*+_Praise † Grace_+*

Father in Heaven, I come before You today, I wanna thank You for Your gracious providence that is always abundant. All that I have needed, You have provided, far more than what I deserve, far more than what I need. So Lord, help me to obey You every step of the way. Help me to know that You have plans to prosper me, not to harm me, even though obedience may seem too simple or too absurd to be true. Father, help me to rely, not on my own understanding but Yours. Help me to remember that Your ways is always better than my ways. I thank You, O Lord, for holding me through nearly 2 weeks of fasting and prayer. I want to remind myself that this fasting is not about abstaining from food and pleasure; it is not about proving that I can suffer for Your sake; it is not about trying hard to draw near to You. Instead, this is about dedicating a portion of my time of pleasure to earnestly seek You and listen from You. These times are crucial: I want to carefully and attentively listen to Your ...

Well, there is a reason why I chose to work in Batu Kawan area. More than a year ago, Pastor Matthew, Kai Seng and myself shared a vision to start a ministry in Batu Kawan. One door after another was opened for us, and many other doors closed. It is a vision that we can begin a Bible Study Cell Group which, with hopes and prayers, will eventually grow into a church in Batu Kawan & Simpang Ampat area. But the question that lingers: how can we do it? It began with our church Deacon, Mr. Ng offering me to stay at his new house in Taman Tasik Mutiara For the past month I had been extremely worked up and worried. "Where do I find the money to furnish the house? What should we do? What do I need? How do I clean such a big house by myself?" Honestly, I did not expect myself to learn so much about ministry. Ministries belong to God I believe all ministries should begin with this realization: that ministry is inspired by God, initiated by God, moved by God and e...

It's been exactly 3 months and 4 days since I started work. Well truthfully, I probably only worked for about two and a half months because of that two-week long Christmas holiday. Nonetheless, by God's wonderful grace I have walked through a quarter of a year. There is so much I've learn about life, about myself and about God. This post intends to record the things that I have learned. I have learned to delay gratification Starting my working life away from home means I have to build my life from scratch. With a limited budget to spend, I realise cannot be as financially irresponsible as I have used to be. I have learned to distinguish my needs and my desires. In order to fulfill my needs, I must put on hold whatever luxury that I cannot afford to have. This is something really difficult but it really taught me to have self-control and to be long-suffering. I must remind myself that the temporal pain of not gratifying myself now is to gain a greater, longer lasting ...

It's been 2 months away from home since I decided to begin my career in Penang. Before I left, I could still remember my grandma pleading me not to leave. I left anyway. A great change is coming to my family. I guess these changes can be good, but nonetheless, it is inconvenient. GRAMDMA IS DOWN WITH STROKE It was on a Saturday morning that I get this news. It was difficult to swallow, but it didn't take me long to accept what happened. Grandma had always been an active person: Waking up before the sun is up to send my cousins to school, then go to the market for her daily shopping, followed by her coffee chit-chat routine at the coffee shop before heading to my aunt's saloon to help. After her nap, she would head back home to clean the house and prepare dinner for about 15 persons. All this is about to change. With her partial paralysis, she would lose all ability to perform even the most routine task. That would mean all the different families that she had ...

I finally kick-started a new improvement project in my company. The project will serve to improve the current processes in my company and to complete my Lean Six Sigma certification. The project calls on process owners such as managers, team leaders, supervisors and etc. They are all experts in their own areas: they know how things can be made simpler and easier. One of the deadliest mistake in the early stage of an improvement project as such, is to immediately rush into implementing solutions without properly understanding the real underlying problem. As experts of their respective areas, the team is often tempted to quickly throw out solutions they think would make their work easier. It is not long before all the meeting quickly escalated into a heated discussion where everyone is trying to make their opinions heard. Each one of us is too quick to speak, yet unwilling to listen to what others have to say. As a project coordinator (particularly younger than ALL of them), I strugg...

It's my 4th week working by now. God had been with me every step of the way and I know He will continue to provide. I am thankful. It was a month of humbling experience: learning to control my impulsive spending habit as well as to manage my finances. Nonetheless, I made it through the month only because there were family and friends who supported me relentlessly. My dad continued to be my provision and supply for my first month of working. I tried not to ask too much, and indeed what I asked for is sufficient.  My mom who had been my constant counsel for life wisdom, especially on my finances. She was constantly worried about how I spend my money and how I make financial commitments. My landlord and friend, Dr. Chan, who willingly sheltered me. I am abundantly blessed with comfortable air-conditioned room, private toilet, awesome kitchen and never-empty fridge. His wife, Trish, who constantly asked me to eat fruits and even made soup that nourished me. I think if not for her,...

I couldn't stand it anymore. One step into the carpeted sanctuary of Li Xin Baptist Church will strike me into an infernal of dust allergy. Cleaning up was needed. So, right after the Theology class, I took out the church's vacuum cleaner. But it wasn't working well. It was making a lot noise but nothing was picked up. Putting my engineering to work, I opened up the dust trap, lo and behold, a whole lot of clutter. Holding my breath and ever-flowing snort, I took the filter out and shook the dust that was clogging the vacuum cleaner. The trap was emptied and voila, it worked perfectly again. I guess it is the same with us as Christians. We are called and set apart to be priest, standing in the gap between the living and the dead, between God and sinful men. We are called to bring cleansing in the blood of Christ to fallen and helpless people. The cleansing work begins, not with the unbelievers, but the very followers of Christ first. God is interested in cleans...