Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Reality Show

There was this Christian song that used to be my favourite when I was little. I had almost forgotten about it until one of my housemates played the tune on a piano a few days ago. The lyric is more or less like this :
"You may not understand what you experience now, why things that has happened, happened. One thing you need to remember is that everything that God gives is good. He would never give a poisonous snake to those who asked for a bread. The temptations that you have are not beyond what you can bear. God's hands are now sewing a masterpiece. There will be a certain time later when you can see the bigger picture that shows his love."

I noticed that there is one error in the lyric, in the part of giving a poisonous snake instead of a bread, because that is not what is really written in the Scripture. But I don't think that's a major error that could change the whole content of the song.

This lyric actually contains one of my used-to-be favourite verses that I had long forgotten : I Corinthians 10 : 13 which says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
Since last year, I have experienced a big temptation that has become my biggest fear until now. I don't understand why God keep giving me this problem although He knows the importance of it to me. Then I started to question him: Is he really there? Does he really love me? Why don't I feel his love? Why is he being so unfair to me? Does he actually hate me and want to throw me away? The more and more I thought about it, the more faithless I've become. I told him that I can't bear this anymore, and I started to move away from him. I have even done the unthinkable things that I might regret in the future as an action to show him my protest and I didn't really care.

When I heard this tune played in the piano, it brought some memories back. How easy it was for me to mark this song as one of my favourites at that time when nothing went wrong. How easy it was to say "Your will be done in my life" when everything went exactly as I wanted it to be. How easy it was to be faithful when I got everything I wanted. But now that I did not (or have not yet, I don't know, I hope) get what I need the most (or is it what I want?), it is very hard to apply those things I've done previously. I still can't understand why this thing happened to me. I still can't accept if this is his will. And I seriously still think that this temptation has gone over my limit that I want to give up. I did try to be a complete faithless person aka an atheist. But I couldn't as I realised that I need more faith to not believe than to believe.

Long time ago, I asked God to keep me close to him always because I knew that I am not that strong. Several times I had fell down but I managed to rise up. This time is harder. I had decided to cut off my relationship with him (not reading Bible, not attending services, stopped my ministries) and keep protesting until he gives me what I want. I didn't think that was a good idea but I was so angry and didn't want to acknowledge him anymore. But then I heard this tune on the piano! Was this his way to remind me of his faithfulness when I've lost my faith? Was this his way to show me that he knows my struggles and sorrow? Was this his way to pull me closer? Whatever it was, it has successfully made me think about how strong I am and how much I can bear. And, I'm sure there will be a way out.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

International

"International??"
"What kind of name is that??"
I started laughing without knowing that in less than a year I would be his girlfriend.

So I know this friend of mine from my previous school, and together with his girlfriend, we three are good friends. On last Christmas and New Year holiday, this couple went on a road trip with my friend's housemate. They showed me some photos from the trip and told me that his housemate is a very nice guy, and he is good looking as well. But since he doesn't like his picture being taken, there were not many of his pictures that I could see, and I wasn't interested anyway either. This guys was International, but I didn't know about it that time.

A few months after that, I decided to buy a car and I remembered of my friend who is studying to be a mechanic. I asked for his help to inspect a car that I wanted to buy. He told me that his knowledge was still little and referred me to another friend whom he knows is a very skilled mechanic. International. That was the day I laughed because I asked for his name. Unfortunately, we couldn't meet up since he had to move to another town on the inspection date.

Months later, my friend had to go back to his country because he was sick and the cost of treatment there is much cheaper than here. Since I've been good friends with his girlfriend, too, we often go out and have meal together. But those days, she refused to go out with me, saying that this friend of her boyfriend was very lonely and she agreed to accompany him having meals. We then rarely catch up until her boyfriend came back here and asked me to go out together. That time I was busy with uni stuff so I refused. He kept on asking, and I kept saying no. Finally, the day of my last exam came and I was officially free. I suddenly got a call from the girlfriend, asking me to come over to their place. When I arrived at their place, it appeared that they had arranged a meeting for me and this guy. Apparently he had heard lots of stories about me and somehow had seen my pictures then he asked to be introduced to me. This guy, well, was International. He came back here after around 3 months working in another town.

Things moved so fast and intense. Suddenly he asked me to be his girlfriend. I was not even ready for this but he is a very decent guy who treats me like a princess. If I said no, there would be no guarantee that he would still be around. So I decided to give it a chance =)

It took him around a year to finally cross my path. And things between us do not just run smoothly. At the moment, we are still struggling to be together. But if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

A quote from a movie that I recently watched (with him) :
"As for the question of destiny... All I know is that even when destiny really wants to accomplish something, it can't do it alone. You still have to go to that restaurant. You still have to show up. You still have to build a bridge... to the one you love."
-Charlie Bellow ~ My Sassy Girl-