Joshua's First Piano Recital

Today is Joshua's first recital. By God's grace, his teacher really favored him. She felt that Joshua was a bit shy so she wanted to give him the exposure through this recital. I am sure not every student of hers was chosen. Prior to the recital, he only had one lesson with her. Even though it was a simple piece 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', which he had practiced a few times at home, I was more concerned about him having stage fright. I even asked CG members to pray for him to be bold. Hs teacher was so nice, she said if he is scared, she will sit beside him.

Thank God that Joshua performed well...even though there was a wrong note, I felt that he has already been very bold. He told me that actually he didn't need his teacher to be standing beside him...think he saw that all the other children also played by themselves. I was surprised that he went out alone to receive the certificate. He initially wanted me to accompany him. Actually there were other kids more shy than him...one boy even turned his face away from the audience when he played! 

When Joshua was playing at the piano, I really felt so touched. Here is my boy playing the piano...how much he has grown...how he made me feel so proud of him even though it was a simple song. I had a glimpse of how my Heavenly Father felt about me too. He already loved me the way I am, without my works or performance...yet when He saw me developing to my God-given potential, He must be so proud of me. He must be also telling the angels 'Come look at my daughter...see how much she has grown...I am so proud of my girl!' 

Beloved, if only we could see what He sees in us and hear what He has to say to us, we would often not be so hard on ourselves. I know we have all felt the need to perform at times in our life. Others have placed expectations and demands on us. When we perform at the request of others without having a heart of sacrificial love and kindhearted intentions, resentment can easily form. This robs our rest in the Lord, making us feel the need to perform for Him also. It is not to be so. All service to others comes out of time with Him or it doesn’t bear the fruit of patience, mercy and love. Today The Lord gives us the grace as we come into the quiet place and abide within the very presence of a Holy God. 

Aussie Trip

Thank God we were able to go on a trip to Australia Gold Coast over the March holidays. I had wanted to bring Joshua to Gold Coast since last year but I felt it was too expensive to head to Australia. Recently we saw a promotional land package to Gold Coast and coupled with a lower-priced airfare from Scoot Airlines, we made the decision to go just the week before the holIdays started. 

We went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Movie World, Dreamworld and Skypoint. We stayed in Surfers' Paradise which is home to a beautiful beach. We loved the beach...Joshua had so much fun at the beach. The weather was very good, about 26 degrees in the day and about 21 degrees at night. It could get a bit chilly at night because of the breeze. But the cool weather in the theme parks made our experience very pleasant. The Australians are generally friendly and the best part is they are more leisurely rather than rushed. The pace of life there is slower and the people there are more pro-family. 

Joshua liked the rides in the theme parks. He was quite brave to try all the roller coasters. He said it was fun and not scary at all. I was surprised because when he was younger, he was even scared of the merry-go-round...can you imagine! Of all the holidays we had gone, Joshua found this one the best. He is also of this age that he can understand, appreciate and remembers the things he has seen and played. Maybe next time we would explore a farm stay...either in Perth or Taiwan or even Bangkok! 

Gold Coast Beach 

Key characteristics of open heaven

I just like to share some of the key words associated with open heavens:
1) Increased revelation from God, visions and dreams
2) Open communication (hear God clearly)
3) Increased angelic visitations and activity
4) Rejoicing and celebrating
5) Breakthroughs, victory over strongholds
6) Dreams come to pass, even unspoken desires
7) Power of God manifested
8) Things move faster, acceleration and momentum
9) Open doors (especially for those shut for a long time)
10) Lesser resistance, hand of God move freely on earth
11) Harvest time for seeds sown previously into the Kingdom of God
12) Flood of His blessings, favor and goodness
13) Financial prosperity, transfer of wealth
14) Increased time of prayer and worship, thanksgiving
15) Open wombs, barrenness no more
16) Dominion over evil spirits and diseases
17) Increased frequency of good news in your life
18) Holy Spirit moving freely in our midst
19) Speedy answers to prayers
20) Coming up to another level of His anointing
21) Spirit of faith and expectancy heightened
22) Signs, wonders and miracles happening

It is now happening!

I remember a story told of an astronaut on the moon. He was a carnal believer who did not pray much, let alone could hear the voice of God. But on one expedition to the moon, he realized that the Lunar Rover was not working. No engineer was around to repair the vehicle so he had to do it. The problem was this vehicle is a highly complicated machine and he would not be able to know how to repair it. Out of desperation he prayed to God for help to repair the Lunar Rover. Amazingly he was able to hear God's voice clearly and step by step, The Lord led him to successfully repair the vehicle and he was able to complete his mission. When he came back to earth, the people were amazed at how he could repair the Lunar Rover. To this, he explained that The Lord spoke to him and guided him to do so. 

From this story, we learnt that the principalities and dark forces covering the atmosphere of this earth which we cannot see are very real. That is why many believers claimed that they cannot hear God's voice or don't know that God is speaking to them. The truth is He speaks all the time and He longs to communicate to us. That was how the astronaut on the moon was able to hear God's voice clearly because there is no resistance in that atmospheric realm. But I believe a time has come when The Lord is creating an open heavens scenario. An open heaven is when there is least spiritual resistance and the Spirit of God moves freely in the affairs of the world. It is a time when prayers get answered speedily and The Lord pours out His blessings on us like a flood (Deut. 28:12-13).

I get excited when there is open heavens for I have witnessed certain periods of my life when there is open heavens. It is amazing. The things which were in inertia for a long while all started to move and there is a momentum. All the breakthroughs happened suddenly and good things come out in the natural. I kept receiving good news after good news. When there is open heavens, all your dreams come to pass and you find that you hear the Lord more clearly than ever. You will have an increased revelation of His word and dreams and visions come to you. You also start to see open doors to areas you have been praying for: be it career, children, doors to service, salvation of loved ones etc. Supernatural occurrences, signs and wonders become a commonplace under open heavens. 

You would be so amazed and overwhelmed by the marvelous things happening in your life to be fearful or depressed. You will witness the power and glory of God in your life. Sometimes He answered your secret desires even when you did not ask Him for it. You just wish for something to happen and it did. You will be so excited, so expectant of good things happening and you will be constantly giving praise and thanks to The Lord. Your frequent mood will be that of joy and calm delight. You will be led forth by the Holy Spirit to do things you never even imagined because under an open heaven, the Holy Spirit is outpoured. We will also experience increased financial blessing for the sake of the gospel when a transfer of wealth occurs from the sinners to the righteous. It is also a time of harvest when we reap the fruits of the seeds previously sown into the kingdom of God. 

Beloved, it is happening, it is happening, it is happening right now even as we speak. And this open heavens scenario is not just happening in Singapore but all over the world. Get ready, get ready to witness the glory of God and the power of God! Be prepared for a great harvest of souls this year! All glory to Jesus!

Blessed 12th Wedding Anniversary!

We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on 3 Mar 2013 with a 2D1N hotel stay at Hard Rock Hotel, Singapore. I have been wanting to stay at one of the hotels in Resorts World Sentosa except that I felt the room rates were a bit expensive. Thank God that Heng managed to book Hard Rock Hotel at a 50% discount during promotion! It was a desire fulfilled for me! We checked into the hotel on Saturday and the first thing we did was...we went for swimming, Joshua's favourite sport!

The hotel has a very nice swimming pool that is filled with sand...the feeling is almost like swimming in a beach. It was rather hot and sunny when we went to the swimming pool but the moment we stepped into it, God sent a big cloud to cover the sun so that the weather became cooling. As I floated and relaxed myself in the pool, I thanked God for the good life He has given us to enjoy. As time went on, the skies started to get darker and we knew it would be raining soon. But God held the rain for us so that Joshua had enough time to swim. Then it started pouring and we headed back to the hotel room to clean up. We had an early dinner at Sentosa then took the monorail to Vivocity for shopping. When we came back to the hotel, we had supper and caught a late night movie in the hotel.

Thank God for 12 great years of marriage! It really did not feel like 12 years to us. Heng said it felt like only yesterday that we got married! I really thank God for this blessed marriage which would not be possible if not for Jesus, who held our family together! I thank God for my romantic hubby who never fails to plan something special to celebrate these occasions like wedding anniversary and birthdays. And while we are celebrating and enjoying our lives, God is working behind the scenes to bring on more blessings to our family, of which one great blessing is new addition to the family! Praise Jesus for we bring forth fruit while enjoying our love and our marriage!