Tuesday, December 13, 2005
okay so it's tuesday afternoon and i'm home cos i'm not allowed to go out with the xtrainers for bridge/aeon flux :( but it's alright. i've decided to surrender the secret places of my heart to God, and my obedience should start from this point onwards --> .
well first off... DEBBIE WEBBIE MY PARD!!! our PARDship is great and we will continue developing it! i really had lots of fun yesterday so you better come back soon! then we can go and -ahem- again! :) anyway have fun at yongpyong! it's super fun and the korean guys there are quite hot (i think la, but then again it's just cos they're all wrapped up in winter gear so maybe they don't look that good) but don't get distracted by them and fall down while skiing okay! AND YOU WON'T DIE I'M SURE OF IT. R E L A X. and well... so my dad did cut my finge. but at least it wasn't so "artistic" that my hairdresser will moan and groan every second during my next haircut =D yep so COME BACK SOON! RB awaits us =D
alright now for camp. i have to say that this has been the best camp out of all the camps i've een to. not because of the fellowship, the games, whatever. but because God's presence has been so incredibly real in this camp, and He has brought about such an amazing revival that up till now, i'm still in awe of what He has done. i must admit that i started off this camp slightly skeptical about the spiritual aspect - year in year out, we go for camp, get high, and then when we go back out to the real world we forget all about God and go back to our old ways. it's all a vicious cycle. what's the point, then? but i really thank God for proving me wrong.
day1 was rather icy, in the sense that everyone hadn't warmed up yet. the icebreakers didn't really break the ice, and we were all rather worried. but i thank God for night games, cos everyone had fun and it managed to gel everyone together. praise God! :) oh yes forgot to mention that i was in Lamps, and Ben Ee was my leader. had leaders' debrief after night games till quite late, bathed till even later, and woke up super early the next morning to pray with denise and jem. was rather sleep-deprived, but i really really thank God that the prayer went uper well. while pastor kay huat was encouraging us to pray, it was the first time during that camp that i felt God move. and it was so overwhelming most of us were in tears after that. we prayed that this camp was going to be a breakthrough. that it'd be awesome. and God's presence that morning confirmed it.
so day2 started off great. blabla quiet time, workshop, bible study, pool games.. felt quite bad for falling asleep during the workshop =/ but i really was veryvery tired :( but pool games.. haha it was super fun! esp game 2. cos some of the xtrainers were supposed to be the pple distracting the swimmers. so i just practically leeched myself onto the groups of swimmers and got free rides to and fro =D it's great to be a xtrainer man. heh heh. then it was night, and we had the speaker session. was falling asleep again at first, cos i was tired from pool games... but thank God that we were sitting in front. cos i was nodding and when i opened my eyes, Pastor Ben's eyes met mine. then i thought "oh no better wake up" so i woke up. listened to the rest of the sermon and realised that it made so much sense, and was so relevant to my life. he preached about surrendering the secret places of our hearts to God. we often sin, and we hide it in our hearts, thinking that no one will know. but God knows. and it hurts Him because He is a God who detests sin. and if we have sin in our hearts, we are blocking up our channel to God. we can't grow much in our walk with God because we have hidden sin getting in the way. so during altar call, Pastor Ben asked all those who wanted to surrender the secret places of their hearts to go up. practically everyone went up. and it was so heartwarming to see all these youths turning their hearts to God. and that night turned out exactly like pastor kay huat's vision of Jesus walking around with a double edged sword in His hand, and a pot of gold in the other. He did a work of cutting that night, cutting away the secret places of our hearts and mending our wounds with that pot of gold.
day3 was great too. the workshop on science vs religion helped me to clear many doubts that i'd previously had about Christianity. about why the evolution and big bang theories can't stand, and why the creationist theory is the only one possible. go to http://www.answersingenesis.org/ for more information :) had theme games after that, then got ready for concert of prayer. that night was really the most awesome night ever. cos there were non-Christians around us who took that step of faith and went up to the altar and accepted Christ. and many Christians whose hearts had turned cold, and wanted to get their relationship with God right once and for all. when denise and i saw that keith was one of the first ones up, we were so touched and happy that we just crying. it's really so comforting to see the many friends around you fall down on their knees and rededicate their lives to God. it's one experience that nothing else could ever replace.
but after that, the agls had to run around helping to catch pple who got slain. so was rather distracted throughout the time that pastor ben was praying for us. felt really sad during supper, cos i felt as though i didn't get enough of God. i wanted more.. more of those spiritual encounters with Him. so before the 1130 worship session, denise and i went up to Pastor Ben and got him to pray for us. and thank God that He did. because that night, i got baptised in the Holy Spirit! :) i didn't get slain, but that's okay, cos i know that God's Spirit rests in me. felt really peaceful after that. then rushed in for the worship session and that was absolutely the best worship session ver. everyone of us just poured out our hearts to God in worship, exalting Him to the high heavens... then came PRAISE, which totally rocked. all of us were so high, jumping like crazy just praising our dear Father in heaven. like joel said, it's just like supporting your favourite soccer team. you jump around and scream when they score. our Lord scored that night. so we praised Him :)
so that just about sums up camp. God has blessed us with revival. finally. what we have been so fervently praying for all throughout this year. so i really just want to thank God, and urge all of you brothers and sisters in Christ to continue praying for this revival to last. really don't want this camp to be just like the others, where the fire dies out after about 1 month? this revival is going to last forever, amen? :)
yeah so after camp, met my dad to have lunch, then he wanted to shop so i decided to be a filial daughter and accompany him... then rushed to deb's place for her christmas party, which was SO FUN =D we were all being such piggies, piling our plates with salmon sushi, turkey, cakes, jelly, you name it, we have it (on our plates). then after dinner we ate some more! courtesy of angela's huge tin of hello panda! haha hello panda totally rocks it is so addictive... then it was christmas carolling! the Last Christmas duo is darn funny hahahahah can't forget their wonderfully happy and gay performance. heh heh. then they forced us to sing. ohwell no choice. we just sang our usual Top of the World and How Gentle is the Rain. but it wasn't too bad i hope? they all had fun singing along. and then we sang "Shalom"! there was the inner circle and outer circle, then we just linked hands and bowed and went "shalom, shalom"? hahaha so cute and so fun! i absolutely adore deb's christmas parties.
went out with deb on monday to spend time with her since she's gonna be leaving tonight :( fine deb ditch me for kwon sang woo and won bin and goodness knows who else.. don't forget to bring some korean goodies back for me! just don't bring kimchi! (hey that kinda rhymed) okay shuttup. just kidding. and so, since i haven't really been home proper since thursday, my parents absolutely refused to let me go out today :( at least i finally have some time to blog and reflect. now on to what God spoke to me about during camp...
one of the secret places that He revealed to me was my family. there's so much hurt, sin and fear that's hidden in my heart wrt them, and it is only by His strength that this hidden sin can be totally eradicated, and my family will be changed and renewed. and once again i have to thank God.. because He moved again! i wasn't allowed out today, so i spent the day praying with the family members who were at home with me. prayed with my grandma and uncle and they all feel really strongly about this "family revival"... so i really want to thank God for this opportunity to sit down and pray with them! :) feeling so at peace right now because i believe that God is gonna do a mighty work right here in my family. and i know that He is gonna do even more mighty works in YM. and this fire will just spread and spread and spread... it's gonna be G R E A T!!! i'm so excited =D
alright this post is super duper long so i'd better end soon... if you've actually read up to here, tell me. i wanna congratulate you =P so goodbye, and God bless you!
-bel
retardebel 4:52 PM