Home alone?

Merry Christmas!

This year's Christmas is the most quiet Christmas I had for the past 4-5 years.
I was home all by myself. Everyone else went out. I knew I was going to be alone but it still wasn't a nice feeling being alone. I went in the kitchen making noodles and in my mind I said: "here I am home alone again."
And to my surprise, a pop song I haven't heard nor sung for a long time suddenly played in my mind, saying, "I love you more than anything even though no one knows about it"
And I heard a voice in my head: "who said you're all alone?"

I was reminded that I'm not all alone..
Thank you, Dad

Then I went into the livingroom, sat down, turned on the TV, watching Home Alone. Hahaha.. Home alone watching home alone! And it was dubbed! Sucks!
After I finished my noodles, I turned it off and picked up my guitar. I started singing a song to Dad, "I love you, Lord, I just wanna say I love you as simple as it sounds" in response to what He told me earlier in the kitchen.
I really enjoyed the moment. As soon as I began to feel His presence, I started hearing birds chirping outside. It was so loud that it caught my attention. I stopped.
It was so unusual coz I've never heard any birds chirping outside the house before.

"I told you you're not alone" - the voice in my heart said.

I knew straight away who was speaking. I recognize my Dad's voice.
Wow, thank you, Dad, for sending the birds to sing with me. It was so beautiful.

I continued singing and in the end, I came up with a new song on my lips.
I was reminded of a theme Dad once told me when I wanted to write a song to Him. It was about: His love is better than life; a theme in Psalms 63.

In the end, I managed to write a song within half an hour. It was a song that is so uplifting and encouraging for me as I'm currently going through a rather difficult time of my life.
He's been teaching me to respond in the right way otherwise I'd be consumed by my own emotion.

Allow me to share the lyrics:

Jesus, your love has made me see
there's none compares to Your loving ways
Your light has come, it saves me from myself
And I declare:
Your love sets me free
Your love makes me whole
Chorus:
Your steadfast love is better than life
My lips shall praise You
My soul will be satisfied
I will bless You as long as I live
Bridge:
There's none compares
To your saving grace
Your kingdom rejoice

Thank You for letting me be home alone so I can be alone with You, Dad.
Thank you for the birds that sang with me for hours and hours.

Psalms 63:
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

I am Rich

I'm overwhelmed . . .

Dad really let me feel so loved today..
My friends cooked for me, had a good laugh seeing friends being silly, saw lightning, heard thunders, enjoy pouring rain, etc... Anddddd!
I was offered a place to stay today for long term!! I was so shocked! Crazy people around me!

As I take a look at my life, the people around me are not the common definition of rich people; but they are the richest people I know...
Instead of storing up wealth, they keep giving and giving and giving!
That's how I can say that they're so rich! And the funny thing is they don't ever seem to appear broke!

You know you're rich when you can give with a smile on your face even though that maybe the last penny you have, and when you look around you have so many great people around you..

I know I'm rich just because I have these people around me.
These ones just keep showing me that there's someone in high place up there who takes care...

PriCe oh PriZe

Next week i will be joining some training that will equip me to be part of relief team for disaster area. To be able to be involved in such work, i will need to get so many things in order for me to be able to be equipped. But first things first. The most important things I'd need to get asap are: shoes, a bagpack, and cargo pants.

I am at the moment in my home country which basically a place where everything is relatively affordable compared to the place I've been living for the past 4 years. So I thought I'd do some price checking here for these things I'd need to get before training starts on Tuesday.

Two days ago I went to check on the shoes and found out that the shoes are quite expensive even though it's still cheaper than the other country. I received some $ just recently so I could actually get the shoes, and on top of that, my mom said she'd top it up if I didn't have enough. Yet I felt to just wait because I'm only doing some price checking. So I waited, though the feeling is like: "Just buy, it's cheaper here".

Earlier today, I was on the way to check on the bagpack's price but somehow I felt to go back home, so I went home instead. Few hours later I felt to really go and check on the price again, so I went out. When I was driving, my friend called me and we just chatted on the phone. As soon as I was reaching the bagpack store, my friend found out where I was heading and told me that the place is just around the corner of where my friend works at. After I parked the car, I got a text saying that my friend would meet me at the store.

I was looking at the bagpack and found out that the price is really way cheaper. I was contemplating if I should get it. "the bag or the shoes", I thought to myself. Then my friend arrived and we both looked at the bag. My friend took the bag off my hand and said: "Let's put it back."I carried on looking around as my friend went to put it back. About a minute later, I found my friend was holding on a piece of paper that I found out to be a bill. I was shocked, I got to get my hand on the paper and tried to pull it away yet I couldn't coz my friend held it firm.

"I only wanted to do a price check!", I said.

My friend walked away with the bill towards the cashier, and of course I followed saying: "Come on, I can pay for this, or at least let me pay half of it."

"Do you wanna know why I wanna pay for this?", said my friend.
"Heck yea!", I quickly replied.
Reaching into the pocket, my friend smiled and told me: "I left office quickly and grabbed around $69. And when I saw the bag's price is $66, I knew I was to get you the bag."

I stopped right there. I was so amazed because I knew it was HIM, and I can't stop my friend from doing it when I saw a glimpse of joy on that face.

I GOT A BAGPACK!!!
DAD sent an angel to get me a bagpack!!!!

... and the day went on...

Later in the evening I stopped by another friend's house to drop some gift I promised, which is just simple snacks. And to my surprise, that friend gave me 3 gift vouchers that can be used in the store where I can find the shoes I wanted to get two days ago.

WHATTTT?!? DAD outgave me!
He really outgave me BIG time!
snacks for 3 gift vouchers???

DAD thank You so much! thank You for the gifts, thank you for the angels you put in my life,
... and most importantly thank You for reminding me of You in the midst of this shower of blessings...

W O W

You're so kind, DAD...

PriCe-checking time becomes priZe-checking time...

Amusedly grateful,
- dadsprecious

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits
-Psalms 103:2

"Thank You"

I was in the car with mom earlier today as I was driving to return my brother's car. I saw a lady walking, or I must say barely walking.
She looks like she is in her late 50s, wearing a brown dress, carrying her black ethnic purse.
She seemed like she was moving from the side of the road to right in the center of the road. Her feet aren't straight and that kinda make her have some difficulties walking straight. The road was muddy too as it rained heavily earlier. I slowed down as I blew the horn softly to alert her of my car behind her. She didn't hear, so I drove a little left past her and felt to stop by her.

As I rolled down my window, I asked her where she was going. She couldn't hear me. I thought she might have problem with her hearing.
I then smiled at her, "Do you need a ride?"
She just smiled back at me.
"Where are you going?", I raised my voice a little bit so she could hear me.
"I'm going there", she replied.

"would you need a ride?" I said again.
Smiling at me, she nodded.
I directed her to the back seat and she got in the car.
I looked at her reflection in the mirror and I saw her sitting comfortably enough that she was digging her purse and forgetting to tell me where I should drop her. I asked her three times where she'd want me to drop her. She just told me to keep going straight.
I asked DAD what I should do. I felt He told me to just drive.
So I did.

After about 3-4 blocks, the lady finally said "This is my stop. I can cross from here."
I stopped, unlocked the door, turned and smiled at her. "Be careful ma'am".
She looked at me in the eye and said "thank you".

I drove on and looked in the mirror making sure she crossed the road safely.
"Thank you", says the voice in my heart.
And there I found myself smiling as I drove on.

Let me see . . .

"I long to look on the face of the One that I love,long to stay in Your presence; it's where I belong"

This song has been stuck in my head since I started noticing it playing on my iPod. Together with the book I've been reading for the longest time, DRAWING NEAR, these two have created such a hunger in my heart to get to know Him more.
I've been studying to book of Exodus to learn more of the moments Moses spent with DAD as His friend. DAD really was very close to him that Moses seemed to me that he understood who He is.
He said it plainly that if His presence didn't go with him then forget about the promised land. I really want to grow more in knowing DAD.

I often say that I want to see His face but as I carried on studying the book of Ex, I noticed that Moses didn't even have the courage to look at HIS face when he saw Him in the burning bush.

So what does this leave me with?
Should I keep on saying that I want to see His face? or should I just stop?

I don't know, all I know is Moses got to see in the end that he met the One who says "I Am who I Am"
That's like all of who He is in one short line "I Am".

Who is He?

He's still a mystery to me.
And I believe I have my entire lifetime to have the chance to wait on the Almighty to spare me His mercy in revealing Himself to me...

Come what may

Dear new chapter,

Come what may what my heart would take delight in.
I would want to join the joy ride.

Come bring one heck of a chapter

-TikiLyds

♩ ♪ more than the air I breathe, more than the song I sing... ♫ ♬
♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ coz I never want to go back to my old life♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Fly Me Home

Again here I am on the way to a place where I feel at home. A land I used to dislike yet now has become a home , closest to my heart.

My soul has been wandering around and when it has finally found its home, once again it has to leave.
It's a feeling I can't understand nor explain with any language but tears.

I asked myself: "am I created to move around?"

I don't know.

But I do know that I don't like moving around.

So in times like this I can only surrender, knowing:
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
-Jer 29:11

"Home is where your heart is"

Where are You?

All my life, I search and search for DAD in a lot of things around me.
I'm desperately looking for Him everywhere.

I searched for Him in the people around me and yet I hardly find Him there.

Again I searched for Him in things like: comfort, wealth, love, and every possible thing that could provide good feelings; yet AGAIN I failed to see Him.

I stopped,
I gave in to the tough stuff,
I gasped,
I frantically searched again,

STILL I failed to see Him.

Then I stopped searching;
I asked: where are You?

To my surprise, when I stopped striving looking for Him everywhere,
I found Him so close to my heart.

He said He's as far as my heart.

I have stopped going everywhere to look for Him coz He is just right there.

DAD, You're just weird,
and of course in a good way.

I can't understand how close You really are to me.
I probably will never do.
And that's fine coz in my entire life of searching, I only want to see You.

And now that I have found You, I know I will never forget that you're just right there at the center of my heart.

iWorship

Wow, it's been a while...
Anyways, since it's too many to share of DAD moments for the past couple of months, I'll just share where I'm at now...
When I got back from outreach in E.Asia and Japan, I was informed that my visa application to stay here was denied.
The government here in Singapore is currently making it difficult for foreigners to stay as there are some concerns about the growing numbers of foreigners in the land. So this has affected some foreigners in the Y-base who need the visa, and I am one of them.It has indeed affected me.
In the beginning I reacted in an attitude that says: "that's it I'm leaving the country, I'm going to pack and plan the next phase".

As i spent time with Dad, He convicted me that it wasn't right to react that way. As it is known: the hurting people hurt, being hurt by the circumstance, I reacted with a hurt manner too. I repented and find myself slowly picking up the pieces of me. It is really difficult to have the right attitude, which means: I gotta keep living as normal days are like, thinking that I don't have visa problem. It's hard to do it because at the back of my mind I just want to plan other things.

As I shared before that I am going to lead a Young Peoples DTS in January, so living normal days mean I will have to continue preparing that with a heart knowing that the visa may not come through.

How can I focus preparing???

It really sounds crazy to me as all I want to do is to prepare what to do if I didn't get the visa.
But Dad has been speaking to me Psalms 62:My soul will wait on You aloneTo be honest I don't know how it looks like practically but I've got Him to hold on to.

One day my leader asked us this question during a worship session, it was something like: What does it look like when God surprises you?
Two things came to my mind as I quietened my heart and pondered on it:

1. I was so thankful when my friend offered a place to stay for a couple of days to rest.
2. This whole visa situation came with a surprise, too. It has not been easy but there's this JOY inside my heart that took over the pain inside. And I came to realize that He Himself is His surprise in the midst of the struggle.

So I don't know what's going to happen with my current situation. Today we submitted 2nd attempt of visa application, and all I can do is just cling on to Him.
As I'm waiting, I will worship because I know I always have a reason to worship Him for the Person that He is. He is just so worthy to be praised.

If I can describe my condition on a scale from 1-10, I'll probably be at 2, yet I can't NOT worship Him.
There are other things that trouble me besides this visa situation but again it will not take me away from Him. He is with me all the time but I have a choice to be with Him or not. I have chosen to stay in His presence instead of being tossed around by my emotions.

♪ ♫ 10,000 Reasons for my heart to sing♩ ♬