Remember the days you prayed
Yesterday was an ordinary extraordinary day. We went to Ikea for lunch as a family, as we did many times in the past. Ikea lunches saw our family from when the children would sit in the trolley, then fight over wanting to push the trolley, to no longer fighting about anything anymore.
(Lunching at Ikea during COVID times was actually niceer.. we get assigned seats. Well, no more of that)
While some of us went to get food, a potential fight developed between the two remaining.
But one party chose to keep quiet so there was no fuel for the fire. We finished the lunch in peace.
It is a blessing when your children mature.
After a fun time of shopping, we dropped Samuel off at church for service, and me for pre-service prayer duty. I love praying, but I also struggle with it, because there are so many things on my plate. But I am convicted about praying for my church, because just like humans, the body of Christ goes through ups and downs, and it needs prayers. My church has been a home for me and helped me grow through my singlehood, marriage and continues to help each one of my kid grow. It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a church to make a people for the Lord.
There were young delegates from South Korea who would rush to the front during worship time,
and start queuing at the door immediately after each session ends to get front row seats.
Their behaviour so
that I found my kids with their cell group queueing to go in, and rushing to the front too.
The other nations came with a flag and Elias decided to make a Singapore flag too.
So that was him, holding the Singapore flag.
Iron sharpens iron, and we stir each other to love and good deeds.
I volunteered at the Front of House and was assigned to store the delegates’ luggage.
I LOVED THE JOB – organising the suitcases (You can guess my personality!)
(That was how I realised that those youths, and my kids started queueing right after the session ended.
I could see the queue forming where I was seated, at the counter)
Like many Christians, I struggle with the purpose of prayer. Doesn’t God already know what I need and want? Did Jesus not tell us not to babble on? Yet Jesus also taught us to be like the persistent widow. I swing from “Prayer changes me, not my circumstances” to “By faith, I declare..” But I keep praying, because Jesus prayed.
I learned, that there are several types of prayer. There is the my heart’s desires type – praying for a parking lot, a new job and a good holiday. There is the petition according to God’s Word type – Php 1:6; Rom 8:38-39; 2 Cor 4:8-9. There is the God my friend type – Should I go jogging this morning? What should I listen to when I jog? What should I eat for lunch? I pray on my own, with individuals, with groups.
I still struggle with unanswered questions, but I know the difference in me, when I am praying and when I am not, so I know there is power in spirit-filled, faith-infused, bible-based prayer.
I saw this quote, fell in love with it, and created it.
It encourages me to keeping praying.
Because I remember that I do not always have what I have today.
While waiting for the adult service to start yesterday, I received this message from Samuel, who attended the earlier Youth service. He sent it into the family Bread of Life chat (I have more than 10 shared WA groups with my kids.. this is the life of a family today!)
Today’s youth service was very meaningful and personal
The walking dead
John 10:10
God does not want us to be a walking dead christian
Revelation 4:15-16
Eutychus: lucky
Acts 20:7-12
4 signs to examine to check if you are dead or alive
Are you hungry?
Are you growing?
Are you loving?
Are you sharing the gospel?Acts 20:8, many lamps
Acts 20:9, a deep sleep
Spiritually dead
Do we hunger for the word of God
Hunger for God’s word can be and must be cultivated
To meditate is to think deeply on what God is saying and apply His word into our lives
- What do you observe from this verse?
- What is God saying?
- How can I apply it in my life?
Rumination
Pride
If you can’t be corrected without being offended, you will never grow in life
Build my life
1 John 4:7-8
Opposite of love: indifference
Acts 20:12- What do you observe from this verse?
- What is God saying?
- How can I apply it in my life?
If you can’t be corrected without being offended, you will never grow in life
After that, there were two more messages of personal sharing. They were raw, transparent, genuine. God did a miraculous work in his heart, and he was able to express it and write it out. He was able to write a powerful personal testimony.
I cried and cried at the worship service, and this morning, while doing my devotion, because God is so good. You will only understand how precious this was to me, if you had followed my blogging about Samuel. It was not because Samuel was a prodigal’s son. That was never the struggle I had about him. He grew up in church and thankfully did not leave church as a younger teen.
But when he was very young, I often grieved over his inability to read. In particular, I grieved when I realised that he was not able to read fast enough to sing a worship song! I must have wept buckets over that. I do not need my son to be successful in the eyes of the world. I DO NOT. I just wanted him to be able to know God, and to serve Him. How can he, if he cannot read the bible, doesn’t have the memory for worship songs, or is unable to even express God’s goodness?
By that time of my life, I was no longer prone to being angry with God, but my heart was broken and I cried for God’s help.
A broken heart solves nothing, and God gave us the mind of Christ and the ability to work, so I persisted on teaching Samuel, and he improved. Over the years, we did many things – I got him to copy 2 verses from the book of Psalm each day. We read the kids’ devotion together. I got him to memorise the Lord’s prayer and he learned it. I taught him to pray all manners of prayer. Over time, he did learn to read and I rejoiced every time he reads the bible aloud, each time more and more fluent.
I can’t recall where he got these verses from, but he copied them into his little journal.
What is man’s greatest achievement in life? It is to have learned to walk with God.
God continued to work on his spirit-man. I had many god-conversations with him over the years, and he had committed church leaders, who came in and out of his life, each of them imparting beautiful truths and building his faith.
(I could not find that when I was writing this).
We moved on to other devotional.
This was from Matt 24:15-22 about the Day of Tribulation.
Gosh, how do you teach a kid about it? But we learned to put our hope in God.
But that is not the focus of this post.
This post celebrates Samuel’s years of slow, hard work, learning to read, and write and express himself. It is a reward of my tears. It is my heart in worship to my God – a heart overflowing with thankfulness. I gave up some things to exchange for my years with Samuel. Whatever I gave up, are worth nothing, compared to what I see in Samuel today. Because today, he can read the bible, worship and write out his personal testimony. He is able to learn more about God and serve Him. And he desires to do so.
There is nothing better than making a disciple, especially if that disciple is your son.
