Thought for the Day

My boss sent this thought last Wednesday to the resource development team. I can't help but share - but mostly because I am feeling very blessed to work with a man whose leadership and dependence on God I respect:

Isaiah 40 verse 30 -31(NAS)

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Psalm 127 verse 1-2 (Message)

If God doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap.
It's useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?

Just a couple of verses to encourage you (and myself :-)) to trust and rest in a loving God in the middle of a busy life!

Sometimes in the rush we can lose sight of the fact that our Heavenly Father loves us, has chosen us and wants us to be blessed and to be a blessing.

In the midst of all the activity and demands of life I encourage you to take time, stop, be still and actually engage our hearts with God. That's where the power to live an abundant life comes from, relationship with our creator.

Our problems are not problems to Him but an opportunity for him to do the miraculous.We just need to listen to His voice and follow His lead.

Have a blessed day!

My North Sydney Premonition

I officially started my job search one month after I moved, what with the cold winter upon my arrival, that made staying at home a better option, as opposed to going out - not even for shopping.

I went mostly to online websites like www.seek.com.au for advertisements on job availability and requirements. For a period of four months, I had four interviews in North Sydney that I joked that I will be working in the area. That was before I got lost and missed one interview - when I sat down in one of the benches and cried before God out of desperation, just because my husband printed for me a small map of my destination.
Sometime in October, on the very day of my friend Althea's birthday, I had a scheduled interview in Parramatta, for this organization that I am working for now. In the course of the interview, it came up that they are scheduled to move to the city - to which I shamelessly said that it is because I will be joining them that they have to change locations.
To give you an idea, Parramatta is an hour and thirty to forty five minutes train ride for me from Sutherland counting the time to walk from home to the train station and office. As long as I get on my train platform as scheduled, then I am alright. It is during the times that I get up late and had to drag myself out of bed that I find myself sprinting instead of my usual 10-minute walk that I had to gasp for air (I know Bexz, I should have gone jogging with you!) when I get on the train. Other than that, there's always things to do - reading, listening to music from my reliable phone, people watching, praying or just staying quiet on the whole ride.
As I type this morning, I am sitting in my new desk in our new Pacific Highway Office in North Sydney. It is way bigger, and the whole National Office will stay in one place instead of two offices. Oh, and did I say that I took the 8:05 express train (as opposed to the 7:26 if I was going to Parramatta) from Sutherland and got here at 9:00 AM?
Disclaimer: It is usually a busy morning but the movers are still in our old office and wont be here before lunch. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the time to blog on the first day after a long Easter break!

This January, I thank God for -

**FRIENDS - you know who you are - because of your kindness my brother got his laptop (among others) in one piece.

**MOVIE NIGHTS - usually tuesdays, as the rates during the rest of the week doubles

**SUMMER RAIN - God knows I will probably faint at a 40 degree-C temperature He brought rain in between the hot summer!

**a PATIENT HUSBAND towards a wife who goes mute mode from time to time..DO NOT TRY AT HOME - one could get shouted at 'nough said!

**a praying resource development manager - thank God our department is no longer an orphan

**lunches at Charles St Wharf - alone but definitely NOT lonely..

My 2007 Gratitude Highlights

I can't even begin to articulate my thanksgiving and praise for a year full of blessings and delight. The setbacks were minor, and there were always bigger reasons to be grateful for!

**In February, we finished gathering all the requirements for the Australian Embassy. We thank friends who stood with us in prayers and those who helped us accomplish them- thanks to friends who writing that statement for us; Aileen for my accomodation when I went to Manila for my interview- had a blast there, what with meeting Rosemary who was bound for Sydney that March then; Roslyn, Gavs and Rome for taking time out for fellowship in spite of your busy schedules; Jap for patiently accompanying me all through out

**May - I turned a year older and wiser!**In June we finally got hold of my case officer after months of trying to reach her. However she was totally clueless of my case, as she just inherited it from my previous case officer who got promoted. It was a blessing in disguise as she was sooo apologetic, the whole process was hastened in record time, thus my visa grant! Jones' trip

**July - my trip to Sydney to join my expectant husband. Need i say more? his birthday - I missed it but I hand carried my present - I should have captured the look on his face when he began reading the love letters I wrote as far back as 1999, years before I even met him.

**Had my first job interview - they skipped the tell me about yourself question, as most of my interviews were behavioral, with emphasis on skills/behaviors that are important to employers.

**Towards the end of Sept/early Oct, I got hired and worked - two days in two weeks, for a natural solutions and fertility clinic. The experience taught me that I didn't want to be people's first point of contact on the phone (hahaha! i had difficulty understanding the accent). I was trained on database admin, which made my job now so much easier because of that exposure - I wasn't happy with the boss wasting two weeks of my time, but i didn't realize till I got my present job that God was setting things up for the job and org that I wanted.

**Got a job offer from HfH in November, to which I gladly accepted. God has his ways of molding our character in more ways than we can see, especially when we are still in the situation

**Commeneced paid work in December, while giving hopes and building homes =)
discovered that my bosses pray (with a passion, I may add!)
two week paid work break
Christmas - what better time to talk about Jesus than on the commemoration of His birth! for some reason there is more freedom to openly share Jesus than on any other time of the year, in my opinion
Fe's Sydney visit - check out the photos! she has to come back tho since the 3 sisters in bluemountains left when we went - sometime in sept perhaps? for a wedding?
blessings and gifts

**My brother passed his exam, found his employer and is now getting ready to travel somewhere.

GOD IS GOOD - and ALL THE TIME HE IS GOOD!