Thursday, May 29, 2008

I'm dying to write about my china trip. But i feel it'll be better if i had the pictures to come along with it - their all with uncle ban. UNCLLLEEEE BAAAANNNN GIIIVVVEEE UUUSSSS OOONNNNEEEEEE COOOPPPPYYYY SOOOONNNN! (:

oh well, nevermind. i shall post some of my favourite graduation pictures here on my blog. The photos are definitely not new because me in my excitement have not just uploaded it on facebook but on my friendster too.



janan, dani (my favouritest in class) and BF! (:

Anyway, there's this book that i bought from the Christian bookshop during my trip in Philippines.

"Let me be a Woman" by Elizabeth Elliot.

She wrote the book as a gift to her daughter actually, but it was published to encourage other women alike. I'm still in the first few chapters but the book has spoken so much to me already. I'll type out some extracts and hope that you may be encouraged by it as well.

"In order to learn what it means to be a woman, we must start with the One who made her"

From Chapter 4 - "A Daughter, not a Son"

"To understand the meaning of womanhood we have to start with God. If He is indeed the 'Creator of all things visible and invisible" He is certainly in charge of all things, visible and invisible , stupendous and miniscule, magnificent and trivial. God has to be in charge of details if He is going to be in charge of the overall design.
We sometimes hear the expression ' the accident of sex,' as though one's being a man or a woman were a triviality. It is very far from being a triviality. It is our nature. It is the modality under which we live all our lives, it is what you and I are called to be - called by God, this God who is in charge. It is our destiny, planned, ordained, fulfilled by an all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving God."

It's not that i'm not happy to be a woman. I am. So many times i thank God that I am born a girl. But what struck me the most here was that God is in charge of details. Even the minute things that we sometimes see not important. Me being a woman has a purpose, has a reason, it's intertwined with the destiny He has made for me. Nothing happens by chance.

Elizabeth later says,

"If you believe in a God who controls the big things, you have to believe in a God who controls the little things. It is we, of course, to whom things look 'little' or 'big'..."

Recently, while watching an episode of the show "En-bloc" this comment was made by the youngest son right before the announcement/finalization of whether there is to be an en-bloc or not. There was a group of Christians praying at the corner and he asked his mum what were they praying for. When his mum explained to him, he said something like this "You mean to say, that the Lord of all creation will take time from His busy schedule just for an En-bloc?" with a snigger.
It's only a show, i know. But i'm sure that particular thought is not new at all. Yes, the Lord of all Creation will take time off to listen to our prayers. Even if the prayers may be weird, small requests? Why? Because He not only created us, but He loves us with such a love that no one on earth can give or shower us with.


And here comes my favourite chapters.

Chapter 9 - Single Life - A Gift

"What we are is a gift, and like other gifts, chosen by the Giver alone. We are not presented with an array of options. What would you like to be? How tall? What color? What temperament would you prefer? Which parents would you choose as forebears?..."

"But having now spent more than forty-one years single, I have learned that it is indeed a gift. Not one that i would choose. Not one many women would choose. But we do not choose gifts remember? We are given them by a divine Giver who knows the end from the beginning, and wants above all else to give us the gift of Himself. It is within the sphere of circumstances He chooses for us - single, married, widowed- that we recieve Him it is there and nowhere else that He makes himself known to us. It is there we are allowed to serve Him."

Chapter 10 - One Day At A Time

"One lady in her sixties still declares that she does not have what Paul calls the gift of single life. She has lived these sixty years without it for God has assured her, she assures me, that he has a husband for her somewhere. She has only to wait for him to appear. She may be right that God has a husband for her. I think she's wrong in saying she hasn't had the gift of single life. She has had it all her life. God may yet give her the gift of marriage, for many of His gifts may be given for only a part of a lifetime."

"I know of three Christians who had for a short time the gift of healing other people and then it was withdrawn. Why should He not give single life for most of a lifetime and then give marriage? Or may He not give marriage and then, sometimes early in life, widowhood?"

"Single life may be only a stage of a life's journey, but even stage is a gift."

Not that i want to be single all my life laaaaa. Hahahahaha. Only God and my closest friends know ((: hee, But i trust God for the best person for me, at the right time. While waiting and seeking, i shall enjoy my single years while preparing to be the best person in character for him, whoever he is.
HAHAHAHA.
oh dear. i don't know why i'm actually typing that here.

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