Hold On

Thoughts, words and actions that cannot be expressed.

Music.

Love?

Hola! Hope everyone has been good! 

I'm here to share a very interesting read I stumbled on my Facebook news feed. 

If God created everything, did God, who is so holy and righteous created evil too, then? I mean, aren't you curious that something could sound so contradicting? Visit this link to clear your doubts and find out! 

http://www.gotquestions.org/did-God-create-evil.html

God loves each one of us unconditionally and cares for everyone deeply. Afterall, every single one of us are His creation. "Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

I can go on and on about God's unconditional love for us. But really, sometimes I wonder how big is his heart to be able to contain disappointments and griefs when His child has sinned time and time again, but still look on us with love and forgives each and every single time. I can never understand His big big love with my human mind.

I just want to say and let you, the person reading this now, know that God loves you  :)

These past few weeks, God has blessed me tremendously by revealing and pouring out His unconditional love for me. God has indeed worked quite a bit on my inner soul and I'm now learning to know more about my Daddy God, to strive to walk alongside His footsteps. In the past, I've attempted to read my bible daily without much success. That's the funny thing. I've never really had the discipline to consistently do something. If there was any motivation, I would describe it merely as a spark; going off as quickly as it came. Which can be frustrating and disappointing, feeling like I can't accomplish anything, lowering my self-esteem.

However, this time, I can feel the change God made in me. I automatically wants to know more about God, I genuinely wants to walk closely with God. Why? I think it's cause I love God. Uhm, no need to think. No doubt, I love God.

I love God! I love Jesus! I hereby proclaim that I love my Saviour and Lord!

Truly, you only know God by reading the bible. How else would you get to really, truly know Him? We always hear on Sunday sermons about God, we know He hates sin and loves those who obey His commandments etc. We only know ABOUT God. Do we TRULY KNOW God in an intimate and personal way? Therefore, indeed, as cliche as it might sound, it is only through the bible do we understand and know God in a deep way.

I don't understand why God only chose to open my eyes now instead of any other times. But I am glad that He has. He had shown me another dimension about life, about Him, about people. I really thank God for opening up those eyes to really see and understand, and it stirs me up from the inside to want to serve Him out of gratitude. 

I also read this from somewhere, and it encourages me and lifts my soul up.

"You are safer with God in the middle of a storm than you are anywhere else without Him."

I remembered when I was in my secondary school days, filled with passion for God. I prayed to God, asking Him to let me go through trials and I promise Him I'd come out of that storm victorious. I was proud and naive, and I believed I could pass this test. But yeah... I failed. Lol.

So here I am now again, now striving to place God in the center of my life, wherever I am, in whatever I do. It definitely is not easy. But I will learn, as God slowly teaches me more new things. This sentence will also be my motto.

"The sufferings of this life are unworthy to even be compared with the future glory awaiting us."

I will end here with a song by Hillsong, called Forever Reign. It's my current favourite song and the lyrics just remind and speaks to me about God's majestic, ultimate love for me. Enjoy :)

Hillsong - Forever Reign Lyrics

Songwriters: Jason Ingram, Ruben Morgan

Verse 1 

You are good You are good 

When there's nothing good in me 

You are love You are love 

On display for all to see 

You are light You are light 

When the darkness closes in 

You are hope You are hope 

You have covered all my sin 

Verse 2 

You are peace You are peace 

When my fear is crippling 

You are true You are true 

Even in my wandering 

You are joy You are joy 

You're the reason that I sing 

You are life You are life 

In You death has lost its sting 

Chorus

(Oh) I'm running to Your arms 

I'm running to Your arms 

The riches of Your love 

Will always be enough 

Nothing compares to Your embrace 

Light of the world forever reign 

Verse 3 

You are more You are more 

Than my words will ever say 

You are Lord You are Lord 

All creation will proclaim 

You are here You are here 

In Your presence I'm made whole 

You are God You are God 

Of all else I'm letting go 

Bridge 

My heart will sing no other Name 

Jesus Jesus

Have a blessed week guys! xx

My heart goes, sha-la-la-la-la

I have no idea what title to put for this post. Hence... Hahaha. Anyway, I am currently having a small break from mugging right now. Yeah, that's what I do.. Play and procrastinate till exam dates are approaching, then I start studying.

Hmm, what should I write? Some updates...? Okay!

Have still been exercising, not bad. Still learning how to discipline myself, even up to the smallest, tiniest, teeny weeniest thing I do. Improving, but not enough. 

OH, and I lost 3kg with approximately 1.5 - 2 months of working out! *give myself a pat on the shoulder* Kudos to me for my progression so far! Sings: Oh, happy day, happy day~ when Jesus washed my sins away!

Uhmm, song not very relevant but it's still a happy thing.

Going back. Just yesterday, I bought my first ever protein powder!!!!!!! :D :D :D So so SO satisfied and happy with it. Tastes great and it does what it says. No muscle ache the next day. Woohoo!

What else... #ponder #ponder

God revealed so many things to me recently. So blessed to have such great people with great faith alongside me. One of the many realizations I've discovered is this simple, yet powerful statement.

"Lord, you deserve my obedience more than I deserve life."

Afterall, the life that I now have is given by God. I will hold this statement in my heart and remember it always. Really such an awesome sentence. I hope this sentence blessed you as much as it did for me!

Ahh, I have also finally mustered up my courage to request joining the worship team! Can I share my story?

Just joking, I don't even need to ask. I will share. Hahaha!

Before I joined Glad Tidings Church (GTC), I was in Gospel Light Christian Church (GLCC). I used to serve in the worship ministry back in GLCC as well, and I know I always have this desire to serve in that ministry. Okay, back to GTC.

After attending GTC for a little more than a year, the desire is still in there. It's just that I'm not sure if it's God's calling or merely my enjoyment and appreciation for music and singing... But well, in order to find out what is truly God's calling for me, I prayed and made a little deal with God.

Around that time when I suddenly felt this strong urge to serve in the worship team, it happened to be around my exam period as well. That was busy October when there was so many things I have to do, I have no time to study at all. Though I forgot what were the busy things, I remembered I only had 3-4 days to study for 2 exams. Obviously, I panicked.

So I asked God for his wisdom to study, that I would do my very best at mugging and trust that He would do the rest. And that even with little time for studying, if I got As for my exams, which is quite impossible really, it would be God's sign. Not only that, but God will open doors to enter into the worship team. 

Cause you see, for my previous exams, I have adequate time and am more well prepared, resulting in a B+. So with this little time, not well prepared, and an A? Hmm...

I was so anxious while waiting for those results. I was still thinking like, "will God react to my prayers?" and whatnots. Can you imagine the mixed emotions I feel when results were released? It's like excitedly nervous lol.

I must say I am surprised when I see those As. Really, really thank God. He blessed me with so much!! Although I prayed that prayer, I really didn't expect to see those results loh. I don't feel I deserved it. Then I went to ask one of the worship leaders and they actually needed female singers. Open doors!

Despite all these obvious signs, I still have my doubts. "What if it's just coincidence?" Lol, I know right... Sigh :( I dragged and dragged.. Till recently, a voice just somehow have always been reminding me of that little deal I had with God. I assumed it's the Holy Spirit talking to me.

Bottom line: I have since submitted my interest/request to join the worship ministry. I have not received anything yet, so I'm just waiting. But I have this special, subtle, inner joy ever since... Hehehe. I suppose I have found God's calling for me!

Okay... this is supposed to be a short post with quick updates but I rattled on and on and on. Oops... Time to get back to mugging!

Just wanna say that, this relationship that I have with my Heavenly Daddy is really amazing. Experiencing his love and grace is a pure, joyful bliss. It's a kind of happiness that I will never ever ever get from anybody else. He is such a wonderful God! I pray that whomever that reads this can get to experience his love and grace too! 

Till then, be healthy, confident and beautiful. God bless y'all! *Less than three* < 3

P.S: That is SO Secondary school lol.

Different

Just a quick update. We'll see.

So far so good. I've been working out for the past 3 nights consecutively. Problem is, I'm only working out at night. Did some research and studies shown that working out in the morning with an empty stomach is more effective in fat loss, increasing the percentage by a whooping 20%! Therefore, I am ready to push my lazy ass out of the bed and workout in the morning instead from tomorrow onwards. *WARCRY* Hahaha.

Putting exercising aside, what prompted me to blog today was being different. I immediately thought of this Pantene advertisement I chanced upon on a random day on Facebook Land.

This is a story of a deaf and mute girl who learns to play the violin against all odds.

This small, simple, yet refreshing conversation between the disabled young girl and the old man enlightened me. It goes:

Girl: Why am I different from others?

Man: Why do you have to be like others?

In this world, everybody wants to fit in. All of us wants to belong to a clique of friends. That's just a human thing. We rather share a room with an enemy than to be stranded alone in a deserted, isolated island. Remember the story of "Cast Away"? The volleyball named "Wilson"?

Yeah, you do now right? 

Humans feel happy and satisfied when they have interactions with people. And as we grow older, it is harder to befriend someone. At least not as easy compared to when we were all in our teens.

But my question is this.

Let's say due to bad choices, you end up with bad influenced friends. Friends that pull you down, that doesn't make you want to improve. I'm sure we've all been through that period once. Will you move away, or will you continue on?

If you move away, you are left friendless. Not exactly, but you get what I mean. If you carry on, you suffer in the long run. Well, unless your friends change. Cause you can't change people.

Point is, what would you do?

Being Fit

I'm here to remind myself of the 2nd resolution I made for 2013:
To be fit and toned.

Firstly, here's a picture.

Not much body fat content, no love handles, no thunder thighs. I applaud the girls who are able to control their food intake, maintaining their diet to get a slim physique. Because that is the problem with me. I love food too much. Oops.

Due to a lack of exercise on top of eating like a dinosaur, I began to develop a bit of a love handle, flabby arms and fat were all deposited into my thighs. :( I'm not complaining because I did not even put in any effort into changing the way I look. I was too lazy to work out, and my love for food outweigh a healthy lifestyle.

The only plus side was that standing on 169cm, I was tall. Thus, a little growth on the horizontal side didn't portray my whole figure as fat. My BMI was still in the normal range (Nope, I'm not gonna reveal my weight hahaha.) but adding a few more figures and I would be overweight. So I would say that I'm slightly above average and slightly below overweight.

HOWEVER. December 2012 were the killer. There were SO many eating events! Like Christmas dinner, church events, road trip to Malaysia etc. I gained 2kg...... By then, I was REALLY starting to get annoyed at my body. I was being complacent all these years thinking "I'll never be overweight". But the figures on the weighing scales don't lie. Starting to believe I could be overweight if I keep this up, I changed my mindset.

Wayne has been persuading me for forever to gym with him. You guys have no idea. Yes, he rocks for not giving up on me. Finally, with his encouragement and my changed mindset, I recently started to gym and replaced my meals with healthier food. I dropped 2 kilos in 2 week's time and am thoroughly amazed with myself. I mean, I AM lazy I confess. The results though not great and mighty but still, it's an improvement. This motivated me and I am now hungry for more exercise. My thirst for working out has never been more alive lol.

I am still going strong, though there are temptations to eat that piece of chocolate in the fridge sometimes... which I ultimately resist! Ya' know? :/ I love food! But I'm trying and learning how to love exercise and health more.

Okay. After all of my blabbering yada yada yada, this is my aim.

But why did I even post the first picture, then? Because I want to encourage people, to let them see that a body that works out is nicer than a body who only diets. Most of us are contented way too easily. The rest are just plain lazy.

Side by side comparison.

It is easier to get a slim body. We just need to diet, to control our eating. But to have a fit and toned body is a totally different thing. In order to achieve that, we need to lift those weights.

I'm sure everyone knows the perks of exercising. A quick google will tell you all the benefits. It's not only just looking good, it's more than that!

If you're thinking "I have no time" as an excuse for yourself, it is really about how you manage your time, and how you place your priorities. When you have that 30 minutes of free time on your hands, what would you do with it? I'm sure we all can work our way around things. Stop giving yourself "barriers" to a healthy lifestyle!

So join me in this quest/resolution! I encourage you with arms wide open!

To not be lazy
To not be easily satisfied
To expect more for ourselves
To not let your motivation die down easily
To live healthily and enjoy feeling good about our body

One picture for the guys too!

Last but not least,

Are you motivated yet? Will you take my hand and get on board this ship?