Merry Christmas

The simple nativity story and the history of the line of David still amaze me. the 200+ prophecies that were fulfilled and unfolding even before Jesus was born and died on the cross are still overwhelming every time i read about them. I want to keep it that way for myself and also for my family, and also for my children's families. My desire for my children and my children's children is that they will keep these holy days set apart to honor the One true God, not traditions, idols, people, or things. We really did quite a bit. Just tonight we made a book out of 8 coloring pages and the older two took turns telling each page. The most impressive thing about this is that both of them didn't just make up stuff from the coloring page but cited bible verse after bible verse about Jesus' birth from the books of Matthew and Luke. I truly enjoyed this project. We do not have presents under tree, and no, we are not stingy scrooges or anything, but rather kept the Jesus tree to be something special too. We got them gifts but spread it out to different days. Although on Christmas Day, we did hide them in different places of the house and had a treasure hunt and the kids had a blast. No, we don't do santa. he makes me physically sick. Again, growing up in Hong Kong in a family who worshiped idols and ancestors, I see him just like I see baal. Nothing special, just another idol. I am NEVER going to let anything or anyone steal Him glory ESPecially on holy days such as His Birth and His Resurrection. Jesus deserves the spot light in my heart, in my home, and in the raising of the next generations. He never gets the spotlight like this any other time! and I will keep it that way for Him especially to my children. I want my children to learn to love and serve: the poor, the sick, the confused, the drunk, the homeless, the dying, the lost, the enraged, the orphaned, the ugly, the unwanted, the old, the hungry, the wasted, ..... the ones who no one want to get near... especially on these holy days, to give of themselves instead of getting what they can out of it.

Oh Lord my God, thank You for all You have redeemed in our lives. You are a great and living God who saves. You have won the battle and given us new lives. You have the ultimate sovereignty in our lives and are merciful to Your servant and her children. Lord, continue to raise up a generation who will combat for their Kingdom brothers and sisters from my household. Bless my children and children's children and so forth and bless my relationships with all of them. Help us pass down a legacy and the torch of faith to them. Rain down Your mercy and grace on us. We surrender our will for yours, our desires for yours, and our hearts for yours. Continue to transform and mold us and our children. Let Your Holy Spirit and His work be evident in our lives. Unite us in Spirit, mind, and soul. Use us for Your Kingdom Work and protect us from the Evil One. In Your precious Son, Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.

wow

starts around 1:28



a couple of kids!

prayer for abigail

‎"I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. " -1 Tim. 2:9-10

my 5 year old loves to be a girl... something that i struggle to identify with. i love being female but i am definitely far from being "girly". im into competitive sports and not into makeup. im not afraid of what people think of me, not into dressing up, and not into jewelry. does that make me less of a woman? no. not at all. God made me this way, to balance everyone around me and God made my daughter this way to balance me out. i pray for the Lord to bless my relationship with her and for me to encourage her to become a woman who fears the Lord.

My amazing God, thank You for Abigail. Continue to bless our relationship and teach me to guide her into godly womanhood. Continue to work in her heart and reveal Your plans to her. Let Your Holy Spirit work and break her heart of her sins and the world's sins. Open her eyes to the spiritual realms and bless her with gifts that You want her to use for the Kingdom. Help us remember that she is Yours. I ask this is Your Son's name, AMEN.

new song

Started 3 songs last night but only finished one.

Click on the title to listen (skeleton version 1) verses 1, 2 and bridge are not in the recording.

Take Root
by Joanna Koo

v1
You declared
You're the vine
You're Emmanuel
Turned water into wine

v2
You proclaimed
You're the One
The Messiah
and Your Father's only Son

pre-chorus
You have the power
to change me inside out
You are the answer
I know, Prince of Peace
Let me

chorus
take root root root
in Your word
in Your Kingdom
in the solid ground
hang on on on
onto You
to Your promises
Your righteousness

v3
I declare
You're the vine
You're Emmanuel
Turned water into wine

v4
I believe
You're the One
The Messiah
and my God's only Son

bridge
Hide me from the breath of every wind
let my roots stretch deep
Renew my Spirit with Your breath of life
My heart is fixed, O God
I will sing and give praise from within

Lord thank You for this song. Teach me and mold me. Continue to help me to be the wife and mother and follower I am to be. Let me burn with desire to know Your word. Give me a clean heart and cleanse my soul. Let me use the gifts You gave me to glorify Your name. AMEN.

my kids are precious

song

i had written this song several months ago based on nehemiah and jeremiah. i wanted this song to help people pray for their nations and be broken for the sins of their nations. I recorded with my husband's phone and he somehow transferred it onto his podcast. This was the first recording so the quality is not the way I want and there is pretty much no arrangement. It's just me and my piano. There were a couple of wrong chords and I wasn't sure about some of spots. BUT, the message is the same. It's for the nations.

Click on the title to hear the song:

Heal our Land

by Joanna Koo

verse1
Why is justice so far
that we think darkness is bright
absolute truth is nowhere in sight

verse2
Ten rules to set us apart
But on our own strength we fall
So on Christ alone we will call

prechorus
we are Your glorious creation
A chosen generation
by Your grace we give our confession
That we need Your redemption

chorus
Hear our cry
Hear us pray
"Lift our eyes
Upon Your Son

Heal this land
Remember Your people
Break forth in the darkness and
rise to be victorious"

Bridge:
Heal this land
Remember your people
Heal this land


Lord Jesus, thank You for giving me this song. I don't think I have yet said thank You. Mostly because I am not confident about songs I write and am embarrassed about it. But I thank You now. I acknowledge that You have given me a gift in music and I want to use it to glorify Your name. I know You've got a plan for that and big or small, I want to be a part of Your Kingdom work. Forgive me for thinking that the song had stunk and for believing that I am no good at all. Forgive me for always getting discouraged and giving up for weeks before I get back to believing in Your plans. Continue to perfect my faith and work in my heart. I am available for transformation and I want to be renewed by Your Spirit. Lord I am Your humble servant. God I also ask for a helper, someone who will mentor me and help me write. Help me to focus on my spiritual heart and stop being judgmental. To submit to my husband and serve him. Help me with my kids too. I need lots of help there. Give me Your wisdom to raise them to love You and serve others and obey Your word. I also lift them up as we visit the two ladies at the hospice that You will teach us to love them and give us a chance to show Jesus to them. I pray this prayer in the name of Your precious Son, AMEN.

Happy birthday Jesus!

We are doing a combo of the Jesse tree and Jesus tree.... every day in december we do something about Jesus' birth during the day and at night, we sing a carol, light the candle, and read about his birth in a cycle of 10 different books, and we hang an ornament that's related to Jesus' birth on the tree....etc :) will have more pictures later. it's late. gotta head to bed.

Lord have mercy on us. You give and take away. All glory is Yours. Thank You for Your Son and for Your forgiveness. Thank You for paying for our sins. Thank You for being gracious to us and sending us love when we did not deserve it. Let this season be glorifying to Your name. AMEN

Abigail is turning 5 tomorrow

God we praise You for Abigail. Her heart is full of beauty, love, and maturity. Lord continue to reveal Your plans for her life to her and open her eyes to the spiritual realms. Let Your Holy Spirit shine in her life and transform her heart continually. Help her to commit herself to You every morning and rest in You every night. I pray that You will guide her footsteps and that she will choose to draw close to You. Prosper her future with Your blessings in her ministries and relationships. Be with her husband and let her husband be a man of God. I pray that her husband's parents will also raise him in You and Your word. That he will know You at a young age and dedicate his life to Your Kingdom and people. Bless their ministry, their marriage, their children, and their grandchildren. Bless my relationship with Abigail and let me continue bonding with her. Let me shine Your light and teach her what a godly woman's heart is like. Lord we need Your help and it's through Your grace that we are able to mentor her and love her. Bring a mentor into her life who has a heart for Abigail and a mature friend who will hold her accountable in the faith. I pray that Abigail will bond also with her mentor in a way that she will trust her words and follow her example in the Lord. I pray that Abigail will find a friend who she can love and correct and be corrected through challenges and learning. Strengthen the bonds between Abigail, Isaac and Esther. Help them love each other and help Abigail to set a godly example for them. Use them to challenge her and mold her into the woman You want her to be. Bless Phill and Abigail's relationship as she grows up into a young lady. Help Phill to love her, protect her, cherish her, teach her, and honor her. As Abigail look as Phill, let Yourself shine through him. Let Your Spirit guide his words, actions, eye contacts, and emotions. Thank You Lord for her. Thank You that You first loved her. Thank You for letting us love her. I lift her little soul to You and dedicate her again and again to You. She is Yours. We love You Lord. AMEN.

isaac the goober

2 days ago after watching a mtv of gofish's "stories of the bible" he said, "mommy i liked the girls dancing more than the boys because of their long hair"

yesterday he said, "i wanna hold esther" so phill put esther on his lap. he said "when esther grows up, i will marry her" and after a couple more minutes he said, "esther is growing, my legs are starting to hurt!"

today: "mommy when i use my singing voice, i sound like a girl (gur without the r)"

oh he's precious. God thank You for Isaac and help us to raise him up as a soldier of Your Kingdom. AMEN.

a little surprised

i was just doing the nighttime routine with esther and isaac since abigail is at the wmc with daddy. they took their showers, got dried, got their pjs on, and got ready for bible reading.

isaac chose the story of daniel and the lions first, then usually abigail gets to choose the 2nd one but since she wasn't here, isaac got to. he chose Jesus on the cross. when i got to the part about Jesus being nailed on the cross, isaac asked, "whyyyy????" with a sad face. and it's normal. he asks that every time. so i said, "why do you think?" so he answered, "because of our sins" i said, "whose?" he said, "everybody's" so i explained, "isaac, even if you were the only person on earth with sin, He would still have gone on the cross and died for you." isaac said, "will God be with me?" me "only if you believe in your heart that He is the Lord and Savior" and he said.... "i doooo...." not with an excited voice, but a yearning attitude. so i said, "well then ask Him to be your Lord and Savior" and there, isaac prayed and asked "Jesus I want you to be my Lord and Savior. (then i helped) come in my heart and help me to obey."

"tell Him you believe He is God and that Jesus is His Son, that He rose from the dead and can wash away your sins. ask him to help you love Him, His word, and others. ask him to help you set a good example for your sisters" and all this isaac was able to verbalize all of it personally to God. i then prayed a blessing over his life and went on to brush his teeth.

isaac's only turned 3 years old this past June. i know he wanted to do that. and i am documenting this down for him and for all to see. i am just... haha... a little surprised! pleasantly surprised. :)

Our Father God, Most high King, You are so GOOD! Thank You that You have given me affirmation about my children. That obediently raising them in You and in Your word will bring our family salvation and joy. I thank You for letting Isaac understand parts of Your salvation message tonight. I thank You that this little boy You blessed us with has a heart to follow You. God continue to help us guide our children to You and show them Your heart, love, joy, suffering, and Spirit. Let us not lead them into sin but to salvation. Help us to parent by grace and not by law. Bless our children with passionate hearts for Your Kingdom and Your people, godly wisdom to make godly decisions, and deep unshakable personal faith that will be contagious to everyone around them. I receive your promises for me and my family and I trust in You alone. God may our lives glorify Your awesome name. AMEN.

up at 5am

well actually i was up at 4:30am. i had initially woken up because someone coughed then i felt my swollen right lymph node and i started praying. when my mind gets going there's no stopping.

last night, metochai once again was a huge blessing. i know lots of women here actually think that metochai is some sort of "club" for the snobby wives here at seminary but it's simply not true. we are a group of seminary wives who decided it was important to grow together as seminary wives. we feel a need to stay together and support each other as our husbands slay the giants at school. we are just a bunch of girls who really love each other and understand each other.

last night, deborah pearl was speaking on generosity. she listed 3 things to be generous with. 1 compassion 2 hospitality 3 husband

God, teach me to be generous to my husband. deborah said that we need to recognize that our husband is God's. He is in His hands and knowing who our husbands are, they will continue to do what God wants them to do no matter what we say, do, or think. so instead of griping about how much time church is taking him away, or how much time ministry is sucking out of him etc, you have to let God deal with him. our husbands will continue helping the sick, poor, needy, hungry, even late at night and if he comes home to a wife who tears him down about it, he'll still obey the Lord in what he's called to do. but he shouldn't have to dread coming home to an emotionally shredding wife.

I am blessed. Phill doesn't overwork himself. he is not an overachiever. he is content with what God has called him to do right now and is obedient. but he is also very cautious and prayerful what he takes on. when we first got married, we already had our share of fights about ministry. we are done with it. he probably knows where his boundaries better than i do. i like to do everything and am a sucker for helping. if there's a need, i jump into helping. i sometimes tend to over commit and have too much faith in my multi-tasking skills. phill has been in the ministry for a lot longer and is so much more seasoned than i. i know i can lean on him and trust him. i can also trust that God and phill are a team where i don't have to worry about phill's choices when he tells me, "i have prayed about it and..."

So Lord, I need You to help me to be generous with him with my attitude, my attention, my servitude, my kind words, my love, and my prayers. i know You have called us into ministry. You have anointed us to further Your kingdom so we can rest on Your promises that no matter what happens we are to glorify Your name. Jesus, I know You gave me phill as a spouse but i will continue to remember to give him back to You. he is not mine. he is Yours. continue to speak to my heart and humble me. continue Your perfecting work in me so my life may glorify You. work in me visibly so my children will see You in my life. i will continue to dwell in You and invite You into our house and lives. Father God, You are my life. Thank You for Your sacrifice on the cross for MY sins. Let me never forget how You love me and have saved me from the snares of the world. This is in Your wonderful name I pray. AMEN.

i love you Jesus

Sammi鄭秀文得救見証

I have been so blessed with Sammi's testimony. Sammi is a pop singer in Hong Kong, where I grew up. I grew up listening to her songs. Sammi's fame in Asia can be compared with Nora Jones in the US. It is so good to hear that since she has been baptized, her albums are all about Jesus. She studies the Bible every night and listens to Christian broadcast. God is bigger than anything and any god. He transformed me dramatically and He is the same God who transformed Sammi in a fortnight. Lord You are AMAZING. You are so good. You continue to astound me. Continue Your good work in Your servant. I am here. Let me do Your bidding. AMEN.

The One true God who can undo who I've become

This is what I have been learning for the past month, that I need God to unwind who I hype myself up to be. And though God has commissioned me to do certain things for Him, it doesn't mean I get to do them right away. Like after Samuel anointed David, he went back to tend sheep and patiently waited for His timing. I am willing to wait upon the Lord and let God take care of things. God undo me, humble me, teach me, and correct me. Here I am, I will go and do and say and think what is pleasing to You. Have grace and mercy on our growing family. Help Phill and I to renew our spiritual lives every day, and help us to be parents who reflect how much we all need Jesus. Be with our children, our children's children etc etc. I ask for Your salvation on my children and family. In Jesus' name. AMEN.

Riverbend retreat!