It just takes five minutes (from ymiblogging)

It just takes five minutes

By Christie Weakly, USA

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After I made myself a really awesome maxi skirt last night, I decided to go back to the fabric store with my mom for material to make more clothes since the first one turned out pretty well. After gathering all my desired materials at the store, we waited for our turn at the cutting counter. When we heard our number, we walked over. I was a bit miffed when the girl at the counter said, “What do you want” in a rather abrasive tone. On the other hand, my mom was unaffected. She asked the girl if she had a long day. She said yes, and that she works four jobs. Life has been really hard. Then she added, “I’m about to be a mom, so I gotta make ends meet.”

As my mom interacted with her, we found out that she had grown up in the foster system, never had a mom, and her brother goes in and out of jail. When she found out that she was pregnant, everyone in her life told her to abort the baby. The father’s mom who bought the house they’re living in said that she’d kick the girl and the baby out of the house if she decides to keep the baby. Regardless, she decided to keep the baby.

Good grief! I wouldn’t have known so much about a person even if I have spent one month with her! And it took my mom only five minutes. Then mom promptly ran (and I do mean ran) over to a neighboring store to buy something for her baby. She told the girl that God sees her and that He’s proud of her for her choice to keep the baby even though everyone in her life said to abort it. The girl started to cry. She thanked us profusely for caring, listening and helping. She said her friend has been inviting her to church, but she couldn’t make it as she works on Sundays. Now she would try to attend a night service. My mom wrote down her phone number on the gift and told her to keep in touch.

On the way home, I thought about how selfish and naïve I was. All I saw was that the girl wasn’t very nice to us. But mom was able to see past that to something more.

And indeed, sometimes I think we get caught up in the fact that a person has sinned—that she’s pregnant and living with her boyfriend—that we don’t see what he or she really need. That person doesn’t need to be told she made a mistake—she needs Jesus! She needs someone to have compassion on her and support her. Who’s going to throw her a baby shower? Who’s going to be excited when the baby is born? Everyone else wanted her to abort it. She’s all alone.
So many people in this world are alone, and they don’t need others telling them that their lives are in pieces. They know that. But they don’t know that Jesus knows them and wants to bring them into a life of wholeness. He wants to heal them. They are His creation too. And how will they know unless Christians allow ourselves to be conduit of His love.

I was so humbled by what happened that I’ve resolved to pray every day. May God help me to see people the way He sees them. And when an opportunity comes my way, may He enable me to seize it.

People’s souls are hanging in the balance. What if the girl at the fabric store decides to go to church? What if she becomes a Christian, and this baby she’s carrying grows up to do great things for God?

God wants to seek and save the lost. When He looks for someone to use, may He find me ready. Are you with me?

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God is in control (from ymiblogging)

God is in control

Philippians 4:6-9

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It was getting down to crunch time. I was on the USA national volleyball team, and we were only one month

away from our Olympic qualifying tournament. I realized my priorities were a bit mixed up when I received a call from my doctor just minutes before I was to leave for practice. She told me that a mole removed from my chest had come back positive for malignant melanoma. My first reaction was, “Can we take care of this in about a month?” She replied, “This could be life-threatening.” I was shocked by her words. After she explained the seriousness of melanoma, I understood that this was something I needed to take care of immediately. I realized I was letting volleyball consume my life.

The next week was filled with uncertainties. I had surgery to remove the cancer and some lymph nodes. The severity of the melanoma would not be determined until the biopsy reports came back. During this long week of uncertainty, I found tremendous peace in knowing that God was in control. Philippians 4:6-7 gave me God’s amazing comfort. It says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace . . . . His peace will guard your hearts and minds.”

Through God’s grace, I received His peace, I knew He was in control, and He carried me through. My surgery was a success! The cancer was contained. Three weeks later and all stitched up, I was able to help my team qualify for the 2000 Olympics. I learned to rely more on God through this trying experience and to always put Him first.
—Val Kemper, former member US National Volleyball Team

executing the game plan›
• What are you facing that has you frightened or uncertain?
• Have you begun to give it to God in prayer?

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Everybody's Doing It (from ymiblogging)

Everybody’s Doing It

OUR DAILY JOURNEY 

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May 6, 2012 

“Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him (v.4). 

READ: 1 Samuel 24:1-22 

When I joined a popular social media network, it was thrilling to reconnect with friends. We swapped messages and fortified our cyber-connection by joining each other’s causes, comparing quiz results, and exchanging virtual hugs. After a while I felt the pressure of staying plugged into the website so that I could respond to each message.


Going along with the crowd isn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless our actions contradict God’s law. David had to decide whether to follow the advice of his peers or honour God in a critical situation. He and his fellow soldiers (and probably some large spiders!) were hiding from King Saul in the back of a cave—for Saul had been stalking David, intending to murder him.


Incredibly, Saul wandered into the same cavern. David’s peers, having been incessantly chased, understandably whispered: “Now’s your opportunity. . . . Today, the Lord is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish’ ” (v.4). David’s friends tried to influence him by telling him what they thought God was saying. Yet David said, “[God] forbid that I should . . . attack the Lord’s anointed one, for the Lord Himself has chosen him” (v.6). 


When David opted for God’s influence rather than that of his friends’, the cat and mouse game ended without bloodshed. Saul actually cried and confessed to David, “You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil” (v.17).


The next time you’re being pressured into a bad decision, and your friends say, “Just go for it,” don’t. Instead consider how it—whatever it is—lines up with God’s standards for Christian living (Ephesians 5:1-4). Listen to God’s voice and honour Him rather than earthly allies. —Jennifer Benson Schuldt

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What Makes a Woman Beautiful? (from ymiblogging)

What Makes A Woman Beautiful?

By Edna Ho, 21, Malaysia

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It’s not about you having big eyes or small eyes.
It’s not about your face shape—be it oval, round or square.
It’s not about you having a sharp nose or a flat nose.
It’s not about you having flawless skin or a pimpled face.
It’s not about your skin color, whether you’re dark or fair.
It’s not about your height, whether you’re tall or short.
It’s not about you being slim or plump.

And mind you, a lot of us believe what the world perceives as beautiful to be true. We think that pretty girls must have flawless skin, silky long hair, big eyes, perfect eyebrows, an oval face, a sharp nose, fair, tall, and slim.

No, a woman is beautiful when after the mishaps and past failures is able to still rest in God, trusting that she is in the wonderful hands of the God Almighty. As Stasi Eldredge in her book Your Captivating Heart put it, “A beautiful woman is one who is at rest.” She doesn’t compare herself with others as to who is better or prettier. She is at peace, because she knows that she is the Lord’s beloved daughter.

You are beautiful, because you are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). No matter how you feel and no matter what others tell you, God says, “You are my precious daughter.”

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Man Rebelling Against God’s Authority (from ymiblogging)

Man Rebelling Against God’s Authority

By Ernest Teh

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Have you ever stayed up late at night wondering about what you’re doing with your life, and feeling entirely lost? I have, and I’m sure I’m not alone either. F. Scott Fitzgerald described it this way, “In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day.”

The truth is that most of us lead pretty empty lives. The other truth is that most of us often don’t realize it because we’re just too busy doing whatever it is we’re doing. Strip our life bare, and leave us with our thoughts (at say maybe 3 a.m.?) however, and it may finally dawn upon us that we don’t really have a clue what our life is all about. We keep filling it up with this activity and that pursuit and that goal that we have no time to stop and think about where we’re actually headed. This is the emptiness that comes as a result of sin. We have rejected God’s RULES and RULE in our lives.

Now we’re left to run our life on our own, and with our direction, nowhere is the only destination I can imagine us reaching. It’s sad how so many of us are oblivious to the fact that our soul is wandering around in the dark. But fortunately, that isn’t the end, for, thanks be to God, we have the Son who has called us out of darkness into His wonderful light.

Are we still wandering in the dark? Or are we basking in the wonder of His glorious light?

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Discerning God’s Plan (from ymiblogging)

Discerning God’s Plan

By Julian Abraham, 19, Singapore

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Does God have a plan for me? Do I know what His plans might be? These are questions that many of us think little about. There’s always good excuse for not thinking about such matters for our lives are crowded with so many activities. We’re loaded with work, studies, and social activities—all of which consumes much of our time and energy.

However, one reality remains: whatever we do that is outside of God’s plans will never fully satisfy; worst still, the end-result might be disaster and failure. In addition, God is and should always be top priority in our lives. No work, personal goals, achievements should disrupt our relationship with Him. If anything proves to be an obstacle, then it’s time to reconsider our focus and commitments. It could be that it isn’t God’s plan for us to pursue something or that God’s path for us is different from what we are currently taking. Thus it is important to take moments to ponder if the direction we are heading is the path that God wants us to take.

A friend of mine thought God was mean and nasty to him when he was fired from his job. He felt that it was due to his involvement in church. A week later, he found a job that was far better than his last—bigger paycheck, better benefits, and a more pleasant environment! Having said that, it’s not the tangible and visible gains that matter, what’s more important is the chance to grow spiritually and closer to God.

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Why faith? (from ymiblogging)

Why Faith?

 

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If someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it (v.15).  

READ: 1 Peter 3:13-18 

In an interview pop music star Katy Perry stated that 
 she wasn’t thrilled with her strict religious upbringing.
 “I didn’t have a childhood,” she explained. “I’ve always been the kid who’s asked ‘Why?’ In my faith, you’re just supposed to have faith. But I was always like . . . why? At this point, I’m just kind of a drifter . . . open to possibility.”


Not having been there, I can’t comment on Katy’s upbringing and what she didn’t like about it. But her words are telling: In my faith you’re just supposed to have faith. To that, I pose a Katy-like question: Why? For faith simply in faith is an empty pursuit. However faith in Jesus is something real and life changing.


Here’s why: To have faith in faith leads to trusting in something that lacks substance. It’s like clinging to a climbing rope for safety, but then discovering that it’s simply falling to the ground—not tied above or anchored below. True Christian faith, however, is confidently believing in Someone—Jesus.


The apostle Peter told his readers, who were suffering for their faith, to “always be ready to explain” their “Christian hope” (1 Peter 3:15). He had walked with Jesus, watched Him perform miracles, witnessed His death on a cross for his sins, and spent time with Him after He rose again from the grave. Peter possessed a rational, reasoned belief.


That belief—that faith—is what we can possess. Not grasping for an unsecured rope, we firmly hold on to the One who has shown Himself to be trustworthy and true. We believe, as Peter wrote, that “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring [us] safely home to God” (v.18). Now that’s Someone to have faith in! —Tom Felten

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BE (from ymiblogging)

BE

Written by Chia Poh Fang when she was fresh out of University. Ten years have since elapsed.

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Finding the right work is like discovering your own soul in the world. —Thomas Moore

What should I be? Should I be a writer, a civil servant, or …? Somehow as I seek the Lord’s will concerning my future, all my queries seem to hover around the word “be”. So I search the thesaurus for the synonyms of the word “be” and this is what I found:

Entry: be
Function: verb
Definition: exist
Synonyms: abide, act, be alive, breathe, continue, do, endure, go on, have being, have place, hold, inhabit, last, live, move, obtain, persist, prevail, remain, rest, stand, stay, subsist, survive
Antonyms: die, pass away, perish
Concept: aliveness

The discovery caused me to examine the soundness of my questions. Why am I defining my aliveness by the job that I hold? This idea seems to purport a life where its centrifugal life-defining force is in one’s profession. Much as many of us reject this idea because it sounds heretical to our religious ears, yet in our seeking of the Lord’s will concerning our profession, the question that bothers us the most is: What should I be—a teacher, a writer, an engineer, or …?

What should we do then? Perhaps, a replacement of the word “be” with its synonyms may yield some answers. Instead of asking “What should I be?” or “Who should I be?”, we could ask:

What should I abide by?
What should I hold on to?
What should last?
What should stay?
Who should prevail?

The answers to these questions could clear the cloud of apprehension in our job search and point us in specific directions as to what should ultimately define our life and thereby our career choice. Similarly, by asking questions using the antonyms, we could draw out certain perimeters in our job search. For example:

What should I die to?
What should pass away?
What should perish?

These questions help us discover the things that we ought to steer clear from in our job seeking, so that we are not led astray from the things that truly matter in life.

What do I want to be? I’m still unclear if I will ever find a job that I will stay long in, or a job that I will enjoy doing. However I do know that the job in itself must not define my life. In whatever post that I may eventually hold, I’m a pilgrim pursuing His kingdom first. I will abide by His kingdom values; I will hold on to my relationship with Jesus; I will last as a sanctified disciple. Jesus must prevail in my life.

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Footnote: Has Poh Fang found a job she would stay long in? Yes. She is currently working in RBC Ministries and has been in this organization since October 2006. Does she enjoy her work? The answer: A resounding “YES”! 
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Spelling Mistake (from ymiblogging)

Spelling Mistake

By Tracy Phua, Singapore

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Sometimes when we type too fast, it is not uncommon for us to miss out a letter by mistake. It dawned on me recently how important that missing letter might be, and how it might totally spell (pun intended) disaster for missing that tiny detail!

For example, you may have wanted to say: China was closed to Tibet.

But a typo error could lead you to mean: China was close to Tibet.

Get my drift? A missing letter could spell total disaster. Another example closer to home is

“Let Go” instead of “Let God.”

How many times in our life have we thought that we’re letting God handle our situation when we’re merely letting go? It is of utmost importance that we practice trusting and obeying the Lord. Sometimes we might not understand why God is letting us go through a particular situation, but even so, we must always remember that we need to surrender all. Lamentations 3:21-23 says,

“Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”

Our human logic cannot fathom our almighty God’s plans for our lives. So in whatever conundrum you are facing, instead of merely letting go, let God be God—trust and obey Him.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you” (Jeremiah 29:11-12).

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