Tuesday, December 12, 2006

PRAISE the LORD

Firstly and foremostly, I apologise for the long delay in updating this blog...I hope you haven't been disappointed too many times by finding the same blog as last time.
 
What a season! Christmas is around the corner almost pratcially here, the decorations are up, the smell of baked goods are floating in the atmosphere, presents being wrapped... blah blah blah...the list goes on. Actually, right now I'm just feeling very thankful because I just got an email saying that I am eligible for the Kings College London bursary. For those of you who have absolutely no idea what that is, and I didn't before I started University, is that the school is giving me £1350 for "no apparant reason". This is non-repayable and is suppose to help me fund my education! Isn't that an answer to prayer??? On top of the grant which I am getting now, basically my tuition fees are completely paid for! Praise the Lord for his provision indeed! Of course, there's still the question of accomodatiom, travel and food but I think the fees was the major thing.
 
Please, however, continue to pray that I will get my National insurance number so that my loan will still come in.
 
Another wonderful thing to be thankful for is that of one of my close friends being here in London (Michelle Hey). She arrived this morning. Unfortunately, my family and I will be gone for about 2 weeks to Spain and by the time I get back, we have jsut about one week to spend together and even then, I'm sure she's being "booked" pretty quickly by all her other acquaintances here in the UK. I am a little disappointed to not have more time with her but I am thankful that she is here and that I will be able to see her tonight.
 
Like I said, it is such a tremendous time of the year to be celebrating God's goodness and mercy and LIFE! Of course, we don't want to limit that celebration to just one day or one month or one season but for the rest of our lives. It is SUCH an exciting time and I hope and pray that you will all be excited with me.
 
"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to YOUR name give Glory, because of Your mercy, Becayse of Your truth" (psalms 115:1
PSALMS 100!
 
Thank you all for standing with us over the years or however long you have been faithful for the glory of the Lord. Blessed christmas and the happiest of new years to you.
-Debbie
 

Posted by Anonymous at 12:53 pm | | Comments

Late..

Dearest Fellow Seaweed Soup Peeps,
 
I realise I have missed I think several Sundays now and although I may have some good excuses I'm sure they won't be "good enough". In any case, I'm here now.
 
I just firstly wanted to say thanks for being such good listeners on that last Friday. I think it was good to get some of those things off my chest since it's very hard to talk about things like that with people who know the people I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong though- those people I mentioned (thankfully not by name) are wonderful people who are really making a difference for the Kingdom. The only thing is that sometimes the way we all go about it may not be the best.
 
I think all of you will also know that I am really close to my dad in the way that I respect and love him as a father so I sometimes feel that things that happen to him aren't very "fair". It constantly amazes me how he can just shrug his shoulders and says, as you heard "God gives and God takes away". I'm sure most of you at the very least will know what I mean when I say that I feel bad when bad things happen to people that are close to me. I praise the Lord for the grace and comfort that He gives in battles such as these, for the armour that we can equip ourselves with, for the friends and family that He surrounds us with, for His own presence which brings peace. He goes before us, he guards our rear... I wonder why we still stand trembling at the thought of battles and the enemy.
 
It really is true, you know, and I pray and hope that you have all or will all experience this song "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look FULL in His wonderful face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace". How true?! I was talking with my dad not too long ago about the awesomeness of God. So awesome is He that people couldn't utter the full name that we so often see as "Yahweh" (YHWH) that some would just say 'Yah' before falling flat on their face in fear and reverance. Why do we not come before Him with fear and trembling as we should? (Psalms 2:11) Have we not fully seen or realised what a powerful God He is that he could just ZAP us off the face of the earth if He should want even though we know He loves us dearly and desires for ALL men to be saved?
 
How much we should be able to say with the Psalmist (psalms 63)
O Gos, You are my God; EARLY will I SEEK YOU; My soul THIRSTS for you, My FLESH (even my flesh) longs for you... Because Your loving kindness is BETTER THAN LIFE.... When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. Because You (already) have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings will I rejoice..."
 
May we all serve the Lord and each other together with fear and trembling, bringing glory to His beautiful name. I sincerely wish you all a truly God inspired Christmas and blessed New Year whereever you may be going. I'll tell you about my trip once I get back.
 
From a sister (and it's so nice to have such a HUGMONGOUS family... =0),
Debbie
 
 

Posted by Anonymous at 10:56 am | | Comments

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Time For My Mindset To Change.....

Was just thinking about Bible study yesterday... what i've learnt, as well as what Kenny Gan shared... Essentially 4 "switchwords/switchphrases" stuck me. MINDSET CHANGE IMPORTANT! Time for me to conjure up powerful images of:

- "Bargain". SALE!!!! If you give someone $1, and you get back $1000, that's a bargain. When you give what isn't even yours (since you don't even own your life), and you get abundance in return, that's a bargain. Giving up "all" to follow Christ who can give you so much more is not a sacrifice. It's a bargain. Giving up that "$1" would be so much easier.... "But it's $1!!!" "100 cents!!!" ..... (THINK "BARGAIN" RATHER THAN "SACRIFICE")

- "Privilege". Sums up our service to our God who is beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words, too wonderful for comprehension, whose infinite wisdom we cannot grasp, and whose depth of love we cannot fathom. How can serving such a Holy and Loving God be mundane and a chore????!!! (THINK "PRIVILEGE" RATHER THAN "CHORE")

-"Walking on water". If you don't get out of the boat, you cannot walk on water. Christian warfare is a thrilling, exciting, engaging, fantastic experience. We're fighting a noisy but defeated foe, and seeing the devil get thrashed as we rely on God's strength and learn to spot the devil's wily traps and see God work in our lives and our friends' is thrilling. But the Christian soldier slinking behind in the toilet won't get to see it. Don't spend time watching movies about people walking on water... Do it yourself! (THINK 'WALKING ON WATER" RATHER THAN "DRY")

-"I Own Nothing". Even my life. i.e. We are stewards of our lives and gifts. Stewards don't hang on to anything in life. When the Master wants it back, we give it back, no questions asked. So when our health, wealth, loved ones, job, studies, etc go (by theft, disasters, accidents, etc), we bless the Lord who gives and takes away, not a fickle of complaint in our mind. A sharing was given about spending a lot of time and concern on a person who in return backstabbed him and spread false rumours about him, but since the time invested was not his to begin with, he really had nothing to complain about, but just continue to trust and follow God. (THINK "I OWN NOTHING" RATHER THAN I OWE THIS LIFE TO MYSELF"

Update:
Last week of school coming right up. I'm going with Adrian and Candice to Egypt from 17th to 24th December. Cairo, Aswan (there's a great dam there) and um.. something... haha...
Weather's getting colder in London... Looking forward to the nice warmer weather in Egypt...

Prayer reqeusts:
To have a good and safe trip to Egypt, and being able to worship God in song and encourage each other in Word there inspite of the hectic schedule and the temptation to "forget" about God.
That every member in the group will seize Christmas hols well and continue to grow and mature in the faith.

Posted by Anonymous at 1:50 am | | Comments


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