January, Chinese New Year... and my birthday

January has been quite an overwhelming month for me. 

First, Sophie fell sick. Then I caught her bug and had to be quarantined for a while. Since I've had to replace classes for the students who went on Christmas vacations in December, my medical break meant even more replacement classes! On top of these, I had to juggle ministry assignments too. To keep me from being depressed, my wonderful hubby kindly (and thankfully) made the decision to spend the first few days of Chinese New Year and my birthday eve in KL (with my side of the family) instead of Penang. I was extremely grateful for that because I only had 5 days off work anyway. 

It was so good to be my dad and sister over the long weekend. Sophie was delighted to see her Gong-gong and Ah Ee whom she misses and prays for nightly.

Gong-gong a.k.a. granddad

Long walks with Ah Ee, who is ever so obliging.

Dim-sum-ing with the family. This was when our toddler grabbed us by the collars (literally) and demanded that we kiss in public... much to the amusement of those at our table. "Daddy, please kiss Mummy... NOW!" We did, even though it was a little embarrassing. Talk about PDA...

Now we know who inspired Sophie to make weird faces at the camera.

With the family before we returned to Penang. This was one of Sophie's "faces".

As I celebrate my birthday today (technically it was yesterday, but it's not "yesterday" till I sleep and wake up again), I am mesmerised by the message that was impressed upon my heart today while I meditated on Israel's Exodus in the Old Testament: Faith in God is ultimately not about looking forward, but remembering what He has done in the past. The Israelites were to live the new lifestyle that identified them as God's people and do so, remembering this: "I am the LORD, your God who who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." (Exod. 20:2) The pivotal event was to stay fresh in their minds and hearts. The Jewish passover still commemorates it today. Likewise, our faith in Jesus Christ cannot empower us to hope in the present if we do not make it a point to keep remembering and celebrating what He has done for us - on the cross as well as in the valleys we have trudged through. We can never truly see what lies ahead of us - the bad as well as the good - but because God has shown Himself to be good all the time, we have the evidence that His goodness will prevail, come what may. We can be confident that His good will triumph over evil or the worst of our fears - the best of what we can ever hope for. It is then no wonder that Hebrews 11:1 says: "Now, faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." This is a faith that keeps looking back and refreshing itself.

And so I start my new birthday year by remembering.