Seasons of Pruning and Learning

For the past few months, few issues are constantly on my mind, need to be resolved, need to be dealt with, so that I can move on. I recognise that I need a Mind Spa very much like how I would go to a Facial Beauty Spa or a Body Spa to give my body a chill and relax.

These are some the issues that I need deeper understanding and application in my personal life to ensure sanity and peace in my life. These issues bug you constantly, almost like an old wound, it affects the feelings and mood, it comes and goes.

1. Forgiveness and Reconciliation - how to go about it to restore a relationship. Do they go hand in hand? Are they both sides of a coin?
2. Setting boundary to establish healthy relationships - to love sometimes we need to set boundary
3. Crucial Conversations - how to engage with others on topic and issues that are high stakes, varying opinions and emotions running high. 
4. Vulnerability - the first impression I had from God earlier last year and I only listened to a few videos on this. I like to know what vulnerability looks like and what do I have to do in order to 

I invested in many books and also going through You Tube Videos to help me learn these lessons in a rapid manner. I hope I am a fast learner and be able to overcome my mental blocks and have my mind spa at the soonest possible time. May God help me.

Certificate in Church Ministry 2018

Psalm 22 - End of Old Testament Study

Our lecturer, Ms Beh ended the OT class with this Psalm 22 as an encouragement to us all. There are days, life feel like this low, down cast and rejected, this is probably a good pick-me-up Psalm to cry out to the Lord. At the end, we who are in the Lord could say:

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;

all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—

those who cannot keep themselves alive.

30 Posterity will serve him;

future generations will be told about the Lord.

31 They will proclaim his righteousness,

declaring to a people yet unborn:

He has done it!

Psalm 22New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 22[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.[b]

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.[c]
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.”

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
    you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you;
    from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
15 My mouth[d] is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

16 Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce[e] my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
    save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my people;
    in the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
    Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help.

25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
    before those who fear you[f] I will fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek the Lord will praise him—
    may your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth
    will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord
    and he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
    all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
    those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
    future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it!