i know its late and i should be sleeping by now, but theres so much on my heart i've gotta let it out. (:

today has been an eventful day. morn life in the Spirit at Ian's place, church, met Gwyn and back to church for Uth Worship, had dinner at Adams with Gwyn, Jessica and Claud then back to Gwyn's place with Claud. then a secret adventure. *winks.* and send Claud to the doorstep then home. home. ahh, its so good to be home, after this long day. its so good to be home, to be back in fellowship with God.

Was really really blessed by the sharing about Spiritual Gifts during Lits time.

We talked abt how do we discover our spiritual gifts?
by:
-serving in various ministries

-burdens and desires laid on our hearts

-prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to show us

-asking leaders around us

How do we then, develop our Spiritual Gifts?

by:

-Exposure

-Exercise

-Equiping

-Eternity Focused

-Encouragement

-Empowerment

-Encourager (Discipleship)

i know there are 3 more E's but they can't come to my mind now and I dun have my lits book with me, so anyway, here are the 7 E's not really in order.

Well, though im not too sure and haven't really really confirmed my spiritual gifts, i shared with the group 3 burderns and desires on my heart. Admin, the Sec 1 & 2 gp and missions.

all of which i've had lies told to me. at times i believe them and then get discouraged. like so for example admin, i sometimes wonder, can't everyone take minutes? everyone can use the com, microsoft word, exel... but i learnt today that not every one can take succint minutes, there are somethings in life that only you can do. Thank God for the encouragement of the lits group not to undermine the little things in life. God says: be faithful in little things and i will make you a ruler over many. Mel, be faithful in little things.

And for the sec 1 & 2 group (yet to find a name), thank God for the burdern and desire He has placed in my heart to love them and reach out to them. I see them as the future generation. Youths able to turn the world the right side up, do great things for God. God, please give me a love for them. Your love for them. Love them through me. Increse the shepherd's heart You have placed in me for them. (:

And missions: wow, this was really encouraging, really really mind blowing. Ever wondered why Im a runner? why on earth do i run? running is so tourturous right? so painful. ouch! haha. u know i dun think i frankly ever loved running. maybe. okay, maybe only the time when i was peaking in Sec 2. then i loved it. but ever since. ever since i platued(however u spell it, u know what i mean), running has been a pain. but ive been pressing on, going strong..forcing myself to at least complete the four years in ss. cos i believe if God sees me to it, He'll see me through it. So im sure He has His reasons why i ended up in ssp. but well, all things work out together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purposes. a sharing by a dear brother this morn illumined my eyes and prolly answered the question ive always been asking as to why on earth am i running? why am i a runner. u know, its so not like me. I dun have the mental toughness to fight. I give up easily, im afraid of pain. so why run? haha. why run? you know why? running has given me exposure. not exposure to the running standard of other countries (though it has), but exposure to countries as to their language and culture, main religion and receptivness.

Ever heard of the 10/40 window. Research has shown that of the 55 least evangelized countries, 97% of their population lives within the Ten Forty Window.
These are the list of countries in the 10/40 window (and if u realise, there're all around and pretty near Singapore)

Afghanistan Algeria Bahrain Bangladesh Benin Bhutan Burkina Faso Cambodia Chad China Cyprus Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Gambia Gibraltar Greece Guinea Guinea-Bissau India Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Korea, North Korea, South Kuwait Laos Lebanon Libya Macau Mali Malta Mauritania Morocco Myanmar (Burma) Nepal Niger Oman Pakistan Philippines Portugal Qatar Saudi Arabia Senegal Sudan Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Thailand Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Vietnam Western Sahara Yemen

You know cos of running, God has graciously allowed me to meet people from the countries in blue. And allowed me to go to the countries in red. No Philippines was a mission trip, but I went to Jordan and Thailand cos of running. Cos of running, i can travel and see different types of people. One of the most memorable trips was that of to Jordan. Cos its very near the middle east. I was very excited about the trip to Jordan. We stopped over at Dubai and took a flight to Amman Jordan. Hmm. the cute thing is that the buildings i saw were usually of the same colour - light brown of the colour of sand. it was seldolm that we saw painted buildings. and bcos our hotel was right beside a mosque, u can imagine. At i think 4 am plus in the morn, everyday, we would be awakened by the prayer call played through loud speakers at the side of the building. and the most most encouraging thing i found was the lissaon officers that were attached to our contingent. University students, English speaking, both girls were friends. But one was a Muslim, the other a Christian. I found it greatly encouraging that even in Jordan, there were Christians! Look at the bigger picture! God is sure in the work of saving souls... (: but it was sad to see few people out on the streets, mostly men cos the women had to stay home and friday afternoon was like a holiday. Shops would close, traffic would cease and there would be an endless line of vechicles parked outside the mosque for friday prayers. Even our bus driver parked the bus outside the mosque, left us in the bus and went in to pray. Its like, for a moment, time stands still at friday noon. that's about all i have to say about Jordan, missions and running...

oh wait, one more thing, just to mention before i call it a night. On the car on the way back from Claud's place home, my mum was talking to me about what she had just heard from a friend who came back for a hol from working overseas. Today, tonight is a significant day. Cos its the first time im hearing abit more about this country. and it just excites my heart. Laos. oh, Laos. hearing about this near yet far country warms my heart. why? cos i like challenges, i wanna be a trail blazer. Laos is a communist country. It is a dark country, very dark. there is no light. Only 3 churches in the whole of Laos. imagine - 3. and 2 are for the expraites, only 1, 1 for the locals. Majority of the people are buddist. speak Laos language and french. No or not much mission work i must suppose, only community work done there. Oh, how the people of Laos need to hear of the good news. How they need light to shine in the darkness that there're living in.

Will u pray with me for the people of Laos? Let's pray, shall we? (:

oh, and if you have yet to discover your Spiritual gift, pray and ask God. :) He will answer, He will show you, so ask Him. :D