count thy blessings

and so, another week comes to an end.

how have You blessed me?
let me count the ways...

*family with whom to celebrate life (and birthdays!) with. You have proven Your kindness and tender mercies through kin who are faithful, committed and gentle. You have given me a secure home, and abundantly provide for my well-being.

*cg with whom to celebrate life too! and most certainly, God's patient work in and through our lives. You have led us through the awkward silent moments, and been with us (probably laughed too!) in our silly noisy moments. You continually pursue us to pursue You with wholehearted devotion, and make it possible for us to finish this race winners as You teach us to believe Your promises and power.

*a youth ministry that's made up of a hundred different personalities and quirks - youths who, despite their age, never fail to amaze me with their eagerness to grow and their commitment to Christ. You, Lord, have grown this precious ministry, and You give us the privilege of sharing in one another's joys and struggles unto Christlikeness.

*a new lalala cg, made up of the loveliest, funniest, silliest and craziest people who, despite their age, never fail to amaze me with their childlike instincts...!! dinner (thank you PS!) was really a blast and i think we have lived out a part of that command that calls us to be salt and light (the joke's on FL!) You have placed us together and given us the joy of serving alongside one another. help us to grow, serve and love one another in brotherly and sisterly devotion.


come Thou fount of every blessing
tune my heart to sing Thy grace
streams of mercy never ceasing
call for songs of loudest praise
teach me some melodious sonnet
sung by flaming tongues above
praise the mount i'm fixed upon it
mount of thy redeeming love

viva vivo!

my feet really stunk when i took my shoes off today, cos of the on-off-on-off rain. my green felt-material shoes soaked through and turned a dark green. neat~ talk about weather fashion.

right. so that was random and you didn't need to know about my smelly feet.


on to less nauseating things.

i had two firsts today.
1. first time at vivocity
2. first time eating carl's junior

i'm gonna bring my mom to vivo simply cos she'll love the Tangs experience. have you seen it? something about its authentic Asian feel really beckons me. the big dark wooden plank flooring, the grey mosaic tiles, and the metal entrance/exit gates feel so 50s...though i wouldn't really know cos i didn't exist then. but its just something you know...you know? i'm sure my mom will knock herself out at Tangs. its aunty-haven.

Carl's Junior was quite a knock-out. Shern, Frankie, Aggie and I had too much potato, i think. i must have put on 2,000,000 calories from dinner. ohhh!! and the onion rings are really onion-rings, like the rings of onions that are fried in batter. i know that sounded tautological, but really, they're authentic, not like the cheat kind from BK.

mmmm...okay. my brain's shutting down.


byebye.

brainless.

i'm super pro at packing sets of 4 assessments books into clear plastic bags at super speed now.

*beams*

after all, that's what i spent my evening doing at Pearson.

farand's also very pro now -- shifting boxes, ripping them apart, dumping styrofoam 'popcorn' into black trash bags. our assessment assembly line really rocked.

and frankly, such mundane activities are surprisingly refreshing.
- got to work my arms up a little
- hang out with the sales & marketing people, who are such a fun bunch!
- laugh a little
- focus on only one monotonous action
- stop using my brain for 2 hours except perhaps for that part that controls psychomotor capabilities

we definitely qualify to work at Popular now.


then we rewarded ourselves to Subway at 9pm.

by the way, did you know that the tuna sub meal goes for only $4.95 on tuesdays? divine. i knew, but i'm sharing this cos i'm an evangelical foodie.

and so, we devoured our subs, cookies and drinks. double divine.


and now, this is what i'm gonna do:

relak one corner.

panic pang

seems like i panicked for nothing.

i can still post comments on non-beta blogs!

*sheepishness*

but, yay! (:



* * *

what is currently keeping her awake?

Air1 radio. The Positive Alternative.
live radio from the USA.
www.air1.com


to listen to the newest & most popular christian hits, click on the listen tab, then listen online. click start the player and sit back as the songs stream in.


and so she stays awake.

let her rant.

i just did a stupid stupid thing.

i've signed myself on to blogger beta.

do you think the blogger staff will see this post and then ban me from using blogger forever and ever cos i said i just did a stupid stupid thing? :/

*paranoia*

no, seriously, i feel silly because it was only after the conversion that i realised i can't leave comments on non-beta blogs. so silly right? how can you make a supposedly better version of something and then not allow it to leave comments on a "lesser" version? and i can't revert back to the normal non-beta version cos blogger says so - and why that is so i have no answer...

uh...does this mean non-beta users cannot leave comments on my blog too...??!?!

so...dear smart smart blogger friends who have not beta-ed yourselves, please try leaving me a comment.

aiyah. where's the logic in technological?

- - - - - - - - - -

and now, i want to show off my superb culinary skills.

i present...

maggi avec le thon et le chou

and in order to attain that exquisite cookbook status photo shot, i even took out a new set of chopsticks to achieve that unmistakable subtly-striking red-green contrast. *huh?*

~thanks to http://world.altavista.com/tr for name of dish in flench~

- - - - - - - - - -

for cg today, i got everyone to present their sharing through drawing. haha getting artistic we are...

the sharing could be about something interesting that happened during the week or something that we wanted to give thanks to God for. after drawing, we had to guess what the others were trying to say. and i've discovered we're really quite gifted at stick figures.

but beyond the stick figures, i really love your creativity guys and gurls! i love your simple expressions of genuinity!

here's one i really like.

this picture is a depiction of deep deep desperation...if i may put it that way (:

and as we had a good laugh over mervin's very-out-of-proportion sketch, i was hit by the depth of meaning the picture conveyed.

the hands represent prayer. and it reminds me of how God is our ever-faithful Keeper who hears us when we call out to Him, and how He is our ever-present help in time of need.

no matter how big we think we've messed things up and how impossible the situation seems, He comes beside to help and to restore.

and, God is bigger than all we can imagine.

mervin knows that (:

God of miracles,

oh that i may constantly lift up 'out-of-proportion' hands of prayer and a desperate heart of faith to You.

catch life

and so i'm here because my dad politely asked if he could watch the 11 o'clock news. and though my viewing pleasure (homely heartwarming hallmark production) was disrupted, i gave in cos...he's my dad. and it was slightly easier cos i'd watched the movie before (;

the weekend was good. but most long weekends are good. i took leave on Friday. (:

if i didn't stop to think about what actually happened during the weekend, i would soon forget just how eventful it actually was. blogging really helps me retard (as in slow down...), rest, reflect, reminisce and rejoice (for the most part!) i realised how easy it is to let the days go pass without actually giving thought to the events that happen, the people i meet and the lessons God teaches. and so, i'm trying, and learning, to finetune my senses, so even the littlest thing does not escape my grasp. sometimes, the smallest, seemingly insignficant things are really the most significant things. ahhhh...watch emily's attempt to catch life!


friday, 3rd nov
*leave!
for the expressed purpose of H&D ministry session with Pastor J and Ade.
it was a significant time for both of us, i would say. then again, being healed and restored by God is always significant (: turns out that we were being 'delivered' from some similar stuff! ha. did that occur to you ade? i actually had planned to share about it even before we met for the session. and also, thank you for the card. it was God's impeccable timing, as it came at a time when i really needed to know that God hears my crying out to Him. you've been a mighty blessing to me (:


saturday, 4th nov
*parachute live worship.
the air was absolutely seething with anticipation. my air, at least.
seeing parachute band live was a remarkable experience. but more remarkable and awesome was the time of worship unto God the band led us into. the band has such an amazing heart of worship, and it was...infectious. i thank God for His anointing on this group of talented and dedicated musicians.

it's been such a long time since i've felt so refreshed and may i say, excited, worshipping God. it was as if i've forgotten what it means to enter into His presence to meet with Him. worship leader libby huirua invited us to enter with expectation, to meet with God, and to receive freely of His love, His grace and and to allow Him to do His work in our hearts. truly, God has so much to work within my heart. and so, i received the invitation, threw off my inhibitions, fears and struggles and abandoned myself to the only One who sees my all and still loves me. i do not remember every thought or feeling that went through my mind, but i do remember the constant and unexplainable stream of tears, as the words of each song spoke deep into my spirit. my soul was so so hungry, so needing to be filled by Him. there is truly nothing more liberating and awesome than to be able to stand before God just as i am, captivated by Him.

just as the names of their albums say it all...
glorious.
amazing.


sunday, 5th nov
*rounders, rain, run-away frisbee
i doubt any group finished playing their 9 innings. ha.
but it was pure fun (:

and though i did not do the cardboard-tobaggan ride, it was entertaining watching the little figures at the top of the hill slide-stop-slide-stop down the green slopes. the frantic screams were equally amusing. if i were there, i think i would have screamed the reservoir terrapins to upper pierce reservoir. but then again, the terrapins didn't need my screaming cos someone else was terrorising them! ha. but i confess, i played accomplice cos i lured them with wang-wang xiao man-tous.

and, for once, time seemed to come to a standstill. with countless rounds of batting, pitching, running and shouting for people to run, what seemed like forever was really only 3pm. and we groaned. "Huh?! Still so early?!"
can't blame us, the rain wasn't helping.

but as i take a step back and try to catch life, i cannot help but wonder why we constantly moan a lack of time (and for good reason) and yet when time stops for us, we cannot be still, enjoy the moment, but wish it would pass faster.


and so...

carpe diem.

in the centre of it all

Clouds and Mist

As a child I used to climb the White Mountains of New Hampshire with my father and brothers. We always tried to choose a perfect day--what we called a "real mountain day". Nothing dampened my spirits more than finding ourselves, halfway up the trail, enclosed in clouds and mist. It seemed to ruin the day. But of course we kept climbing, and usually broke out into sunshine as we neared the summit.

It would be nice to think that the Christian's ascent to glory would always be on "real mountain days", and never require going through any clouds. But such is not the way appointed. Mists rise, clouds lower, and we can't see a thing. The trail is obscured, the summit is gone, the valley we've come from might as well not exist. Reality disappears. The only reality left is mere vapor.

But here's a wonderful fact to latch on to: "Clouds and mist enfold him!" (Ps 97:2). The Lord, the King of the mountains, is in the midst of us. Things invisible in the natural realm are visible to the eye of faith. Don't be misled or discouraged by mere vapor. Keep climbing. You'll see the Son when you reach the top.


Elisabeth Elliot
The Music of His Promises


my sister's tag about grey skies, clouds and rainbows reminded me of this devotion which i'd read just a few weeks back. it was one of those devotions that i didn't 'need' at the moment of reading, but which i knew i would need to go back to, time and time again, to remind myself of the assured Light ahead. truly, devotions never go to waste. am i glad for my store of His promises (:

the biggest assurance: He is in the midst of all that cloud and mist.
"The clouds and mist enfold him!" according to Elisabeth Elliot's version of the Bible.
how wonderful to find in the centre of it all -- storm, dark clouds, mist -- the Lord who, in the first place, created all that! He is in the centre of all our moments of darkness and trouble.

it is as you say, big sister, rainbows will appear.

light will appear.

thankfully.


i'm keeping on with keeping on.