hi guys! char here, just to have some thoughts to share with y’all after a long time :)

As i rest for the night, though i reached home pretty late after confi camp briefing, i had this strong prompting in my heart to flip through my little bible before i sleep. Not long ago, during bible sharing i remembered sharing with y’all about 1 Corinthians 13 and how i wanted to meditate on each verse which speaks about what is Love. And deep inside myself, i knew i had been putting this ‘practice’ off due to work, tiredness and many other types of emotions.

So when i read through 1Cor13 tonight, it says:

Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud;
Love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable;
Love does not keep a record of wrongs;
Love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.
Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fail.

And as i read this passage, i started to tear cos i knew in many ways i have not been loving. And in some areas of my life, I have not achieved what the definition of love entails. And i guess emotions came cos as i read deeper into the passage, i realize Love also refers to Jesus and He is patient, He is kind…He never gives up and His faith, hope and patience never fail.

At that moment, i felt really unworthy to be a disciple of His, for I am not like Him in any way. Hmm maybe y’all might be wondering how come suddenly i a bit emo, eh i also not very sure myself. Many things piled up over the weeks and have kind of set me in a mood of self-realization, though in quite a harsh way and have made me dislike myself many a times. But that maybe its God’s way of calling me home, to listen to His voice once again, something that i have been struggling with in my own personal prayer life at home.

So guys, if y’all would, to keep me in yr daily prayers as i go through my last week of attachment and try my best to spend more time in prayer :) thanks muchh!

love, char.

Hey everyone! Hope you’ve all been fine and well!

I have been wanting to let all of you know how I have been doing and do so via tumblr for quite a few months now. But I’ve never had the courage to do so in writing. Silly, I know. Well, I have been attending mass at the only church in our Pastoral area here in Dunedin. The Church of the Holy Name. I couldn’t get used to it at first. I really, really missed SFX. The mass was just too different for me to handle. Between singing the Gloria and the Our Father differently; not to mention repeatedly singing the first 5 lines of the Our Father 3 times; and oh the hymns are reallyyy different and they don’t have a choir so they play the songs on tape at times and we just sing the chorus while the tape sings the verses. sadly, they don’t even have altar servers. and the biggest reason in my heart was that this just wasn’t home. I was in a very different and new place. The people are different, culture is different; the accent is different; and i just missed the warmth and friendliness of everyone back home.

Walking home from mass each time was about the hardest journey I made because (in my head), it just isn’t supposed to be like that. I’ve never left mass feeling horrible till I came here, with all of the hurt of leaving sg in my heart. I was ready to just accept being miserable going for mass every week. (Couldn’t even get the Homily the first few times because I couldn’t get his accent :/ ) But of course, something changed my mind. I went for Sunday mass, completely at a loss and just praying and hoping to feel better. Then, I heard familiar hymns being played. I can’t remember the hymn right now though. =D It just lit up my world and the words called me back to Him. :) I received a few smiles and nods from the parishioners as well. Through that entire mass, I just started crying…thankful that my prayers had been answered…that I wasn’t alone in His house.

Today was the start of a 3-day/evening retreat held by presenters from Australia, Michael and Ann Mangan. Honestly, I can’t remember much of the hour an a half I spent there so I’ll just share about the parts I do! Michael’s a really good musician and the chorus of one of his songs goes like this

“Jesus is our cornerstone,
And if we believe in Him,
He will never let us down,
This we believe, yes we believe.

We’re building on this rock of Faith,
Raising up a house of hope,
Working for the reign of God,
This we believe, yes we believe, this we believe!”

It’s a really upbeat song and he had everyone clapping and moving with the music. It made me smile to see the older folks joining in his action songs. Mmm well, the two of them are sort of missionaries who travel to parishes in different countries and share their experiences and give retreats. Tomorrow is on the holy communion and Wednesday is on Mission. I hope to go but the weather has been crazy with rain, hail, strong winds and the temperature dropped about 6 degrees in one night. It’s snowing on the Southern Alps and we’re only reaching the middle of Autumn.

Ann shared about the history of our faith and she mentioned something really interesting. She showed us images of what people have come up with as to what Jesus looks like, and compared the image of Him in the Last Super and including one where He’s a modern looking umm..ok no other way to put this.. but he looked really handsome :D. Her point was that we shouldn’t be focused on the details of what he looks like in our minds. She used an image of Einstein saying “Imagination is more important than knowledge” but added in the word “religious”. “Religious imagination is more important than religious knowledge.” Thought that was pretty interesting. (I INCLUDED AN IMAGE OF IT!)

Learnt something else as well. The meaning of the Indian word, Namaste. Ann goes for yoga class and the instructor would end his class saying, “Namaste” and his students would respond in kind.
Namaste = The divine in me, greets the divine in you.
A beautiful greeting.

That’s about all I can remember about the session! Oh! I met this girl from michigan, u.s.a. She’s on exchange here for one semester. We talked because we were required to share with the person next to us, what we would answer if Jesus asked “Who do you say I am” (Mark 8:29 where Jesus asks his disciples who they think he is and Peter answers “You are the Messiah”.) She goes to the 7pm mass like I do, so I’m hoping that perhaps I’ve found a friend I can go for mass with. At least just for the semester.

:) from what I know from speaking to some of you every now and then, life has been tough but you’re getting through the obstacles, and for some of you, the holidays are here. I hope that more of you will be free to skype one day! My finals are coming up soon as well. 13/14 june then I have a long three week break. All of my friends will be going home. Skype please! :) Take care, all of you. I miss you guys so much. Thank you for all of your gifts, physical gifts and words of love and concern. They’re all here with me, in my heart.

Remember the session that Bro Jude gave during Easter Sunday and his challenge for us to use this 50 days after Easter to prepare ourselves for Pentecost? To receive the gift of the holy spirit, that will empower us and also renew the gifts God has bestowed on us (whether gifts of the holy spirit or charismatic gifts). And coincidentally as we are also in the midst of our “Developing Our Gifts, Talents And Chrism” theme, here is a prayer to the Holy Spirit I chanced upon in the gnm website which we can use in our daily prayers :)

“Dear Father, in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I ask you to stir up within me the fullness of Your Holy Spirit. Help me to grow in my relationship with the Third Person of Your Holy Trinity and to live in His power and use His gifts.”

Love,
sab

Hey guys!

Just saw this video about today’s (Palm Sunday) gospel. Its pretty long, but its depicts the entire gospel very well. Think it’ll set a good note to Holy week:)

Anyway, today being the start of Holy week, the most important week in the liturgical calendar, lets continue praying for each other alright. That we may find strength to continue the lenten resolutions we have set out to do at the beginning of Lent, and for those who have gone off track, or has failed to keep to our resolutions, its never too late to start now and get back on track :)

And as we go through this week, we also pray that we will be able to find strength to see Jesus in the struggles we face and to walk and accompany Him on this journey to Calvary, whether we are in school, work, attachment or army.

Lets commit more time to God this week okay! Be it mass, ado, prayer or just a taking out some time everyday to talk to Him! :)

God bless,
Sabby

hey guys Johann here. well as many of you may know i have been doing so called ministry work in Nativity Church. this assignment would only end earliest next Monday.

also when i am at Nativity i actually went for some of their youth groups sessions and well honestly saying i would not have made it for our sessions anyway but well their youth community have a good foundation that stunned me when i saw them on a social level. their community would stay socially strong but well spiritually strong i have a lot of questions on that. well i took back a lot of things when i went for two of their sessions so far but now looking back i still prefer CS sessions because well i do miss you guys a lot when i am doing my ministry work and attending Youth on Eagles Wings Community sessions. well i would be back soon bad news to some and good news to some as well am i correct

well you guys now already know that i have been skipping sessions to do help in this ministry assignment and there is more to the other side of the coin sad to say but it is true

good stuff over now here is the bad stuff

OK the weeks for me have been actually going badly to be honesty i am experiencing quite a lot of mental drains that demoralizes to not do many things such as not to turn up for session planing sessions bible sharing and even mass. i don’t honestly know why over the past few weeks it has been so jia luck if that is how to spell it. infect today i left my ministry work early and went to ado when the mental drain came to me. this is the usual procedure i take when i am feeling down not that going to ado helps but it calms my mind down easily. these mental drains are honestly getting quite often and well it affects a lot of things especially my mood swings which some of you experienced last Friday before bible sharing when i left saying that i needed to go for adoration. well if you guys have any comments please leave them on our Facebook wall but ya the reason why i posted it here is so that it would be easier for you guys to read and understand what i honestly have been going through for the past don’t know how long. probably just a week or two already. anyway ya the last bad news is that i may not be able to make it for this Sundays session due to my ministry which we may be struggling to meet the deadline of filling two containers in three days.

Hi everyone,
Sabby here. Because I can’t check Facebook, so I don’t know how is everyone doing.
SO HOW IS EVERYONE?
Hahaa. Okay have a good and blessed week alright!!
Byee!

Hello everybardy! It’s nami (:

It’s after YMC retreat and im so tired at 11.20pm without sleeping ever since I came home, but I wna share my experience so badly! Haha. Siao already.

Anw, I really had a bird’s eye view of my whole life during the retreat. It was as though I was sitting beside God in heaven, and looking down at the tape of my life being played, especially scenes of the ‘stepping stones’ of my life!

For the benefit of those who were unable to go, Michelle Tan did a session/reflection on the stepping stones of our lives (big events/phrases that strike you when you reflect on your life). These events can be totally unrelated. We were told to think of 6. Then, she further explained how God revealed the link btw her 6 unrelated events that have led to where she was.

I was actually quite doubtful that I’d find 6 unrelated significant events that meant something to me, what’s more finding a link btw them! She said that we might not see the link immediately, but through the course of the retreat, God might reveal it to us.

As doubtful as I was, I thought of 5 events that surfaced in my head and a phrase that I held very closely to me; “peace I leave you, my peace I give you”. I stared at the 6 points for a while and thought “super no link man”. But as I started asking God to reveal the reasons for these events that happened in my life, I slowly saw the link! Like as if the fog was slowly disappearing. And the moment when I realized how clearly the link was staring at me, I was so excited that I smiled to myself! Hahaha.

Actually, I can share my stepping stones with y’all la. Haha. Nothing to hide! (:

Stepping Stones

1.       The first time ever that I was slained, when I doubted in this whole slaining thingy (during a random charismatic healing session)

2.       My experience in the LISS outpouring of the HS 2011

3.       My unexpected return to church & joining CS via sabby’s RCIY

4.       My previous rship & how I had the strength to end it

5.       My dad’s success in his new business, my mum’s well-paying super nanny job, & how we were suddenly financially stable

6.       “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you”

Linkages

Do you all see a link in the aforementioned? Haha. Not much right? But I realised that it is VERY LINKED!

1.       Unexpected events – I saw a pattern in my life events; that God revealed Himself to me when I least expected. During all these events, I doubted a lot in God’s plan. And it was as if God was trying to prove me wrong & say “Hey Naomi! I’m here!”. lol

2.       “Come back to me, with all your heart” – I realised that time and time again, God has ALWAYS been at my side, welcoming me back into His arms whenever I strayed away. My unexpected return to church is a perfect example! (: How I severed ties with my old lifestyle and how I sudd joined community without knowing it. Haha. I realised that my previous rship also drew me away from God as it wasn’t Christ-centred at all, but through God’s grace and strength, I managed to break free from it (though extremely difficult), and returned back into His arms again! Also, my struggle with the financial situation at home previously drew me closer to God as I clinged onto Him as my provider and comforter!

3.       “Things happen for a reason” – I now strongly 100% believe that God places events in your life for a reason, and that there is no doubt abt it! It is really up to you to identify the linkages yourself, and to understand the reason without it shouting explicitly to you!

4.       “Trust, and you will receive” – the phrase that I wrote down at the end really tied up all my stepping stones perfectly (: it is truly when I fully trust in God’s plan for me, that He would slowly reveal His perfect plan to me in His time. Patience is the key!

(: As I type this down again, I’m so affirmed by how God revealed Himself to me during this retreat, a retreat that I was very apprehensive about, a retreat that I was not looking forward to at all. Never did I expect how God decided to prove me wrong yet again!

An awesome God, huh?

Xoxo, Nami

HELLO GUYS! hehe char here, today i woke up feeling very joyful about the day ahead and more so about the weeks to come. talking about the weeks to come, just a few days ago, i wasn’t feeling that happy/excited going for my Transition-to-Practice clinicals at tan tock seng hospital. but now i feel different, so…haha i shall share with u guys why :) hehe it’s a bit longgg.

just last sunday when i went back home to study for my monday’s paper (hehe didn’t go for community lunch :/), half way through studying in the evening, suddenly i felt really fearful and worried about my clinicals and actual working life as a nurse in the near future. i think these feelings came because i’m like only two weeks away from going for my clinicals. and yeah y’all can ask benny or lynnlong how stressful this upcoming clinicals can be, though we are guided by staff nurses, we are basically thrown into the ocean and left to drown on our own and take real patient cases. so we are supposed to be almost fully responsible for around 6 patients in one cubicle (one ward got around 6 cubicles hehe).

so i was just sharing my feelings with my dad, telling him how i feel scared about starting work so early when most of my other friends are still studying in uni, how i feel about being responsible for my patients, how i feel about possibly being scolded by doctors, staff nurses and even patients during this coming clinicals. and lastly how different nursing is from any other jobs. i almost felt nobody could understand the stress that i would face when i start work, given the little confidence i usually have in myself. i was even feeling lousy because i felt that i took stress too seriously when others may just brush stressful feelings aside as if it’s nothing.

then, i was reminded of naomi’s sharing on friday when she said that during the season of Lent, opportunities always come by to tempt us when we set certain resolutions like how the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. so, for me my Lenten resolution is to be more confident in myself and not be stuck with the feeling of low self esteem. so i guess this coming clinical posting is the opportunity to build up my confidence. but somehow this statement of ‘building up my confidence’ alone didn’t made me feel less fearful about what is to come. i felt i needed something greater to give me courage, hmm maybe not only courage but passion, desire and power that can sustain. 

so just this morning when i was about to start studying for my clinical exam tmr, i checked my email, facebook etc first and plugged in to this song that I’ve been liking for the longest time, since estelle and company performed it during confirmation retreat. It’s called ‘Receive the power’ - the official anthem for WYD 2008. i don’t really know how to express the feelings i had when i listened to this song and read its lyrics. but one thing i’m sure of is that i’ve found again the courage,passion, desire and power that can sustain me. And that is God. many parts of the lyrics struck me, hopefully it speaks to you too :)

In Your presence we delight, we will follow to the ends of the earth - what or who is there to fear when we are always in the presence of God here on earth?

Receive the power, to be a light unto the world - this power comes from God, isn’t that enough courage for us to become beacons of light, not for our own sake, but so that we can point others to the Way, the Truth and the Light?

As Your spirit calls to rise, we will answer and do Your will - in a certain way, we are called to awake from our slumber and this motivation to be awaken comes from God himself. It is He who calls us to arise. 

Bread of Life, we worship You - ‘Give us this day our daily bread’, He will ever sustain us.

Emmanuel, we worship You - ‘God is with us’, till the end of time. 

so guys, hehe i’m really quite happy now, happy because God has gave me a lot of comfort and has shown me that He provides. so this season of Lent, I pray that it’ll be time of growing closer to God for all of us and that we’ll make effort to keep our resolutions :)

here’s the link to ‘Receive the Power’ WYD 2008 Anthem :) i feel like going WYD after watching the video, hehe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwoEU2uVDfw&feature=player_embedded

love, char :)

Hi friends, hmm, not v sure why I’m here. Think I’m trying to find things to do so I can procrastinate as long as possible from studying/ doing my mountain of assignments. And I can’t go to facebook because abstaining from it is one of my lent resolutions, sooo, I guess this is the only way to connect to you guys over the net.

Since I’m here, I shall share about something that happened to me today!

On the way to Risen Christ for sunset mass, I saw my dad driving home and he decided to give me a lift there. And in the car, we talked a bit about my exchange stuff, and it suddenly led to on a topic about struggles in life, and then he suddenly said that actually, I shouldn’t trust in God so much, and that sometimes I should also depend on myself cause God has a billion people to take care of, and although he knows my presence, He doesn’t have the time to take care of each and every one of us individually.

And when he said that, I was quite taken aback and just gave him an “orh” as a reply :( Not because I did not know what to reply him, but because this was the first time my dad ever spoke to me about our faith and I didn’t have the courage to say whatever I wanted to say, with fear that he might rebuke it or something :( So throughout mass, I sat there, feeling a little angry and sad at myself for not standing up to our faith and saying what needs to be said.

Then came homily, and the priest talked about today’s gospel and mentioned about struggles in life. And he said,” When you are struggling, if you look to the world, you are in distressed, if you look to yourself, you will feel depressed, but if you look to God, you will find rest.” And I took a lot of comfort in that sentence. Like, me feeling depressed about my struggles with my dad and my parents not being catholic and how much I want them to embrace the faith etc. But in my own sorrowfulness, I forgot to look to God to find rest.

And after a really long and slow walk home, I reflected and realized that maybe instead of feeling sorry/angry for/at myself, I should praise God for allowing me to bump into my dad so that we could have a conversation tgt, because I think I haven’t had a proper conversation with him in a VERY long while. And also to praise God for my dad’s curiosity and perception of Him, so that in time and with more courage, I can explain it to him. Cause if he doesn’t care abt it, he wouldn’t mention it in the first place right! And it also reminded me to continue lifting my parents up in prayer, that one day, in His own time, and way, they will also be able to see and experience God like how Sam and I did!

Sorry, for being so long winded, I’m very bad at summary. But yes, Praise God for the things that happen, whether we see it as something good or bad, it’s always the best in God’s eyes!

Have an awesome week friends!

In God’s love and mine, 

Sabby