One of those days...

Wednesday blues...

Post-choir practice.

Was feeling blue and upset about something - til' God sent a remedy (which is quite often the same one, btw) - Ji's telephone call from Singapore. It's weird, she always manages to call me when I'm blue. We talked for more than an hour. It was a good one - I felt a little better after that. Thanks, Ji.

Still a little depressed.

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why are you troubled within me? I will yet praise Him...

That of greater worth than gold...

1 Peter 1:3-9 - 'Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.'

I read this part of the Bible today - and was filled with amazement all over again. What investment could be of greater worth than gold in this time of economic recession? How exciting it is that God says that it is genuine faith, built even in the midst of oppression, trials, and grief - that would surpass the riches of that valuable mineral!

I think, people - especially Christians who do know the Lord - should invest a little more in serving God and seeking Him with their hearts, this season in time... instead of fretting too much over our jobs and mourning over the potential loss of earthly treasures. What is the point of being the most financially/job secure when our souls are not filled with the inexpressible joy that only can come from loving and trusting the Lord? May we surrender our lives fully to Him - and may our trials and genuine faith birthed from these result in praise, glory and honor to the Lord.

God, glorify Thyself in our circumstances.

Weekend pictures...

The cute lil' moth...

Someone went to donate his blood...

Very impressive... I was quite inspired to go do it myself. Perhaps, when my iron/haemoglobin levels are above 12.5g/dL and my anaemia's gone.Above: headachey Sunday - me trying to grinCoffee Monday... and my Americano perk!Above: I don't know why...but I seem to have a swelling on my lower neck - it is extra prominent when I lose weight on the neck, which has been happening lately - noticed that since final med...have a good mind to go and do a thyroid function test sometime.

There, my weekend:)

Tuesday

Today I received an unexpected email from a beloved sister, Jialin, that brought so much joy to my heart. Haven't heard from her for a really long time....since that day, I was pouring my heart out to Ji and herself at the Foodloft - September 2007 I think! That's like more than a year! So many things have happened since then.

Pic: Jialin and Ji

Golly, how I love surprises like this!:)

I savoured her email like a piece of much coveted, precious candy. LOL.

Love you, Jia!

Two questions

Two questions I'm trying to ask myself whenever I have to deal with the uncomfortable bits and pieces of the past which I wish did not exist - instead of "What did I lose?" - are: what did I learn from it? ~ and how God was faithful through it all?

We cannot help our pasts. We cannot turn back time. We cannot rewind our lives and relive them. Regret dwelled on, is a terribly difficult exercise that zaps the strength and eliminates zeal to live today with its own load of challenges. We can't change our yesterdays - but we can choose to make a difference in our todays when tomorrow is only a day away and today never repeats itself.

I'm trying to make a difference in mine. Although I'm no where near being perfect. Although I've failed many times.

I'm trying to love more, laugh more, enjoy the small and tiny details of my life more, cut out the I-wish-I-hadn't's and if-only's, reflect on the joys of life more instead of dwelling on my failures, connect with my Maker more, take more interest in His work, react to frustrating situations differently (less angrily, haha), nag less, give more, be quiet when I feel like rattling every bit of opinion from the top of my head, etc.

It's been a good try so far. *Pats self on back, regardless* Praise the Lord.

I'd still love to live a fuller life.

Headache

I had a simple weekend. Needed as much rest as I could.

On Sunday (yest), I came down with a splitting headache after church and lunch...so I slept through the whole afternoon, almost. I've not had TT (tension-type) headaches since I left med school, and this one was a whopper all right. Don't know what triggered it. It could be during lunch - I whipped my head around to look at something and I suddenly felt dizzy. That, coupled with the effects of the hot sun in the afternoon, the giddiness turned into pain grew more intense, and suddenly, my head felt like it was pulsating. Felt really heavy too. Had to lie down just to make sure it didn't burst open and eject my brain!:P (Yeah, my imagination also seemed to weirdo-fy after the dizzy spell) Any motion would have sent my lunch straight out again! It was only after praying a while, and someone's kind head massage - I was able to go to sleep. The pain was that nauseatingly bad. After I got up, there was hair all over the floor. I felt as if I'd just gotten over chemotherapy. :(

That was my Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening was spent eating dinner at Ben's place, feeding the stray dogs (somewhere in Sg. Ara area) left-over bones and meat from his mum's soup pot - and doing silly experiments.

You see, there are these 2 particular stray dogs in the neighbourhood, who upon catching sight of Ben's car approaching - they'd start snarling and darting towards his car barking really loudly. Everytime! I've hypothesized that they don't like his car, and Ben always has insisted that they would do it to everybody's car. (I felt really sorry for the owners of that house whose gate the dogs always sit in front...) So, since my car was around, Ben decided to see if they would do the same to my Proton Wira - so we purposely drove my car slowly into the 'danger zone'. (I laughed all the way - because it was such a dumb experiment.) Surprisingly, the dogs approached my car, but did not bark. They didn't even seem interested! Haha. Later we drove Ben's car around that area again, and they did not even budge - for once!

Ben's conclusion - they just weren't in the mood for showdown last night...We'll try again next time. He jokingly suggested that we try riding on his bike around that area the next time instead of driving.

Over my dead body!

Anyway, I only hope that it doesn't mean that the weird headaches that plagued me beginning of 2008 - while I was super stressed about my finals - are back. Today, I still feel a tinge of it.

You know la. Having been a med student, I am really paranoid. I keep thinking of space-occupying lesions, raised intracranial pressure, coning, etc.