Nothing wrong with being girly :)

After listening to Taylor Swift's new song, "Safe and sound" like..20 times over the past few days,

I think I need a break from emo and intense stuff.

Back to this: "You belong with me"
Lovin' it.

Emmanuel

"sometimes it's not about what you do for someone that matters, but about how you've made them feel (about themselves). - Insightful words from a senior at work when we were discussing some cases, especially those that had deeper issues, and who were really hurting or have experienced deep hurt.

I think the original quote is slightly different, but I'd like the remember and understand it as the above.

The above quote reminds me to treat those who are hurting or have been hurt with dignity, as fellow human beings created in the image of God. It's almost so easy to feel frustrated or angry at them when they project their frustrations and anger on you. Then I end up treating them differently, in a negative way, with less respect, patience and care.

This quote also encourages me to remember to empathize (or identify) with those who are hurting. After all, Christ came as a human being to identify with us as humans. He's able to sympathize with our weaknesses. Therefore, we can learn to empathize with others too.

It's not just about what we do for others, but how we do what we do and how we relate to others that will matter.

And God is with us in Christ. He'll enable us to continue our work with people He's brought into our lives, even when we can be so imperfect.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I enjoyed the consultation session with this senior. I realised that there's so much I've got to grow in and to learn in terms of learning how to assess cases and the kind of information that I'll need to have about each case. I definitely feel challenged yet I am not overly stressed because she's not pushy or demanding. I think it's great.

is there any hope in our messed up worlds?

It's so hard to live in a broken world, when internally and externally, you know things and people are not what they were intended to be. (internally meaning within the person, externally meaning a person's environment, people, circumstances) It's such a struggle. Sometimes you don't know why God chose to put you through certain struggles as well, especially the long drawn ones. I would say those are the worse. URGH!!! You just feel like calling it quits and not care anymore. But then, you can't sometimes. For instance, if you are with an illness or are struggling with very real issues and circumstances. And sometimes when you can, you still struggle internally, knowing that there might be something else you could do or think or feel instead of just running away and feeling all angsty, emo and blaming (of others or God).

Is God still a good God? Does He still care?

I want to believe He is. The presence of trials, suffering and pain does not immediately imply that God is cruel. There's an abstract from this book I've been reading I'd like to post here. It's sort of a commentary on the story of Jesus and Lazarus. Basically in scripture, Jesus' good friend, Lazarus died:

The One [Jesus] who claims to be God stood before the tomb, and the Greek language makes it very plain that he had two emotions. The first was tears for Lazarus; but the second emotion was blinding anger. He was furious; he could be furious at the evil of death without being furious with himself as God. - from "He is there and He is not silent" by Francis A Schaeffer

I think it's the best commentary I've heard of this passage in Scripture.

Aside from that, I think it does help me to remember that God is not cruel and that He cares.

You know, in my line of work, I work with people who are broken, people whose circumstances are bad to start with. Some did not choose to be in their situations. And it is tempting to ask God why does He allow all these.

Recently, something quite terrible and drastic happened to one of my clients. And I wonder why: Why I was not there, why no one was there at the time. Maybe I will not have the answer and never will have the complete answer. But it doesn't mean that God is cruel and has left us all alone. As I continue to work with this case, I still see glimpses of hope, grace and mercy even in my client's world that's gone wrong. And in fact, I'm beginning to see the potential for greater good that can come out of evil in this case.

For those who belong to Him, we have a much greater hope and ability to continue to live even while our internal and external worlds are imperfect. Christ has come. The perfect God has chosen to come to live with us amidst our imperfect worlds, in history past and at this present age.

He is not cruel, and He does care.

Reunion Breakfast

Happy Chinese New Year!

CNY is a time of family reunions. I'm not a big fan of the Chinese culture/values in some ways, but I appreciate this element of reunion of relationships.

I really enjoyed today's Reunion Breakfast with some of my younger girl friends. It feels great to continue to bond and just have light hearted fun and conversations with my younger sisters in Christ. Just enjoying the relationships that we have together.

Guess we're not just friends, nor am I their "mentor".

But we're sisters in Christ. Thankful for these 4 sisters who've been a blessing in my life.

And on the side note, I prefer breakfasts to dinners. Let's have more reunion breakfasts like this. :)

A relevant article for this generation

An article that would be relevant to this generation: Is Christianity just a Crutch?

Crushes, Eye Candies and Female attraction

Being in a relationship for quite some time, I suddenly forgot how it feels like to have a "crush" on someone. haha, thinking about the word "crush" feels like such a really long time ago, and also only something that happens to primarily teenagers (I think!).

Man, I feel old.

But I guess it's a good thing that I no longer have "crushes". That'd be hard to deal with, when you're in a relationship.

Anyway, speaking of "crushes", I was also thinking of this term called "eye-candy". You know, I've never fully understood what it means to have an "eye-candy" that's a guy. Crush, yes. But "eye-candy", no. I don't think I've considered any guy I know an "eye-candy", at least not that I remember. But strangely enough, I've had a few female "eye-candies".

Somehow females are more attractive to me, aesthetically. I hope I'm not the only strange one around here, but I wouldn't really look at a guy and think he's attractive yet I will look at some females and think that they are, especially those who are androgynous.

I think that has never changed since I was teenager. Maybe I don't have crushes anymore, but I still think girls who have the androgynous look are aesthetically appealing, even more than guys.

Haha, I just thought I'd write down some frivolous thoughts that sometimes play in my mind when I'm slightly bored.

Some qualifiers:
1. I don't support homosexuality and am not homosexual
2. I don't support preoccupation with "eye-candies" or "crushes"

An incident

Still trying to make sense of what has happened. something pretty dramatic happened at work today.

I never thought that I'd hear those words.

I feel burdened and sad. Even on my way home, I felt this sadness in my heart.

Thankfully my supervisors and colleagues were there to support me. At least I'm feeling a lot better after talking and processing the incident through. And I prayed to God to ask Him to watch over the people involved, including me.

And I wrote a letter to the person involved, although I would never send it because it'd be unethical to do so. But I thought it'd be therapeutic for me.

I guess things happen for a reason, even if we may not understand how this fits into the bigger picture of things.

Strangely, I do feel like crying, but I don't know why I can't really do so. This whole experience is just so new to me and I don't know how to really respond to it.

Little sweet moments

Feel so touched today by a phone call from office when I'm resting at home as I'm not feeling well. I couldn't be around for a photoshoot and they drew a picture of me so that I can be "in" the photoshoot.

So sweet.

The little moments and the friends I'm thankful for. I guess God sends His people when we really need them at the right moments.

Emo songs, emo me

I enjoy emo-songs even though I'm no longer a teenager.

Like Taylor Swift's "White Horse": White Horse

sometimes it's great being young and just being who I am. As much as I do enjoy working life, sometimes it gets tiring when you have to think on behalf of others and think and act mature about issues. So it's great when I can come home and listen and fully immerse myself in emo-music. And no one can judge me or stop me. Helps me feel more congruent with this side of me. :)

Faith is irrational?

I'm so thankful for Christian writers and thinkers like Ravi Zacharias, Francis A. Schaeffer etc. I'm so glad that faith need not be irrational. I feel more congruent with myself now somehow. I mean, there's always this need to understand, for things to make sense, at least reasonably, even if you don't have all the answers.

I am currently reading a book called "He is there and He is not silent" by Francis A Schaeffer. He talks about how we can be sure that there is a God due to metaphysically necessity, moral necessity and epistemological necessity. Quite deep stuff and one has to read to book to really follow his arguments. But wow, it's great stuff, especially if one has doubts about God, whether He's really there or not, how can we be sure, and what kind of a God is He?

Thankful to have come across this book and am thankful that there are answers to my questions and doubts. I've found that it's great, really a great thing to question our faith when we have genuine doubts rather than leaving things and just "trust" that things are just what they are. Because we need to be convinced and convicted if we're really going to give our lives to Him.

Funny question

If you see a lady who is rather plump or is wearing a very baggy dress but you aren't sure whether she is pregnant, what do you do when she's standing in front of you on the train while you are sitting down?

It's scary to ask or imply that someone is pregnant! What if she's not? Then it'll be such an insult to her because she'll think I think she's fat. Even worse if you know the person is not married but you have to ask the question.

What to do?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I feel so blessed to be spending a large part of today hanging out with some of the younger girls from church. It's been 2 years since we've known each other and I'm still quite amazed at how despite our "generation gap", we can establish these friendships where we can be comfortable with one another and enjoy each other's company. I'm really thankful. 2 years ago, I would't imagine that we'd have these kind of friendships. I hope that these friendships are here to stay and God will use us to continue encouraging one another.