wow easter's over in a blink of an eye. haha so many thoughts to consolidate shall do them one by one! haha

first, the easter musical. everyone was so hyped up and excited about it, and so was i! until i woke up on friday morning with my voice two octaves lower than it should be -_- goodness i almost fainted of shock haha jia and rie died when they heard me open my mouth. but it was an amazing two days of experiencing the Lord's hand of grace on me, keeping me and saving me from 1. forgetting my lines and spoiling the entire thing 2. singing out of tune and making the poor audience suffer. i tried everything haha sleeping off the sore throat, drinking off the sore throat. but i know it was only His grace that gave me the strength to force out every bit of my voice for that full three minutes. and for that, i am truly thankful ;) and the concert was a great success! all again, to the praise of His glory (:

second, our very eventful practice for 'you are the answer' by MY SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS!! haha we all went mad practising for it, we were singing every other day and we still horrified ourselves when we recorded our voices and listened to it. in terms of harmony, boy was it bad. but in terms of praise to God, it was the beautiful-lest melody i've ever heard ;) every single bit of effort put in by each one i saw and i thanked God for. there were many disagreements, kind of alot of friction sometimes, but i can safely say we all did take away a lesson from it [even though we didnt sing it in the end!] and to my sunday school class i loveeeeeeeeee you!

third, attempting to write my testimony for the FAQ booklet for the easter service. haha when i showed my testimony to pastor mitch he asked me "why so many songs!" and when i read through it i realised that songs really are such a huge part of my life ;) but one thing i have to work on harder though, is making God's Word a BIG-ger part of my life. haha hopefully the next testimony i write will be filled with more verses than songs! but yes i am thankful for the gift of music. though i cant play the piano for nuts, or any other instrument for that matter, to be able to appreciate simple music is great enough for me ;)

fourth, performing 'it was enough' that was thrown together in two days flat. boy do i see His grace upon us. haha pastor says the magic of the song is in the phrase "it was enough" and it really is. it was enough, the blood that You shed. it was enough that You rose from the dead. it was enough, to set me free. it was enough- that You died for me.

my personal response this easter, as i think on all that He's done for me is one of thanksgiving.

thank You for the cross, Lord.
thank You for the price You paid.
bearing all my sin and shame, in love You came,
and gave amazing grace.

thank You for this love, Lord.
thank You for the nail-pierced hands.
wsh me in Your cleansing flow, now all i know,
Your forgiveness and embrace

worthy is the Lamb,
seated on the throne.
crown You now with many crowns,
You reign victorious.
high and lifted up,
Jesus Son of God.
the darling of Heaven crucified,
worthy is the Lamb.

worthy is the Lamb.

a more delayed response towards easter, as well as to the prospect of one more month of work ahead of me came today when i was talking to pastor mitch. the past week at work has almost driven me insane. theres SO much work plus cel and mandy arent gonna be around next week which just equates to me and clara drowning under the workload! but pastor mitch shared with me from ecclesiastes and psalm 66. eccles1:13 that God has given us a grievous task [which, by the way, is LIFE!] and He wants us to be 'exercised' or to be moulded as we walk through it. and the thought from psalm66:

"you have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment." -psalm66:12

and then pastor mitch looked me straight in the eye and said "now, i dont think what youre going through is suffering!" and i really wanted to laugh at myself. thinking what on EARTH am i doing complaining about the work i have to do. a million other people are starving, have no jobs, worrying about their next meal and here i am resenting the situation im in.

and he went on to remind me that i am blessed. in terms of physical blessings i have a great family, wonderful friends [good, true friends i might add], i have my share of talents and im taken care of in every sense of the word. and i might look at someone else and say "hey her parents serve with her in church, why not mine? i wish.." i could look at someone else and think "hey shes got so many friends, shes so popular, why not me? i wish.." i could look at someone and say "shes smart, pretty, she can sing, dance, play the piano, yadayadayada, why not me? i wish.."

but why? i AM blessed. i look at people around me whose parents dont know the Lord and i remember- count my blessings. i look at people around me that find it hard to fit in, let alone find good friends, and i remember- count my blessings. i look at people who dont have yadayadayada talents and i remember- count my blessings.

but most of all, i am blessed to know Him. joy is a choice. i know that, but sometimes the evil one takes control and i choose to be joy-less instead of joy-full. one word i take away into this week is 'faith'. have faith. know He watches over you. have faith in God, He's on His throne, have faith in God He watches over His own. He cannot fail, He must prevail, have faith in God, have faith in God. (:

cos i know He feeds the poor sparrows, and He knows when they fall. and with faith, then comes JOY.FULL. (: