The "big fish"

Read Jonah 1-2

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. Jonah prayed: "I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me.
From the depths of my watery grave I cried for help, and you heard my cry. . .
I will sacrifice to you with songs of thanksgiving.
I will keep my vow."

During my time of devotion, I came across the story of Jonah which has helped me so much to cope with the trials that I have to go through and still praying for a breakthrough and miracle to take place. I was at a time asking God why do I have to go through this difficult season? Blaming myself, blaming God, and blaming the people around me. Sounds dramatic? But seriously I felt like I've been pushed against the wall but I don't have the energy to fight back and it felt like I was at a dead end. I gave up and decided not to care anymore and slowly I stop going to church. Well, God has to send someone to knock on my spiritual door to wake me up to my senses! That person reminded me of how God, our Abba Father never fail to provide me with his protection through this difficult times. One word she said to me that really pierce right through my heart is, "God has never forgotten you!"

Back to the story of Jonah, God provided a giant fish as protection from a watery grave. Yes, that cold, stinky, wet fish was not a nice place at all. Fear would have crept in but Jonah knew something about God. He did the most important thing that most of us could not do in times of trials: he thanked God from inside the fish prison.

I've learnt that thanking God in the midst of sufferring can save us alot of pain. We must always remember that "nothing happens to you that God cannot and will not use for good."( Rom. 8:28). You'll be free to rest in a peace that goes beyond anything that you can imagine (Phil. 4:7). I began to learn to put my trust in God and to wake up every morning with a heart of thanksgiving because no storm can get to us unless God puts it there to rescue us from our choices.

Jonah was not set free from the belly until he learned something from it. I believe that sometimes when we felt like when we were trapped and want to get free, we have to learn what God wants you to learn. Ask yourself, "what lesson are you refusing to get?" "what work wont't you do?" Always go to God with prayer and praise then you will see things start to happen. If God can save a city like Nineveh, I believe that he can save all of us. Have faith and accept His rebuke and forgiveness and you shall see blessings unto you.

What are your New Year's resolutions?

Time really flies! The year has finally come to an end once again. I don't know about you but I'm already eager and excited to find out what God has installed for me in 2013. Well, people often asked me what are my New Year's resolutions for next year. Frankly, I never have the traditions of listing down resolutions.

However as I was watching a reality show, What Not to wear this morning, God revealed to me about forgiveness. To give you all a little bit of insights on the show, it is about this lady, Sharon who finds it hard to forgive her ex-husband for leaving her for another woman. I can see how much hatred has built into her and she's still clinging on to the wedding ring despite her divorce. It is such an eye opener to me on how unforgiveness could destroy a person's life. She suffers from low self esteem and decided to like a sloppy life by putting on baggy clothes and minimal grooming.

After watching this show, it brings me down the memory lane that I was used to be like that too! As a child, I was abused verbally by my peers and relatives just because I'm not thin, pretty or smart enough. My whole life, I was living in insecurity and also low in self esteem. I always tell myself that I'm not good enough and throughout my entire school life I tried to isolate myself from society for the fear of being hurt and would not dare to speak up or participate in any social activities in school for the fear of any negative judgement.

As I grew up, I would say that I was an approval addict. I constantly seeks approval from men and I put my hope on men. As a result, I put my security on clothes, shoes, and makeup! It makes me feel good when men complimented me but I realised that it didn't last for long. I'm not judging but I know that many girls suffer in this area, they tend to seek approval from society by splurging on fashion. Well, I admit that I've spent lots of money to make me feel good but..... (I bet you know the rest)

But you can always see the light at the end of the tunnel right? I thank God for bringing me a bunch of true friends who embraces and accepts me for who I am and they never once put any judgement on me! Of course I also came to know Jesus Christ that builds up my confidence and mend my brokenness from the inside out. He has also taught me to forgive and let the pasts be the past. Throughout my walk with our one

and only Lord and Saviour, I have learnt that nobody is perfect and I don't need to please anyone because I know that He will accept me and loves me as his favourite daughter no matters how thin or fat I can be.

So the question is.... Do you want to carry your baggages of unforgiveness and suffer from it throughout 2013? Or you want r surrender everything to Lord Jesus and welcome Him into your life? But for, accepting Jesus into my life is the best thing I've ever had in my life and by forgiving those who had hurt me is like throwing tons rocks off my shoulders. That's all for now... Blessed New Year everyone... Cheers!!

Why can't I be "perfect"?

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

(Hebrews 12:2)

Sometimes.... words are like blades that creates a deep scar in our hearts... Where shall we turn to for healing?

What do you do when others laugh at what you do, make fun of you, call you names, or hate you? Do you immediately look inside to screen through yourself if these mockers are right? People call screening through yourself and finding out who you are "self awareness". Many people spend days or maybe some of them spend years to really find out who they are and where they belong. I will not say that having a sense of "self awareness" as being sinful, however when a person is so constantly chasing after it, it sets that person's heart on the wrong thing. As we read through the news each day, we can see many cases of adoloscenes committing suicide because of all the nasty words that had been spoken to them by their friends. A famous star Demi Lovato was sent to rehab for her eating disorder and cutting because her friends called her "fat".

In life, when things go wrong and when people cut you down, you don't need to find yourself but to find Jesus. Looking inward will only drag you deeper into dead end and causes you more pain, but if you look up to our creator, the source of faith and hope, you'll find freedom (Hebrews 12:2). God created each and everyone of us with our own set of strengths and weaknesses so that we can depend on His strength daily to gain success. A pastor once said, our God is a creative God, He will not reproduce any of His creations. Well, look around us, can you find any being on earth that looks exactly like you? Therefore, why not each and everyone of us embrace our differences and appreciate how God has created us to be.

Sadly in our society today has set a certain expectations on how we should look like and a certain standards to define beauty. These standards had crushed some of our hopes and some of us felt so messed up and let me tell you, the only place to revive those hopes are to turn to Jesus and to depend totally on Him. Start your day by learning His thoughts, study His word and run to His throne. Then you will be free from your failure and self-preoccupation, and you will be free to love and forgive others the way Jesus loved because God is Love and His Love will never fail.

Facing hard times in your life?

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 

(1 Samuel 16:7)

I used to be a person when comes to facing trials in life or when things do not fall into places according to plan, I will feel like the world around me has shattered and I have come towards the end of the world. But the Lord has taught me something throughout these trials, to be stronger not only mentally but also stronger in our faith so that we are  prepared to face a stronger storm in future. 

I have learnt that some of the hardest times in our lives can be the best because they prove who we are today. It proves that whether we are a kind of person that will run to God or away from Him when the going gets tough. When we run to God, we will find the comfort we need and also discover who we are, the precious child of the living God.

A good example in the bible that explains the stress and strain of suffering making one person into a strong and powerful man of faith in 1 Samuel. The same can be true to all of us, a child of God will always look at things that come to him as an opportunity to get stronger. It takes alot of exercise of faith to make us stronger. We must always put in mind that the tests and trials we are going through today will shape us into who we are tomorrow. So do you want to be a victim or a victor of trials? You can take your time to think this through.

If don't want to fall into the victim of trials in life then don't run in fear the next time suffering comes knocking on your door but brace ourselves and face it and take its arrival as an opportunity to shape us with the help of our Abba Father. Always put in mind that He is always right there to hold our hands and to pull us up whenever we fall. His love for us is incomparable with the earthly love and it's impossible that He will put us into a test that we can't carry.

When you lose someone dear to your heart...

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."

Ruth 1:16

I still remember during my teen years I felt like my life looks like it's over when I found out that my dad has moved on. Every evening he'll be found in the living room when I'm back from school but now things had change. I felt like I've lose my closest friend and companion, my world seems to be empty and there is no one to pull me back up when my life is full of challenges and nobody is there to hold me when I'm feeling down. 

Things eventually gets better when I welcome Jesus into my life. He is the one that is always there to always pick me up when everything around me doesn't seem right and He is always the one with arms open ready to comfort me whenever I needed someone by my side. He helps me to let go off my past and pick up myself and move on. Of course, all these did not happen overnight! It takes a few years for me to understand the love of our Abba Father and to let go off my earthly dad. 

I always like the character of Ruth. When she has lost someone she loves the most, she just got up and get going and no matter how hard the journey is, she would not walk away nor give up. Instead of staying in her comfort zone with her family, she decided to leave Moab with Naomi having her full confidence in a God she barely knew and willingness to do whatever her mother-in-law asked her to do. Her faithfulness finally gave Ruth a brand new life. A life that is way better than her previous one.

From the life of Ruth, I've learnt that when all things doesn't seem right or when your dreams have been destroyed and it makes you felt like you are in a dead end; the only way is to focus our eyes on the God who will never let us down. Of course when we are at our worst situations, we may think that following God rather that our feelings seems impossible. We have to always remember how Ruth decided to follow God even though she is uncertain about what is going to happen next. 

We may not know what is going to happen when we put our faith in God but we will definitely know that something good is coming around like how Christ has transformed my life and sets me free from the bondage. 

Are you waiting for a sign from God?

Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised-look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said."

Judges 6:36-37

After reading this particular verse, it is like a wake up call from God. Have you ever been in a situation whereby you put God into a test. It might not be something as big as saving Israel but the little things that we did  but we are unaware of it. Okay, you might not get what I'm trying to say, let me put it this way, have any of you felt like you are standing at the crossroad when God asked you to do something but you are still waiting for proof or a sign?

Like Gideon, God comes to him several times and tells him what he wants him to do. But Gideon like many of us nowadays still asked from God a sign or reassurance that what God asked him to do is really what God wants him to do. Most of the time, the action of demanding for signs come out of fear and fear is something that is not of God. As a child of God, we should not have any question that following the word of God is the right direction for our lives.

We have to always reflect on our actions so that we will not do something that put God to some kind of test like making him perform a miracle sign in front of you to prove Himself to you. In fact, the only sign we all really need is the sign of his Word. Whatever that is stated in the his Word is true and doesn't need more proof. Therefore, if God is asking us as his children to do something through his word then we have to do it immediately. I really like this quote from Hayley Dimarco, "To demand some kind of a sign first cheapens the word of God."