Elaine in Melbourne

I just got back my first graded assignment, a 4000 word (!?!?!) essay on defining and critiquing international education.

I must confess, I only started seriously reading, planning and writing this essay ONE week before the deadline. It was quite a stressful and sleepless period for me, as my housemate can testify. Those of you who know me well enough know how I often sigh as an expression of my feelings, and how they vary in volume and duration depending on what emotion they are expressing – be they contentment (especially after a delish meal), resignation, frustration, etc… Well, my sighs were of the loud and extended ‘SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!’ sort, repeated many times each day, during the week I was rushing my essay, so you can imagine how I felt…

I was at a loss for words many times during the writing process, unable to put down in specific, well-phrased sentences what I wanted to say, usually because I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to say in the first place! But God was just so supercalifragilisticexpialadocious-ly wonderful in helping me to churn the essay out. When I read the final version through, I can clearly spot the fingerprints of God, because they were the best written portions (I say this with all humility – all praise be to Him alone). Because I started later than I should, I was actually late in handing in my essay, so I also had to contend with the possibility of having marks deducted, since there were penalties for late submission, number of marks deducted depending on the degree of lateness in submission, according to university regulations. So, despite trying my best to write a good essay during that one week, I thought I might not be able to achieve the target I set for myself for every module, since as mentioned, I started late and I handed my essay in late. My target was at least 70%, or according to University of Melbourne’s grading system, I must get at least a H2B (2nd Class Honours Div B, 70-74%), if possible, a H2A (2nd Class Honours Div A, 75-79%) or best of all, a H1 (1st Class Honours,80-100%).

Before and after I submitted my essay, I prayed to God, apologising first of all for not practising the spirit of excellence He has given in the Holy Spirit who lives in me and allowing procrastination and lack of discipline to get the better of me. Among others, I also prayed for mercy and grace, acknowledging that I do not deserve the grades I desire, and asking for them anyway because God is greater than my weaknesses, so that I can testify, not only of His awesome power, but more of His loving kindness.

SO… here I am, filled with gratitude & gladness because I’ve gotten a H2A!!! I’m not sure if my tutor chose or forgot to penalise me, or the grade is after he has already penalised me, which means the paper may be actually good enough to garner a H1??? The main thing is, GOD PROVIDED AND GOD BLESSED, PRAISED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!!!!!!! Oh, and did I mention this essay is worth 50% of the entire module? I’m currently preparing my second essay for this module, another 4000 word essay (together with a paper for another module, which is to be 6000 words long), also worth 50%. The deadline is at the beginning of June, so this time round, I’ve given myself more time to get it done, so I’ll get it done with excellence!!!

My beloved siblings in Christ reading this, please pray that I’ll honour God, as well as honour the trust my parents have placed in me to make the most of this year abroad, in every way, ok? In the area of studies, I really want to see a column of H1s for every module that will be in my academic transcript.

Hoorayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy… I’m gonna celebrate!!! Especially with Mary, who is gonna be in Melbourne this weekend with her sister and brother-in-law =) Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

There’s always more grace in the world than sin. Sometimes we tend to focus on all that’s wrong in the world and forget that God’s grace abounds all the more.

So choose to be a positive voice in amidst all the negativity, shining forth God’s light.

Sharing of 2 Kings 3:15

· contemporary equivalent of the minstrel – those serving in the creative ministry

· Elisha received the word of the Lord only when the minstrel played

· as those serving in the creative ministry, we should expect the hand of the Lord (His word and miracles) to move when we serve and minister

· need to be specific and persevere. God wants to raise our expectations.

3 Prophetic Pictures

1. A deep well filled with refreshing water, and people gathered around it, desiring to drink of the water. However, they cannot drink the water until someone draws it out for them

o this is the role of creative ministry – drawing water so others may drink

o cannot underestimate the thirst of the people who come for church services

o some may literally die of thirst without the living water

o however, in order for us to be able to draw water for others to drink, we need to first make sure that we are drinking the water everyday

o otherwise we’ll perish and cause others to perish with us

o we need to be nourished so as to be able to nourish others

2. A dog with a lockjaw, not letting go of that which it is holding fiercely onto, no matter how it is battered

o we need to be people who will NOT let go of God’s presence, no matter what

o this is the sort of TENACITY that God wants us to have in worshipping God no matter how battered we may be in the course of the day

3. A twig (fragile and easily snapped) and a huge branch of a magnificient tree (seem invincible)

o c/f John 15

o God wants us to be the huge branch

o important to ABIDE in God all the time and not just during quiet times

o Proverbs 3:5 ‘in ALL your ways acknowledge Him…’

o God wants us to be more aware and dependant on Him throughout the day

o there’s nothing in our lives that He’s not passionate about because He’s passionate about us

Worshipping God when life is hard (c/f the Desert Song)

· God delights in praise that we give when we do not feel like it at all or when we are hard-pressed on every side

· These are people who, although are overwhelmed by troubles, are more overwhelmed by the beauty of God

· c/f Paul and Silas worshipping God in prison (Acts 16:22-34)

· how did they feel, being jailed? yet their response was to worship God

· led to transformation, as the jailer, the very one who locked them up, and his family received salvation in Jesus’ name

· what would this mean in today’s context? that even as we choose to respond to oppression / unfairness / persecution with praise, even the very persons opposing us will be saved

· c/f Daniel’s 3 friends who refused to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image and their response at being thrown into the fiery furnace - “if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of the blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT, let it be known to you, O king, THAT WE ARE NOT GOING TO SERVE YOUR GODS OR WORSHIP THE GOLDEN IMAGE YOU HAVE SET UP”

· the Psalms can be said to be ‘praise in the (seeming) absence and presence of God’

· our praise makes a way where there seems to be no way

· God want and is able to use us even when life is tough

· and when life is tough, we worship until there’s wholeness, we press in further to God

· Hebrews 12:1-3 and James 1:2-4 (mirror each other in the focus we are to put on Jesus who focused on the joy before Him)

· often we pray, asking God to make us more like Him

· we can only get the character of God in the very situations that need God’s characteristics, such as patience with trying situations, love for difficult people, etc

· when we are refined by fire, our beauty can shine forth

· many times the challenges we face can be answers to prayers to be more like God

· so don’t give up, give UP (to God)

I’ve always loved this song, but it seems to resonate at a deeper level when I listened to it again today. Might be my anthem for 2009 =)

Lyrics:

If I never get to see another rainbow
Or share another life with a friend
If I never stand barefoot by the ocean
Or get to kiss my child goodnight again
If I never have another prayer that's answered
Or have another blessing come my way
If this is all I know of heaven's kindness
Father I would still have to say...

You have been good
You have been good
And I may've wondered how could it be
You have been good
You've been so good
So many ways You've been good to me

You've shown me mercy upon mercy
Grace upon grace
Time after time
And I know all too well what I'm deserving
Yet You are still so patient and kind

You have been good
You have been good
And I may've wondered how could it be
You have been good
You've been so good
So many ways You've been good to me

Suddenly it all were ended
And your past sins disappear
Looking back over a lifetime
The evidence is clear

You have been good
You have been good
And I may've wondered how could it be
You have been good
You've been so good
So many ways You've been good to me

You have been good
You have been good
And I may've wondered how could it be
You have been good
You've been so good
So many ways You've been good to me

So many ways You've been good to me

I realised just last week that I’ve been in Melbourne for almost 3 months (aka a quarter of a year), but yet when I tried putting down in words about how I’ve grown – such as specific learning points or revelations in my journey with God, I realised I can’t pinpoint them (although there were many) because I haven’t set aside time to reflect on my life on a regular basis. Suddenly I felt “Oh my gosh – what have I done with the last 3 months? Have I let precious moments of my life just slip through my fingers? There were so many wonderful & not-so-wonderful-but-definitely-meaningful moments! What have I done with them?” Surely, this was an object lesson in what Pastor Seng Lee has emphasised many a time – “an unexamined life is not worth living” (quote from Socrates), and I received it in humility.

Since I did not come to Melbourne to simply squander a year of my life away, I resolved therefore to set aside time to just pray and ask God to help me reflect and consolidate what I’ve experienced and learned thus far. This is not easy to me, despite the fact that I’ve much more time to do so than in Singapore because, as I’ve mentioned above, I haven’t been in the practice of reflection, and many a time, I was distracted by emails, phone calls, hunger pangs, etc. Thank God for grace, as I finally got my reflections done, over a period of 5 days(!!), and it was so much more than I expected. Even as I prayed, worshipped, reflected and wrote over several separate sessions in my journal, the Lord spoke to my heart about several issues and gave me a few verses that would be key anchor points for the period I am away from home.

It’s no coincidence that some of the verses God brought to my mind was referred to over 2 consecutive days (yesterday and today) when I was in Richmond Assembly of God (yes, I’ve chosen to settle in this church over the rest) attending a course entitled ‘Worship 101’ and a prophetic night of worship for those serving in the church’s Creative Ministry (which includes the worship team, where I am now serving as a member of the choir) respectively. These verses are Isaiah 54:2-3 and John 15:1-17 and I thank God for the affirmation of His Word and the encouragement this brought to my heart.