CURRENT UPDATES

I've really been missing in action for quite some time. Ok, so, to compensate my weeks of "news-less-ness", here are some quickie updates:

* Am currently on a detox diet (haha, yes!)... am doing this with a bunch of awesome friends from life group. We've been having only vege and fruits for the past 3 days! All is good as of now, although I must admit of the random images and out-of-the-blue sensory influx of: (top in the list) KFC chicken, Morrison's STEAK, ice cream, and ... believe it or not.... Coles chicken! (Weird ey, I would never have imagined that in my moments of "distress", Coles chicken would fill my thoughts...!).

* Launcing 2-weeks spiritual detox with my life group gals this Friday =) Body, soul, and spirit cleansing!

* Guess who's going to Christchurch in March??? Moi.... yay!!! Remember my previous post (last month I think) when I was sharing about my submission of abstracts to the International Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine conference? All glory to God! From all the applications, both my research papers were accepted and I've been invited to present them in New Zealand. Will be going with my team from the Royal Children's Hospital. Fun times! This will be a lovely eye-opener.

* More exciting stuff happening in March... will be going to Hillsong's Women Colour Conference with my favourite ladies. Ahhh.... it's gonna be awesome! Great preaching, terrific company of girls, awesome food, beautiful Sydney Harbour Bridge, and shopping (hehe) .... what more can a girl ask for??! =)

* On a slightly sad note though, due to the Christchurch Conference, I've got to miss Diana Krall's concert on March 3rd. Sooobbbbss!

* Oh ya, Mission Trip to Adelaide in November! Yay! Am really looking forward to serving and ministering there. Have heard heaps about Adelaide from various people... about how lovely and serene it is. And also possibly how boring and life-less it is. So, this is an opportune time for me to go check it out myself and solve the mystery. Gillian Keasberry-Foooooooooo and Joanna Retnam, I'm coming to visit you!!!!! Get your red carpets ready!! =)

* Lastly, on the work front, things are going smoothly. I've finished writing half of my thesis. Am analysing results now and doing Phase II of my study (web survey of parents of children with cerebral palsy). Am also working on a journal article write up. Both my hospital director and supervisor are encouraging me to publish the findings of my study in psychology journals. My 1st attempt at this. Am trusting the Lord for His grace and wisdom!

* Final last, I want to buy an LCD Monitor.... Any ideas?

STOP TEST-DRIVING

The society today bombards us with lies about relationships, often aimed at tainting and corrupting God's idea of biblical relationships.... "Nyeh, it's ok to try our relationships; Co-habition is fine; Yeah, it's acceptable to be physically close to a person before real commitment is made"... bla bla bla... and the lies go on. Counterfeits after counterfeits of true love we see each day. Along the way, our hearts get clouded and perhaps even broken, because that which ought to be guarded was not.

Knowing God's principles and promises is so imperative to protecting His wonderful design and purposes for our lives. The enemy will try to snatch away God's precious blessings via his lies and wrong teachings. Let us not be fooled. The enemy's ways brings only destruction. But God's ways brings life and blessings! The question is what do we want? The more we desire for what is good and true, the more will we not be moved by counterfeits!

The articles below are pretty good reading materials. The 1st is an article written for males, but the principles go just as well for females too. Just reverse the "she/her" to "he/him" and you'll be fine. The 2nd is an excerpt from a longer article. I've inserted the links if you wanna browse thru the original articles. I've thought quite a bit upon reading these. Thought you may too. Happy reading! :)


Stop Test-Driving Your Girlfriend!
by Michael Lawrence (2006) from Boundless Webzine. (Click here for article)

"How do I know if she's the one?"


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Differences Between Modern Dating and Biblical Dating
by Scott Croft (2005) from Boundless Webzine. (Click here for article)

OH HAPPY DAY, HAPPY DAY

My heart springs with joy and thanksgiving, thank you Jesus for....

... this day: This the day that You've made!
... the never-ending ocean of Your love. I'm redeemed, restored, and deeply loved!
... sweet victories: finished and submitted my thesis chapter, yay!
... meaningful friendships & simple joys of life: thankful for the wonderful ones in my life (yay, to beautiful riverfire and lovely dinner last night with my gals) and the nice weekend stroll in West End plus yummy quiche :)
... making morning routines so wonderful: when you can sip tea after a fantastic warm shower... ahh, gorgeous!
... a brilliant Sunday morning spent with You...

Oh, happy day, happy day! :D

IT'S ALL IN YOUR NAME

I love being...

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Why?! 3 reasons that struck me today:

1) Well, firstly, it only has 5 letters. Short and sweet. Quick and easy to write. Especially when it comes to exams when you have to colour those annoying little circles according to the alphabets of your name. Blek! Imagine how tiring the fingers can get if my name was Nebuchadnezzar or sth like that (Ok, I know that's a male's name... but you get the point). And if Diana is not short enough, I can easily go with Di or D (P/S: I like it pronounced as Dee, not Die! lol)

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2) People tend to remember your name better. Research shows that people's memory for words increases when there is association involved. So, being named after a princess (albeit a deceased one) has its advantages.

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3) Boost loves YOU! Yes..... This is ultimately what this whole blog post is about: I got a FREE BOOST today! Yay, happy me! (Ahh, simple joys of life! :D). Boost outlets all over Brissie were giving out free drinks to honour all "Diana"s and "James" today. You know, when I was standing there at the outlet, boy, never had my name felt so magical and powerful before. I smiled, said my name, flashed my ID card, and immediately, the staff proceeded to greet me with such warmth & enthusiasm as she passed me my large cup of coveted Boost. Isn't that amazing? Say the magic name, get the awesome drink!!! ...... If only this can be an everyday affair!s

Ahhhhhh, my green tea mango mantra and I....

Di ♥ Boost!

On a side note, it's pretty funny, I did a name analyser thing that my friend sent me, yep, some of you may have received it from me. It's a fun, silly thing that "apparently" reveals your ideal job based on your name. Guess what I got??

Diana = Ustazah (Muslim religious teacher)

Diana Wee= Pirate

Diana Wee Yuen Swan= Village idiot! Hahahah. Ain't that awesome??!

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It has been pretty hillarious hearing from different ones what they got.

* My bro & sis in law tried their names and were BOTH presented with the same ideal occupation: ROAD SWEEPER!! Haha, talk about being the perfect match!! They can look at each other adoringly in the eye as they sweep the streets of KL.

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* And just when you thought that this name analyser thingy is a major sadist which will never churn out any decent occupations, my fellow coursemate tried her name and guess what she got?? "Emperor of all the world!!". Seriously, I want to be the emporer of all the world! Lol, not some pirate or village idiot! :)

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Haha, fun times!

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BEEN LISTENING TO...

Sara Bareilles... Babe with amazing vocals & killer piano skills. And she writes her own songs. Love her!! Yeah, I've a thing for ppl who can sing, play & write! :) Rare jewels!
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Between the lines

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Other songs I like:
Fairytale.... click here
Gravity... click here
Bottle it up... click here t
you''ll the appreciate this video more later, or rather you'll apprciate
sher more later that way!)
Bonus DVD Trailer below
(check out the songs above 1st, helps you appreciate the trailer better later)


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WORSHIP

If you've not worshiped regularly in the sunshine of your life,

you probably won't be able to worship in the darkness.
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If you haven't been intimate with God in life's ordinariness,

it's not likely that you will know how or where to mind Him

should life hand you some real hardships.
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But by the same token, if you have worshiped often and regularly,

then you will undoubtedly worship well in the hour of your greatest need.
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(Richard Exley)

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AM I A MISS or a MS???

I was going to submit my abstracts and needed to fill in my name as author of the papers. When filling the submission form online, I was given a drop down box showing a menu of titles I need to choose from: Dr, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, Prof, A/Prof. As much as I wanted to just click on the 1st Dr. title immediately (hehe, impulse), I paused. I was left to ponder upon a great question in life.... Ermm ermm, so, am I a Miss or Ms? Like, heh, seriously, what's the diff??!!

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Somewhere at the back of my head, I've always wanted to know the answer to this but just never bothered to find out. But today, I thought I should. And so, like all great, well-established researchers..... I googled it! :) (What would we ever do without google!)
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Anyway, findings from my awesome search revealed that (in a nutshell)....
"Ms." is a neutral title, kind of like Mr, each doesn't show if you're married or not. It's a term that came out of the feminist revolution and can be used for any woman, married or not. Basically, they sumarised, MISS means you're not married (or MISSed getting married, that's what they wrote! so evil!), MRS. means you are married, and MS. means it's a secret :o) lol.

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Yes, so today, you've been enlightened!

Ahhh... the many benefits of reading Diana's blog! :D

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TODAY! :)

Yay, had a productive morning! Managed to finish writing my two research abstracts that I'm needing to submit to the Australian Academy of Cerebral Palsy & Developmental Medicine. If the papers get accepted, guess who will be flying to Tasmania next March with excitement to present her research?! Wooohoo! :)

Was just meditating today on how awesome it is to come to the river of God and be refreshed in Him.... You know, when we strive each day relying solely on our human efforts, all too often, we meet with tiredness and frustrations. And burnout seems just a stone-throw away. We don't have to be rocket scientists to realise that.

.... But she (or he!) who knows the secret of coming back to the river of God to be refreshed and renewed over & over again is wise indeed! Even as I looked at my mountain-high "to do" list today, pondering upon how can I do everything well within the short specified period of time (yes, deadlines can be pretty deadly indeed!!), the awareness of God journeying & partnering with me makes all the difference in the world!! For this is truth: It is He who empowers me! It is He who grants me wisdom! And His Word promises, "by His power, He will bring to fruition within me every desire for goodness and every action prompted by faith" (2 Thes 1:11). For it is "not by might, not by power, but by the Spirit of God!" (Zech 4:6). No wonder Jesus said, "When you know the truth, the truth shall set you free!" Cos when you know the truth, no other pessimistic/ negative lies that constantly looms men like, "Oh man, I'll never be able to achieve this" or "Oh no, I'm gonna fail" will stand a chance. The Word of the Living God knocks it flat, hands down!!

So yeah, in answering the question in my head, how am I to do all these things well, the Lord revealed the following: When we have God inspired heart attitudes within us, accompanied with Spirit empowered actions/ behaviour, the inevitable result is that Christ be glorified through the awesome fruits of our labour. The Lord will bless the work of our hands when He is the captain of the ship!
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GOD INSPIRED heart attitudes

(determination & cheerfulness)

+
SPIRIT EMPOWERED actions

(diligence & consistency... in partnership with the Holy Spirit)

=

CHRIST GLORIFIED results

(awesome fruits of harvests!)

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... my revelation of the day! :D

Talk about people of passion! And through this, all will know that He is God! Because we know without a shadow of doubt that that brain-wrenching exam, or that super tough project, or that mega challenging report etc was accomplished because of His divine partnership & intervention!

.... I thought that that was a pretty awesome reminder of the day, ey? :Ds

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