A Father's Love

Self-doubt is my all-time enemy. I wrestle with it every day, and on some days, I would really feel like throwing in the towel and cry, "Surrender"! It is really incongruent to my beliefs, as a Christian, as someone who has been touched and changed by God's deep, deep love. How could I see myself so small and insignificant? If the King of the Universe would give His One and Only Beloved Son to die for me?

Last Sunday, a speaker came to our church and shared about the Father's Love. Matt Rawlins explained to us, that the heart issues often take root before the rational mind can make sense of it. Nobody wakes up one day, and decides that he or she is going to be insecure. Somehow deep inside us, there is already a small voice telling us, "Do something, or you will be nothing." Perhaps it comes from our parents, our teachers, or communities, or just the way a meritocratic society shapes its people. And heart issues are alot messier to deal with, because a whole lot of emotions and convictions are tied to them.

So how do I break free? How do I, for once in my life, FEEL, not just know, that I am special, created in the image of God, to reflect His glory, to shine His light, to be His princess, to feel His delight? How do I live life with a sense of purpose, knowing my identity without wavering before a world that is ever-changing in its beliefs, values, opinions, expectations and pursuits?

After studying for 10 years and working for 4 years, I've come to realise that my purpose in my life cannot be contained in studying or working. Though in themselves, they are good and essential activities for my human mind and earthly living, but my life and purpose need to come from Something Bigger, Someone Greater than them. When God showed me that I am made to know and love Him, with all that I am; and to love His children and His creation, as myself; I was amazed by the simplicity of my life's purpose and puzzled by the impossibility of this mission. For one thing, I don't even know how to be patient and gentle with myself, when "Love is patient and kind"!

It is only when I calm down and breathe deeply, can I hear His gentle voice telling me, "You cannot give what you don't have. You need to know Me first. Unless you know My Love, you can never love Me, or yourself, or others."

Yes, even though I have dreams and aspirations to change somebody's life, or even a small part of the world, with my love, I am just an empty vessel, as broken and fragile, as the world I live in. Without God's love, I have nothing to offer anyone else, or the world.

"To the world you may be just somebody, but to somebody, you may be the world."

Do you know the Somebody who loves the world so much, that He gave His most precious possession--His World--so that we who are the world, can know Him, and one day, become somebody who can change the world? Do you know the distance a Perfect Father's love can go for His child? Would you want to go the distance for your child one day? Would you let Him be your Hero, and let Him shape you into what you are meant to be--a hero made in His image--one day?

A true story of a true hero, & a glimpse of the distance, the height, and the depth a Perfect Father's love would go for His child. Enjoy & discover!

Just a Little Branch

"I am the Vine, you are the branches." John 15:5

'Tis only a little Branch

A thing so fragile and weak,

But that little Branch hath a message true

To give, could it only speak.

"I'm only a little Branch,
I live by a life not mine,
For the sap that flows through my tendrils small
Is the life-blood of the Vine.

"No power indeed have I
The fruit of myself to bear,
But since I'm part of the living Vine,
Its fruitfulness I share.

"Dost thou ask how I abide?
How this life I can maintain?--
I am bound to the Vine by life's strong band,
And I only need remain.

"Where first my life was given,
In the spot where I am set,
Upborne and upheld as the days go by,
By the stem which bears me yet.

"I fear not the days to come,
I dwell not upon the past,
As moment by moment I draw a life,
Which for evermore shall last.

"I bask in the sun's bright beams.
Which with sweetness fills my fruit,
Yet I own not clusters hanging there,
For they all come from the root."

A life which is not my own,
But another's life in me:
This, this is the message the Branch would speak,
A message to thee and me.

Oh, struggle not to "abide,"
Nor labor to "bring forth fruit,"
But let Jesus unite thee to Himself,
As the Vine's Branch to the root.

So simple, so deep, so strong
That union with Him shall be:
His life shall forever replace thine own,
and His love shall flow through thee;

For His Spirit's fruit is love,
And love shall thy life become,
And for evermore on His heart of love
Thy spirit shall have her home.

FREDA HANBURY

I finally found a poem that resonates with the song in my heart when I first started this blog. It's so simple, beautiful, yet in a way, sad. Because I now understand that when I become a little branch in Christ, I have chosen to die of my self, my desires and hopes. I am no longer my own, but I live His life. Yet, deep down inside, my soul finally find rest and a deep, deep joy, because, it knows it has found the right home to belong, a truly safe place to abide--in God's perfect, unfailing love.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20

What more can I ask for? If God would die for me. How can I not fall in love with Someone who knows all my imperfections and griefs, and yet love me perfectly, fiercely and eternally. He held nothing back, just to love me, and you. :-)