Hello virtual world!
Dusting off the cobwebs growing on this rusty old webpage of mine. What led me back here after 3 years you say? Well, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recent circuit-breaking measures which the SG govt has put in place since last Fri, majority of us Singaporeans are WFH now (Work From Home, a term seldom heard of prior to the pandemic).
Unlike a lot of my friends out there, I enjoy being at home doing my things and I thought of making the most of my extra time at home to upgrade myself and to do more introspection and reflection so, what better way to clear my head and process my thoughts than to come back here!
I've been meaning to do a post on my comings and goings in the past decade and I've managed to do it but on my phone so, here's to setting it in stone.
Things to be thankful for over the decade:
- Met my then-boyfriend-now-husband, dated, got engaged and married
- Got our own house and learnt how it was like to host parties and gatherings
- Went for 2 honeymoons (Japan and Melbourne)
- Got my driver’s license
- Got my Masters
- Got my registration as a psychologist and completed a Clinical Supervision course
- Started my first job in SCC, learnt so much from clients, colleagues, supervisors about mental health, got exposed to many work streams and got to know colleagues from other centres better. Tendered my resignation at the end of this decade
- Joined Lighthouse around mid-decade, blessed to join a cell 2-3 years later and met wonderful friends who are like family to us
- Honoured to be bridesmaid to my friends who got married (Ai Ping, Fel, Jude, Bae, Reena, Cui, Mel) and organised hens’ parties
- Rejoiced over bro going back to church
- Joined a life-threatening race without training (Spartan)
- Went abroad with friends
- Started my culinary journey with Thermomix
Looking back, I see all these stepping stones leading me to grow and evolve personally and professionally, and I am grateful for all these opportunities.
Today also marks my one month working in NUS. As we are on split-teams mode as part of our BCP (Business Continuity Plan - there, another acronym for you), I am unable to meet some of my colleagues but so far, my boss and colleagues whom I have encountered have been very inclusive and welcoming, and I am very thankful for the structure and processes they have in place. Most importantly, how much importance they place on ethical, client-centred practice. The work is hard and the learning curve steep but the team is helpful and supportive.
I am also blessed to have known my roomie Alva (unlike the rest who have their own rooms, Alva, myself, and a few others are located in the "newbie wing"). Like me, she is a Christian and, unbeknownst to her, she became my accountability partner for my spiritual growth. She would continually ask me what my takeaways were from my quiet time that day and we would also pray together occasionally at the start of the workday. She has also been open about her experiences and her life stories (going to Bulgaria for missions etc) have been encouraging testimonies, spurring me on to learn to surrender my life to God's hands.
Besides that, I am also quite happy to inform that today, I made a decision to volunteer as a counsellor with Steph's company to provide tele-counselling support for migrant workers in SG. It might seem like a trivial decision to some but a significant one for me as I have always battled with going the extra mile for people beyond my reach (ashamed to say that). I have always had a burden to do something for this often-overlooked population but have not acted on it as I am unsure how to go about doing it, when I should start, and to be honest, lazy to step up and find out more on how I can avail myself. So, when the opportunity presented itself and I was finally confronted with it again, I decided that this is it! Now's the time!
I guess what inspired me and jolted me back to the reality of living a Christ-centred life came, surprisingly, from my cell group mate Joel. Recently, he partnered with me to reach out to my Dad to share the gospel and the reason, he told me, why he is doing this is because he felt that he, like Jonah in the Bible, has been running away from God's calling in his life to go the extra mile to share the gospel with others. Recently, the conviction hit him hard and so he decided to live out James 2:14-17: Faith without works is dead (in short). So, on 28th March 2020, he led Dad to say the sinners' prayer, gave Dad a Bible, and suggested for Dad to read the first 2 chapters of John, after which he will follow up with him on it. PTL!
Moral of the story: Never let age stop you from doing God's work, no matter how much the odds are stacked against your favour. If Joel, at the tender age of 24 - he's the baby of the cell) could reach out to my 63-year old, logical, I-need-to-see-proof-as-evidence-that-God-exists Dad, what excuse do I have now?
Wow. Things escalated quickly eh?
Anyway, if you are mildly interested, more updates akan datang!
