Thankful for Everything

Three reasons God commanded us to give thanks in all things:

First, giving thanks in all things expresses faith-faith in the God who knows what He's doing; faith in the God who sovereignly rules in all that happens to us. Isn't that what He wants from us?

Second, He knew we wouldn't do it naturally. Giving thanks in all things means I am no longer walking as a mere man, grumbling and griping, but walking as a spiritual man (see 1 Cor. 2:14,15)-a man who sees God at work...even in the grains of sand that tend to fill my shoes.

Isn't that a little bit of what's wrong with twentieth-century Christianity? Don't we divorce God from the details of daily experience? Don't we ultimately dislike those things that we can't seem to control? Let's be honest, we'd rather gripe, complain and be miserable about circumstances than give thanks.

Finally, God wants to teach us how to deal with the irritating grains of sand so we can get on with climbing the mountains He has for us. All we see are the pebbles, and we think if we could just remove all those pebbles then we could get on with real life. But the pebbles are the real life that God brings us day by day. He wants to use those irritants to instruct us and to see us mature in Christ.

*Extracted from "Moments Together for Couples", a Crosswalk Devotional

Not Ashamed

I received an email with these instructions:

"If you believe that God is alive and well, send this to at least ten people and the person that sent it to you. This is so true. Sometimes it's the simplest things that God asks us to do that cause us, if we are obedient to what He's asking, to be able to hear His voice more clear than ever. Please listen, and obey ! It will bless you (and the world) - Philippians 4:3.

If you aren't ashamed to do this, please follow the directions. Jesus said, "If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father". Not ashamed.... pass this on."

I'm not ashamed but it doesn't mean I have to spam all my friends, especially if this is the 50th time I've received this email. So here's the story:

A young man had been to Wednesday Night Bible Study. The Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, 'Does God still speak to people?'

After service, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways.

It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, 'God...If you still speak t o people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey.'

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, 'God is that you?' He didn't get a reply and started on toward home.

But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk.

The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. 'Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.' It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.

As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, 'Turn Down that street.'

This is crazy he thought, and drove on past the intersection.

Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street.

At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh.

Half jokingly, he said out loud, 'Okay, God, I will.'

He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi- commercial area of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed.

Again, he sensed something, 'Go and give t he milk to the people in the house across the street.' The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat.

'Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.' Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk.

Finally, he opened the door, 'Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to b e obedient. I guess that will count for some thing, but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here.'

He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, 'Who is it? What do you want?' Then the door opened before the young man could get away.

The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. 'What is it?' The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, 'Here, I brought this to you.' The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway.

Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face.

The man began speaking and half crying, 'We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk.'

His wife in the kitchen yelled out, 'I ask him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?'

The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face.

He knew God still answers prayers.

I know it too.

Why I Converted

I'm not a computer geek, and I don't usually talk about operating systems and hardware. I am not exactly into the Mac vs PC debate either. I have a PC at work and a Mac at home.

Recently, however, I am compelled to make a list, to answer the question people often ask me : Why Mac?

1. it takes 1 minute or less to switch on my Mac. I rarely have to wait more than that for it to load its stuff. My PC still does its morning lagging exercise and its evening lagging exercise (I had to send a quick email this morning and I did it in 3 minutes total, including having to switch on and switch off my Mac);
2. everyone talks about how cool it is to own a Mac. How the pictures are sharper and sound is better. I can't argue with that;
3. people say Macs are too expensive. But I think it's about whether you are content to drive a Proton or a BMW. I think the people at Mac deserve it because they put so much thought into the making of a Mac and into developing it to be better. And, with that one price, you pay for speed, sleekness, efficiency, technology and practicability. I won't argue with anyone about this, because you have to own one to be convinced;
4. my Mac is mine and looks like mine, and no one who owns another Mac has a similar one. You can tell at once which Mac is yours because Macs are almost fully customizable;
5. I use my Mac for work and play. Contrary to wrong perceptions, there is no issue with compatibility.

In order not to sound like a geek (which I am not), I shall stop.

Note : this writer receives no payment for this post. However if Apple would like to pay her, she will not decline.

.... and yet another one

This Made Me Cry

Swiney Stuff

The month of June was full of surprises. Of course, there was the honeymoon. Suffice to say, it was great, not because of the place (I would have preferred Europe any time) but because it was wonderful travelling with him and being silly together.

I went back to the office on the 24th, and was told at 10am in the morning that I will need to fly to Manila in 2 hours time. For contract negotiations, apparently. For a contract I left alone for one week. Like a chicken losing its head, I rushed home, packed and went to the airport in 1 hour.

It was overwhelming because:

1) I did not know anything about Manila except that it is in the Philippines;
2) I did not have any foreign currency (my mind went - I think it's Pesos... gosh, how much is that in RM?);
3) I hated unplanned packing;
4) I wanted to be home after a week of traveling together;
5) I had no idea how much the contract has progressed in my absense;
6) I was told I am to convince the Iron Lady to accept our terms and conditions and that she may just eat me up.

I didn't have any choice, unfortunately. Except to pray profusely.

Manila is nice, because I don't have anything more to say about it. All I saw were offices and hotels. I went shopping for an hour, but that was it. The Edsa Shangri-la was nice, but I hardly had time to enjoy it.

Anyway, the point is, when I got back, I developed a cough, followed by mild fever a few days after that. Of course, that means I went to the Sungai Buloh Hospital to check it out. I will admit, the hospital looked impressive as we exited the highway. Unfortunately, that's the only good thing I have to say about it.

You would think that since Influenza is the pandemic at the moment, hospitals such as this would have clear signages and special units to direct people who may be having the it or who want to check it out. The only signages we saw were those asking you to wash your hands, wear a mask, telling you what the signs are, and which country is affected. It must have taken us 10 minutes (and I must have asked about 3 people) to find the place where they will check us for Influenza.

When we finally found it, it was a sad area on the tar road in front of the emergency entrance. They slapped a mask on my face and told me to wait. This was 7.15pm.

I must have waited for almost 40 minutes when some guy, fully masked, gloved and covered in plastic came walking out with a pen and pieces of paper. He asked me for some details of my traveling and then, I was to sign that piece of paper. After that, he took my temperature and told me to wait yet again.

Nothing happened for the next one hour or more, until I went up to one of them and asked them what I was waiting for. It was only then that they said to me, to go to the back of the building (some dingy room) where they would swab my throat for a sample. They told me that they would call me with test results in 2 days.

After being swabbed and interviewed, I was asked to wait for medication. I thought this was finally the end (it must have been 9.15pm by then). However, I was wrong.

We couldn't stand the waiting any longer, so at approximately 9.45pm, he went to the counter to threaten to leave if nothing is being done. Miraculously, the precious medication we were waiting for was given to us within 5 minutes. I left the hospital at 9.55pm. I daresay by the time I left, I already felt better and my fever may have decided to healed itself.

The very fact that this has to happen to anyone is in itself appalling. If I did have Influenza, I would have died, if not because the disease, because of the waiting. And, if I did not have Influenza, I may have contracted it after being left in that stupid place for so long. Or, I would have contracted something else from the patients going in and out of the emergency room.

So ask me now, is my country taking measures to curb the pandemic, or at least, trying its best to contain it? I would be too ashamed to answer.

By the way, I never got the call to tell me what the test results were. It has now been more than 7 days. If I had it, I would have passed it on to every single person I've spoken to, laughed with, in the same room with in the last 7 days. Thank God I am blessed with brains to know that since my fever and cough are now gone, I would be negative forInfluenza. I didn't need to wait 3 hours in a hospital for a stupid test (which may not have been done in the first place) to tell me that.

Demotivated

I'm at work but I do not care. Some not so motivating news came my way recently, and I do not understand how it all weights out. I understand where he was coming from, of course, and I'm not bitter or angry about it; maybe a tad bit disappointed. There was a lot of assurance in his voice and his words, although sometimes, I wonder if it is enough to keep our morale on the high.

I have noticed that I have become increasingly negative. I do not think I am a very negative person at all (or at least I'd like to believe that) but I have unconsciously been giving out negative vibes to people around me. That can't be good, for me nor for them.

Target for next week - think of what is good. After all, if I want to be obsessed with the Kingdom, I need to fill my mind with the right stuff.

30 minutes more to the weekend.....

It's This Weekend!! Gasp!!

Somehow, I'm more jittery than I was last year. Eventhough I'm not acting nor singing this time. Maybe it's the lack of time we had, but I'm so proud of the team for getting as far as they are now, even with the lack of time.

I love it. Even if you do eventually watch it and think it needs more work, I will still love it, because of how we managed to not kill each other despite all the stress we are in right now.

Love it.

Poor ol' student

I received a Google Map street photo of a friend's house in Luton this morning. I took one look and immediately wished I was in back in Nottingham, where long evening walks, wide selections of things and courteousness are possible.

Of course, to explore the new Google Map feature was next. What I found made me miss Nottingham dearly.

While I was at University, I did not own a digital camera nor a blog, and looking through these street pictures was like re-living it all.

This is a picture of the back of my flat, Albion House. The street is of course, Albion Street, in Beeston.

Almost right across Albion Street, is my all favourite hang out and stress relief place, Sainsbury. You can't really see it from the picture because it's blocked by the trees. My flatmates and I used to go to Sainsbury just before it closes to get cheap deals off pastries and cakes.

To go to University everyday, I opted for a 20mins walk to the West Gate rather than to take a bus which would cost one quid. I would pass the High Road which would look like this (as I remember it, vaguely).

The West Gate, the nearest entrance from Beeston to the University. Also the nearest entrance to the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences.

The Trent Building, where most of the activities are held by the Law Society, the Malaysian society and the Christian Fellowship. Also where Solid Rock met.

On weekends and whenever I felt like it, I would go to town. Nottingham is well known for its shopping escapades and late night shopping. It's main shopping centres are Broadmarsh and Victoria Centre (Google Maps only had the street photo of Victoria Centre's parking lot). Broadmarsh is the building on the right in the first picture below, and the entrance is negligible, but once you enter, it's like a whole different world.

For less expensive shopping and to cure hunger, there's also the Beeston Market which is approximately 3 minutes walk from my flat. I remember discovering that the market sells 3 branches of garlic for 50p (and yes, that's the cheapest - believe me I've done research.)

At the end of my lease at Albion House, I stayed on in this house, 44 Beeston Road, where many, many memories are made. It's the house 2nd from the right in this picture with the blue door. I promise, I was close to tears when I found this.

I now pronounce you...

Now that the vows have been said, the decorations have been put away, the place has been made cozy, it is the natural progression of things that the stories about married life start. This is when everyone asks the golden question "So how is married life?" It's an easy question to ask, but certainly not an easy one to answer.

I'd like to say, it's really not bad. Really. To those people who say that you'll get annoyed a lot, you'll fight a lot, or you'll get irritated because he squeezes the toothpaste the wrong way or leaves the toilet seat down, shame on you. That's hardly even a quarter of what married life is about.

There are a million things to say, but today, I'd like to talk about just one.

I've been observing people to see why their marriages work wonderfully and why they are happy or why they don't seem to be happy. It's amazing observing how people treat each other, how they show love, and how they respect each other.

I observed something very obvious about the couples I'd like to emulate - the women do not dictate/nag their men in public. All you see the wife do is respect him, in what he does, what he says, whether or not he looks stupid, whether or not he's offensive. She doesn't diss him in public, nor argue with him in front of others.

So does this mean wives have to agree with whatever their husband says?

Not so (thankfully!!). I learnt from him that, a good marriage is based on having the same foundation, or the word he uses, the same platform. Our platform is simply, that we are not married to each other to condemn, but to build up. So whatever we do, however we feel, it's based on this. So I've learnt that whilst the husband may be wrong or silly or offensive, telling him off in public is not going to build him up. Not only that, telling him off in public mirrors disrespect. Its like how you won't want your best friend to tell you that you have on an ugly dress in front of the guy she likes, for example.

However, telling him in love and in private does build him up. Make sense?

It makes a world of sense to me. But now comes the hard part - doing it. It's a long and difficult learning process (how can one resist telling one's spouse that he/she is really making fool of himself, so please stop it right now?)

However, I am very fortunate because God gave me this wonderful, patient and tolerable man. He understands that it's not easy for prideful lil' me. He stands by me as I struggle to hold my tongue and focus on the platform.

He's not perfect either, but he's mine.

I Appreciate You, too!

Your lil' appreciation messages throughout the day overwhelmed me into tears. My facebook page was filled with them - unfortunately, I was not able to log on till way after midnight.

To all of you who had texted me throughout the day - thank you!! This is me being too lazy to reply to all of you, but I appreciate you, I really do!!

Thank you, people. Thank you for filling me up with all your love and thoughts. I love you too.

Self Discovery

I have learnt 2 things about myself recently:

1. I get annoyed when people speak to me as if I didn't understand it the first time. I am not a child, therefore, I am able to tell you if I don't understand.
2. I also get annoyed when I've taken pains to make things clear and people still do not get it. I get even more annoyed when I have to repeat myself after all the effort I've put in the first time.

Why am I blogging about this? So that you will forgive me should I spread some of my annoyance unto you. [This usually happens at work anyway, so if you are not my colleague or a client, it probably doesn't apply to you.]

On a separate note, the engraving on my wedding ring reads "....131220 0 8". It's spaced wrongly and the last zero is slightly lower than the rest of the numbers.

I was annoyed with that initially (I paid you for this??!!??) but now, I think it's perfect because it reflects that it is the only ring that will ever exist like that, and that I'm not perfect, but he chose me anyway, imperfections, annoyance and all.

Hee.

The (somewhat) Big One....

It has been a trying day.

I'm learning to be content, and trying to strive for excellence.

I couldn't hold back the tears - because I know God has a purpose for this and somehow, it still feels horrible.

I wanna do this...

I need to be on my knees more, seek Him more, be content and thankful with what I have, and make myself happy doing the things I love.

Now, to put all these into practise.

*pictures taken from Wedding Paper Divas.

I Am Right Brained....

I really am. Acknowledging this has made my left brain rebel against me, or at least, that's what I think it's doing. So maybe I'm not cut out to have a high flying office job (although I've done it since forever) and maybe I'd rather colour than write language which can only be understood by the legal mind. I definitely am not cut out to crunch numbers (no way, Jose - have you ever wondered who Jose is and why everyone is rejecting him?).

God inspire me to do what I'm cut out to do, and help me find joy in whatever I'm doing, although it's a daily struggle.

The Aftermath

I was being put in charge of decorations for our wedding, so naturally, it is something very personal to me. I have not gotten the wedding pictures yet, so those will have to come later. Needless to say, I was more than happy at the way it turned out.

The question remains as to what we are going to do with the decorations that have not been conveniently taken home by our guests. It's tough because we do not have a place of our own yet, so we had to make do.

Remember these program holders?

They are now decoration on his office door........

What about these cans collected over one whole year?

They are either boxed up......

.......or used as these...............

........or these (seen here with the leftover paper butterflies which fell off from the rattan sticks - and that's me)....

What about the cleverly folded lillies?

We couldn't bear to throw them away or give them away, so we hoarded them and they became these....

And of course, my favourite item..... standing at the corner of our room. We put so much work into these....

It hurts to give any of it away, but we already did give some of them away, and the rest of it shall remain standing in the corner of our room, reminding me of how much time we spent together doing these with friends we love and who love us so much more, that they were willing to spend their Saturday doing these with us, although not all of them have dainty hands.

I LOVE Beautiful Things