Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Two 2-hour discipleships over whatsapp in three days! Is this insane or what? Loving it! :)
Labels: Discipleship
| Standing In The GAP @ 2:50 am |
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
** Ladies United **
Read Woman of Destiny 400 days ago and took down some notes then. Re-read them just now and this popped at me:
"Fortunately, when you and I feel totally inadequate, we are actually ready! God wants to minister through us HIS power - not ours. Do you have more fear of the Lord, or fear of man?"
That's how I'd been feeling! But after reassurance upon reassurance upon reassurance, I know I am called.
I don't know what I am supposed to do! But God sent help in the form of best friend. Baby steps!
I know I can because the bible says so!
Miss you, soul mate!
Labels: Ladies united
| Standing In The GAP @ 1:31 am |
Thursday, February 23, 2012
** To You **
“Lord of the heavens,
Maker of the earth,
Your mercy endures forever.
Blessed Redeemer,
Ancient of days,
We choose to walk in Your ways.
To You, we lift up our hands,
Bowing before You, You’re the great I Am,
Jesus be magnified in this holy place,
We’ll join with the angels to sing of Your praise.
Hallelujah, glory to You alone.”
- “To You”, Andrew Yeo
This song came to me suddenly while I was praying for V. I almost teared. It really spoke of my heart's desire, how much I revere God, how much I want to lavish my praise upon Him, how much I adore Him... Intense stuff. Here I am, on holy ground.
On a side note, I love bathing cos it's the time when God speaks to me so clearly. Was bathing just now when God told me to do so many things.. To share something, to pray for someone, to encourage people... Was still telling God, "God, so many things! I got STM! Am scared I'll forget when I leave this place (bathroom). Remind me again when I get out, kay?" And God really reminded me! How cool can that get?!
My Friend, my Lord, my God.
***
Sheesh! Just saw the title of my previous post and I realised that God really sent me! Sent me to share some stuff, to pray for someone, to encourage people (see above). Yea!! Happy!! :)
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 2:19 am |
Monday, February 20, 2012
** Here I am, SEND me **
John 3:17
For God did not SEND his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
In that era, there was a familiar concept in Jewish life that the messenger is like the sender himself.
So when God sent Jesus into this earth, Jesus had that same form of authority and power from above.
Later on, Jesus in turn sent his disciples to make "disciples of all nations" (The Great Commission). And that was AFTER He was resurrected, after He had gone down to Hades to grab the key, after regaining some authority from the enemy in order to have FULL authority.
Being sent implies that the commission, charge, and message are issued by the Sender rather than originating with the one who is sent.
To put it simply, we now have FULL authority from God! Spirit of fear, be gone!
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 1:41 am |
Friday, February 17, 2012
** John 2:13-16 **
John 2:13-16
14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.
15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade."
I didn't know that 'temple' (Gk. hieron) denotes the area surrounding the temple, including the Court of the Gentiles, in distinction from the temple building proper (Gk. naos), from which non-Jews were excluded. I always thought it was the 'building' they were referring to.
The merchants and money lenders were making a huge profit cos they were taking advantage of those Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem from afar. This I know.
But why didn't it occur to me earlier that by conducting their businesses in the temple complex, these individuals were disrupting the worship of non-Jewish peeps! This obstructed the very purpose for which the temple was built for. It really didn't occur to me that the non-Jewish peeps were affected, not the whole congregation of temple-goers.
Dang! 茅塞顿开!
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 1:33 am |
Thursday, February 16, 2012
** John 1:16-17 **
John 1:16-17
16 For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The contrast is not that the Mosaic law was bad and Jesus is good. Rather, both the giving of the law and the coming of Jesus Christ mark decisive events in the history of salvation.
In the law, God graciously revealed his character and righteous requirements to the nation of Israel. Jesus, however, marked the final, definitive revelation of God’s grace and truth.
Wham! That hit me hard! "definitive revelation". Just like the rainbow...
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 2:16 am |
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
** I believe. **
Message for the day:
John 1:12-13
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
"Believed in” = pisteuō eis in Greek which implies personal trust.
Believing and trusting go together, hand in hand. It doesn't make sense when one says, "I believe in you", but does not trust this person. Neither does it make sense when one says, "I trust you", but does not believe in his friend.
God really tied this in nicely with sermon, with the part which struck me the most.
How can I say "I believe in God" yet choose not to trust that He'll bring everything to pass, to choose not to trust that he is bigger than my problems?
Lesson learnt:
I believe = I trust, unconditionally. Even when it's silent/doesn't make sense.
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 2:23 am |
Monday, February 06, 2012
** After-thoughts... **
It's been a LONG time since I've read such a good article to speak up for the population of nurses in Singapore. The author wrote and I quote,
"The traditional mindset of a public only thinks that nursing job is to clean faeces and urine... The public should be aware that nursing is a more of a profession than just a normal occupation. We save lives and use our instinct, critical thinking, and knowledge to do the best for the patient care."
Why then, are Singaporeans so harsh on nurses?
We silently endure verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse, we are condemned as maids by patients' relatives, we are viewed as merely helpers to the doctors (think: cleaning of excretion and vital signs taking), we have to be weary of perverted patients...
All these and more for that meagre (I refrained from using 'pathetic') amount of monthly pay, exposure to all sorts of occupational hazards (H5N1, SARS etc.), short (and sometimes even 'no') lunch/dinner breaks at weird timings (9am for lunch, anyone? 4pm dinner?), and grueling hours of shift work where many a times we only have 5 hours of sleep before going back to nurse our patients again the next day (think: PM AM PM AM shifts! We leave the place seeing our patients sleeping soundly in bed, and come back the following day to see them still sleeping soundly in bed)...
And I have not included the days where some nurses are not allowed to celebrate special occasions (e.g. New Year, CNY, Christmas) with their loved ones.
Oh! Have I mentioned that we have to be on standby during our off-days just in case the ward recalls us back due to the lack of manpower?
Rest? What rest?
Work-life balance? What's that?
To all the nurses in Singapore, I salute you!
But above that, I hope the public recognises our continuing efforts to provide the best quality care to our patients and be less demanding on us. With that said, please do understand that we are unable to attend to all of your requests ASAP as we have to prioritise our work on hand.
For example, between getting a cup of warm water versus settling some administrative work so that another patient can be sent down for an urgent CT scan, the latter takes the top priority.
Sure enough, I do not deny that there are Singaporeans who have been very understanding thus far. However, many still demean the nursing profession and treat us as 'higher-class maids'.
This perennial problem should be analysed in depth by the relevant authorities (MOH, MOM, SNB, SNA) in order to raise the image of nursing here in Singapore.
Having more institutions offering degree courses is a good start. What about the remuneration and work-life balance? I am sure these are the key issues which are tugging at many nurses' heartstrings.
Lastly, I would like to urge all nurses be united as one. Regardless of race, nationality, religion, language, and institution, we are still nurses here in Singapore. As the adage goes, unity is strength. Only if we are united as one then can we seek to advance the Singapore nursing scene.
* * *
If you are interested, here's the article I read which sparked off this post:
It's a little lengthy with a few grammatical errors here and there. Despite that, I strongly encourage you to read the entire post. Who knows? It might just wreck your perspective of nursing.
Labels: nursing
| Standing In The GAP @ 6:03 pm |
