To worship = To sacrifice

What does worship really mean to you?
Singing? clapping? dancing? giving praises?
Is that all?
Is there more to it?
I finally realize again that to worship means to sacrifice.
To come back to a heart of worship means to bring to the Lord an offering that costs me something.
As King David says:"Let me not bring something to the Lord that doesn't cost me anything."
Do we always keep this in mind when we worship God? When we give our tithe and offering? When we sing? When we go for choir rehearsal? When we go to church?Does it always cost us something? be it our time, energy, attention.... Or do we do those things because it's convenient for us at that point of time, because there's nothing much to do on sunday morning anyway, because I have that extra money to give God. Does the offering you bring to GOd cost you anything at all?

Sometimes going to church becomes a routine and we start to forget about the true heart of worship. Often, we bring our offerings to God that does not cost us anything.

It is not worship until it costs us something. It takes sacrifice to truly worship.
It's when we choose to give thanks to God despite of our bad circumstances, when we choose to worship even when we have the worst day of our life, it's when we choose to give thanks when things have gone wrong, when we choose to give the last few dollars in our wallet to glorify God, when we choose to go to church despite of having only 3 hours of sleep last night.....it's when it costs us something, that's worship.
God is not a God that is very often wrongly perceived by a lot of people. Many people think that "He is a Big Man up there who is so far away from us" and sometimes lots of people think that " He is a God with super high ego that wants everyone to worship Him."
Honestly, GOd has millions of angels to worship Him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year...NON STOP. He doesnot need us to make Him feel more worthy or great. But Why does He wants you to worship Him then? Because He loves us so much, that our worship matters so much to Him. Because HE loves us so much that just by hearing us say "I love You Lord" brings so much pleasure and joy to Him. He does not need us to worship Him to make Himself feel more worthy, He is worthy no matter what, because He is God. But HE wants us to worship Him because HE rejoices in it, and our worship just put a smile on His face and makes His day. Very often we will say: " that person/incident made my day." . Know today that YOU make God's day great. YOU make Him happy. You make Him smile. So worship Him with a true heart of worship.

Bring your offering that you know will put a smile on God's face.

sniff sniff

sniff sniff.......i caught this cold virus from my general practice rotation.....hiks...after seeing like 200000 patients with the virus ( I'm exaggerating big time, i didnt see that many patients at all ), finally i got it.....Well, i thought i'd be strong and healthy enough not to get it.....been coughing a bit, and it's dry cough....gosh it's just so irritating...feels like something's in your throat but just dont wanna come out......and been having a bit of runny nose...
Hope I wont give the virus to all the patients im seeing......Really feel like resting at home but i feel bad, being such a diligent student (hahahahaa...i wish) i have to come here even it's just half day...IM JOKING, im really not that hardworking. The fact that I'm writing up a post now when I'm at my general practice clinic shows that I'm not a very hardworking kinda person eh? agreee???.....

Ou well...hopefully I'll get well soon. For those having cold too....rest, take vitamin C if you want and remember to drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated. Those at comfort of a home with your parents, make your mom boil a nice pot of chicken soup for you....just comfort food, makes you feel loved and better....

Other than that, well there's really nothing else you can do really, antibiotics are useless against virus. If your condition gets worse go to your local doctor( that's what we always tell patients just to be on the safe side...=)...) Oh well.....be good everyone and stay away from me coz i might transfer some virus to you....hahahaha....caoooo....

finally.....

Hi thereeee...
finally after such a long absent im back here writing my new post.....
I havent had any inspiration to write recently....but now i think i do.....and it's becauseeee...FINALLY my craving for scones is satisfied...
I baked my own scones today...yum yum!!!!...love scones...actually this is my second time baking this.....I love it so much after i baked it last time and I decided to bake another batch today....

It's called Raisin/sultanas oat scones.....the texture is really good, no metallic after-taste some scones give and it tastes like digestive biscuits ( for some reason). Though it does not rise as much but I really like this recipe.....
For those interested in making it, check out the recipe at www.joyofscones.com and look for cranberry oat scones....

I modified the recipe a little bit. I didnt add in lemon zest and instead of cranberry i used raisins/sultanas. I also replaced buttermilk with thickened cream. For those who love to bake, try this recipe. You'll fall in love with it as much as I do. The most important step in making scones is really the step where you mix the dry and wet ingredients together. DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH. Just like muffins, if you overwork the dough you'll get really hard scones ( which you probably can carry as a weapon in case if you meet some bad guys on the street you can just throw it at the person and he/she will knock out coz it's too hard....im joking, that's lame im sorreeeeyyyy...). So when you add in the wet ingredients just mix it until it's just combined. However, if you realize that you've overworked the dough after you bake it, dont feel discouraged, try again next time now that you know how much you should mix it.

www.joyofbaking.com is really such a great website for recipes. As well as http://pennylanekitchen.blogsome.com . I really love these two websites, they have excellent recipes with great pictures...go and check it out.
Anyway, that's for my new post today...
caooooo.......enjoy the recipe.....

Oh oh another thing, just to give you a thought for the day :" Do not let fact replace faith in your life. ". This thought came to me this morning when I was praying for different people facing different circumstances and that includes me too. One thought that came to mind at that time was this phrase: don't let fact replace faith in my life. Well, let me explain. Facts are facts. Examples of facts: exam's 7 weeks ahead and i still got heaps to study or friends/relatives been diagnosed with certain physical illness. Those are facts. When we face circumstances, those are facts. But no matter what we face in life, always keep our faith in God that HE can give us the breakthrough we need. IF you focus too much on your circumstances, you'll eventually lose your faith in God and hence you might even feel helpless or hopeless. Do not let those negative circumstances/facts cloud your mind. Keep on believing that He is able to calm the storm, He is able to heal the sick, He is able to meet all your needs, He is able to turn my negative circumstances and bring good things out of it. HE is able!!...So no matter what circumstances you are facing right now, the fact is that those problems ARE there, they ARE real...but no matter what keep on believing that "All things work for the good of those who believe in Him."

okay then...that's all from me for noww....
till i write again...!!!

who'd like to have a scone and a cuppa tea??

So.....who'd like to have a scone and a cuppa tea? the answer to that question issss ME....ahhahhah..im currently at the stage where im reallllyyy reallllyyy craving for scones, with jam and cream..and tea....what better combinations can we get?

It's all the newspapers' fault......not their fault actually...guess it's more like my appetite's fault....coz i read this article which wrote about scones and all of them looked sooo yummy and it just builds up this thing within me which yells out..."I want to make my own scones too"
I've never tried to bake scones before...but i'll do it probably tomorrow or the day after.....if it's successful maybe i can then take some pics and post it up, so make sure you check it out k?

Since Im here i might as well just talk a bit about my day today, it's been quite a fruitful day, for those who dont know me, I am a medical student and Im currently doing my general practice posting at one of the clinic in melbourne. Today has been a good day, got to talk to different patients and interact with them ,which is one of the area of medicine that I really love. Honestly, I love what Im doing. It's just soooo exciting, we meet with different people from different backgrounds everyday. Some come for regular check ups, some come with different needs and conditions. But one thing that I've really learnt from my current rotation is that no matter what kind of background they come from we need to see beyond that and provide them with the best care we can provide to them. Because very often our preconception of a particular person will affect our attitude towards that person.

I guess this applies to our daily lives as well. When we see people on the street, isn't it too easy for us to judge just by looking at them even when we don't know them. When someone's not dressing properly or look a bit dirty, the thing that often comes to mind is : "Ihhh..they are smelly..".....OR " oh that must've been a poor guy/lady"...

and when we see someone who carries branded bag the thing that comes to mind will be " ohhh...she must've been really rich"

Those are the thoughts that we often have when we walk around and meet people...and too often we make judgements on people just by their outward appearance, which will eventually affect the way we react or treat those individuals even when we dont know them. The bible says that we should not judge others and before we take the speck out of our brother's eyes, look at ourself first. If we have plank in our own eyes how can we see clearly and tell our brothers that they have speck in their eyes. This is really something that I need to keep learning as well, to see people beyond their appearance and to look at them as who they really are from the inside. It's too easy to judge people from their outward appearance, but is it fair to make such judgements when we dont really know that person? The answer is of course not. It's not even right to judge when we know that person, how can we judge when we dont know them in the first place. But it's not easy to stop ourselves from judging as well because often we are on our autopilot mode that the moment we interact with someone certain preconceptions just build up in our mind which will eventually affect the way we interact or react to that person. And for me one of the most difficult thing to deal with is when I judge others by what I HEAR about that person from other people, well in other words "gossiping". Because more often than not, what we hear from the other person is not true. So always keep an open mind when someone talks bad about another person in front of you coz most of the time it may not be true.

A person may look all happy and cheerful on the outside, but who knows if actually he/she is hurting badly inside. And a person who looks all dirty and rude on the outside may have a really gentle and loving heart on the inside too. Isn't this true? something to think about isn't it?

I have not reached the state where im 100% not judging others yet and i guess no one has. But I think we need to try the best we can not to judge.

This is really something that Im continuing to learn everyday and up until the day I die. To try my best not to judge, and to look at people for who they really are.

Just a passing thought again....cheers

A beginning

Hi there everyone,
Wow i never thought that i will start to have my own blog. Honestly, im not the type of person who likes to write....but this thought just came up to my mind when i was browsing through my beloved friend, hueiweun's blog...and i thought "hm...why not? it's not a bad thing to write up my thoughts and let others know a little bit more about my life eh?"...so that's why i start blogging....well i guess this is gonna be an interesting and exciting journey...a start of a new journey for me....which is why i put the title of this first blog as "A beginning".

So what am I going to write up for my first post? Im not sure myself.....hahahaha....but i can foresee that i will put down the thoughts that will be flowing in my mind in the future, some of my recipes maybe if i dont get too lazy to cook and write the recipes up for you so that you can share my joy of cooking.

A thought just came up to mind....Life is such an exciting journey isnt it? Everyday is a new page or a new paragraph, and every season is like a new chapter. Some chapters are longer, some are shorter. Some filled with joy, some with pain, and many are a mixture of both. We will tend to like or dislike some of them more than the others, and again there will be a mixture of feeling to many of those chapters in life. There will always be a time where you have to close a chapter and start a new one, at times we can do it with joy and at times with much difficulty. You wont know what will happen the next day and even the next second. Every second is like an adventure. There will be ups and downs, good and bad, joy and pain...yet all those make up who we are in the future. What we experience today will shape who we will be tomorrow. So count it all joy to go through the good and the bad. At times things may be difficult and you may be thinking
"Why does this have to happen? Why does it have to be me? Why can't things go the way I want it to?" But through those painful moments we will grow stronger, more mature and we can use those experiences in the future to help those who maybe going through similar things in their lives. So dont give up friends when you are going through trials, it will bring the best out of us if we stay strong.

There is a chapter in the bible which says that there is a time for everything. A time to laugh and a time to cry, a time to sow and a time to harvest. So whatever season we are going through right now, let us stay strong and keep believing that the sun will still shine again and think of things that you can thank God for. Be thankful of what we have instead of complaining of what we dont have, because we will never come to a point where we will have everything. There will always be things that we dont have. So look at your life and start thanking God for what you have today, i reckon that will be a much better way to live life. It will give you so much more joy and happiness. I've been through my ups and downs in life, but through all of those i truly can see that " all things happens for the good of those who believes in HIM , those who are called according to His purposes."

A friend told me once: " I dont know what tomorrow holds, but i know the ONE who holds tomorrow." I thank God that HE holds my life in His hands every single day, and He holds yours too...

Just a thought from me......cheers