Making A Difference

My Perfect Future Husband or Wife

As weird as it may sound, the above is the title for Question 3 of Section B (Continuous Writing) for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination. As he writes what he feels, I think it is worth giving it a thought as well. What would my perfect future husband be like? Tall, dark and handsome? Or kind-hearted, respectful and God-fearing? The latter suits me better, haha.

Perfect? Nobody is perfect, haha. My “perfect” future husband would be someone who is humble, respectful, God-fearing and humorous. Once he is “perfect” in these few areas, he already is elsewhere. Perfect does not mean flawless. The Bible says that man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. A heart that desires to do the will of God, a heart that beats according to God’s own heart.

My perfect future husband would be one who understands me and accepts me for who I am. He is someone who will encourage the best out of me. Not only will he love and understand me, he will be able to respect my family as well, and love them like he loves his own. Leadership not excluded. He has to be able to take the lead so that when the children come, they will know that respecting him as the father figure is important.

In short, my perfect future husband will be one who is God-centered. Where God and ministry is concerned, he should be able to encourage my walk with God.

BLESSED ASSURANCE…

 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine

Blessed assurance (view lyrics and chords) is knowing that no matter what storms we are facing and going through, the Source of all sources will be there to hold our hands and walk with us through the storms. It is the assurance that we are in good hands through out each seasons.

O what a foretaste of glory divine

Looking back at where, when and why this picture was taken always makes me smile, yet knowing that the best assurance I can always have is that Jesus is in greater control of things beyond our imagination. And yes, I truly mean BEYOND, as far as this picture is concerned!! Truly, it is a foretaste of glory divine. This was one of the few pictures taken out of boredom and restlessness while in a seminar during one of Beautiful Gate Staff Retreat in March this year. The story behind it proved the blessed assurance that He showed me. (The same retreat this year forced me to sacrifice the Glenn Packiam Worship Conference – see November 14, 15 & 16. You can say that I am depressed beyond words, haha.)

For I know that history is history, and His story will forever be His story.

NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!

D*mn it!! What have I heard? Gossips?? How then do you dare call yourselves graduates of the Peer Counselor program from JICA? Memalukan JICA, memalukan Kenji!! Who the h*ll are you to judge me? Thank God that he trusts me. I know what I am doing, but my fury is upon the fact that the gossip came from the backbone of the centre!! What h*ll of a business do you have poking into my private life? I don’t live your life, and you don’t live mine!! So you don’t have the right!!

Aren’t Christians supposed to practice what they preach? It’s a shame to have Bible Study on one day and Gossip Session on another. It’s excusable when it comes from the non believers, but it’s unforgivable when it comes from the backbone of the centre, all the more when these backbones are Christians. What the h*ll is wrong with you? Don’t try and stretch me to my max, I know that when I am stretched, I am altogether a werewolf!! It’s none of your business who I date, none of your business who I break off with, none of your d*mn business who my potential boyfriend is after the former break up!!

If you dare gossip behind my back, then why the chicken in you don’t dare confront me to find the truth? Ask me la!! Sh*t you!! If you think sharing (gossiping) is caring, if you think that judging is for the good and for the improvement of the person being judged, then I can safely and fearlessly say that you don’t know your Bible well enough. God bless you!! I know the next judgment I will face is regarding my foul mouth. But please, as a Christian organization, look at the big, fat log in your own eyes before picking out the stick in my eye.

I vow henceforth, to build a wall, so don’t you dare tell him that I am the wrong choice of partner (again, who are you to judge?) for him. I am what I am because of you, my fellow “believer” in Christ. I choose to be what I chose to be because of the offense you made. Thank you very much.

Celebrating 10 years!!!

Yesterday marked our first decade. Celebrating 10 years of friendship with someone who has been one of my best buddies since ages ago. Someone whom I can count on to pull me up when I am down, cheer me up when I am emo-ing, hear me out when I just feel like crapping. [p/s: that is my year 2006 birthday cake... but still it is a cake, right? hehe]

How did you manage to be such good friends with someone from the opposite gender? Younger than you pulak tu? You want to know how? Transparency is the answer. There is no hindrance to us chatting about anything. Waiting for our makan session tomorrow, hehe.

Sai lo, thanks for everything!! Blessed 10^th year!! I pray that you will always be blessed inside out with His richest blessings. May your wishes & dreams come true in His perfect timing. Don’t forget to spill any and all good news to me, wahaha xP See you tomorrow.

Edited: wah, this is so out of the plan i.e. getting him to tag along after the greenlight from Wei, hehe… Wei’s verdict: ok, not bad, mr nice guy…

Disappointments…

If it has been my passion, why is it dying? If it has been what I aspired to do as a ministry, why is it fading? Am I disappointed with situations or life itself? No denying my failures in my job. I am no parent, therefore no experience. I am no certified teacher, therefore no hands-on.

“Spare the rod, spoil the child” What, then, is expected of me? A teacher? A mother? All in one? Don’t expect to throw your child to the teacher, and let her do all the disciplining when all the parent does is spoil him by not spanking him when a mistake is done. Time is the factor. Have you got enough time for the kiddos in your hands? If I am in the liberty, all I want to do is spank them hard! All I want to do is whack them out of their skins to make them realize how irritating it has been.

Disappointments stay with the fact that expectations are piling, and responsibilities are mounting. Yet achievements are out of discussion. To top that up with a troubling medical condition, I am hoping I won’t go into a fit, haha.

Stage Two…

17^th October this year and that of last year has a similarity but yet are different in many ways. He followed me home with the intention of sharing his dad’s testimony in cell, but it sure was a blessing in disguise, as he get to have dinner with my family, hehe.

Meeting the parents may have been on this same date, but the outcome is a total heaven and earth difference. I didnt foresee it coming so soon since Stage One was just a month ago. But I guess God has His plans. With my medical condition, I too, am somehow hoping things would speed up. The similarity is different after all. I pray for the destination. Lord, please be there. Positive as it may be, I still ask Your blessings. AMEN!!

Cell Leaders’ Intern Training…

My first response was to send an sms to Affryll CLIT was great fun, superb, wonderful, yet a humbling eye opener… Thanks for sending me, haha… Although it may be too much to record, the 2 keypoints I gathered from this training is to be OUTWARD LOOKING (as a cell) and to have a SERVANT’S HEART (as an individual and as a leader).

I really do not know what to expect in ths training, but I agreed to gor it right away when Affryll asked me if I was willing. I may have told Connor that I was not ready, perhaps will only agree to it next year. But since I made a promise to Connor, it is not right to disappoint him. All the more when the need arises. I promise to try my best! Therefore, the adventure begins, haha.

It was a great preparation of the heart when I had the opportunity to listen to Rev. Edmund Chan’s sermon on tape in the car on the way there. The whole message was on SERVANTHOOD, distinguishing it from LEADERSHIP. True enough, Pastor Seng Fei reiterated that to be a leader, we have to first learn to be a servant. How true can that be. Learning how to effectively carry out the 4W’s was also a good exposure, and reason why it is not appropriate to strike off the “welcome” session. I now have a few new ideas for “welcome” when I am duty.

Hands-on experience on how to prepare communion. A skit session on how to deal with situations that may arise in the cell. One taking the role of a cell leader, naother the role of a cell intern and the remaining 2 as cell members who create problems, and both the leaders were supposed to handle the whole “cell” situation. Hands-on experience on how to do ministry, body-catching during altar call. All in all, it was great fun, minus the tests of water shortage due to a burst pipe nearby. No water was bad enough, He added an electricity cut to the test, haha. Pastor SF decided to settle the problem by getting us to drive back to Dream Centre (DC) for the rest of the session.

My cell members prayed for me the day before regarding 2 issues. Openness of the heart to the training, and a touch from God in terms of my medical condition. What a confirmation!! On the first day itself when the lesson was on worship, Andy was called upon to lead a mock worship session like that in the usual cell meetings. I don’t think it was any coincidence when he sang the song Through It All by Hillsongs. I am carried in everlasting arms, and through it all, He’ll never let me go.

Another part of the practice was to pair up and release words to our activity partners. It has to be the Lord, because how would a new found friend know anything about me going through “rough times”?? The word released for me was that “the Lord will be with me despite the rough seas I am crossing.”

A day or a hundred?

One day is better than a hundred

Yet a day is hard to get by

That one day is what I have dreaded

Yet respecting the principles you stood by.

Respecting you is one thing I pledged

Your family never excluded from the batch

For if the Lord wills my future

Here with, you and I will begin an adventure.

The assurance you gave speaks a thousand

The comfort you offered means a million

The temporary gap of separation

Is, above all, a test of my faith and submission.

A day or a hundred?

Either one, I dread

A month or a year

Both of which I fear.

But fate will lead us back

When it is meant to be

And love will hold us true

When it is ours to see.

Should it happen otherwise

To God I surrender, it sure is nice

Wishing my blessings upon you

For the journey He will pave you through.

A day or a hundred

In the Lord’s purpose you rest

Although distance is what I dreaded

Obedience deserves to be blessed.

Our paths have met

Because of fate

We will stand the storms

Because of faith.

And in Christ we know

We will meet again.

Written by Elaine Teo

Inspired by Love

Dated 14 October 2008

Protected: 我尊重你。。

THE JOURNEY THROUGH LOVE

It’s a wild, wild road of romance

On the journey of good or bad times, it depends

Either the willingness to work towards

Or the folding of arms and sitting backwards.

The journey better than the destination

True, yet not completely accurate

It’s time for humble confession through conviction

That it is only for You, my Lord, I am desperate.

People stare, people snare

But my experiences, what do they share?

Friends talk when they hear, good friends gossip when they assume

All the more when they know nothing, it makes me fume.

Honour and respect is part of life

Ephesians 6:2 clearly commands    

Whether you are a husband or a wife

It is only wise to satisfy that demand.

Love hurts when you have to let go

But you have to when God says so

When obedience is better than sacrifice

You sure wouldn’t want to pay a high price.

The road of obedience satisfies

When the face of the Father curves an upward line

The decision of love exemplifies

The overwhelming blessings I could ever find.

The blessings double over

The tears never hover

The finest treasure, the purest gem

Is when I found, in you, the love more than a friend.

Written by Elaine Teo

Inspired by Love

Dated 8 & 9 October 2008