Mis amigos

Keep blogging, my friends, to compensate for my own lack. I realise I missed reading yours the past week and have a great deal to catch up!

If you see nothing new on this blog, check out what this eloquent bunch and some of my favorite people in the world wrote. Some share the same passion as I do, while others echo my thoughts perfectly.

And whilst I work to communicate and express myself more positively and openly, please be patient with me.

Meanwhile, keep tagging and loving me... =)

Cast down but unconquered

Appreciate all the encouraging comments, your prayers, reminders and hugs... am glad to have bears and rain as friends... I'm sorry I deprived you of sharing my life...

It's been almost a week, and I seriously do not even have the time to blog decently. Today, my stress level at work peaked and I told a friend I'm about to snap. Everything (and everyone) seem to be vying for my attention and demanding time, and I barely looked alive by the weekend. It's like fighting a tough battle. I resist hard though. I feel stressed, distressed, enough to feel and say I'm hard-pressed on every side. Or perhaps when one is down and trying to keep the plates from breaking, anything is a distraction. I thought I was about to have a nervous breakdown. Then I remembered Paul.

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed -- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." - 2 Cor 4:7-9

God's lovely counsel, the Word of God. The only thing we ever need.

So I changed my MSN to Jan :: hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed (2 Cor 4:7-9)... and my ever-poking-me-or-making-me-laugh CG member responded...

Wayne says: u are the elastigirl
Wayne says: not crushed by stuff
Jan :: hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed (2 Cor 4:7-9) says:
yea.. m feeling very hard-pressed.. so gotta remind myself
Wayne says: ok
Wayne says: if you are flattened
Wayne says: me take spatula and scrape you off the wall
Wayne says: then use air pump and pump u back up
Wayne says: pssssttttttttttt
Wayne says: yeah then I can bounce you around like a fish ball

... while I can only laugh out loud...

We can be cast down, but never conquered. His grace is sufficient for me. I am not only whirlywindy; I am elastigirl.

Achilles heel

Caution: Content below is not graphic but however may cause you discomfort. Exit now if you do not wish to alter your perspective of author.

How does one keep level-headed and release emotions healthily at the same time? I know it takes a great deal of maturity and wisdom, but it's pretty hard to balance it all, doesn't it?

I struggle to keep up. I think I'm a control freak. I keep stuff to myself, talk to myself, cry to myself... and still try to control even when I'm feeling down. Schizo. I guess it just means I have to learn to let go... Quite an extreme character you're reading about here. Mel-San, yes, but plus a few odd traits.

We need people; family and friends to be specific. To be there, to hug you, to be a listening ear, to lend you a shoulder to cry on... I have been so to many but I've not let many do the same for me since young. Naturally, I tell myself I shouldn't try to unload my own thoughts and feelings unto someone else 'cos he or she has enough problems of his or her own. So I'm quite spongy I guess. I keep taking in and taking in. Unhealthy too, I know. Surely if you offer me a bone-crunching or three-minute long hug, I'm quite sure I'll cry buckets. But then again, don't try.

Josh calls me insecure. I guess that's true. 'Cos I have difficulty trusting. But then how do you tell people that this friend of yours has a very bruised body that is in need of a miracle healing? It's painful. And so I find it needless. Same reasons why I decided I'm happier being single and unavailable. Same reasons why I resist to be stretched further 'cos I can barely take it. I already think I have big capacity spinning plates in the air instead of just focusing on "taking care of myself". Do I comfort myself with my to-do list and accomplishments? I guess I prefer maximising my time. Yea, and sometimes I think sleeping is a waste of time. Having panda eyes is besides the point.

I know it's not about me. Yet I struggle to forgive. I seem to have a need to put the blame on someone. The blame went all directions and ended up with myself. It's easier that way. But yet I'd be calling myself greater than God if I say I forgive everyone else except myself. Jesus wants us to forgive 70 times 7, which means forgive perfectly. It reminds me once again what Pst John Bevere's account of his direct revelation from God - So what if you can heal the sick, cast out demons, win nations for Christ and yet go to hell?

I gotta let go, I gotta let go, I gotta let go...

End of mental retch. Stinko, eh.

VillageWorks

Help the villagers in Cambodia break free from their poverty cycle, and find hope in life by supporting their works carried in 'Acts Lifestyle', a considerably new Christian bookstore in town.

Visit www.villageworks.com to find out more.

Moi Ohano

Ohano means family in Hawaiian. Learnt that from 'Lilo & Stitch'.


Siblings with an attitude. Any other resemblance?
Janice, Tianyu (aka Isaiah, his water baptism name, but I still prefer calling him Ty) & Eunice.


Arty shot. By the way, do I look Korean? :O


"Buay song" stares.


So Jap-looking... ���襤�Ǥ�! Kawaii des!


Granny & cousins

From left: Ty, Grandma, me, An (Ping, his identical twin, is in Hong Kong), Yan, Eu & my growing-to-be-more-yandao-by-the-year cousin, Wei (cos we only see one another annually)

My dad being the only child in his family, I'm beginning to appreciate the bliss of having lotsa cousins from my maternal side. My mom has an elder sisters, 2 younger brothers and 2 younger sisters. Yea, 6 of them and that's why I have 9 cousins! Who you see here in the pics are only one-third of my extended family... Wow.

And of cos, having lost my paternal granny painfully, I learned to appreciate my grandma more. Most of the time, people learn the hard way.


From front left: Grandma, Mommy, Wei's mom, An's mom, Ty, Daddy, Eu, me, Wei, Yan, An & An's dad

All photos taken by Ty's wonderful digital camera. Thanks, bro. I think we've never taken so many pictures and have fun at grandma's place before... I believe it's the beginning of family bonding. Slowly but surely, we want to be and will be more involved in one another's lives and hopefully not see one another just during the Lunar New Year period. We are family.

Faith

Pastor Phil's Leadership Files have never failed to stump me in awe, but here's one about faith in a MEGA nutshell.

If you only do what you can do then you're only ever going to do what you can do! But, if you start to do what you cannot do, you'll find you can do what you cannot do. And what you absolutely cannot do, God will do, or a team of incredible people will, who are attracted to the person attempting to do what they cannot do. Don't imagine God will ask you to do what you can do! He asks you to do what you can't do. Then you'll need Him to do it! But you're the one who starts the impossible dream. No-one, not even God, gets inspired by the mediocre. Attempt the impossible, ignore the critics, attract the best, accomplish the unbelievable!

You who refuses to rise up, hear this and hear this well!

Cold cut

the warmest friend
one can have
the coldest heart
one can pursuit

Inspired by my best sounding board, Cheryl, about yours truly, me.

Impossible is nothing

Luke 1:37 says "For with God nothing will be impossible."

Buddy Kwang showed me through his words of encouragement that vice versa is true too... If nothing is impossible, then impossible is nothing at all. Wow! For with God "impossible" is nothing. The word is not even in His dictionary, and we shouldn't let it be in ours!

Sparked by "Impossible is nothing" adidas launches new global brand advertising campaign.

... the desire to push yourself further, to surpass limits, to break new ground...

Nothing is impossible.
Impossible is nothing.