Praise You in this storm (:

I was sure by now
That You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

Chorus:
I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry
You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The maker of heaven and earth

would it be okay to tell you that i'm not alright? that i'm actucally not doing too well now?
sure it would be. but sometimes in Christianity today, its hard to just be yourself.
its hard to show that u're actually not doing so well, when everyone around you seems to be fine perpetually. well, God help us. God help us to be who we really are. Thank God for good times, thank God for bad ones too.

in this valley,
i know God wants to strengthen my spiritual muscles.
i do not know how long this will take,
but i trust He knows best
and i am willing to stay in this valley till He is done with me

my heart is so hard
my heart is so proud
Lord, please please take my heart and break it.
make it soft, mouldable by You.
clothe me with humility.
i humble myself before You,
You are God.

we need more Christians that will stop being happy plastic people,
with shiny plastic steeples and walls around our weakness
and smiles to hide our pain.
Starting with - me. Get real, mel.

Lord, help me to be real. I thank You for mountaintop experiences, for valley experiences. I lift mine eyes to You, for You are my help. i will praise You in this storm.

lessons from the tumbleweed

i'm studying biology today for my homeschooling and i gleamed a spiritual lesson as i went though my lesson.

i'm on the topic of "Flowers, Fruits and Seeds" and from Fruits and Seeds Disposal, i quote:

"When the seeds of the tumbleweed, a plant of the Western plains, are ready to be dispersed, the entire plant withers and appears to die. When the wind blows, the plant stem breaks and the plant rolls across the plains, scattering seeds as it goes."

Isn't it interesting how the tumbleweed disperses itself?

I picked up a few learning points from the paragraph above.

the entire plant withers and appears to die

How often we Christians "appear to die". Appear to die to our flesh and live in the Spirit. Sometimes we think we have died to self when we have not, sometimes i think i may have surrendered all when i'm still secretly holding on to some dear thing. then when do we truly die?

the plant stem breaks

when the breaking comes and we choose to be broken before our Lord. when the walls are down and the roof off. Nothing between my soul and the Saviour and nothing to hide or keep as a secret from people around. after brokeness then what?

scattering seeds as it goes
after the breaking there is life again.

it is brokeness before revival.

may we be found broken before the Lord, allowing the Lord to have His way in our lives everyday.

it's so good to blog again. (:

I've actucally got lots to say and share about my family holiday to the Philippines and the church camp in Melaka. i'll be doing that in my subsequent posts, so stay tuned!

For now, i've got a new addition to the blog, its the book of the week and book in the pipline colum at the left hand side below the tagboard. i've long had the desire to read books, and so to encourage myself to read, i've decided to read one book a week [of course, also looking at the number of pages ;) ] and i'll do a lil review everytime i finish the book to share abit about the gist of it and lessons learnt. ;)

so far in the "Your Passport to Heaven" book, i've cleared a misconception i've had since young and that is that we'll be in Heaven forever. when i say Heaven, i mean, i think of this cloudy place where everything is white, the streets - gold...

This is what Randy Alcorn said and i quote "What we usually think of when we hear the word Heaven is the present Heaven, or the intermediate Heaven. If we're Christians, that's where we go when we die. It's the place where we'll live until our bodily resurrection. Our Christian loved ones who've died are now in the present, intermediate Heaven. But that's not the place where we'll live forever. Our eternal home, where God will come down to dwell among His people, is called the New Earth (Revelation 21:1-3)."

To leave you with a quote which i found on PC's blog-a big mission : "How could I spend the best years of my life in living for the honours of this world, when thousands of souls are perishing every day?" CT Studd

“Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” Psalm 85:6

"When the church is prosperous, she never has revival. It’s when she's poor. Prayer is the language of the poor. 'Bow down Thine ear and hear me for I am poor and needy.' The self satisfied don’t need to pray. The self sufficient don’t want to pray. The self righteous cannot pray. But, the man who realises He needs something outside of what is human at all, he wants to bathe his soul in prayer…The weakest, weakest meeting in almost any church without exception is the prayer meeting. And when we’re not strong in prayer, we’re saying to God, we can manage. Cos we should pray if we have an invasion, we should pray if we have a famine, we have a great utility God…You need to maintain your prayer life in order to pray. No, not so. Not so. You need to maintain your Christian Life in order to pray…The church has to rediscover two things:
1. The Majesty and the Holiness of God
2. The sinfulness of sin
Prayer is not the easiest thing in the world. Prayer is the hardest thing in the world. Prayer is the most demanding thing in the world! ‘All earthly things will fade away but prayer grasps eternity’ so said Mongummary…if you claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the things that grieve the Spirit will grieve you…We’re heading for judgment faster than you could ever think, unless there’s a divine intervention…We sure need a heaven born, earth shaking, hell terrifying revival. And it only comes through brokenness…” -- Leonard Ravenhill

*extract taken from his sermon “Weeping between the Porch and the Altar”

Oh, may God break us.
May we rediscover the Majesty and Holiness of God and the sinfulness of our sin.
Revive us again.