amazing God

the previous week passed so quickly. too quickly in fact. if it wasn't so close to the exam period, i would have been celebrating. but now, now that the promos are inching or rather..kilometering towards me, it's really scary how time passes so quickly and u'll wish it'll just stop and let u study until u are confident that you'll ace your exams. it's been a tiring week as well, homework, extra classes, tests, re-tests, consultation, PW etc etc. with an average of 4-5 hours of sleep, sometimes 2 hrs, sometimes just 1 hr. amazingly, God sustained me, kept me going, and i thank Him for morning worship, where i get my strength from Him. =)

God works in His wonderful ways. Ways we do not understand, simply because the world's ways are against His.

On monday, 11 sept, ominous as the date was already, we had a drama going on within my class. dave suffered from a fit halfway through mondays lecture. i got the shock of my life, sitting next to him when of a sudden he started gagging, falling over his chair, and shaking all over, teeth biting the lecture chair till he bled, making weird growling snarling noises. it traumatised everyone, yet in a "you-can-call-me-sadistic" sense, it was all for the good.

During that period of fear, we saw another side to ms de silva, my monster fishball eyed teacher. her usual sarcastic, scary monster side of her disappeared, and out appeared a totally different side of her - motherly, gently, loving. we never saw that side of her before, and it made us realise that she really wasn't that bad.

We saw how different guys in our class, as annoying as some can get, how quiet they are till they somehow always blend into the background of passing faces, rose out of the occasion, being calm in the midst of chaos, doing everything they should - calling teachers, calling ambulance, some even holding on to dave to prevent him from hurting himself etc. Heroes of the day.

I saw how the christians in our class united, praying in faith to God to help Dave. and in a way, it has encouraged me to be more open about my faith in God, to be bold and talk about Him. Saw the potential of bringing the christians closer to God through encouragements, perhaps even, a class cell....

the incident made the class more united. made us realise that we do care for one another, even though we often made fun of each other, get annoyed etc. Seeing how we kept checking with one another to see if we were ok, how some of the girls huddled together crying, how we comforted one another through hugs, words, prayer, smses etc.

perhaps God showed Dave that as much as he felt no one cared, people did. the class did, SFC did, so does the teachers, principal etc. one thing has changed - our attitude towards dave. perhaps we are afraid of the incident repeating, though i highly doubt so. still, we are now more tolerant, more accepting towards him, and that is good. =)

best of all, what happened to Dave open opportunities to talk about God, to bring not just non-believers to know Him, but also to bring believers closer to Him. Because Dave was a christian, some of the unbelievers in class thought it was a spiritual attack. questions regarding spirital attack were asked, explanations were made, more questions, more explanations. one thing led to the other, and in a span of a few days, i had many opportunities to talk to my classmates about God, even though i wasn't close to. they simply came up to me and asked me about it. I was really encouraged by all that is happening, glad to know that my friends will get to know Him and one day, enter this family of mine as well.

Thank You God =)

One question that KeeWei asked made me think : "why do u believe so strongly in God? what convicts u so deeply about His existance??? why do u christians worship your God so passionately??"

I didn't know how to explain, but as i was listening to songs, this song did..and it fits what i wanted to say..

Everything to me by Avalon (we sang this during life concert 2006)

I grew up in sunday school
I memorized the golden rule
And how Jesus came to set the sinner free (sinner free).
I know the story inside out
I can tell you all about
The path that lead him up on Calvary

But ask me why He loves me
And I don't know what to say,
But I'll never be the same because
He changed my life when He became'?

(Chorus)
Everything to me! (everything to me)
He's more than a story (more than a story)
More than words on a page of history.
He's the air that I breathe, (air that I breathe)
The water I thirst for, (water I thirst for)
And the ground beneath my feet
He's everything, everything to me! (Ahhh, Ooooh, Ahhh, Ooooh)

(Verse 2 - Up one chord)
We're living in uncertain times
And more and more I find that I'm
Aware of just how fragile life can be.
I want to tell the world I found
The love that turned my life around
They need to know that they can taste and see.
Now everyday I'm praying
Just to give my heart away (to give away my life)
I want to live for Jesus
So that someone else might see that He is'?

(Chorus)
Everything, everything (ev'rything to me)
He's more than a story (to me)
More than words on a page of history
(The air that I breathe) He's the air that I breathe (air that I breathe)
The water I thirst for (water I thirst for)
And the ground beneath my feet
Oh, He's everything! (Oh , He's everything!)

And looking back over my life at the end
(I'm going to be) I'll go to meet you saying you've been

(Refrain)
You're everything to me (ohhhh)
More than a story (ohhh)
(More than) More than words on a page of history (history) (history)

(Chorus - Up one chord)
You're everything to me! (everything to me)
You're more than a story (more than a story)
More than words on a page of history.
You're the air that I breathe (the air that I breathe)
The water I thirst for (thirst for)
And the ground beneath my feet
You're (everything) everything! Lord, You're everything to me!
(Everything to me) (The Water I thirst for)
You're everything to me, Jesus! Ohhhh!
(Everything to me) (Water I thirst for)
The Air I breathe, the Sun I see Ohhhh!
(Everything to me) Everything to me!
You're my Life, my Love, Everything.