like sands in the hourglass of time...

...these are the days of my life.

Tomorrow I will turn twenty seven.

In the past year, I feel as though I have really learned more about myself. Most people may think that as a result of finding out more about yourself, you would have increased in confidence, but I don't believe that has been the case with me.

I think instead, the whole process of 'finding myself' has made me realise the sort of person I really am. And if I am truly honest with myself, that is nothing to be confident about.

In the past year, God has revealed a lot to me about my character, and a lot of it hasn't been easy to take. I fall short of what I should be ALL the time and I have so many flaws in my character that when I dwell on them, it can be really overwhelming... Sins that I struggle with seem to continuously knock me about and I am often tempted to just give up. It's so easy to just get discouraged and not feel worthy to do what you are called to do. SO easy.

But... God has also reminded me Who He is.

Yes, He is omniscient and He know exactly what I do, say and think. Yes, He is perfectly holy, and Him being omniscient, He knows that I am perfectly not holy. Yes, I fall short and constantly fail in my attempts to be better - to be more humble, to have more faith, to be more content, to be kinder, to say nicer things, to show more love, practice more self-control, embrace discipline and authority, be more gracious, be less sarcastic, flee from temptation, read my Bible more, have a better prayer life, to encourage others, evangelise, practice obedience, put away worldly things, be more diligent, and all the rest...

But what gives me joy unspeakable is knowing that though my Heavenly Father knows all that I have done, and all that I ever will do, and though He knows how much I will fail and keep failing to be all that He wants me to be, despite the constant revealing, reminding, convicting that He is gracious enough to give me through His Holy Spirit... He still chose to save me, and He still chooses to give me the chance to be used to bring glory back to Him. God is willing to use me.

This gives me GREAT confidence - not in myself, but in God and His love for me.

I don't know what the future will hold, let alone the next twelve months! But as long as I can look back every year and say that I have learned more from God, and have changed - even if just a little bit - I will be more than blessed.

a poem

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

From subtle love of softening things
From easy choices, weakenings
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified)
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire -
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
 
Amy Carmichael

How Women Help Men Find God

Time for another book review.

How Women Help Men Find God - by David Murrow

I originally came across this book at Word bookstore in Vic Park when a few of us were browsing before we had dinner next door at Makan Makan. It caught my attention because of the title, and I picked it up to have a flick through. I read a few bits inside (I think the section was about worship) and I liked how it was written and that it made some good points that I never thought about before. It seemed to cover a lot of ground in one book, so I thought I would go buy it.

It was a bit more expensive than what I normally like to pay for a book ($17.95), but because I was interested, I bought it anyway. My rationale was that I spend more on dinner or a CD sometimes so why not spend on a Christian book?

Anyhoo.

Basically, Murrow writes about how the church has been feminised in recent years to the point where men have been gradually put more and more off from going. With more women in church, the church has changed to become more appealing to women (often unintentionally), and as a result, most men have just felt out of place and have ended up leaving the church. He writes about why this is a problem, how it has become like this, the common mistakes that churches make, what the church can do to fix the problem, and practical ways to evangelise to the men in your life.

Personally, I found the book very helpful and it made some excellent points that I had never thought about. It also helped to affirm the things that we do in our own church already which have helped to encourage the brothers to keep coming (e.g. men's fellowship).

However...

I found that there was quite a contemporary slant to what Murrow would write, and coming from a traditional church, I didn't quite agree with everything he wrote in the book. It seemed as though he favoured the idea of a big, slick, tech-savvy, modern church with all the bells and whistles - a view that I didn't necessarily agree with. Also, being from a predominantly Asian church, some stuff was less relevant - he presented an idea of having a group of mechanics at church providing free  repairs to the community, but I ain't seen no Asian mechanic in church recently.. Maybe there can be an accounting or engineering consultation? Maybe not.

It's not that I was being close-minded to the ideas in the book, it's more that I wasn't too convinced that these would achieve the ultimate goal for us as Christians - which is to glorify God. I felt that sometimes, what was written in the book tended to be more fearful of man than of God.

But that's just my opinion.

I would recommend that you have a read of the book, just to get an idea about the problem that the modern church is facing currently. It is definitely a very real problem and one that would jeopardise the future of the church, the family unit and the effectiveness of ministry. Read the book with an open-mind, but with discernment. But really, any book that we read written by man should be read in the same manner.

packed and productive weekend

Dinner at david jones * regeneration * maccas * home for sleep * brekky at coode st cafe, mt lawley * subi op-shopping * san churro, subi, for a caffeine n sugar fix * quick pit stop at home * garden city to buy some essentials * met juls at coles * church for a mini project and dinner * dropped off massive pile of clothes at good sammy bin * home for sleep * sunday service at church * lunch at happy star. myaree * pit stop at church * coffee at toast, east perth * hanging out with the Palms * dinner at anticco, east perth * caught up on x factor * sleep

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a story about Daniel

On Saturday I partook of a fellowship between young, old and in between as some people in my church gathered for a church picnic. Being in a smallish church is great cos you can do these kinds of things, but it can still be difficult to get to know everyone on a more-than-hi basis if you never get the opportunity to spend time with one another. So Saturday was a great opportunity to do just that.

After a bit of singing at the gazebo in King's Park, we all broke off into randomly assigned groups to complete a challenge. We were told that the Sunday School was the victim of budget cuts and we had to help put together a lesson for the children (this is of course fictional!). We were all given a story from the Bible, and in our groups, we had to recreate scenes from those stories. My group had Daniel and the Lions' Den.

Here's what we came up with.

Daniel and the Lions Den

After King Belshazzar died, Darius took over the kingdom of Babylon

Daniel was made into one of 120 governors, and was very good at his job. Even King Darius was very fond of Daniel, so fond in fact, that he wanted to put Daniel in charge of everyone else! But the other governors became very jealous and plotted against him.

They tried to find a problem with Daniel, but they couldn’t find anything wrong with him! They did notice, however, that Daniel prayed to God three times a day, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, without fail. The jealous governors devised a wicked plan.

They approached King Darius and suggested that a law be passed to make in illegal for anyone to pray or bow to anyone else other than the King – it was a law that would be punishable by being thrown to the lions! King Darius did not know this was a trap for Daniel, so he passed the law and signed it with his royal seal.

Daniel found out about the law, but that didn’t stop him from praying in the same way – three times a day, with his windows open toward Jerusalem. The governors found him praying to God and told King Darius.

King Darius was sad to hear this and disappointed that he had been tricked. He tried for the rest of the day to think of a way to save Daniel. But he couldn’t go back on the law that was made. Instead he spoke to Daniel and said ‘Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee’

Daniel was thrown into the den of lions. All night King Darius worried about what would happen to Daniel. As soon as it was morning, he went to check on Daniel. He called out to Daniel and Daniel responded – he was safe! God shut the lions’ mouths and Daniel didn’t even end up with a scratch!

King Darius was happy about Daniel’s deliverance, but angry at the jealous governors who tried to have Daniel killed . He ordered that they (and their families) be thrown to the lions’ den instead.

This time, the lions didn’t keep their mouths shut!

The lions ripped the jealous governors to pieces – even before they touched the ground!



vintagey goodness

Picked up this cute little bag at the op-shop this week. Total score.

Guess how much...

Go on, guess...

One dollar.

You can close your mouth now :)

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can you have too many bags in one colour?

You certainly can.

I seriously had no idea that there were so many...

My name is Rowena, and I am a shopaholic.

a glimpse of the past

I found this while spring cleaning today.

It's a random illustration that I drew when I was in primary school... I have no recollection of drawing this. But I know it was me, during my cartoonist phase.. It was the only thing in that booklet too. Weird.

I also found this...

I made this bag out of an old denim jacket when I was in High School (I think). Pretty cool huh? That's a breast pocket (which still functions as a pocket - totally rad), and the handle was what used to be the bottom bit of the jacket (the waist thingo??). You wish you had one huh?

Well it doesn't really fit my style any more, but I couldn't bear to give it to Good Sammy's so it's staying in storage... Along with my Perth Wildcats memorabilia (foam finger, inflated hand, hat, bag, autographed cap (yep, you can wipe the drool of your keyboard)) and a whole stack of other random stuff that is too good to throw away. Sentimental value man.

The clean continues.

Faith Beyond Reason

It's been a while since I have reviewed a book. Too long. I will definitely try to do this more often! In fact, I have been toying with the idea of starting a book club for a while now - but I don't know how interested people will be in doing one, and I also don't know if people would have the time. I guess I won't ever know unless I actually do it.

Anyway.

First off, I just want to say that AW Tozer is a great author. I have a read a few of his books now (I think this was my third?). And each one has been a blessing to me spiritually. I actually finished 'Faith Beyond Reason' a while ago now but I feel that I need to share how good it was - just to try encourage more people out there to read this and other AW Tozer books!

Like the majority of books I have in my growing collection, this was another acquirement from a book sale. Two bucks very well spent.

mine was a different cover
but ah well, you get the idea

Faith Beyond Reason is actually a collection of sermons preached by Tozer from the Gospel of John. In this book, Tozer covers a lot of ground - the book is about faith, but Tozer unpacks what faith means in light of conversion, the character of God, discipleship, conscience, hypocrisy, temptation/sin, holiness, and the truth. The great thing about this book (and a lot of Tozer's books) is that truths are simplified into digestable chunks. He can pack a lot (though not too much to overwhelm you) into one sentence, so it doesn't take him a lot of pages to get his point across.  

Because these were a collection of sermons from Tozer, I thought the book had a different style to previous books I had read by Tozer. Faith Beyond Reason had a lot more anecdotes and illustrations in it - though at times tangental, and often hilarious, they still helped to illustrate his point.

If you haven't treated yourself to a book by AW Tozer, get to it and maybe one day we can book club it up.

out of hibernation

Well it's been a while since I have last blogged. In fact, one whole season has passed and I guess it's fair to say that my little blog went into hibernation for the winter. However, much has happened since Spring has sprung..

I went on holidays!

my cousin, aom

my porpor

street vendor in ubon

mmm... best padthai ever

my cousin, nuey, and I

thai-laos border

universal studios (singapore) with my bros

I also did a bit of reading...

one of a few winter reads

I met a dog named Sunshine

she's cute and she knows it!

I got me some new shoes (well a few actually)

thought I would brogue about it :P

I fared a brother well

yorkie left for HK that night

I took a day off to hang with some lovely sisters

brekky

on-a solid rock we sat, all other rocks weren't as big as that - all other rocks weren't as big as that

great place for a coffee

blossoms

more blossoms

I witnessed God's mercy (and sense of humour)

what was left of the shrubbery

I witnessed God's beautiful creation

rain

I had a spanish latte

at next cafe

I hung outside at the Northbridge Piazza on a chilly night

beanbag cinema!

 I did some cooking to feed my bros

pre-bake pasta bake haha

I had a squiz at some local fashion

nice dresses

bottled prettiness

I discovered a magical instant noodle cave