Friends In Love

I came across this video on You Tube and like it alot. Miaa Rose, the girl in the video, wrote this song herself. Isn’t it beautiful for good friends to become lovers?

Friends in love
Stop playing with my heart the way you’re doing
You keep pushing me away, then your pulling me right back in
Playing these games when you know I’m already falling

Stop speaking through the lines and say it bluntly
I’m tired of reading through your smiles to see the truth behind
This circle of two thats leaving me always hoping

I’ll wait for you to come and save me
I’ll hope that you will come and show me
and tell me…

That you can’t take me off your mind
That you were just too scared to read the signs
That we could actually be something more then
Then I would you tell all the things
That I have been dying to let you know
and we could actually be something more than friends in love

Stop making me a fool to think you need me
I have been true to your life through the ups and downs
Waiting for moments I’m scared might never happen

Cause I cant stop thinking about the future
and if you can’t start telling me your feelings
I’m gonna have to find someone that completes me
If you wont tell me that you..

 

Love Them Like Jesus

God has given me a gift of compassion. Recently, I have been asking God how can I exercise this gift so as to glorify Him. I always thought that by being involved in the lives of the troubled and offering them assistance, I am exercising this gift. Whenever I think of the issues that these people are going through, I feel so much for them. I stood by them and offered whatever help I could offer. Over time, it became very draining for me. I started to feel very consumed with emotions and could not control myself. I cried whenever I thought of the troubles they are going through. It felt as if I was the one in trouble. Their burdens started to weigh me down and I became exhausted as I did not know where to draw the lines.

Just this morning on the way to work, I received a SMS from the father of this girl I used to mentor in church. His SMS said that her daughter is 3 months pregnant – again. She just given birth late last year and had to give up the child for adoption as she did not have the means to take care of the child. Her parents did not approve the relationship with her boyfriend because the boyfriend displays traits that are not favourable. I was very involved in the whole pregnancy episode last year, talking some sense to the daughter and like what I have mentioned above, I was very consumed with emotions and did not know where to draw the line. But it seemed that my talking did not knock any sense into her. We could see the dangers and we advised her, but she still choose to go her own way. And now, she is faced with the same issue again.

Upon receiving the news via her father’s SMS, my spirit just feel so broken. I felt so frustrated as to why she can’t see what we see. Can’t she see that her life is ruined? Just as I was feeling broken and weighed down, the song “Love Them Like Jesus” by Casting Crowns came to my mind. I was reminded of the lyrics and felt God speaking to me through the song.

Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest in your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

Like what the song says, “Just love them like Jesus, carry them to Him. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. You don’t need the answers to all of life’s questions. Just know that He loves them and stay by their side. Love them like Jesus.” Indeed, we can keep on asking questions about why must this and that happen, but we will never get an answer. It’s God’s problem and not ours. We always aim to make a difference in people’s lives by relying on our own strength to offer solutions. But we are limited and we are serving a limitless God. God will take care of their problems. We just have to stay by their side and love them like Jesus.

My friends, if you are going through the same struggle as I am, I hope this will encourage you. Let’s stay by their side and love them like Jesus. We don’t have to strive to offer solutions. Let’s just love them like Jesus and one day, God’s glory will be revealed in their lives. Not by our strength but by His strength. Not by our will but by His will.

 

Are you prepared to leave?

I visited my Uncle at The Garden of Remembrance yesterday, a Christian Columbarium at Choa Chu Kang where all the cemeteries are. It was his 53rd birthday and his 3rd death anniversary. 3 years back in 2005, he died of a heart attack while giving a speech on stage for a government event in Indonesia. He left behind my Aunty and 4 cousins. Back then, the oldest one was only 15 while the youngest one was only 6.

 

Everytime when I visit him at The Garden of Remembrance, I will also take a walk round to see his “neighbours”. I was not trying to be kapoh  or something but everytime when I visit my Uncle and do my rounds, I realised that the places that were empty 3 months’ back were now occupied by someone who had recently passed on. Well, most of them are of black and white photographs of the deceased, meaning that they passed on as they advanced in age because of illnesses. During my visit yesterday, 2 urns caught my eye. One was a black and white picture of a youth who was born in 1971 and passed on when he was 20 in 1991. And another of a coloured picture of a young girl who was born in 1995 and passed on when she was 10 in 2005. As I looked at their pictures on their urns, I just can’t help but to wonder how did they passed away. Was it because of an illness? Or was it because of an accident?

 

When I was younger, I always thought that death will only occur to old people. However, as I grow older and more sensible, I realised that people below age 80 can also die, probably of other causes rather than old age. So seeing these 2 urns make me realise that life is really unpredictable. One may be well and alive one day but the next, he or she will be gone. I was then reminded of something that my Uncle’s friend said while giving testimonies during my Uncle’s wake. He mentioned that my Uncle was always prepared to leave. He lived his life to the fullest. Making sure that he spend time with his loved ones and that he will not have any regrets when God takes him home. (The heart attack was something sudden as he did not have any heart related illness). It dawned to me that we should live life like this too. I used to be afraid of death but I am no longer now. Therefore, I have decided to live my life to the fullest. It’s indeed a blessing to be alive and it is definately by God’s grace to be alive. But I want to be prepared too when God takes me home one day. One big thing that I am going to do to prepare myself for that day is to invest my time in the lives of others. Be it in mission trips, befriending someone or even telling my family members and loves ones that they are loved. I am going to prepare myself for that day.

 

“I have fought the good fight. I have completed the race. I have kept the faith. The victor’s crown of righteousness is now waiting for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on the day that he comes, and not only to me but also to all who eagerly wait for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4: 7 – 8