Tag Archives: Thoughts

Posted on

One Word 2013: Give

Every year, a few days before the New Year Eve, I always spend time to pray and ask God for His specific word for me for the whole year, a verse that always reminds me of Him, who God is and his promises in my life, the verse that will encourage and strengthen my faith in Christ when I am in hard days.

After spending time with God, He gave me his promise for 2013 from Philippians 2:13

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

I meditate on that verse, every word He speaks to me in that verse. I keep it in my heart and mind. I pray using that verse for me, for my husband and for my daughters. I ask God to help me to live it out each moment, ask him to give me the desire and power to do what pleases Him and ask him to continue work in and through me.

This year I choose a word that will be my guide. The word that from the verse God has given to me for this year. The word is GIVE.

God gives me the desire and power to please Him. I want to be a giver, instead of receiver only.

When I read the word from God in Philippians 2:13. I have to admit that this is not going to be easy process for me at all. I know well in my heart that I only can be a giver God wants me to be, a giver whom pleases His heart only, is only if He gives me the desire and power through the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. I pray and ask God to change my life each day to be more like the one He wants me to be.

GIVE is my One Word to focus on and live for 365 days and I pray that by the end of the year I will be the giver that God wants me to be.

I am encouraged by a friend of mine, who posted about doing One Word 356 on our Facebook group. We are encouraged to pick just one word which we will focus on for 365 days and what we want to be at the end of the year. The word that will change our lives to glorify God and to show God’s love and glory to others. You can find this community at Facebook and Twitter with hashtag #OneWord365. To know how you choose your One Word, you can read this post. When you choose your One Word, write a post about it and share it by linking your blog post here at their community!

Just remember that:

Your One Word is intended to be your guide, not your harsh standard. It’s not about doing more, but about being who you were created to be.

So, what is your One Word in 2013?

Posted on

Rejoicing in Suffering. What? How?

It has been a couple of weeks I am crying to God to fill my heart with His presence, to teach me His word, to quench my thirst of Him, to give me the strength I need to start my day.

I woke up this morning, grabbed my cupof coffee (thanks to my hubby for getting the Keurig machine!) and I sat with my Bible open on the dining table. 

I read 1 Peter 4:12-19. A lesson about suffering. I’ve read the book of Peter few times, but this morning, a lesson about suffering totaly struck my mind that every disciple of Christ is called to rejoice in the sufferings. What? How? 

“If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” (1 Peter 4:14)

That’s the answer. The Spirit of God who rests upon us, Christ’s disciples, is the One who will help us, strengthen us, give us the grace and power we need to go through the suffering in Christ. 

Christ had suffered the same thing we are suffering now when He was living on this earth among His creations. They mocked Him for His obedience to God, they cursed Him for the truth He spoken, they even killed Him just because they wanted their own righteousness. Now He is crowned as the King of kings and sit on the thrown and be with God. 

The same Spirit of God who be with Jesus and raised Him from death, is now rest upon us. I want that! I wanna be filled by the Holy Spirit to live my life, to take every step, to breath every breath, to obey God and to love Him. I need The Holy Spirit to call out to my God, “Abba Father.”


My pray this morning that the Holy Spirit will help us and give us the power and grace to keep worshiping God in the midst of suffering. 

This morning, these two songs keep singing in my heart and mind. I hope and pray you will find his grace as you enter His presence, find His promises for you when you listen to His word, be refreshed and find the strength you need to live and glorify God’s name in Jesus Christ.

First song is:
10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)
By Matt Redman

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I’ll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
[Chorus]
You’re rich in love, and You’re slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find
[Chorus]
And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore
[Chorus x2]
Jesus, I’ll worship Your holy name
Lord, I’ll worship Your holy name

Sing like never before
O my soul
I’ll worship Your holy name
Jesus, I’ll worship Your holy name
I’ll worship Your Holy name


The second song is:
Your Name
By Paul Baloche

As morning dawns and evening fades
You inspire songs of praise
That rise from earth to touch Your heart and glorify Your Name

(CHORUS)
Your Name is a strong and mighty tower
Your Name is a shelter like no other
Your Name, let the nations sing it louder
‘Cause nothing has the power to save
But Your Name

Jesus, in Your Name we pray
Come and fill our hearts today
Lord, give us strength to live for You and glorify Your Name
(CHORUS)
Posted on

It Is Not God, It Is Us

About 10 years ago, I was in the middle of faith crisis because of my family situation. I was angry and blame my parents and God for what happened in our family.

I was thinking that God couldn’t help or even didn’t wanna care to listen to our prayers anymore. I “hate” God, I told Him.

But I was WRONG! It was not God, it was me & my parents. It was our sins that seperate us from Him.

The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.

Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

(Isaiah 59:1, 2 NLT)

When I look back, God has been so gracious to us since that day. He has shown us His loving-kindness and unfailing love to us.

Through that situation He brought us back to Him. He used other Christian frieda to reach for us, to help us to find Him and His forgiveness.

He opened the way for us to walk in the salvation He provided for us in Christ Jesus.

He provided to way for us to CONNECT with Him again.So we can have relationship with Him again.

He was, is and always be our God. Though we had forgotten Him, He never forget nor forsake His creations. He never for get us. He never forget you, too.

You can connect with God again today.
You can have realtionship with God today.
You can confess your sins and ask for His forgiveness today.
You can be saved and be His child today.
You can because Jesus has done it on the cross for you.

Yes, God has provided the way for you today, are gonna take His hands today?

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

I link this to Five Minute Friday: Connect

Posted on

This Is More Than A Challenge

Before 2008, I always got up 4 o’clock in the morning, started my daily life with getting shower, ran to catch the bus, attended classes, went to work after class as part-timer, then went back home. I ended my days around 10 p.m. every day. That was my life when I was in Indonesia. My daily routine life was pushing me out of bed way early in the morning otherwise everything would be out of schedule.

I spent reading my Bible and listened to music on the way to my campus every morning because it took 2 hours from my parents’ house to the campus.

Since I moved to States after getting married, my routine shifted. Especially when I had nothing to do and then our first born baby arrived. Totally messed up my routine. I spent all my time to figure out what and how to become a mom and a wife, how to adjust with this new culture and life style. Everything is changed. The only thing that never ever change is GOD and his Word.

Yes, I found it difficult to wake up early in the morning since then. It’s been hard for me. Why? Because I have nothing to do or somewhere to be in the morning, I have no schedule at all, I have no priority, and I have no motivations at all. I feel that I am not a good wife and mom, nothing to compare with the woman describes in Proverbs 31 at all!

But I never stop asking God to show me how and help me to get on my feet in the morning, to do better serving my husband and my daughter (soon we will have 2 children!) and most of all to serve my Lord and King. I keep on praying and reading the Bible at any time, anywhere, any moment.

In the last couple of months, I have been following a Twitter feeds from several Christian women who have been encouraging me with their tweets. Through them I found Kat @ Inspired to Action. Kat with 9 other amazing women start a challenge called Hello Mornings, how to maximize our mornings as a child of God, follower of Christ, a wife, a mom and an encouraging friend to others.

THIS IS THE ANSWER TO MY PRAYER, I think. I am sure IT IS! God led me to this group of women who faithfully walk with God and share their testimonies to encourage other women. I need this. I need the motivation and help. Why?

Because we need others, who is stronger that us, to strengthen us in faith. And they are there for you and me.

Just like my friend, Meredith, says, “Being a mom and a wife is a never-ending non-stop job.” We need each other. This is a challenge for me. A challenge that I pray God will use it to maximize my life and my mornings for only for Him, that God will use and give wisdom to my Accountability Captains to motivate and to help me and my friends in our groups to life our lives in God’s glory, and that God will show His favor and love to all of us.

How are we gonna do this? Joining this challenge, participants will:

  1. experience quality time with God
  2. intentionally plan their mornings
  3. and exercise regularly

And how am I gonna do it?

  • I will go to bed when it’s time to go to bed as early as possible.
  • I will get up earlier that anyone in my house, that will be my husband and my girl (they are early risers!).
  • I will spend time with as my very first thing to do in the morning: listening to Audio Bible and reading  at the same time (writing journal, of course!).
  • Fixing breakfast for my husband and brewing our favorite coffee.
  • Get myself ready for my children to wake up and getting their breakfast ready.
  • and the list will goes on…

Those are the beginning and I pray that God will help me to start my day well with Him and finish it well with Him.

This is not just a challenge, this is more than that. This is a change of life style, from nothing to something. Everybody can do it with and through Christ Jesus who is the source of every thing we will need to walk with God, to serve and obey Him, to love Him and to show the world His love.

How do you maximize your morning? Do you want more that just what you have done so far?

Come and and join us at Hello Morning Fall Challenge, visit and register HERE. It’s not too late!

Posted on

Five Minute Friday: Story

Story.

“What kind of story are you writing now in your life?”

That’s the question that I always ask myself. It’s not because I wanna be a writer, but I want to leave a story for my next generation so they will know who their older generations are.

Just exactly like what God told the people of Israel in the book of Exodus through Deuteronomy, that they had to tell the stories, the amazing stories, what God had done among them since the beginning, from setting them free form the slavery in Egypt until how mighty God’s hands over Israelites when they overcame the other nations so they could take over the Promise Land and settled in. But not only the stories of how God worked in their lives, but most important things are all the Law and commands that He had given to His people, need to be told over and over again, at any time, any where and to all generations.

Story I want to pass on is the story how God works in my life, to bring glory only to His Holy Name. Story I want my next generations know and remember is how great our living God, how faithful He is and how He has changed my life and so that they can trust and to obey Him. And they can be the stories to the next one.

My past is not a story that I want them to remember, but I want God to use my past that one that He has changed to show how He has plans for my life and their lives, that God never forget nor forsake us. I let God use my life stories to bless others and changes others.

I want my next generations know that God is the one who write our life story, to wonderful and perfect one, when we surrender and trust in Him, in His plan, in His love, in His grace, and in His mighty power that can change our life and yours.

So, what kind of story are you writing now?

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Just 5 minutes. On the prompt that’s posted here just after midnight early Friday morning. Want to know more – check out the Five Minute Friday back story over here.

Want to join our favorite free writing exercise of the week? It’s easy peasy:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat on the prompt: “Dance” with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..