Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Many Thanks to My Publisher!

I would like to thank the entire team at Creation House (my publisher) for their dedication and their professionalism. Creation House is a division of Charisma Media, a Christian multi-media company known for the last 30 years as Strang Communications. Creation House offers co-publishing as an alternative to traditional publishing. Co-publishing is used to describe a hybrid between self-publishing and conventional royalty publishing, utilizing the best of both worlds. 

It was God who led me to Creation House. I got to know about Charisma Media through my church and through the Charisma Magazine. I did not know anything about the publishing world and I did not manage to get much information from people around me. It was purely God's grace: God led me to the open doors. When I learnt about this co-publishing route from their website, I decided to send in my manuscript to give it a try. Their response was really fast...within a week they reverted to me with a co-publishing contract!

I was really happy when they offered me a contract because I knew they are a reputable publishing house in US with wide and extensive distribution. Not only that, the fee that I have to pay as an author is really affordable. I really thank God for this publishing house because every contact I had with the company, from the acquistion & contract team to the editorial team to the marketing team was amazingly pleasant. The staff at Creation House has a motto: to go the extra mile. Indeed they live up to what they claim. Not only were they friendly, helpful and professional, they went the extra mile to help me with the delivery of the books to Singapore, something that was out of their job scope!

And so, I strongly recommend Creation House for those who aspires to be an author like me. You can consider sending your manuscript to Creation House (http://www.creationhouse.com) for their review. It was a dream come through for me, made possible by Jesus through Creation House. In this, I am truly grateful.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Praise God! My first book is published

Two years ago, God put a desire in my heart to write a book. At that time I was still working in a full-time job. I cannot imagine how I could find the time to write a book. Philippians 2:13 says 'It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.' When God gives you an assignment, He will always put the desire in your heart first, then He will provide the grace for you to do His will. Indeed God was the One who put the desire in me and He alone brought it to pass.

He provided for me to be a stay-home mum last Feb and gave me His anointing to write this book. Without His anointing, I can never write a book because writing has always been my area of weakness. Not only that, God opened the door for me to find a publisher in USA so that my dream could become a reality. This was also amazing because I knew nothing about the world of publishing in Singapore, let alone in USA. It is truly the grace and favour of God for the entire process of writing this book, finding a publisher and getting my book published was effortless and blissful.

The title for my book is 'Beauty Out of Ashes' and it will be officially released on 7 August 2012. The core message of my book is about the pure goodness of God. It talks about how God brought beauty out of the trials and challenges that I went through. It is this gospel of grace that totally revolutionised my life. This gospel of grace is about how the finished work of Christ on the cross brought us complete forgiveness of sins and righteousness with God. The finished work also entitled us, children of the Most High God to all the blessings that Christ paid for us. Through my personal experiences and spiritual journey with the Lord, I hope that my readers will be able to see the power of Christ's finished work, the beauty of Jesus and the love of our Abba Father.

My book is also targeted at mothers. I have a passion to see young mothers (like myself) grow in their relationship with Christ and celebrate their lives as beautiful individuals with divine destinies. Mothers, God is not finished with us yet. His plan is for us to play a big role in the fulfilment of our children's destinies while He is still working on our own divine destinies. God is bringing you to greater heights than you have soared before. He still has a way to bring those latent dreams and desires in your heart to come to pass. I know because He did it for me. I can tell you boldly that our best lives has yet to come!

Last but not least, it is my sincere prayer that this book would be a great blessing to all who read it and that the name of Jesus Christ be lifted up high! All glory to God!


Saturday, July 21, 2012

Primary 1 Registration

I thank God that the whole process of Primary 1 (P1) registration is over and I am relieved. Actually in Singapore, this issue of P1 registration is a BIG issue for parents. The reason is that the learning environment in Singapore is rather competitive and most parents would want to enrol their children in a good school so that they could have a good start in their academic life. This is the only decision they could influence for their kids as the choice of secondary school would depend on how well their children perform for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).

Most parents have already started planning which school to enrol their child into at the age of 4, even though the kid only starts attending P1 when he/she is 7 years old. The reason is that if the parent wants to do volunteer work or join the alumni association at the desired school, they would have to do so one year before the P1 registration starts (when the kid is about 6 years old).

Well, to tell the truth, I am one of those super 'bo-chap' or relaxed parents. I wanted to enrol Joshua in a school nearer to my mum's place but when I called the school, I realised that there was no affliation to the school and I was too late for volunteer work. That would mean that the chances would be slim if I had to ballot for a place in the school. In any case, I was determined not do volunteer work because even that could not guarantee a place in the school and I really do not want to be in toilsome labor. I believe the process should be effortless and I should rest in the Lord.

Well, I thank God that He has already provided for Joshua's primary school education. Perhaps I was relaxed because I knew I could always fall back on my alma mater, which is a very good school that many parents would love to enrol their children into. The only reservation I had was that it was further away from our home and the school bus ride could be 45 min to 1 hour. I would much prefer a school that is closer so that Joshua would not be tired from the long travelling. I have a mission school in mind that is nearer to my home but there is no guarantee that Joshua would have a place because we have no affliation to the school.

I told God that my hubby has to agree with my choice of the mission school if we were to proceed but he was not comfortable. He said he preferred not to take the risk...if Joshua could not get into that mission school, then we would be in a frenzy to look for other primary schools. He preferred to enrol Joshua into my alma mater, which is a very good school and admission into the school is almost guaranteed. I prayed and asked God for a smooth, blessed and stress-free P1 registration because I know many parents are stressed over this process, especially when they had to go for balloting in their school of choice.

I thank God that the P1 registration is indeed smooth, blessed and effortless. Thank God that Joshua was given a place in my old school! I really cannot take this for granted because many parents would love to be in my position. Now the next step is to prepare Joshua for this new season in his life. It would be a transition for him but I trust that God will make it a smooth transition for him. I am sure that Joshua would love his school and love to study and learn. Through this process, I have learnt to trust God for Joshua's future. Oftentimes it is so easy to be caught up with the rat race but I have to remember that my role is not to educate him but really to bring him up in the ways of the Lord!  That would be the best legacy I can leave for him.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Effortless

Dear Beloved, have you encountered times when you received effortlessly the things you prayed for and times when you seemed to be waiting for a long while for the answered prayer and you got into all kinds of strife and toilsome labor? Well, I have. It is only natural that we become more and more restless as the time drags on and you wonder if God will answer that prayer...

Yet this is not the main point of my message. On the contrary, as I thought about the things that come about effortlessly in my life, I found out that there are similar characteristics about them:

1) Most of the times I was unaware of the process. These things were something new and unprecedented. I did not hear from others about how difficult it would be or the possible pitfalls. In other words, I did not hear the 'law' or the knowledge of good and evil. I only heard God's Word and how all things are possible with God. The purchase of our 2nd property, my writing ministry and my ministry in church were testaments to this. Even though I was in ministry in my old church, this was a different church and no one told me what was involved as a care leader before I took on this role. I just stepped out to obey God's calling first. (Actually had I known what was involved, I would surely hesitate to rise up)

2) Rest was something predominant in the process. I was not in toilsome labor most of the times. Even though the process was new and unfamiliar to me, I was not worried. I knew the Lord would navigate me through. Even though there were many things that could go wrong, the fact that I was not aware of these pitfalls helped a lot. I could not worry about what I did not know. In this case, ignorance is bliss. As I rested, I saw more of God's grace and favor flowing in my situation. The anointing of God came upon me and I found myself doing things effortlessly. His wisdom was there guiding me on what to do for things that I had never done before (like writing).

3) As I was so conscious of the hand of God in my situation, I cannot help thanking Him every step of the way. Thank God that I did nothing out of worry or fear, only when the Lord calls, then I respond. As a result, I committed all my ways to the Lord and He directed my paths. The entire process was mostly smooth and blissful. I did not have to bull-doze my way or try too hard. There was none of my self-effort as God did all the work for me and opened all the right doors. Not only that, I noticed that when God works, things happen very fast.

This is not to say that there was no resistance or attempts by the enemy to frustrate me. Of course when you are doing God's work, there will be resistance and persecution. But I just continued to look to the Lord for strength, trusting that He is fighting my battles. I know that in the end, victory belongs to me in Christ. As I rest in Him, He will not rest until He has successfully resolved the matter for me. All glory to Jesus!

Lying Symptoms

For the past few weeks, I have experienced flu-like symptoms like blocked nose, itchy and sore throat, cough, phlegm etc. Some days I would wake up feeling better but other days I would wake up feeling lousy because the symptoms came back. I did all I could - I prayed for healing anointing, I bound the spirit of infirmity, I prayed in tongues, I declared healing scriptures for my body...yet the symptoms kept recurring. I was really frustrated because it was usually not like this. In the past, after I prayed for the healing anointing, the symptoms would usually go away in a day or two. The symptoms would not linger on or recur like what I experienced recently.

I cried out to the Lord for relief...especially during days when I really felt sick. The Lord told me to just rest in Him. I have come to the end of myself and I surrendered my body to Jesus. I knew that Jesus is able and willing to heal me. And as I rested and cease from toilsome worry or strife, I found the symptoms lessening...and I would feel much better. I came to the point I told God I am living day by day by Your strength. I would praise God for healing me everyday, even days when I would wake up groggy. As I thanked the Lord and focused on His healing powers in the bible, I realised that my response to this challenge was changing. I was no longer focusing on the symptoms. I found that I could still continue with my daily life and that these symptoms were no longer affecting me.

Even though the symptoms were very real in my body, deep down within me I knew Jesus had healed me and these are lying symptoms. For the first time, I was scheduled to serve in the Prayer and Healing Room in church on 8 July, Sunday. Two days before that, I felt the lying symptoms came back with much ferocity. On Saturday I even felt feverish which was rare as I had seldom had fever. I was so tempted to call the church office I cannot serve on Sunday because I was feeling so sick. Yet something deep down told me to press on, to persist and see what would happen the next day. And so I pressed on despite the discomfort of the symptoms. I declared that nothing is going to stop me from serving on Sunday.

Well, true enough when I woke up on Sunday, the symptoms seemed to clear up significantly. I was well enough to serve in church. Pastor Prince's sermon that day really spoke to me. He started his message with this statement: 'Many of us are more healed than we think. What is in our bodies are actually lying symptoms. We don't realise that we are in a war. Our bodies are responding much better than we think.' Spot-on! That was what I experienced all this while! The enemy tried to keep me from serving by deceiving me into thinking that I am sick when I am already healed. By Jesus' stripes, I am healed.

Then towards the end of Pastor's sermon, he said this: how can we qualify to be the 'prayerer' or the one who prays for the sick? He replied that before we can qualify, we need to know that we are the righteousness of God by faith, not by performance. The devil will always taunt you with this thought: 'How can you pray for the sick when you have symptoms in your body? Don't be a hypocrite! Wait till you are healed, then come and pray for others!' That was exactly how I felt then as I was not completely free from the symptoms yet...how then can I pray for others in the Prayer and Healing Room?

Pastor shared that in Genesis 20:17-18, when Abraham prayed for the women in Abimelech's household to conceive, Abraham has not seen the manifestation of the promised child yet. How then can Abraham pray for others to conceive when he and Sarah are barren? Yet after he prayed for them, God opened the wombs of the ladies, they conceived and bore children. This showed that it was by faith, not by performance that God answered Abraham's prayers. Hence, to be a prayerer, you must not have it altogether. That is the only qualification.

In fact, what happened to Abraham immediately in Genesis 21:1 was that 'The Lord visited Sarah as He had said and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.' Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age. Pastor then said something very powerful - when you pray for others when you do not have it altogether, you set into motion your own miracle! After all, the anointing has to flow through you first to get to the other person when you pray for them.

And guess what? After the service, I went to the Prayer and Healing Room to serve. After my duty ended, I found out that those lying symptoms also miraculously disappeared. Jesus set me free from the cycle of recurring symptoms! Praise the Lord!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The Love of God

Ladies, have you asked your hubbies this question: What attracts you to me in the beginning? What makes you want to come after me or marry me? Well, I have and I liked to ask my hubby this question even though I have heard his answer many times. The truth is we want to be flattered. We want to relish the good old dating days when we felt so loved as our hubbies wooed us. Well, many couples after being married for years and especially after the kids come tend to neglect the love relationship between them.

But the love between husbands and wives is not my main point here. My main point is about the love of God. Yet the love between husbands and wives is a very good illustration of Christ's love for us. Ephesians 5:25 says 'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.' We are the church and Christ is our bridegroom.

Well, whenever I asked Heng this question, I would always get an answer that I was not satisfied with. I would expect him to say he was attracted to me because I was loveable, cute, kind, caring etc. Yet he would always say 'I love you because you are you, not because of your qualities or what you do.' I want to be loved because of my qualities or more so to stroke my ego, to be flattered.

But then I realised that God's love for us is like that. It is an unconditional love that is so persistent even when we are unloveable or feel worthless. The truth is God loved us not because of our qualities or what we do but simply because we are His children and we are made in His image. Christ loved us because we are His bride and He already gave His life for us at the cross. We are always beautiful and spotless in His eyes because God sees us through the blood of His Son. Jesus loves us not because we are beautiful. Yet because Jesus loves us, we become beautiful. We become of great worth because Christ died for us.

Such love makes one feel very secure. I would certainly rather be loved just as I am, not because of my qualities or what I do. In the latter case I would be insecure because there are many times when I feel unloveable or when I throw tantrums or when I fail. Yet during such times, when I still feel the love of God telling me 'You are still the apple of My eye. You are so special and precious to me. I still love you despite what you do', my heart melts and I run to God's loving arms. That is grace.

At the end of the day, I realised it was never about me. It was always about God's goodness and His love for us. We can never take the initiative to love God because it was God who reached out to us when we were yet sinners. Bible says 'We loved because He first loved us.' You know, when you love someone, you cannot take your eyes off that person. You will always be attentive to their needs even when they don't say it. You will notice their moods change even when they try to hide it. You will be happy to see them happy. You will feel sad when they are sad.

That's what Jesus is like. He loved us too much to take His eyes off us and even though we think He does not care that our boat is sinking, He is still working behind the scene to deliver us.  In Zechariah 2:8, it is written "Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.'" You may think that you are bullied by the enemy, attacked by your adversaries and God does not seem to care. But the truth is: God will not let the enemy go scot-free because he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. God will make the enemy pay for what damage he has done to you. Simply because we are His children and God will not allow His beloved to be bullied. Oh how blessed we are to be God's children!