Him in our daily lives

God's Face
How do we see God's face through the midst of our daily lives? Ain't it so hard?I guess this question kept going through my little head throughout the course of this week.For me this week has been another journey of self discovery and a journey together in faith with the people around me.

Sometime this week I had a nice sharing time with a dear friend of mine, and I was posed this challenge to see God's wonders during the course of my week. I remember clearly the other day, I took the point to try to look out for His wonders and how He use us as His little intrustment to reach out to the people. I remember noticing this lady, ( she's a clark and what she is required to do is admin stuff. ) going around during our break time, talking to very random people. At first my classmates were saying this to me, " julie, that lady's weird eh?" and I couldn't agree more.
But soon I realised as I stood at my little corner at the canteen, munching on my bread (breakfast), watching her go from table to table, I noticed that she went to those tables where there was only one poor student eating alone as though she was a social outcast. She sat with them, and spoke to them, and I thought she was helping them feel that they are worth something even if the schoolmates thought they weren't. At first I really went to think why she was doing it and what her purpose was, I just thought that she was amazing cause she's doing something that her job does not even require her to do!

Until yesterday, when I was seating at the canteen table and there was this other classmate who was a real social outcast seating across me. And wonderfully this lady came! And she sat down talking to my classmate and in her hand was a book of PNW songs! She began telling my classmate that we must pray in times like these, when we are all alone, and there is no one around us who could understand us and that she believe strongly that God is truly present in our lives. The next thing I know she was teaching the song, Days Of Elijah to my classmate! I was stunned that I was left speechless, call it crazy or what, but she went out of her way to take time off from the office to come out and talk to the students, or rather those social outcast, to tell them ( or at least so far I know one) that God is truly present in our lives and that we need to pray in times when we feel lonely, or when we feel that the world has turn its back on us. I remember seating there, watching her infront me singing, I said this to myself "there you are God, working through her, amazing! PTL! (:"

He was present there and then at the table where I sat, through that lady, trying to reach out to the outcast and telling each and everyone of us, that we're never alone, cause like I said previously every step we take, He takes WITH us. And somehow or rather, I'm reminded of the song, crash and burn. Instead of the song dedicating to a friend, how about Jesus dedicating it to you!

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

Imagine Him telling you that, " Let me be the one you call" when you are in need of help, when no one can understand you. He wants to be part of our lives, He wants to mend our broken heart and He reminds us that we're never alone! That He will be there walking the steps that we walk, and never to forsake us.

This week has been a beautiful week. Everyday was a fresh start of His love and mercy! And everyday was a learning step for me, I saw the importance of sharing like FINALLY! (: Sharing has helped me see that I'm not alone in this world going through my own struggles, that there are others like me and that God puts us together to encourage each other in our little struggles and that by sharing we may find our answers to wriggling our way out of them. ( thank you dear friend! it has been wonderful being able to share with you! a blessing indeed. and thank you to the woman circle! )

I would like to end my post with a song that one of my classmate was singing non-stop the other day. A song from her children church and I thought it was pretty cute but with profound meaning.
Dear God, You know I want to be
A princess on a pony, Tarzan on a tree
Dear God, You know I want to have
Chunky shoes and funky toys
Dear God, You know I want to be
The top of my class and be a great big star
Dear God but most of all,
I want to be with you

Great Big Daddy God, I wanna sit on your shoulder
See the whole wide world
Sing and whistle down the road
Dancing in your footsteps
Sing all the way home !

HIS PERFECT LOVE CAST OUT ALL FEARS
- julie

Fr. J's homily today was an 'A-ha! God is precise!' moment. (Today's reading: Matthew 8:23-27) What was today's reading about?

The calming of the storm at sea.

[23] He got into a boat and his disciples followed him. [24] Suddenly, a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. [25] They came and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" [26] He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. [27] The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?"

As you can see, my two lovely fellow rocks have so succinctly and precisely blogged about weathering the storms in our lives this past week. And when I heard Fr. J's homily today about God being there with us in the storms of our lives - only we don't have enough faith to realise and trust in His ability to calm the monster-sized waves and solve insurmountable problems we think we have - my ears nearly popped out.

And there and then, I said, Yes God, I hear you loud and clear now. I believe that you will and can solve my problems for me - I just have to surrender everything up to you.

I had problems understanding what fully surrendering truly meant. In my head, I knew what that meant. But I realise now that while I thought I understood, I couldn't actually do it, couldn't actually fully leave everything up to God and quit trying to do it my way.

I learnt this through a very painful sharing I had with a friend sometime last week. I was trying to accomplish something by trying to forget - which entailed ignoring the problem at hand and pretending everything away. While talking, I realised that what I was trying to do was so obviously not working. And it hit me when the friend pointed that out to me, even though it was so painfully obvious previously already. I was like a hamster running on its wheel; running furiously as the wheel spins, trying to get out of its cage, but not actually going anywhere.




I think I always knew at the back of my mind that my attempts at forgetting were actually sadly futile, it was just that I wanted to be in control of the situation and if I wanted to maintain the illusion that I was in control, I'd have to be actively doing something. It only became so starkly obvious that I was being silly and rather pathetic that night; and it was such a painful realisation.

Human beings are really quite obstinate. And a little silly sometimes. (Or maybe it's just me! Ha.) Because even after the wonderful realisation that I'd been wasting my time the last 2 years or so dawned on me (or more like fell on me like a ton of bricks - the impact.. I tell you.. terrible.), I didn't want to let go of what I'd been doing! I felt so lost at the prospect of not doing anything and instead, leaving it all for God to sort out for me that, foolish as this may sound, I didn't want God to heal me. Cos that's what my action of not letting go essentially was.

And once again, my all-time favourite Bible verse comes to mind. 1 Corinthians 10:13:
God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.

I always found this promise extremely comforting, but I think I never really believed in it even though I could have professed to do so. But now, I am utterly convinced in the truth that this promise holds. We humans have a tendency to mess things up and complicate matters unnecessarily. The trial, the storm in my life right now isn't as tangled up as I'd imagined. It's not as messy as I always thought. Why? Because the answer is so heartbreakingly simple that I'm surprised I didn't see it before. It took that same someone to tell me twice and another friend to tell me that what I need to do now is just to focus on running to Jesus. When Jesus is placed in the centre of all things, all the little troubles or 'complications' as we like to see them just fades into the background.

I went for Mass at IHM today, that's what some people know. But what people are not likely to know is that I had a lot of trouble deciding whether or not to go for Mass. Then when I asked myself why I so badly didn't want to go, I realised that I was just trying - futilely, I might add - to do the whole forgetting by staying far away thing. And when I'd realised that, my feet took me to the platform in the direction of Marina Bay and that was that. While on the train, it came upon me that I was being so so so silly about this whole thing. If I really want to spend 45 minutes with my Lord, I shouldn't let little things like that side-track me from that. Of course, I was toying with the idea of going to Novena or SVDP for evening Mass because that would allow me to spend that time with God as well as allow me to stay in my relative illusion of safety away from all that.

But that's all that would be - an illusion! Because that's basically running away from the problem at hand! I know, some would say I think too much. I agree. The danger isn't really in overthinking. It only becomes dangerous when you think too much and never get to a resolution.

Oh my, how I've digressed. There's still so much that I wanna say but I think I should stop for now so I can organise my thoughts for another post. If not everything's gonna come out jumbled up and quite senseless. I know I'm perfectly capable of rambling far off the path, only to find myself lost in the woods somewhere.

I found this on my best friend's blog while reading blogs earlier in the evening - and it was another 'A-ha! God is precise!' moment. Cos I've been thinking of this prayer the last few days or so. Trying to recall it because I remember seeing it somewhere before and I really wanted to cling on to the words because of the turmoil lately.

Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.

I also pray that God grants me the patience and humility to understand that we will never know what will happen in the future - and that's the truth and not just a cliche.



*kelly.

Free Will (CONTINUED)

hey all! Julie's previous entry was marvellous! Amen! Which is why I am so inspired to do a follow-up entry!!!

Firstly, I will like to remind everyone that a life of christ is definitely a life of struggle. As we follow Christ, we are bound to meet into trials and obstacles! If there are no trials and obstacles, then that will be the time when we really reflect, "are we really leading the life that God wants us to have?" Even now as i am typing this entry, I myself am facing my own obstacles and problems.

I totally agree with Julie that 'storms' in life are GOD's ways of teaching us lessons in life! Why do we keep seeing the 'storm' and not think about what's after the 'storm'? For me, I always tell myself that after every 'storm', there is always the green pastures. And there I will see The LORD, stretching out HIS open arms and receiving me. It is as if he is trying to say, "Good job, my son, come take a rest in my arms." So do not face your trials with grief and sadness, instead brace it with courage and happiness because there is always the presence of CHRIST in every trials.

As proverbs 15:14 states, "The mind of HIM who has understanding, seeks knowledge, inquires after and craves it, but the mouths of (self-confident) fools feed on folly. Thus, we can see that if we get GOD's understanding, we can ask HIM for the knowledge to overcome EVERY problem and trial we face. We must also give our heartaches and troubles to GOD and keep a cheerful attitude no matter what is going on in our lives. We must remember, "this too, SHALL PASS" as GOD is eternal and has a GOOD PLAN for our future. - taken from bible.com

And also, it is normal for us to fall when we carry our crosses. Remember, when Jesus was carrying his own cross, he too fell. But he chose to carry on. Thus, it is the same for us, when we fall, we have to carry on no matter what. I know that it will be very exhausting, but always remember what isaiah 40:31 says, " But those who trust in the LORD for help will have their strength renewed. They will rise on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not grow weak." Thus, by that verse, we know now that in our journey, we have to PRAY and PRAY and PRAY and constantly renew our faith so as to carry on!!!

Thus, my dear bros and sis, no problem is too great for GOD to handle. AMEN!! When we fall into trials, do not feel grief or overburdened because always remember that GOD is there for us, as long as we choose to seek HIM, what can possbily trouble us? I know that it is hard, but we have to keep trying and trying ya? I am also trying my best to face my problems with a cheerful attitude at this moment of trying to overcome my problems and obstacles. So, face your trials with a SMILE and a Cheerful attitude. For it is then when we are strengthened and will be able to overcome our problem with a brand new heart!!!

I leave you with the lyrics of the song, "All Things Are Possible". I hope that this song will once again affirm the fact that nothing is too great for GOD to handle.

"Almighty God my redeemer, my hiding place, my safe refuge.
No other name like Jesus, no power can stand against you.
My feet are planted on this Rock and I will not be shaken.
My hope it comes from you alone, my lord and my salvation.
Your praise is always on my lips, your word is living in my heart and I will praise you with a new song, my soul will bless you Lord.
When I am weak, you make me in you, and I will praise you with a new song, my soul will bless you Lord.
When I am weak, you make me strong.
When I am poor, I know I am rich.
For in the power of your name, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!"


your brother in CHRIST,
-Jerry Alexander-

FREE WILL

Isn't it so amazing that God decided to give men free will? The freedom to choose what we want in life, and the path that we want to take? And this reminds me of obedience that when He gave us free will, we could choose to obey what He wants of us, or choose our own way! But for those who decides to obey His will, thats obedience!

Ever heard the saying " our choices could either make us or break us " ? Ever since the last I posted, it has and still is a journey of self- discovery. And I've learnt most importantly to make the BEST out of every situation that He puts me in! And that there is no one situation in life that He'll entrust to us without providing us the strength to overcome. There is no one situation that He would give to us that is demanding!

Throughout the week, it seems to me, that many around me are tired, drained and exhausted from their own crosses that they have to carry and it was through these people that made me realised that in the crossroads of our lives, during the time when we are carrying our little crosses, and the burden seems too heavy for us to continue, its as though we are in a little sampan sailing through the storm in the vast ocean!

This analogy came to me last night and it occured to me that in the history of mankind, there was no such incident of a storm that lasted forever! Even the most destructive ones, like the tsunami or the hurricane katherina ended. So will our own 'storms' end if we keep praying, perservering, and being patient knowing that soon, the sun will shine behind those fluffy clouds and the rainbow would appear!

On a more personal note, 'storms' in life are just one way that God teaches us life learning lessons. These lessons don't break us UNLESS we allow them to! It boils down to our choice of allowing them to affect us negatively or positively. Each and every 'storm' that we have is a passing shower. They are going to make us who we are next time round, they will make us strong mentally and emotionally, they'll shape us into the person who we would never imagine ourselves to be! But thats the beauty of problems stacking and stacking, being able to see the goodness out of a bad situation really helps to lighten things up and sets your expectations higher that the storm is going to end!

And remember the footprints in the sand story that we are NEVER WALKING ALONE in this! That He is truly present in our lives, holding our hands and carrying us on His back, supporting us and filling us with His love. Providing us the sufficient strength that we need to pull through the obstacle.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." JOHN 1:3

- julie