(no subject)
Now to Him who is able to to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or think....
Ephesians 3:20a
And we know that all things work together for good
to those who love God, to those who are the called
according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me,
and I will listen to you.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search
for me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
5 years ago, in the first peak of my love for all things Japanese and the beginning of me seriously learning the language, I had longed to go to Japan. In less than a week, I'll be going there for the third time since then.
I'm still pretty amazed.
The first time, Mom promised to bring me there on the condition that I get good grades for O'levels - but we went before my results came out! If I had gone for first three months JC, I would probably not have been able to go and experience snow (for the very first time in my life too), and witness God fulfilling a little girl's desire to experience snow. It was really funny. After she expressed a wish to experience snow, it snowed lightly just as we were exiting a kimono exhibition. I told her "Well, seems like God answered your prayer." And then she insitsts that she was hoping for the kind of snowfall that left at least a foot deep of snow on the ground. She didn't have to wait long, after we got on the bus, it started snowing like crazy, and we even got to build a snowman at the next rest stop. Two things: this was in the end of winter, and the weather was only about 5 degrees C...I dunno about snow, but they said it wasn't even cold enough for snow to fall. Well.
The second time was just a little over a year ago, when I went with
astellecia <3 Fully paid with our own hard-earned money. Okay, well, I borrowed a bit from Mom. But still. And the conditions were just right. They reduced the operations of the wing I was in charge in February, which left me with less than half the work I used to do.
astellecia had won a pair of tickets to the Special Nana live.
brandonheato was living there and was on holidays so we managed to receive very gracious hospitality and were guided around Tokyo.
And this time, I'm on a full blown scholarship, going the full journey with four of my classmates from the semester just past - and we all get along just great. More unexpectedly, people have been giving me money for my trip - which is completely unexpected, and making it difficult for me to calculate how much to tithe. My only regret is that I won't be able to go for the JSS camp. But, between that and Japan...やっぱり日本へ行くほうはいいんじゃない？
God is really good...I've been seeing how He fixes situations together so that things happen at just the right time. It's not just my life, but also for EJ and DJ and Kor. There are so many times to which we can look back and say "God was there with me, and it came out well." Things that I needed, but I asked no one for, came naturally, like the money I've been receiving. Things that I had hoped for, like being able to get the scholarship together with MH (one of the girls going with me) and go with her for this summer programme came to pass too. Plus, things I would never have been able to imagine - like losing my phone in February, resulting in me getting a 3G phone which I can use in Japan.
Writing this makes me think that it's really easy to seek the gift and not the Giver. A lot of I want, I hope, I wish. It's so easy to say "God, I love you" when you're just receiving blessing after blessing. And in the hard times, it's also easier to say "God, where are you? Don't You love me?" than to say "Hey, I know You're there, and that You love me, and everything is going to turn out well because of that."
Lol, okay, that's going off on a bit of a philosophical/theological track.
Well, for a bit of a heads up, I'll be flying off on Thursday morning, back on National Day.
This time, I'll do my Japan updates properly :D
abundantly above all that we ask or think....
Ephesians 3:20a
And we know that all things work together for good
to those who love God, to those who are the called
according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me,
and I will listen to you.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search
for me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
5 years ago, in the first peak of my love for all things Japanese and the beginning of me seriously learning the language, I had longed to go to Japan. In less than a week, I'll be going there for the third time since then.
I'm still pretty amazed.
The first time, Mom promised to bring me there on the condition that I get good grades for O'levels - but we went before my results came out! If I had gone for first three months JC, I would probably not have been able to go and experience snow (for the very first time in my life too), and witness God fulfilling a little girl's desire to experience snow. It was really funny. After she expressed a wish to experience snow, it snowed lightly just as we were exiting a kimono exhibition. I told her "Well, seems like God answered your prayer." And then she insitsts that she was hoping for the kind of snowfall that left at least a foot deep of snow on the ground. She didn't have to wait long, after we got on the bus, it started snowing like crazy, and we even got to build a snowman at the next rest stop. Two things: this was in the end of winter, and the weather was only about 5 degrees C...I dunno about snow, but they said it wasn't even cold enough for snow to fall. Well.
The second time was just a little over a year ago, when I went with
astellecia <3 Fully paid with our own hard-earned money. Okay, well, I borrowed a bit from Mom. But still. And the conditions were just right. They reduced the operations of the wing I was in charge in February, which left me with less than half the work I used to do.
astellecia had won a pair of tickets to the Special Nana live.
brandonheato was living there and was on holidays so we managed to receive very gracious hospitality and were guided around Tokyo.
And this time, I'm on a full blown scholarship, going the full journey with four of my classmates from the semester just past - and we all get along just great. More unexpectedly, people have been giving me money for my trip - which is completely unexpected, and making it difficult for me to calculate how much to tithe. My only regret is that I won't be able to go for the JSS camp. But, between that and Japan...やっぱり日本へ行くほうはいいんじゃない？
God is really good...I've been seeing how He fixes situations together so that things happen at just the right time. It's not just my life, but also for EJ and DJ and Kor. There are so many times to which we can look back and say "God was there with me, and it came out well." Things that I needed, but I asked no one for, came naturally, like the money I've been receiving. Things that I had hoped for, like being able to get the scholarship together with MH (one of the girls going with me) and go with her for this summer programme came to pass too. Plus, things I would never have been able to imagine - like losing my phone in February, resulting in me getting a 3G phone which I can use in Japan.
Writing this makes me think that it's really easy to seek the gift and not the Giver. A lot of I want, I hope, I wish. It's so easy to say "God, I love you" when you're just receiving blessing after blessing. And in the hard times, it's also easier to say "God, where are you? Don't You love me?" than to say "Hey, I know You're there, and that You love me, and everything is going to turn out well because of that."
Lol, okay, that's going off on a bit of a philosophical/theological track.
Well, for a bit of a heads up, I'll be flying off on Thursday morning, back on National Day.
This time, I'll do my Japan updates properly :D