Gifted!

I'm now back in Singapore! been back since 16 Oct.. and have been meeting up with people from SNGS days (see right), Every Nation and its just so nice to meet up and catch up with ur peers and get updates on where they are at in life rite now.. Yinwei as a mother of 5 mth old child, Lufee and Kay as life-saving doctors, Xinen as a new bride and wife , Amy as an entrepreneur and so on...

My classmates from ENLI came on Friday, 21 Oct! T'was so wonderful to see them here in SIngapore! Abit surreal for me.. and for them too i guess.. but it's great! What we've been doing the past few days since they came:

Went to little India and ate at Komala's - south indian food.. went for Thumbs Up on Saturday at Choa Chu Kang Secondary and that was fun.. but the most amazing discovery we had was that Dan was a high C!! *gasp*

went for the youth activity , Interactive @ 3 Rifles where Joe shared, and then we hung out Serangoon Gardens before feasting on local delights at Chomp Chomp! BBQ Stingray, Satay, Fried Carrot Cake with Oysters, Char Kway Teow, Sugar Cane Juice with Lemon, BBQ Chicken Wings etc.. and Dan had Laksa.

This was followed by trip down to Boat Quay and Clark Quay where Dan got to take the Reverse Bungee... Saturday sure was a full day!

Honestly i felt like a tourist myself bringing them ard these places in Singapore that i wouldn't normally go.. in fact on Sunday after the service and after lunch and outreach group, we acutally got to go to Marche again... ate my savoury crepe and got calamari! unfortunately joe beat me to getting my Marche tab card.. i need to improve my reflexes!

On Monday, we went down to NUS and met up with Wayne Dell and crashed in some of the LTs , but the coolest one was Jap studies where there were students doing a presentation on Japanese animes and their link to Jap history. Visited Gabriel and James at Eusoff Hall and Hon Sui Sen respectively.. man, just going back there brings back memories of my undergrad life, though not necessarily good ones! How in the world did i last 3 years there i wonder? Thank God for my exchange program to the US .. my last saving grace.

Anyway, so many things have changed.. they've upgraded the facilities so much.. the students there are blessed in many ways physically, but yet lacking in the most important thing in life - an unshakable sense of purpose, belonging and value.

Brought dan and babes to sentosa after that.. saw the dolphins, underwater world and musical fountain.. but for some reason, my heart/ soul seemed troubled.. as beautiful as those sights were.. i was just filled with concerns, but yet had no solutions to them.

In the midst of all the mental/ emotional battles i've had, I've concluded that the most difficult thing in life to manage, is relationships between people.. and mastering the art of relating to people needs to be a priority for me and in order for me to do so, i need to go back to THE creator of relationships.

Been prompted heavily to go back to His Word more and more.. unfortunately whether i fully comply all the time is in question, but i know the key to my questions and battles lie in there and i need to dig deeper. How can i love Him more? Him who gave me so many things when i don't deserve it, who loved me before I even knew existence. Just reminds me so much of the Children's story "Guess How Much I Love You" abt a baby rabbit competing with his dad as to who loves who more.. but at the end of it, the Father's love extends wider and in such a way that the son never could imagine, and may never come to know as he just quietly falls asleep in the love of his father.

Matt 6:33 says to "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be given unto you"... I never knew how much "all these things" were until i experienced it for myself. I remember sitting down in class at the Fort and i was looking at everything i owned.. my brand new Fujitsu laptop, my haversack, my PDA, my watch, earrings, pencil case, even my skirt..haha! all of them were gifts or were made possible because someone blessed me with money! I am through and through a "gifted" person!

When i came back recently to Singapore, there were 2 things i was just thinking of getting.. one was a black foam cover for my laptop so i cld just put it in my haversack so i can bring to school in my regular backpack instead of using the usual laptop sling bag. I saw one at kinokuniya when i brought the ENLI3 pp there, but it cost $15! so i didn't really feel like it was worth the money, so i left it as that.

The other thing i was thinking of investing in was a digital camera, i've been using one that my friend was lending me for while i was in manila and i found it soo handy and really felt it was a worthwhile investment.. and i remembered mentioning it to Amy C and couple of other friends when i met up with her.

Now, lo and behold, last nite, my brother gave me a laptop haversack (those w special comparments to put latop) and my Dad gave me a Canon IXUS digital camera!!! I was almost totally bowled over!! Could hardly believe it! !I mean, how much more amazing can it get?? God is so superbly AWESOME!!! And i just realised for all the nice things i've ever gotten, i've never had to strive to get it, somehow , some way, God manages to provide when we are just faithful to do His work and obey Him. And i would sit back and think.. "what did i do to deserve all this?" and i realised, that really it's nothing. I have done nothing to deserve what He has given me. My family, spiritual family, friends, amazing teachers, classmates.. things that even money can't buy. and being the typical Singaporean / Confucian-infused educated Chinese i am, a part of you wants to just do something to 'payback' the nice ness, but i know from time and experience (wat little i have, combined with what i hear), that i can never ever outgive God. And the best i can do is to bless the rest around me with His love and blessings in turn. What a privilege to be His child.

I wish everyone would just know and come to belong to Him! because what a privilege, adventure and love story it is. No greater joy and honor than to serve and love the one who gives and has given me purpose, life and value.