"How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?" - Habakkuk 1:2 (NIV)
I recently got news that a friend's brother was mugged and seriously assaulted with a knife in Singapore. This just reminds me of the fleetingness of life.
"Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." - James 4:13-14 (NIV)
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapour in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours
"Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."" - James 4:15 (NIV)
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."" - Revelation 21:1-4 (NIV)
"He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen." - Revelation 22:20-21 (NIV)
Link: More on Life as a Vapour (3 Oct 10)
Because u began with Hab 1:2, I felt like I had to share this dream with u. Hopefully u can help me make any sense of it. Or maybe just include me in your prayers.
ReplyDelete2 nights ago i had a dream. I woke up consciously completing a prayer I began in my dream. I was frightened by the spiritual war I witnessed. As a child of God, a young girl, a really small one, fell on me in the train and because she was significantly young, I let her climb and sit on my lap the rest of the journey to prevent her from more falling. As she climbed onto me, she said "I can't even let my mother hold me like that". I was puzzled but more consumed by how much i liked the little girl. As I held her, we were at peace. It was absolutely beautiful. We arrived at the last stop but the train had missed the platform, coming in at a diagonal and I assume crossed wrong tracks at the interchange lines.
The next scene i distinctly remember is the same girl cradled in my arms as she semiconsciously lay. There was mutual affection and I was returning her home where a relative of hers was awaiting to receive her from me. I assume I took her out again because we took so much to each other. As the bus travelled I noticed others' conversations. They talked about the incense altars, candles etc and I tried to make sense of their beliefs. There were more as the journey continued. The bus slowed and we were arriving into the girl's neighbourhood. I saw a compound on my right, priests were chanting and praying.. for this girl. I got anxious and began to question why they were praying for her, and realized her vulnerability and frailty could be more than merely physical. I held her tightly and prayed for her, for God to protect her, whatever was happening. Then the bus came to a stop where she was home, and the chanting had become louder. As we drew to a stop, she literally vanished from my arms. As the bus stopped all expression left her face and life vanished from her eyes, her body shrank and peeled away from me, clamping my flesh on my leg as she drew into herself in a state of rigid paralysis. Inside my heart I flipped. I just struggled to make sense of it. My anxiety levels hit sky high and I began praying so fiercely and intensely. I was in such a dark dark place. I was then able to understand what she meant when she said her mother could not hold her.
Then I asked God why I could. And I knew, it wasn't so much me holding her, but perhaps, God Himself?
I prayed that because nothing was happening immediately as I prayed so hard and intensely, I prayed He grow my faith. I was anxious as I sat wide awake thinking, what in the world just happened, and trying to make sense of it. I told God, that if it ever happened, I pray I will pray, with strength and real faith. For I know the power of prayer in faith. Oh God, please grow my faith, for you do not always answer immediately.
"How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?" - Habakkuk 1:2 (NIV)