The Promise of Mercy & Grace

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“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. “ (Hebrews 4:16)

Mercy is not getting what we deserve.

Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.

And it is grace and mercy that often gets us out of trouble!

We all have burdens and concerns that sometimes keep us awake at night.  Like last Wednesday when we just came back from my in-laws’ place in Penang, I suddenly got a message in the evening that there was a big problem in a project that I was handling. It just upset my mood for the whole evening.  And the only thing that I could do was cry out, “God, help me.  God, have mercy.”  I do not even know how to pray...

Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.  “In our time of need” literally means “at the right moment when we need it.”  

God’s answers are always perfectly timed.  

Seldom early and never late.

The cars that we drive comes with an air bag.  Or rather a few air bags; in the driver’s seat, passenger’s seat, rear seats.  You’ve never seen the air bags.  But they tell you, as soon as you hit something head-on, it’s going to explode.  It’s going to catch you like a down pillow.  It will be nice.  And it will save your life.

Have you ever seen the air-bags in your car? 

Is it there?

You don’t know. 

You hope it is there. 

When are you going to find out? 

When you need it.

My wife, CP, had first hand experience finding out about the air bag in her car, a few years ago.   She tried to avoid a Styrofoam box in the middle of the NPE (New Pantai Expressway) lost control and hit into the concrete crash barrier and her car overturned.  The air-bag exploded and cushioned her from hitting the windscreen and the steering wheel. 

It worked!  

She crawled out safely from the overturned car with hardly a scratch on her.  It was a miracle!

Like an airbag, when we need divine intervention,  God is going to be there.  We cannot see it right now. But we will receive mercy and find grace just at the time when we need it.

So, what do we do in the meantime?  In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow, because all our worrying today is not going to change one second of tomorrow.  You learn to trust God and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 

God already knows what is going to happen tomorrow, and the day after, and the days after that.  And He has promised to be with you no matter what happens.

So, as we stand on the threshold of 2018, getting ready to enter into 2019, let us remember that God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.  

He is with us when we feel His presence. 

And He is with us even during the times when we feel nothing at all.

God is faithful.  And He is in control.

And as for the problem in the project that God has placed under my watch, God's air-bag has not been activated yet.  There is still no solution in sight.

I have confidence that God will work things out for me in the new year.  

He has always done so.  

Just that I do not know how or when.

It can sometimes be quite exciting as we anticipate God's intervention in real-time.  
Just hope that it does not happen too often .......
because it can be quite stressful !

Cheers & Have a Blessed New Year!

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Secrets To A Good Marriage

After 33 years of marriage, if someone were to ask me, “So, what’s the secret to a successful marriage?”, how would I answer?

I secretly chuckle as I ponder some of the typical politically correct responses from the “Don’t go to bed angry” to the “Always say I love you whenever you leave for work”………

Do you know how many times in 33 years we had quarreled and got mad at each other and I turned a cold shoulder towards my wife? No, I have never brought her flowers to make up. I am not a romantic guy. We have broken all the “rules” for a successful marriage.

The secret to a long lasting marriage is there is no secret at all! 

How did you think our parents, and our grandparents stayed married for so long?

Commitment...

It is a get up and try again over and over every single day.

It is hanging on tight when we were young, newly married and living in a rented room with portable plastic wardrobes and a trusty 14” colour TV, a VHS recorder and a portable radio-cassette player for entertainment, because that was all we could afford.

It is driving a second-hand Datsun 120Y, and progressing to a second-hand Toyota Corolla, until we realized it is more economical to purchase a new Proton Saga because the wear-&-tear car maintenance costs were getting too high.

It is coping with our first newborn baby all on our own because my parents were in Seremban, whilst my wife's parents were in Penang. We were both overwhelmed, but we were in it together.

It is counting our pennies when we were a young family so that we could build a life together for our future.

It is about knowing that nothing is going to turn out perfect, and that we make mistakes financially and emotionally as we go along.

It is about knowing that we can never be prepared for all the things that life will throw at us:-

  We went through two recessions,
    I had my salary cut twice
      My wife had two miscarriages,
        I went through two bad bouts of depression

          We were robbed by a motor-bike chopper-wielding gang right after we had just withdrawn a big sum of our hard-earned money from the bank, ……

It is knowing that we are not alone and that we have each other as our best friend walking together with us through life. 
And we have God with us, too.

God blessed us with our very own little 18’0” terraced house after seven years of marriage.

We were blessed with two great daughters……

God is just good!

So, what is the secret to a long, lasting marriage?

Just keep trusting God and be committed to each other, every single day, whether in the valleys or on the mountain tops. 

Don’t ever stop. 

Because stopping…..

And that is no secret……

Stopping will make you fail.

Commitment doesn't wear thin after the honeymoon ends.

It is the renewed choice you make each and every morning!