we BELIEVE for prayers ANSWERED
clarice, cheryl, ode, jayni...
To my dearest; ultra cute and adorable cell,
Okay, I couldn’t sleep, and I can’t study either, so I ran around appreciating everyone I could think of; and now it’s all your turns! This is to encourage you folks for exams, yar?
| Faith: | That quiet; yet strong, persevering nature of yours which you use to approach the most adverse of challenges thrown at you. I admire that; it speaks of the pure, calm, yet decisive disposition you have. Once you’ve chosen something; you stick to it; you go all the way in pursuing it. Now that’s really something. |
| Clarice: | Love the way you are so true to yourself; you don’t pretend; you don’t hide; you speak what you really think; but you are still humble; and you seek to change. What does that say? I say it spells courage. That courage which you use to overcome challenges, make choices, and do your best in everything you do. |
| Chuan Fa the Kangaroo: | Okay; I haven’t known you for long, but I love the desperation you have in pursuing the things you want to know about God. Your strength? The carefree; cheerful, down to earth nature you use to approach your challenges. You aren’t afraid to ask when you need to know something, and you do it with a smile. |
| Edwin Mocca: | You notice the little things; the fine details people normally wouldn’t pay attention to, and you are excellent in whatever you put your heart to. Not to mention, that funny, congenial nature of yours which we all understand draws people to our cell and Christ. And you’re really responsible too; about whatever that has been assigned to you. Man, it must have been tough playing tax collector in our cell; but you did it with your best, and with a smile. |
| Dan Yeow: | Admire the courage you took to being and complete your own pursuit of Christ. You can be the next Lee Strobel (he wrote the book, “Case for Christ”). It took you even more courage; I’m sure, to return to this cell. But hey, don’t stop there; keep pursuing Him; with that same determination, alright? |
| Gi Tiong: | That friendly; helpful nature of yours was what first struck me about you. It took courage; I’m sure, to come to this cell; to offer your service in the littlest; often unrecognised ways, and to open up, to a bunch of crazy kids like us whom you didn’t know well then. Keep it that way; continue to depend on Him for your needs, and God will extend your territory in more ways than you know. |
| Cheryl: | Strong hearted; determined; and oh so ultra amusing and adorable! You’ve taken many leaps of faith; which I shan’t share here; but I’m everyone else knows what I’m talking about ;) Love that humble, friendly, teachable nature you have at approaching challenges and people. The way you notice and appreciate people too; aww, so sweet! And whoa, man, are you one stylish, fashionable girl! Hehe; watching you every week is like watching a one of a kind live fashion show =P |
| Sheryl: | That shy; yet cheerful, friendly nature you got. Top it up with that smile you have; like almost all the time. It’s cute. To the max. Hehe, but I know that you are one who’d serve the best you can when you choose to avail yourself; like how you’ve been doing in everything you’ve involved yourself in so far. |
| Odi: | Wait ar.. WUDI! Everyone who is reading this; read aloud with me okay? Say, “WOO-DEE!” (emphasis placed on capital letters =P) My courageous, firm, calm, determined, funny, absolutely adorable, ultra cool CO- PRAYER WARRIOR IN CHRIST! Yo partner, you got Godly ammo, and I got Godly ammo, so let’s draw our swords together and take out the enemy in our friend’s lives this period; hi-5; CHARGE! |
| NET NET: | NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET! Hehehehe, that ultra sweet; patient (especially with someone as rash as me), intelligent, sensible, courageous, down to earth, caring, motherly, forgiving, understanding, cheerful, encouraging, loving friend and PARTNER AND BELOVED FRIEND in SERVING OUR GOD! Your strengths are so obvious in cell that I don’t even need to describe them here; right? =P |
| Sis Serling: | Okay I know you don’t have exams (like duh) but since I’m loving everybody, I can’t miss out my adult leaders right? Thank you, for making time for us, for making all the wise decisions for us; for intercessing on our behalves, for loving all of us. Savour the taste of all the fruits of your labour! Net can be the sweet cherry, Odi can be the funky tasting guava, and I can be the chilli =P |
| Bro Andrew: | We’ve all been touched by that down to earth; real and natural manner which you impart to us; because you live out; literally, what you say, in spite of everything we put you through. Thanks Daddy! Keep rubbing off all you’ve got on to us; God’s love shines so obviously in you, we all need sunglasses to look at you =P |
Okay; all feel touched? All feel loved? Pass it on!
Dropping huge avalanche of love upon you all,
taby
EXAMS!!!
Below is a table consisting of all the dates of our exams; I’ll fill it in as the folks get back to me. Let’s keep each other in prayer; as we advance in this together; for if God is for us, who can be against us? By the way, hint hint: I would be really encouraged if I received an sms just before my paper from someone informing me that he/she’s praying for me. ;)
| Monday | 16 | 23 ,Edwin, Odi: 9-11am Gi tiong, Cheryl. Faith, Clarice, Taby, Sheryl: 2-4pm |
| Tuesday | 17 | 24 Gitiong, Cheryl, Clarice: 9-11am Net, Sheryl: 2-4pm |
| Wednesday | 18 | 25 Cheryl, Net, Clarice: 9-11am Faith, Chuan Fa, Edwin, 2-4pm |
| Thursday | 19 | 26 Gi tiong, Chuan Fa, Odi, 9-11am Faith: 2-4pm |
| Friday | 20 TAKE MY HAND! Cheryl, Net, Clarice, Taby, Odi: 2-4pm | 27 Edwin:9-11am Odi, Chuan Fa, Gitiong, Sheryl: 2-4pm |
Hehe, on a side note; I was having tonnes of fun studying, because I committed every study session to God in prayer before I began, and He gave me inspiration in mapping out (I’m a mind mapper, you see) every chapter of what was required in the format I liked, such that I had lots of motivation to keep going. To me; it was not a study for exams anymore; but more a pursuit of curiosity. The joy of the Lord became my strength; and it can be yours too. Just ask for it.
Of course, there were the breaks in between; I played as hard as I studied: cared and connected my friends who needed encouragement or tips, scooted about the house and did quite a bit of housework, including making my parent’s room look like it had room service (my mummy was pleasantly surprised when she returned home) and of course, writing this blog. So it’s still been pretty fun.
Taby
Egg Mystery
Here’s the deal: a week ago, Jie Xun and I were chatting online, and he mentioned about the food outlet he works in. While they prepared their egg mayo, with all the necessary hygiene standards observed, he noted that the air cells in the eggs turn brown when they are mass boiled, and because of that he stopped wanting to eat egg mayo. So we decided to search for an answer, but Wiki answer and Google failed to yield me a valid one, so I’m throwing the question to everyone here. How did it happen?
Why I throw this question, you ask? Because I’m curious, and I know our cell is full of smart, thinking people, that’s why. Here’re the responses I’ve collected so far:
| Number of people who think this | Theory : |
| 2 | Because they are mass boiled, they are cooked for longer, and hence they get overcooked, hence they turn brown |
| 1 | exposure |
| 1 | When they cooked the egg the egg cracked |
| 1 | Chemical reaction...? |
Hehe, anyone who has a theory, feel free to edit this post or tag me; thanks! Hmm, maybe in our next outing we can have egg anything for snacks, like egg biscuits, egg mayo, egg cream, egg dip, so that we could test the theories =P
taby
Sunday morning, just before service
This morning, Chuan Fa aka Kangaroo lead us for cell prayer! Because it was his first time; he met me at 9 that morning (cell prayer’s at 10:30am) to prepare his pointers with me. So he shared the prayer pointers he sensed from God; I gave him practical tips on how to disseminate the information; and voila; we were done!
So the folks who were present for prayer meeting today were Mocca, Faith, Net, Odi, Cheryl, and of course, Kangaroo and I. Kangaroo then proceeded to share with us, on how God spoke to him from 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 , which reads,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud..... it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
His prayer pointers..? (And the things we covered under it)
1. Pray that God will show his love for us through His work.
· V-day event
· He’d show us His love to non believers.
2. Pray that we would show the people love by bringing them in.
· Fruits of the Spirit
· People would see God’s love for us.
· Extra love, from Him, to love His people
3. Pray that all the faith and hope we have is possible because the love God has for us.
· We’d acknowledge that
So we prayed in pairs, one pair per point, and he rounded up. Then we scooted off for service.
taby
As we neared, we saw that there were groups of people seated at the tables near Cheers, and we felt that it will be difficult to reach out to them. As we continued to look across, there was a student seated alone. So we used this opportunity to reach out to her. We introduced ourselves and got to know that she was Xiao Yu, a Year 1 Accountancy Student.
We found out that she came from China and currently staying near NP with the Landlord's family; together with some roommates.
After that, we brought up the "Take My Hand" event to her and asked whether is she was open to religion. When we knew that she was open, I continued to ask her more questions about what is Christianity meant to her. She shared that her landlord and family also told her about Jesus Christ and revealed to us that her family does not have a religion and she hopes to be in a Christian organisation and wanted to find out more about it.
Some questions I asked were "where do you think will you go after you leave this world?" and "what do you understand so far about Christianity?".
Her response were pretty much uncertain but she showed some enthusiasm in wanting to know more about Jesus Christ.
Thus, I began to draw the bridge diagram and explained to her what Christianity was and why Christianity was different from other religions. Bringing up topics such as Jesus as the only way to Eternal Life, His love for this world and the Book of Life.
The conversation got deeper each time and she also asked us why we are so passionate in spreading the good news. I answered her that Cheryl and I were touched by God in every situations we faced and we want to bring the goodness of God to everyone.
In addition, I also shared my testimony about how God changed me as a impulsive person to a person who is more calm-thinking and cheerful.
She was pretty interested in how God had showed His work in both of us.
As we continued the dialogue, she revealed that the stress of the coming exams had gotten to her, so I told her that we are having Church Service at 11am every Sunday in Trinity@Adam; just in case that she could not make it for the event.
Before we left, Cheryl exchanged contact numbers and prayed for her.
To God be the glory!
Sunday Service: Contagious Faith
This week, Gitiong lead us in cell prayer. These were the points he dished out to us, as we stood around him in a circle, right outside chapel, shortly before service:
· Being bold in turning to God regardless of magnitude of issue
See, often times, when the issue’s “controllable” we have no qualms about committing it to Him in prayer. But we have a tendency to struggle on our own when things go out of hand (it may be the other way around for certain people).
· Against compromise
Even small ones can change a person. According to James 3:44, “Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.” Just like the rudder, the little compromises we make can drive us in the wrong direction.
· Solid, child-like faith; like a mustard seed.
Because mustard seeds can grow to become big trees, upon whose branches birds take refuge. We want our friends to be able to take refuge in us; in God.
After that, we had service, and this week’s sermon, on Contagious Faith, by P. Andy, had an illustration which moved me to tears. As he broached the subject of how we may have been hurt sometimes by the peers whom we tried to reach out to, he invited a boy from the congregation to help him by playing “man”, and he was to be “God”.
“Every time, God reaches out, and you reject Him, it’s like (paused here, spoke to the boy, who gave him a slap on the cheek) a tight slap in God’s face.”
“HARDER! “ he exclaimed, in response to the boy, who repeated.
“HARDER!” this time; the slap was so loud, it was heard throughout the chapel, and I burst into tears; because God convicted me at that moment, when I was growing weary about reaching out to this friend who has caused me so much pain previously, and yet He still wanted me to press forward. Seeing my Pastor get slapped was painful; but the revelation of the message he had meant to convey through it struck me even harder.
taby
