Are You Sick?

I am so glad to meet a friend that I knew from Indonesia last year. I am really joyous though I did not have much contact nor conversation with him during the Indonesia ministry trip last year. I'm so glad maybe it's because I couldn't believe that God will let us meet once again and to worship together once again.

Today he was invited to share on his experiences in different countries with us during our night worship. He was sharing about healing and how God healed him when he did not realized that he was "sick" spiritually. It was indeed a good sharing and I was reminded once again that our God is a great Provider.

He was very animated when he was sharing. I was staring at him imagining him in such situation. But something that he shared from the bible really caught my attention. He shared on John 5: 1- 9 as shown below.

John 5: 1- 9

The Healing at the Pool

¹Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. ²Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda^{a]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.^{b]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">[b]} ⁵One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" ⁷"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." ⁸Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." ⁹At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

I highlighted three points which caught my attention. The passage mentioned that that was a place where many disabled people laid. This man was lying there for 38 years but he did not get a chance to get into the pool to be healed. When Jesus asked him whether he wanted to get well (that's a stupid question, yeah), he said that nobody helped him into the pool when the water was stirred. I sat there thinking, most of the people there were sick, they were all unwell and awaiting to be lifted , to be healed. Then a question occurred in my mind,"Why can't the others just give him a hand since they were going through the same problem and they desired for the same thing- healing?"

I was impressed by this thought that "a sick will not be able to lead another who is sick". Thus, that man was there for 38 years until someone perfect came to him to lead him to the pool. Last year end, my soul was sick. Though I had my holidays, I still felt very tired and moody. Maybe it was because of the busy period and tiredness with work, church and studies. When it was near January this year, especially when I started working again with the children and parents, a thought came to me telling me that I must lift my spirit if not I will not be able to help the kids and the parents. I told myself that I did not have time to be moody. From that day onwards, I was lifted and am enjoying my work now.

I do believe that the man who laid there for 38 years was because of this reason- the blind will not be able to lead the deaf. For those who are keen to help people, to reach out to people and to be a comfort to people, I am sure that we should keep our soul and spirit healthy so that we will be able to help, comfort and guide the lost effectively. Let's encourage, pray and motivate one another so that our soul and spirit will be well and ready for the purpose that God has planned for us.

Something Heavenly :D

Thursday wasn't a good day. I bet I was warned by God through my dream but I did not know what is it all about until everything fell into place. I always have this problem about my dream. Hmm... Maybe it's a gift or maybe it is not. Many people would say that I think too much and not many, or I would say there are only one or two who believe that what I dream will turn out, and it's always something not good, but will be made good.

I dreamed of one of my students. He is not able to speak due to his hearing impairment. I do not think that he will even speak unless there is a miracle. However, in my dream he was able to speak. I was so happy in my dream and I even asked the parents to continue to motivate him and I rejoiced with them.

This dream was not any dream that will wake me up suddenly as it's not scary thus I was not quite disturbed by it. I nearly forgotten what I had dreamed about until when I was doing my devotion that morning, my mind reminded me of that dream. I was a bit confused as I did not know if it was real or it was just a dream. After pondering for a while then I told myself for sure, it's a dream. I carried on with my reading.

That child came with the father during the session later in the morning. Nothing happened. However, what my colleague told the father disturbed me as she was giving wrong informations. On top of that she did not know the purposes of what we have been doing. I was still cool until she asked us for one of the teaching aids which has been there on the shelves for 7 years. Then I started shooting her. I wasn't angry, I just wanted to tease her but somehow her excuse for not knowing that it was there and have never ever used it (which she had used it before), frustrated me. My teases became scolding.

My tone of voice was bad. I felt bad after that too. For the rest of the day, we did not talk because she seemed angry with me. So I have decided to apologize for my tone of voice but not what I have said. I kept telling myself that even if I am the head of the place, I need to humble myself and admit what I have done wrong. I don't want to run away from it and I do not want to tarnish God's name! So I was struggling. Struggled because I was so afraid that the situation will become even worse. I was feeling so uneasy. However, I have peace. I text another colleague telling her what I had planned to do and asked her to be there earlier so that she will be there to control the situation or give input for our conversation. Of course, I asked her to pray for us.

*Phew* Finally, it was Friday. I apologized before our open prayer and explained to her why I got frustrated and taught her how to answer questions to avoid confusion in the parents. The whole thing went well and I really thank God for that. Thanks for those who prayed for me/us! Thank you so much! A video to share with you. One part of the lyrics say," Whatever You (God) doing inside of me, it feels like chaos somehow there's peace and it's hard to surrender what I can't see but I'm giving into something heavenly!"