2007: The Year of Victory

As the year draws to a close today, 31st December 2007, I spent sometime thinking about what happened this year. I realized that I have many things to give thanks to God for. Here's the list.

1) I found love from God, re-experienced His love for me, and now I savor each and every moment I have with Him. God spoke to me through Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 1:5 especially this year. Most of all, I thank God for being here with me 24/7, 365 days a year, through all the tears and joy.

2) I found unconditional love & acceptance in a community of ppl who loves me for who I am, my spiritual mother, Sharon, and my spiritual sisters, Reina, Jang, Joanna, Eunice, Huiting, Yoke Yeong, Shuan Shuan, Hui Ming, Wendy & Jingyi!! And my many tribe sisters, especially Sarah! REINA, especially, really thank God for her - to be explained later...

3) This love that I've gained, formed the basis of a renewed confidence in myself, thereby raising my self-esteem. All because of God's grace. A new thing, God is forming me to be - Isaiah 43:18-19

4) Learning not to put my self-worth in studies and results (studies became my motivation in life for those years that I backslid) - an issue that God continues to work on in me for the next semester.

5) Young Arrows (since Dec '06) - thank God for a bunch of friends like this to work with in His community and of course, the adorable kids that I've come to love so much, and also a marketplace that I can serve in, where I've learnt many things from everyone.

6) Muar Re-Encounter (June '07) - a much needed re-encounter tribe retreat, where God revealed His promise of the rainbow to me, where I learnt to just sit in nature among the birds, trees, flowers and owls, and wait upon the Lord, learning to be still and know that He is God, learning that God is as big as I imagine Him to be, learning not to limit Him in my life, but to surrender everything into His hands. God also used this trip to bond me closely with Reina, on one night we talked till the wee hours of the morning and I was locked out of my room at House of Peace, LOL, had to go back to House of Joy to sleep in the living room (actually I don't rmb which house is which house).

7) REINA - thank God for her. In my warrior matrix, I especially prayed that I will become closer to her and Jang. God is good, LOL. Because I DID become closer to her and Jang this year. Especially Reina. Through the Muar trip, through organizing the bbq birthday party for Jang & Yoke Yeong, through the two times I've stayed over at her place and talked into the wee hours of the morning, through the frequent visits to her place, through our recent record-breaking phone talk til 5am, through our frequent phone calls and MSN conversations almost daily about all kinds of stuff from God to boys to fashion to lame jokes, through her roping me into HEELSONG, we've become closer than ever before. LOL. I think I can never talk so much with another friend other than her. I thank God for her in my G12, for being the one person that I can turn to for help (my girl and her sport shoes!) and can trust all my secrets with. Thank God for her unconditional acceptance of who I am and of certain "creepy" things that I do, LOL (only we know la). And also thank God for the common passion that we have about making music for God, especially singing. But I seriously can't remember what happened to pull us closer even before the Muar trip, but I do remember that we were already quite close before June. LOL. It kinda irritates me just not being able to recall, haha.

8 ) 100K Blessing (July 8 - August 8 '07) - the act of blessing 100,000 ppl. WOOOOT!! I thank God once again for the courage that He gave each and everyone of the 5000 warriors, including my G12 and myself, that we were able to step out in faith, to bless and even pray for our friends, family and even strangers we met on the streets, for 5 ppl every week for 4 weeks. His glory was shown not in the numbers because the battle has already been won without us having to lift a finger, but it was the changing of our hearts in obedience, in response to His command, that His glory truly shone. God's glory shone at a family dinner with uncles, aunties and grandparents, where I managed to pluck courage to bless them with those 12 blessings. God's glory shone when He prompted me to pray for 3 friends who did not believe in Jesus, and also many other friends. His glory shone at my best friend's house when I was prompted to pop over to pray for her with the pamphlet in my hand, when her tears fell, when she told me that I was the one friend who always understands how she feels without her having to say anything. His glory shone when tears fell from my own eyes when I heard that because I was glad that I could be that to her. I pray that she will come to experience the reality of God in her life, that she'll never ever let go of this Best Friend once she discovers His truth.

9) Modern Levites Conference (Sept '07) - thank God for Paradise Community Church and Vivien Hibbert coming to the conference to impart their knowledge of worshipping God as true warriors. Thank God for renewing my passion for singing that had died so many years ago in sec sch, through Anna Button, whose answers to my personal questions after the vocal elective, inspired me to leap in faith and confidence in God to sing for His glory when the opportunity came right after the conference, with the first meeting of HEELSONGS at Marina Square.

10) HEELSONGS (Sept '07 to now) -
late Sept: first band meeting at Marina Square
October 13: 1st band jam
December 8: 2nd band jam
December 22: 3rd band jam
December 28: 1st band outing

I thank God once more. For this bunch of friends who I can crap the most nonsensical nonsense with, who I have learnt so much from, who I share my passion of making music for God with, most importantly who I share my passion for God with so much that we want to declare to the world with our guitars, drums, keyboards and voices with so that more people would know of His glory!! I never once thought that I would be in a band even in my sec sch days when I discovered my love for singing, but God is good. His timing is always perfect. He opened up this door for me to break out of my shell so that I can sing for Him. I thank God for all 6 of them: Reina, Sarah, Darren, Elias, Peter & Wei Jie.

Reina, for roping me in at the very last minute, asking me if I wanted to tag along and see, we never knew that something so good was going to happen. Sarah, for your support, encouragement and affirmation of my singing. You just being there in the second jam, put me at great ease and comfort. Darren, for praying to God for a Christian band on 22 February. He obviously heard you, haha! And for all the sharing that we always have on the way home. Elias, for your ultra lameness and multi-talents! And for always booking the studio no matter how troublesome it was. Peter, for your thoughtfulness and dedication to the band even as you come to know more about God! And Wei Jie, for your double dose of lameness combined with sarcasm, plus a dash of your linguistic intelligence, and for the openness with which you shared your many stories in that 5 hour MSN chat.
Gambatte, everyone!! We are progressing very well and I believe that if we continue keeping on, doin' what we're doin', we will soar high on eagles' wings with God's favor in the very near future to come!

God, You ARE faithful and good. Even as we enter into the Year of Sabbath with a step of faith as a church, I believe that God will bless us with even more victories as we learn how to rest in Him.