miriamchan151's Xanga

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:34:04 GMT

The past few weeks have been really busy for me - with teaching in the morning and sometimes afternoon, shopping for Chinese New Year goodies, clothes, curtains & stuff and preparation for GNK Bible lessons....on top of cooking and washing and other chores...... Sometimes I wondered how I could have the energy and time to do all that I needed to do.

It was especially stressful on Chinese New Year's Eve when I had to cook a few dishes for the reunion dinner. That week I was so busy buying things, doing spring cleaning that I had little time to really think through my lesson on Sunday. But God is faithful. When I looked to Him for strength and grace, He never fails to help me. Each time when I totally depend on Him, I can sense His leading in guiding me to use appropriate object lessons and even putting in my heart a closing song after each lesson. It's awesome...

Somehow as I shared with the children such serious topics like the Holy Spirit, the Church, water baptism and holy communion, I could feel His love and desire to reach out to the children in a special way. At times during the preparation, I could feel tears well up in my eyes as I recalled how the Lord touched Cheryl in the past. It was a real challenge to me to bring the message across and at the same time great joy to see the children filled in the Holy Spirit and have the desire to be baptised in water. Only God alone can do such an amazing work in their lives.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 14:17:15 GMT

It amazes me that I have laid off blogging for more than a month and this is the first one this year. Well, I entered 2007 with an anxious heart, both concerned about what I want to do as well as what course of studies my boys will be embarking on. I was just praying about whether to go back to school to teach when the call came for me to be an adjunct teacher in a nearby school. Of course I was excited. I was eager to try it out for 8 weeks and see if I can cope, not knowing that my patience would be put to the test. I soon found that I had to teach a group of 10 to 11 nine-year-olds who are both weak in Math and English. I just cannot figure out why some of them have no concept of numbers and place values. It is very trying for me to make simple addition sums easy for them to work out. I have to pray every day that I would not lose my temper with them when they just cannot follow the lesson.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 08:36:24 GMT

Have a break, have a cup of Myanmese tea!

Stting down for a local special - 'morhingar'

Christmas Party for 200 children.

Christmas Story time - That's Charity on the left, translating it into the Myanmese language.

Hands and hearts lifted to the Lord!

People from the community came for a free meal provided by the Shining Star Baptist Church.

The rest of the mission trip

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:10:19 GMT

8 days seem to fly past and we're back from Myanmar! This mission trip is a real eyeopener for me. Before I went, I could not imagine the poverty of the people and their living conditions there until I saw them with my very own eyes. In Singapore I have really taken so many things for granted.

On the 4th day of our trip, we had our first Sunday service in an orphanage - Love Bosom Orphanage. It is a wooden double-storeyed hut where we had the adult service on the ground floor and children's programme upstairs. We had a good time sharing the word and praying for each of the 30 + children. They opened their hearts to the Lord. Then we joined the guys to pray for the ladies who mostly came forward to ask God for healing. They were earnestly seeking the Lord.

Later that afternoon, we went back to the Life Bible College where the children's Christmas party was held the day before and we had an intergenerational Christmas service. The people were so eager to hear what God was doing in our lives that each of us had to share our own testimony one by one. I didn't have my testimony written out beforehand so I was rather worried about what to share at first. Praise God that when I stood up by faith, the Lord gave me the words to speak. One of the highlights of this mission trip is that when we learn to entrust ourselves to God with simple faith, He will never let us down. In fact, He answered our prayers more than we can ever ask or imagine.

The next 2 days, we visited 2 small churches led by 2 very dedicated pastors who sacrificed alot to bring the gospel to the Buddhist community. In fact, one of them was often questioned by the village chief for his Christian activites. One of our team members gave a comforting word from the Lord for him and his family to stand up for their faith and not to fear men because the Lord honours their work.

On the 7th day, while the guys went to preach in Life Bible College, we, ladies, went to Victor Educational Centre which was started 2 years ago in memory of Victor, the 2-year-old son of Charity and Daniel, who went home to be with the Lord after an illness. This couple touched my heart, for they have turned their tragedy into a triumph by taking care of other needy preschool children despite their own loss. Subsequently we prayed for them that God would grant them the desire of their hearts - to have a child of their own.

Finally, we are back! What next? There is so much that needs to be done. Indeed the harvest is plentous, the labourers are few. I am praying that the Lord will raise up more labourers especially among the Myanmese people (including the young children that we have ministered to) to bring the gospel to the lost.... and also if the Lord willing, He will send a team to provide training and materials for Charity and her fellow teachers so that they can be better equipped to share the gospel with little children.....

Mission Trip in Myanmar

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 02:20:55 GMT

After days of preparation, I'm finally in Myanmar. It's my first mission trip there. I didn't know what to expect. I thank God for our team. Each one of us has a part to play - be it preaching, telling Bible stories, giving object lessons, organising games, gift wrapping, etc. We work very well as a team.

While planning the children's Bible stories and object lessons, I felt rather stressed as every day, we go to different places and have to play by ear concerning the programme as the situation arises.

On the first day, we travelled to a village and ministered to community children in a house on stilts. Most of these children are unschooled and are very poor. We are pleasantly surprised that when Charissa taught them simple Sunday School songs, they were able to follow and enjoyed doing all the actions. Thank God the Wordless Book came in handy as we told them about God's love and salvation being a free gift. We know the seed has been sown in their hearts.

Yesterday we had a Christmas party with almost 200 children all cramped in a classroom in a Bible College. These children were from different educational centres run by a sister named Charity. We had fun doing a skit on the Lost Son, the Christmas story "The Night There Was No Room For Jesus" and again the salvation message. Praise God many hands were raised to receive Jesus. Though we do not know how many of them genuinely understood the message, we believe that God in His own way will reveal Himself to them. We are touched by their simple faith and hungry hearts. After that we had great fun playing games in a sandy compound. It was a feat organising the 200 children to play games but we did it! Then all of us had lunch and the children eagerly redeemed gifts with coupons, much like our GNK Shopping Day.

Silver Wedding Anniversary

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:41:46 GMT

Time flies! It seems like not too long ago that we walked down the aisle at the Kasbah for our church wedding ceremony and now we have been together for 25 years!!! We just celebrated our Silver Anniversary last Tuesday.

It's amazing how God brought us together - 2 very different individuals - an outgoing extrovert who is confident speaking in public and an introvert who would rather stay away from the limelight; one who looks at the BIG picture while the other scrutinizes the fine print. You can imagine how one's strength complements the other while at the same time can be the source of arguments and quarrels due to the divergent views of things. Praise be to God that His Love binds us together all these years. I thank God that through Paul, I have learnt to accept myself, overcome my low self-esteem and be more confident.

As I recall, the first few years of marriage were spent living in rented premises, working out our relationship with each other as well as in-laws and at the same time pursuing our studies. After that when we finally had our own flat, the children came and we were so busy juggling our career with parenting 3 boisterous but wonderful little ones. Before we knew it, the children have grown and are now head and shoulders taller than me.

God has been very gracious to us, providing our needs and keeping us together, especially when we went through the most severe trial during Cheryl's illness 6 years ago. What kept us going was truly the grace and love of God.

As I read on a poster somewhere,

Marriage begins when you marry the one you love

but marriage blooms when you love the one you marry.

How true! After 25 years' of marriage, I have learnt not to try to change my spouse but rather accept our differences and love him just the same!

The Lord is my Shepherd

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 02:29:51 GMT

I just love the psalms especially Psalm 23. Currently using Everyday with Jesus series on Psalm 23 and other related psalms. In trying to memorise the whole psalm, I find it speaks to me and comforts me. Truly His word restores my soul and I can find rest in Him.

Yesterday when I was awakened by an SMS for a prayer request, Psalm 121 came to my mind so I replied and encouraged the sender to meditate on it, not knowing that yesterday's devotion was also on the same psalm. How amazing! The Lord used the same psalm to encourage both of us. Indeed it was mentioned 5 times in Psalm 121 that the Lord watches over you, the Lord watches over your life... It was so appropriate for us as we are going through a trying time and learning to trust the Lord for our family.

What a wonderful Father we have who always keeps His eyes on us! Just like we parents keep our watchful eyes on our toddlers when they are learning to walk, always ready to make sure they don't fall and if they do, quickly help them up. This assurance comes at a time when I really need it most. Praise God!

Friday, November 10, 2006

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 04:32:59 GMT

Last Friday, a few of us from Queenstown Cell went to visit Bukit Batok Cell and had an interesting time discussing on 1 Thessalonians 4 : 1 - 8 about our body belonging to God. We were divided into gals and guys groups and we discussed about how to live counter-culturally, setting ourselves apart for God and what it means to guard ourselves from sexual immorality. One of the ladies commented that women generally do not have as many problems with being tempted as compared to men. Others in the group felt that in order to help our men from being tempted, we, ladies, should dress more appropriately especially during worship service, otherwise it can be quite distracting. We certainly do not want our brothers to stumble. In fact, Apostle Paul gave instructions to Timothy in 1 Tim 2 : 9 that "I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God." It's a good reminder for us to guard not only what we think or see but also what we wear....

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 06:25:42 GMT

Have been going through a very trying time. Felt very anxious and worn out with interrupted sleep at night. Though I know that faith ends when worry begins, I just feel so helpless. This only show how little faith I have in God....

Jorris reminded me about the devotion book 'Streams in the Desert'. Have been using it for the past few days and find it extremely useful in learning to be still before God and wait for Him to work things out in my life.

It says, "Nothing so greatly hinders the work of God's unseen spiritual forces...as the spirit of unrest and anxiety.... Instead of continuing our restless striving, we would "sit down" inwardly before the Lord, allowing the divine forces of His Spirit to silently work out the means to accomplish our goals and aspirations."

Being a proactive person, I like to have control and see that things work out perfectly. But God's ways are higher than my ways, His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. Yes, Lord, I'm still learning to trust Your heart and Your hands and wait patiently for You.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 15:12:59 GMT

I was just telling my family the other day that I regretted signing up for the 5 km Fun Run this coming Sunday (Great Eastern Women's Run) because I felt too lazy to train. Sam mentioned something that struck me. He said, "If you focus the way you do in other things, I think you will make it." That made sense. So I went to the gym yesterday and to my surprise managed to complete 5 km on the treadmill. This evening I tried running all by myself along the road for the first time. Surprisingly, it was not as difficult as I thought. I merely counted the no. of bus-stops I have completed and looked forward to the next one and soon I found myself back home in 30 minutes. Thank God I tried.