Amen! As the title says, I give thanks to God for His love and goodness. It's by His grace that He made all things possible.
It's like this. I sat for the Japanese Unit Test which is like final exam. I did everything I can. Studies beforehand and get prepared. Even prayed to God about the Japanese Unit Test. After getting the results, I got shocked because I failed listening and oral test! I was given a second chance to resit the test.
I was depressed and I come to God and told Him I still praise Him for who He is although I faced failure. There is a very good reason why God allowed failure to happen to me. I didn't understand at first. But after spending time with Him, I began to realize it. God told me that failure is not a failure if it succeeds in driving me closer to Him. So I continued to pray to God about the resit.
Guess what? PRAISE GOD! It's by His grace that I passed the resit! That means I can move on to next level with my friends to study together! HALLELUJAH! PRAISE GOD FOR HE IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!
From there I listened to "Shout of the King" worship song by Hillsong United. It's really awesome song that I played it inside my heart. That's because that song is so much into giving praise to God for His love and goodness.
Shout of the King is among us, God lives here, In our praises,
Shout of the King is among us, Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him in everything,
After 3 months in Japan, I`m getting used to the environment here. School has been awesome and best of all, serving in Jesus Lifehouse is one of the most awesome thing ever done.
Now attending Saturday and Sunday service, learned a lot of new things about Christ. I`ve met Tomoyuki Nukui that day and it`s a blessing to see that he`s very skillful in manga arts. For that I want to work with him to form a manga team one day.
Life in Japan is a tough especially when you are a Christian. Recently just finished exam and here I am now lazing around for a while to take a break from stress studies yesterday. Talk about studying till near 2am.
Ever since I stepped into Japan, life is never the same again. I have a habit now of spending time with God almost everyday and journal about it. Sometimes I don`t understand myself whether I journal because I want to or just because it`s a duty as a Christian. Personally I want to believe and choose the earlier because I know that I love God and I really want to spend time with Him to learn new things from Him and obtain His wisdom.
It seems there`s gonna be a huge challenge ahead. I pray that I`m able to work together and get along with Tomoyuiki Nukui to form a manga team and grow from here to form the Manga Ministry with a purpose of outreach to people through manga.
After a month in Japan, life is never the same again. True enough I'm totally out of comfort zone. Getting pushed around recently on house chores and being scolded with harsh languages.
But somehow I don't hate it, but enjoyed it more. At 1st I don't understand myself. Normally I would get angry that I so wanna kill those people who push me around too much. Fortunately there is only one answer. God my Oyaji! Somehow I'm starting to use anime terms to describe God.
Jesus is my Aniki, God is my Oyaji. Holy Spirit is my Sensei. Although I suffer so much in Japan under harsh weather and persecutions, I don't hate it at all. In fact I did the opposite. Talk about being a maschocist. Well basically it allows me to cling unto God more. In addition, I'm able to depend on God more which strengthens my faith and relationship with Him.
God has changed my life completely ever since I set my foot in Japan. Now I longed to further mature and grow in Christ despite what the world said about the risks and danger about Japan. It's true it's very risky to preach the gospel in Japan, but hey I have Oyaji on my side, who can be against me?
I'll continue to love God more than ever and love His people. I'm willing to give my best to serve God and spread the Good News in Japan. It's gonna be a tough journey, but as long as I stay God-conscious, I'll be able to endure and persevere. That is because God is my shepherd.
It's amazing to see more people in Japan getting saved. During the Jesus Lifehouse Conference 2009, Pastor Rod announced that 40 people accepted Christ. Oh yeah, I'm currently a member of Jesus Lifehouse Church serving under GSM team. The church is awesome and I'm glad I choose to stay and learn in this church.
As far as I know, God wants me to learn new things every day. I will continue to submit to God and live in His ways than to rely on my 7 years of wisdom back in Malaysia as Christian.
Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! It means Happy New Year in Japanese...
Anyways I know most of your guys have a new year resolution and I'm gonna share mine to you...
Firstly:- Further train my manga art skills. I'm planning to draw and make doujin manga and at the same time put my manga artwork to use as when there's opportunity I'll open manga class in church and make disciples! I'm more than willing to teach others on drawing manga not just for leisure but also to be able to outreach towards people through manga! And the lesson I give is absolutely free!
Secondly:- Manga ministry! I not sure whether this ministry has existed or not but I'm planning to glorify God more through manga arts! I love to watch anime and I'm for sure an otaku although I do have other interest besides anime/manga. There are a lot of ways to portray on God speaking to the person through anime he watch and manga he reads. Do it in a godly manner and you'll see what I'm trying to say. I'm not trying to make fame or name for it, but I want to glorify God more as all the manga art skills that I accquired is all from Him and all the manga arts that you guys viewed is actually His work! He's the source of inspiration that makes me want to keep on drawing manga all the way!
Thirdly:- Bucking up on what I'm lacking! Ok ok! I admit I'm just plain lazy. Haven't been going for ninjitsu training and embarrassingly I've grown weaker than before and I sucked badly! Oh yeah I wanted to try something new... COSPLAYING! Seeing my Comic Fiesta friends enter cosplay competition somehow inspires me to try out cosplaying as it can be fun although expensive. Most importantly... JESUS! OMG! I haven't been spending time with God lately and I've lost my bible! *sob... talk about being committed to God and yet I ended up losing my bible which is my most valuable possession! Oh well what's done is done! Need to get myself a new bible and start a new journey in Christ as I go off to Japan, I feel secure as God is with me all the time!
I pray that these new year resolution is not made up just for attention purposes, but out of sincerity as God looks at the heart of man. Fancy words are useless if the person has no heart to do it.
It's been a while since I last blog and I've got something to show you.
Tada! my latest artwork for Christmas!
I call it "Good News of Peace"
The character you see is wearing the Armor of God and of course it represents that she is ready to fight for peace and spread the Good News of the coming of the Kingdom of God. The color picked is of course the Christmas color and I believe it can show the viewers and readers the true meaning of Christmas. Well then ENJOY! ;)
