I've turned eighteen years old. Wow. I've lived my life for eighteen years; and out of these eighteen years, perhaps only 4 years of my life where I truly found a close relationship with God although I've attended sunday schools and church all the eighteen years.
Well, I remember on Friday, 18th sept, when my classmates gave me the 3rd installment of the surprise, Jocelyn asked me,"Do you feel older?" At that point, I just thought: Being 17 or 18 doesn't feel much different. I'm still in JC, attending school, wearing a uniform, still in my 'teens'... except for the fact I get to watch M18 movies legally ( not that I ever sneaked into a cinema for an M18 movie before.. haha). It just felt like a very routine thing to celebrate birthdays year after year, without thinking too much about it.
Never would I have thought this perception could make a 180degrees turn overnight, and further develop over these few days.
On friday, I deeply felt the love of my friends and the people around me. My classmates showered me with strawberry surprises and absolutely unthinkable presents; my sec4 classmates also celebrated it for me this yr even though we're not like in the same class; then at night after town hall meeting in church, RAYs sprung a surprise for me as well by presenting me with strawberry shortcake and josh's elegant butterfly card. That surprise was really quite well done seeing that I didn't suspect a single thing and I was even so gullible to be 'lied to' by shalyn earlier that evening. THANK YOU ALL for the surprises.
On saturday, my actual day, I received so many well-wishes from friends, people I know...wow. I was overwhelmed by the fact that some people, despite not being that close to anymore or not in close contact, still bothered to drop a birthday greeting on facebook or msg me! Sometimes, these make me feel super bad if I didn't rmb their birthday before...But looking on the positive side, God seems to be reminding me of how I must not lose that contact with them but keep it and use it for His glory. That day, I also decided to do something special for my family. I whipped up a pasta dish for them. It was a whole lot of linguine to cook but I overestimated/understimated so there were leftover cooked linguine not used. I just thought it would be nice to do something different. After all, I'm eighteen and it's a supposed independent age so showing some cooking skills would be an indication of the age. haha..Thank God everything went well during the cooking except for a few clumsy acts on my part like spilling a some cream over.. oops. haha..I really thank my family for willing to spend so much for me-the food, my contact lenses...it's alot of money! I will surely repay them when I earn my own money, doublefold, or best still, triplefold. =D
On Sunday evening, I met up with my bunch of besties, Faith, Yeun & Jody for dinner at JP. We decided on Thai Express & promptly headed there without wasting any time. There, we had a great time just talking nonsense over the delicious food. =) It was a time of catching up too. Halfway, I was surprised by a cake from them! Apparently, Jody already pre-ordered the cake and sneaked up after our meal to get the cake from the JP Bakerzin! It was strawberry shortcake =DD I've always wanted to try theirs after Jody told me about it last year. Anyway, I was really touched as again, it was an act of love from these 3 dear friends of mine. We walked around abit before going to Ji De Chi for some desserts! After which, we parted ways and went home.
One thing from last night's dinner was while I was opening the presents. Jody actually got me a Christian devotional. A simple Daily Bread with like verses for every day & lines to write down thoughts. It may be a simple devotional book but something else stood out from it which touched me deeply. Jody described the gift as being 'so me' that's why she bought it. This just assured me that she actually could see Christ in me and so, she knew I am really devoted to God and that I love God alot alot alot. That thought just passed through as I saw her present. That's just enough for me to know. And it's like on Friday, I shared with Gnet that for my open doors journey, I'm still praying for Jody. It's as if God is trying to let me see some work being done slowly.
Today, I had a good time talking to God about all these wonderful experiences I had that shows me indeed His goodness in my life. It spurs me to work hard for A levels seeing that my prelim results were just so-so and not very good. Why? Because, I really want to for my sake, feel deserving of His mercy and goodness.
Thank you God for your mercy and goodness that shall follow me for all of my days. I will choose to let you lead.
sarahluikitleng`
braces;
small&handy bible;