let it shine!

Mother's Day!

2009-05-17T01:54:00.005+08:00

Hey everyone!

It's been awhile since I last posted!
Anyway, here's a quick update on what we did during our last meeting which fell on the day before Mother's Day.

I thought it would good to have a special activity this mother's day, and to make a simple floral arrangement as a gift for our mums. Sounds like a fun idea, right? It was, except that I didn't have much experience in arranging flowers! So.... as always, my Mum came to the rescue (yes, even on Mother's Day- shows how amazing she is)!

Before we started arranging the flowers, we had a discussion and sharing about our mothers and how we've been blessed by them. The five questions I posed to everyone was:

Name something you admire about your Mum
Name something that she does for you, which you are very grateful for
Recall one of your favourite memories with your Mum
Name a few foods that your Mum cooks, that you enjoy
Think of something good that you inherited from your Mum

Almost everyone had more than one answer for each question, so the sharing took longer than I anticipated, but it was great to hear each girl talk about their relationship with her mother. After that activity, we made cards to go with the floral arrangement, and wrote the answers to the five questions above in the cards.

Finally, it was time to put the flowers together!

My mum arranges flowers from time to time around our home and as gifts for others, and because she's naturally creative, she knows how to put things together to make them look pretty. :) She gave us all a short "lesson" on how to put together this arrangement.

(We got this arrangement idea from the Better Homes and Gardens website)

Floral arrangement isn't as easy as it looks, but I think everyone did their best, and each arrangement was unique and special!

Busy cutting stems and positioning flowers.

l-r: Jasmine and Phoebe's arrangements and cards.

l-r: Angelyn and Maelodee's arrangements and cards.
I didn't manage to get a picture of Dawn and Sharlene's arrangements. Sorry, girls!

Everyone showing their flowers-in-a-tin.

Hope all of you enjoyed the activity~!
I certainly had fun :)

Look forward to meeting all of you again for our next meeting this Saturday (23/5/09).

Meetings 8, 9 and 10: Truthfulness!

2009-04-01T00:46:00.011+08:00

*The long awaited updated post!*

Read on to find out what we did in our previous three meetings....

Truthfulness

It's interesting to note that the first sin in earth's history was centered around truth and deception. Truth is one of the most important foundations in order to be a Bright Light and remain strong for God. There is much to learn about truth, and being truthful... I decided to divide the "Truthfulness" meeting into 3 lessons, so that we would be able to understand the different aspects truthfulness. Here's what we covered:

Meeting 8, 21st Feb, Part 1:

Introduction to "Having Your Pitcher Full of Living Water"
How Rebekah is a picture of the Bride of Christ (the church)
Knowing and speaking the truth in your heart (Wrong thoughts vs. God's truth)
Since starting the Bright Lights group in October last year, I have realized that almost all the girls share a common interest: reading. So I decided that we should have book club! Angelyn coined it's name- "Reading for a Reason", indicating that the purpose of the book club is to read books that will encourage us in our walk with God and to be Bright Lights for Him. Philippians 4:8 is the guideline for this book club. At the end of each meeting (during teatime), we will give reviews on the books and share lessons that we have learned.
Books we have in our club include:

Hopefully we will be able to post some reviews on the blog as well. :)

Meeting 9, 14th March, Part 2:

Quiet times, reading the Bible as the source of truth
Ways to deceive
Guarding against hypocrisy

Meeting 10, 28th March, Part 3:
We had a couple of activities during this "Wrap-up" meeting.

Review on "Ways to deceive" (because a few girls did not come for previous meeting)- We passed around a hat with slips of paper with different ways to deceive and had each girl pick one, and define and explain how to avoid practicing it.
The Battle of the Mind: The girls were given a scenario (e.g.: a close friend said something mean, and hurt you) and then were divided into two groups. One group had think of lies of the enemy that would enter the mind and cause you to do the wrong thing. The 2nd group had to look for God's truth (Bible verses) to support their principles and "right thoughts". After 7 minutes, we came together to present their "solutions" to the scenario, and each group had to defend their side.
It became like a little debate, and we all had fun! I think this activity really helped us to see how subtle lies are, and how we need to really know our Bibles to be able to counter them.

The two groups hard at work, searching for truths, and thinking of possible lies.

List of "lies"

Phoebe and Debbie

Presenting their defenses to each other.

We agreed that reading our Bibles daily is vital for keeping our "swords" sharp and ready. Most of us, however, find it difficult to read it consistently, so I challenged the girls to a 1 month long "read your Bible everyday" accountability project. The goal of this project is to keep each other accountable to daily devotions, and to share with each other what we are learning everyday. We made a blog where we can communicate with each other on this, you can check it out at: http://www.lightontomypath.blogspot.com. Praise God we've made it through Week 1, and are in Week 2 now! :)

Snacks and tea!
l-r: Dawn, Phoebe, Jasmine, Maelodee, Debbie, Peiching, Angelyn and me (Christine)

Meeting 7: Total Dedication to God (7/2/09)

2009-02-25T01:02:00.000+08:00

Hi there, blog readers!

We have an announcement to make ....
*drumroll*

We have completed Set 1 of the Bright Lights materials!! :D

Our 7th meeting was on the 7th of February, and to celebrate it (as well as Chinese New Year :) ) we had a lunch get together with some of the parents. During the lunch my mum and I (Christine) had the opportunity to share with them a little bit more about the vision of Bright Lights as a discipleship group for girls. I'm really grateful for the enthusiasm and support the parents have given to our Bright Lights group - for all the driving to and fro, preparation of food, encouragement, prayers, etc...!

The Bright Lights group keeps going because of their support... so thank you, Mums and Dads!

Its amazing how God never fails to bring people for the BL meetings.
While Peiching and Sharlene couldn't make it on that Saturday, we had 2 new friends join us- April and Phoebe! (Well, we already knew Phoebe, but since she lives in Singapore, it was really nice to meet her again :-) )

During the meeting, we talked about how the previous lessons were like bricks which would be part of the foundation that we lay for our lives. Total dedication to God would be equivalent to cement, in that it holds everything together. While we may not always be able to be perfectly dedicated to God because of our human nature, it is important that we always desire to be totally committed to God. He has promised that His grace is made perfect in our weaknesses!

p/s. You may have noticed that we missed a post for Meeting 5 which was "Understanding the Fear of God".
I don't have pictures for that particular meeting because I accidentally deleted some of them, and lost the rest in my dad's laptop which isn't working at the moment. Hopefully the pictures in the laptop are safe.
If they are, I'll definitely post them after the laptop is repaired.

Meeting 6 (17/1/09)

2009-01-29T19:18:00.008+08:00

So the last lesson was called Accepting the Way God Created You. Hmm,I guess everyone knows what that means!

Christine used an example of two clay dolls my mum and I made; imagine if one doll looked at the other and said,"Hey,why isn`t my hair like his?" or "Why do I have small legs and he gets long ones?"

Now imagine the doll saying to me or my mum,"I don`t like how you made me. My legs look like stumps and my hair`s too curly.It`s not fair!"
I`m not too sure about you guys,but I know I`ve said "Why did you make me like this?!" to God more than once in my life.
And actually when I`m doing that,I`m telling Him,
"you don`t know how to make me look nice.I mean,I look like a wreckage!Why can`t you do better than that?!" Which basically is insulting God,the One who created the whole entire world,plus millions of beautiful species of birds,fish and mammals that are never,never alike in any way.

Also,you never know if God is giving you that particular so-called offensive feature for a very important purpose.
Young Amy wished she had blue eyes instead of her plain brown eyes,so every night she prayed to God that he would change the colour of her eyes.The morning after that,she would wake up,bounce out of her bed and excitedly look in the mirror.But she was disappointed every time,because her brown eyes would stare reproachfully back at her.
So, why exactly did God not answer her prayer? Was He a mean old divine being who had fun making little girls sad? No, God had a very special purpose for Amy`s brown eyes that she had yet to know about.

Fast forward more than ten years. Amy is a missionary in India and she loves it. This is God`s plan for her. She is involved now in rescuing many children from Indian temples, where they are sold into for temple prostitution. On one particular day as she was doing this dangerous task, a few soldiers who had been notified of children disappearing from the temples watched Amy lead the children out. Angrily they marched up to her- but they stopped abruptly. They knew that it was a foreigner that was helping the children to escape – yet here was an Indian woman, dressed in a sari, and she had brown skin and eyes... Because God had given her this “offending” feature, Amy was able to lead the children into safety.

Imagine if there was a little baby who was left on a deserted island and grew up by itself. Do you think that he/she would say to themselves, “I don`t like such-and-such about myself” ? If your answer is no, why?

Because there were no other people for him/her to look at and think, “hmmm, why can`t I be like so-and-so?” We are constantly comparing ourselves to others because there are others for us to compare ourselves to.

The Bible says in Phil. 4:11’ “For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”

God has made us just the way He intended us to be. And we are beautiful in His sight.

Hello people!

2009-01-12T20:03:00.001+08:00

Yep,it has been two weeks,so...
*DRUMROLL*

Do you need...
001.Directions?
002.More info on Bright Lights?
----» Email us at brightlightskl@gmail.com.

So,see you this Saturday?Nod,nod,nod.
:]

Christmas Meeting! (20/12/2008)

2008-12-31T22:39:00.003+08:00

Our whole Bright Lights group (full attendance! :D)
front row: (l-r) Maelodee, Jasmine, Debbie, Sharlene, Peiching
back row: (l-r) Dawn, me, Angelyn
--
We had a simple Bright Lights meeting during the Christmas season.
Instead of having our regular lesson using the Bright Lights materials,
I first shared about the candy cane and how it illustrates what Christmas
is really about. Then we divided into two groups to discuss the previous lessons.

Using a short questionnaire, we shared how we have been applying the lessons
to our lives and which areas we were struggling in.
We agreed to be accountable to each other in the area of daily Bible reading,
and to be praying over the week for one another in the areas that we find challenging.

After that, I had a short project where I asked each group to think of
ways that we can be a Bright Light during the Christmas season.
Here's what we came up with: :)
---

1. Have a good attitude in every way -be enthusiastic, cheerful, joyful
2. Reach out to others by befriending and talking to people who are alone or unpopular.
3. Be courageous to witness
4. Be willing to help out during any parties, events, church services, etc.
- have initiative and offer to help set up the place, open doors, serve others food, clean up
- be available by standing nearby, not just sitting with our friends
- be attentive to the needs of others
5. Express gratefulness, and compliment others genuinely for their effort
6. Be generous by finding creative ways to make gifts, thank you cards, etc
- remember to appreciate everyone (including helpers, home guards, etc)
7. Don't gossip during our conversations with others
---
Then we had lunch, and had a gift exchange game which Angelyn organized.

The idea was to sit in a circle, each holding their own gift. As Angelyn read out the nativity story, we had to pass the gift to the right whenever the word "right" was read out, and to pass the gift left whenever you heard the word "left". At the end of the story, the present you ended up with was yours! :) We got this game idea from Sharmaine (Thanks Sharmaine!).

There were so many "rights" and "lefts" that we kept laughing whenever they were read out.

Angelyn's gift from Jasmine- a coin box with handmade stars.
If you unravel the stars, you will find a verse :)

Maelodee's present from Peiching.

We had a great time :) Thanks everyone for bringing all the yummy food for lunch!

See you this Saturday!

Meeting 4: Developing a Disciplined Walk with God (6/12/2008)

2008-12-30T00:14:00.001+08:00

During our fourth meeting, we talked about the most important thing in life:
Nope, it's not winning people to Christ (though that's very important too).
Jesus said that the first commandment is that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:29-30).
The only way we can do that is by having a living relationship with God.
A relationship with God can be likened to a a light bulb being connected to the electricity power point. If it isn't connected, there will be no source of energy for the light bulb to light up. But when we are connected to God all the time, we remain in His love, and He gives us the power to shine for His glory.

The challenge, as we all agreed, was in making sure we stayed connected everyday.
That's why we need to make our Quiet Times with God a discipline.
Discipline, not in a bad sense, but rather as a consistent practice.

We made little notebooks to keep record of our daily disciplines (including the time we spent doing our devotions, which verses stood out to us, a list of prayer requests, etc) so that we could keep track of our spiritual growth, and keep each other accountable by sharing our various insights in the meetings to come.

l-r: Debbie, Dawn, Angelyn and myself.
So glad Debbie joined us for this meeting!
Sorry Jasmine, we took this picture after you left!

Meeting 3: Gaining a Clear Conscience (22/11/08)

2008-12-05T12:33:00.000+08:00

**This post is long overdue. We have been very busy these past few weeks.
Sorry to keep all of you waiting! **

When I was in National Service about 3 years ago, we went on an overnight camping trip out in the jungle. We hiked to the location in the day time, and reached by about mid day. By the time we had set up our tents, and started preparing and cooking dinner, it was about 4pm.

My trainers came over with a box of kerosene lamps, distributed them among my group, and told us that these would be our primary source of light during the night. The lamps were fueled by oil, and had dimmers where we could control the flame.

Our trainers told us that we needed to use the lamps sparingly as they weren't very efficient once all the oxygen was used up within the lamp. (Science lesson, anyone? Can you guess why? :) )

When night came, we carefully lit our lamps as we walked around the campsite doing our various tasks and assignments. At first, the flame burned normally, and gave a nice yellow glow as it lit our paths.

But slowly, the oxygen was used up, and the flame started producing a little soot. The soot quickly gathered on the glass panes of the lamp and clouded it. As the night went on, our once useful lamp grew dimmer and dimmer as the soot covered the glass panes, and eventually wasn't very useful anymore.

~*~

Jesus likens us, the children of God, to lights which point others to Jesus. We do not have any light in ourselves, but as we walk with Him in His paths, He gives His light (John 8:12).

Sin is like the soot that was emitted in those kerosene lamps that I used during that camping trip- it makes our testimony for Jesus dim. However, if we keep a close watch on the glass panes and clean it as soon as we notice soot on it, the lamp will continue to shine brightly.

Our consciences serve as indicators that tell us when we have "soot" building up in our lives. But the effectiveness of our conscience depends on how they are responded to.

During our 3rd meeting, we learned about 3 types of consciences:
(We made mini pizzas with faces that show the facial expressions of each conscience, and we had lots of fun!)

(Sharlene's pizza: this is a sad face with tears of repentance)
1. A clear/good conscience-
One that is sensitive to good and evil, and free from guilt.
A person with a good conscience is humble and will be quick to admit their mistakes and ask for forgiveness.

(An angry face demonstrating discomfort and fear- by Angelyn)
2. A guilty conscience-
One that is bothered and troubled because of unresolved sin.
A person with a guilty conscience experiences discomfort and fear, but is unwilling, or too afraid to confess the sin.

(A dead conscience seems happy because it is not sensitive to sin- made by my Mum :))
3. A dead conscience-
One that is hardened against evil. A dead conscience does not occur overnight.
It results in ignoring your conscience so much that sin doesn't bother you anymore.
When a person has a dead conscience, he/she will not be able to be sensitive to God's voice.

None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. That's why Jesus died for us- so that we can have complete forgiveness and acceptance from God. Just as we confess our sins to the Lord (1 John 1:9), it's also important that we make right any offenses with the anyone we have wronged as soon as possible so that it will not damage our testimony for the Lord and our relationships with others.

Clearing our conscience is not an easy task because it requires alot of humility, but God promises us grace (motivation and strength) when we are humble (James 4:6). We also experience great freedom and joy when we have a clear conscience. :-)

(Click for a larger image)

l-r: Sharlene, Angelyn, Peiching and Jasmine :-)

Hello again!

2008-12-03T20:27:00.000+08:00

As you may have noticed,two weeks have passed.
And now I am here to announce...

Can you say yay?! I can ! :)
So anyway...

Do you need...
001.Directions?
002.More info on Bright Lights?
----» Email us at brightlightskl@gmail.com.

Hope to see you this Saturday!
;)

Yup,it's that time again.

2008-11-18T19:18:00.000+08:00

That time.
*Drops serious countenance and screams* Bright Lights is this week!
----» Details are below :)

Do you need...
001.Directions?
002.More info on Bright Lights?
----» Email us at brightlightskl@gmail.com.

We're looking forward to seeing you all again this Saturday !
:)

Meeting 2: Developing a Close Relationship with Your Parents

2008-11-11T02:42:00.000+08:00

In our previous meeting, we talked about one of the main reasons why God put us here on earth- to be lights for Him in the midst of a crooked and perverse world (Phil 2:15), and the need for young people to realise that they aren't too young to start living strong for God in their youth. Our society may not expect much of young people, but God designed us to be capable of glorifying Him from a young age (1 Tim 4:12).

This past Saturday, we talked about one of ways that we can live strong for God-by honouring and submitting to our authorities, especially our parents. Here are a few points we covered:

1. God has not placed authorities over us to stifle and restrict us, but bless and benefit us. Through our parents, we receive:

Protection- just like an umbrella protects us from rain, our parents protect us from all kinds of dangers, be it physical or spiritual
Provision- for our daily needs
Training - Proverbs 23: 22-23
Correction - Proverbs 15:5

2. Many girls and ladies want to be beautiful. Did you know that God has given us a "beauty tip" in the Bible? 1 Peter 3:3-5 says that our beauty should come from a "meek and quiet spirit"- that was what made the godly women of the Bible, like Sarah and Rebekah, truly beautiful! They were beautiful because they trusted God and were submissive to their husbands (their authority).

3. Submission is more than just obedience because it is not an outward action, but an attitude of the heart.

4. Each of us are like rough diamonds. God uses our parents to polish, cut and chisel us so that we become beautiful diamonds that reflect His light in every way.

Submission isn't easy, but God promises us grace if we choose to be humble. (James 4:6)
We made a fridge magnet to help remind ourselves about true beauty that comes from submission. Everyone really enjoyed this craft (so much so that we didn't really have time for snacks! :) )

It was also great to have two more friends join us for this meeting - Jasmine and Huey Wern. Hope to see all of you again in two week's time! :)

Meeting No. 2!

2008-11-04T18:49:00.000+08:00

Wow! I can't believe two weeks has passed by so quickly!
But that's a good thing, because I can now post again to say that...

If you need directions to my home, or have any questions,
please email brightlightskl@gmail.com .

See you this Saturday ! :)

Our first meeting - just a quick update!

2008-10-26T23:16:00.000+08:00

We had our very first Bright Lights meeting yesterday in my home!
It was a nice, small group, and we all had a good time :)

I talked about 1 Tim 4:12, and how its important that we make the decision when we are young to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, and not to be the "average teenager", but to be strong for God in our youth.

We also discussed about young people in the Bible and in history who have committed their teenage years to God, and how mightily God has used them. It's exciting and encouraging to see that God is raising up girls who want to live strong for Jesus right now!

I'm looking forward to our next meeting in two weeks time!

Our first meeting

2008-10-10T15:41:00.000+08:00

will be on 25th October (Saturday) at 10.00.See you there!