Irene In Christ

This Christmas season had taught me a few things. And some lessons/ reflections are natural disaster related. To be precise, Rai (or Odette) and #daruratbanjir related.  For one, man can grow ignorant to imminent obvious potential danger. Below is a photo of a Philippines village of someone whom I know, after the typhoon Rai hit her place, the week before Christmas.  I remember her telling me that another typhoon was about to hit her place before it happened.  But I didn't take heart. Simply because in the past years, I've heard of upcoming typhoon at her area so often that I had grown, you can say, ignorant to the news. In all the previous times, it had meant nothing more than heavy rain and water rising. But this time... After the typhoon Rai hit, her kampong is now in ruins. She was unable to get any news about her family and her friends until the next day, to which we gave thanks because every single one of them is safe.  But the houses and every material thing a...

I mentioned previously that I was on a quest to delve deep into the identity of God (The Three Whos in Our Life) , or the characteristics of God, namely who God is to me. To us. To humankind.  And I know there are so many aspects of God, as can be found in the Bible: Jehovah Jireh (Genesis 22:14) "The LORD our provider Jehovah Rapha (Exodus 15:26) "The LORD our Healer" Jehovah Nissi (Exodus 17:15) "The LORD our Banner" Jehovah Shalom (Judges 6:24) "The LORD our Peace" Jehovah Raah (Psalms 23:1) "The LORD our Shepherd" Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 23:6) "The LORD our Righteousness" Jehovah Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) "The LORD ever present" But what I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to study on was on the fact and truth of God as my Father, my Lord and my Creator.  I have written so much about my orphaned-spirit previously. And God has dealt so much in and with me in this area. Honestly, in my flesh (and in my pride 🙈), I won...

The other night, my daughter suddenly asked me, "Mummy, can we find a shooting star? I want to make a wish'.  (She recently watched a cartoon where the characters in the cartoon saw shooting stars in the night sky and made a wish. 😂) My first response to her was - Esther, we don't have to make a wish. We can pray to our God.  And it immediately dawned on me the weight of what I just said.  We live in a world where many people do not have (or believe in) God.  And majority of the world do not have the one, true God.  The world looks for shooting stars. (Or throws a coin into a wishing well.)  The world seeks to know their future or fortune, always restless and anxious about the unknown.  The world burns incense, recites memorized words of prayer, makes bargain with a god who give them the things they want in exchange for an offering or  a ritual .  What a lonely world that is.  I took the opportunity to tell the children the aspects of o...

At the start of Nov 2021, I found the Holy Spirit prompting me to reflect and delve deeply into these 3 foundational questions in every Christian's life.  Who God is Who Jesus is Who I am (in Christ) Putting aside all discussions (or debates) about doctrinal issues, emphasis issues, end times issues, current social/ political/ worldly issues (and many, many, many issues) in the Christian world, which are of course important issues (I am not disputing their importance), I felt that what the Holy Spirit had wanted me to do was - to look at the foundation of my faith, my relationship with God and my being as a believer.  What I needed to do was simply to focus on the basic things. Never mind the argument about right teaching or 'not-so-rightly focused' teaching. Never mind the passionate fascination with end times. Never mind the heated discussion on covid and vaccination and such.  All these are important and critical, yes. But I truly felt such a heaviness and stirring for...