual condition now.
In spite of this medical condition of mine, I received supernatural healing for my knee during a prayer meet a while back. I had been having shin and knee pains on both legs during that period, it may perhaps have been due to the swimming sessions I had then. Before prayer meet, when I just booked out. My right knee suddenly felt loose, less attached and also painful. As I walked more, I started to limp because of the pain. During the prayer meet, I prayed continuously for my knee to be healed. And when people came up to share their healing testimonies, all of them shared about the healing on their knees. I was puzzled that they received knee healing when I didn't. I continued to pray persistently for my knee, but God reminded me of Jacob. Jacob wrestled with God and wouldn't let Him go until he blessed him, even when it resulted in a broken hip. So, I decided not to focus on the knee, but spend the rest of the time to draw closer to God in prayer and worship, and be more sensitive to His heart and the Holy Spirit. When prayer meet ended, I stood up and moved my knee. The pain and looseness was completely gone, and it never came back. I thank God for healing me as I focused on him, who is the true provider and Father, instead of my knee. Even though I have an underdeveloped ear canal, I'll continue to believe that God's grace is sufficient for me and that he will heal me in time to come :)
Due to my medical condition, my extras changed from 24 hours Saturday confinement to 8 to 5.30 confinements on both Saturdays and Sundays. This meant that I have to work 24/7 a week, and that can be draining even though I can rest in God daily. As I'm not an early sleeper, I tend not to get enough rest and accumulate sleep debt through the whole period. But I'm thankful that I can now join for dinner fellowship, and perhaps even some of service now that I get to book out in the evening :)
Also, during this period of punishment. I got to bond closer with 2 section mates who were punished along with me. One of them was new in my section and we do not get along initially. But as we work together in this period, we became more appreciative of each other. I also got to share more about Christ to my other section mate, by telling him about how God had touched my life from when I was young, till I knew him and now. (Albeit a summarized, incoherent and awkward sharing) During one of the extras, I even shared with him Kari Jobe - "Forever" Monologue by Isaac Wimberley, as that poem gave me goosebumps about the goodness and greatness of God. My section mate isn't a Christian and doesn't know much, but I just shared it with him, awkwardly :P May God continue to soften his heart and lead him to come and receive His unfailing love. I also prayed for him and shared with him more about the gospel when we were initially punished, sharing about God's graciousness and how he wants to love each of us. During the whole punishment period, complications happened that made his circumstance worsen. But by God's grace, just recently, his punishment is reduced from 12 extras to 7 extras. He
does not mind to come to visit Hope for service some time, but he still
hasn't finished serving his extras and he has commitments like studies,
business and relationship. May God continue to soften his heart and lead him to come and receive His unfailing love in this season towards Christmas!
I want to thank God for how he has been moving in my extended family. We communicate to each other more, meet up and care more, share more about God's love more, and even more amazingly, some of them came to know God or are being drawn closer to know God. I did not do much myself, but God still watched over my extended family. One of my cousin Crystal came to know God and found love and more completeness in Jesus. Another of my cousin Amanda, may not know Jesus personally yet, but she has friends like Valerie Ruth in Hope, and others who are connecting her and sharing more about God's love to her :) My Grandma is old but has not yet make time to know God more and come to Church. However, through a recent conversation with my mum, she wants to come and to start have a closer relationship with Jesus :) Praise God!
During the punishment period, I also started to connect more with Shaun, to play some Warcraft and L4D together. Shaun also started watching anime, some which are intro-ed by me. We had many LOLs together and really enjoyed sharing about the anime we watch and other good ones. The time with him, was also one that gave me rest and fun, along with my time with God, making the punishment period less draining :) Shaun also started to read the Christian book he got for birthday, and is now even ordering other Christian books to know God more. He even shared about God to his camp mate and may connect him to Hope soon. Though Shaun hasn't experience much of the Holy Spirit and God's love personally, I'm sure that God will speak to him and draw him closer in this season.
I also got to connect with my Cat High and childhood friends more in the recent weeks. Robby also joined to play a little Warcraft with me and Shaun. And just last weekend, we celebrated Robby's and Eugene's birthdays together. Escape Hunt at Concorde Hotel was a blast! It was our first Escape Room but we cleared it together :) Though they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, I pray that God will continue to move in their lives, and through this friendship. There's a Cage NS MLG on the 22nd, and Eugene is coming. I pray that he'll have a great time of fellowship and fun, and that he may also come for service and experience God's love personally :)
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