And it marks another Chapter

I can't really sleep with the cuppa Mocha I had at the airport while sending Elane off.

Tears are some thing that we can't avoid, can we? I thank God I'm a girl, cuz we can cry freely.. wahaha.... but sometimes seeing males cry are quite touching too..

Today was two joyous ocassions. In the morning, Joy and Han got married - congratulations! That's the second wedding I've attended this year, first was Michelle's (my colleague's) and the second, Joy and Han's. For them, it marks a new journey to explore - marriage. A new life together, exploring what God has intended for man and woman to be - reunited and joined as one.

Photos.... heaps, they're with Jay though.. so keep a look out for the photos.. they're pretty!

And then the second occassion, though there were many tears, I'd like to say it was joyous too. And it is still joyous. Elane's farewell.

Just reading the card she handed to me before she left, which she instructed that I should read it only when I reached home... and only read it after I worshipped God and had my heart set rightly before God. Didn't want to get too emotional... yeah?

Like she said, the first time we ever contacted was when she was still in Malaysia, while she was still looking for an accommodation, Elysaa recommended her to me. Wahaha... time flies... that moment still felt so near, but she's already back home.

But to us, or to her, it may seem like 'just one year' of her life. But I believe this was a life changing year for her. To come to know Jesus, and not just that, but to come to encounter Jesus's love.... and not just that... but the abundant life He had for her... and just the awesome saving Grace God had provided through Jesus' sacrifice... Elane's one year in Brisbane was so fulfilling that she had no regrets!

I was just looking through a Judah 5 sharing article that I posted 2 years ago (see link on top right for J5). And just quoting what I typed:

"...I guess this is how love spreads... we can't return it to the same person, but we can always pass it forward......"

and

"...Many are going to come and go again, especially in near future. But I will trust in His plans and learn to treasure everyone I have now so much more. Especially in our Church where people come and go so frequently, I have began to learn to treasure every single moment with each person to the fullest...."

Praise God.... Elane, our prayers will be with you and for you as you start off your next chapter in life in Malaysia... going home with a treasure you have found and kept so deeply in your heart, may this treasure be ever so etched so deeply within you that His light will just shine forth through you and your life. :)

Alrighty, time to sleep and begin my next chapter in Brisbane too! :)

Mum's coming tomorrow (to be exact - today, since it's past 12am le)! Together with cousin Shu Min. :) Will be fun.. tiring and great! Alrighty, take care friends... wait for photos... and God bless y'all!

Butterflies

I've been to the cliff and back and to the cliff again.

I need to pray more.... the verses that comes to my mind...

"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming."

- Eph 4:14 (NIV)

"He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. "

- Luke 6:48 (NIV)

Not to be enemy-centred but I've been in a big warfare for awhile. When we're out to do things for God the enemy just hates us. And I've been feeling that for awhile now!

Physical battles, health battles... almost got into a car accident after prayer on Tuesday... thank God I'm sure there were angels pushing against my car to prevent the crash... Thank God for prayer warriors... work battles... faith battles... issues after issues... but above all these, I'm good and in one piece, still greatly blessed by the Lord at where I am... got to be thankful and come into His courts with praises! :)

Anyway, God has assured me that Christ has already won the Victory.

And whatever God is going to do, it's gonna happen. So keep trusting Him, do my best and let Him do the rest!

Oh oh oh... I'm just having so much butterflies in my stomach for the performance this Sunday. Ew... awful feeling.

Orientation tonight for new friends, games night... still feeling awful.... argh, feel like a dartboard the enemy is firing at now.
I need your prayers... and yes, I'm praying too. :)

Alright, enough of whingeing and whining... I need to find my firm foundation in Jesus!

God Teaches

photos are at the end of this entry, if you're thinking about them...

Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:9-11

It's been a turbulent time that I've been going through for the past weeks and even with the swine flu virus floating around, I'm not sure if I do have the milder variant of the virus in me. Well, thank God I don't fall into the high risk categories, so if I have the virus, I probably am not showing as much symptoms as it should, and thank God there are no complications. Ok, I'm not saying it's the swine flu, but prolly even an influenza virus could cause as much harm.

I think this period of sickness has allowed God to once again speak into my life regarding many things. He's been re-aligning my heart back with Him and allowing me once again to see the dirt of my life that He wants to wash away. The process of cleansing never is difficult. It's like pouring salt water unto exposed wounds that stings right into the flesh. Have you ever experienced that?

One thing I've discovered about my God is He doesn't do things the way WE want it. He does things the way HE knows is best for us.

Washing a wound with salt water will ensure that infection won't occur, and it will also kill off any exisiting microbes. Similarly, I found God speaking to me in so many instances in my life the most when it stings. It hurts. It sears right through the heart where pride gets burnt away. That's what it's like when the passion and fire of the Lord comes.

But after that painful touch, the love remains. After the moment of stinging, the life begins.

Chinese doctors had a saying, "Bitter medicines cures the best". I guess it does hey.

Again in the shower today, God spoke to me regarding this. And I looked back 1 -2 weeks ago where I was crying out to the Lord, "Where are you? Whatever you do, create in me a clean heart O Lord and take not your Holy Spirit away from me."

And the Lord stretched forth and answered my prayer. I asked for a 'world breaking event' that the Lord would just appear and be so real I'd know it's Him. And He did. He didn't appear in a physical explosion. He appeared, and spoke to me so clearly, that it was Him.

God leaves impressions. He does! And His words never get forgotten.. nope, they don't. And even these incidents, remains forever in our hearts.

So what happened?

I won't drop in too much detail cuz it might just bored y'all... but just for keepsake..

I've been sick for the past 1 month and been almost at my breaking point. That's when I knew God wanted me to rest and re-align my heart and purposes with Him. But these were all just head knowledge that were not seeping into my heart. That wasn't working, with God just revealing to me.

During the Exponential Church Conference in June, God started off the conference by giving me a vision. He showed me a narrow neck flask with a wide base. And with that, I felt God tell me, "I'm going to take you through the bottle neck flask." And I asked God, "What do you mean?"

And then came the verses:

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."
Matthew 7:13

And my response was, "Oh yea... God is going to rise me to the next level. Yay... challenges about to come."

And right after the conference, I penned down every thing the Lord revealed to me.. and somehow.. it floated away into history. But God's promises never become history.

God began His work and led me to a series of events. Somehow I forgot what He promised... (in fact I only recall this as I'm penning down! so this blog entry is coming out RAW!)

Yeah, God moved. And God was doing His refining work in me. I became overworked and with the viruses and weak health I had due to insufficient rest, the Lord revealed to me it was not by MIGHT nor by STRENGTH one uses when serving Him. I came to understand that, but it still was a head knowledge not a heart one.

Then the Lord began to reveal all and more things to me that it was over loading my mind and head. I knew all that God was doing but it just wouldn't register. And that was the point I was asking God, "God!! Whatever you want to tell me, help me to remember it!!"

And God answered again!

He sent my loving housemate over to my room and she SHOOK MY WORLD. When God moved, I didn't realise he was moving. Because, me being already frustrated with all that going on in my life, didn't need another person to come and tell me exactly what I have learnt and what God has already told me.

So we had a shout-around for awhile, and she left with just a couple words of love, "I'm not here to lecture you. I just had to come over because I hear you. I hear you in the middle of the night at 12am coughing. I hear your cough. I feel for you. I feel it..."

And in all that heat and love and I don't know what, she left.. must have felt really disappointed with my reaction and questioning what it was like to have wasted a trip coming over to talk to this housemate who didn't appreciate it.

Know what? I cried when she left my room. But that was the time I had my big major struggle with God for the whole night. God revealed to me even more things - pride, anger, unforgiveness. I struggled with God for a whole full day before coming back to Him and really releasing what was from my hands into His hands.

Finally, that relieve and comfort came once again, and I could sense His love and presence so tangibly once again. You know.. now looking back I'm sure God made Kuzi come to my room. She might not have wanted to... but God moved, and God answered and God will never walk away. Thanks Kuzi.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Deut 31:6

Yes... all these verses, the Lord spoke to me in my shower (where God meets me the most!).

God is awesome! And His promises comes to pass and His love will never fail!! :)

God reigns and.. ok, God say I must rest... So, goodnight!!! I go sleep liao!

I was walking home from Coles one afternoon and this was what I saw in the sky. Oh, that's where I living by the way, the house with all the colourful flowers.

Elane and I drove down to Gold Coast just for Max Brener's one night... 1 hour drive! Ya.. one of the crazy stuff I did.. that caused me to end up sick! Hehehe.. But... look at the photos!

An African Restaurant we went in Moorooka. This Sudanese lady was so good she invited us to traditional Sudanese coffee and taught us how to brew coffee from fresh green coffee beans!

That's the yummy sour bread (enjera) with their dips, TASTES AWESOME!!!

A trip to Green Tea Garden with my 2 sheep and Elane the Fatima Instructor! Wahaha...

Sick - swine flu?!

Howdy!

It's been awhile... (I hate starting with this 3 words.. but it always ends up as such - means I gotta blog more eh?)

Much as I want to blog... I've been extremely busy lately - words can't explain how busy I am!

And even as I have a hectic month planned ahead... I have to fall sick at this time.

This sickness came so suddenly and weird... cuz I remember jumping around in hyper mode on Monday during praise and worship practice... and even going to the gym before the practice...
all of a sudden i'm sick... woke up on Tuesday with a bad sore throat... went to the lab, did my experiment.. and came out with giddiness and headache.. i wanted to cut slack on my work, and skip a couple of steps for my experiment... but then suddenly came the Holy Spirit reminding me - Whatever you do, do it for the Lord, not for the eyes of man!

I finished my experiments, went back in the office, then started having muscle cramps and shivering at work.. came home.. took my shower and just couldn't stand anymore!

Had to really push myself up to swallow 2 flu tabs before I really allowed myself to give in to my weakness...

I began calling on the name of the Lord - Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!!! It was endless.. there was a battle going on.. on one hand my weakness didn't want me to repeat His Name, but on the other hand, the Spirit was fighting for me!
I kept going and going and going... on and on and on.... until I could say, I felt a little better... a little lifted. Then I just fell asleep on my floor mattress.

Woke up an hour later... able to walk at least... but still felt nausea and giddiness... somewhere, somehow... a bunch of prayer warriors began praying for me.... in the ministry house of Judah 6 - you know... I felt so much better after that.... Kuzi came home and I told her, I FELT IT!

I woke up this morning.. went to work again, thank God.. finished what I had to do.. and came home early to rest.

God's hand upon me during this time of sickness... Thanks all who's been praying... and I'm sure God did speak a lot to me during these few short days. Yeah!

I'm going to retire for the night again... please pray for me... please not let it be the swine flu!!! :)

Shannon's Winter Syndrome (SWS)

Today's been a bit of an 'emo' day. I found myself recalling an instance where I laughed at a brother and sister for being 'emo' couple of weeks ago. And here I am in such a state now.

But it's also today that I found myself discovering MYSELF.

There's something called a Shannon's Winter Syndrome (SWS). And that, I just found out yesterday and today. Something that affects me in a way that my emotions kind of gets conjured up in different directions, to a state where I become 'emo-fied'. No, there ain't no such word - I made it up. And with regard to SWS, I believe God has reveal this to me so that I could work on it. And thank God He didn't drop that awareness in my life like a bomb. He did it so gently that I found myself having to rely on Him to get through this. Now that I see it, I act upon it. Not just acknowledge.

SWS symptoms, cure and revelation

Been having a craving to sing KTV today... but well, see how it goes. Students are having exams - but I just called Raymond and he's actually singing K at Cybercity! LOL!

You know you kinda have those kind of days once in awhile, where you just think "man! everything is heading the wrong way!"

Today I paid $16.75 for a half a foot long subway sandwich which I'm still trying to get my head around it. I paid 20 bucks and got returned only 10 bucks. Then I tried reasoning with the cashier about how he only returned me $10.

Then after I managed to get back my few coins of change + my $10 note. I walked off.. and when I returned to my workplace, my $10 was not on me anymore.

I thought to myself - only if I hadn't tried getting back those coins I might now be still holding onto my $10. What really happened?

But somehow, there was that kind of peace in my heart. And though it was totally annoying, just the thought of it alone, I just asked God to give that $10 to someone who really needed it then.

There were also couple of hiccups at work today with the mice our lab were gonna work with. Somehow, the people from the animal house made a mistake and did double of our experiments with double the number of mice needed, which resulted in a shortage of mice for the next experiment. IT was chaotic and frustrating. And to make things worse, while handling some liquid nitrogen, I kinda 'burnt' my hand - okay, I do mean burn - ice burn. You know the temperature of liquid nitrogen is -196 degrees.. or more!

So, my finger hurts. But... after these all... I felt a sense of achievement while I left work.

And the verses rang in my heart, something Atieno left for me before she returned to Kenya.

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
- Psalm 118:24

Amen. Indeed God has made this day. And despite all that happened, the peace and joy in my heart had been from God - my comforter and sustainer.

And so I ended the day with an awesome 6km on the threadmill. There - an achievement! Then came home and did what I love doing most - bake!

And yeah, here I am, summing up today. That's pretty much it.

God is good. And because He is good, the day He made, today, is GOOD.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
- Romans 8:28

It's been a long day! I'm gon hit dreamland now. Goodnight all.

Zzzz... God bless. :)

P.S. Ooh.. My bro just went to Cambodia today for another mission trip.. Praise God! Please pray for him! :) Thanks!