Hello Sky!

You're my 14th follower! Wow am I the popular one. Heh. I was looking for a link to your blog but there doesn't appear to be one. I can see other blogs you're following but that's it. So if you're reading this, please stop by to introduce yourself so I can know a little more about you. Thanks and thank you for following my rambling.

Justice

[The "X" structure at the core of the Whirlpool Galaxy, taken by NASA) - A reminder that above everything, God chose us to be at the centre of His heart and plan]

Sometimes I visit my own blog just to look at the daily verse from Biblegateway in the sidebar. Today's verse is from Leviticus 19: 18 "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD".

What struck me is how after giving a command or instruction, God then says, "I am the LORD (in capital letters no less)". I know we're meant to analyse scripture in context so what I am about to say may not be accurate in light of where this verse sits in the Bible since I have not read the whole chapter surrounding it.

However, upon wondering why God chose to say that, this conclusion makes sense. He's reminding us that He alone is God and Lord. Which means He alone is sovereign over all. He alone. In other words it does not include us. I believe He is saying we should not take matters into our own hands, executing revenge to quench our rage or soothe our hurt. We don't get to judge and bear a grudge for we too are not faultless. The ultimate authority to judge and deliver an eternal sentence lies with God alone. We are no better or lesser than our neighbour and ought not to see ourselves or them higher or lower than what our (and their) God-given identity demands.

This leads me to what God once told me - what I deem to be justice isn't always what He knows to be true justice. My thoughts and ways are always going to be tainted with limited, sinful, self centred thinking. He knows the extent to which He can redeem a person. There is no situation that is beyond His ability to make good.

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28 June addition (by Oswald Chambers):

The Overshadowing of God’s Personal Deliverance

". . . I am with you to deliver you,’ says the Lord" —Jeremiah 1: 8

God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally— “. . . your life shall be as a prize to you . . .” (Jeremiah 39:18 ). That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are to be a matter of indifference to us, and our hold on these things should be very loose. If this is not the case, we will have panic, heartache, and distress. Having the proper outlook is evidence of the deeply rooted belief in the overshadowing of God’s personal deliverance.

The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, “Why should I be treated like this?” If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, “Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.” Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard— we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts (see Proverbs 3:5-6 ).

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My question is this: Lord, why have You not been delivering children from abuse, disease and calamity? They couldn't have disqualified themselves from Your promise, being so young in years and knowledge. If You reveal Yourself to them, will they not believe and follow wholeheartedly with childlike faith and wonder? They would not know to devote themselves to other things willfully.

Jesus, please show me then where You were when they were being hurt. Help me understand how Your promises work in relation to such horrors. Please give me comprehension, clarity, wisdom and a deeper more personal revelation of Your grace, especially for those who bring the pain to the little ones. Enable me to see them through Your eyes and not burn with hatred because of what they are doing to others.

Keeping Constructive

I've been spending my recent days reading product information, government regulations and tax related material. Fab and I are looking into home business options. There is also much to cover in relation to processing a tax return but I have made a fair head-start.

I need to get started on writing proper feature articles. Articles I can place in my portfolio, pitch to editors and tweak accordingly. I need the practice. I've created a separate blog for this purpose. For now I must construct two solid articles to apply to Suite 101.

"So you think you can ush"

Ever wondered whether you are truly qualifed to be an usher at your church. Well, here is a safe, take home test kit (on the Stuff Christians Like website) to work out your eligibility in private.

Apparently the book "Stuff Christians Like" is a worthwhile read if you want to laugh more. It's on the funny side of faith.

Found the following content on Pastor Perry Noble's website as well. He writes great posts. They make so much sense and provide both insight and inspiration.

Here's one on 'Four Fights You Should Not Fight':

#1 – The fight to keep people happy. First of all…that is not a leader's job…and if it is then Jesus really stunk at that. Number two…no matter what you do someone is always going to be upset. SO…please HIM, not “them!”

#2 – The fight to have all of the answers. Reality is that you don’t know everything, that is why God placed a team around you! Refusing to admit that you don’t know something isn’t showing your weakness…but rather revealing your pride. Sometimes one of the godliest things we can do is admit we are stumped to the people we serve with and ask for their help in figuring out the solution to the problem! (See Proverbs 15: 22, Proverbs 24 :6)

#3 – The fight to be “well balanced.” Here’s the bottom line on this…there are many things I do not do well…and for me to try to focus my time and energy on those things and neglect the gifts God has given would be a divine slap in the face to my Creator. (Pastor Steven wrote about that here…EXCELLENT read!)

#4 – The fight to have complete assurance that something will work. You and I will NEVER know the outcome until we are willing to take the step of faith that God has led us to take. If you wait to have 100% assurance that something will work…then I am 100% sure you will never attempt anything great for God. For example…nowhere in the Scriptures does it say that God gave David 100% assurance that he was going to be successful in his bout with Goliath…he just simply took a step of faith and the rest was history. What step of faith is He leading you to? (Hebrews 11: 6)

i ♥

Sarah Seven dresses...they are beautiful, sweet and feminine but ridiculously priced. Anyway, I've been finding more bridal websites with absolutely gorgeous photographs and ideas. They make me secretly wish I could get married all over again. I might have to have 30 ceremonies to cover the different concepts, gown designs, floral arrangements and colour schemes though!

Ours was a sweet day, nonetheless, and people expressed they felt the presence of God and a lot of love, which were essentially the most important aspects. Still, I can't help but dream when I browse through pictures of other couples' weddings. Often the location plays a huge role, I realise. Here's one (Katie & Preston) I love. The bride later wore a gorgeous pair of blue satin shoes by Kate Preston to match the theme.

♥ these hairstyles

And as the site says, you don't have to be a bride to have the look

Yee Yee & Daniel's Wedding

     

 Funnily, I don't have a good shot of the groom :)

Rosting Donkey

[Video: Donut Ad with Lee Min Ho]

Hilarious. I'm sorry. I really should not be making fun of their pronounciation so let's put this down to my bad hearing. It's just I keep hearing the guy say "rosting" instead of "roasting" and "donkey" instead of "dunkin" (for Dunkin Donuts).

On a separate note, I am my mother's daughter indeed. I have become hooked on Korean Dramas. I just completed a 25-episode series titled Boys Over Flowers. This is the Korean version of a Japanese anime produced as a show in Japan and remade in Taiwan (F4 - Liu Xing Hua Yuan).

I am now watching a 16-episode series titled Personal Preference starring Lee Min Ho, one of the protagonists in Boys Over Flowers. He's the guy in this donut advertisement. I confessed to my husband that I found three of the main male stars in Boys Over Flowers good looking. One has a cute name. Kim Bum (Insert giggle here).

Ah, back to reality!

on the menu tonight

I realise I blog little about food. Particularly food I have prepared. I generally don't think to take photos of what I have made as I'm not the best of cooks. Some dishes modestly pass the standard of being edible. Some surprise me and I find myself secretly craving the taste of them at times. Others are plain booboos but provide me with a good laugh. Fab, thankfully, eats and praises everything. He's such a keeper, isn't he?

Anyway,  I have decided to share more on this topic seeing as how I love eating. I get cranky when I am hungry and don't function well. If I seem down and disagreeable, it is often linked to one of two things. Either I am hungry or I am tired. So here begins my journey of blogging more about food.

Tonight, I shall be using lamb shanks for the first time. I must thank God for the series of comical events that led to me finally opening the carefully sealed box with a Sunbeam Slow Cooker within it. A gift from Fab's colleagues for our wedding close to two years ago. If not for our ruined thermal cooker (another story), the suggestion of lamb shanks and the fact that we have nothing else in the freezer, I would not have discovered the little white envelope of money attached to the lid of this chic element. What a wonderful way to have our day brightened considering I am now unemployed.

But back to the lamb shanks. I am thinking to keep it simple so I will be braising it with similar ingredients I use to make beef stew. It is a recipe I threw together but it is probably a common basic way of stewing.  I sometimes vary the recipe according to what vegetables and herbs I have. For the lamb shanks there will be onions, garlic, peeled chopped tomatoes, carrots, cannellini beans. red wine, bay leaves and rosemary.  I could add barley too I suppose. This will be served on a bed of mashed potatoes. Maybe I should leave the garlic out of the stew and make a garlic mash instead. That sounds good. We have green beans as a side. If it looks alright, I shall post a photo.

Speaking of photos, here are a few taken over the past six months. I must get the photo of my first successful chocolate cake from Fab's phone.

"The Secret of the Lord"

"The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him..." Psalm 25: 14

What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you.

Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us?

At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch with His purposes.

Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer— “Your will be done”  (Matthew 6: 10 ) — that we catch the secrets of God?

What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.

“Him shall He teach in the way He chooses” ( Psalm 25: 12 ). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us.

If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?”

God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”

Oswald Chambers

My Utmost For His Highest

"I was watering the plants"

"So she can focus on what's more important...YOU"

My white knight, Jesus You are

Lifesaver, You are never far

You hear my call even when I have no voice

You provide the way when I see no clear choice

You show my fears for what they are

Paper tigers with no power to scar

You silence my accusers and defend my name

You call me beautiful; intelligent; pure; without blame

I let the hurt in when I failed to see You

I thought you weren't real, just a story untrue

But when I asked if you were there

When I screamed the pain was unfair

You knelt down, held my hands and gave me faith anew

(Original composition - I wrote this after my 'sozo' with Ps Lance and Belle)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Thank you for a new beginning. For assuring me of Your presence, love and ability to protect and deliver. This picture is what You showed me when I asked where You were the day I was hurt. It made me laugh. There was a joy in me I don't recall feeling for a very long time. The laughter was almost uproarious. I could literally feel it bubbling up from inside. I didn't share the vision immediately as I doubted it was You but I couldn't contain being tickled pink, and as I blurted what I heard You say, I knew it had to be You. It had to be the truth. I couldn't have come up with that on my own.

You're my firefighter, Jesus. You hear the bell in my heart and You rush to my side to rescue me. I am approved by You. You give me the thumbs up and You find me entertaining in a good way. It's like You never tire of being with me. You never get bored but somehow find ways to be amused and amazed each time we are together.

A new day

Looking through my journal, I found this entry dated 14 March 2004:

I am sitting here and wondering

What my next step should be

Pondering over where this life is taking me

I am sitting here just thinking that

There has to be much more

Contemplating all the things You have in store

There was a teaching lesson recorded just before this personal scribble. A lesson entitled "God's people should flourish". It caught my attention because I am certainly not flourishing.

Psalm 92 says in verses 12 to 14 "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming 'The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him."

Jeremiah 17 says in verses 7 to 8 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heats comes, its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

The question posed in the lesson was this. Are we like this tree that has a strong foundation in the right soil, knows how to draw nutrients from the place in which it is planted, and sways joyfully in a storm?

There were several points of reflection to determine if we are flourishing.

Am I firmly planted in God? In His word and in His community.

Am I easily uprooted? Can I take the heat or am I ruled by the seasons such that I make emotional and immature decisions?

Is my spiritual health a priority?

Is fruitfulness and giving a part of my lifestyle? Do I exemplify the fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,  faithfulness, gentleness and self control more and more with each passing year?

Am I being hindered by the lack of an attitude to learn and press into God's presence? Do I lack humility or the discipline to seek God everyday?

Kim Walker Smith said, at the conference I attended last weekend, that we need to contend for our intimacy with God. There are so many distractions, and potential discouragements to fight through. She admitted that there are days where we will not feel as though we're getting anywhere with our relationship with God. Days where we will not experience His presence in a tangible way. Days where it seems as though we're just abiding by a routine. But then she said she decided in her heart to remain faithful on those days. To not short change God of that time with Him but determine daily that He matters more than anything else. She said, "On those days I keep telling myself, 'One day I will walk in the fruits of this' . I look back now and realise I am already walking in the fruits of those days gone."

Here again I sit wondering what God has planned out for me. Wondering how I am to take hold of this "something more" I want and have been promised. And I realise that all this while I have been seeking after the gift and not the Giver. I have not kept my heart undivided. I have not turned my attention wholly unto God. In fact, I have lost the mystery and wonder I once beheld of Him. I have lost the excitement of searching out His truths in the Word. 

I answered all questions above in the negative. I look at friends who have a spring in their step and are wrapped up with glee when they talk about their "revelationary and revolutionary" discoveries in the Word, and I think, "That used to be me". In part I want to return to that place. In part I brush it off as a time past. A time when I was younger and more naive. How sad that I have lost the appeal I once saw in God. I am missing out on so much for God can never be uncovered in a lifetime. So we have eternity to keep learning more about His awesome glory, multifaceted character, wondrous holiness and unfathomable love, and enjoying His company.

Somewhere along the lines I let go of the desire for Him. I turned my attention to someone or something else and my motivation to seek God got stolen. I didn't even notice it was gone for a while. Then it didn't seem to matter. But now I am paying the price of having gone so far astray that I cannot find my way back to reclaim it.

Many would find my break a bliss. How they would spend every waking moment with their Maker, worshipping, reading, talking, interceding, praising, soaking in His presence, drawing, painting, dancing, singing, writing and simply enjoying Him. How they would not just let four months pass without capitalising on every second of the day to draw closer to the Almighty God, Superstar Father, Gentle Counsellor, Best Friend.

I am stuck.

I need to break free. I want to be able to shout "I am free to dance, free to sing, free to love, free to live for You" and mean every single word. I want to be a good example in this season. I don't want to weary others with my negativity. I want to be full of joy and purpose that all may know God is real and wonderful and desire to know Him too.

Be gone, Sadness! Be gone, Frustration! Be gone, Offended Heart! Be gone, Unforgiveness!, Be gone, Resentment! Be gone, Pride! Be gone, Stagnancy!

I am singing, "All of Your promises won't let go of me! The sun's shining bright and it just won't set cause Your love is alive and it lights my step!" (New Life Worship CD, Integrity Music)