Morphing Stories

Today is a confirmation of what had happened last night. He is amazingly real! :)

[09:25 pm]

I kept turning and tossing the WHOLE night. Having weird dreams.

He rebuked my way of thinking on certain issues in a passage before I slept. Probably, I was troubled and trying to overcome “me” in all these things I’m supposed to change. That’s why it is a sleepless night.

Gonna go buy some face necessities tomorrow. Sigh. Weirdly I just posted a post about What Makes A Woman Beautiful and make-ups shouldn’t be one of the reasons. But trust me, it is not to really to beautify me. I don’t even make-up to campus like some people do, or even to church except certain occasions. Because I have an oily face and putting make-ups on it, will make it worst. Hence, no choice I need to get a good product to put it on. Else, I will suffer itchiness. Plus, I’m gonna work in couple of months time, and I’m surely gonna need to invest one good one. *I hate being a girl now when I need to spend this kind of money which a guy doesn’t have to*

Oh well, back to thesis. Want to study some tonight and probably finish my part for CG too. Good day everyone!

[11:59 am]

Having the perfect and right figure?

Having expensive clothes and accessories?

Possessing branded/expensive make-ups? To cover our “ugliness” (acnes, pore holes etc)?

Or having bigger breasts?

Our society is obssessed with being beautiful! But is there more to beauty than what meets the eye?

I was going through this session with Ps Jadeline about 3 weeks ago. I came back to Sg Long in the afternoon, wanting to start on my assignment, then this paper came in my hand. I read it all over again and I’d like to share it here, in summary.

No doubt, nowadays we live in a society that places a high degree of importance on physical appearance. TV, movies, mags all display attractive people. There is HARDLY having a big fat ugly women/men up in billboards you see on the road etc. Agree?

They promise them freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves of things that will be destroyed. For people are slaves of anything that controls them.

~2 Peter 2:19~

With the society which is so obsessed with physical beauty, many women are caught up in this obsession as well. But should really be that important for a woman? Is beauty something that a Christian woman should strive for? What makes a woman truly beautiful?

I know some stuff like wearing low V-cut shirt that shows off your cleavage is not-so-right, because indirectly you are not protecting the body God has given to you. At the same time, we are making men to sin. I remembered this joke whereby Mr Ong (Adv Tax lecturer) told us about how his wife commenting him being conservative when he commented on the clothes she was wearing. Then he said something in a teasing way that she would make men sin (you know, by luring men’s lust etc). And she changed. LOL!

Anyway, back to the point. A woman can and should be beautiful. God designed us to be that way, that our skin, hair and features to be soft and appealing, and our body was fashioned to be attractive and beautiful to men. However, the physical side of the beauty is just a small part of what makes a woman truly GREATLY beautiful.

So here are some of the outer beauty factors which what makes a woman beautiful:

1. Health – We have attractive glow when we are healthy. A balanced, nutritious diet and exercise will help a woman to have this healthy glow.
2. Looking feminine – We can achieve this through our dressing and hairstyle. An attractive woman should dress modestly, despite of the society’s teaching on how to display sexy clad figure in order to be attractive. Besides being attractive for being dressed modestly, we will gain honor and respect from those who see her. Because a woman’s body is designed to be attractive and arousing to men, hence when we dressed too revealing of ourselves, we will stir the wrong kind of feelings and attract the wrong kind of attention.

The above are the outer beauty factor which a lady/woman should look into. For the inner beauty, we should be:

1. Kind - We should be gracious. In Proverbs 11:16 tells us that a gracious woman retains honor. They usually are ladies who are kind, gentle, thoughtful, unselfish etc both in speech as well as in action. They are the women that people will look up and remember. In Proverbs 31:26, a virtous woman will have the law of kindness on her tongue.

“Women are astonished when we tell them what many professional men look for in a woman on the first date – besides chemistry. Men like women who are nice. Men are suckers for kindness and consideration. We love women who are affable, flexible, easygoing. Most men cannot resist a sweet women. Of course, men always desire to touch women, as we don’t have what they have. However, we really give respect to those that save for their lifetime partner. At our younger age, 16-22, where responsibility to build home and take care of wife as whole life was not totally in our mind, we really could not tell between lust and love. We don’t mind to have girlfriend(s) to pamper and caress, and we can give many promising words for her/them, intentionally or unintentionally, but actually we are uncertain of our responsibilities and even obscure about our future to the girl’s husband.”

~by Bradley Gerstman, Christopher Pizzo and Rich Seldes in What Men Want~

Was stunned when I heard of this this few lines. Let me move on.

2. Good judgment – In Proverbs 11:22, a lovely woman who lacks discretion is compared to a ring of gold in a pig’s snout. Although a woman is physically attractive, but lacks discretion, it takes away her beauty and value. Good judgment are such as moral issues, money matters, choices, decisions, dealing with others, work etc. A woman who possesses good judgment is of great value because she can be trusted to do the right thing.
3. Sexual purity – This stands out most in the Bible as one of the most important qualities in measuring Christian maturity and purity. You can further read this passage in 1 Corinthians 6:9-20.

We, ladies (I’m still a lady) or women should continue to grow and better our inner self. Proverbs 31 describes a woman who is competent and capable of doing many things. We are the one who is able to contribute to others through these abilities, and be use to our family, Church, community etc. However, God doesn’t look into just the outside and inside beauty of us. It is more important to please God with our quality beauty as our outer one will fade and inner will end, but the beauty that God sees in us is more important when we stand before Him.

Do not let your adornment be merely ourward-arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

~1 Peter 3:3-4~

• God values a quiet spirit in a woman. Does this mean we should never speak-as in always be quiet? No, this mean that a woman should not have an argumentative, contentious spirit. She should not be someone who is quick to argue and demand her way. She should make peace with others, not envy/jealous against and not competitive with other women, and respectful to her husband.

It is better to live in a corner on a roof, than inside the house with a quarreling wife.

~Proverbs 21:9~

It is better to live alone in the desert than with a quarreling and complaining wife.

~Proverbs 21:19~

Seriously, I agree on this. I’ve been in a relationship and I was pretty a quick-tempered person back then. And my ex doesn’t really like it. I’ve changed a lot. Not only at that, I was too back at home. Still is sometimes, but lesser :)

• God values a woman who is submissive, which is not a popular word in the society today. People think the word “submissive” as being weak. But, God has commanded women who are married to submit themselves to their husband’s authority. This does not mean that a woman should never have an opinion/say in the family. A wise husband would consult his wife on all important issues. Ephesians 5:22-32 says a woman who submits herself to her husband is a woman who understands and is yielding to the government that God has established in the home. It is not a sign of weakness, but strength. A sign for us, women to in fact submitting to God and obeying the commands He establish. It is also a sign of our faith to God.
• God also values a woman who fears Him. As in putting God first in life and striving to do what He commanded and should continue to deepen her relationship with Him, also continue to grow spiritually.

Charm can fool you, and beauty can trick you, but a woman who respects the Lord should be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, she should be praised in public for what she has done.

~Proverbs 31:30~

In conclusion, if a woman possesses only the physical aspect of beauty without inner and godly qualities, she is hollow and empty shell. She should be beautiful on the outside, inside and most importantly, she should be beautiful to God.

[05:29 pm]

God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NCV)

A cloud of terror hung over the Valley of Elah as snarling threats and vile promises spewed from his mouth. The intimidator strutted along grassy slopes swinging an enormous club, his mammoth, ironclad feet pawing the ground like an irate bull, ready to attack. The huge, ugly monster was Goliath, a nine foot giant, the pride of Philistia. He wore massive armor; a bronze coat weighing 200 pounds, a solid iron spear, a heavy bronze helmet. The target of his ranting and raving was a frightened, helpless group of Israelites, cowering in their tents. For forty agonizing days, Goliath had come, taunting them, promising certain destruction and doom. The Israelites, paralyzed with fear, had given up all hope of escape, resigned to their tortured fate at the hand of this Philistine monster.

Then came day forty-one!  I am certain, as the sun inched its way over the mountains that morning, that neither Goliath nor the Israelites had any idea just how different this day would be. A young handsome teenager stepped into the valley of fear, fresh from the presence of God.  David, the youngest in a family of eight boys could not believe the scene before him. Tossing the giant’s threats and obvious advantage aside, David refused to accept what he saw.  Instead, he chose to believe what he knew in his heart; this giant was going down!  With simple but certain faith and unreserved confidence in God, David stepped through the fear, ushering in the mighty presence and power of God.  Goliath not only met David that day, He met the Lord of Heaven and Earth.  And the giant fell!  Giants always fall in the presence of God!

We stand on the threshold of a new year — a new beginning! If you are like me, you face 2009 with mixed emotions.  Personally, I am thrilled that I survived 2008! There were certainly moments when I wondered if I would.  I am so excited about a fresh start, a brand new set of days overflowing with new dreams and unmarked possibilities. But I also know that this year is crammed full of the unknown as well as a giant or two.  And if I am brutally honest, I have to admit that the unknown fashions a pocket of fear in my heart where questions and doubts thrive.

The good news is that what lies ahead is no surprise to God.  In fact, He has already been where we are going. That reason alone empowers us to face every tomorrow with hope, knowing that whatever touches us passes through His hands, with His permission.  It is not God’s plan for us to dwell in fear or for fear to rule our lives.  He has already set in motion the defeat and fall of every giant that we will ever face.  Our responsibility is to step through our fear, facing every giant in God’s power and with His promises.  The Holy Spirit will guide the path of His truth to its destined mark, taking down the giants lurking in each tomorrow.

He is the same yesterday, today and forever!  The days ahead are saturated with the memory of Goliath’s fall and trust in Almighty God, the Giant Killer!  So then, my friend, I ask you, what is there to fear?  Happy New Year!

~By Mary Southerland~

Was a little troubled with something. God spoke in this piece of devotion. Days may be hazy ahead, but You keep assuring me it is alright to go on.

Father, I want to thank You for Your goodness to me this past year.  I confess that there were times when I focused on the storm instead of on You.  I allowed fear to overpower my faith.  Please guide me in this new year in faith, with my eyes on You and not on the storm that is coming in.  I want to face every giant in Your power alone, walking straight through my fear in faith.  Right now, Father, I surrender to You and the plan You have for me in 2009.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

~Luke 2:8-14~

My journey of life continues…

[01:50 am]

I have the feeling they are gonna drive me nuts even before I go back. Anyway, plan to finish it asap. Thank God that the presentation is based on individual evaluation this time. Reckon, girl! :)

Done with transcripts. I still doubt about conference thing. Data..honestly, viewing from all those scripts, there are not really erm…there. Probably, gotta squeeze through our way. Anyhow, we definitely need to SQUEEZE through! LOL…

Anyway, I can just say 2009 is a pretty good year to start for me. Probably, Jesus is back being my best buddy :) Probably I blogged tooooo much days ago. Pretty lazy to do so lately.

At the moment, I don’t feel like going details like I used too. Friends who know me best will get the details when I tell them or they will just know, instead of writing here and…

[03:02 am]

God, please hear this prayer of mine.

It has been long since I ever knew it.

That’s all I’m asking of You.

[12:40 am]

I have ulcer at my lower lip. :( It kinda hurts when I eat fried and spicy food. I’ve been putting salt onto it since yesterday.

I think it was caused by an accidental biting when I was eating.

[11:30 pm]

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Olive oil
60g Butter
4 fillets Shetland cod
1 pinch cracked black pepper
190ml fish stock
175ml White wine
1 lime, juice only
190ml double cream
60g chilled Butter, cubed
To serve
new potatoes
lime wedges
Parsley

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.
2. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan. Scatter the cod fillets with cracked black pepper and sear briefly on both sides in the hot pan.
3. Transfer the cod to a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, until cooked through. Meanwhile make the sauce.
4. Return the frying pan to the heat, add the fish stock, wine, lime juice and cream and bubble until reduced by a third. Whisk in the chilled butter which will give the sauce a nice sheen.
5. To serve, slice a few cooked new potatoes onto the plates. Sit the cod on the potatoes and half coat with the sauce so you can still see the fish and the black pepper. Garnish with a lime wedge and parsley.

[11:22 pm]

It must weird for readers out there. I guess most of you would be like, “Isn’t a little too old for Janice to think about her ambition now? Especially she is in Accounting major and graduating soon.”

Hee…well, I just thought of this topic randomly as I was reading one of my thesis transcripts which is BORING! haha

Anyway, to get away with that I come to blog again. I think I wrote once about my ambition in my previous blog here. Took me pretty a while to search for it as I don’t categorize my posts last time in Xanga. I’m rather glad I’ve never deleted that blog. Whenever I read back those posts (which was kinda rare because it was like almost 3 years kinda diary to me), I was reminded of God’s hand in my life. It kinda inspires me. Haha funny huh? Being inspired by my own blog *eyes drooling*

Looking at that particular post, I think I’ve have some slight change in what I want to be:

1. Ballet teacher – I think it is not achievable anymore.



2. Interior designer & doctor – Nah….:)



3. Music? Hmm….still can be achievable. Or probably I want to own a music store/center in the future.



4. Accountant? Erm….at the moment, to be more specific, I want to go into tax consultancy in the future. And taking ACCA instead of CIMA.



5. Be a good wife, mother and a good cook. Haha… I wonder is it because that I’m growing, you know as in going to be 22 this year. I should be dating in time to come, getting married and having kids. I sorta have this kinda like family plan in my head to how to become a good wife and a mother. Probably, I don’t want my kids to have the same family experience I have. Anyway, cooking is my all time favourite passion. But, at the moment, I’m so into trying to cook some nice fine-dining type dishes. Like those you can see at AFC channel on Astro. I was like watching it for hours today and picked up some. Wonder if I could remember them in the near future.



6. Serving God. I always admire people like Jim Elliot or Elizabeth Elliot and any other missionaries on how they spread the gospel. I hope I have a service for God in areas which He wanted me to. I don’t want to spend my life just to work and work and work and earn BIG money or fame (unless He decides that I should be someone influential in a corporation or so).

Hmm..I think this post is not so much about my ambition. I think more of my after-graduation life. You know, the working, dating and family part. Argh…imagine I’m going to be in my mid-life age in 3 years down the road. *sobs* Besides being not-so-happy about the aging part, I’m ready to see what God has for me in my life. :)

Ok, I think I’m sticking back to TV for a while. :)

[10:07 pm]

Yes, God hears my prayer! I can just say I’m feeling much happier these days when I know I’m right back where I should be. (Ok, besides some ups and downs, but I kinda get them off easier lately than normal.) Hee…

Ok, I said I wanted to leave my blog a while. Argh, but I still ended up writing. Anyway, I guess because the newer posts are rather happier. Haha.

Oh well, today’s journey was alright. I left campus at 12.30pm sharp and hop on the bus. Till Kah Fai saw me and asked me to get down and told me that Kenneth is going back by train at 4pm and whether I want to follow him. He helped me call and Kenneth said there is no more bus tickets available hence he got a train ticket instead. I’m like, “OH NO!!!” I really don’t wanna wait till Sat, you see. Alright, I just told Kah Fai that I’ll go check out. If the worst happens, I’ll just come back to Sg Long :(

Anyhow, I prayed like sooooo HARD! God, I want a ticket. I kept calling Transnational and the line was busy. Arghhh…because I have two choices. One is to go straight to Pudu or get down at Serdang and head to KL Sentral and get a train ticket. Almost reaching Jusco, still couldn’t get. I’ve dialled like 5-6 times along the way to almost Balakong. I told God, “God, upon reaching the Mines, let the call goes through, else I’ll get down at Serdang.” And guess what!!! I managed to get the call in. :) And guess what again!! The operator said 2.30pm bus still have like 13 seats left and the other one left is 6.30pm, which is about 12 seats. But I need to get on bus in Hentian Duta.

I was like…oh no will I make it on time by 2.30pm. Because it was 1pm when the bus reached Serdang. It will probably take another 45 mins to reach Pudu (without jam) from my time estimation. Because of this, I wanted to get off at Serdang. But then, God assured me to stay on the bus. So I went to Pudu.

Next thing is….I don’t know how to go to Hentian Duta. I think I went once with cab and once with bus, but surely I have no time to wait for the bus. I got off at McDonald and it was like 1.50pm. I eventually told God, if I can’t get a cab from my walk from McDonald to Pudu, I shall pop into Pudu and buy the ticket then only grab a cab.

Just like probably 20 steps ahead, a cab came. I hop into it and straight to Duta. (OK, one thing not so nice about this cab driver is that, I think he is a bit “chi ko” aka “ham sap”.) I sounded polite and stuff, as he talked. Then he started asking like how old are you, you looked young etc (not in the normal conversation tone, I can’t describe but I felt uneasy). Honestly, I don’t remember the way at all to Duta and he was like telling me that he will take another short cut etc etc…I was so afraid like he will take me elsewhere and….argh…Then I said I’m 23 haha. He was like “are you sure” kinda look. Then, I started to put on more stricter voice. He slowly asked lesser and dare not “kacau” me much. I’m like thank God and I prayed hard he will drive me safely to Hentian Duta. I reached and I paid RM11!!!! I think the first time was lesser around RM8. Anyway, I quickly hop out but still thank him.

Ok, the Transnational system broke down and I couldn’t buy ticket. I waited till almost 2.20pm. I was so afraid I need to wait till the 6.30pm one to come :( Anyway, 2.20pm the counter was alright and I bought a ticket and met a friendly Teluk Intan girl. I waited for her and we walked to the hall together. My bus was there so I said goodbye and went up the bus.

Hee….what a journey! It was rather a last minute thingy and I really really thank God for every single thing! along the journey!

[10:56 pm]