The Lord is good and faithful

In retrospect, the Lord has been preparing me for His work since more than ten years ago. I started to become 'mobile' and independent when I was in my early twenties. First I was out for apartment training with the Navigators for one year. Next it was moving around from place to place every two to three years. And it was 'upgraded' to moving around in last than a year. It was "haiz! moving again, I hate moving!"

And now it is, 'oh... I am moving!' The thought of the hassle has become less intense and more easy going. Last year April I moved from Cambodia to Singapore(Hougang), and in Aug I moved from Hougang to Pasir Ris for three months and moved back to Hougang in November. Just this year, I moved from Hougang in May to Punggol. And in Oct, I moved from Punggol to New Delhi for two nights and then to Mussoorie for three months. After the three months, I'll be moving back to New Delhi. Hmm... looking at all these experiences I know there is this bigger purpose. I know the different people who helped me along the way with the movings and I thank God for them and I appreciate them a lot. And I got to meet and stay with many different people and learn to accept the different styles of living and be adaptable to different people, environment and the amenities in the area and make the most of life. God is good. I see His footprints in all of these. And the most recent ones that are so heartwarming.

I had been visiting public libraries to access internet ever since I moved to Punggol. That has not been a big issue to me because my working hours allowed me to be in the library at non-peak hours. However, it became a slight issue when I had to have attachment to my email. I then had a friend whom I could go to and I accessed internet in her house. There came a time where I felt bad having to go to her house and 'invade' her privacy. Morever the time to go to New Delhi became nearer and I had to access internet much more often. I then asked the Lord for a mobile broadband. I had no idea how He was going to provide but He did!!!

Out of the blue a friend called up to offer me to use her mobile broadband till I leave for New Delhi! I was exhilarated! For one I could have ease of use of internet at home at any time and for another the Lord answered my prayer in such an amazing way!

Another heartwarming event was that the Lord was so detailed that He cared about my concern in bringing cash in stacks! The church admin lady who passed me cash told me that when she was at the bank counter asking for big notes, the lady at the counter told her that there was no big notes that day! She was a little panicky because she was also concerned about the stacks of cash I had to bring with me if all the notes were in $50 notes. Then unexpectedly the person behind her came with the big notes to do a deposit! The lady at the counter then issued those big notes to my church admin lady! Wow! What a blessing!

I went in the bank about twenty minutes later and was in a queue. A customer at a counter about five people ahead of me asked from the counter lady for big notes for she was going to withdraw a big amount. The lady at the counter told the customer that there was no big notes that day, the biggest note that day was $50. Being about five people behind her made me want to leave the bank and head to another bank for big notes. However, something stopped me and caused me to want to pray about it. I prayed and asked the Lord to somehow and somewhere let me have big notes because it will be very cumbersome to have to bring small notes as I already have other currency notes to bring. And when it was my turn to ask for a cheque encashment, I specifically asked the lady (in a counter different from the customer about five people in front of me) for big notes and yes! she had both the big notes I asked for!!!

PRAISE THE LORD! He planned to such a detail for my good and ease of mind and ease of etc etc! Thank you Lord! ; )

Stretching Your Potential

My friend is someone who is very particular about the toilet. Whenever she goes on a tour, she makes sure that she gets a hotel room with at least 3star standard and no matter how bugetted she wants her travelling to be, she makes sure there is an attached toilet in her room, even if it is just for a night.

I was very happy and thankful when she agreed to come with me to India for a week. The toilet in the train is indescribable….. I mean the stench. With some form of tolerance that I have built up over the years in ‘rough’ travelling, I too could not take the stench of the toilet. For several times I almost vomited. I was apprehensive for my friend and thinking of what ‘responsibility’ was I to take to help her…….?

Thank God my friend’s first trip to the toilet was ok, somehow there wasn’t much smell, thank God she could take it. It was in the morning that she wanted to go to the toilet again but she did not wake me up, and to my pleasant surprise, she went on her own and she did fine! I was really impressed by how much her potential can be stretched.

Besides the toilet, the train was delayed for five hours! We were stranded in the train station, with not much food left because we were expecting to sleep in the night during the train ride and wake up the next morning to go back home. In addition, the train station was barely a train station with only a shop that sells some dry food and drinks; and we had to stay in an indoor non-airconditioned waiting room and this is the summer time!

Yet we survived! We spent 24 hours travelling. I am amazed my friend did not complain much.

“….. with my God I can scale a wall” (Ps 18:29b)

How much are you willing to let God stretch your potential? ; )

Jesus Loves Me This I Know

Jesus Loves me this I know
For the bible tells me so
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak but He is strong

Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
The bible tells me so

Jesus Loves me when I am good
When I do the things I should
Jesus loves me when I am bad
But it makes Him very sad

Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
The bible tells me so

I love Jesus, does He know?
Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say
That I love Him everyday

Yes, I love Jesus
Yes, I love Jesus
Yes, I love Jesus
My life will tell Him so.

Continue Pursuit of Him Twenty and Nine

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" Philippians 3:14

Press on is the key word in life, especially in the pursuit of God. Not because He is difficult to pursue, but because He is worthy of pursuing all my life. Then, what is this 'goal'? Not the goal to run after success as the world sees it, or sometimes people around you see it and nudge you to go after it. Not after things that do not last for eternity.

The goal is to grow in the knowledge of God, growing in the knowledge of God leads to amazement of Who He is which spirals up in intense love for Him and resulting in imbued desire for Him. And essentially with successive cycles, His desire becomes my desire.

Press on toward the goal! Press on toward the goal! Press on toward the goal!

Jesus is .....

I did not have to go to you
I did not have to eat your food
I did not have to wear your clothes
I did not have to speak like you
I did not have to go to you
You came to me
You ate my food
You wore my clothes
You spoke like me
You came to me
You came from the highest place
You came from heaven
You came down to me
You did not have to
You did
You showed your love to me
At your expense
Love



You knew the depths of my heart yet you love me the same
You are ....
No word is enough to describe YOU.

Experiencing Him

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” Psalm 27:4

This is a familiar verse to many and it came to life to me last week when I was at a 5-day silent retreat at Upper Bukit Timah Road. It was a deep and unspeakable joy to experience the Lord’s presence and to be brought to mind some of the things that happened in Cambodia that the Lord wanted me to pay attention to. One such was a statement that came on strongly to me, ‘You have deliberately disobeyed me.’ I did not understand why it was so strikingly loud to me when we watched ‘The Lion King’ the first night at the retreat. I brushed it aside but it came back to me the next night. The Lord brought me back to a scene where I was with my ex-boss in Cambodia with some other people and we were having an informal meeting of some sort in a dream. I was thinking deeply about it and the statement, ‘You have deliberately disobeyed me’ continued to ring in my ears.

It came to light that while applying for a building permit in Cambodia, some complications came up and I was struggling with the go-abouts of handling the hiccups. I put into consideration not to violate God’s commands in regards to handling these hiccups. However, as the process went on, I remembered the thought of, ‘I don’t care anymore, just settle it the Khmer way and I want to get it over and done with!’. At that moment I was plagued with various issues more important to handle than the hiccups of the building permit. It was that moment I believed had offended God. It was completely out of my mind for a long time and it was immaterial to me. However, it was brought to my mind that it meant a lot to God the way things were handled. Some things which I may consider as trivial and harmless could be things that matter a lot to my good God.

The Lord was speaking to me in various ways with some help from my spiritual director. I felt so close to my Lord and there was this deep overflowing joy that came from within me.

Missing Cambodia…….

I miss the cordial countenance of the Khmers. I miss the children’s noise, their warmness, friendliness and generous smiles. I long to talk to them, to hold and to touch.

The intensity of longing for them was beyond my expectation and it surprised me. A few sudden urges arose to go back and continue to work there so that I could be in contact with them. I know it was silliness and absurdity but it also astonished me for having such thoughts.

On an occasion gazing at a fruitful mango tree along Hougang triggered the thoughts of ‘how could the mangoes still be on the trees!!!’ It is such a waste and such a plentiful for survival of at least a few days for a few poor Khmer families! The fruits could have been taken to sell in the market in exchange for rice and/or meat.

Or, the mangoes would be all gone in minutes if my boys were here! How could the fruits still be hanging there to rot….

I could not resist the urge to ask a passerby who the mangoes belong to. The answer was “the government lo”, I said, “Yea, I know itz the government, the government, who, HDB? Social Affairs, or Town Council….which body?” The passerby said, “I don’t know. Anyway, these mangoes are not tasty, the other type the what what what… are the delicious ones.” Again, another cultural difference: Singaporeans go for tasty mangoes, Khmers are happy with edible mangoes. I miss the innocence and simplicity of the Khmers. And also the ‘anything goes attitude and mentality’, especially on the road!

I long for the children’s ever ready and generous smiles and I miss watching the children’s camaraderie.