“God is our refuge & strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar & foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” (Psalm 46 v 1-3).
I’ve not been blogging in a while, because I’ve been very busy. I’ve been working longer hours in the lab, & I’ve been overwhelmed with one thing after another that has stressed me out & taken up most of my spare time. It’s been a time where I’ve had to rely on God, because I would not have had the strength to keep going without His strength in me. It’s been a time where I’ve felt that God has kept pulling me out of my comfort zone & stretching me further than I thought I could stretch! & just when I thought things might finally become less stressful for a while, then something I never could have predicted happened. Singapore was engulfed in the worst smog it had ever had! Just my luck for my year in Singapore to be the same year that the haze pollution surpassed hazardous levels! Everyone was talking about it, & there was a lot of anger, blaming, negativity & fear. I got sucked into this, & I became very paranoid & scared. I was so tempted to jet off the another country until it cleared, but I knew God wanted me to stay. I knew God wanted me to trust Him to look after my health, but at this point I just couldn’t. I had no idea how long the haze would last, & was scared that it could well take weeks or even months.
Eventually I managed to skype my parents, & they tried to calm me down. I had a record 3 1/2 hour skype convo with them, which was mainly a massive rant about the haze & the government. My parents encouraged me that God will protect me, & shared stories that they have heard of God protecting the health of Christians. Later they prayed for me that the fear of the haze would be broken, & God answered the prayer. I no longer felt so scared about the haze, & felt inspired to do what I can to make a difference in this time. I realised that this is an important time for the church to reach out to others & be a light in the darkness.
Though the fear left, it took a bit more time for the anger & negativity to leave, & it was so easy to join in with the cynical comments of my friends. But I realised that in order to make a difference, I needed to be more positive. Now I do think it’s important to rant & complain, as I don’t think it’s right for our views to be suppressed. I don’t think the people of Singapore should have to put up with having their health compromised by haze year after year after year, & they have every right to complain about it. But too much negativity is not good for you, & in a time when our health is at risk, it’s all the more important to stay positive, as emotional well-being goes a long way to helping our bodies stay healthy physically. So it’s important not to dwell too much on the negative, but to spread hope to those we spend time with.
I would like to encourage my brothers & sisters in Christ to not give way to fear in times of crisis, but to fully trust in God & keep shining, as the light of Jesus is all the more necessary in dark times. I realised that if we’re really wanting God’s love to break through in the darkest places & the darkest circumstances, then we’ve gotta be willing to go to dark places & go through dark situations. If we just have a comfortable life where we’re never distressed, never in pain, then how can we relate to people who have been through hell & back? If we’ve never been broken, how can we extend to others the hope that God can mend & redeem all that is broken? There will be times when God will lead us through ‘the valley of the shadow of death’, but we have nothing to fear, as God is with us, & is faithful to protect us & guide us. No matter how painful our circumstances are, we find that we are constantly chased by such goodness & mercy, which will never leave or fail us (Psalm 24 v 4, 6). Though life’s challenges can often be relentless & seem never-ending, I’ve found that God’s love is even more relentless. His love tears through the darkness, breaks every chain to set us free, even gave His life to fight for every heart, even those that seem the furthest from Him (taken from the song ‘Relentless’ by Hillsong United). This is the love that has captured & transformed my life, & has inspired me to love relentlessly. & it’s my heart’s desire for my life to be a legacy of love that would inspire others to also love relentlessly.
There’s a song I heard on UCB radio that I found quite fitting for the haze situation. It’s called ‘Control’ by Mutemath, & the words ‘take control of the atmosphere’ caught my ears. I was very much hoping that God would literally ‘take control’ of the physical atmosphere of the air around us, so that we would no longer be breathing in toxic air. But I realised that we should also ask God to take control of our inner atmosphere in our heart, mind & spirit. God often changes us on the inside before He changes our circumstances on the outside. This song is about asking God to control our inner atmosphere, & ultimately to take control of our lives. Now that sounds very scary, but the song says that ‘surrender somehow becomes so beautiful’. That is what His love does to us; surrender is no longer scary but beautiful; it’s the only fitting response in the presence of such perfect love. There is nothing greater than ‘losing yourself in Him’, & ‘finding yourself in Him’, i.e. you are no longer the same person that you were, but you find who you really are when you gain intimacy with Him. Surrender is not about trying to please God- His love for us is already limitless. But it’s about living for God & for others rather than for ourselves; it’s letting love be the driving force & compass for our lives. It’s about loving relentlessly.
Was so nice seeing blue skies again!
Over the weekend, the haze mostly cleared from Singapore, & the pollution levels dramatically decreased to moderate levels :). I’m very thankful that we’ve had relief from the haze for now; it was so nice to see blue skies again! But it could well come back, as what happened was that the winds changed, & more of the haze has moved to parts of West Malaysia. This is an important time to pray for Singapore, Malaysia & Indonesia. Please join with me to pray, particularly for the following points:
– For the haze to go away quickly. In particular that there will be lots of rain to put out forest fires & clear the haze.
– For God’s protection over our health, especially those who are more vulnerable &/or are still working outdoors.
– The n95 masks that can protect our airways from the smog particles keep getting sold out fast, so pray that people who need them can get hold of them.
– For the Christians that we would use this opportunity to minister to people & be God’s light in the situation, & that we won’t give way to fear but will trust God completely. It’s been so nice to see that lots of people are rallying together to reach out to the vulnerable in this time.
– That this would prompt changes in the 3 governments, that something will be done to prevent the smog issue in future (it’s been recurring for way too long), & also that they would put their people’s health first.
Songs mentioned:
Relentless by Hillsong United: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=A3O_pAOiGuo.
Control by Mutemath: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=related&v=qFdakrPNoN8.
In Pursuit of Love 