Jen Lee's week 16

Dear folks,

as i write this update, i'm having a BIG BIG grin on my face...ear to ear as they say :)

it's because I handed in my last assignment today and I'm DONE for the semester!

Praise the Lord!

and THANK YOU to you too for reading my updates and making this a meaningful exercise for me :)

read on for how the week has been...

1. Playing guitar for lifegroup worship last Fri went pretty well. in fact it went so well that my guitar pick broke :P now it looks like a rainbow-coloured fish head that says Pick Jesus (see attached pick-ture :) haha) Was able to remember most of the chords - thank God :)

For this coming sunday I've been asked to share tesimony during church service (each week they have someone share on the pulpit for 5 mins) about what it means to become a member of a local church.

Even though I don't have any current plans to stay on in Australia, but becoming a member of the church through a process of learning what the church believes in etc has been very helpful. God desires that we seek to bless the place where He has placed us, so to bless systematically through ministry roles in church requires membership because the leaders want to make sure we're on the same page as we serve.
Please pray for me to know what to share and that it will accomplish God's purposes.


2. On Sunday I found out that the person I had prayed for in church two weeks ago actually accepted Christ around that time! I had written about her in my update for week 14 and if you had read it and prayed for her, know that you have played a role in helping someone open her heart to Jesus :)

What a wonderful privilege to be able to partner with God in salvation, amen? Please pray as we follow up with her and help to build up her spiritual walk with God.


3. I've had a couple of online conversations with friends in singapore this past week. Because of their life circumstances, they feel that God is just having a grand laugh at them as He throws them "born-loser kind of deals". For one of them, I felt I needed to b a listening ear rather than try to say a lot as she comes from a Christian background.

The other friend does not, and we had a more in-depth conversation about how God does not stand apart from our suffering. Suffering is due to man's rebellion towards God, but Jesus came to provide a way out and He can redeem the negative experiences of our lives. After our conversations, I wrote a little to both friends. I hope there will be further conversations...e.g. the second friend does not understand why Jesus' death takes care of the penalty of sin. I'm pondering how to explain that. Please pray for wisdom for me.

Also pray that through the Holy Spirit, they will encounter the reality of God's love, as shown in the life and crucifixion of Jesus. And just as Jesus rose from the grave, victorious over sin and death, we too can have victory no matter what our circumstances. This was what my pastor talked about at the churchwide prayer meeting that I just attended.


4. My last assignment required some stats analysis that was quite intimidating at first, but thank God for my lecturer who was around in school when my coursemates and I were (almost) tearing out hair out trying to figure out Pearson, Spearman and Kendall tau correlation coefficients. She came in and told us how to simplify our analysis and it was a lifesaver.

I completed my research report mon night, it was over 20 pages long and the amazing thing was that I was able to get feedback from 3 people on Mon night itself so I could improve my draft and hand in on tue morning. Really thankful for their help as well as the help of those who participated in my survey. If anyone wants to read the report (entitled "Internet perceptions of mental illness and the stigma towards the mentally ill") just let me know :)

Want to end with happy news about another course - in one of my updates (week 13) I shared about handing in one of my assignments at 4.59pm when it was due at 5pm. That assignment was probably the hardest I had to do this semester, 200+ pages to read and I had a tough time getting my brain around what I needed to do. That's why it ended taking up so long and as I rushed it, I really was not sure of how it would turn out.

Well, I got my grade back on Sunday - i got 47/50 :) and after taking in the grade for my first assignment for this class, my overall grade is a high distinction - woohoo!! really praise God

so that's all from me this week folks...it's been 4 months since I left Singapore...once again, just want to thank God for taking care of me all this while...He is so faithful... also, I know that I've been blessed by your prayers, so thank you too!

In-Christ,
jen lee

p.s. I've a friend visitng from Singapore this fri and we're going to an island resort where we get to feed wild dolphins next mon. Please pray for good weather and a great time enjoying the ocean! Thank you!