serenity

Did you know that there is a second part to the all-famous Serenity Prayer? My female owner found that out today, when she was trying to construct a tip sheet for her elderly clients.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely

happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen

out

My female owner is meeting the person whom she is supposed to get help from in less than an hour’s time. Yah, after a long-winded attempt to set an appointment, the two of them finally arranged to meet today at my female owner’s house.

When the appointment was settled last week, my female owner sent an email to her leader, requesting that he prays also that her house-mates would not be home (As you may already know, Female Housemate tended to stay home these days, leaving my female owner feeling frustrated).

On her own, my female owner made some half-hearted prayer for Female Housemate to be out of the house today. I say it is half-hearted, coz my female owner was already mentally prepared for Female Housemate to be home. Anyway, last night, my female owner informed her that she would be having a friend over for lunch and asked if Female Housemate would like to join them for lunch.

Her reply was “Oh, I will be going to school tomorrow, I’ve already cooked our lunches.” Amazing coz she is usually home during lunch-time.

And indeed, this morning, she was out of the house by 0900hr. My female owner is amazed at how God would answer her simple prayer.

voice

Some of you may know that my female owner had been ill for more than a week. She spent an hour tossing and turning in bed last night, because of her dry and itchy cough. She knew it was at least an hour, because she heard her handphone beeped when the battery was fully charged.

So she woke up today with less than 7 hours sleep as she had an early lunch appointment. Anyway, she went to church after that. At the end of the sermon, the preacher invited those who needed healing or had other prayer needs to go up to the front to get prayed for. My female owner was very reluctant to do so, because of her shyness and doubt about “what if I go up and don’t get healed? So malu”. Also, she felt that her voice would come back in a day or two, so there was no need to get prayed for. Anyway, she felt God prompting her with the word TRUST and reluctantly went up.

A church leader prayed for her and even though my female owner didn’t say much about her other issues besides her need for healing, the church leader was pretty accurate about my female owner’s inner issues.

Anyway, my female owner noticed that her sore voice didn’t go away (sidenote: she indulged in fries during lunch). She wasn’t really concerned about being healed quickly anyway. Happily (sort-of), my female owner went home to do her own stuff (ie she didn’t join her friends for dinner).

Even when she was watching the Olympics, she found herself praying at the same time. And suddenly, a sense of calm fell upon her and she felt prompted to test her voice…. And to her pleasant surprise, her voice is fully restored! My female owner was left speechless (pun intended).

prayer

My female owner had a wonderful experience in school today, even though she had to sit for yet another role-play assessment. Before going for her assessment, she spent some time with the person whom she shared the assessment kit with (also a fellow church-mate) in a small room, going through the procedure for test administration.

At the end, the both of them unanimously decided to commit the assessment, and the course they are taking, to God in prayer. It also helped to refine the motivation behind her choice of study to include a broader perspective. Personally, I think it's really cool to be able to pray with someone who's in the same situation as you (maybe I can get my siblings to do something like that). I'm sure that opportunity (which was divinely created, no doubt) lifted my female owner's spirits and gave her more confidence for the challenges ahead.

two-way

In praying for my male owner this morning, my female owner realised that he was probably hurting/ hurt from her actions, words and even, non-actions. It's one of the first times she stepped back from the whole situation and took on his perspective. So she decided to stop focusing on what a **** (fill in the blank, coz I don't know what to write here) he was to her, coz she was probably as **** to him and to focus on praying for healing.