Irene In Christ

I had just finished reading the book of Daniel. And this time round, while reading it, I saw so many things that I had never read before. Somehow, I read the words but didn't realise what is there.  Have you ever experienced that while reading the precious Word of God?  Somehow, you read the words, read many different translations of the same verse even. Knowing what the words are, what the verse said, what the verse meant. And yet NOT realising what it says or means. Now when one thinks of the prophet or the book of Daniel, these three things almost immediately would come to mind: 1) Daniel in the lion's den 2) His 3 friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, i n the fiery furnace.  3) Daniel Fast Source: Internet God-incidentally, I had started fasting the first day I started reading Daniel. (Mere coincidence, I hadn't planned on it.) On my first day of fasting (I was fasting a meal), I thought to myself, "I'm going to lose some weight at the end of this fast.&qu

We sang the song, 'Make Room',  in church  yesterday.  Just last Friday, we sang the same song at CG. So, this song was fresh on my mind.  It's a song that I love, singing about making room for God to do what He wants to do.  Source: Internet Here is where I lay it down Every burden, every crown This is my surrender This is my surrender Here is where I lay it down Every lie and every doubt This is my surrender And I will make room for You To do whatever You want to To do whatever You want to Shake up the ground of all my tradition Break down the walls of all my religion Your way is better I must have sung this song a thousand times over. Yet at times, when I was singing to it, I couldn't shake off the feeling that the lyric are so wrong. In fact, I've written about it earlier on  here.   (Now, if you're a big fan of the singer or the song, please don't take offence. I am not criticising the song, as I say I love the song. But this is my feeling and my opinio

My son turned 10 last month.  And with that, all the birthdays in our family have been celebrated.  Now, for the past few years, we always have small birthday party for each of the children at their respective school.  This year, with Esther starting primary school, she won't be able to have a birthday party, like how she used to have birthday parties at her kindergarten. So at the beginning of the year, I decided that this year Esther will celebrate her birthday only with us.  On the other hand, Daniel's school birthday party will proceed as usual.  So, May came and passed. Esther had her birthday celebration with her family. She was very happy with her birthday, her birthday dress, her birthday cake and her birthday presents. All selected by the birthday girl herself.  Side story - Yes, she made request for what she would like her birthday present would be. In our household, we don't have much surprise. 😂 I tend to ask the children what they would like for their present

We recently watched the musical 'David' on Sight and Sound.  There was this song that (the then king) Saul sang while he was pursuing David, hunting him down to kill him. Source: Sight and Sound David The song is titled 'Anything to Keep the Crown'.  And here's how the lyric goes.  I will take what I have to take Make mistakes that I have to make Put my enemies in the ground Anything to keep the crown I will steal what I have to steal And I will kill who I have to kill I'll put anyone in the ground Anything to keep Anything to keep the crown Yesterday, while driving home, I was playing the songs from the musical in the car and this song came on. Esther sang along to the song and suddenly stopped. She asked me, 'Mummy, why is the crown so important to king Saul?' I can't remember how I answered her.  Because, now, how do I answer such a question and answer it well?  I suppose the lyric does portray the turmoil of king Saul very accurately. He WAS cons

Yesterday I wrote about my reflection over my 2 children arguing about toys.  My daughter was upset over something her brother said, about how she will not be getting any new toys anymore. It made me realise how easy and how quick we can be to listen to negative reports. In fact, baseless negative reports.  Because, regardless of what Daniel says to Esther, he clearly has no power, authority, right or resources to stop Esther from receiving new toy from us, the parents, or from others.  It was all just empty threat. Just like everything that the evil one tries to convince us.  You can read more  here .  As I was penning down my reflection yesterday, another train of thought crossed my mind.  To Esther, the 'toy' are the real physical, literal toys that children play with.  What about me - what is my 'toy'?  What about you - what is your 'toy'?  Source: Internet Perhaps it is your health, perhaps it is your children, perhaps it is your finances... It could be any

Yesterday evening, my children had a 'heated' exchange of words.  It all started when the sister did not follow an instruction of mine.  There is this line, which I always say to the children right before I get angry (or while trying to contain my anger 😂) - "Don't make mummy use angry voice." So after repeating my instruction to my daughter from afar (I was in the kitchen at that time) in a tone that wasn't quite 'angry voice' (yet), I also announced that I would be coming out soon.  (I suppose both children knew that when I finished what I was doing in the kitchen and emerged out into the living room, I wasn't going to go easy on Esther unless she obeyed and followed the instruction. 😅) And then, I heard  Esther crying.  Yes, Esther started crying.  I was still in the kitchen. I hadn't done anything. I hadn't scolded her. I hadn't used my angry voice. I hadn't even said the famous 'Don't make mummy use angry voice.'

My family watched a most amazing musical by Sight and Sound - David - over the weekend.  Source: Internet - Sight and Sound We have all been a huge fan of Sight and Sound's work. So, when we got to know that they will be streaming 'David' free over the weekend, we were excited and were all looking forward to it.  It was a long 2-hour musical, so it took us Saturday and Sunday night to watch the entire show (Of course, repeating certain scenes added to the time we spent watching it. 😂 But some scenes are that good. Like the ones showing David slinging his sling at the lion and at Goliath. The children especially love those scenes and requested for replays. Haha!) After finishing the musical on Sunday night, we watched it again last night (Monday night).  It was that good!  Coincidentally, a brother in Christ and I happened to be talking (briefly) about entertainment - movies, shows, songs. Just yesterday.  And I made a confession - I had been indulging myself watching Chine