Lest I forget…all of Your goodness, the blood You have shed…

        Hey everyone, I’m announcing an engagement!! NO, not mine!! haha…=) Just in case u didn’t know already, Joshua Ratilal proposed to my sister, Priscilla, last Friday night (25th August) and she said yes. (Duh!) So, to Josh and my dearest sister Pris, CONGRATS!!
        So spread the good news around. The date of the wedding is yet to be determined, but it’ll most prolly be sometime next year. keke…I think love is in the air. All of a sudden all the girls wanna get married. haha…I wonder who’ll get married next? Either Daz & Nydia or Aaron & Ashley. Hmm…tough one. Anyway, I’m gonna put up some pics of their engagement weekend
        I thot the "I love you" flower petals were really sweet. Well done, Joshy! And what’s more romantic than the Sydney Harbour bridge and Opera House as background. In the last pic, God decided to include a rainbow. As some of may already know, the rainbow represents God’s blessings and promises. There are 7 colours in a rainbow. 7 is the number of perfection. And indeed, although neither Josh and Pris are perfect people, but they will make a perfect couple. Because they’ve centred their relationship on a perfect God! Have a blessed week!

Dear friends, below is a true story by my friend, Angeline, from Malaysia. It’s the story of how God healed her father when the doctor said he only had a couple of months left. It was on her blog Angie’s Blog and I got her permission to copy and paste it here cause i thot it was just amazing. Please take time to read it:

Life and Death

Some or most of you may already know that I’m a Christian. I believe in God, more than anything in the world. There’s no doubt about it. Being a Christian means to have a personal relationship with God. I know by this point, some will choose to argue and some will agree. Many times, people will ask me "Why did you become a Christian?" I was a non-Christian many years back. The first 10 years of my life was spent doing religious ceremonies that I didn’t like or understand. It was just a religion to me. Something that you put in the "Religion" field whenever you fill up a form. I didn’t really understand what I was doing or why I had to do certain things. All I know is, I was borned into that and I simply followed.

So the question is "Why did I become a Christian?"

Imagine this. I was 10 years old. At that time, the only thing that was probably in my mind was to be no.1 in my class or what cartoons will be showed on TV that day. Life and death? I hardly know the meaning of it. Everything in life was ok. I have good parents and a brother. I even had grandma who was staying with us at that time. When you are 10, your world seems to be perfect.

One day, my perfect world shattered. I cannot fully describe to you the emotions I went through as a 10 year old. My heart broke. My dad, who was healthy and all … suddenly was admitted to the hospital. He wasn’t involved in an accident but he suddenly became paralyzed. He was suffering from muscular dystrophy. His muscles were slowly being eaten up and we didn’t even know. Doc told us "He has only 3 months to live. So, make him happy. Bring him on holidays. Give him what he wants to eat. Because he is going to die".

I mean, what da! We were all in tears when we heard that and for me, I wanted to just slap the doctor. I mean, what a thing to say! I know he was just telling the fact, but that isn’t the truth. I was devastated.
After that, my dad tried many things. Mediums, bomohs, temples hidden in the jungles, acupuncture, therapy .. you name it, he tried it. But did he get better? No. He got worst instead. We were at losing grounds already. Nothing worked. Nothing helped. I saw my dad from a healthy man to a sickly man - half the size he was before. It was just terrible.

One day, as the whole family was busy preparing for some religious day, my dad was in the hall, sleeping. Or so we thought. We were so busy that we didn’t even realized that he actually died! Yes, he died! And we didn’t even know until our aunt, who came to visit my dad - tried waking him up. We all started panicking, crying hysterically, .. all in a frenzy. We didn’t know what to do!

Then all of a sudden, my dad woke up with tears in his eyes. He told us that he had died and was in this really dark place. But all of a sudden, he heard my aunt’s voice and that brought him back.
And you may be asking again, "What has that got to do with you becoming a Christian?"
You see, this aunt who came to visit us, is a Christian. She had been trying to share the gospel with my family for years. And everytime, my dad would make fun of her and sent her home crying. And on that day, when my aunt came, she "felt" like she had to come visit us and try again - never gave up on us, thank God.
And so, God gave my dad a second chance. A chance to evade death and live.
The story doesn’t end here. After that incident, the whole family believed in Jesus. And my dad?? From paralyzed, he went into a wheelchair. From a wheelchair, he used crutches to get around. From crutches, he changed to a walking cane. And from a walking cane …. he is walking and running, as though nothing had hit him before. The doc got a shock of his life when my dad went back to the hospital to show him that he didn’t die.
If you don’t believe me, go take a look at my dad now. He being alive and well, is already proof.
And that was 14 years ago.
So, why did I become a Christian? Simple. Because He is real.

Hey all,

No, I didn’t have a bad day. Haha…but that was the theme over the past few weekends at church. Btw, I’m currently attending Hope Church, led by Ps Paul and Janine Allen. http://home.austarnet.com.au/hope/

Anyway, Ps Paul’s message this week was based on John 19:25-27.

"Near the cross…When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved (John) standing nearby, he said to his mother,"Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home."

Take home message: "Be sure to take care of those near to you". The example was set by Jesus, that although He was having His worst day ever (He was being crucified & all the sin of the world hung on his shoulders), He still took time out to care for those within His reach. How sweet is our Saviour…The following are the main points of the sermon with regard to our roles as neighbours to those close to us:

1. I will be there when you need me most

An interesting fact: The highest divorce rate in the US at the moment is amongst soldiers. This is because their wives were not willing wait for their husbands who were away fighting a war. How sad…especially when the marriage covenant they took vows "love through sickness and health, till death do us part".

"Look out for one another’s interest, not just your own" - Phil 2:4

2. I will choose to be tight over being right

It’s true. Sometimes human nature just drives us to want to be right all the time. Even with relationships at stake. For eg, as Christians, we sometimes argue to convince others about the Bible, but many times, end up scaring people away. Jesus never forced himself into anyone’s heart. But instead loved us so much, that we give ourselves willingly to Him. That’s what separates Christianity from many other religions. That Christ first loved us, and died for us, that we may know Him.

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins" - 1 Pet 4:8

3. I will always be honest with you

Good relationships require honesty & transparency. I think most of us struggle with this one…The Bible calls the devil the father of all lies and the accuser of the brethren. Being dishonest puts us in a similar category to him and makes us subject to his accusations.

4. I will value you for who you are

"…love your neighbour as you love yourself" - Luke 10:29

The point being made was that we should not show conditional love. When God first loved us, He loved us just the way we were. Sinful, dirty, smelly, and what have you…Sure, he wants us to change and become more like Jesus. But if we don’t, that doesn’t mean he loves us any less. Our love for those around us should be no different.

Oh wells, just wanted to share that with everyone. Hope it wasn’t too heavy. Btw, I had Holy Communion today. I wish they had it more than once a month. Twice would be good. Until next time…=)