Spending time with like-minded people is always relaxing and exciting! CN & myself THANK GOD so much for our CLs for serving with us. They are people who love God and are willing to stretch themselves in all ways to love their sheeps. We really love spending time with them! So in our Feb meeting, we brought them to the nice, relaxing horse-riding club to catch up, talk about God's work and spend time walking around in the greenery of the club that sure doesn't feel like hectic S'pore.
Thank God for you - Irene, Hendry, Mark! :)
God Loves You & so do we!
feelin: restful alone at home (CN's gone to kenya for missions hehe...)
listenin: larry & bob (of vege-tales! ;p)
Soooo sleepy.... Guess coz' last week was a pretty long week - very fruitful though :) met up with people i wanted to catch up with, and had a really memorable and good weekend!
Saturday was Valentine's Day! The gals & guys of JEDI have been excitedly planning and anticipating this day because they wanted to organise a memorable day for everyone. They planned to have separate gals & guys activities in the day, then the guys would prepare dinner for the gals at a sister's house. It was a REALLY memorable, touching, sweet, FUN, meaningful, and blessed day... No one expected the day to be so GOOD. Many gals commented it was their BEST Valentine's day to-date! Even those attached said so!
Indeed, with God's presence & God's people, His love filled everyone's hearts and made the day more special than spending it alone with another person, even if that person was your other half :)
On the gals side, we all went Siewmin's house for our "Princess Warrior Conference". Haha... the organising committee sure wanted to bring across the point that the gals are all beloved Princesses of God, yet, not weak and useless, but strong and courageous as God would want us to be! It was so funny when the groups came up with "Queen Amidala", "Princess Fiona", "Zena", "Mulan" as their group names! hahahaha....
We had games, then worship, then discussion and sharing about "Lies women believe in (w.r.t. BGR)", then super girly time of doing make-up, hair, manicure, baking ;o The gals simply enjoyed themselves to the max. And to add the icing on the cake, we were all touched by the hard-work and sweetness of the brothers when they came in the evening to cook up a storm after their own guys-event. At first, it was really like a comedy show (!), watching them get stressed-up with how to cook a meal for about 35 people. But watching them through the process and the final outcome, the gals were all BLOWN-AWAY and there were screams of delight after each dish was brought out, not forgetting of course, the flowers they bought!
Just a very sad pity, me & CN had bought tickets to a Korean street-dance show "Break-out" a few months back, and couldn't stay for dinner. The dance-comedy was good (all the popping, locking, etc.), afterwhich we caught a free live jazz performance at esplanade which was very good too. (photos of the day coming up)
Below's a summary of the gal's workshop conducted that afternoon. It was such a ministering and touching time when some shared openly of past experiences (good & bad) and testimonies of God’s goodness. May the truth set you free too! :)
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Common Lies |
TRUTH |
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1 |
“I need a boyfriend to make me feel loved and worthy/ complete” |
God is my sufficiency. I am totally loved and complete in Christ. I am a daughter of God. Another human being is unable to make me complete because we are all fallen. 2 Cor 5:17, Col 2:10, 1 John 4:9-10, Rom 8:15-16. |
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2 |
“I need to look beautiful externally to attract guys” |
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. It is more important to be beautiful on the inside than outside to attract the right kind of partner. Provb 31, 1 Sam 16:7, Ps 139. |
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3 |
“I need to get married by a certain age to make me feel worthy/ complete” |
I am already totally complete in Christ. God will give me the right person in His timing because of His love for me. It is better to marry the right person than to suffer for life. Rom 8:28-38, Matt 6:19-33 |
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4 |
“I have failed God’s standard in BGR before, God will not give me the best anymore” |
I am completely forgiven by God. His mercies are new every morning. I am righteous and pleasing to God when I accepted Christ into my life. I am a new creation. God exchanges ashes with beauty. 2 Cor 5:21, Lam 3, Rom 3:19-25, Col 1:19-22, Isa 61, Ps 103 |
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5 |
“My boyfriend/ husband can understand me fully and meet all my needs” |
Only God, my creator can understand me fully. He knows my innermost thoughts and desires. Only He can meet all my needs out of His abundant love for me. Ps 139, Matt 7:7-11 |
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6 |
“BGR is my personal issue, God and others should not interfere” |
God is the creator and definition of love. Without God in the picture, the relationship will lack true love and even become destructive. God is the creator of BGR and marriage, and has a greater purpose for all my relationships. God gives me a family-in-Christ to love and protect me. Provb 15:22, 1 John 4:16, 1 Cor 13. |
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7 |
“I don’t need to marry a Christian” |
God’s instruction to not marry a non-Christian is out of His love for me and for my good. God’s purpose is to protect me and provide the best for me. 2 Cor 6:14 |
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8 |
“Physical intimacy before marriage helps the BGR to be stronger” |
God’s plan is for us to enjoy physical intimacy fully after marriage. Physical intimacy before spiritual and emotional intimacy is not pleasing to God and hurts the relationship in the long-run. Our body is the temple of Christ where He lives in. 1 Cor 6:12-20. |
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9 |
“God’s purpose for marriage is to satisfy our human desires only” |
God is the creator of love and marriage. He understands all our needs and created Eve as a helper for Adam. God’s purpose for marriage is not to satisfy my human needs only, but to extend His kingdom with my partner. He has a greater purpose for marriage. 1+1>2. Gen 2:18-25 |
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10 |
“Marriage is for eternity” |
Marriage is not for eternity but temporal, in my lifetime only. I will be a sister to my future husband for eternity in heaven. Matt 22:30, Mark 12:25 |
Dearest sisters-in-Christ, fellow princesses of God,
I hope you had a great time thus far at our very first Jedi Princess-Warrior Conference!
Firstly, Thank You for joining us at this conference. I would like to Thank God for the various princesses who have served us hard for today to be possible. Our heartbeat is for all the princesses of God to have a blast of a time fellowshipping with one another, and more importantly, to meet God personally and hear from Him in regards to a very big matter in our lives – BGR & finding our life-partner.
We want to SHOUT IT OUT loud to you, that GOD LOVES YOU VERY VERY VERY MUCH (we cannot emphasise it enough). Much more than you can ever comprehend. Because of His Great love for you, we pray that you will not base your identity on what the world (devil) tells you, but what God tells you and says you are. When you KNOW who you are – a beloved child of God, you will find that everything else in your life falls in place and you no longer act out of fear.
There are 2 possible options we can choose to determine our self-worth:
Option 1: The world’s system:
Self-Worth = Performance (what you do) + Others’ opinions (what others think or say about you)
Option 2: God’s system:
Self-Worth = God’s Truth About You.
We pray that today, you will gain FREEDOM by Knowing your identity and significance in Christ. The devil desires to instil fear in us that causes us to follow his ways of the world, but by the grace of God, He has given us the TRUTH and power to overcome the lies.
Here are some over-arching principles we hope you will take home today:
1. GOD LOVES YOU. GOD IS LOVE.
§ Have faith that our all-knowing God will provide the best for you in His timing because He loves you too much and want the best for you. He is the creator and definition of love.
§ Don’t let your fear short-change yourself and affect the rest of your life
2. Seek first His kingdom and righteousness and everything else will be given to you (Matt 6:33)
§ Be Holy as God is Holy
§ Choose to be different from the world in your relationships (relating to one another) and God WILL honor you. We are His light in a depraved world. (Phil 2:15)
§ Set His standards for your life-long relationship
§ Be in a relationship not just for your own needs alone but to be a blessing, to serve others and God
3. Be the woman that God wants you to be and seek out His unique purpose for your life (Jer 29:11)
§ Be a woman of character (Provb 31)
§ Live everyday of your life to the fullest for God and He will grant you fruitfulness in all areas
C.S. Lewis Song - Brooke Fraser
If I find in myself
Desires nothing in this world can satisfy
I can only conclude
That I, I was not made for here
If the flesh that I fight
Is at best only light and momentary
Then of course, I'll feel nude
When to where I'm destined I'm compared
[Chorus]
Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the mornin'
I will sigh and with all creation groan
As I wait for hope to come for me
Am I lost or just less found
On the straight or on the roundabout of the wrong way
Is this a soul that stirs in me
Is it breaking free, wanting to come alive
'Cos my comfort would prefer for me to be numb
And avoid the impending birth of who I was born to become
Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the mornin'
I will sigh and with all creation groan
As I wait for hope to come for me
For we
We are not long here
Our time is but a breath
So we better breathe it
And I
I was made to live
I was made to love
I was made to know You
Hope He's comin' for me
Hope He's comin' for me
Hope He's comin' for me
Hope He's comin'
Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the mornin', mornin'
I will sigh and with all creation groan
As I wait for hope to come for me, for me, for me, for me...
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i like this song :) because it sings out what i feel... yearning to be with Jesus on the other side of heaven because nothing on this earth can satisfy my soul...
We are made by Him to love. We are not long here. Our time, our life is but a breath... live it without regrets in loving Him, others, and glorifying our maker.
Photos of more food gatherings Jan through CNY and good coffee! ;o
I miss the good food of KL... i really love the fried kway teow & black hokkien mee!
Saw this really coooooool coffee maker at a hotel that makes instant fresh espresso/coffee and it's such a small size! how i wish i could have taken it home hehe....
feelin: full... from staff CNY lunch
listenin: brooke fraser
Finally back after being away for a while.
CN & myself went back to KL for CNY, and went with his family to Hanoi, Vietnam for a short trip.
It wasn’t a great trip as the shops were mostly closed over CNY and it was colder than most expected and prepared for (below 10deg). But for CN & myself, as our objective was to spend time with his family (seeing them 10-15 days per year only), we were glad to be anywhere with them. More about Hanoi later.
CNY is as usual, LOTs and LOTs of eating!!! I really do feel FAT (tho’ some would kill me if I said so)… and I ate so much of good food till I’ve a sore throat now hehe…. Yet this week we still have more gatherings of good food to go!
CNY is a super lull period for the JEDI group as majority return home for reunions. The week before, I wrote an email to encourage them to love their family tangibly since they’re away from home much. May it bless your heart too.
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Dearest JEDI Family,
HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR (in advance)!!!
In a week’s time, many of us will be going back to our home country to celebrate Lunar New Year with our families!
Here’s wishing you a great time of feasting as well as building deeper relationships with your family members.
"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Exo 20:12
As Christians, God has called us to honor our parents as well as to be salt & light wherever we go. As you spend time with your family this festive season, it’s a great time to shower God’s love into their lives, especially so if your family has not come to know the God that can give them beyond material needs – love, joy, peace, security! Matt 6:25-33.
Here are some pointers that we have used in our lives, may it be helpful to you. Of course, if there are better ways you can think of to bless your families, please go beyond these pointers! (and pleaseeee don’t limit showing love to just festive seasons, but whenever u can!)
1. Prepare gifts for your families – cookies, fruits, herbs for soup, their favourite foods etc.
2. Prepare money (in red packets for the Chinese families) for your father & mother separately – an amount more than your regular giving. It is good to give a small amount to your siblings & grandparents as well.
3. Help out with chores e.g. cooking, buying stuff, cleaning up etc.
4. Be spirit-controlled in your speech – it shows that God has changed your life when you’re more respectful & encouraging to your family!
5. Restore relationships if you’ve any broken ones (ask God to give you strength to forgive or to say sorry)
In summary, be generous in giving, in loving, and spend quality time asking how your family members are doing. Quality time does more wonder than quantity time ya? J
For many of us who are the only/ minority few who are Christians in your family, take heart! God has called you so that you may intercede and share His saving message to your family. If you predict that your elders may ask you to offer prayers/ incense to other gods and you do not know how to reject them kindly, please do not hesitate to ask your shepherd/ CL/ us.
Looking forward to hearing testimonies of closer relationships when we’re all back!
In His love,
CN & Christine
