{"id":1565,"date":"2019-01-02T11:11:59","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T03:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/?p=1565"},"modified":"2019-01-02T11:11:59","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T03:11:59","slug":"new-year-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/new-year-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em><strong>One thing<\/strong>\u00a0I ask from the\u00a0Lord,<br \/>\nthis <strong>only<\/strong> do I seek:<br \/>\nthat I may <strong>dwell<\/strong> in the house of the\u00a0Lord<br \/>\nall the days of my life,<br \/>\nto gaze on the <strong>beauty<\/strong> of the\u00a0<strong>Lord<\/strong><br \/>\nand to seek Him\u00a0in His\u00a0temple. ~Ps 27:4 (NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Last week we did a daring thing: camping. It was a wonderful and unforgettable experience for all of us. Our girls love it so much. At the end of the trip, they asked if we could do it again another time. My wife enjoyed the few days of worship and listening to good Bible teachings. At the end of the trip, she fell flat exhausted. I feel refreshed and recharged through the raw and soothing experience of camping and retreat from daily work. After we arrived, the next day I slept the best sleep of\u00a0the whole year.<!--more-->\u00a0What Camping has to do with New Year? I am grateful to God that I was &#8216;forced&#8217; to take leave from Christmas till New Year. We had done many wonderful and great things together as a family (that&#8217;s for another story). One thing that stuck in my mind is this song &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-N6tihSBZow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">You are my Anchor<\/a>&#8221; by Stuart Townend based on Psalm 27. Verse 4 is the favorite verse of a dear sister that went to the Lord last year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">As we enter into another New Year, I am reminded how desperately we need God&#8217;s help. And this Psalm 27 offers me some resolutions to face the uncertainties and challenges that this year might bring.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">I know it well my shortcomings and weaknesses. I am not always loving to my wife, nor I am always wise in dealing with my children. There are moments when I reacted in anger instead of meekness. Or responded coldly because of my tiredness. Often I wonder why these children wake up early during holidays when I wished to wake up a bit later and enjoy my sleep longer. And they wake up late when I work and plan hard for a trip or important events.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Yesterday was another incident God acted in kindness to me. It was New Year day, and there&#8217;s a message from my colleague that the internet isn&#8217;t working. I wanted to rest after the tiring camping days and spend time with my family. I could ignore that &#8216;cry for help&#8217;, for God&#8217;s message that it&#8217;s better for me to help and save the day of others.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">There are almost unending cries for help, cries of need, and I could be overwhelmed by them. There are moments of weaknesses, moments of tiredness, and often moments of helplessness as I often felt the tiredness and futility of running after my two girls and calling them to wait. My only hope is that Jesus has broken into our lives, broke His body, so that our broken lives could be transformed. That&#8217;s the only reason I dare to put my trust, that His Word is true. So I have hope and not in despair.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">2019, <strong>I ask God that I would seek Him, to abide and to gaze upon His beauty<\/strong>. I pray that He would work mightily in and through me, to transform me into His likeness. Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One thing\u00a0I ask from the\u00a0Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the\u00a0Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the\u00a0Lord and to seek Him\u00a0in His\u00a0temple. ~Ps 27:4 (NIV) &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/new-year-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,102,104,52,67],"tags":[201,244,323,334],"class_list":["post-1565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assured","category-holiness","category-hope","category-psalm","category-thankful","tag-hope","tag-new-year","tag-walk-with-god","tag-year-end"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1916,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/thanksgiving-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":0},"title":"Thanksgiving 2021","author":"clay","date":"November 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We just came back from holiday. A nice holiday. Yesterday, had a scare when I called to make doctor appointment, they asked me to go see Emergency. So this morning, post holiday and post scare, we had all our food ready. I just thought to give thanks to God. Thank\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comforted&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comforted","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/comforted\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":478,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/meaning-of-strength\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":1},"title":"Meaning of strength","author":"clay","date":"May 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning as we're doing our devotion, this thing came to mind. How life of David and Saul such a big contrast. At the end of 1 Samuel, Saul is pictured as a man who lost his strength \"Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;1 Samuel&quot;","block_context":{"text":"1 Samuel","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/bible\/1-samuel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":529,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/us-trip-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":2},"title":"US Trip (3)","author":"clay","date":"June 29, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally the day is tomorrow... Update from my last entry on US trip, at the end, managed to get Canon PowerShot A520...with cheapest price.. $488 with 512 mb SD Card + back pack + charger.... And this is really thank God because i met Herry there and he came there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blessedness&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blessedness","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/truth-vs-lies\/blessedness\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":469,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/the-sky-lifted-up-the-veil-removed\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":3},"title":"The sky lifted up, the veil removed","author":"clay","date":"May 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's at most unexpected place and time, but he did it again. This morning as the weather not too hot, and my body also in need for some exercise, so i decided to go for a jog. And this week there're simply a lot of things with exams, paper, plannings,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1209,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/one-week-after-holiday\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":4},"title":"One week after holiday","author":"clay","date":"October 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"TG so much for the holiday i had. Its really very good. Very good in many senses. First, there're 2 public holidays, so i could spend times with my friends. From there, I found out the struggles of people in my age. Finding or getting a soul mate. That's a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Excited&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Excited","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/excited\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1736,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/the-hour\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":5},"title":"The Hour","author":"clay","date":"March 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a mixed of emotions within. Of sadness, of uncertainty, of thanksgivings, and of peace. Even if I cannot make a meaning of all these thoughts and emotions, I think for my sanity, this writing would be a good channel. Who knows God could use it to speak to someone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Calm&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Calm","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/calm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}