Where your journey is different from others

“Have courage to walk the path that is yours.”

Be God-driven

God has something inside of you (1.08)
– “People look at the now, and they don’t see what I went through, and if you miss the through, and look at the now, you tend to sometimes find yourself in envy. But if you look at the struggle in the walk, it was very difficult.”

The forgiveness of my father (5.22)
– Pray, lots of prayers
“The thing that opened up for me, and asked: “What happened to you? (5.38)
-What he did was wrong, but I was still able to forgive him (6.22)

What’s burning in my heart, what’s inside of me (7.31)
– “I feel we are all given a candle to handle, this little light of mine..”
That light is your destiny, and it’s gonna lead you to your path, what is that in your own life?
– “I always wanted to ask what the alignment is inside of me” (7.51)

Ask, ask according to the light (8.15)
-Walking by faith (8.47)
“Sometimes walking by faith can be very uncomfortable, and sometimes we don’t have the whole picture, you just have this little bit of light, and you just have to keep moving forward.”

Feeling worthy (9.49)
– Things can happen to us, and we don’t feel worthy, or we make excuses “I can’t do this because this happened to me..”
– You always search for motivation (10.17)
“Writing became my therapy..”

She didn’t feel worthy (10.51)
– “And if you live in a place where you don’t feel worthy, then you can’t allow any good thing to come into your life.”
– “I am worthy because God says I am worthy” (11.23)

You believe what God says about you (11.56)
– His thoughts towards us are very pure (11.38)
– “These are very important things that if people can come to know..”

God will use adversity to push us there (22.33)
– ‘They are getting prepared, to where you are going now..”
– ‘God is going to get you prepared..”

Encouraging yourself (22.43)
– You have got to protect yourself, and encourage yourself with all this negativity
“In this day, and age it’s so important, constantly bombarded with negatively, from social media, every second, you don’t have to look for it, and it defines you..”

Stepping stone
I’m gonna trust you when I don’t see anything happening
“God is working everything for my life, the right people..” 38.06

“Suddenly” (38.15)
– The suddenly are a culmination of all that time that you believed, you didn’t see anything happening and then “Suddenly”…

The dream will carry you
– “If there is something that God has placed in your heart, it’s never going to get away.”
– Look for that dream, those little things will give you that wind, beneath your wings, and help you get to the next point..”
– It’s just about having an awareness, a keen awareness of everything that’s going on, it’s not going to let go of you
– “God didn’t take the Israelites the easiest way to the promised land. Because they weren’t prepared for war. And so sometimes, we just have to be faithful to those closed doors. And sometimes we are learning through the tough times.”

Asking God for our dreams
– Make bold prayers (44.54)
“God’s put a gift in you, with something to fulfill your destiny, and it’s going to take more than just you. You gonna need God’s faith..through his faith, we gonna need his help.
– If you don’t ask, how do you know you’re not gonna receive? (45:17)
It’s not about being unworthy, we are not inconveniencing God when we ask him about our dreams.
– Stand where God wants you to (46.01)
“My dream, and my destiny, and my goal is not just for me, there are people who are waiting for you to take your place so that they can get in line to what God is doing for them.”

I’m so glad God didn’t show me the full picture
– Everyone has a dream (47.02)
“Everything works together for your good.”
Every moment (47.59) in my life has worked together for my good

“If you haven’t been (49.03) who you are, I don’t know where I’ll be.”
– I thank God I had the love of a mother (49:56)

What we can practice

1. Prayer, being prayerful
2. Self-examination, appreciation, thanksgiving
3. Forgiving yourself when you make mistakes
4. Gratutude: To be grateful
5. To be in awe, a sense of awe
6. Practice humility
7. and recongising that every good thing comes from God Our Father

God bless!

Learning to be a child again

Picture credits: The Chosen Global Livestream: Episode Three

Find hope in Jesus! This May, I have committed to consecrate myself to Our Lady, and she has never failed to bring me closer to dear Jesus. He said: “I will lead you from pain into glory, and I will use your story to touch the lives of others, so do not be afraid, do not be ashamed, for I call you redeemed, loved, you are mine, and I am yours”. His words has brought me great joy, and comfort in knowing that I am never alone.

Aug 2019 has been one of the most challenging times I had encountered. Art school has a certain way of ‘thought’ that differs from usual teaching methods in schools I have attended. It challenges me to break out of my comfort zone, to explore, to experiment, make mistakes and learn yet there is a grading system for it. Only God can get me out of this school alive.

For I have been dead for a long time, and because the desire to please my lecturers seem to be what my heart is focused on, I couldn’t get out of it. This vicious cycle of wanting to be recognised, and seen through my work sought greater importance than learning. Striving hard, day and night only with my own effort that amounted to nothing, but losing my soul in the process.

Everyday seemed like a complete battlefield of yearning an approval or praise from others. I was in complete mess. The amount of effort, and time wasted on this endless pursuit, only God knows. Yet how kind Jesus is, I had to grow through a period of torment, darkness, and shame (which was utterly terrifying) for me to recognize my nothingness in Him.

He used darkness to reveal the light that I needed all this while, and it was Jesus who affirmed my identity. He established the truth, and foundation that nothing is more important than building a relationship with Him.

Nothing, not even my grades, my worth, or how I see Him precedes Jesus, Himself. Yet even as I knew, it was difficult to choose God because of the lies, and fears that I had grew so accustomed to. It was trying, but with prayer, community, and support from close friends, Jesus assured my worth in Him- that no one has the ability to take away my identity in Him.

For truly Jesus makes the impossible, possible and today, I witnessed a shift in my mindset in an experimentation with Dalgona Coffee, that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4: 13

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In the process of making, I discovered the beauty of creating. For far too long I have hidden in fear, and believed the lie that whatever I do will never ‘amount’, and this led to fears and feelings of ‘rejection’, making it almost impossible to begin anything.

Yet as the days go by, I am slowly learning to surrender, and to let go of this lie. For choosing Jesus means actively letting go of certain ‘thoughts’ and ‘beliefs’ that are untrue. For in John 10:10, scripture says: ‘The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life – life in all its fullness.’

How true this is!
‘For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.’ – Matthew 6:21

For my heart to be courageous in the face of criticisms, and to stand in the truth of who God says I am, and not for what I do. Through this process, I have acknowledged my need for perfectionism, and that it is okay to make mistakes, for failure does not define who I am, and it is a natural part of growth. Strength however, lies in never giving up each time we fall.

For creatives out there, if you face similar struggles as I do, I encourage you to list down actionable truths (as I did) and choose to proclaim these over your life. May this assist you. Be blessed!

1. Focus on making work that I care about
2. Knowing my medium inside and out
3. Stop seeking for external validation
4. Leave pride at the door
5. Embrace my need for solitude
6. Accept change within myself, and my work
7. Knowing when to move on
8. Lose comparing self with another