Been wanting to dedicate a post to my spiritual life and write about the way God has worked in my life but inertia has always prevented me from doing so until today. The impetus came from a friend who left me a comment in my other blog this morning( refer to para in italics. the 5pm refers to church on Sunday for the Holy Communion Service). It kinda concided with my morning devotion about how my life can and does reflect God's love. I was just thinking how I can be a better testimony to the non-believers here.
During church service on sunday, I prayed aloud during the prayer session for God to show me how to bring my friends to Him. Most of the NUS students here are non-believers and it's practically an untapped gold mine for me. However I'm not used to the idea of evangelising and I didn't like the pushy attitudes that I had seen before. It can turn pple off sometimes. I guess the idea is to do it subtly and pray loads. Anyway, what I'm doing here is to ask my friends to go to church with me since the church setting here is something different. So far, not very successful until this friend expressed her interest. I'm glad I had posted the Interview with God. I was feeling lonely at that point of time and found this comforting passage online.
yo! heh don read blogs often until today deicded to go and see all since i cant go gym due to my hands...and u know i see ur pics it seems that i went on the trip w u la heh everything looks familiar and we looked at the same stuff and take pics of the same things almost frm the same angles loh!eh i think u shd go icehotel for ur marriage in future heh think u would like it then u can show ur boyfren and if at nite u all manage to catch the lights it will be damn fantastic like god's gift for ur wedding eh! u know when i saw the lights then suddenly junyi's hp rang then iw as like is god sending u a msg to let u konw he's putting on the lights haha...and lastly, i tot ur post on the gods interview was nice eh...it something that i discovered recently also heh that ppl are doing very stupid things w our lives and tryin to find a way to overcome it....OH btw lets go for 5pm on sunday ya! i jus wan to take a lookjanice =o)
There are several thoughts that have been running through my mind for the last 1.5 months that I'm here. These thoughts were acquired through sermons, daily devotions or just sheer randomness.
1. God can use me as an instrument without my realisation. He used me to bring Carol to church. Also, I was waiting for a friend at the Grand Cathedral one day when I met Elaine (a lady from church). She was praying with a Master's student who needed a roof over his head. However he does not have any money. She asked me if I do know of anyone who could help. I thought of David ( the guy whose house we use for weekly bible study) who has 2 extra rooms in his apartment and told them about him. Elaine was quite delighted with the news and immediately prayed on the spot to give thanks for sending me with the good news. I didn't even sense that I could be of use but I guess they were eager for some good news. Sometimes I don't know whether I'm inferring too much but regardless of anything, I have made a difference in Carol and the guy's life.
2. I was planning to go for a Russia trip with Jan. Daniel was apprenhensive about it because of safety reason. He asked me whether I had prayed about it and I told him no. He asked me to pray about it and I did. Before I left for the Scandinavia trip, there were some problems with the tourist voucher processing (complicated process) and I got a feeling that things will not work out. After I came back, I prayed about it again and asked God for a clear sign. I later met Jan who told me that the hostel sent her an email saying that her credit card number was invalid but she did not receive the email and her credit card was not charged. I knew then that God does not want us to go alone. I'm committing the Easter road trip to St Pet and Moscow (organised by some tour group for uni students in Sweden) to Him now.
3. The sermon on Sunday talked about Jesus going down from the mountains to save the people. It was a place to rest for Him but He could not afford to linger there for long because there was too much work to be done in the villages. The pastor asked "Are we willing to go down from the mountain to render our services?" It struck me that I must really do something useful about my life rather than just let it flow pass.
4. What is greater than sin itself? "Causing others to sin is greater than sin itself". I like this. It's so horrible to be a stumbling block but it's so easy to. I know it's important to be a good testimony to others but i'm not exactly doing it in terms of saying grace. From Aunty Siewfong: saying grace is seen as a part of christian life such that non-believers expect us to do so. I was just telling her that Junyi asked me why I never say grace when Charlotte was doing it beside me. My lousy reply was "I just never. heh" I want to show appreciation but sometimes i just don't feel comfortable doing it with non-believers. As what she said, it's a good starting point to talk about God if others ask. I must try to give thanks!
