Valleys VS Mountains

I think today was really a powerful day. Well, at least I know that not everything was what I'd expected of today. Hahaha. I had expected for the day to actually be one where I shall wake up at 7:30am to spend some time with God, take my time to reach Nexus at 10am, take care of 2 Hope Brisbane people before Uni service, go for Uni service, go to my aunt's place then go home. Things turned out to differ afterall.

Woke up at 9am to realise I have less than an hour to reach Nexus. Rushed out to meet Tracy to travel down and coincidentally bumped into Huiying and Shuzhen along the way. Reached nexus slightly before 10am to find out later that I need to go with Shimin to Youth service. There was only 1 Hope Brisbane brother. Had to go back to RELC for briefing by Eng How. Travelled a long way down to Tampines to my aunt's place where there wasn't really much people left upon my arrival. Wondering why I said it was a really powerful day?

It was pretty divine how I suddenly woke up at 9am and had enough time to prepare to rush out. Amazingly I felt quite refreshed from my sleep. Think God wanted to give me as much rest as I could.

Youth Service was amazing! Really. The message preached was "The Shepherd who sees me through my valleys". It was on Psalm 23:4.

Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Do you know that a shepherd would bring his sheep to graze on the lush green grass at different parts of the mountain in different seasons? And in those times where the freshest grass is at the summit of the mountain, the shepherd has to find some way to guide the sheep to "climb" the mountain. And because all sheep have short legs, it is difficult or even impossible to climb if the slope is too steep. Thus the shepherd needs to find the most gentle path for the sheep up the mountain. And that path, is through the VALLEYS.

Valleys have a purpose. It is for us, His sheep, to reach the mountain tops. Our lowest points of our lives are there, perhaps, for us to reach the highest points where God would have us be. Oh God, you're simply amazing...

After that Trace showed me this video of a letter that was written from the Bush twins to the Obama twins. And one of the most touching scenes of this video was the photo of the twins with their respective Dads and the words that went "Remember who your Dad REALLY is..."

P.S. Dear God, the valleys may be scary... so help me to always remember... who You always are - my dear Daddy. :)