Today is significant, because it's not only my senior pastor's birthday, but it's also the day JobStreet called and emailed me to confirm their offer for me.
I am totally ecstatic, overjoyed, and so happy over the great news. I've been praying for it over a long time and God (as always), He is a God who answers prayer! It's been such a long journey and there has been prayers gone out, tears flowed down and cries of desperation to Him. But the thing that really consoles my heart is that He hears all of them. Nothing is wasted.
As I was praying under my breath this afternoon, I was sitting at my seat and was praying that God is move their hearts so that they will call me to confirm today. I was reading this verse online:
"For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.
O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!"
- Psalms 84:10-12 (NKJV)
Truly God doesn't withhold any good thing to those who walks in His ways. There is nothing that we will lack if we choose and will ourselves to live in the house of the Lord. I wanna thank You Lord, because I do not deserve any of these, but yet You have chosen to bless and provide for me, time and again. Your faithfulness and love never fails! I love You, Saviour.
There is just so much that I have in my heart right now. I feel like praising Him and just thanking Him for all that He has done! He is so good! Bless Your name Lord! And this Friday, as I go to the combined uni night at Sunway Uni College, I'll definitely praise Him and glorify His name through this story that He has given me. You are so so good Lord!
Therefore, I will begin a new season in my career in JobStreet.com on 5 May 2008, which is after the church camp! There really isn't any better way to start a new beginning. Thank You again Lord! You are my Lord and I am Your child.
How did you think Adam and Eve pass time before they got evicted by Big Brother. On a sidenote, this video confirms my long-time suspicion that God Himself made the best musical instruments.
What an awesome testimony! This is what Christianity is (and should be) all about. I'm so proud of this ex-Yakuza church minister now. Nothing's better than knowing and living as the child of the Most High.
Of Transitions. Seasons Filled with Hope and Future.
"To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven.... He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.... I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. And God does it so that men will [reverently] fear Him [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is]." - excerpts from Ecclesiastes 3 (Amplified Bible).
31st October 2007. It was a date to remember, a significant date we will remember for a long, long time. For the rest of our lives even. There are seasons in life where we will never fathom, seasons which will scare us or make us long in anticipation of what He can do. The Hope of His Divine Purpose coming to past here on earth, something so beautifully profound where I can only imagine and feel it surround my being. Without Hope, what is there to this life we're living?
We travelled into Singapore on the 31st October 2007 being a dating couple, but we left on 3rd November 2007 being an engaged couple on the path of marriage (Wow, even typing that word "marriage" seems so surreal after all that He had done). There is nothing in this world that would separate us from the wonderful love of knowing the precious Father in heaven and there is nothing in world that would make me wanna love Skye less for all that we have been through, for the moments we have endured, for the pain we have felt in the past and for all the hope and destiny He has prepared for us, there is nothing that will make me wanna love her one bit less. It's just not possible. Many people have asked me questions of how I propose, so instead of answering each one and at the cost of making myself feel like a broken record, this post is dedicated for the one moment in life which is forever be etched in our hearts and mind. Thanks to everyone of you who shared in this wonderful journey of our love and relationship. We treasure each of you very much, you know who you are.
It was on the afternoon of 31st October 2007 when Skye and I travelled to Singapore on the all familiar First Coach bus. The bus left Bandar Utama, PJ at 11am hence scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 4pm. Bearing in mind our pre-planned boat cruise was supposed to leave Marina South Pier at 6pm. While on the bus, I prayed that we would reach Singapore before 4pm, then we will be able to hop on a cab back to Woodlands (where Skye stays) get prepared and the cab to the pier for our boat cruise.
Surprisingly, we did reach Singapore before 4pm. 3.50pm to be exact. We walked out of the customs building and guess what, we didn't even had to wait for a cab as we saw one once we were out! We zoomed straight to Woodlands, and we got prepared for the dinner cruise. At 4.45pm we left the house and cabbed to Marina South Pier, the journey was smooth and in my heart I was thanking God and I was feeling the nerves settling in bit by bit. I clutched on to my bag, which contained the ring. The moment we reached the pier, we walked to the boat cruise office to get my tickets. I told her I made a booking for 2 for the boat cruise at 6pm. She looked at me with this sad face and said "Ohhh, you must be Raymond... I've been trying to contact you on your phone but I couldn't get you. But our boat could not leave today because it was involved in an accident..." Right. at. that. moment, my heart dropped, I took a gulp and in my disbelief I asked one or two more times to confirm the fact that the boat couldn't leave today! I quickly asked her if there were any other cruises leaving today and they suggested a few which we had no interest in and just before we left she commented "I'm so sorry for you guys.... it was supposed to be her birthday right?... " I said " Huh? Nononooo.... " She said "Oh... you mean.... it was her pr..." I interrupted quickly and said "Nononoo... it's ok, no worries... see you soon!" So both Skye and I hurried out of the office and was left wondering what to do and where we should go. While my heart was beating so fast I thought it was gonna leap out of my body after that experience!
We kinda hung around for awhile thinking of what to do, while I was starting to feel the stress. I asked if we could maybe go to the Esplanade or maybe Vivo City at Harbourfront for a casual and relaxing dinner instead. I mean, if you can't go on a boat cruise with dinner then I suppose the next best thing is to go somewhere near the water with nice food. After a few moments of indecisiveness, we decided to go to Esplanade for Jap. A bus ride, an MRT and a bit of walk later, we were at the Esplanade, we went straight to Ichiban Boshi for dinner and like usual, we stuffed ourselves silly with lots of good japanese food, we ordered sushis, large bento sets with soup, and after that we tried a small bottle of hot sake, just to see how it tastes like. I didn't like it too much as I felt the alky whiff went up my nose a lil too often, while Skye, she enjoyed it, said it was like tea or something. Okie. So, now that dinner is over I have to officially come up with a Plan B. Fast! We went down to the Esplanade for a leisurely walk beside the waters and we just had some casual chat. The time was slightly past 8pm so I thought, ok we have some time before I ask her the question. We walked and we walked... and we walked... We walked up to One Fullerton, down to the Merlion, hung around for a bit, walked down further to the old Clifford Pier where I thought it was the perfect spot to do it, but there were 2 guys fishing and 2 ah mas drinking mineral water and eating some random kuih. So I thought "Darn! No go then...". So, we were already at the other end of the Esplanade already when it was around 9 something pm.
Skye being the savvy Singaporean she is, she suggested that we walk down to the MRT station which is just down the road. Every single alarm bell in my head went off and it echoed "NOOOO.....". I calmly suggested that we walk the other way, which was the way we came from. She looked at me strangely and said "But we walked there already..." I said "Well... (erm)... it's nice to be able to walk by the waters... it's relaxing ain't it?". So, there we were, walking down to the same way we came from, past the Merlion, past One Fullerton, past the Esplanade bridge and back to where we were! Later on, we were both kinda tired from the walking (duh!) so we rested for a while at Se Toh Glutton's Bay. hahaha. We ordered a drink and I thought to myself "God! Help meeeee!" After the drink, we walked back out and this time I thought Skye was walking like she was more determined to walk to the MRT station this time!
As we were on the way, I looked up and said "Hey, didn't you told me there was a roof deck upstairs during the New Year last time?" She agreed and we decided to check it out! Lo and behold! Praise the good Lord! There is this nice, quiet, romantic garden roof deck on top of Esplanade all this while! I said "This is it! This is the spot." We found a nice and quiet spot overlooking the Singapore cityscape and we sat down and chatted about various sorts of things, about us and about where we're going and all. Finally, at about 10.30pm I gathered all my guts, and I slipped my hand into my bag to retrieve the ring box, held the box in my hand went down on one knee and asked her "Will you marry me?". She looked at me sweetly and said "Yes, I will". Trust me, I felt so happy and relieved! I took the ring and gently slipped it into her finger. Wow. I thought she looked like a million bucks! We were really just so happy! In fact, we were just so happy we took photos, we started to text people. Ram and Hannah were the first to call, we chatted, they were really excited, which was just so awesome! We took more photos, chatted and laughed about the whole incident even more and then on the way back, we were both looking at the diamond ring so intently, we didn't know we were walking the wrong way straight into the bathroom! We were really relishing the experience of being well... engaged! It was just so, so awesome! We wanna thank everyone who messaged, called, left facebook messages and comments over the past week. We would love to share this awesome journey with each and everyone of you. Right now, we're in the midst of preparing our wedding next year. We will keep you updated on the exact date. But for now, we just wanna say thank you to all of you wonderful people! Life is not the same without you guys and definitely we wanna thank God. He has made everything beautiful in His time. We absolutely love Him and I love Skye very much as well!
Now that we are engaged, I feel like we've transitioned into another phase of our lives and I love her even more than yesterday. I thank God because in our journey He has always been there, never once did He abandon us but His hands were there since the first day and I know He will continue to guide and lead us into our future. I wait in eager anticipation of everything that He has prepared for us in store. The past 2 years and 4 months of our relationship together has been nothing less than awesome and I personally believe with conviction that better days are ahead. We totally enjoy this awesome feeling of being engaged and I can't wait when I return to this blog again next year, and say that I'm finally married to this woman of God that I absolutely love and treasure. Thanks Skye for all your love and thanks because I can take this life that God has given me to love you and care for you and be committed to you. Thanks to You God for making all this happen and for Your smile.
In 7 days, I'll be on the coach to Singapore with Skye. It's been a long while since I've been there since the company trip in June. Lots have changed, lives got busier but I thank God because I can take some time off to relax and just being with the people and place that I really enjoy.
Lots of things will change. Time changes everything, for the better or for worse. However, I believe that God has bigger and better plans in the future. As we step into His will and purpose for our lives, we cannot help but discover the many awesome favour and grace from God. I can't help but to look forward into the new things that God wanna do in our lives. I believe strongly in His words that says "I come to give you life and life more abundantly." God is one that will never short change you in life, when you choose to walk in His ways.
Thank You God for bringing us thus far. I believe the journey has just started. There is just too much to discover and experience to stop here. I want to walk on and see You in greater light and to know You as how You desire Your children to know their father. Thank You for holding us in the palm of Your hands God, because it is where we feel most safe. Hold on and never let us go.
