I am grateful

Too many things happened today, good and not so good but I am grateful.

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. 

~ Psalm 118:24

Blessed Easter to all!

pearlie

I am thankful

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! 

His faithful love endures forever. 

Has the LORD redeemed you? 

Then speak out! 

Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.

Psalm 107:1-2 (NLT)

I'm only so thankful to the LORD for what he has done in all my life, even the little thing today which is a big thing to me. 

Thank you Abba. 

pearlie

Can sleep debt be repaid?

I slept very late two nights ago and with only 4 hours of sleep, I know I am going to regret it the next day. 

Which was exactly how I felt yesterday. The morning went by as usual and I was able to function as normal but come late afternoon, I was feeling horrible.

I was already getting a headache and the back of my neck was also aching badly. I had some work to complete and thankfully I did finish it but I did it all in a daze. 

When I was on my way back, I remember praying that I will have a safe drive home. I nearly got into an accident as I didn't realize the lights had turned red!

Now I am beginning to realize that it is really a bad idea and I need to put a firm rule for myself not to sleep late.

Thankfully I got home safely and dropped off to sleep at 9:30pm. What more, I had a training to do the next day. But did I pay back the so-called sleep debt?

I have read a bit here and there about it, whether it can be repaid but I think the science is not yet conclusive about it. 

But I think the current view is that you can't really repay sleep debt and that even though you've replenished the hours, your attention span does not return to baseline and it can become dangerous. 

Which was what happened this morning. I am usually quite attentive when I drive but I didn't notice the car in front of me stopping. Thankfully, it's a practice that I drive with a good distance between cars and I managed to brake in time without collision. 

Phew! Thank God. No more late nights for me. 

I found this article, though not a new one, quite informative: The Good and Bad New About Your Sleep Debt

pearlie 

Great is Thy Faithfulness

I woke up with this song playing in my head, telling myself to fully have faith in the Almighty God who is ever so faithful. 

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee,
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above;
Join with all nature in manifold witness,
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.

pearlie

How a dog I don't have stopped a break-in to my house

Someone tried to break into our house at 5:45 this morning. But we got down just in time to avert it. My hubby got down to switch the porch lights back on, and the perpetrator ran away. 

This was how they tried to break in. I thank God we managed to stop them in time. 

But how I was woken up to realize what was happening is quite amazing I think. And I firmly believe that it was my God who woke me up to take care of the situation before it was too late. 

And with that, God certainly has a good sense of humour. Here's what happened:

Firstly, we don't have a dog. Having a dog in such a circumstance will be useful but we don't. 

But in that exact same time that morning, I dreamt I had one and it was barking frantically outside my house. I got down to open the door and when I did, my dog flew through the door railings towards my head and because of that I woke up with a jump. 

That was when I heard the grating noise downstairs and woke my hubby to check it out. 

Now you tell me God did not send me a dream dog to wake me up to chase the perpetrator away. 

And maybe it's time to get a real dog. 

pearlie

I am forgiven!

We had our third session of Christianity Explored this morning and what impressed me the most was this video with the analogy of a room where what if all the walls in the room were to be filled with all your life, everything, good and bad.

What if you were to stick on the walls all records of your thoughts, good ones or lewd ones, all your words how gentle or rude, all your deeds how decent or indecent they are. You obviously would keep the room tightly locked and if you could put a spell on it to be locked forever to anyone but you, you certainly would.

The video's message was that we are not inherently good, not at all. We can readily admit we are bad, and that we need help.

When we returned to our discussion group to discuss it, it was through the discussion that I had some sort of an epiphany. I imagined I had all of my life pasted on the walls in the room. They are real. I have thought, said and done those things - some good but mostly terrible.

But the amazing thing is that God then comes into the room and tells me he forgives me through the blood of Jesus! All of them. He has removed them. Sure, I still face the consequences, but they are no longer in my account.

I am forgiven! And I thought that was awesome.

pearlie

My car battery exploded

I was at the groceries store today that my car battery exploded when I had wanted to get home. I was igniting the engine when I heard a boom and everything went out. Nothing worked after that.

I called AAM for help and waited for an hour for the mechanic to come help change the battery.

When I came home, I checked the Internet and learnt that I need to be thankful that it was just a small boom, with no smoke or fire. My car is safe and more importantly I thank God that he kept me safe.

I know now that "free maintenance" batteries aren't really free from maintenance after all. You still need to clean the battery tops, make periodic re-tightening of battery connections, and test to confirm the working condition of the battery.

pearlie