Without (Ear-)Wax

Through it all, I need my time with God even more. Hee. I remember one brother last time asking me, "Yeu Ann, what keeps you going on so enthusiastic for the Lord even after so many years?"

I think a few things lah. First, the fact that Jesus died for me. (And my eyes teared when I thought about that. The bro was so touched. Hee.) Then, well, love God. and love people as myself.

And a practical thing is: spend a lot of time with God. I realised that quality time is one of my twin love languages - words also are. But I think maybe quality time may be even more so for me now... So yup, just spend time. No substitute. It takes me about one or two hours to settle down in His presence during quiet time, before my anxious heart is able to start slowing down and waiting upon God. That's for me personally. Not very spiritual lah - truth be told, I spend about half of my quiet time napping. (But yah, it's necessary for the second half of my QT... sleeping helps to calm me down and be literally at rest in his presence.) And besides, which father wouldn't want his son to sleep in his arms? :)

Matthew 11:28
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. :)

Sometimes we forget that He meant it literally too.

Psalm 127:2
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.

I've learnt over the ten years as a Christian one very important thing in seeking God: You cannot hurry God. He is the King after all. You must fit your schedule in order to wait upon Him. How long should one seek God?

Hosea 10:12b
"... seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you."

It is never easy to wait upon the Lord. It takes time.

But it really is worth it. And I love being in the presence of the Lord. Of course... being in my dear church - inevitably one would tend to have a lot of activities. Actually there's nothing bad about these activities. And we shouldn't push them all aside to just sit under a coconut tree and meditate the whole week long.

Because ultimately, these activities are simply means for us to freely receive God's grace in all its various forms... and to freely give as we have received. "Freely you have received, freely give."

But in order to give... we need to receive from God. And prayer is the divinely-ordained means by which we can ask God for his presence and blessings. And the Word is His reply to us.

Prayer. So nice. I like to think of it as the cotton-bud for my spiritual ears. Help to clean out the ear-wax so that I can listen to God more clearly when I read the Bible. :) Yay!