The best birthday ever

My 21st was perhaps the best one in this whole wide world. The entire day and night was filled with so many pre-planned surprises and I just cannot find enough words to express my gratitude to all of you who made this day so special for me.



To my brothers,
I am moved to tears by the effort you two made in planning for this whole surprise, even weeks before my birthday. Thank you so much for ALL that you two have done, especially for contacting and bringing many of my Perth & BP friends together for this celebration. You two certainly made me feel like I was on the top of the world.














To my Perth friends,
Thank you all for your well wishes and kind thoughts too. Especially to Uncle Eng Chuan, Auntie Marilyn, Nicole, Esther & Debs, thank you for coming all the way up to BP to make my day a truly exceptional one. You all sure did make me feel like a princess for the day and I can’t thank you all enough for that.

To my BP friends,
You guys did a really good job in keeping this a secret from me. In spite of the many outings and conversations we’ve had over the last few weeks, I never once suspected that something was going on. Even though some of you couldn’t be here with me, your SMS-es and calls have already shown your warm sincerity. Thank you all very much for your gifts, kind thoughts, and most of all, allowing me to be part of your life…this includes you, Yong Hwee.
*A special note to Ah Liang: I’m so sorry that my 21st had to go on without you. But, we can still think of something else together when you get back ya. I also want to say a big thank you to you for surprising me with your yummy yam jelly. Thank you for getting your mum to make it and sending it over to my place.

To my parents,
I never imagined that you two could have been such good secret-keepers. =P Thank you both for not only being supportive of the whole event, but also for being supportive of me all my life thus far. You two loved me all the way, right from the very moment I was brought into this world and I know for sure you two will still love me to the end no matter what. If mums and dads were flowers, you two would be the very ones I’ll pick.

To my heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for your grace & mercy, as well as your unconditional & unfailing love in seeing me through the past 21 years of my life. Thank you also for bringing such a devoted family and circle of friends into my life. You have brought so many special people to bless me at different times throughout the various seasons of my life, and I am extremely grateful for that.

There are so many more of you out there I want to thank, more than ever those of you who took the effort to make the long-distance/overseas calls and messages, just to wish me a happy birthday…you guys know who you are. =)

Thank you, everyone, for making my birthday so special!

A Christmas prayer

A truly stirring prayer that sums up just all that I desire for this Christmas:

"May you be filled with the wonder of Mary, the obedience of Joseph, the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the determination of the magi, and the peace of the Christ child. Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless you now and forever."

Letting things be simple

…Some ways indeed are very odd
By which we hail the birth of God.

We raise the price of things in shops,
We give plain boxes fancy tops
And lines which traders cannot sell
Thus parcell'd go extremely well
We dole out bribes we call a present
To those to whom we must be pleasant
For business reasons. Our defense is
These bribes are charged against expenses
And bring relief in Income Tax
Enough of these unworthy cracks!
'The time draws near the birth of Christ'.
A present that cannot be priced
Given two thousand years ago
Yet if God had not given so
He still would be a distant stranger
And not the Baby in the manger.
~ excerpt from Advent 1955 by John Betjeman

How true that our reasons for giving especially this Christmas season can get easily mixed up with motives and focus besides Jesus. We spend extravagantly to make presents, food, and decorations as attractive as possible so that our guests will be pleased. Then they go home, remembering only the contentment of enjoying these apparent, insignificant things.

Tonight, dad & mum are going to have guests over for an evangelistic Christmas dinner. I’m helping mum prepare the food- roast, wine, desserts. But as much as we want the guests to enjoy the meal, we are trying to keep things simple too. We would rather these guests go home with a greater memory of the sharing and testimonies they will hear of God’s love than the tastiness of food. We sincerely pray that they will openly accept the gift of Jesus. May all glory and esteem be given to Him and His alone.

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;

The courage to change the things I can;

And, the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him

Forever in the next.

Amen.

This prayer has been stuck as a magnet on my fridge for years, but I never really took notice of it till now. Perhaps I never saw suffering or hardships the way I see it now- an essential part of a Christian walk- thus, the prayer did not seem as real and meaningful to me like now.

Indeed Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. I want to be able to live one day at a time, enjoying each moment. After all, you know what’s best for me. So, do tune my heart that I may willingly and thankfully receive whatever you give me in life. Wherever you place me, every moment & every condition, may I learn to view things from your perspective and depend on your instructions & teachings; counsel & guidance.

Grant me too, dear Lord, the courage to take the necessary actions that can strengthen my walk with you. Even though these actions may sometimes seem unpleasant to me, I pray for your strength to enable me to do them. Last but not least, I pray for your wisdom, so that I may know the difference between Your truths about life and illusions of the Evil one.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.

Conflicting natures

It’s truly not easy to want to do what is right. Like Paul, we can will it, but we can't do it. We decide to do good, but we don't really do it. We decide not to do bad, but then we do it anyway. Our good intentions usually don't result in actions. Such is the conflict between grace and corruption in the heart of a renewed sanctified soul. ~Romans 7:17-25

Perhaps like me, you have been struggling with an attitude or a habit that you know is wrong, and you decided that you want to change. Yet after a while, you find yourself right back where you first started. Then, you start feeling frustrated and angry at yourself for not trying harder, especially when your actions unintentionally hurt the people whom you love dearly.

However, it is in those times that I am reminded that I need something more than just my own effort and strength. I need to rely on Jesus’ promises and have faith in them so that I can find strength to fight against life-destructive thoughts and habits. We will always be in a battle against temptations and negative thoughts, but we need not give in to them. There is so much better things which we can consciously focus on in their place - thoughts that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable; anything that is excellent or praiseworthy ~Phil. 4:8-9.

In God, there is always hope to change even if the struggle have been the same issue for a long time. Nonetheless, we are reminded too, that a changed life does not come instantaneously, for recovery is a step-by-step process. I only pray that in the process of recovery, I will not lose fixing my eyes on Jesus.