Faith Noodles

Pause. How often do we pause to reflect on things? Or are we just hurriedly and distractedly going about life's daily grind? Although its exact meaning is not known, scholars have thought that the word "selah" which often appears in Psalms and Habakkuk means to stop and ponder. It usually occurs at a place where a very significant statement has been made, and it was understood that singers and musicians were to stop at these points to ponder what has been said. To "selah" is probably something we should do as well, after a significant event takes place so we can gain an understanding what God has done and is doing in His life. I would like to pause and ponder today. I am just blown away by God's goodness. My maternity cover role is now a permanent role, even before I started my job. This whole gruel process of God maturing me through hardships (so much work yet to be done in me), hard as it was, I don't know if I would trade it for a...

I really don't know how to compose this blog post because I intended it to be a reflection of what I have been learning from the books of the bible written by Moses. The problem is, there is so much I have learnt about God and myself in these books, and I can't make up my mind on which one I want to reflect on :) Hehe, how is that even a problem? I guess I'll just go with the flow, but there is a key one that really stood out to me about following Jesus in times of success (I'll leave it for the end of the post). A friend of mine introduced me to this YouTube channel, the Bible Project, and it has really helped with understanding the events that occurred while the Israelites were travelling in the wilderness to the Promised Land, and the strange laws God gave to the Israelites make so much more sense when you consider the wider context. I think what really stood out to me was how real God is in these books, as real as any person you and I will come across today. You ...

This obscure poem by Minnie Haskins was made famous by King George VI when he read it out during a Christmas broadcast to Britain in 1939. It comforted many during the second world war. But it is of course the God of hope in the darkest and most uncertain times this poem speaks of that makes the words so special, not that human royalty read it out. And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East. So heart be still: What need our little life Our human life to know, If God hath comprehension? In all the dizzy strife Of things both high and low, God hideth His intention. God knows. His will Is best. The stretch of yea...

I enjoy a good glass of wine. I don't pretend to be an expert in wine, but I do love the fruity and aromatic scents my nose detects as it hovers over my glass of wine and the balance of acidity with the right amount of sweetness as that smooth gorgeous liquid graces my taste buds. Jesus first ever miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding. The couple had run out of wine and back in those days, not only was it a social embarassment to run out of wine, you could be penalised (legally) for not having enough wine to serve at a wedding and Jewish weddings went on for days. I was quite shocked to find out recently that it is estimated that the amount of water Jesus turned into "the finest wine" was 2,250 litres! :S As I am writing this, my thoughts drift to last Friday night as I was walking back to my sister's apartment. There were many people staggering about the streets, some were shouting at the top of their lungs and there was even a brawl that involved...

I have not blogged in such a long time. I guess blogging reminds me of writing my thesis, which to be honest, I haven't really enjoyed. Haha. Where am I now? I am (nearly) done with my doctorate - my thesis is due at the end of May, and I'm gearing up to submit it by then. Then, it takes around 6 months for examiners to mark it. In the meantime, I am looking out for possible jobs that I can apply for. It's exciting that I am nearly there. However, because this journey has been so rough and looooooong (much like the mountain I climbed over the weekend which left my thighs feeling quite sore), I feel less passionate than when I first started pursuing this dream of mine. The disappointments have been hard on this traveller's feet. I think when I first set out to pursue a career, I was caught between many things: what I wanted, what my parents want, what society expects of me, and what does God want. While I've been pursuing this career, I have been so focus...

So much has happened since my last post. I passed my clinical exams, the exam that I never thought I would pass, the exam that I put in so much hard work into. My exam went so well, the examiners had so few questions to ask me and they were happy with my assessment with my client. I left my exam (already) celebrating, certain that I would pass, thankful for how much better this process was then the last one. They say that the stress cycle consists of four stages (this is a very abbreviated version): (1) The alarm phase where you first encounter a specific stressor and your body releases a whole lot of cortisol (the stress hormone) to prepare yourself to cope with stress. We benefit from this as we become a lot more alert and ready to cope with whatever we're stressed about; (2) The adaptation phase is when our bodies start getting used to being in the alarm phase/ fight or flight for a prolonged period of time. Stress starts to have an impact on us - be it, making us more...