Recently one of our relatives lost one of their family members and due to disappointment in Christ, they stopped going to church altogether. I believe in all seasons; we will face trials and tribulations but the recent loss of our relatives made me think why do some people persevere and endure in trials and why some just walk away from God when they are disappointed that God was silent or did not intervene in the eleventh hours of their tribulations.
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In my own life, I believe these are due to my own lack of understanding; I try to figure out God’s ways and I could not produce the faith with my own will as God’s ways are higher than mine. It is in the time like this, our faith is put into practice: whether we keep trusting and persevering or we choose to put the trust in ourselves rather to trust God.
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And actually, Jesus had reminded us about troubles in life, but the most important promise of His is an assurance to us: I have overcome the world (John 16:33). We do not have a ‘silent’ God, He is a God who is acquainted with grief and suffering and even to the point of death. We are called to persevere and endure in this journey of faith because our faith rest in the victory and promise that our Lord has overcome the world. He is a God who gives us victory in the land of the living!

Psalm 27: 13
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

John 16: 33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

- Jenni Wang 

During one of my plane flights, a violent turbulence occurred from bad weather. It caused the plane to lose its altitude in one sharp drop whilst on air. Drinks and foods were spilled on the plane floor and some passengers were visibly nervous. The silence that followed was uncomfortable until two kids giggled loudly and yelled, “yeah, again! Do it again!”

The Bible reminds us to receive the Kingdom of Heaven like a little child (Mark 10:15). Children are fearless, they are bold in asking and highly expectant, they are receptive to any changes and have an unrivalled sense of wonder; they believe in magic and miracles, they laugh and have full joy in daily life.

As adult, life throws us challenges and issues that could defeat us and most of us could relate to Jeremiah in his anguish yet he has hope.

“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.

Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentation 3: 19 – 23)

Jeremiah finds comfort in the Lord’s unfailing love every morning; nothing will be able to consume us. This is where we could embrace a childlike expectation that the Lord’s mercies and love are new every morning, fresh for our weary soul to receive. We could ask boldly without fear knowing God’s goodness and faithfulness is ever-flowing and with that renewed faith, we wait in expectation daily for our miracles; for the good He will do next in our lives.

- Irene Soon 

When we are faced with an unfavourable situation, the thought that is often the loudest in our mind tends to be why.

Life is like being in a boat and when we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, we can and should be assured that we have him in the boat with us.
At times we think that having Jesus, the sail would be easy. Then the waves hit, the storm rages, we think this should not be happening. Jesus is in us, with us and for us but why is this happening? Everything is against me, I am overwhelmed, why Lord, why?
 
Remember what Jesus says in John 16: 33
"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth
you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have
overcome the world.”
 
Yes, we have trials and sorrows but His promise is that He has overcome the world for us. This is where our faith in Him and His promises matters. Our faith in Him navigates through the waves and storm of our life. We are never alone and we have Him in the boat with us. It means that even though the storm hit, it will not sink our boat.

- Annie Pisca

Dear blessed ones,
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Today Hopeful Heart turns 10 years old. (Facebook page Link)

A decade of journeying in faith and trusting in the Lord daily. We would like to humbly lift praises to the Lord for His grace to sustain this milestone and we are truly grateful of your being with us in this journey to encourage each other.

A powerful reminder for us is found in Zechariah 4: 6 – “Not by might, not by power but by the Spirit of the Lord.” It is the Lord who prepares you for the journey and it is also He who equips you for the journey. The success of any journey is not made through our strength and sheer will alone.

The Lord promises He will never leave nor forsake us (Deut 31: 8). This is a promise He spoke before the Israelites were to cross Jordan river without Moses as their leader. Essentially, the Lord is assuring them that all will be well and a change of leader will not affect their success; it is the Lord that goes before them. This also displays the Lord’s willingness to be involved in their journey actively; this promise still applies to us today.

The Israelites made it to their promised land and witnessed the fall of the Jericho wall through shouting praise to the Lord. Dear blessed ones, the Lord is faithful to His Words and His Omniscience assures us to not fear or be discouraged. He wants to be actively involved in our own journey too.
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We give the glory and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ who sustains us daily and we hope this community of faith will continue to help you to fix your gaze to the One who is the light of the world. Amen. 

Deuteronomy 31: 8
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

- Hopeful Heart Team

The human eyes is an extraordinary creation. No camera could replicate its complexities in size and functions. Human retina contains over 130 million light sensitive cells and it is able to differentiate approximately 10 million different colours. The eyes muscles could move 100.000 times a day making it the fastest muscle group in our body.

These facts are just a fraction of the many good creation the Lord has gifted our eyes and Charles Darwin wrote in his book of evolution, “to suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection (evolution), I freely confess absurd in the highest degree.” To say that the dubbed Father of Evolution himself admit to such finding could very well add to the truth that we are not merely a product of evolution but we have a mighty Creator who creates good thing around us, within us and for us.
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All good things in life comes from God and He freely gives us so we could serve and be a blessing to others. Let us give thanks to our Creator for He is a good God.
 
1 Timothy 4: 4
Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.

- John W.

Most of us may have come across the famous poem of “footprints in the sand”, the timeless words penned by Margaret Fishback brings of Christ’s saving grace in times of trial.
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“One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
 
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
 
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."
 
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
 
This poem painted a hope that God is always near when we are in need. He promises in His Word that
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” (Isaiah 43: 2 – 3). The encouragement for today is – The Lord is closer than you think, He is always with you.

- Irene Soon

​In one old movie, I watched a story about a shrewd businessman who eagerly helped to restore a nunnery which was damaged during the WWII. When asked why he did it, the unbelieving businessman simply said, “just in case!” It made me ponder aren’t we all like this businessman at some point?

We do things for God because of “just in case” too. If you were asked, “what would you willingly do for God without any ‘repayment’?” Would you have done it whole heartedly?

The businessman wanted to do good just in case there is a God and he believed his good deeds would earn him an eternal place in Heaven. That was his insurance – his good deeds would not go unrewarded.
Let us cultivate a steward heart out of gratitude for the abundant forgiveness, favor, grace and mercy that God has provide us daily. A “just in case” mentality fosters a calculative mindset with God where our bitterness grow and we say things such as, “after all I have done for You, God”, “I tithed every week and now I’m unemployed!”, “Didn’t I serve you well, why I have to endure this?” The list goes on.

Can we trust the One who loves us? Just as Satan needed God’s permission to test Job, he is unable to test you without the Almighty God not being in control. The One who loves you will have the final say and you do not need fear and resort to a “just in case” mentality.   
 
Job 1: 9-12
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

- John W.

John 3:16
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
 
Have you ever pondered on this passage? Imagine if it were you sacrificing for your loved ones. What would you want your loved ones to see and gain from your sacrifices for them?
 
Jesus sacrificed His life for us, He sacrificed willingly for us to gain hold of the promise of salvation, healing, peace, provision and abundant joy. In doing so, He demonstrated an incomprehensible love to us as a loving Father, Saviour and a Friend. This is what the Father and His Son want us to see. They gave the best treasure of Heaven and held nothing back to gift us eternal salvation.
 
Equipped with this knowledge, will you press on when the devil is trying to bring you down? Fix our eyes on our loving Saviour continually; fully trusting in Him. How can He who gave up his one and only Son gives conditional love and withheld anything that is good for us? Trust and continually seek His face
 
Romans 8:32
He who did not spare His own son but deliver Him up for us a. How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.

- Annie Pisca

In ancient Israel, there is a clear distinction between a good shepherd and a hired hand. A hired hand only goes as far as tending to the needs of the sheep for the day.

A good shepherd tends to his sheep above what is required of his duties. He enjoys the time spent with his sheep and he answers to the faintest cry of each lamb. He comforts each lamb and knows their livelihood depends solely on his protection and provision. A good shepherd has deep knowledge for each of his sheep’s characters and his care is faithfully abiding.
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In John 10: 14 – 27 Jesus refers Himself as the Good Shepherd, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me…” Just like the sheep, we are able to place our helpless self to the capable care of our Good Shepherd, Jesus. How wonderful it is to know that we are not sheep with shepherd and with The Good Shepherd beside us, we are no longer helpless. We are able to rest in the promise of His sustaining care in each trial and season we face.

The Lord knows our livelihood depends solely on his protection, love and provision. Try our Good Shepherd, he is faithfully abiding.

John 10: 14 - 16
I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

- Irene Soon

Do you wake up with a heavy feeling; constantly worrying about things? Do you feel alone with your thoughts as if no one is there for you? No one understands you?

​Have you stopped for a second and think that these thoughts would make us susceptible to the devil’s lies? We tend to trust our heart conditions and let it dictate our feelings.
 
Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, who can understand it. Our loving Father knows of our human trait and when we do not guard our hearts, it magnifies our problem to the point of exhaustion. In Deuteronomy 30:6, God assures us that He will never leave you nor forsake you. He also says that not to worry, He will take good care of you (Matthew 6:26-30). The Word of our Lord uphold the highest credibility as He is a God who doesn’t lie. When He assures us that He will never, He stands by His words to never forsake us.
 
If we human could place our utmost trust to one or few people in our lives to never forsake us and to always be there for us when we are in the lowest valleys, how much more have we belittled our Lord who is capable of an everlasting and consistent care upon us. He loves you so very much, dear friends. Let us reset and trust a little more in our Lord.
 
John 3:16
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

- Annie Pisca