Feel the Power!!!
Hey everyone,
I'm deciding to read Ephesians slowly, chapter by chapter, and I'll post little reflections on it when I can. Was reading Chapter 1 today over me breakfast, and I came upon this passage that was really inspiring:
"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his
incomparably great power for us who believe." (Eph 1:18-9)
The passage goes on to describe God's power, the same power he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead. Truly if we think about it, God has awesome power at His disposal!! Why wouldn't he use it to bless and empower those of us who follow Him?? Think about it =)
Attack of the antflies! And other creepy-crawlies
Ant-flies big and small are crowding into my room tonight.. OK fine actually it's been one
huge ant-fly and a few small ones.. one of them flew into my tea, sigh... Yucks, but nothing compared to last night... There I was, minding my own business when a huge, fat gray lizard dropped out of nowhere and plopped onto my desk! Right in front of me! Eergh... good thing my timing was just so otherwise it'd have landed on me!!! Yow. Anyway it lay stunned there for a while and then I chased it off. Grr. Good thing I don't have lizard phobia or I couldn't have stayed in the room. Anyway, I wiped off my desk and cleaned the floor (make sure the room's free of any crumbs or food!) and then I felt better. Heh.
Quote for the Day
In a time of irritating, piled-up stress and worries over whether I'll be able to finish my project on time, I decided to take a break and look at Jesus. Here's an inspiring quote from a Max Lucado article, not sure what the original source is. It's so inspiring I've taken it as my quote of the day:
God's love never ceases. Never. Though we spurn him. Ignore him. Reject
him. Despise him. Disobey him. He will not change. Our evil cannot
diminish his love. Our goodness cannot increase it. Our faith does not
earn it anymore than our stupidity jeopardizes it. God doesn't love us
less if we fail or more if we succeed. God's love never ceases.
Amen! I pray for more faith to believe that God will still love me no matter what I do, so that I don't despair. I pray all of you will remember that as well!
Yesterday's quote, which is just as relevant today:
"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
Matthew 6:31-34
See no evil...Yeah Andrew, keep quiet!
I like this picture. Doesn't Hannah know how to pose??
The cousins (Hannah on the left and Chanda on the right) together in a glass cable car, en route to Sentosa! This was last December =)
Another picture from exchange at Penn State! The 5 of us were on a trip to Niagara Falls along with a bunch of other international students.. well we really bonded on the trip and at a pitstop I decided we should take a picture in the toilet together! haha...
Another woman...
Hmm, this post is a bit belated... Watched this movie called "Another Woman" last weekend... No, it's not about a mistress or adulterer.. the story has a pretty interesting premise. Directed by Woody Allen, it was made in the 70's and stars Gena Rowlands as a fifty-something philosophy professor. She's outwardly very successful in her profession, well-respected as a teacher, and has written good books on German philosophy, married to a similarly well-educated and nice husband. She has decided to rent a small apartment downtown so as to concentrate on writing her new book. While writing in the apartment however, she discovers that she can hear everything that's going on in the psychiatrist's office next door (old buildings being what they are), the patients, the consultations, everything. While there, she overhears the consultation of a young woman who feels very lost and frightened in her life, very unhappy. Somehow Gena's character identifies with her.. A chain of events occurs, while she continues listening daily to the young woman's therapy sessions, which make her reconsider the "perfect" life she's been living, what kind of a person she really is, and what she really wants and loves.
To cut a long story short, she finds out that she has achieved what she wanted in life and become very successful by denying her emotions.. people actually see her as cold and judgmental but she had no idea; all along she felt she was being truthful and good, when in fact she was selfish and insensitive to others. She'd also denied her heart in marrying, following her head instead, which leads her to even more pain. But I find it a really hopeful story, because she doesn't shy away from the truth she learns, what people really say about her, but instead she finds out more, and she learns and grows from it. I'm hopeful that I'll achieve this level of self-awareness. Oops, better not say too much, before people start analyzing
me!
Epson printers unite to cause mayhem
Grrr. When it rains it pours. Why is it that printers and the internet choose to fail, not on an intermittent basis, but with a
concerted effort. Both my dad's printer and the printer I brought to my hostel room are refusing to work. My dad's printer was working fine all the way till Sunday, when it just decided it wouldn't print his jobs. Grr. And the one in my hostel room, well it seems to think either that the paper is jammed, or that it has run out of ink. However, I lack the software for the Status Monitor, and without that I can't diagnose the problem! Furthermore, the little red button which I should be able to press in order to inform the printer I have cleared the paper jam is spoilt, so nothing can be printed on that printer either. Hum hum. My dad bought this printer quite some time ago and none of us have any idea where the original software cd has gone to. Epson has drivers available for download on the Internet, but for some reason this particular software downloads incompletely and I can't install it!
Ok enough venting. After one night in the hostel I have come home again! To retrieve some things I forgot and to have a really nice shower. Heh heh. Well tomorrow it's back we go. Gotta go full speed ahead on my project. Yikes, can't believe it's 9.30 already...
Wake up!
Wow, how time flies. It's already March into the new year! In other words, I haven't edited my blog in a loooong time!
Anyway, two and a half months of the semester have already gone by. After a period of relaxation, my stress level is amping up again with not one but 3 papers due, one a research project, one research proposal and one commentary paper. V. long, long and short. Whee, can't wait. I'm also bummed because after going to the trouble to collect 191 hard-won survey responses, I find out that 59 of them haven't been done properly. I'll have to collect replacement data tomorrow. Look out NUS, Elaine's here to take up 10 minutes of your time! Pretty please!
If I sound a bit psychotic, do pardon me, I tend to get that way when I'm stressed. Sigh. Also, after waiting more than a week, I finally got my hostel room.. and it's so late in the semester I'm not sure it's worth the bother to move in. Anyway, here are my pros and cons:
Pros:
- Independent living
- Time and place to immerse myself in my projects
- Save travelling time
- Convenient place on campus to park and rest for the next 4 weeks of school, and maybe during the exams too.
- Time on my own schedule, not other people's...
Cons:
- Only 4 weeks left to the term. Officially, there's 7 weeks till the end of exams, but I'm not obliged to spend the last 3 weeks at school
- Have to set up a room and unpack stuff
- Will it be productive?
- I'll miss home-cooked food. Heh.
- Can't help my parents out with things. On the flip side, I won't be bothered by my parents!
I'm getting really annoyed at my inability to make decisions in a decently short period of time. I keep considering, considering considering. Hmm. Guess I can move in, try it out and see how it goes...
