Rising up to the occasion.

Yah, I've been given some new and heavy responsibilities..was very uncertain about my ability to be able to handle it, but leader and peers have utmost faith and belief in me..so therefore, I will do my best to do it! :) Thank you for the opportunity!

Will share what it is at the appropriate time..secret until the task has come to fruition..:)

The good thing about having 3 ministries..I can keep people guessing what I'm talking about..muahahaha..:P

Enjoyed going out with the gang in the past week, but had lots of hard work to be put in for school and etc recently..fighting lots of 'wars'..thankful that GOD is with me, and my friends have me in prayer! :D

20 days to driving test!!!!!! I must pass on first try! ^_^ Envision smooth roads and nice tester..ahaha..

Hoping for more job assignments in August..

Worth of a dream = Value of the sacrifice?

The worth of a dream = the value of the sacrifice?

Being challenged by God to give up something so very difficult to give up, very precious to me..I can think of a lot of other things I'd willingly give up, but this..super hard..

Asked God, can I have more time to consider? Cried over it..

The next night, prayed about it again, but this time God gave me a 'step by step' plan and I realised that I could handle steps..

God doesn't expect you to do things instantly, but He'll provide the 'process' and it'll be something you can manage..

It's a Process!

--

It's really interesting how God works. Anyway. I'm just happy to feel that my life is aligned the right direction right now.

New and exciting things are coming~ I have new goals to work towards, hehehe...

I WANT TO GO LEARN PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP!!!!

And just when I thought about it yesterday, Mandy suddenly talks about Cosmoprof today..

I need to find out more information, save $, plan properly..

Yah, one of my secret desires..to learn professional makeup..been thinking about it for a long long time actually..I have a lot of 'secret desires' for personal self-fulfillment, just put them 'in storage' as I focused on the priorities..

First day of 2009

Went out with Candice on this first day of the brand new year..

Since everyone is goal-setting for 2009..here are some of my plans for this year:

-get my driving license by June 2009
-grad from Uni with all Distinctions and HDs for every module I take this year (will grad in Dec 2009!)
-rise up more in ministry(s). I'm not going to write the specifics in this blog..:P
-do something that I've never done before, aka seize the golden moments...also not going to be specific in this blog, although I already know what it is I want to do..(church related)
-be more positively impactful in my career. Be more famous in a positive sense (or at least beneficial to me sense). That's as far as I can elaborate here.....
-maintain my fitness levels. Keep up regular exercise~
-etc etc..haven't really thought of much else to put into words yet..

--

My bro is watching Slam Dunk on Animax..nostalgic....I love SD, its super classic..I watched it dunno how many times because of AXN's multiple reruns..one of my top all-time forever favourite shows..

Thankfully, they didn't dub it in english here..

--

Oops..I haven't started studying for my final theory test yet, and its this month..^^;;

Let's cultural mandate. Creativity requires RISK-TAKING!

I'm excited for many reasons!

First all of, because I'm going back to choir! I'll be in soprano. Guess it's gonna be fun, breaking glass *cough*. Haha!

I'm very high watching my friends fulfil the cultural mandate! JIAYOU JIAYOU, let's all jiayou together! Must say congrats to Jim, he is doing well, his performances are improving! Go to his blog to watch his videos! Cultural mandating! Creativity requires Risk!

I'm going to work hard too!!! In my ministries, in my work, in my life!

--

"Innocence is virtue tested." Indeed. It reminds me of my work very much. Throughout this short time, I've been asked to interview people whose values or life choices may greatly differ from mine. I have a choice, to take or turn down assignments. I'm glad I didn't choose assignments merely based on 'what type' of person I'd liked to interview. If I only want to interview "certain" type of people, like "strong Christians" who will quote about God in half the interview, doing things that are related to Church or God only, then I might as well write for a Christian magazine. It's like what Pastor said. How do you relate to the world, if all you speak is "Christian-ese"? Got to be normal! In the world, but not of the world.

--

Today, as usual, Alan Liu says it best. "Today is a very, very weird day."

My cell group went to Sembawang Park to catch crabs, and have a bbq. Unfortunately, half of Singapore also turned up. And we only caught a few miserable ones, unlike Daniel Teh who caught a whole boxful the last time he came with his friends. And then we threw them back into the sea.

In the meantime, I got full on keropok and satay. X_X

Then we went to Chomp Pang to eat (or some of them ate, I was already KO). And throughout the day, Alan Liu was just "Today is a very weird day". Which my cgl agreed. Cgl kept wondering why we're all so hot and tired when it rained and we didn't really do anything.

--

Ok, well, my weird day doesn't end there.. Went home, saw my mother watching the Singapore Hit Awards. So I just watched a bit, since Mayday was performing. Then my mother said something very funny to me.

Mother: "Are they good? Their song isn't nice.."
Me: "Yah..they're very popular.."
Mother: "Really? But their song isn't nice..I thought ENERGY is better?"
Me: "O_O"

Don't ask me man. o.O;

Graduated from SOT

I'm finally graduated from the School of Theology.

To use the word 'finally' is odd in itself. Because right now, it feels like I've only just begun, rather than ended something.

It's akin to an egg maturing to finally hatching. While the egg 'finally' hatches, yet hatching is really the beginning of the 'real' action.

We're all matured and hatched, ready to take on the 'real' world. Not that the 5 months of SOT weren't real enough. So many of us were barely standing in the last few weeks, from exhaustion throughout due to balancing schoolwork, job requirements, social obligations, and other things. Our emotions, I'm sure, everyone was whacked some way or another.

Myself, I wanted to give up sometimes. I did wonder, was it worth it? Yet, I would remind myself, if I give in now, how am I going to fulfil the dreams and visions God placed in me?

Even before SOT, I already had a slew of problems to overcome, ranging from the family-related to financial. But God provides indeed. Every month, I practically had to keep changing jobs so that I could earn just that little bit more. I'm still in need of a new part time job now, to clear off some unexpected debts. I'm prepared to fight this fight for the financial freedom for a longer time, as long as is needed to be 'free'. But I guess you could say, I made myself a willing party of this. Because I know, that no matter what problems occurred, none of them will be too big for me to eventually solve. Because GOD has prepared the solution. If He put me to it, He'll see me through it. And it's been proven time and again, month after month, all this time.

My cell group leader always tells me *this* and I'll always remember..I'm just grateful for my cell group and leader's support in all this time! Ivan and Sarina and N342 are the most incredible.

I'm thankful for my team 21, the history-making team, being the first MJ Zone team in SOT! MJ is proud of us, and I hope we can make him proud too! MJ Zone!!

To all my members in team 21, and to ALL the friends I've made in SOT, in some way or another, EVERYONE has really made a difference in my life. I really wouldn't have it any other way. The awesome testimonies of faith, that sometimes make my problems looks so small in comparison, the wonderful personalities and characters I've been privileged to meet, the longsuffering kindness and guidance of all our lecturers and staff of bible school..it's been Amazing.

What else have I learnt in SOT? I was able to experience and expand myself more in ministry! Firstly, I was majorly involved in the Mother's Day production. Half the time, I had to call in absent for my part time job (it's up to me when I want to go in) because everyone else was not able to take leave from theirs to go down to Salvation Army and other related places to settle all the needed sets and etc. Thank God for His grace, and providing the wonderful SOT volunteers at late notice to help as crew.

I got to experience choir! That was really fun. I'll miss that alot. I'll miss the friends I've made even more! T_T Choir helped me to be more dressy. Haha..no more black black black black black all the time..Great excuse to go shopping too.. *cough*

Both SOT and choir helped to push me to take care of putting makeup on my face. Now I can't go out without putting any, it's become an ingrained habit. -_-;;

I've become much more diligent in my bible reading, and assignment-doing. Haha! Also all the 11 exams..oh my..study study study I did..

I also can't forget the very strong encouragement from Pastor to all the singles to get attached. Haha! Of course he says that in the capacity that majority of the SOT students are mature enough and etc to be in a relationship or at least start dating. I have to say that many of the MJ Zone brudders heeded the call..many 'on the way' soon..as for the sisters, it's not so happening for us..oh well..God is faithful, it's more urgent for the guys as they're getting older and such anyway.

Another exciting highlight was the mission trips! I went to JB with a small group, and it was wonderful. Then I went to Kota Kinabalu with 50 people, and experienced the warmest hospitality and love from the m'sian believers. Glory Christian Centre is really going to be something. I LOVE KK, it's an awesome place to go, I want to return for a holiday (and to visit the church and my new found friends of course!). KK food is yum too. Hehe.

Ok, I didn't just go on mission trips to eat. I went to serve! In KK, I was doing most of the backstage logistics for the drama our team acted in. Have to say that team 21 can win acting awards! A GREAT show of great impact, and glory to God! Loved every moment of the mission trip.

Finally, there was the wonderfully awesome graduation night and service days. On our graduation dinner night, we saw fireworks! Beautiful fireworks, and of course even better is being surrounded by the best bunch of schoolmates for that whole night. Had an interesting mass dance thing before that, watched several super humorous performance items, took a lot of photos, and just felt so blessed to be in such a fun celebration. Nowhere else I'd rather be on a Friday night. :)

The next day was the graduation service. In fact, this is the first time I've attended my graduation. I didn't go to my polytechnic graduation (though my photos in the graduation gown are officially splashed across several newspapers and websites..) because I didn't want to miss lessons. Took more photos, and felt so awed by the experience of graduating.

SOT is truly the best experience of my life.

And like what every graduate says..You've GOT TO GO SOT!! :)

I've been inspired to do much more, to fulfil the destiny I have in Christ, to do the many things I need or am called to do. I kind of figured out I can call them my '5 S':

Studies: I want to be a good student, in my new school. I want to study super hard, and be such a role model to my fellow classmates, and that even in my area of studies I can impact others positively. God, help me to be diligent in my academic areas and to be a good helper to others who seek my help in this course. Let me be an 'exemplary student'!

Social: I want to be more Sensitive to others' needs, that I will not always be saying the wrong words or doing the wrong things to unintenionally offend. God, help me to be more Sensitive to others! I also want to be Smilier, to attract others to be my friends! God, let me be more cheery all the time! Because I think it's still not enough, I want to be on default smiling in the face of anything that comes my way.

Self-improvement: I want to learn the things and skils that I've always wanted. There's guitar, and there's driving. I need to get myself to do the necessary action in learning and completing them! God, help me have the necessary discipline and ability to conquer these areas, so that I can be well-equipped for the future work in my life! I also want to look Sharper, going from glory to glory in my dressing and appearance! Though I think I've been doing a good job thus far, there's always room to improve and go to a new level. :))) (It's not just an excuse to do more shopping..*cough cough*)

Savvy: I want to read more! I have a small pile of books that I have yet to complete. I also need to be in-tune with the current news and current TV shows, movies, etc, being in this field of Mass Communications. How to be successful in a field when you are not knowledgable about it at all? I have libraries and Borders at my disposal too, for when I'm done with the pile of books. Now that I don't need to 'chiong' bible or any reading materials for SOT, I'm free to 'chiong' other books of my choice. God, help me pick good books and material to enrich my life, and let me be knowledgable in my area, that I will never be caught in a situation where I'm 'suaku'.

Successful: This kind of covers almost everything not mentioned. I want to be successful, being able to balance family, ministry, school, job, etc well! God, help me in having the right balance in all areas of my life. I want to be someone whom others will look up to and say, "I want to be as successful as she is, being able to do well in every area of her life!'. I believe that this is possible, by God's supernatural help plus my effort. God honours the faithful.

Let's GO! I'm ready for the next phase of this adventure! Coming up, Asia Conference, and Christmas Production! What other surprises has God in store for me this rest of the year? :) So exciting~