Home alone... almost

This is the second weekend in a row that Da is involved in an education fair and he has to work on saturday and sunday. As such, I have been pretty much left "home alone" these two weekends.

This morning, Da gave me a lift to Shaw Tower for breakfast. As Da had to be at the education fair venue early to help do the setting up, I arrived at Shaw Tower at 8.30 am. Gosh... the place was so quiet.

I had intended to eat the nasi lemak at Qi Ji at Shaw Tower. Unfortunately, the tables were not even arranged yet at the cafe. After I wandered around for about 15 minutes, I returned to Qi Ji and found the tables and chairs arranged. However, when I approached the order counter, one of the staff informed me in halting English, "haven't ready". I asked her when they expected to be ready. She looked taken aback, as though not anticipating that a customer would ask her further questions. She said "haven't ready" again and I repeated my question in reply. She then nodded, glanced at the clock and said, "9.30".

9.30 am? That would mean another 45 minute wait in a building whose air-conditioning was not at full blast yet. No worries! I decided to activate Plan B and I proceeded to Qi Ji at Raffles Link instead. The Qi Ji outlet at Raffles Link opens at 7+ in the morning daily, if I am not mistaken. I was not disappointed and shortly after I arrived, I sat down at a table with a plate of nasi lemak (Set 1) and a large mug of tea with evaporated milk. As I partook of my breakfast, I read a Christian booklet. The Word of God was so inspiring that I did not stop until I had finished reading the entire booklet.

The washroom near Qi Ji was closed for washing. As such, I proceeded to a neighbouring hotel (Marina Mandarin) and went to the washroom there. Goodness me! Such a beautiful washroom! The lovely smell of aromatherapy filled the entire premises.

Da was not sure what time he would be able to reach home this evening and as such, whether we would be able to attend a miracle service at Lighthouse Evangelism. However, the Lord is so good to us! He knew that our desire was to attend the miracle service and He made sure that Da made it home just in time to take a quick shower before we drove to Tampines Street 82.

As it was drizzling, I alighted first while Da went to park the car. While I was waiting for Da, I was praying softly in the spirit and as I looked up into the sky, I was stunned when I saw the clouds form what looked to me to be angel wings (with double wings on each side)! Lately, I have been reading the Word of God and He has spoken to me through His Word about protection under the shadow of His Wings (Psalm 91). It was as though the Lord just gave me a little wink this evening to confirm what I read about His Word. Better yet, I saw double wings on each side - double protection! Furthermore, when the Lord restores what we have lost, He restores double and often, more than double. Amen! I reached for my digital camera but by the time I fumbled with my small handbag and took out my digital camera, the clouds had moved somewhat and the formation had kind of flattened out. As such, you probably would not be able to see the angel wings in the cloud formation below.

The anointing and presence of the Lord was very strong during the miracle service. During the praise and worship segment, I was overwhelmed as we sang about how much the Lord loves us and wants to heal us. He is the God that healed us. He said the Word and He healed our diseases and sicknesses.

Christianity is about about faith. We believe that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us. At the Cross, He took upon Himself all our sins, lack, poverty, sicknesses, diseases and condemnation so that we do not have to suffer this. It is not about what our human eye can see or what our human logic tells us. Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). If, for example, I have asthma (which I do not, praise the Lord) and I am believing God for healing, I know that by Jesus' stripes, I am healed. If you were to ask me whether I am healed, I will say "yes, I am the healed of the Lord" even though you do not see me producing a medical report confirming that I am no longer asthmatic. I will not say "no, I am not healed" even though I am still using an inhaler. I believe that I am healed even though we do not see the manifestation of the healing yet. For so long as I continue to trust the Lord and to worship Him and thank Him for being my Healer, it is only a matter of time that the manifestation appears. Even if I need to take medication, I believe that the Lord can work through the medication and bring forth the manifestation of my miracle. The doctors do not have the final word. God does! Was I healed only when the manifestation appeared? No. The manifestation of the healing is exactly what the word says - "manifestation". It does not change the fact that I have already been healed. Even if I do not see the manifestation yet, I resolve to behave healed instead of saying continually, "I am sick, I am sick". Faith can move mountains and nothing is impossible for the Lord.

Jesus called forth life, and life sprang into visibility. We must call forth what we want to see. Say, “Lord, I thank You that right now, athough my health is under attack, there is superabounding grace available for my healing and health. I call it forth and receive it now in Jesus’ name. Amen!”.

Have you ever considered this... some parents scold their children frequently and tell their children how useless and stupid they are. Is it any wonder, then, that the children grow up useless and stupid? Let the grace of God fill your heart and speak words of edification to those around you, including your enemies.

On a related topic, the world believes that a person can never change because it is inborn. Let me declare to you that nothing is impossible for the Lord. In and of ourselves, it is very difficult for us to change through our own self-effort. For a short while, we may succeed but because we live in a fallen world, inevitably, we backslide again soon. It becomes a vicious cycle. People who try to kick a bad habit on their own (eg. smoking, drug abuse, etc) often find themselves back to square one. Do not focus on changing yourself. Listen to the Word of Christ and believe that your sins have been forgiven forever on that Cross 2000 years ago. The more you listen to the gospel and the more you believe, one day you and the people around you will discover that you have changed. The same applies when you are praying for a change in a person that you know. Do not expect that person to change through his/her own self-effort. Instead, pray that that person will come to know Jesus and how much Jesus loves him/her. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.

After a spirit-filled miracle service, Da and I decided to patronise a nearby coffee shop. There were two television screens at the coffee shop. One half of the coffee shop was very crowded and the other half was quite empty. Out of curiosity, I walked closer to the television screens. The television screen at the crowded half of the coffee shop was showing a "live" telecast of the Manchester United versus Liverpool English Premier League match. The television screen at the empty half of the coffee shop was showing a Chinese programme. We arrived in time to see a penalty being awarded to Liverpool. grrrrr!

We sat at the empty half of the coffee shop as we were not able to get an empty table at the crowded half. I looked up and saw a billboard for "Yummy Crab". I was not that keen on eating crab tonight and I hesitated. Fortunately, the stall also sells other dishes.

Da ordered a salted fish fried rice.

I was pleasantly surprised to see "K L hokkien mee" on the menu and I promptly ordered it. Hi Uncle T, I have to admit that the K L hokkien mee sold near your home is more delicious!

We also ordered sliced bittergourd fried with eggs. There was a bit of confusion with the staff who took our order. What was on the menu was "sliced bittergourd fried with salted egg". I told her (in Mandarin) that we did not want salted egg and to replace it with normal egg instead and to fry it like an omelette (I said "omelette" in English because I did not know the Mandarin word for it). She did not seem to understand the word "omelette" and hence, I told her in Mandarin to fry the bittergourd with normal egg instead of salted egg. She nodded and walked away with our order. I had a feeling that she got our order wrong and hence, as she walked past our table again, I repeated to her what we wanted. Fortunately we clarified with her because she thought that we wanted them to fry the bittergourd with garlic only, which made me wonder how the words "normal egg" disappeared into thin air. However, no worries. Even if she had gotten our order wrong, I was fine with bittergourd fried with garlic only, although I think that Da would have made a face. He is not very fond of garlic. *grin*

When Liverpool was leading Manchester United by 2 to 1, we wolfed down the rest of our dinner and rushed home to support our favourite soccer club... only to see Vidic being sent off and boo-hoo-hoo, our Red Devils losing the match. The final score was Liverpool 4 and Manchester United 1.

By the way, during dinner, I read a multimedia message that my cousin HL sent to my mobile phone. The message contained two photographs of our darling niece, SAN. SAN is the baby daughter of HL's brother, Xela. Gosh! I remember seeing baby photographs of myself at the age where SAN is now and I do agree with Uncle CM that SAN looks like me (especially the photograph of her wearing the white top). Like auntie, like niece! *grin*