tizblessedlife :)

Some pics..

Smart 4some as well as Emmo and Edna from secondary school days. We certainly look different from the old days huh?!

posted by Ling @ 3:00 PM 0 comments

You Are My Rock - Hillsong London

There's a voice in the silence, piercing the darkness of my own selfish soul
There's a cry deep within me, a yearning to feel you
I look to you, Lord

I can't pretend I don't run from the feelings I'm trying to hide
Must get the focus of me and my problems
I look to the cross

You are my Rock
On You I stand
Safe from the storms that surround me
You're my only Rock, In you I can
Don't have to rely on my own strength.

posted by Ling @ 11:42 AM 0 comments

Of ex-prisoners..

Met a few up for interviews already. They are surprisingly nice! (See see? Do you hear yourself in this? We always think that people who have gone to prison before are inherently bad, don't we?)

The last one I met today is considered dashing for his age of 52! Bespectacled and has a very mild, gentlemanly demeanour. He bought me a drink too (N0 worries, he didn't spike it. Cos it was a soft drink in an unopened can. SEE? Did you worry if he might have spiked my drink when I said he offered me a drink?) The other one whom I met at his void deck asked if I wanted a drink and offered to go back up to get me a can of coke. Such nice people. =)

Three of those whom I've met so far have been in and out of DRCs and prison between 7-10 times. They admit that they face many problems since they were released, they had been betrayed by friends, faced problems getting help, faced stigma.. caused much pain to their family.. have to take care of their elderly parents.. yet, they keep going. They are resilient. I almost couldn't believe my ears when they said they had been in and out 10 times. At that point, I really wondered what keeps them going when it seems that the prosperous capitalistic society doesn't leave them even a tiny share of the pie.

Then it hit me that the human spirit is a resilient one.. really, this is something that God must have placed in us when He breathed into us, we are resilient because a part of God lives in us whether we believe it or not. A part of us that has a survival instinct, that will come back up when knocked down. We may feel hopeless sometimes, but we will not give up without a fight.

I learnt so much from each of the 3 whom I've met already.. choosing friends carefully, cherishing familial relations, not giving up easily.. Can you imagine how it feels to be off drugs after a huge struggle and then be on it again and then be caught again? One shared with me today that it's not that they don't want to.. but the negative impact of drugs on the mind can still somehow lure them back.. even when the addiction is gone, they still have nightmares of being addicted.. and dreams of being on it.. He said it's alot in the mind.. that means that every day that they're off drugs, they're fighting against a daily temptation in their mind.

If we think they're at fault for going through the revolving doors of the prison, let's think about how much we are contributing to that. We blame them for being on drugs, and yet not accept them when they are off it - what then should they do?

It's time we look at them differently - they deserve more credit than we think.

posted by Ling @ 12:58 AM 3 comments

dreams and desires

This's taken from my Jan 19 entry, I wonder how much has changed after I've gotten a glimpse from field placement.

"I want to be an outstanding social worker in-the-making. It is not volunteer work. It is a profession. As Dr Tim always emphasizes, we need to be guided by theoretical framework(s), not just gut feeling.Also purposed to speak up more. The people who change the world are the ones who dare to speak up. King David when he was young, spoke up against Goliath. "Who is this uncircumsised Philistine?". Jesus when he was young, was reasoning with the scribes and Pharisees in the synagogue.There you go. Don't be mediocre. Don't be afraid to be outstanding. Don't blend in. You are not wallpaper. God has created you to be unique. Why do you want to blend in with everyone else and be invisible? You are the light of the world! A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."

posted by Ling @ 4:06 PM 0 comments

Surrender

God does the most amazing thing after I decide to surrender.

Surrender to my own selfish desires and dreams.
Surrender to Him. Surrender and say "I will do what's right. Not just what seems good."

I decided to forgo the undergrad research assistant job and go for BS.
I wanted to go for the research assistant job briefing because it was a good chance for me to align myself with the right people, because it's an interesting job, because it pays well.

In the end, BS was cancelled and I could go.

It sounds so silly, but I believe God is showing me something here.

We align ourselves with Him and He'll do all the other aligning. Our sufficiency comes from Him. Lean not on our own understanding! Walk with God and love God, and He gives you favour with God and man. I don't have to arrange everything by myself. My strength is weakness in His sight.

Be in constant love and devotion.

posted by Ling @ 1:54 AM 1 comments