True Blessedness

Pastor Prince preached a very good sermon last Sunday which I felt I had to share. He said there are two types of believers. Both are righteous by faith but one type of believer lives a victorious and blessed Christian life while the other lives a defeated Christian life. What makes the difference between the two?

Quoting the example of Abraham and Lot, whom God considered both as righteous, Pastor Prince went on to explain why Abraham is more blessed than Lot. Going by what his natural eyes could see, Lot chose the lustrous region of the Jordan plains (next to Sodom) to settle down while Abraham chose the barren plains in the land of Canaan.

Lot was a righteous man but he was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Peter 2:8). Abraham, on the other hand, dwelt in the mountains having constant fellowship and communion with the Lord. God blessed Abraham richly by giving him the land as far as he could see.

The practical application is that even though a believer is considered righteous by God, his state of blessedness is dependent on how he choose to live his life. As parents, we have to watch what comes into our homes; what our children are exposed to. We have to watch our 'eye' gates and 'ear' gates.

If we are constantly exposed to violence, lawlessness, pornography and bad news, our righteous souls would be vexed by such things. Hence the environment we live in is very important. Similarly, if we spend too much time with complainers, naysayers and negative people, the potential to fulfill our God-given destiny could be hampered. 

In order to enjoy the type of blessedness Abraham has with God, we need to stay in the high places, in constant fellowship with God. We are eagle Christians and we are made to dwell in the high places. An eagle is clumsy like any other birds on the ground but he doesn't spend too much time on the ground. The majority of his time is spent in the air, in the sky where he soars. That is where he truly belongs. He is the king of the air. Likewise, as children of the Most High God, we are made to soar above our circumstances and not to vex our righteous souls in the low places. That, my friend, is true blessedness.

Bragging about God's Goodness

Today I am bragging about how good God is. I just had an exit interview with my CEO yesterday. It was really full and complete restoration of my honour in this re-organisation.

I never knew how my CEO thought of me and I never bothered to ask. Yesterday, for the first time, I heard him say he actually valued me a lot and he also relied on me to charge forward with the capability development work in the early days of the re-org. I have heard what high standards my CEO had for his staff and how he was usually not very generous with his compliments.

Hence I really thank God that I have his respect and recognition! He even told me it was a pity that I chose to leave this place but in any case, he respected my decision and hoped I would find my peace in doing so. I told me I certainly have peace in leaving because I am leaving this place in joy and peace.

God is so good - it is actually enough for me to know that I am greatly valued by my Dy CEO and my supervisor but He went a step further to let me hear this directly from my CEO. What a great contrast to my experience 7 years ago when I left my previous organisation as I felt so condemned by my CEO. God had really turned around this situation and I can leave this place with my head lifted high! God did it all for me! All glory to God!

Our office moved!

Within a span of three weeks, I experienced two major moves in my life: my home and my office. You can imagine the amount of packing required...but anyway, thank God it is finally over and here I am at the new office site. It is not in the city and has quite rustic surroundings. I am not sure if I prefer this place but anyway it doesn't matter because I have only 8 days here.

But what I felt was interesting was the shift in the seasons - both in my own life and the life of this organisation. It was God's will for me that my next season is not here in this organisation and I am really happy to leave this place. Thank God that I have finished the race and completed this chapter of my working life well.

I remembered I wanted to leave so badly in end 2008 and early 2010. But I knew it was not the right timing to leave yet. So I asked God for strength to continue to sustain me while I pressed on in this place. Then suddenly in Sept 2010, the tide changed. Things happened very fast and here I am now, at the border of Kadesh Barnea (my promised land) in the next season.

Though there were persuasive attempts by my boss and my HR to work part-time and make me stay at least till Apr 2010 (for the bonus), I prayed about it and confirmed that God wanted me to move on now. I cannot explain why but in future, it will be made clear to me. Hence I continue to trust that God will restore to me the lost performance bonus and the maternity benefits. 

Yesterday when my hubby shared his promotion and the total bonus he would be getting, I was totally surprised. The bonus quantum was slightly more than the amount that my HR calculated to me that I would be giving up! It is so amazing! God proved to me that He has a thousand ways to repay what I have given up and I will in no way be shortchanged! Amen! Now I am really looking forward to the first day of my stay-home mum season!