Via Dolorosa

Via Dolorosa is Latin for the “way of sorrows” or “way of pain.” It was located in Jerusalem. This was believed to be the path that Jesus tooked carrying his cross and walking to the site of his crucifixion - Calvary.

This song speaks of a man walking along the Via Dolorosa,Jerusalem. A crowd gathered as the roman solders tried to clear the way. People were pressing in to see a man condemned to die on Calvary. He was bleeding from the stripes upon his back. A crown of thorns pierced upon his head. Each step he bore, people were shouting :"Crucify him, crucify him"

As he chose to walked down that path of suffering, he, our Saviour, our Christ and The King of Kings - blameless but he chose to be the lamb for our sins. He took that road out of the precious love for you and me. The blood he shed to cleanse both you and I. He took all our sins upon himself and chose to use his life in redemption for our lives.

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(Isaiah 53 : 3 - 8 )
v3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. v4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. v5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. v6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. v7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.v8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

Can't Live A Day

I love this song by Avalon - Can't live a day. Many moments in my life, God has always brought this song to rememberance. It always reminds me that God has to be the heatbeat of all i do and i can never leave without him. So it helps me to refocus on him :)

= Personal Reflections =

No matter what season or phrase I maybe in -
No matter how tough or difficult the road may be -
No matte how long the journey will be -
No matter how despairing the sitution can be.

A loving hand gently guiding -
A soft gentle voice prompting -
A joy that spurts out from within my heart -
A hope ensures at every moment of my life.

Lord, your assurances and promises come to embrace me -
It captures every fear and anxieties -
You will only be the reason in whom I live my life for -
The reason for every works of my hands -
Never will there be a moment can my life be without you.

I could do anything and go places my feet could take me to,
But Jesus if u are not there with me,
What life will mean for me?

Can I face my life without your hope in my heart and
your loving arms guiding me through my life's journey
Jesus, Will you be the heart beat of all that I ever will do and live for.
There never will be a day, a hour, a minute, a second and a moment,
Lord, you are not there with me

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v1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. v2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat -- for he grants sleep to those he loves (Psm 127 : 1-2)

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you. For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living. (Psalms 116 : 7 - 9)

Rest = Contentment

Knowing and trusting him in the midst of all our struggles and yet being able to be filled with his peace and having the confidence and satisfaction to know Jesus Is In Control.

God Moves In Ways We Cannot See

When my mum informed me on tuesday night that my dad's sister's husband has passed away, i didnt really feel very much as i wasn't really close to that family. My parents decided to attend the wake the next day. Found out from my another uncle that the wake was held at the Trinity Casket. I was rather surprised cos he was known to be a stauched buddhist. But i didnt take it to heart.

The next day while at work, i was rather curious when i heard from my mum that my late uncle's family had included a christian verse in the obitury. When i look at it, realised that they used John 14:1-4

("Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.") John 14:1-4

Initially i didn't want to attend the wake cos i only will see my dad's relatives during chinese new year or weddings. So i wasn't really close to them. But that afternoon, something in me just clicked and i just decided to go attend the wake together with my parents.

I guess it is all God's divine appointment for me. I was met with many surprises. When i went there and i realised it was a christian wake and they were having a christian service. I managed to talk to one of my late uncle's son whom i never really spoken before. We talked a little about work, suprisingly it wasn't really awkward. I met many of my uncles and cousins and had a brief chat too.

What strikes me is that my dad's extended family which used to be filled with stauched buddhist or free thinkers however with the recent years, many of them became christians. God is amazing cos even as we pray for them. He moves in his own ways.

As i sat through the service and heard the pastor shared about how my late uncle's children came to know the Lord 2 years ago. My late uncle himself came to know the Lord just a few months ago and even though he had some illness and was staying in the home cos he wasn't able to walk and needed people to take are of his basic needs. It was there at the home where he experienced God's love and hearing how he trusted God and prayed even when he was struggling with his health. The nurse who was taking care of him said that each time he struggled, all he replied was that he will pray and ask God for strength. He too enjoyed hearing all the christian songs.

This is a true testimony of how God touched a man after living for 73 years, suffering from his illness, being reduced to being in a wheel chair was known to be a really difficult and tempermental person. Yet in the last few months of his life, His faith and trust in God was truly exhibted in his life. And becos of it all, his wife and son said that in God's time, they too will come to know the Lord. So we believed that this family has been won for God ! Amen :)

I believed that God has convicted me in my heart to go attend the wake and hear the many testimonies by the family, pastor and staff of the home has increase my faith and compassion. GOD IS AWESOME !! Sometimes all he does require for us is to pray and he will do the work. There are moments where he will call us to go out and share our stories and his gospel to the people he brings into our midst. All we need to do is to be obedient and allow God to grant us the wisdom and compassion as we share.

He HIMSELF will do the work to convict the hearts. It is just so simple but we people are used to complications.

Thank God in this season of mine to continually grant me the compassion for the "lost" and the renewal of understanding of what it means to be his mouth piece ... Thank God for showing me that nothing is impossible becos in GOD, all things are possible.

I believed that my parents are very encouraged to hear and see all that God is doing in my dad's extended family. I believed God will bring more of them into his family. What we are sure now is that we will continue to pray for them.

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME !!!! cos when one in the household knows him, the whole household will be safe.

< My Desire Today >

How high are your ways O Lord,

And how wide are your thoughts,

I will never be able to comprehend it

becos my little mind will never understand it all.

O lord, your ways are just,

Your truth convicts my heart,

You are the same, today, yesterday and forevermore.

How can I ever say Jesus you are unfaithful?

Will you help me repent and turn from my wicked way?

Will you restore in me my first love?

Will you help me live my life in total obedience to you?

Father, I want to offer every part of my life to you,

You are mine and I am yours,

Take my life and let it be broken unto you.

Cleanse me - renew my heart and mind,

Fall afresh upon me,

Let your spirit fill me till I overflow,

I desire only to live for you,

Break me, mold and make me to be more like you.

You are all that I want,

You are all that I need,

You are all that I will ever live for,

Help me ABBA Father.

Tanjung Balai

To me, mission has always been a time where God places me in the very situation he desires and to teach me lessons about my life and his heart. For me, this trip is relatively very different from the last round becos we are focusing very much on the children. The last round we did a lot of visitations and other stuff that i never thought i will ever do back in Singapore - Singing christian songs in a salon to minister to a pre-believer, doing facials for the women ministry in Tanjung Balai and just talking to people in mandarin and hokkien.

But God is true to his promises. My prayer for myself as i go to Tanjung Balai was to be like a "white piece of paper" where God will write his plans and i will just do it in faith. Not basing on any past experience that i have had. God is always so "CUTE". From the changes to the ferry timing, originally estimated time for our preparation. having to make immediate decisions. There was practically no time for structures and proper planning. Anyway, God's ways are so much higher then ours cos of all the changes, we got more than enough time to really pray and prepare ourselves and also for all the things we had to do.

God is also faithful to bring the children on sat. After returning from our prayer walk cum invitation to the people staying nearby the church, i was amazed to see the number of children he provided and how he changes the spiritual atmosphere from our previous trip and allowed the children to be more receptive to us. Seeing how every macaddemian take the step of faith to lead and join in the various activities in hokkien or mandarin really show the faithfulness and the awesomeness of our heavenly father. Where he places, he empowers for his glory.

As i reflect on some of the lessons God has shown me. I realized that Witnessing is a Life Style. Meaning at every moment, we are to be ready to share our story and Jesus with the people God grants us the opportunity to meet. In (Eph 6:19 -20_Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should). Paul said that we are meant to be Jesus' ambassadors and mouthpiece to make known the gospel unashamedly and boldly. Our lives are supposed to be a mirror and testimony that points others to Jesus.

As i look back, this part of my life has been pretty dormant and thus it has caused some stagnancy in my walk with God. Whenever we share the goodness of Jesus and our own stories to people, it brings upon that real conviction of who Jesus is in our life. How much he loves us and how graciously he rescues us and calls us his own cherished one. The true extend of his love for each one of us.

Seeing how simple and little the people of Tanjung Balai have. Some of them needed to travel quite a bit to come down to church yet they still make the effort to come to church to worship God. For us, we have so much abundance in Singapore (air con, full set of musical instruments, technology, freedom to worship etc) yet at times, we are still not really grateful to God and we come before our God with that flippant attitude.

Being placed in Singapore, with all the comforts that we have. i consider myself very blessed but yet at times i still do not count my blessing. As i examine myself, there are moments where i take all these comforts, God's grace and his providence for me for granted.

So being there in Tanjung Balai allows me to recognized the fact that i cannot take God's grace for granted but to cont to be very disciplined in my spiritual walk, to always have a deepening desire for God and to constantly spend precious moments with my Abba Father.