Immanuel - Charles Spurgeon

When once I mourned a load of sin;
When conscience felt a wound within;
When all my works were thrown away;
When on my knees I knelt to pray,
Then, blissful hour, remembered well,
I learned Thy love, Immanuel.

When storms of sorrow toss my soul;
When waves of care around me roll;
When comforts sink, when joys shall flee;
When hopeless griefs shall gape for me,
One word the tempest's rage shall quell--
That word, Thy name, Immanuel.

When for the truth I suffer shame;
When foes pour scandal on my name;
When cruel taunts and jeers abound;
When "Bulls of Bashan" gird me round,
Secure within Thy tower I'll dwell--
That tower, Thy grace, Immanuel.

When hell enraged lifts up her roar;
When Satan stops my path before;
When fiends rejoice and wait my end;
When legioned hosts their arrows send,
Fear not, my soul, but hurl at hell
Thy battle-cry, Immanuel.

When down the hill of life I go;
When o'er my feet death's waters flow;
When in the deep'ning flood I sink;
When friends stand weeping on the brink,
I'll mingle with my last farewell
Thy lovely name, Immanuel.

When tears are banished from mine eye;
When fairer worlds than these are nigh;
When heaven shall fill my ravished sight;
When I shall bathe in sweet delight,
One joy all joys shall far excel,
To see Thy face, Immanuel.

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Just as I love old Christian hymns, so too I appreciate Christian poems - they are so rich in meaning and (usually) theologically sound!

BSF tonight was about the believer's security in Christ and the fruits of justification, namely peace with God, access to Him, and the hope of the glory of God! This poem doesn't do a bad job of summarising what was in the lecture =)

relationships and reflections

In the past month, the most exciting news that I kept hearing was "ohh did you hear about so-and-so? They're dating now!" while at the same time, the saddest news was hearing about couples I know breaking up.

I wonder why it is that for most of us, we long to find our 'soulmate' - I had always known one day that I wanted to get married to the "man of my dreams"

I think it's because God created humans for relationship. Firstly to Him, and then to each other. And so even for couples who seem perfect for one another, if God is not at the centre, there will still be dissatisfaction and feelings of emptiness that the other person will never be able to fill. Because it is God alone who satisfies and God who blesses us with beautiful relationships with other people.

Not saying that Christian couples will have the perfect relationship - they still go through difficult times and may break up. And I think it's because we do live in a fallen world, and even Christians still struggle with their sinful nature and will do things to hurt others, and themselves.

So I guess, my reflections lead me to conclude that firstly, we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling that we may become children of God, blameless and pure in this crooked and depraved generation.

And secondly, work hard at your relationships, so that we may be united in love and spirit - including your significant other, if God has given you someone at this point in your life.

As for me, I never used to understand how people could say 'enjoy singleness' but I think now I do, a little. It's true, dating takes up a lot of time, energy, (money for guys if they are very nice to their gf and pay for them) and you tend to go on a crazy emotional rollercoaster.

But!

(yes, there's always a but =P)

I also never would have imagined the amazing closeness and bond you have when you come to know another person as well as yourself. I have never realised how happy you are when you make the other person happy.

Now, all those soppy love songs on the radio suddenly make more sense. And to know, to feel, to taste, to experience the shy tenderness of love as it blossoms and grows and becomes tangible and real until it hurts - it's beautiful.

that sinking feeling...

I had my first uni exam today - quite silly really, nothing counts for our first course, but still they made us sit an exam for it. It was only an hour long, with 2 short answers and 10 MC.

But what was really annoying was that all of us had similar answers for the first question, but the model answer was completely different! which meant that if it was a real exam, we'd probably all score 4 out of 10 for the first question =.=

I think it just made us all realise how much work the Faculty actually expected us to do each week and everyone just had a 'ohhh dear' sort of moment as we realised what a bludge the first 8 weeks of uni had been! haha... *hysterical laughter*

onto a more cheerful note - I have been enlightened to the delights of Facebook - which unfortunately clashes with my decision to work harder since already I've wasted so much time procrastinating on it =P



But oh well! Hopefully by tomorrow the excitement will wear off and I won't have to spend hours investigating how to maximise usage of the site. (haha I have no uni until Thursday! =D)

feature walls! *swoon* =P

I love my room! It's bigger than my room in my old house, AND I have a blue feature wall! yay =D At first I was worried the colour was too bright and overpowering, but with all the furniture in the room like my bed, table and shelves- it looks really nice!

And I got an extra shelf to put all my stuff on, so it's a lot more organised. hehe and did I mention I have my very own courtyard?

*

Bea has been on holidays this week while I've been back at uni.. but while we were moving house, we started talking about this really cool idea we had for a story. So this week while Bea's been at home, she's started writing our ideas up and when I come home, I've been reading over them and editing bits and pieces. It's starting to get exciting - who knows, maybe in a couple of years time if we keep it up, we'll be able to publish our own book! hahah.. or maybe I'm getting a little ambitious... hehe but I really like what we've got so far!

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord!

I've been listening to the new CD out from Emu called Valley of Vision. The lyrics are taken from old Christian poems, and the music is really good! I'm loving it, music is such a wonderful way to worship God =)



Track 4 - How Deep

Verse 1
You were broken that I might be healed
You were cast off that I might draw near
You were thirsty that I might come drink

Chorus
How deep is Your love
How high and how wide is Your mercy
How deep is Your grace
Our hearts overflow with praise
To you

Verse 2
You knew darkness that I might know light
Wept great tears that mine might be dried
Stripped of glory that I might be clothed
Crushed by Your Father to call me Your own

still unpacking...

Well, everything from the old house has finally been moved- but right now it's like living in a war zone, with half open boxes stacked in random places and odd bits and ends lying everywhere. There's only a little path of clear space for walking to all the rooms and the TV isn't working but at least my internet is back!

I was feeling soo tired and run-down this morning.. I really did not want to get up early for music rehearsal, and I definitely was not feeling up to leading the singing for the service- but praise God that in serving Him I was able to be lifted up out of my own circumstances and able to offer heartfelt worship to Him! It made me realise I had missed the fellowship of being on a music team and serving through music. So even though I was tired, I was able to be energised by the other musos and thank God that it went well =)

During morning tea as well, it was really nice to have conversations with the younger girls, just chatting to them and seeing how they were. What made it even better was that morning tea was extended because the service finished early!

I'm at home now, just about to have lunch, and then later I'm heading out to Parramatta for our group meeting before our presentation on Tuesday.

Oh and I know I promised photos, but don't expect any for at least a week because I reckon that's how long it's going to take us to clean up and get the place sorted... but then after that it'll be really nice!

notice!

I am moving house tomorrow!

Which means I may or may not have internet for a few days =(

But hopefully next time I update I can post up photos of our new place =)

Shaz's 18th!

Last night it was very crowded at Shaz's house as we were all there to celebrate her birthday! There were soo many people, and lots of food and laughter.

And it was my only chance for the next few months to see Kelly!


The speeches were lots of fun to listen to, though before mine I was about to fall over from nervousness but it went well =D

I think the funniest thing was Joey's speech, detailing how he and Shaz "met" but really he was just promoting his own tuition business =P (kidding!)

And it was the first time since end of school that our whole group was together!

So as asians do, we took photos =)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAZ!

oh and enjoy your krill =P

Easter Sunday!

So many people getting baptised today! =D

In the morning I was at CABC Thornleigh to witness the baptism of Shaz - it was so great to hear her testimony and to share in such a joyous occasion with her =)



There was a really great song that they played which really touched my heart... a great reminder of what Easter is really all about:

The power of the Cross
Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath-
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought,
Ev'ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
"Finished!" the vict'ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God - slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Congratulations again to Shaz! May you continue to shine like the stars in the universe for God and for His glory!


awwwww =)

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CABC-WR Baptisms!


Rev Su praying for Doug


Alan, Cliff, Emma, Clare


Study Campers! (and others =P)


the guys (haha)

tired...

The last couple of weeknights have been physically very exhausting. We're moving house in a week and the house needs to be painted, floorboards put in, and kitchen replaced before we can do that. So we're on quite a tight schedule for all the painting to be finished.

So far we've done about 75% of all the skirtings and frames... it's taking a long time though because the house is rather old and there's seriously like a 30 year old layer of dust on everything =.=

It's been/is quite stressful and I've been having to find other times to do my work because as soon as we finish eating dinner, its off to paint the house and by the time we come back we're all tired and its late and I basically just have enough energy to shower before I fall asleep.

*sigh* I foresee a not very relaxing holidays... but oh well...

Walking her home - Mark Schultz

I love this song!!

ahhh =D