This is My Doing!

"The disappointments of life are simply the hidden appointments of love." C.A.Fox

" Are you in difficult circumstances, surrounded by people who do not understand you, never ask your opinion and always push you aside?
This is my doing. I am the God of circumstances. You did not come to this place by accident-you are exactly where I meant for you to be.
Have you not asked Me to make you humble? Then see that I have placed you in the perfect school where this lesson is taught. Your circumstances and the people around you are only being used to accomplish My will."

All what I have written above is taken from the devotional, Streams of the Desert for February 1st under the title, "This is My Doing (1 Kings 12;24)

It was as if God was talking to me face to face, knowing the inner turmoil of my heart. I enjoyed serving as the Assistant Children's Ministry Supervisor in Bible Study Fellowship under the former Supervisor's leadership. I just blended in with the rest of the Children Ministries leaders and felt good and at ease with my duties. But when Linda (not the real name) took over something within me cringed in discomfort. I know it's not Linda's fault. She's doing a marvellous job. Dedicated and conscientous, she is trying to do her best to train her co-leaders.

Maybe this change of technique and Linda's somewhat demanding personality is making me uncomfortable. Frankly, I resent it. If I'm not careful I might give into satan's promptings and quit, giving some lame excuses. I thank God, I haven't given myself to such foolishness yet.

Todays's message, "This is My Doing." pierced through my heart and awakened me up. I had often asked God to mold me and when He heard my prayer and got into action,I've begun to resist and resent.
I wanted God to make me humble and when He had put me in a perfect situation to grow humble, I'm thinking of getting out of the situation and quit my job. How foolish and arrogant it can be in God's sight.

Lord, if this is Your doing, help me to  yield in with  a servant heart and serve You joyfully under any circumstances.

February 01,2006

The Power of Redemptive love

Every great book is written with the author's sweat and blood. In spite of his blindness, wasn't Homer the unparalleled poet of the Greeks? What about John Milton? And who wrote the timeless dream of Pilgrim's Progress? And who wrote Mere Christianity which sold millions of copies? Who wrote down the hymn Amazing Grace which continues to captivate the hearts of people of all walk of life? Was it the redemptive power or enchanting love which turned a slave driver to craft a hymn on grace, an atheist to turn out volumes of books explaining Christ's love and Christianity?

What has the redemptive power of Christ done to this fallen world? What has His amazing grace accomplished in this self-serving world? Words cannot be sufficient to record what it has don in the last two millennia.

But one thing is certain. If not for the love of Calvary and Christ's teachings on the Mount, Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn't have walked marched on the streets of America with a cry of freedom for his fellowmen or Gandhi wouldn't have taken up non-violence fight to free his country from colonial rule or Mother Theressa wouldn't have left the comfort of her homeland to serve the poor and untouchable in Calcutta or Bill wilson and many street saints like him wouldn't have brought hope and comfort to the hurting world. And most of all,you and I wouldn't have known or understood the meaning of love, hope and forgiveness.

                     IF
If all lips spoke the truth
All pride was cast aside
Greed was packed and stored away
And jealousy subside
If love could rule the universe
Kindness was sown to every race
Then one could glance into a mirror
And view God in his face.....
           
                 (poem IF written by a 16-year old girl on the street who was rescued by the Covenant House member)





January 21, 2006

Principles worth knowing to live as God's ambassadors

(Some tips I took from In Touch magazine Sept. 2005)

1. Accept where God has placed you and make the most of it. (Learn from Daniel, Joseph, Queen Esther in the Bible.)

2. Commit yourself to excellence relying on God to reveal Himself through you. (Learn from Moses,     Joshua, David)

3.Let God define your Identity.

4. Practice diplomacy in dealing with confrontational situations.

5. Approach relationships with respect, earn trust and learn to love.

6. Expect God's glory to blaze through the world you are living in.

7. " Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative  and original with others as He is with you." -Oswald Chambers.



(September 09,2005)