Unstoppable - Victorious Life
The evening wind heralded its arrival with the fragrance of the sweet acacia as it danced gracefully into the living area. The fragrance, coupled with melliflous music, enchanted the entire atmosphere as I gazed lazily at the shimmering chandelier which filled the room with its warm orangey colour. My heartbeat paced rhythmically along with the smooth and slow music. Everything had never felt so serene before.
The melliflous music... the warmth..the serenity ….it felt like a dream …well it WAS a dream, my dream in fact! Only after waking up did I realise the fragrance of sweet acacia was from my housemate’s baking and melliflous music from my iTunes (can’t account for the chandelier, must have been my sub-concious mind!). I was left with this question, “how good would it be if my dream was the reality of my everyday life?”.
It is said that life is not a bed of roses, there are trials and turmoil in reality that causes doubts and complains …even towards God our heavenly Father! Questions like, “God, do you have a plan for me? Do u see what I'm going through now? God, you are so great, can't you just answer my prayers and take me out of this mess that I have created?” I think the vast majority of people out there know that God is good, wise and answers our prayers, but we are often too anxious and short-sighted to unravel and understand that God’s plan and timing are perfect, and more importantly perfect for us! So we always end up questioning God.
This is where the “Unstoppable” sermon series really spoke to me, especially “Victorious life” by Uncle Lawrence (from Curtin). “Victorious life” was about gaining victory over flesh(eg. anger, depression) and the ABC's of our emotions. Everything is hinged on our “belief system” which is a powerful two-edged sword that it could either cause one to be distraught or be emboldened to do mighty and powerful things. Sadly, the belief system of the majority clicks negatively in the face of trials and crisis, even Christians alike!
We often forget that God is always in control and all we need to do is to believe in Him. For the Bible tells us in Phil 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God”, and in Matt 6:26-27- “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”.
As for myself, my belief system works negatively as well! If you didn’t know, some years back I made the major decision to drop out of Chemical Engineering in National University of Singapore (NUS) and switch to the Jazz course in Lasalle College of Arts, I felt strongly that this was my strength and more importantly, what God has intending for me.
The first year in Lasalle however, was a nightmare. The teachers in the school were amazing players but unfortunately not amazing teachers. I found it hard to just depend on the teachers to get through the requirements of the course so I did badly for the first year in Lasalle. I felt like a ultimate loser because I could not convince and prove myself that giving up my Chemical Engineering degree in NUS for music was the correct decision. I could not face my parents who had faith in me and were, at the same time, bombarded by unneccessary suggestions from other people. To make things worse, I failed in making connections in school and no one in Lasalle approached me for jamming, let alone gigs. I did not know what the future held. Negative belief system kicked in and I was at the lowest point in my life.
This was where God met me, at the end of my human strength and the start of His. Discipline and perseverence with Him and through Him was the key! I decided to spend the semester break practising with belief … not in myself anymore, but in God, and that this was the path He had chosen for me.
This hardwork paid off when I improved in the second year and managed to earn gigs from a guitar teacher in Lasalle who “discovered” me during my graduation recital. I had never knew the guitar teacher, Mr Derrick Tan, before but he gave me opportunities to perform in Singapore's Esplanade and the Singapore Jazz Orchestra. All this from discipline, perseverence and most importantly, a change in prespective … that God may appear to be silent but He is definitely at work within our lives. With God, there is unstoppable courage, unstoppable joy and unstoppable life. All we got to do is believe and and never stop trusting in Him!
Written by blog writer,
Esther Li
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