Tag: #preparation

Reflect Before The Year Ends

As the year draws to an end, let us take some time to pause and reflect. Amidst the busy festive season or rushing through year-end closing activities, let us ask ourselves these three questions below.

What did this year reveal about what truly matters to me?

It doesn’t matter what you said mattered to you – but what your time, energy and attention kept returning to. Your action speaks louder than your words. Your daily habits reveal more about what matters to you, than what we think matters to you. My faith has really seen me through my struggles this year. God has shown me His protection, provision and abundant blessings. My devotional and gratitude journal have helped me stay faithful and grounded. God truly matters to me.

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also – Matthew 6:21

Where did I grow – especially in ways no one else saw?

I grew in trusting God, especially in what I perceived as delays. What I have learnt is that there is no delay in God’s perfect timing – it is God’s way of preparing me for His divine dream. God knows when I am ready, and when I am not. I need to trust Him more than ever, shut down the constant doubts and stop comparing with other people. What felt slow might be deep work – just like how you don’t see the roots growing deep and wide underground.

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work being – Zechariah 4:10

What is God inviting me to carry forward to next year?

What I have learnt is that my struggle in waiting for God’s timing is part of the process of preparing me for my divine dream. Just like how brewing stew takes time for the flavour to come out. Rush the process, and you won’t get the full flavour. I will carry forward this waiting time – trusting that God will reveal His plan in due time while preparing me according to His plan.

Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord – Lamentations 3:40

My Invitation

This is my invitation to you today: take time to reflect – not to judge yourself but to listen to your heart lovingly. Let this reflection turn your passing year into lasting wisdom.

When Failure Prepares You

Our society has conditioned us to see failure as negative – to be avoided at all costs. We are embarrassed and ashamed of our failures.

Yet God had used failures so powerfully for His purpose, as can be seen in so many characters in the Bible. In my life, God had used what I saw as failures – and going through my own wilderness – to prepare me for His plan. In my pain and sorrow, I was humbled beyond words, yet embraced so lovingly by His grace and compassion. And in the loneliness of the wilderness, I realize that God is all I have and God is all I need.

God’s Training Ground

Failure can feel like a detour, but in God’s eyes, it’s part of the journey. Moses fled Egypt after killing a man – yet it was in the wilderness that God trained him to lead His people. Joseph was sold into slavery, slandered, sent to jail – which shaped his character to one day lead Egypt and save many lives. Sometimes God allows failure to prepare us for the weight of future responsibilities.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him – Romans 8:28

The Fall that Humbles Us

Failure humbles us. It strips away our self-reliance and reminds us that we cannot succeed without God’s grace. It is often in our weakest moments that we encounter His strength most deeply. Paul was at first determined to kill Jesus’ followers, but God called him to save them and spread the Good News to the gentiles – going through imprisonments, shipwrecks, and torture.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness – 2 Corinthians 12:9

The Restart that Reveals Purpose

God’s people don’t stay down. We are conquerors through Jesus. Peter’s denial didn’t end his calling – it deepened it. His failure became the future that purified his faith. Every time we rise again, we grow in resilience and purpose.

For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again – Proverbs 24:16

My Invitation

This is my invitation to you today: failure isn’t your finish line – there are preparation ground where God builds wisdom, humility, and strength – so you can step boldly into your next chapter.

When God Makes You Wait

Have you waited for a prayer for a long time?

Have you asked God why your prayer has not been answered?

Have you ever wondered if God has forgotten your prayer?

In our world of instant gratification, our timing rarely matches God’s timing. We expect God to answer our prayers in our way, in our timing. And when God fall short of our expectation, we are disappointed with Him. For me, waiting on God’s timing is a constant struggle as I wonder if He has forgotten about my prayer. I am usually tempted to wonder if I have heard God “right” and start doubting.

God Prepares us while we wait

What we don’t realize is that God’s timing has a purpose – He is preparing us through a season of reflection, growth and sometimes, suffering. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness before God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.” (Lamentations 3:25)

God Trains us in the delay

What seems like a delay in our prayer is actually a training ground for God to teach us patience, trust and wisdom. Joseph endured betrayal, slavery and imprisonment for 13 years before he was promoted to be the second-in-command in Egypt.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2-3)

The Longer the journey, the greater the Purpose

Like any travels that we prepare for, the further and longer the journey, the more we have to prepare for it. Similarly, the greater the purpose, the longer God prepares us. If you feel like you’re in a season of waiting, trust that God is orchestrating His plan behind the scene. He is preparing you because your journey is worth the wait. David was anointed as king as a teenager, but had to wait years – facing battles, rejection and hardship – before taking the throne as king.

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

This is my invitation to you today: trust that God is preparing you for something far greater than you can imagine.