Contentment in Singleness

Answered Prayer

Most of the time we get quite harrowed when we don’t get an answer to prayer. When we do, we are not so happy most of the time either. There was something on my heart for the past few months about a certain need/request that I laid before the Lord. Somewhere at the back of my mind I knew what the answer would be, but I still prayed about it. Not in arrogance, but as  child that goes to the Father just to make the request known.

 

I think the reason I prayed as long as I did, was because I always feared asking the Lord openly as to what is on my heart. If not anything, I  learnt  to persevere in prayer. I got my answer in much clarity and I praise God for doing so. But it was also sad at the same time, as I had hoped that things would go in a different direction. Yet in all this, I know my God is good, He is sovereign and things are going according to how He has planned. He knows the big picture which helps me to trust Him more. My knowledge of things going around me and in my life is puny.

 

I hope that in this time too, I will consciously bring to mind His past mercies and how He has always taken care of me. I think the struggle lies in constantly reminding myself this important  truth.

I am Officially Sleep Deprived :P

I needed this post today...

After having a really disappointing Monday, thanks to the year end review letters we received  at work, I am glad I came across this post my Mark Altrogge. Hope you are encouraged as well.

What Do You Think You Need To Be Satisfied?

April 21, 2014 by Mark Altrogge 

“Have you taken God for your happiness? Where does the desire of your heart lie? What is the source of your greatest satisfaction?… If God would give you your choice, as he did to Solomon, what would you ask? Go into the garden of pleasure, and gather all the fragrant flowers there; would these satisfy you? Go to the treasures of mammon, and to the trophies of honour; would any of these, would all of these satisfy you and make you to consider yourself happy?” — Joseph Alleine

If God is our source of happiness, then nothing can take our happiness from us. For nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. If we look to anything else in this world to satisfy us, eventually we will be disappointed, for nothing in this world lasts.
In Jeremiah 2:13 God says,
“My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

God is the fountain of living waters. He alone can satisfy our deepest needs. Any other wells we attempt to dig to satisfy our thirst will leak and leave us thirsty.Marriages get in trouble when one or both partners look for a “soul mate” – someone who can fulfill their every need. Someone who needs no maintenance on our part. Someone who will love us unconditionally and encourage us and not expect us to change. The Bible nowhere says that our wife or husband is our soul mate. Jesus is our only soul mate. He alone can fulfill our every true need. He loves us unconditionally. He does expect us to change – he transforms us into his own likeness. He alone can satisfy us. No human being can satisfy another human being.

Don’t look to your children to satisfy you. Don’t look to a career to satisfy you. Don’t think If only I could do THAT, or if only I had THAT, or if only I had a husband like THAT, then I’d be happy. Sorry but whatever THAT is, ultimately it is a broken cistern that can hold no water.
 Ps 16:4-6 says:
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

If we run after “another god” – anything but Jesus to satisfy us – our sorrows will multiply. But when the Lord is our chosen portion, our cup, and beautiful inheritance, the lines fall to us in pleasant places.
Ask yourself today Am I finding all my contentment in God? If not, turn back to Jesus and ask him to satisfy you today with his love.

Haiku (俳句 high-koo) Poetry

I am currently working on a course and one of the writing assignments was to write a Haiku Poem. Those who are not familiar with this kind of writing, here is some information.

Haiku (俳句 high-koo) are short poems that use language based on the five senses to capture a feeling or image. They are often inspired by Nature, a moment of beauty or a moving or emotional experience. Haiku poetry was originally developed by Japanese poets, and poets adapted the form to English and other languages by poets around the world.

Here's how to write a haiku:

English haiku often (but not always) consists of 17 syllables. Haiku poetry has changed over time, and most poets no longer stick to this structure, in either Japanese or English; modern haiku may have more than 17 sounds or as few as one.

If you want to try a "traditional" haiku, you write it in three lines, with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third. 5-7-5 is no longer considered to be the rule for haiku in English, it is still often taught that way. You can follow this rule or not.

When you're deciding how many sounds or syllables to use in your haiku, keep in mind the Japanese idea that the haiku should be able to be spoken in one breath. In English, that usually means the poem will be 10 to 14 syllables long. This haiku was written by American novelist Jack Kerouac:

Snow in my shoe
Abandoned
Sparrow's nest

If you count the syllables, you'll see Kerouac used a 4-3-3 structure.

Haiku should always contain two ideas that appear different. The two parts are grammatically independent--that is, they each form a different sentence or phrase. They usually present two different images as well. Look at Kerouac's haiku and see if you can understand this idea.

The idea is to create a "leap" between the two parts, and to increase the meaning of the poem by bringing about an "internal comparison." Writing this two-part structure can be the hardest part of writing a haiku, because it can be very difficult to avoid too-obvious a connection between the two parts, yet also avoid too great a distance between them.

My Haiku Poetry:

Beautiful Sunset

My love is nigh

Time frozen tonight

God is Wise

Have you ever thought, if a certain event in your life had taken  a different course of direction? I have been thinking on those lines lately. Before I go ahead, I know I need to be careful as I am treading on thin ice.I believe in God's Sovereignty in all things and in all areas of my life. But sometimes I have asked the Lord, 'Why did that even happen if there was nothing ( in my perspective) that came out of it.

Then of course  the Holy Spirit always reminds me of the fact that God is God and I am not and I don't tell him how to run my life. Need to remember that I am the clay and He is the potter and He will choose to mold me and my life the way according to His ways. He is all knowing and wise and  He knows the thoughts and intents of man. So obviously He is a better judge of things. Even as I think through these things I am still glad that I can go before my God, with my concerns and pleadings and  know He will hear me out. He is compassionate. A song we sang in church today wraps up what I am trying to tell .  You can listen to the song with the lyrics here :)

So True :)

Fall in Love Again

 

Fall In Love Again-Paul Tripp

I saw her for the first time during my freshman year of college.

We were standing in the lunch line at the same time, and even though I was having a conversation with my friends, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It probably made her uncomfortable the way I was staring her up and down, but I was smitten.

I was absolutely determined to get a date with her, and I was absolutely convinced that we needed to be together - she wasn’t so convinced! As our relationship progressed, I fell deeply, madly, hopelessly, and desperately in love.

I’ll never forget that first summer we were apart. I couldn’t function – I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it an entire summer without seeing her. So on July 4th weekend, I hitchhiked 800 miles each way to see her, even though our time together lasted only 36 hours.

When I finally made it to her house, she walked out onto the porch. I fell in love all over again. I hadn’t forgotten what she looked like or what her voice sounded like, but it was a fresh sensation of love rushing through my soul.

Luella has been my wife for 42 years (I was married at 7), and even to this day, when I go on long international trips, I experience a similar sensation when I get back to my loft. Even though life with Luella has become so familiar, there’s something about her that makes me fall in love again.

WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY?
If you had to write a short description of Christianity, what would you write? If you had one sentence to capture the essence of your belief, how would you phrase it? I’ll give you 5 common answers:

1. Christianity is having your sins forgiven and going to Heaven
2. Christianity is a commitment to ministry within the body of Christ
3. Christianity is a commitment to evangelism and service
4. Christianity is theology that provides answers for major life questions
5. Christianity is a moral code for daily living

None of these answers are wrong. Christianity is absolutely about justification and eternity; Christianity most definitely includes ministry and evangelism; Christian theology provides a framework to interpret life; and Christianity does lay out a moral code for daily living.

However, at its essential core, Christianity is not about activity, theology, or evangelism. All of those things are good and meaningful parts of Christianity, but they miss one key ingredient.

THE MISSING INGREDIENT

In a word, Christianity is about love. The core of the Christian message is the comfort of God’s love for undeserving sinners, coupled with the call that Christians should love God above else. Christianity is about a life altering, agenda-setting, love relationship.

The message of the Bible is that God has moved toward me in love when I really deserved His condemnation. He’s wrapped His arms of love around me and He’s in the process of changing me at the level of my heart.

If you remove this fundamental love relationship, all you’re left with is theology and rules. Those five common answers to Christianity suddenly become dangerous and damaging when you forget that their foundation is built upon love.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Is your faith more about an organization, meetings, and activities than it is about a deep appreciation and affection for Christ? Imagine what my marriage would look like if I wasn’t personally in love with Luella. Sure, we might go out to dinner, participate in church activities, and visit family together, but if you take away the love we have for each other, you couldn’t call that a healthy marriage.

At street level, where the rubber-meets-the-road, do you really love the Lord? Do you get a fresh sensation of awe when you meditate on the majesty of God? Do you get a fresh rush of gratitude when you reflect on the Cross? Even if you’ve walked with the Lord for decades, do you still experience a fresh appreciation for His Word?

I’m concerned that many Christians experience a stale “romantic” relationship with the Lord. As I travel around the world, I'm saddened to discover that Christianity has often been reduced to a Christ-less Christianity of rules and activities.

I would encourage you, right here and right now as you're reading this Article, to reflect on your relationship with Jesus. Don't reconsider "Christianity" in the corporate sense of the word - keep it personal.

Meditate on His beauty. Focus on His glory. Bask in His grace. Fall in love again with your Savior.

Humour

Had to remind myself why I love Garfield :)

Good times over the Bad Ones

Its been a while  I have written a post. Past few days were quite busy at work and lot of other things took up my time. Even as I look back at the last ten days, they seemed quite intense. When I look back even further- weeks and months- it still was the same. Somehow I feel  that its been a little more on the morbid side. But I guess that's how life is. You can't have every single day where you sing happy songs and cruise along. Some days will be upbeat and some will be low key. Sometimes those days can even turn to months and even years.

But even in times like these I try to choose to remember the blessings. One of which would be a skype session I had with a very good friend, yesterday. I did not even realize how the hour went by. We had not spoken ( apart from emails) to each other for years. Yesterday just bought back a flood of good memories that cheered my soul. I praise God for such friends.I praise God for the great times of fun and fellowship I had with this family. And in the midst of all the low moments I am choosing to remember them :)

Remembering My Calling

1 Peter 1:13-16