"Praise the LORD, i tell myself, with my whole heart.
I will praise His Holy Name,
Praise the LORD,
i tell myself, and never forget the good things He does for me.
He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
He ransoms me from death and surrounds me with love and tener mercies.
~Psalm 103 1:4
before the retreat, i felt hopeless about everything in my life.
i dont know where my life is leading me!
'till friday came, went to lam tin to teach spoken english to my friends sister.
actually i was helping her prepare for her exam.
after teaching her i spent some time with my friend, Wilco.
He came back form Australia, he didnt want to come back but because his grandfather wanted him to come back that he had too.
he showed me pictures of the places he had been in Australia.
Interesting:)
during lunch, he told me about the life there and wanted to go back.
he didnt want to come back here.
and now i was making my way for the retreat at the Baptist University.
i went to where we were meant to take the bus.
Joanne was proud of me to be the first to be there.
hehehhehe
i really didnt know how i was going get throught the evening coz i was alone.
and my friend Tammy came up to me and i was like ..wow...
i was really excited to see her and be with her in csm.
we sat together in the bus ride, and ate together :)
However, she was busy talking on the phone
and
i went over to Joanne and talked with her.
for a moment i felt distant i dont know why?
5 minutes later i loosed up.
anyways, we arrived Baptist University.
we lined up to get our name tag
and made our way into the auditorium.
Eufemia said to me," I am so glad ur name is Eufemia too.."
and made me think of her who spoke well and good
and gave her life to God. Actually she was burned to death.
then i walked in and there greeters greeting out loud.
i felt Sandra kiss my cheek. and i kind of panicked.
i didnt know what to do; so i walked. i shouldnt have done that, i should have turned and kissed her back.
friday night, the talk was about the "Spirit of Rejection"
and it shed light to a whole new dilema
:P)
that i felt excited, flooded with joy.
Tammy was crying, her Spirit spoke to her :) exciting
God Bless Her.
i tried to cry, but i couldnt
no matter how hard i tried i just couldnt
:)))
i dont remember what time we got on the bus.
but i reached home at eleven something.
I woke up Saturday morning at 7:15. Actually i told my dad to wake me up.
my brother did. then i went back to sleep :P)
i was so tired
and then i dont know what happened
vvvom...
i got up.' trying to get my conscious back together.
aaahh..... i'm late.
So i called Joanne,
telling her i just got up.
she said in chinese, "quickly, quickly..."
and i told her i think i will go with tammy.
i quickly got onto the came and went to Admiraty
got on the MTR
and took the KCR to Tai Wai
and met up with tammy
Thank God, she was willing to wait for me.
~~~~~~~~~~~
we had our breakfast, and went in.
Pastor Chris talked about Abuse in 4 levels:
Physical, emotional (forgot the third one), pretty sure there was a 4th abuse which is spiritual
i went for the first three.
as i was listening to the whole sermon
i was crying heavily
i cried my heart out.
i couldnt stop.
i think part of the retreat that effected me most was my relationship with my mom and dad.
" when i was a toddler my mom sent me to stay with her sister in the philippines to go to preschool. when she left me there i felt alone.
'Coz my cousins were mean to me, and scared me in every why!
and i have felt alone. i was so used to being alone that i thought i didnt need anyone.
boy was i wrong.
At home, i didnt feel like a daughter.
my dad never said that he loves me.
my mom hits me whenever i did something wrong
or didnt do anything wrong.
(i could hear her nagging voice...)
'till recently i felt afraid of getting married or being a relationship with anyone,
i dont want to treat him the way my mother treated my dad, vis versa.
My best friend, Riz tells me that i have to talk with her...
i am afraid to open up to her becoz i dont want her or have any excuse to blame me for anything.
3 years ago, i remember her asking me what happened.
why i changed?
i told her about the person i was with and what he did to me.
and
she poured all the blame on me.
i didnt expected that
i thought a mother is for u rather than against u.
she would always tell me whats right and whats wrong
not to cause trouble
whatever i thought was wrong, it wasnt right
not to her standard at least
i could even remember ever since i was young she would nag and complain at me about my weight, putting curses on me. "Saying things like you will get sick if you dont do something about it." she didnt like the way i walk. she didnt like my lips because they are too big, and the shape of my teeth. its like that she didnt like anything about me.
as if i am an embarressment to her.
anyways i wouldnt give all the blame to my mom i have my faults too.
i would not listen to her, i would keep on eating.
i didnt realized what i was doing was taking revenge on her becoz i was angry of the way she talks to me and the tone of her voice.
i really didnt like it.
So anyways when the sermon was finished, we were going down to pray.
i wasnt in the talking mode.
i was really quiet...
i had to muster up all my strength to speak...
anyways i walked up to this lady
and wow she said i had beautiful hair.
i thought she was being modest.
(i dont know her name but she was tall, short brown hair )
then she asked what i wanted to pray for her.
i told her all three of the Abuse
i couldnt remember what she had prayed for me
oh wait i remember that i was crying out so loudly and was getting irritated
that she prayed for me to quiet my soul...
:)
and i did
but after she had prayed for me
she said she would have been proud to be my mother
and she said that i was beautiful.
when i heard that, that was it ...
i felt good
cant find any words to describe it....
and later i thought but she didnt even know me..
that was it for me
right now i dont care what my mother or father thinks of me becoz i have God,
God made me
and i know He is not ashamed of me....
and the other part of retreat that affected me was the Poverty sermon
when we were all going down to pray
i went up to this white guy
and he asked me what he wanted me to pray for
i didnt know
then he asked questions that was easy for me to answer.
my finances..
he said he noticed that i put my had in my pocket
and he anointed me with olive oil...
and prayed a blessing to me.
i am so greatful to have gone and be apart of cleansing stream
thinking i should be apart of it to serve God
need to pray about it..
:)
ciao...