heart of serving

HELLOOOOOO

I can't contain my excitement the moment Project Sparkle ended so I quickly finished my project which is due on Monday and tada here I am writing typing this post. 

Anyway, for those who didn't attend or didn't know, Project Sparkle was today!

It's a day that we, as a church, just go around blessing people in the community by helping them clean their units, corridors, environment, and even giving out oranges to them(because cny is coming)!!

Without further a do, let me share with you what exactly happened today.

In the lift, we met an Indian man, he was kinda complaining that there were people who promised him that they would clean his house for him in the past but no one went to his unit and he felt kind of angry. He was gonna take the lift to 12, while we were going to 7. He knew that we were Christians but to my surprise, before we left the lift, he said "Praise the Lord. See you all" 

3 simple words, but that really struck me alot. Never would I have thought that someone random, a stranger, would say that to us.

Initially, NP4 was appointed to go to a unit, specifically, 7-49__, and we were all so excited to see what God has in store for us, some of us skipped there but when we reached the door step, we knocked (alot of times), but no one opened the door. To be honest, I was quite disappointed because I was expecting to give my best to help that particular unit. BUT IT'S OKAY, we move on with life... 

We then decided that we would go to 12th floor since the Indian man went to that floor. 

We went there, saw only one unit with tamil writings hanging on the door, we decided to knock the door, kinda expecting the person who's gonna open the door to be that Indian man we saw. 

But........... NOPE. It was an old lady, and when we offered to help, she kinda rejected us. 

Wow, to be honest, at that point of time, I really felt kind of sian, but something just spurred me on, because I know that God has a greater plan for us, to meet someone that He wants us to meet.

I kinda forgotten where we went after that, but we knocked quite alot of doors, but no one answered at all. We were even thinking of going back to Axis or take the bus to Chinatown to help out.

Just when we were about to walk away to the other side of the flat (kinda our last resort), a door behind us suddenly opened. 

WOW, LET ME TELL YOU, AT THAT TIME, EVERYONE'S HEADS TURNED TOGETHER HAHAHA and we were like " WOAHHHH" then ran to that unit because we were so happy that someone actually cared about us -wipes away emo tears-

When we arrived at the doorstep, we were greeted with a wheelchair bound Auntie. Initially, she seemed kinda scared and confused why we were there. Then, we explained that we were volunteers and she let us in to help her clean her fans because it was super dusty and kinda inconvenient for her to move about. So we agreed and went into the house.

Before I continue, let me tell you something. The Auntie only speaks limited Chinese and only can communicate mostly in Hokkien. I can only understand a little bit and Shumei can kinda understand too, but the rest of us are kinda blur (mostly understand, but do not know how to speak hahaha)

Ok, let's continue. We then helped to clean her fans, and at the same time, using limited and broken Hokkien to ask her if she needed help to clean the rest of her house.

Amazingly, she agreed! YAY which means we can do even more things to bless her. (Not that doing more things means that we are blessing her more, it just means that we are able to give our best to do what we can for her) 

As we cleaned, she began to open up more to us. AND THEN, at that moment, Jiayi saw a booklet on her table, with a title "Holistic booklet of having Christlikeness" (or smth like that). omg i tell you, my jaw drop because we were trying to find a time when we can share to her about Christ, but WOAH, God just gave us an opportunity like that. and of course, we treasured that opportunity and began to ask her if she has ever been to a church before. As she spoke, she began to share more stuffs to us and there were some things that really struck my heart and reminded me to hold it really close to my heart.

From all the things that she shared... this was what God really reminded me

1. If you want to help somebody, why not give it your best shot? :-)

2. If you see somebody in need of help, why not take a step of faith and courage, go to the person and help him/her? If it's not you, then who? 

3. Everything that you do comes down to your heart, your heart condition, your heart motive.

4. Why are we so quick to judge? Categorizing people into good and the bad? At the end of the day, everyone is equally important to God, we are all children of God, so why are we judging them according to what they do and not what they really are? God is the ultimate judge at the end of the day. If we pass judgement, we ourselves will be judged by God.

5. We don't need to have a heart and mindset that constant pursue and strive for ONLY worldly success. True enough, success is important and it's good to have. But sometimes, what we need to do is.... stop, drop everything you have, take a step back, and see. Appreciate what you already have, treasure what is already around you. 

I really dont know how I came up with all these conclusions, but as the old lady was sharing, all these just struck me. Struck me so much that I had to just take out my phone and note all of them down because I dont want to forget anything that I've been reminded of. 

When we were about to leave, the old lady was still talking and sharing. As she was sharing, the sincere look in her eyes really touched me at that point. I wanted to cry but then I would look kind of silly so I held it back LOL. She then kept thanking us and said bye in a really happy tone. 

I thought, " Thank you God. Thank you God for bringing us to this old lady. I've been reminded of much. Thank you for using us to bless her. "

She's happy not because we are good, we are skillful in helping her, but I really think she's happy because God worked through us and that really made her happy because as we blessed her, she herself has been blessed through the touch from God. 

AND YAY TO SHUMEI who finally had the chance to pray for someone in chinese hehehe (more to come yo), God opened a door for us to pray for the old lady, asking if she had any prayer requests. and woah, her prayer requests were simple, but heartfelt. All she wanted as good health, protection over her family and peace in whatever they do. 

So simple yet it means alot. 

There are many more things that I would like to express but I just dont know how and LOL i may sound too draggy and naggy. 

But the main reason for this post is not because I want to show how much we are able to do for her, not because what we manage to take away, but it's about how faithful God has been and will always be, using us to bless the old lady and speaking through her as well. Everything that happened was just so timely and it's like everything just fell into place as if someone is literally controlling every single thing that is to happen. (which in this case, it's God) 

AHHHHH I can't contain how mindblown I get when I experience God in such a way omg 

Something that the old woman said, "我们信主的人，一定要有一个好的心，出去外面帮助别人。我也不要只有我有一颗好的心，可是我也要把这份好的心传下去。我可以活这样的生活已经很满足了。“

( As Christians, we have to have a good heart, a heart that yearns to serve and to help people. Not only do I want to have a good heart, I also want to be able to pass down this goodness to the next generation and the generations that are yet to come. With this life that I'm living now, I'm already really contented. "

Acts 20:35

35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Dear God, 

Thank you for today. Thank you for everything. 

I pray that we continue to serve, we will have a heart of humility that God,

we are not doing this for ourselves, for our limelight, because at the end of the day, 

all Glory goes back to You and You alone. 

We are never good, we are never worthy. 

I pray that You'll constantly fill our hearts with Your spirit, 

and when our hearts are filled, we will pour it out to the people out there. 

Amen.

prayers.

A sudden thought of typing down my prayers here struck me so here I am.

Lots of things happened in this past 1 year, many good things, but many bad things as well. moments of joy, moments of hurt, so many moments that I wish i can type them down but LOL it's tooo long. 

I'm afraid I'll get lazy just before 2013 ends so I'm just going to post this now hahahaha

And yeah even as im typing this, things had just happened but ugh gonna put that aside. 

I didn't give it too much of a thought, but I came up with 3 main prayers that I would like to pray and type it here. 

Note: reason why I wanna type it here is because I want to keep myself accountable and I want to always constantly remind myself that I've made this 3 prayers (apart from telling my shepherd).

So... here it goes. 

1. Myself

As many of you know, Im actually quite a cheerful and happy person. But i can be really hot-headed and stubborn at times. I don't usually get angry when I'm out(excluding the times when I'm hungry haha), but I tend to lose my temper when I'm at home. God has blessed me with countless blessings in my life and I'm so so grateful but I don't want to let my behavior and emotions disappoint God. 

Dear God, I just want to pray that in this coming new year, or even starting from now, grow me and change me into the kind of person I was created to be. I want to be more of You and less of myself. When I'm feeling angry and about to lose my temper, God remind me of Your love and that we should love Your people as ourselves. God help me and guide me to where You want to lead me. Be it in the highs or in the lows, remind me that You'll always be there and that I'll always fix my eyes on You. God, this is not going to be easy, but I want to do it. I want to overcome all these and walk my journey faithfully with you. Thank you for now and for the things that You're going to be doing in my life. Amen.

2. Family

As mentioned in my previous posts, or some of you may have also read my wordpress (tsherploxy.wordpress.com) you should know that I have quite a severe family problem and my parents' relationship are not good... AT ALL. And most of the arguments and quarrels that I would have are normally when I'm home (as mentioned ^ too). Recently, I've been exhausted and I'm starting to give up hope on having God change and mend my broken family. It's not that I doubt the power of prayer or God, i know God is good and powerful, and he has even blessed my family by bringing them to Him, but sometimes i wonder... 

When is the change going to come? When is he going to mend my broken family? When will I be able to proudly share my testimony for God's glory? When will be the day that we can take a family photo with everyone having the widest smile on their face? When will be the day.. that we can say that we love each other as a family? And of course, when will be the day when we can all serve the Lord as a household together? (Joshua 24:15) : "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Dear God, I commit my family into Your hands. I may not understand why all these situations are happening in my family right now, and at times, I admit that I lose my temper and start to wonder why all these are happening, but God, I pray for assurance in not just my heart, but in each of  my family members' hearts that God, You will make a way. The day that we'll proudly give glory and boast in Your name is going to come. All the debts, all the brokeness, God, You will make a way. You're greater, You're stronger than all these problems that we are facing. I pray for the understand of everyone in my family too that we may have different opinions and views on things, but we are as One in Christ. I pray that before they/I speak and spark fire, God You'll first extinguish the fire in our hearts first. I believe for better things to come in my family, and I'm truly truly looking forward to that day. Thank You God for all that is happening, because through suffering, we'll learn. Everything happens for a reason. Thank you God, Amen.

3. School/Ministry

Christmas event has just gone by. 8 months of Poly life has just gone by. In this 8 months, so many things has happened. I've moved on from Youth to Polydins and I'm so glad that God brought me to where I am today. Serving in areas that I've never thought I would serve in, achievements that I never thought I would get. omg, God is just so good. Who am I that I should deserve all this? I'm just an unworthy sinner, but God, in You, I'm made whole. Truth to be told, there hasn't been much harvest in this 8 months, but there has been a great harvest in each of our hearts. I believe that as we continue to sow seeds, to people ALL AROUND us, the day of the harvest will come. If we don't sow, we can't expect harvest. So, why not? Ministry aside, I would also like to take time to thank God for my classmates and friends in poly, they are the ones that make me look forward to school and always bringing a smile to my face. sounds pretty cheesy but hey I'm serious ok. Though even till now, we might not still be SUPER close to each other, but I'm still thankful for this friendship that I've found :') 

Dear God, the end of year 1 is coming, 8 months has just gone by like that, and God, I don't want to waste the rest of the months away. God, I pray that we'll first open up our hearts to You for You to use each and every one of us. If we're not willing, You can't work through us. But as long as we're willing and doing it for Your glory, God i know that Your spirit will flood our hearts and lives and God each and every one of us, be it strong or weak, smart or not so smart, You can use each and every one of us. (1 Corinthians 1:27) : "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong" I am looking forward to the harvest that is yet to come. As we serve, God, expand our hearts as well as we let Your love overflow to the people around. Truly excited to what You're going to do. Thank You God, Amen.