I felt that I needed to blog about the passing of Whitney Houston because this news evoked much emotions in my heart. Firstly, I hold high regards for Whitney Houston as a singer because she really have a great voice. I still remember her songs 'I Will Always Love You' and 'Run to You' from the movie "The Bodyguard" and many other wonderful songs.
Secondly, I realised that her death was probably a result of her tumultous personal life and her addiction to drugs. Like Elvis Presley, it was again another glorious life cut short because of drugs. Then I found out that her mum was a gospel singer and Whitney Houston was destined for greatness, having born in a musical family and a voice that touches men's hearts. I not only thought of how God has gifted her with such a great voice, I also believed God has given her a great divine destiny. She was probably meant to sing for God just like her mum.
Anyway, I believed she hit rock bottom last year when she not only lost her gift (her great voice), she had to go for drug rehabitation. Yet God is so good. The last song she sang the day before she died was "Jesus Loves Me'. It was like God reminding her that no matter how far she wandered, how much she had fallen, Jesus still loves her and will always love her. The epic song that she sang (I Will Always Love You) was actually God's love song to her! Well, I am sure that Whitney Houston is now in the loving hands of Jesus in heaven right now. She will be always remembered as the queen of pop, soul, rock and classical here on earth.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
心中的花园 (Ideal Garden)
好久没给大家介绍好听的歌曲。最近我看了一部偶像剧‘美乐加油’。剧情描述一位女孩名叫美乐。她是一个非常讨人喜爱的女孩。因为她非常能干并且热心助人。从小父母离婚，美乐的妈妈就对她说，长大后一定要做个有用的人才会有人要。与是，美乐很努力地做个有用的人，但她总是为着别人而活，忘了为自己而活。美乐甚至连自己的喜好和梦想是什么也不知晓。后来她认识了一名男生叫以烈。他简直是美乐的相反，如果美乐是天使，以烈就是恶魔。他们从冤家变情侣。以烈教美乐如何去发觉自己想要的人生，为自己而活。美乐却教了以烈如何去爱，也用她的真诚与爱心容化了以烈冰冻的心。这首歌是以烈写给美乐的歌‘新中的花园’：
喜欢看你傻傻的表情
好像全世界都很平静
或许是老天爷特别地疼你
果然爱情悄悄地降陵
用心地体会 这种美好的滋味
有一天你会真的了解
*多么希望幸福在你身边
看你的爱情有个完美句点
再给我一点时间 要绘出一个画面
是你转身微笑的侧脸
多么希望祝福围绕你身边
像许多白鹤飞舞的蓝天
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7yunS7sZis&feature=related
当我听到这首歌，我感动地哭了。我感受到天父对我的爱，尤其是那句‘可能是老天爷特别的疼你’，因为我知道我的天父特别的疼我。也因为有了祂的爱，我觉得幸福在身边，我的爱情有个完美句点。祝福总是围绕我身边，我的世界像许多白鹤飞舞的蓝天。对莫些人而言，这简直不切实际，但耶和华总是让我追逐的世界 变得那么切确。我心中的花园就是当初亚当与夏娃的伊甸园，因为在那里，他们可以天天与耶和华彼此相通。这就是人间天堂。
喜欢看你傻傻的表情
好像全世界都很平静
果然爱情悄悄地降陵
这种快乐并不必怀疑
或许你只需要睁大眼睛用心地体会 这种美好的滋味
有一天你会真的了解
*多么希望幸福在你身边
看你的爱情有个完美句点
再给我一点时间 要绘出一个画面
是你转身微笑的侧脸
多么希望祝福围绕你身边
像许多白鹤飞舞的蓝天
让你追逐的世界 变得那么切确
慢慢画着心中的花园*
Repeat**慢慢画着心中的花园*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7yunS7sZis&feature=related
当我听到这首歌，我感动地哭了。我感受到天父对我的爱，尤其是那句‘可能是老天爷特别的疼你’，因为我知道我的天父特别的疼我。也因为有了祂的爱，我觉得幸福在身边，我的爱情有个完美句点。祝福总是围绕我身边，我的世界像许多白鹤飞舞的蓝天。对莫些人而言，这简直不切实际，但耶和华总是让我追逐的世界 变得那么切确。我心中的花园就是当初亚当与夏娃的伊甸园，因为在那里，他们可以天天与耶和华彼此相通。这就是人间天堂。
Monday, February 6, 2012
Called to be different!
In Oct 2008, God showed me His Word in Romans 12:2 'Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.' I did not fully understand what God meant but I knew that He was bringing me through a process of change. Around the same period, He also showed me Isaiah 54:2 'Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.' This verse greatly excited me because I knew God was enlarging my vision.
When we started attending New Creation Church in Nov 2008, the process of transformation began. Then we came to a point when we needed to make a decision for we heard God saying to us like He did to Abram in Genesis 12:1-2 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.' It was tough making that decision to leave our old church, our friends and all our growing-up memories. Yet it was the love of God that compelled us to move on to a new place where we practically knew no one and we had to start all over again. We did not even have a care group then.
But after 3 years in NCC, I must testify that God is so good to us. He never calls us to leave something without the intention of giving us something better. But we must make a decision to let go of our past for God is always doing something new. God gave us spirit-filled and like-minded brothers and sisters in our caregroup in NCC. He gave us a new family, people who really cared for us and whom we cared about. Not only that, we could feed on the teachings of Christ by our beloved Pastor every week. We loved the worship, the sermon and the leaders in the church.
I never knew that God was setting us apart by calling us into this church. In the process of renewing our minds, He also enlarged our visions. He taught us to dream big dreams and pray bold prayers. Slowly, we just began to separate from the crowd. I did not fully feel the effect of this change until recently. I thought it was because I stayed home for too long that I could not really connect with the outside world. I actually felt rather cut-off from my old friends & colleagues because my main connection was with God, then with Heng, then with my caregroup brethen.
But God opened my eyes to see that some friends are with us for a season. There is nothing bad or disloyal about moving on and leaving our past behind. As Pastor Joel explained, some friends are like 'scaffolding'. God put these friends for a period of our lives to minister to us but at some point we grow and move on. If we continue to hold on to these friendships, we might be held back from our divine destinies. So we have to learn to understand these changes in seasons in our life and move on.
I always pride myself as someone who could talk to anyone about almost anything. Yet recently I find that the topics I used to talk about no longer interest me as much. I felt energised only if I could share God's Word, the goodness of God, the love of Jesus or testimonies of God's glory. But not everyone could share in this excitement with me (thank God I still have a group of brothers and sisters I could relate to). Hence, slowly I found that I do not share many common topics with them and I cannot relate to them as much as before. The more we knew about the gospel of grace, the more distant we grew from our old friends and even our family members.
For a while I really felt sad because I loved my friends and I did not want to drift away from them. But when I saw that this was all part of God's good plan, I was at peace and relieved that I am not the oddball. God opened my eyes to see that I should rejoice because the transformation of my mind has yielded results. This is the right path in God's plan to increase our greatness. He has begun to separate us from the world in the area of our beliefs and thinking.
And in the process, we may feel lonely and think that we are in the minority. God showed me that with Him on my side, we are the majority. I did not realise that I was called to be different until now. And being different takes courage because the world wants people to conform, to be similar to them. Friends like you when you are similar to them but when you become different, they start to feel uncomfortable before you and think that you have changed.
I have a choice: to go back to where I was before or to keep moving forward with God as He takes me to scale greater heights. The choice is obvious. I will surely move forward on the path to greatness for He has called me and set me apart! All glory to Jesus!
When we started attending New Creation Church in Nov 2008, the process of transformation began. Then we came to a point when we needed to make a decision for we heard God saying to us like He did to Abram in Genesis 12:1-2 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.' It was tough making that decision to leave our old church, our friends and all our growing-up memories. Yet it was the love of God that compelled us to move on to a new place where we practically knew no one and we had to start all over again. We did not even have a care group then.
But after 3 years in NCC, I must testify that God is so good to us. He never calls us to leave something without the intention of giving us something better. But we must make a decision to let go of our past for God is always doing something new. God gave us spirit-filled and like-minded brothers and sisters in our caregroup in NCC. He gave us a new family, people who really cared for us and whom we cared about. Not only that, we could feed on the teachings of Christ by our beloved Pastor every week. We loved the worship, the sermon and the leaders in the church.
I never knew that God was setting us apart by calling us into this church. In the process of renewing our minds, He also enlarged our visions. He taught us to dream big dreams and pray bold prayers. Slowly, we just began to separate from the crowd. I did not fully feel the effect of this change until recently. I thought it was because I stayed home for too long that I could not really connect with the outside world. I actually felt rather cut-off from my old friends & colleagues because my main connection was with God, then with Heng, then with my caregroup brethen.
But God opened my eyes to see that some friends are with us for a season. There is nothing bad or disloyal about moving on and leaving our past behind. As Pastor Joel explained, some friends are like 'scaffolding'. God put these friends for a period of our lives to minister to us but at some point we grow and move on. If we continue to hold on to these friendships, we might be held back from our divine destinies. So we have to learn to understand these changes in seasons in our life and move on.
I always pride myself as someone who could talk to anyone about almost anything. Yet recently I find that the topics I used to talk about no longer interest me as much. I felt energised only if I could share God's Word, the goodness of God, the love of Jesus or testimonies of God's glory. But not everyone could share in this excitement with me (thank God I still have a group of brothers and sisters I could relate to). Hence, slowly I found that I do not share many common topics with them and I cannot relate to them as much as before. The more we knew about the gospel of grace, the more distant we grew from our old friends and even our family members.
For a while I really felt sad because I loved my friends and I did not want to drift away from them. But when I saw that this was all part of God's good plan, I was at peace and relieved that I am not the oddball. God opened my eyes to see that I should rejoice because the transformation of my mind has yielded results. This is the right path in God's plan to increase our greatness. He has begun to separate us from the world in the area of our beliefs and thinking.
And in the process, we may feel lonely and think that we are in the minority. God showed me that with Him on my side, we are the majority. I did not realise that I was called to be different until now. And being different takes courage because the world wants people to conform, to be similar to them. Friends like you when you are similar to them but when you become different, they start to feel uncomfortable before you and think that you have changed.
I have a choice: to go back to where I was before or to keep moving forward with God as He takes me to scale greater heights. The choice is obvious. I will surely move forward on the path to greatness for He has called me and set me apart! All glory to Jesus!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Secrets of looking young
Do you have friends who look very young for their age? Friends whose faces never seem to change even after one or two decades? Yet some people look much older for their age. Do you ever wonder what is the secret of their youth? Well, for me, it is not the magic water (SKII) or skincare products or Botox. The secret of looking young is this: God renews our youth like the eagles (Psalm 103:5)
In fact, if you read Genesis, you will find that God renewed Sarah's youth. Well, at age 90, she still looked beautiful enough for a heathen king like Abimelech to want her for his harem! If that is not youth renewed, what is it? Actually this is very interesting. If we trust in the Lord to preserve and renew our youth like Sarah, the Lord will do it for us! Just like my friend Mary, who knew this secret when she was very young and believed that the Lord will keep her from ageing. Well, after a few decades, this is the evidence of what she strongly believed in.
The first photo was taken when she was only 17 years old. The second photo was taken in her late 40s. Well, I think that she actually looked much gorgeous than she did when she was 17! Today she is a proud mother of two grown-up daughters. Amazing right? All glory to Jesus!
In fact, if you read Genesis, you will find that God renewed Sarah's youth. Well, at age 90, she still looked beautiful enough for a heathen king like Abimelech to want her for his harem! If that is not youth renewed, what is it? Actually this is very interesting. If we trust in the Lord to preserve and renew our youth like Sarah, the Lord will do it for us! Just like my friend Mary, who knew this secret when she was very young and believed that the Lord will keep her from ageing. Well, after a few decades, this is the evidence of what she strongly believed in.
The first photo was taken when she was only 17 years old. The second photo was taken in her late 40s. Well, I think that she actually looked much gorgeous than she did when she was 17! Today she is a proud mother of two grown-up daughters. Amazing right? All glory to Jesus!
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