D-Day?!
Yesterday's conference with Pst Phil Pringle was phenomenal.
Everybody thought that Pst Phil would as usual, talk about how we can make a difference and be blessed in everything... his style.. but no, yesterday nite, he talked about the 4-Ds that every man or woman or God needs to go through in our lives. Inevitable Ds.
In gist, the 4 Ds are
a) Disillusionment
b) Discouragement
c) Depression
d) Death
Not exactly the motivational kind of message, but the truth hit me like a train. The fact is we all go through bad things in our lives. Christians are not promised easy lives. Trials and tribulations will come, and if we are not aware of this, we may start to question why things are so, even when we are fervently serving Jesus.
I've experienced all the 4Ds that Pst Phil talked about...
Disillusioned when I was a young Christian.. Thought I could make a difference with my bare hands. But when things don't turn out the way I hope they would, I felt so hopeless and let down. By people. By things. Yet, this process is to bring out the 'graciousness' in us. So that we do not live in deception. We live, knowing what human beings really are like, and act wisely.
Discouraged. Of course! All the time! It gets lesser and lesser nowadays when I learn to manage my expectations of course. But nevertheless, we can get discouraged by many things in our lives. People. Things. Again. Sometimes I step out to do something only to fail badly, and I wonder why. What happened to my spirit of excellence? Why couldn't I do it well?? Yet, discouragements are part & parcel of life. It's what we have to go through because God leads us through defeats so that we can reach victory.
Depression. Oh well.. Lots of it... Most depressed when I first started working in my current job. Totally depressed and unhappy for about one month or so. Depressed not only because of the people. But because I don't understand why God would place me in a place like that only to attack my self confidence and destroy my self-worth utterly. Later then I realised I am here for a purpose. If I didn't come here, I wouldn't get to know annie, and she wouldn't be my cell group member now. I was telling eugene yesterday that, just for annie alone, it was all worth it already.
Death... well.. not physical death of course. But death of our dreams. We all have many dreams & visions. Many will die because we don't see it happening. We stop believing in them, because we don't have the patience to see it come to pass. But Pst Phil said that our dreams can only resurrect if they die. So, death is inevitable inorder for that dream to come to pass. And it's true, isn't it? I saw my dream die a horrible death when I had to start all over again in a new church. From a leader to a normal member. But that had to happen inorder for me to be where I am today. It's just amazing.
As I listened to the message, I begin to have a new understanding of trials and tribulations. Of course, when bad things happen, we start to question ourselves. Why does God want to put me through this? Something to learn? So that I can be a blessing to someone else in future? All these are valid reasons. But at the end of the day, I believe God allowed it to happen for us. So that we will grow and see more clearly this path that we are on. All the Ds are inevitable things that we have to go through. Of course, when we are in the midst of it, we may get sucked into it. No matter what people tell us, it just doesn't sink in. But once you snap yourself out of it, things will look alot brighter, and God's intent becomes vividly clear. : )
Everybody thought that Pst Phil would as usual, talk about how we can make a difference and be blessed in everything... his style.. but no, yesterday nite, he talked about the 4-Ds that every man or woman or God needs to go through in our lives. Inevitable Ds.
In gist, the 4 Ds are
a) Disillusionment
b) Discouragement
c) Depression
d) Death
Not exactly the motivational kind of message, but the truth hit me like a train. The fact is we all go through bad things in our lives. Christians are not promised easy lives. Trials and tribulations will come, and if we are not aware of this, we may start to question why things are so, even when we are fervently serving Jesus.
I've experienced all the 4Ds that Pst Phil talked about...
Disillusioned when I was a young Christian.. Thought I could make a difference with my bare hands. But when things don't turn out the way I hope they would, I felt so hopeless and let down. By people. By things. Yet, this process is to bring out the 'graciousness' in us. So that we do not live in deception. We live, knowing what human beings really are like, and act wisely.
Discouraged. Of course! All the time! It gets lesser and lesser nowadays when I learn to manage my expectations of course. But nevertheless, we can get discouraged by many things in our lives. People. Things. Again. Sometimes I step out to do something only to fail badly, and I wonder why. What happened to my spirit of excellence? Why couldn't I do it well?? Yet, discouragements are part & parcel of life. It's what we have to go through because God leads us through defeats so that we can reach victory.
Depression. Oh well.. Lots of it... Most depressed when I first started working in my current job. Totally depressed and unhappy for about one month or so. Depressed not only because of the people. But because I don't understand why God would place me in a place like that only to attack my self confidence and destroy my self-worth utterly. Later then I realised I am here for a purpose. If I didn't come here, I wouldn't get to know annie, and she wouldn't be my cell group member now. I was telling eugene yesterday that, just for annie alone, it was all worth it already.
Death... well.. not physical death of course. But death of our dreams. We all have many dreams & visions. Many will die because we don't see it happening. We stop believing in them, because we don't have the patience to see it come to pass. But Pst Phil said that our dreams can only resurrect if they die. So, death is inevitable inorder for that dream to come to pass. And it's true, isn't it? I saw my dream die a horrible death when I had to start all over again in a new church. From a leader to a normal member. But that had to happen inorder for me to be where I am today. It's just amazing.
As I listened to the message, I begin to have a new understanding of trials and tribulations. Of course, when bad things happen, we start to question ourselves. Why does God want to put me through this? Something to learn? So that I can be a blessing to someone else in future? All these are valid reasons. But at the end of the day, I believe God allowed it to happen for us. So that we will grow and see more clearly this path that we are on. All the Ds are inevitable things that we have to go through. Of course, when we are in the midst of it, we may get sucked into it. No matter what people tell us, it just doesn't sink in. But once you snap yourself out of it, things will look alot brighter, and God's intent becomes vividly clear. : )
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