This is the day(s) that the Lord has made!

Lucy is from Indonesia. She found her job in Singapore and joined Jedi group about 1 years ago. We are all very amazed by how she overcame her culture and language barriers in Singapore in such a short time. She has improved her English greatly. She also possesses a very sweet spirit that many people admire. She is very  ’cute’, super warm and hospitable. People will never forget the way she welcome them to the Jedi caregroup. She has the quality and personality to attract new friends and even strangers rather easily. Last but not least, she loves God very much and is always ready to give her best to serve Him. Thank sis. Happy Birthday!!! May God bless you even more in the coming ages and years! By the way, the Jedi group celebrated her birthday on 20 May (actual date) evening at St. Andrew Cathedral after prayer meeting.

On Friday 22 May, Jedi 3 celebrated Yanyan and Lucy’s birthday at New York New York restaurant at Citilink. You can’t believe it we almost have 17 (double the size of present caregroup) joining us for the special caregroup dinner. Gong’s 3 Thai friends decided to eat somewhere else due to the overcrowded group. But we still have Ayu and her three Indo friends on holiday visit to Singapore.

Testimony about my mum’s healing

Dear brothers and sisters,

This is a testimony about how my mum was healed by God from stroke and left-brain damage that threatened to take her life. My God is real and I found that He was with me throughout my mother’s situation. Moreover, I also experienced warm hospitality from brothers and sisters in Christ from Jedi group. Yes, it is all about asking Jesus for healing when we prayed together.

My mum was admitted to ICU when she arrived at TTS Hospital on that day she suffered the stroke. Her condition was life threatening and the scan result confirmed she could pass away anytime. What was worst is I had no idea what to do and could just wait for her to pass away within a few days. Doctors further confirmed that she would pass away within a few days.  She had no response and was not able to open her eyes. I was very weak and deeply disappointed about the situation. I asked myself, “What should I do now?” I thought what I could do was just sit beside her and stare at her pass away. I felt I must do something about it. Yes, I remembered I still can put my hope in Jesus who healed people in the Bible – the blind sees, the dead rises from dead, etc. If these people could be healed by Jesus, there is no reason my mum cannot be healed by Him. So I started to pray to Jesus, my God, with all my heart. My caregroup people and my family also prayed for my mum every minute, every day, every time with faith.

Brothers and sisters! God answered our prayer. My mum’s condition slowly improved. Her high blood pressure gradually decreased, the swelling of her left brain stopped, her fever was gone and she started to breathe as normal. Day by day she was getting better. She was able to open her eyes and started to focus on people who visited her. Then, my mum also received warm welcome, encouragement and love from family members, visitors, Jedi care groups and other Hope Church members. It was amazing and it was all about our almighty God.

As my mum was saved from life danger and her condition improved, she was approved to move to normal ward. After that she could shout and make sound to communicate with us. Finally she was able to sit on the wheel chair. Brothers and sisters! God knew my financial limitation. He not only saved my mum but also improved my mum’s condition speedily. In this way she could fly back to Thailand to recover at home with more affordable medical expenses.

When my mum was at the hospital in Thailand, her cousin, my uncle, who had the same condition as my mum but he passed away three days later after he suffered a stroke in the brain. Without God my mum cannot be saved.

Recently, my mum was discharged from the hospital and she stayed at her home in Thailand. She is able to feel the pain at her right hand and leg (the left side of her body was paralyzed after the stroke hit her). She can stand up some more. She enjoys what is happening and watches movies at home. I really want to thank God for giving me the understanding of having faith in Him.  We did exercise faith and we received it! I trust that God is faithful and this is a miracle from Jesus, my God. Believe it and receive it!

James Ray

More testimonies of God’s goodness for year 2008

On Sunday 15/02/09, there was a Myanmar girl who joined the service and i got a chance to meet her. A sister brought her to meet me & our Jedi leader. But it seems a bit strange for me because I saw she wanted to cry when she talked to the people. We don’t know so much about her but after awhile realized that she faced a difficulty. We invited her to join the care group for lunch, treated her to lunch and helped her call home as she hadn’t called home due to lack of money. She shared very slowly about her difficulties as her working place was not good and cannot get any salary for five months. It was surprised. She came here for work as a domestic helper and also had to pay Agency fee for 3000 S$. But her salary is 320 S$ per month. Every month agent will cut her pay for 300 S$. So, she got only 20 S$ per month. At that time we were really had no idea how to encourage & advice even we’re trying to help. Yes, we prayed for her and she cried and cried. She found that at least God people are around her and still treated her like brother & sister. Ser reen & me accompanied her to her way back home and we had a dinner together at Great World city which was nearby her working place. Again we had no idea how to encourage her. So, I just pray and say thanks for our meal and God, to protect her. She enjoyed and praised the Lord. After that we were waving our hands to her & her boss Good Bye. Two days later, her friend called me up and said that a miracle happened to the Myanmar sister. Her agent told her that she is able to choose the working home she prefers (out of 3 homes she had worked with) and the agent won’t charge her for agency fee from then onwards. I couldn’t believe it was true! Yes, that’s why she told the news to her friend and asked the friend to tell me (because she couldn’t call out). Thank God! Finally, she got what she requested for her prayer point. It encouraged me that God is alive and he still saves us even though we are weak & imperfect.

- James Ray

_______________________________________________________

This is my short testimony for 2008: “I came to the valley of my life this year. I felt my life was a complete failure and I was very depressed and hopeless. Unknowingly, I had allowed destructive thoughts to control me and head my life to the south. The breakthrough came when I intentionally deal with every thought and make it obedient to Christ. I did it through a lot of journaling. After two months, I am better and clearer at differentiating God’s voice and the devil’s voice. And God restored me with joy, hope and a great sense of freedom.” Bondage (before) è Freedom (after): This would sum up how God had helped me this year.

- Jian An Tan

_____________________________________________________

Here’s my short testimony on how knowing Christ changed me: My Lord showed me His love through sharing. When I was a non believer, I have learnt to be a just & fair person. My understanding was everything needs to be equal. Many times I have second thoughts about giving up my share of time/ resources/ finances/ possessions and many more to others because I think we all have our fair share. No one deserves more or less. Basically, I was building my own kingdom only for myself. It was hard for me to understand why one would need to share. However, God brought light into my life and taught me the beauty and joy of giving and sharing. Ever since I’ve started sharing my time/ resources/ finances/ possessions/ even my life to others. I’ve seen how others are blessed much when I choose to give my all to others and God. And that brings GREAT joy, especially seeing pre-believers/backsliders stepping across that line of faith (again). Nonetheless, I’m still seeking God for more selfless faith and giving spirit to be able to invest more in His Kingdom. Whatever I have belongs to Him. Freely I receive, freely I give. Today, I’m being transformed by God from a selfish to a self-less person. Thank God!!! Amen!!

- Kelly Chan

Birthday Celebration for Jedi 3 January Babies

JEDI3 – On 6 Feb, we had a special caregroup in Warunglele restaurant near Arab street – we celebrated birthdays for Mark, Florence and Mimie. We ordered a CNY promotion set which consists of ‘Yusheng’ to celebrate ‘lo hei’. It was a very delicious Indonesion meal and all of us were very satisfied and happy. This restaurant is strongly recommended to all the Jedis.

During the birthday celebration program, we had a very heart-warming sharing especially from the brothers. We affirmed them many things such as:

• Florence – Her perseverance and faithfulness in serving God and shepherding her sheep. She has led the group well and we must thank her for gelling us together in love and unity despite the diversity of nationalities, cultures and languages. One of us is determined to stay with God all the way because of what she did! She already moved to a new group to serve God. All of us missed her presence!
• Mark – He is a man of God. He really loves people. He is also seen as someone who trusts in the Lord. I was amazed by his calm response to the loss of laptop and important documents two months ago. He also possesses extraordinary leadership skills which all of us can learn from. Name blew us away by saying, ”This is the man that I want to follow” after finished his sharing.
• Mimie – She is a very enthusiastic sister. She also has a big heart for people around her. Further, she took the  courage to serve God to the best of her knowledge despite facing many difficulties and challenges. I am grateful to her for her constant encouragements to all of us. She is back to Thailand for longer period this time. We will definitely miss her a lot!

Florence was very impressed by our sharing and told me (after the event) all Jedi3 guys are very eligible!

Be A Miracle

We are living in such times where the total combined tragedies and bad things that happened outnumbered way more than the tragedies of the 2 World Wars combined. It is in such times we all need miracles.

I had the chance to attend a service at FCBC last Sunday where Nick Vujicic was speaking. Some of you may know or heard about him. He is an Australian, born without arms or limbs for no medical reasons. Of all the people in the world you might know, this man probably has the right to be angry with God. But he is not. Nick is as chirpy as can be for he has the fullest of God.

I would like to share some salient points I picked up during this service.

Nick shared that if God doesnt change the circumstances, He will most definitely use the circumstances. Sometimes we pray so hard for our situations to change – bad boss, lousy job, better pay etc etc etc. and it doesn’t change. Don’t be too quick about it…..as someone said to me yesterday ‘God ain’t done with ya yet!’ This was said to me in the context that I didn’t get my Prisons Service posting. A posting that I had really really really wanted and was pretty crushed when the HR lady called me to say they tried their best but just couldn’t find a place for me. I had a happy problem….I was too senior in service and it was hard to find a post at my level. So now I’m in limbo. But I’m waiting to see ‘What’s next God…Watcha got in store for me”

Another thing Nick said:- 
Courage is when you do it afraid. 
Fear will take your courage away, for Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real.                                                 
Discouragement will stop you from doing what you’re supposed to be doing.                                              
Disable is something that you have or do not have that would stop you from being able.                               
If you put ‘Go’ in front of ‘Disable’, you get GoD-Is-Able.

Isn’t that fabulous? It’s amazing how Nick sees possibilities in everything, even the worst situations! He said if God doesn’t give you a miracle, He would certainly use you as a miracle unto someone else. Nick shared that he was sent to encourage a family whose firstborn was like him, born without arms or limbs for no medical reasons. Nick went up to the father and encouraged him. Because of Nick, the whole family came to know Christ. Nick found his purpose.

We need to know our strength to realise God’s great strength. As Paul says it is only when I am weak, then I am strong.

In conclusion, Nick said there’s always a bright sunshine above the storm. Even when the storm continues, if we can fly out like an eagle, we can reach the sunshine. With Christ, we will soar like the eagle. Isaiah 40:31:-

but those who hope in the Lord,
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.                                                     

Let me be your miracle….and you be mine too.

In His Love, blessing you all.

to read more about Nick’s ministry, you can go to www.lifewithoutlimbs.org

Deal With It….

Hi everyone, i’m backkkkkkk.  it’s been a long while since i last blogged.

Today i was nudged to post this so i better do it ya.

I guess in current economic turmoil, many of us at work would be under alot of stress to deliver and live in constant fear about our jobs. tempers may flare and niceties out of the window. we get frustrated and angry at bosses and colleagues etc

Then this image came into my mind – He has nails in his hand…both his hands and feet. He breathed with difficulty and yet never complained. In fact He worried about the salvation of men, especially the ones who did this to Him. Who but Jesus would/could be like this.

Then i saw these words – Deal With It. 

We get frustrated and angry because we think we have been wronged and misunderstood. Have we tried to understand the other person first? We get indignant because of our self-righteousness. Remember the story about not judging, cos we got planks coming out of our eyes but only see the speck in the other person’s eyes.  What can we do?

Deal with it.

Learn to let go and let God. Think and bless the other person instead. Is it so bad to let the other person win (within moral grounds and no lives lost). Seriously our job is to advice our bosses and colleagues. We are put on this earth to win souls, not win arguments. But at the end of the day if they don’t take our opinions, what’s so bad about it? Do lots of breathing exercise and/or walk away. In fact, you’d become healthy and slimmer!! hahahaha.

Blessing you all.