Jane Talks!

Last Friday night, Pst Ulf preached on a great message on seasons in our lives. Out of the 3 days, i was most blessed by the word on friday because it was like a reminder of encouragement from the Lord, a reminder that i am not out of His will.

Throughout the week, many people came to me with sadness & discouragements in their hearts. As i listened to them, i realised that sometimes life can indeed get us down but i encouraged them to trust God MORE because utimately we love God for who He is and not what He can do for us.

In the Bible, the e.g of Abraham taught me alot of things about seasons and how ultimately, God works. From the age of 75-100 years old, Abraham experienced many seasons in his life. The season to prosper, season of change & even season to bear forth sons. God’s promise to Abraham came to him when he was 75 and so he came to a season of waiting & tarrying.. when he was 86, he thought his season of bearing a son is here, bearing a son out of his maid Hagar but still that wasn’t the season to bear forth a son.

Sometimes i wish why can’t a season be just 1 month or even just 1 week?? Abraham had to wait for 25 years before he got his promise.. what did he do in those 25 years?? Nothing… carry on with life until the time of promise has come & believe me, when God promise you something, it will come & nothing that u wish or imagine will stop it from coming. Sure… Abraham got his times when he got discouraged but God always show him the stars and remind him of His promise to him. All we have to go is to be focus, NOT on when the promise will come, but on the promise itself.

Like what Pst Ulf has said.. there is no need to be frustrated or upset when we are in certain seasons in our lives… because the most impt thing is that we are under God’s timing & to live out His will in our lives. So.. if you are in the season of waiting & tarrying, don’t give up!! Cheer up… keep on walking… life continues… Hope this entry encourages you.

Felt lead to write this topic on family as i realised there are many families here in SG that are not perfect. When we watch TV programs or advertisments, it always protraits a happy family, everyone smiling, gather together, somehow perfect. However, in reality, some have it but some don’t.

I thank God that i am placed in a good family, not perfect but compared to the rest of the people i know, i feel very blessed already. Family completes us. I know that many of you, even those reading this blog, you look at your family & you shake your head. You wish for many things to happen for your family, but it always seems to be going the other direction.

Truth is, i feel personally that even though you feel your family maybe be a disaster to you, but there is at least one person in there you can totally depend on esp when you need some form of help. It may not be your mum n dad, it could be your cousin, uncle, auntie, grandma etc who you can depend on. I know i can trust my mum n dad for many things & count on them if i break my hip or something.

If you are a christian & have a messed up family… I want you to know that God placed and called you there for a reason, to be a problem solver. If your family is always fighting, God needs you to be the peace there. If your family is always in short of money, God wants you to be the provider. If your family members are handicapped in their emotions, God wants you to be the encourager & inspiration to them. Don’t feel sorry for yourself anymore, feel sorry for the devil who is not getting his way into your family anymore. Step in & step out!! You are gonna shine for the Lord.

Someone once told me this, that in your lifetime, friends you can choose, but family you cannot choose. I always have this mindset, there are tons of billions of people in this world, but you don’t get to know everyone. The people that you do know, God placed them into your life for a reason. Just like how He placed you with these group of people called family, everyone so different but because of the love n kinship, you are able to work things out eventually. Never give up on your family no matter how hard the circumstances are, acceptance & love will make up for everything. I love my non-perfect family!

Today is Valentine’s day and i always thought that this is the day of me bro cos his name in chinese is Qin Sheng which means Valentino.. (Bro, if you are reading this… sorry)

I was out yesterday with a friend and my oh my… i have never seen so much hearts, the colour red, roses & teddy bears in just one day. My eyes grew bigger when i saw the price tags on some of those items mentioned above.Thank God is only once a year or else everyone will want to open florist business. Cupid seems to be doing his job as well as i witnessed 2 of my friends getting attached & another friend who just got ROM last week… and now is only the 3rd week of Feb… can’t imagine the no. by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, i feel that valentine’s day should not only be celebrated by couples but to people who want to spread the joy of love to others. As a christian, Bible speaks alot about love so you must know that it isn’t cupid which originated love but God cos He Himself is love. Don’t be depressed because you have no date tonight or no one gave u flowers.. Spend it with ppl whom you really care about. Yeah… you must be thinking… "everyone says that… no choice what since no plans…." Truth is, you still have a choice to see the good side of things.. and things don’t have to look glum.

Those of you who do have a date… congrats… have a ball of a time… husbands, do something for your wife… is not a young person thing… The rest of you singles… stay happy & continue to spread love cos love is in the air!! Happy valentine’s day

So… you are a faithful reader… so ready to read my blog.. hahaha… ok.. a bit arrogant… no, don’t go, pls stay and read… thank you.. you are so kind.. ni ren zhen hao…

As promised, i shall write abt Taipei today. It has been almost 19 years since i last went to Taipei to visit my aunt. All her kids are grown up with children and herself have grown much older since the last time i saw her. Nevertheless, she still looks healthy and lively the moment she saw my mum and our whole family. She literally jumped for joy. She is so cute.

Taipeiis a nice place i must say… I saw cherry blossoms that one can only see in Japan there, on yang ming shan… Sakura!! Did tons of shopping and ate loads of great food… was alittle worried for all the festive weight that i have gain. The greatest achievement is being able to speak chinese for those past 4 days, not easy i must say, even when i came back to SG, i was speaking in mandarin most of the time. I had to slowly phase out my mandarin cos apparently, my friends are not used to the fact that i spoke to them in chinese.. wasted..

TOP 10 INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT TAIPEI:-

10. Hundreds and thousands of scooters parked outside everywhere cos most of them traveled back home for the new year and left it in the city. i wonder if they will still remember where they left it.

9. Meals at Taipei restaurants can be overwhelming cos they like to serve their food in huge plates and like the fact to throw away leftover food cos it means that their guests are well-fed and have more than enough to eat… Thank God there is no such fact here in SG or else…

8. Taxi drivers drive like a dare devil… to me, they drive as though it is like 120-140km but on the meter, it is only 80-90km… how can this be?

7. Taipei looks & feels alittle like  Japan… Even the fashion sense & how ppl dress looks like them…

6. Tons of illegal hawkers selling nice and cheap food in their carts but vulnerable to be caught by local police.

5. Apparently they have a row of shops in a night market that sells either snake skin/blood and naughty sex toys… eee… those don’t mix…

4. The only ones in the world who wear swimming costumes to hot springs… most just go nude… I was thinking if Singaporeans are as open-minded.. nah…

3. Taipei 101 - One of the tallest buildings in the world today. Beautiful.

2. Great place to buy shoes, sneakers, boots… totally afforable & comfortable.

1. Ppl flock & queue to eat the taiwanese fried chicken chops here in SG but when i was there, i didnt even managed to eat any cos they weren’t many who sold them. Sad…

Hope to be able to go back there again. Yup, my motivation to save up once again… HK & Taipei.. i’ll be back!

Yes, yes… i am finally back… back from my trip, back from all the celebration but most of all, back to reality. I heard that most of you readers kinda missed me huh… resorted reading my old blog entries… haahaha… ok la… today is new one…

i must say that it is very new and nice to celebrate CNY overseas cos the atmosphere is different and weather is definately nicer… Hong Kong ppl can light fire crackers in the streets, wait in queue to toss in the 1st joss stick or even bring their dogs out into the streets, parading them with their own new year clothes… yeah… is true. Even when i was at Disneyland, tons of ppl want to take photos with Goofy & pluto instead of Mickey… hmmm… Here are some other interesting things i found out abt Hong Kong.

TOP 10 INTERESTING THINGS I FOUND OUT FROM MY HONG KONG TRIP:-

10. The doggie business is such a huge market there that even doggie clothes have counterfeit.

9. Many rumoured abt the Hong Kong Disneyland to be dirty & filled with spits but it is not true at all… spick and span i must say…

8. The shops close as late as 3am but opens only at 11am… if you are a morning person waking up in HK, chances are there are not much to see or do…

7. All HK folks have very very good dress sense… either that or i really look bad.

6. Lantau island can be so hot in the day tat u won’t even know that it is  winter season over there. I got a tan mind you..

5. HK ppl are very hardworking… whether it is CNY eve or 1st day of CNY, they are still working, working & more work…

4. Any food stalls that u randomly choose will somehow serve very good and tasty food… it is true or else i am just very good at guessing.

3. They seem to like LV alot… first thing i saw when i landed was this very very huge LV bag displayed at the airport.

2. Hk Disneyland might be smaller but it is great fun!! No kidding.. i am impressed.

1. Chou Toufu is really, really very, very CHOU!!!! A round of applause cos compared to the ones in SG, those are the solid, real ones…

Alright, tomr i will talk abt the top 10 interesting things in taipei. Stay tuned…