M-I-R-R-O-R

I read 2 Corinthians 3 (NLT) today and here's my 3-point devotion/prayer...

1) v. 18 " And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more."

I pray that you who read this will be a mirror that reflect God's glory. May the Spirit work persistently in you to clean the stains in the mirror, removing any dark spots that hinders brightness.

2) v. 17 "Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, He gives freedom."

As the Spirit works persistently in you, I pray that you will receive freedom from bondages, unhealthy mindsets, doubts, fears and secular desires.

3) v.4 "It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success comes from God."

And when God brings the work in your life to completion, may all declare that all power, all glory, all honour and all praise belongs to God alone.

Be a ...

M - y
I - mage
R- ightly
R - eflecting
O - ur Lord's
R - ighteousness...

What kinda of mirror would you be without the word "Lord's"?

An Anointed Song

God is in Control - Twila Paris

This is no time for fear
This is a time for faith and determination
Don't lose the vision here
Carried away by the motion
Hold on to all that you hide in your heart
For there is one thing that has always been true
It holds the world together

God is in control
We believe that His children will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember and never be shaken
There is no power above or beside Him
We know ooh God is in control

History marches on
There is a bottom line drawn across the ages
Culture can make its plan
Oh but the line never changes
No matter how the deception may fly
There is one thing that has always been true
It will be true forever

He has never let you down
Why start to worry now
Why start to worry now
He is still the Lord of all we see
And He is still the loving Father watching over you and me

Watching over you
Watching over me
Watching over everything
Watching over you

Watching over me
Every little sparrow
Every little king

(italics indicate my favourite parts)

How then shall we run?

"Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win." (NLT) 1 Corinthians 9:24

"How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live together in harmony!" (NLT) Psalms 133:1

With these 2 seemingly paradoxical passages of scripture, my question is: how to run together if everyone runs at a different pace?

Several weeks ago, I went jogging with my brother at Bedok Reservoir. My brother who's male and fresh from NS vs me who sits around the office and stares at the computer all day long. Who do u think runs faster?

So after a while, I paiseh-edly asked my brother to go ahead without me and I will see him at the end.

This sparked off a whole series of questions as to how people run in the army. Does everyone run together? If they do, then whose pace do they run at? If they don't then how to sing songs (cos I always imagine them singing strange songs about loving Singapore and also to build camaradarie)?

If u're wondering the same thing (I think u must be a girl, either that or young boy), the answer is as follows: in the army, some run fast and some run slow. There will usually be one super fast runner who will run to the end first. Then come back and run, pace and encourage the next one behind. Then when they reach the end, they will run back and encourage the next in line. And it goes on and on till everyone finishes the race. Together.


When I learned this lesson from my brother, I wanted to blog it. But I couldn't find the words. Today I realized why. The ultimate revelation I received during service today is this: Jesus did the same. He is our forerunner. Yet He ran back to get us. The Son of God became the Son of Man so that we can run on the same track. Together.

So.. how then shall we run?

For those who run fast, let us be diligent and humble enough to run back.

For those who run slow, let us be wise and humble enough to receive help.

(For those with the inquisitive boliao minds like me: yes the army boys do start off singing songs but along the way, they stop. I also asked if the last person runs alone, what happens? Will usually end up walking. I had a barrage of questions but I shall not indulge the full extent of my boliao-ness.)

The Levitical Joke Part Deux...

"Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces..." Psalms 34:5

I guess I don't need to go for facials anymore!!

My favourite defence...

My favourite scene in spiderman 2 is that part where after spiderman stops the train from crashing and saves the lives of a million innocent people he lies flat on the floor with his mask off and there's a crowd of people hovering over him and staring at the person who just saved all their lives. And out of the blue, this random person goes: he's just a boy...

Yes he's just a boy, barely of age. And if u watched the movie, that's exactly how spiderman felt. I'm just a boy. I just wanna study, get a degree, go out with the love of my life and be at peace with the world.

If you think this applies only to boys, think again...

Julia Roberts in that movie where she's a famous movie star and Hugh Grant is this shackled owner of a bookshop. I believe it's called Nottinghill but I can't really remember. There's this scene which I'm sure struck a chord in many female hearts. Where Julia with her lanky legs, perfect face and brilliant smile goes I'm just a girl, as opposed to some bigshot movie star. Just love me the way u'd love any other girl. (Of cos all eyes roll, ure not just a girl, Julia.)

The idea is appealing. I'm just an ordinary person. Nothing special. Don't expect me to save the world or look good all the time.

It definitely appeals to me. I just wanna eat my eggs in peace and sleep my ordinary sleep. I'm not even being demanding.

Of course, sometimes there are people who come along whom everyone else thinks is just a boy/girl but themselves beg to differ.

When David wanted to go fight Goliath, King Saul said "don't be ridiculous! there's no way u can go against the Phillistine. YOU ARE ONLY A BOY... 1 Sam 17:33. But guess what? The boy defeated the giant.

Much as I like my favourite defence, I guess more often than not, it's not who I am but who my God is that matters.

Dear John...

29 September, 1983 my baby brother was born
As he grew up his weight I used to scorn
I personally don't think I was a sister from hell
But let's just say I wasn't all that swell
I remember that he was tubby as a child
And very bully-able because he was so mild
Over the tv and the phone we used to fight
And I like to believe that I was always right
Apparently I used to pull his cheeks when in a rage
When there was not peace but war that waged
I knew he was terrified to wake me when I was asleep
For my temper was like a beating with a whip
I was always the more conniving and difficult one
I'd get away with almost anything I want done
Perhaps we did play together from time to time
And I suppose not being a doting sis is not a crime
But beyond the fights and tiffs we had
One thing that now makes me rather sad
I think my brother grew up feeling less than me
That he was never as good as I could be

As time went by we each grew up
Each other's lives we kinda bo-chuped.
Conversations were few and far between
Only at random family meals was the other seen
Conversation centred around that moment's dish
Along the lines of please pass the fish
I suppose growing up years are never easy
Especially when ure grappling with your own identity

More time passed and I don't even remember how it went
But a sibling relationship between us began
I'd go to his room and force him to talk to me
Or I'll sit on him and he'll cease to be
Although that's my way of being friendly
It's really kinda unreasonable, I can see
I often feel really bad
For many years, a good sister my brother never had
Now when we sit down and talk
Or go around the area for a jog
I'd wish we did this many years ago
That together, as brother and sister we'd grow
But I'm thankful that we did start
To understand each other's heart
And I am beginning to understand and see
That your heart is something I can only hope to be
You have a gentle and simple way
And I'm really proud of you today
I'm not saying that you're perfect
There are many things that you still lack
But I like you just the way you are
I know you have it in you to be a star
So I pray that you'll start believing in yourself
And not in things like looks and wealth
Believe that the Creator has a beautiful plan for your life
One that's free from confusion and strife
Step out from the shadow of yesteryear
Let there be no more doubt or fear
Though for a while we will be apart
Know that you're in my heart
Because my little brother you will always be
Even if you're way taller than me
Take good care of yourself while you're there
It may be expensive but please cut your hair
Everyday for you I will say a little prayer
For I know our Father up in heaven there
Will care for you and your every need
And you're in good hands indeed

Thinking about the way you think...

Just last night I was in the office working till past 3am and had to be back in the office by 8am for a full day's work. Here's a snippet of some thoughts running through my head:

1) I wanna quit my job. Surely there are better ways to make money which goes on to next point...
2) If I married a rich tortoise, I won't have to work.... which leads to the next point
3) God, why did u send me here? (did I follow the wrong tortoise?? please refer to my hey shang xue le story which is not to be found on my blog and if ure wondering where u can find it.... ah ha! it's a mystery! some say it's good to be mysterious. but i won't be too mysterious cos it's quite sad if ure mysterious but nobody wants to find out about u which is why i would like to append a picture below but i haven't learned how to do it yet so...)
4) I'm so going to die sleep-driving home

Those are just snippets. Censored snippets to be exact.

Seriously, have u ever wondered what runs through a person's mind? If you just thought about what you think about, you'll be surprised at firstly the volume of thoughts, and secondly, the content of your thoughts.

Have you also wondered how it's possible to not gossip? I've tried not gossiping but if I think it in my head it's still gossiping what, albeit with myself.

I choose to believe that my words come from my thoughts so the only way to control my speech is to control the way I think.

So this morning when I woke up, I decided to practice something different, something i've not done before. I decided to choose the way I think:

1) Instead of 1, 2 & 3 above I told Him: God I don't know why u put me in my workplace but I believe u won't sabo me because u love me so help me through this day.
2) Instead of 4, I meditated on this verse: even if I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for your rod and your staff they comfort me. Trust me, when ure driving on the ECP at 7ish a.m. and there's a jam and ure like super groggy, u do feel like ure walking thru the valley of the shadow of death.

And i got thru the day with a smile and i would take a picture of it and post it here except....

Quotable Quotes

"we must learn to become the kind of person who plans things but who doesn't fall apart if that plan doesn't work out"

-Battlefield of the Mind, Joyce Meyer

"But the Lord still waits for you to come to Him so He can show you His love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for Him to help them."

-Isaiah 30:18

I Believe...

I believe everyday can be a miracle if I only dared to ask
I believe nothing is impossible if God's involved in the task

I believe God knows when I'm weak evern when I look strong
I believe He knows me inside out and knows when something's wrong

I believe He loves me no matter what I do
I believe He loves me even when I'm not cool

I believe He cares for every little thing in my life
I believe He plans for me to be someone's wife

I believe He watches me when I play the guitar
I believe He plans for me to be a star

I believe that when I talk to Him He's there
I believe I'm not just causing ripples in the air

I believe when I'm in trouble all I have to do is call
I believe I can do that with every problem, no matter how small

I believe that God sends airplanes just for me to see
I believe God is happy when He sees me in glee

I believe God smiles when I say goodnight
I believe He tucks me in and says sleep tight

I believe God wants the very best for me in life
I believe that through the struggle and the strife



I believed that if everyday I lived what I believe
I would cause Him a lot less grief

In Search of the Levitical Joke

Whoever thinks the Bible is boring does not know what he's talking about.


Psalms 18:29 (NLT)
"With my God I can scale any wall"

So, King David wanted to be spiderman? Or did Peter Parker wanna be a Bible character?

Jonah 2:5 (NLT)
"I sank beneath the waves, and death was very near. The waters closed in around me, and seaweed wrapped itself around my head."

Just visualize it. Yes, Jonah the original seaweed turban-man.

Ruth 2:15-16 (NLT)
"When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her. And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don't give her a hard time!"

Why not just drop the heads of barley right into Ruth's basket?

(And this is my favourite...)

Esther 2:3, 12(NLT)
"Let the king appoint agents in each province to bring these beautiful young women into the royal harem at Susa. Hegai, the eunuch in charge, will see that they are all given beauty treatments... Before each young woman was taken to the king's bed, she was given the prescribed twelve months of beauty treatments - six months with oil of myrrh, followed by six months with special perfumes and ointments."

Spa is biblical!

The bible is funnier than you think, eh?

A jarring wiry chord..

For the past 3 weeks or so, I've been sacrificing half an hour of sleep almost every night to do one thing: p-r-a-c-t-i-c-e-t-h-e-g-u-i-t-a-r.

Before I sacrificed my sleep, here's the other things I had to give up:

1) My lovely long fingernails (think along the lines of no more delightful manicures with delightful nail art)

2) My Friday nights for guitar lessons (think along the lines of it's the only night I'm almost confirmed able to leave work before 8pm which is why lessons are scheduled on this day)

3) $500 plus on guitar, gear and class fees (ok this is not really a sacrifice, it would have gone into something frivolous anyway, like manicures: see 1 above)

4) The lovely skin just below the tip of my nails (think along the lines of callouses, birthed after 3 weeks of practicing after 26 years of not doing any housework and thereby preserving my lovely hands) (i think of this chinese idiom that goes: xue2 hao3 san1 nian2, xue2 huai4 san1 tian1)

Ok, come to think of it, none of the above 4/5 'sacrifices' are really a big deal. C'mon get real. God instructed, I obeyed. It's as simple as that. And I do entertain grandiose dreams of being able to lead worship and play fluently with the guitar, to minister to the hearts of many. That's truly a dream. Which I intend to fulfil by the end of the year. (So there, I've written it on a public domain, so I have to practice and pray really hard for God to turn me into a guitar genius).

So I strum and I strum and I press and I press. I try to sing along (sometimes when I'm not too busy trying to find out which strings to press). (now for those who don't know, I was classically trained in the piano for 8 years and am thereby used to using fingers to press keys and play the melody to songs. my point is: guitar is like a whole new world, where strings are staple, chords are alien and what on earth are strumming patterns?!) (ok maybe my real point is that i'm not musically talented and am definitely not a guitar genius.) So as i was trying to say, i really DO NOT enjoy practicing the guitar. And for those who are not guitar geniuses like me, you'll understand! I've difficulty pressing the right strings because my fingers are not used to it. And most of the time even when I do press the right strings the right chord does not come out! Why is that?! I don't know. In its place, this really jarring wiry sound comes out and you wonder to yourself: is this music?? So after you get one chord right, there's the next chord! And changing from one chord to another is really not as single as changing from one key on the piano to another.

I know some would think: wah this girl is really a grouch man! What does she expect? Instant success? Practice makes perfect - the age old mantra which holds true till today!

Well I agree! I'm a brat. I expect to be an instant genius at everything I do. Simply because I'm used to doing only things I'm good at. That guarantees success. It's foolproof. If I was good at brushing my teeth, I'd just brush my teeth the whole day and be proud of the fact that I've such white, bacteria free teeth. Makes sense, doesn't it? (Note: my example does not really really make sense. If you think it does, please drop me a note, I'd like to be your friend. Also please note that I said 'if' so I'm not good at brushing my teeth.)

Doing something I'm not good at makes me uncomfortable. It's much like that jarring wiry sound that comes out when I don't press the guitar strings properly. It's just not pleasant.

Brattish as I am, I do understand one thing: unless one is placed in an uncomfortable position, one would never grow. God, make my life a miracle! Why would I need a miracle unless I'm placed in a situation that needs one? God, help me grow through the greatness of my tasks! If the tasks are always the same, how to grow?

And so I persevere.

And today, I tasted a fruit. A strange fruit, not in the likes of apple or orange. There was this strumming pattern I did not understand. Don't ask me to explain to you why I don't understand. You probably wouldn't understand. Just accept that I didn't get it. And I've been working on it for about a week. And finally today, when I picked up the guitar to play, it just suddenly came naturally to me. Don't ask me how. I believe it's divine. But more than that, God spoke. Through my crap playing? Yes, through my crap playing. Through the jarring wiry chords? Yes through the jarring wiry chords. Only the strumming pattern was right. And yet He spoke. Not only did He speak but He gave me the answer for a question I had not even asked.

Some people ask me why I do the things I do and why I follow God like a fanatic.

The answer is simple. He finds beauty in a jarring wiry chord.

What it would have been...

Save for intervention from above, this would have been my personal write-up on the firm website:

Evangeline was born in 1980 at Mt. Alvernia Hospital (most people were born at KK). She graduated from Primary School with an illustrous aggregate score of 277. Her grades peaked at age 12 and it was all downhill from there.

Evangeline graduated from NUS in 2003 with an Honours degree in law and was the recipient of the Montrose Memorial Book Prize for Jurisprudence in 2002. She commenced her career with the Singapore Legal Service as a Deputy Public Prosecutor. In 2005, she joined the leading criminal law firm of Harry Elias Partnership. Tapping on her previous experience, Evangeline does criminal matters of all shapes and sizes. She is also involved in the firm's Construction Law Practice and General Civil Litigation groups.

Just some random information about Evangeline: she likes the colour green and would like to own a farm in Australia.