23 April 2008

Thankful Thursday


For more participants of Thankful Thursday, do visit Iris at Sting My Heart. It will be a very blessed and spiritually uplifting experience for you!




O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 107:1

Thank God for seeing me through another week. I have many things to be thankful for :-)

1. Thank God for the encouragements He has given to me through the videos of Nick Vujicic. Nick is from Australia and he was born with no arms or legs yet he is trusting in the Lord daily and living a life that is not only as normal as he can, but he is also doing many wonderful things too by the mercies and power of God. He is a living testimony of the power of God to save a lost sinner from sins and give him the grace to live a victorious life in Christ despite severe infirmities. Seeing Nick going about his daily life, doing all the things which seems almost impossible without arms and legs, and yet he did it and did it with such cheerfulness, is a life changing experience for me! It helps me to look beyond my own infirmities and limitations to the power of God and the sufficiency of His grace. It helps me to count my blessings!

2. Thank God for a very blessed Lord's day of worship and fellowship. Thank God for a very powerful message from Ephesians 2:8-10 in which I am reminded afresh that we are saved by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. This message reminds me that God is the Potter and I am the clay. God is my Creator and He is doing a deeper work in me daily so that I can serve Him and be what He wants me to be. I thank God for every opportunity to serve Him in little ways.

3. I am thankful to God for hearing the prayers of my church for a very dear couple in our church who has been going through a very severe trial in their life over the last few months. Thank God for delivering them and sustaining them and answering our prayers in His very wonderful ways. They are still facing much difficulties and trials at the moment, but we are comforted that God is working all things for His glory and their good, and His grace is sufficient for them. Thank God that my church can grow in our walk with Him and our friendship with this couple through this trial.

4. I thank God for giving me much grace and strength to go through a very stressful situation last week. I had a panic attack when that incident happened and I prayed to the Lord to grant me wisdom to know how to handle that difficult situation. I prayed too for His peace to guard my heart as I experienced great anxieties. The panic attack lasted for 10 minutes. Thank God for granting me grace to cope and everything turned out okay. Thank God for restoring peace to me too when the panic attack subsided.

5. Thank God for His mercies in providing yet other freelance job opportunities to me. These are small and manageable freelance opportunities, and I am thankful for each one of them. Thank God for His wonderful provisions.

6. Thank God that I managed to use my passion in making bookmarks to help a church friend to make 40 bookmarks for his students who are taking their exams soon. I am glad to be able to help my friend and earn some income too through this hobby which I enjoyed very much.

7. Thank God that my medical review with my Doctor on Monday when on very well. My Doctor is monitoring my medicine level and she is pleased with my progress so far. She is also helping me to trace possible triggering factors of my condition and is teaching me how to identify them and manage them. Thank God for a caring and kind Doctor.

I gave a bouquet of artificial roses to my Doctor 4 months ago when I saw her. She liked it very much and many of her patients have commented that the roses are so beautiful and they looked so real. On Monday, my Doctor shared with me that she has given those lovely flowers to a very sickly lady who was hospitalised. Those roses brought so much cheer and comfort to the sick lady. My Doctor apologized that she has to give my gift to her away but she knows that I will not mind. I was very moved by my Doctor's kindness in giving away something that she likes very much and I am so glad that the gift is able to cheer someone in need. I told her that I am glad she pass it on. Little things can mean a lot to some people. And this dear sickly lady cherished those roses so much and she said whenever she feels down, she look at those flowers and think of how she is loved by others. Such a joy to know that. Joy is always doubled when we pass it on :-)

8. I am thankful for my other blogging friends and penpals who keep up visiting, commenting and writing with me. It is always encouraging to hear from all of you, to read your blog or email. May God continue to bless our friendships. Thanks to all of you for stopping by.

9. I am thankful for many new friends I am getting to know through Word-Filled Wednesday and Thankful Thursdays. Thank you all for stopping by and your kind comments! Reading all the precious promises of God with the lovely photos that you have posted on your blogs is very uplifting. And reading the many thankful items you have posted also helps me to be more thankful daily :-) Thanks for stopping by.

10. Thank God for His goodness and mercies daily, and for giving me much strength and joy in Him. I am thankful for my family, church friends and other friends who continue to love me and encourage me through all the changing scenes in life.

Sorry, my posts are always pretty long :-) I have so many things to be thankful for :-)

How about you? How has the Lord blessed and guide you through the week? What are the things you are thankful for over the week?

Thank you for stopping by. Do drop me a comment if you can and it will make my day!

Hope you have a blessed day!

Word-Filled Wednesday : My grace is sufficient for thee

For more Word-Filled Wednesday participants, do visit Amy at The 160 Acre Woods. It will be a very blessed and spiritually uplifting experience for you!



My brother took this lovely photo at Muriwai Beach, Western Auckland, New Zealand.

Thank God for His reminders through His Words and His providence daily that He cares for us. He has promised in His Words in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that His grace is sufficient for us. This is a tremendous encouragement to me in this pilgrim journey. Even as a Christian, I continue to face various and many challenges in life just like every one else. I go through time of wellness, sickness, success, failures, happiness, disappointments, life, death, etc etc etc too.

Being a Christian does not exempt me from the trials and difficulties in this life. Having bipolar disorder or manic-depressive illness, can make life very difficult for myself and others. The greatest comfort for me in this personal trial, is that God loves me and is sovereignly in control of every situation in my life and His grace is sufficient for me. Even in allowing me to have bipolar disorder, His love and faithfulness remains unchanging. In fact, it is through my struggles with the 11 or so severe depression episodes over the last 20 years, that I am drawn closer to God to know Him and His love better. I have found His promises to be true and His grace sufficient as He promised It is God that sustained me through many painful and prolonged suffering from clinical depression. At times when I am confused by what I was going through and others could not understand either, the Lord has kept me in the palm of His hands. In His love alone, I found that enduring and unconditional love. It gives me the strength to face each day.

Thank God that He is with us always. He will continue to give us the grace to walk with Him and serve Him, even if we have to go through the valley of the shadow of death at times. And when our tasks here are accomplished, we have the blessed hope of being with Him forever to enjoy His love and fellowship for all eternity. What a blessed hope!

Meanwhile, let us press on joyfully in His strength daily. When we are weak, He is strong and His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. Praise Him!


Hope this verse will encourage you today and everyday. May you continue to know God's grace that is sufficient for you through all the changing scenes in life and His love that is unchanging and everlasting. Have a blessed day!


I use this photo to make the following Bookmarks. If you wish to make the bookmark yourself, you can download the respective Free Bookmark Template.

1) 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for thee".

Download Free Bookmark Template: free-bookmarks-2cor12v9.doc

Check out Free instructions on how to make Bookmarks.



















2) Friendship quote:

If you love something, set if free.
If it comes back to you, it's yours.
If it doesn't, it was never meant to be.

Download Free Bookmark Template: free-bookmarks-muriwai-beach.doc

Check out Free instructions on how to make Bookmarks.
















3) Chinese Bible verse for 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for thee”.

In Chinese this verse is read as 我的恩典够你用的 (Pinyin : de ēn diǎn gòu yòng de)

Download Free Chinese Bookmark Template :

free-chinese-bookmarks-2cor12v9.doc

or

free-chinese-bookmarks-2cor12v9.pdf

Check out Free instructions on how to make Bookmarks.


chinese-bookmark-2cor12v9.jpg

Check out more Free Bookmarks Templates at my Homemade Bookmarks Hobby Blog.

Have a blessed day!