A Heart of Thanksgiving

This was the speech I gave on 26 Nov, for my Project 10 to Inspire Your Audience:

2014 will come to an end in a month's time, it is a good time to take stock of how our year has been. To give thanks, to reflect and spend time with our family.

In fact do you know that in a day's time, it will be thanksgiving day? Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in America as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and for the preceding year.

How has your year been? Are you able to give thanks for your year? For some of us it has been a good year maybe you had a promotion or a new addition to your family. For others it has been a year of transition with house move and new roles at work. And for some it could have been a painful year with the lost of a loved one or a loved one being hospitalised.
You do not need to raise your hands, but on a scale of 1 to 10.. 1 being it has been the worse year ever and 10 being it has been a wonderful year, how would you rate 2014?

If you are like a typical Singaporean, well they say Singaporeans like to complain. We complain about the MRT, COE, ERP, and most often of all about the PAP.

Singapore’s GDP per capita is one of the highest in the world, and yet all signs point to the fact that Singaporeans are also one of the unhappiest people in the world based on a survey by Gallup.

They say that laughter is like medicine for the soul. How can we be happier?

How can you end this year with a joyful and thankful heart?

I want to share two points using two stories.

The first is that we can give thanks by being grateful for what we have.

The first story is still very vivid to me. This took place about a week ago, I was awoken at 1am with the sound of heavy breathing from my husband. I walked out with him to the living room, and he was in such pain that he could barely open his eyes. I can still vividly remember his expression. He was sweating profusely. He was having a bad pain on the right temple of his head.

I was very worried and I decided to take a taxi to the hospital. When the taxi reached the a&e, someone wheeled a wheelchair for him and then shortly after he was wheeled into the emergency room. It was a long and worrisome wait for me. I waited there for an hr while he was being examined then the doc came out and told me that they were doing a CT scan for him. After another hr they said that he was to be warded for further investigations tho the CT scan didn't seem to show anything sinister.

When I saw him, his pain had subsided. I went home at the advice of the nurse and rested for about 2 hrs before coming out again to visit him where he was warded.

The next day, the doctor told us it was very unusual for a sudden onset of headache. They were concerned if there was any bleeding in the head. They have to do two other tests including getting fluid from the spine to test the brain fluid. I began to text my friends and relatives to keep my husband in prayer.

That evening as i went home, I was very heavy hearted, I was very fearful. I did not dare to switch off my hp for fear that the hospital will call me. I was fearful, and the fear of losing my husband was very real. You know many times we think that we men are in control of our lives, but at that point in time, When things happened so suddenly I felt helpless and knew that men are not in control of our lives and i could only pray and trust God's plan.

With much fear, the results were released. Thankfully, the tests turned out negative. There was no bleeding in the brain. The doctor said it might be due to stress. I was so thankful. It was the feeling like i had a second chance to live with my husband. I imagined the worse, but it turned out fine. Even now, i am giving thanks daily and am grateful to hear the music of my husband's snoring.

For first pt is that we can cherish and be thankful for what we have.

When was the last time you praised the Lord for the gift of being alive?

My second pt is that we can give thanks in spite of our adversities.

Nick Vujicic is a man who was born without any limbs. He suffered from depression when he was younger wondering why he was born this way and laughed at at school. You would think that naturally he would be a very negative person. Do you know that now he is married and has a beautiful baby with his wife.

He says "In life you have a choice: Bitter or Better? Choose better, forget bitter"

Many men who are full bodied are not as happy as him, why? It is because of our attitude.


How would you end this year? Will you end the year in defeat because of the challenges you face, or will you give thanks for being alive, and appreciate your loved ones?

I urge you friends, to treasure each moment of your life, and to end the year with a heart of thanksgiving.

True love that the world needs today

I first knew about the Father 's heart in 2010 when the team came to Singapore for a conference. It really blessed me and uncle Julian's invitation to me to go to Penang A school was in many ways for me, the personal invitation of Father God to me. Next, I went to Going Deeper in 2011.

Last week, I went to Penang again and it was an amazing time with Father. 

In 2010 and 2011 I felt the journey was a lot about inner healing and coming to know the love of the Father. Now in 2014, I feel my understanding has grown. It started with being aware that we as Christians have a Father who is waiting for us with open arms. He is that loving and compassionate Father and He is with us in every situation and challenge. His love is poured out into our hearts like a real substance. And u grow in that love. This love transforms u on the inside out, and day by day we grow and manifest God's nature in our life.

The message was so life giving to me, as I had grown up in an environment of rights and wrongs. Sermons tell u that God wants our obedience and surrender.. That is true yet not complete. When we are so aligned with His heart, it is no longer about obedience but such harmony in our walk with Him. We don't have to fear that we will trip, walking on a tightrope of rights and wrongs. God sent His Son because He loves us. And His son in the gospel, Jesus knew who His Father was. He had such an intimate and secure relationship with the Father such that He did whatever the Father was doing.

So it is not longer about living our lives with laws and guilt. There is a new found freedom in my heart. And with that it is so much easier to enjoy life as a Christian.

At the school, God also spoke to me about an area of sadness. I had a miscarriage in April this year. I don't mind sharing this with people except sometimes people may feel awkward. God was our comforter during those difficult moments. The loss is still there in a part of the heart. But what really brought tears to my eyes was the verse that God spoke to clearly to me at Penang. 

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. (Isaiah 49:14-16 NKJV)

Ofcos there was doubt in me that God had forsaken me, but Father so gently and intimately reminded me of His mothering love that He will always have compassion on me and is with me. When I came back to Singapore as I prayed, Father brought up the memory of our child who is in heaven with Him now... And revealed to me that as much as I grieved for this child, He grieves for and with His children. And now this verse has so much more a deeper meaning having been a mother myself.

There was also often this struggle that I don't find myself beautiful. In the most gentle way, He asked me, if your daughter doesn't find herself beautiful, how would u feel? I would be sad and my daughter was ofcos beautiful in my eyes. Then I felt God tell me, what more when u tell me that u are not beautiful? You are made in my image my daughter. I teared knowing in my heart how God had spoken to me in such an intimate way.

I believe He wants to restore us to the knowledge and identity as His son and daughter. As a servant, we ask for wages, but if we serve our Daddy as a child of His, we would be able to serve with so much more compassion. That is the true love that the world is looking for today.