My Mid-Year Spiritual Appraisal

It’s July. Usually at this time, most bosses will hold a mid year appraisal with their employee to review their performance. This is important so that the employee will know how far they have achieved and what else they can improve in order to meet their yearly goals.

Often, we set goals or objectives for our carrier and life. How about our spiritual growth? Have you done your mid year appraisal with God?
Or I should ask, had you ever set your spiritual goal for 2008 at the beginning of the year?

I’m glad I did. So now I’m going to come out with a summary of my appraisal with God.


1st Objectives
Learn to fast & pray

Review Comments
- Manage to be firm on my stand, fast and pray for things in life.
- Get rid of obsession on food.

2nd Objectives
More prayer & spend time with God

Review Comments
- Manage to spend quality time with God and communicate with Him in better way.
- Be discipline on setting my prayer time.

3rd Objectives
Pray for Healing - spirit, soul & body

- Get healed from my gastric problem during the fast and pray period.
- Healed from throat pain and strained ankle.


I’m pretty happy with what I’d achieved but I also know that there is always room for improvement. I should not be pleased by little achievement and let my spiritual life get stagnant after this. All these attainments should be the momentum to drive me for higher level growth.

I want to get closer to Him. I want to pray more. I want to be healed from all sickness. Above all, I’m sure God will lead me through, guide me along the way and waiting for me at the end of the path. By that time, I can be rejoiced and glorify His Mighty Name.

Superhero from God

One of the famous superhero from fictional Marvel comics is X-Men (mutants). They are so special because they acquire supernatural power either from birth such as Cyclops, Storm or through incident such as Wolverine. In the stories, many ordinary humans harbor an intense fear of mutants just because they are different from normal human.

The group were formed by the benevolent Professor Charles Xavier, a wealthy mutant who founded an academy to train young mutants to protect themselves and the world from Magneto, the Brotherhood of Mutants and other mutant threats.

So what is this got to do with superhero from God?

It is natural that when somebody is different from the other, people tends to despise them. We shouldn’t blame the natural human nature. I myself am an ordinary girl who always acts naturally.

Don’t feel bad if you forgot to say a word of prayer before you eat. It is natural.
Don’t feel bad if you hate someone. It is natural.
Don’t feel bad if you didn’t read bible. It is natural.
Don’t feel bad if you’re playful. It is natural
Don’t feel bad if you tend to worry and being anxious. It is natural.
Don’t feel bad if you dare not talk about Jesus in front of your friends. It is natural.
All these are natural human being’s character. It’s normal that Christian behaves so.

But to be supernatural in God’s eyes is difficult. That needs a lot of effort and training. We might have the supernatural character hidden in us but we do not know how to release it. We need God’s guidance to teach and train us to unveil our supernatural character. These supernatural power is not that we can produce powerful "optic blasts" from his eyes like Cyclops or born with telepathic and telekinetic power like Jean Grey.

Let me tell you what supernatural Christian is and how to be a superhero in God's way.

If you can pray in every circumstance, it is supernatural.
If you can forgive someone for hurting you, it is supernatural.
If you can put aside your worry and submit to God, it is supernatural.
If you can read God’s words everyday, it is supernatural.
If you can pray more than play, it is supernatural.
If you can share about Christ with everyone, it is supernatural.

Of course, there are many more supernatural behaviors that I couldn’t list out.

But I believe that God put all these ability in us. It is our choice to make whether we allow Him to unleash our power or continue to be the “natural ordinary human” that accepted easily by most people.

But I wish that one day, when I’m ready; I can proudly walk out and say

“Hey there, watch out! I’m the Super-Heroine from God”

都是你

曾经, 觉得光良的"都是你" 的歌词很有意思. 但不完全体会.

现在, 有点明白了..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
谁改变了我的世界
没有方向没有日夜
我看着天 这一刻在想你
是否会 对我一样思念

你曾说我们有一个梦
等到那天我们来实现
我望着天 在心中默默念
下一秒 你出现在眼前

想念的心装满的都是你
我的钢琴弹奏的都是你
我的日记写满的都是你的名
才发现又另一个黎明

这些都是爱的累积
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

但是, 这歌词前部分, 应该更改一下.. 不应该"没有方向没有日夜"的
应该是"有了方向,有了日夜"..有上帝的人怎会没方向呢?

当然, 想念的是谁呢? 哈哈...

shhh~~~!

秘密~!

还好。梦

都是天气惹的祸，整夜翻来附去，根本没睡好。

天快亮时，终于入眠啦。。却发恶梦了。。

可能我在车上的时间太长了，恶梦也发生在车上的。。

在一个充满斜坡的停车场，一直往后退，仿佛毫无止境的。。

直到被抛出车外，还是一直往下跌。。

终于，爬上来了。。却变成在高速公路飞驰。。

天啊，我又不使车神，不用那么快吧，而且，煞车器失灵了。。

梦通常都不公平的，发美梦时，总是轻易醒过来。

发恶梦时，却怎样也无法醒来,只能拼命挣扎。。

就在要撞上高速公路中央的大树时 （看，高速公路中央竟然有大树）

就在这时，我听见铃声响起，随手抓起手机

phew~~ 听见了一个熟悉的声音。。

梦，就被吵醒了. ermm..... 不对，应该说被救醒了。。

谢谢咯。。。

Trust God in Every Circumstance

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your way acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight.

Very often, we claim that “we trust God”. But when life is difficult, we start to blame God instead of seeking and trusting God. We always question, “Why God, why is it me?” or “God, please take my sorrow away”. Yet we had never questioned ourselves why Jesus die for my sin which do not belongs to Him?

How many times that when we are at the crossroad and doubt our way. We see the signboard given by God asking us to follow the path that He has chosen for us. To us, the path seems terrible. It is full with thorns, it is crooked. Then we stumble, we doubt, we question God, we even ask God to change the plan or we try to convince ourselves that maybe the signboard is mistaken.

Our sight is shallow. We could not see beyond God’s plan. Just like we couldn’t see that every ugly knots behind the cross-stitch is to ensure the threads are hold tight to portrait a pretty picture on the other side.

All we have to do at that point of confusion is “God will not give us a burden that we cannot bear”. So, when we are about to take a step into that “awful-looked” path, ask God for map as direction, wisdom as your sword, armor as your protection & angel as helper. Then by faith, we walk through strong and firm instead of asking for exception. If we can make it through, surely the reward at the end of the path is abundance.

Amen!

*p.s- An old post of mine in my friendster blog. As i read back, found it is still touched my heart and made me think for a while. So, just wish to share here.

忙碌好? 好忙碌?

人，真奇怪。。忙碌时，总是埋怨。

但，现在。。我只想变得很忙碌。。

做什么都可以，只要没剥夺我和上帝相聚的时间。。

越忙越好。。最好是让我忙到累了，一倒下床就睡着。。

苦涩的汗水..

汗水是咸的。。可你有尝过苦涩的汗水吗？

今天健身时，脸上的汗水特别多。 我努力的用手擦拭，却还是流个不停。

才发现，我的眼睛也会流汗。。稀奇吧？

原来，苦涩的，是眼睛的汗水。。

Am I ok? "Doubting.."

I thought I am fine.

I went to gym, wanted to put aside my struggle and get myself work out.

Yet, 3 people ask me the same question: "Ariel, are you ok?"

With a sweet smile on my face, I answered: " Yeah of cos... what makes you think I'm not ok?"

Same answer again " Because you looked troubled in mind, and pale."

Gosh, it that so obvious? Since when my smiling face replaced with a troubled look without my notice? I don't like this feeling.

I felt defeated. I don't want to be this way. This is not Ariel.

I was wondering, is it I am not good enough that God purposely send someone to judge and question about my faith? God, am I that bad? I knew I wasn't an obedient child all the time. But surely I love you, Lord. The feeling of being judged doesn't taste good.

So if you see me, please don't ask me : "How are you?" I will still politely tell you "I'm fine". But I don't wish to lie because I myself also not sure am I fine at this moment. If you are my best friends, a hug from you is much much appreciated. Or perhaps, a comfort pat on my shoulder will be very warm indeed.

Anyway, Ariel will be fine. I'll try my best to be the cheerful girl again. So do not worry about me. ^_^

When I am really ok, you will see me smiling, hopping around as usual and being naughty and fool on you again. It will be soon, don't worry.

July.. Time to Prune Hydrangea

Pruning has to be done for the health of Hydrangea BEFORE August. Why August? This is because by that time, Hydrangea already produce flower buds on stems around August, September or October for the following year's blooms. If those stems are removed (pruned) in this period,the bloom buds will be removed, which will result in fewer blooms the coming year. Which means, June and July is the best time for pruning.

Note that pruning is not the same thing as removing the dead blooms. Pruning is somehow cut off the existing blooms which can be a painful experience. How would anyone wish to trim off the attractive blooms which is in blossom condition?

I myself reluctant to be pruned. I want to stay in this sweet condition. Looking at my own blossom blooms. Yet, I see my gardener (God) standing beside me. I guess He is heartache to cut down these beautiful blooms as well. But, He MUST do so. He has to trim off the old blooms so that the bloom buds that covered underneath will grow in coming year.

God took a big gardening scissors and cutting off my old blooms.

I was crying and begging :"Please Papa, please don't cut it off. It means alot to me. It gives me good memories. Why can't I keep these old blooms?"

He just kept quiet and continue with His work. After that, He standing there starring at me, He gasped. I guess my condition must be terrible. I sob, I turned away and refused to see Him. I felt shameful with my current ugly look especially when people walk passing me.

Slowly, He squated down, patting on my head and said:" My girl, my forever beautiful Hydrangea. Don't be sad. These blooms are pretty but not healthy anymore. I felt pain to cut it off too but I must do what is best for You. This is exactly the correct timing to prune. Then, I shall see your blossom blooms soon. If I don't do this now, you might end up having nothing in the coming year. Be patient, my girl."

I bursted into tears once again. Hugging my Heavenly Daddy even harder. I didn't say anything anymore, so is He. He hugged me tight. At that moment, I realised. I can be ugly Hydrangea, I can be living without any blooms. But surely I can't live without my great gardener, Heavenly Father, My Almight God.