Just came back from Batu Pahat for our church retreat 2006. I really enjoyed the pace of the retreat and also took time to get to talk to people I see in church on sundays that I seldom get a chance to talk to.
It was also a time for many to share their testimonies and it was a good time listening to most of the people who shared their journeys.
I want to thank God for helping me find some answers in this camp. There were also a few things that a few people spoke that had impacted my thoughts. I shall write it here and remember these phrases for a long time and come back to it as and when I need to. I paraphrase:
1. Be like a child - simply trust and believe - don't ask why why why...
2. To win the prize, the heavenward prize, all we need to do is to complete the race
3. Have faith in God, pray and believe in the impossible but LET HIM decide on the timing
4. Understanding the experience is important as well as responding to the experience
5. Power need not only be something outward and dramatic, when God's words begin to change a person's mind about Himself, power of God is at work
6. "If you love me, obey my commands.... if you want to love me deeper, go beyond the requirements."
7. Understand why I respond to something and don't respond for the sake of responding
8. In worship, engage my mind as my emotions are engaged
When my good friend was sharing devotion on the 2nd day of the camp, as I reflected on my 'race', I realized the importance of having friends along the way, cheering me on. Friends who have seen the good, bad and ugly of me (friends including my husband). It is when I am with them, I let down my "guards and defenses". I'm not fearful that I'll be judged for the thoughts that linger within me, when I can let them into my inner world without any hesitation and for always believing in me that I will choose the right path and not stray away. Friends, who will pray for me and help me see God's perspectives as truth and the only way to resolve the inner conflicts I have. I thank God for every single one of them God has sent and placed in my life. Friends who will and can tell me the truth without me getting the pangs. Because friends love.
Lord, thank you for friends.
It was also a time for many to share their testimonies and it was a good time listening to most of the people who shared their journeys.
I want to thank God for helping me find some answers in this camp. There were also a few things that a few people spoke that had impacted my thoughts. I shall write it here and remember these phrases for a long time and come back to it as and when I need to. I paraphrase:
1. Be like a child - simply trust and believe - don't ask why why why...
2. To win the prize, the heavenward prize, all we need to do is to complete the race
3. Have faith in God, pray and believe in the impossible but LET HIM decide on the timing
4. Understanding the experience is important as well as responding to the experience
5. Power need not only be something outward and dramatic, when God's words begin to change a person's mind about Himself, power of God is at work
6. "If you love me, obey my commands.... if you want to love me deeper, go beyond the requirements."
7. Understand why I respond to something and don't respond for the sake of responding
8. In worship, engage my mind as my emotions are engaged
When my good friend was sharing devotion on the 2nd day of the camp, as I reflected on my 'race', I realized the importance of having friends along the way, cheering me on. Friends who have seen the good, bad and ugly of me (friends including my husband). It is when I am with them, I let down my "guards and defenses". I'm not fearful that I'll be judged for the thoughts that linger within me, when I can let them into my inner world without any hesitation and for always believing in me that I will choose the right path and not stray away. Friends, who will pray for me and help me see God's perspectives as truth and the only way to resolve the inner conflicts I have. I thank God for every single one of them God has sent and placed in my life. Friends who will and can tell me the truth without me getting the pangs. Because friends love.
Lord, thank you for friends.
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