No better words describe it

Now this I say and testify in the Lord,  that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.  They are darkened in their understanding,  alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and  have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,  to  put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through  deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.Then desire  when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

For the grace of God  has appeared, bringing salvation  for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and  worldly passions, and  to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,  waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great  God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

{Ephesians 4, James 1, Titus 2}

Whole on, please!

Me : Where are you calling from, ma'am?

Person : From Perak.

Me : Are you calling from a company, a shop...?

Person : Calling from Perak.

Me : Yes, ma'am... (start to enunciate slowly) ARE... YOU...CALLING...FROM...A...SHOP? OR...A...MINIMARKET?

Person : Oh, from trading company.

Me : Ah! A wholesaler, yes?

Person : Okay.

Me : -.-" (i said wholesaler, not hold on please).

Celebrating with shrimp

After a good married month, Adrian took me out on a celebratory date yesterday. I didn't quite like the place we went to, which was Bubba Gump, but it was a fun night. I had already interviewed him a couple of days earlier with questions like, "What weird things have you discovered about your wife in this month?", "What things have you learnt to serve your wife?", and "What things have you discovered about yourself in this month?". I laugh in my sleep at funny things that i dream about - that's quite weird. I've a voracious appetite for life - he tries his best to keep up =P *kidding honey!*. He has discovered that marriage is hard work for selfish people - he's working very hard at this marriage. At Bubba's, i told him that i've learnt that it's hard to remember that you are one now, there's no such thing as "i'm still single sometimes" or "i need some alone time right now". It's you and me, til death do us part.

The Obsessive Bride

I'm glad i was known as an obsessive bride. I wasn't obsessive over all sorts of little details, i really wasn't all that concerned. I was obsessive over the prices, i said no to a lot of expenditure that might have been. If i hadn't had interfered, i think everyone might have just spent whatever they liked on everything. Crazies. But there's only one thing i'm really happy i was obsessive over, which is the content and flow of the ceremony.

If there's anything any bride should be obsessive over, it should be that. I'm glad our ceremony told the story that it did about our lives together, joined by God, for Christ, his Church and the Gospel. I'm glad that cos of our obsession over that, people could see the statement we're making with our lives. I'm very glad to have put it all out there, for you all my friends and family, because we want to share with you this good life we have, this salvation that we have under Christ.

I just wanted to encourage all you young bride-to-bes to be godly when deciding how to have your wedding. Encourage the people around you to make godly decisions too, like not overspending, or over-anything. I wasn't happy how some things were done, but well, some things i had no choice but to close one eye and let it go. If i had a chance for a do-over, i would have done a lot more things myself. Even though that would have meant a lot more tiredness for me, i would have liked to maintain more control over the expenses incurred and other things. Not everyone shares the same mentality that weddings can be budget, gorgeous and meaningful at the same time. So struggle with it.

the more i see photos of my wedding, the more i see how many people went against our specific requests to respect the ceremony, the HOLY MATRIMONY as it is called, by restraining themselves from taking photos during the ceremony. I find that very rude. Now discreet photos i'm perfectly fine with, but some people really get on my nerves. They get right up there, don't they? If i ever get married to Adrian again, i'm holding spot check at the door to confiscate all cameras. I will be encouraging all future young couples to do that too. Don't care what people say, the ceremony is more important than the shot you're gonna blog/facebook/tumblr/twitpic with. We also gave specific instructions to let the official photographer do his job, which was only two guys and while we were up there saying our vows, there were like 10 photographers. Like, what the heck. England not the understanding ka? I found it really distracting. Really, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Where you should be helping us make our promises, paying attention to our vows to keep us accountable, you are all over the place, distracting us to no end. Shame on you.

I  have probably never mentioned to anyone why i left something that was a very big part of my life. To most people, i merely outgrew it, or i found greener pastures. Which are partially true, i have to admit. But the biggest reason is, as i read my bible and learnt of what God requires of His people's lives, it just didn't fit in. I had to leave. People think i'm crazy, i'm so silly for doing these kinda things... especially now that i'm *ooooh* married. But I thank God every day for my new found priorities, as i grow more and more in Christ, walking in his footsteps. The gospel of Mark is one of the books that showed me God's salvation plan in His Son's walk to the cross. It persuades me that whoever does not follow the way of the cross is doomed to the rich young ruler's fate. He walked away from salvation, because he hung on to his own securities, everything he had, the very things that would take him away from salvation. He thought he could save himself, on his own, by doing his own thing. Doing your own thing, ain't getting you to heaven, peeps.

So unless you be doing God's thing, which is always ALWAYS a Cross-shaped life, you ain't doin nuthin, however great or glorious you think your stuff is.

To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven."

For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
~excerpts from the Gospel of Mark (ESV)

Coming?

I just Mad-Mened myself

Haha only after the jump =P

I learnt something over the weekend.

Hear, O Israel : The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Short and sweet, so packed with meaning but no one stops to take a second look. You think you know this verse? You don't. Cos if you know it, you'd be on your knees.


I learnt that there is no excuse for sin. Ever. It is the only reason why we sometimes think that the Old Testament doesn't apply to us anymore, or that the God in the Old Testament is so judgmental, preferring the loving God in the New. We excuse ourselves as ignorant or not capable of understanding, when we are only lazy, stupid or just wanting to keep on in our sin.


Or whatabout the rest of us, who say we love this LORD and yet... fall short of the subsequent response or actions that should come with our statements of gratitude, thankfulness, love... We talk and talk and talk, but do not make any effort in walking in His ways, cleaning up our act, and loving Him with our all. Much more than that, we laugh... at those who do try. At those who struggle and work at being the person they should be, someone who lives under God's rule, who worships the true God with all of his life. We just think they're stupid for even trying, cos no one can live up to that "perfect" kinda life. 'These requirements weren't made for humans, duh! Who do you think we are? God?!?! Jeez!' 


If you know this God... any bit at all... if you know any grace from Him, if you know what the Cross was and still is, if you know what kinda stupid ridiculous tom fool-of-a-took you are, you would at least try. And you should.

Trying my best

All my bags are packed, i'm ready to go...

Okay not really, still much more stuff to pack up but since the wedding, i've been bunking in Adrian's room in family home, living out of an overnighter bag filled with the essentials. I'm ready to start nesting in my own place now. I've got big plans for the small space, ready to make it my own. 

In the meantime, living in a new place is hard. Different rules, different people, different way of living, different timings... everything is different. I miss everything about my own family home. I'm trying my best to stop thinking about it as my home, but remember the new "home" i have with my husband now. He is my home. 

I did bring my baby pillow though. Couldn't leave that behind =)

Our rings

Ahh finally i can show off our rings. Mine says : Submit, as to Christ and Adrian's says : Love as Christ loves. I wanted engraving on the outside cos there really isn't much point in writing those words inside cos i can't see it. Had to find a custom jewelry maker cos no other jeweler would engrave on the outside and the ones who would looked cheap design-wise. It sorta is to me as maybe phylacteries were to the Israelites but so much more. It's making an effort to remember the Lord's words.

My 1st post as a Mrs

Hello! I'm back from my honeymoon! I'm still sick from the wedding, had a sore throat on the wedding day itself and the flu developed throughout the honeymoon. Fun. We were in Penang for a week, and saw a lot of fun things together. I like to call myself an excellent tourist, cos i somehow manage to find cool places to visit even in places you'd never imagine, like Penang.

I'll keep this short cos i still have much to do, cleaning up and sorting stuff out, paying people =P and all, so this is just to say i'm back and look forward to hearing more from Mrs Miller.

I have to say though, my ring is a heavy burden to bear, cos of the words it bears. I struggle with them everyday but it's a blessing and a joy to struggle with those words, the promise i made to God.

Tomorrow, we're legal

It's really near now, because tomorrow i will be swearing. Angkat sumpah la. Swearing yang lain itu hampir tiap tiap hari ada satu kali (it's bad it's bad i know).

Today (as in yesterday) i collected my wedding dress. Yes. I gave up half way. The lace was too difficult for me to wrestle with so i let a tailor finish up my lace bits. It's SO PRETTY! I feel like Princess Mia Thermopolis in it, except that i don't look like it la. Hehe... she's so pretty how to fight? Anyway, no peeks til saturday =P unless you come to my house.

Time to sleep, blog posts will be short from now til i return from my honeymoon =) Don't mind me, i'm just enjoying myself with my future and then husband, yay! Promise to be back with pictures galore!