Just to inform you all that gue skarang taruh a new page link di atas. Yaitu ‘How I met my Two Lovers’. Those postings yang paling banyak dibaca sama pembaca blog gue. Please have a read if you haven’t done so. 🙂
Perfect and Sovereign Will
How are you guys during this Covid situation? Pada naik semua berat badannya? kwkwkw. For our family, things have been interesting. Not easy, but Tuhan selalu menyertai. Sebetulnya gue banyak kerjaan (as usual) but I want to use this time to encourage you guys, mo cerita what God has been doing in our lives, how God show His faithfulness. And I hope my testimonies nguatin kalian yg imannya lagi butuh dikuatin.
Well, I’m not saying that my faith is strong. My faith and my walk with God juga sering banget diserang. Gue sometimes masih worry a lot. Takut gini takut gitu, takut kedepannya gimana. Tuhan masih dealing with me in that area, until today. Tapi Tuhan itu keren lah ya cara kerjaNya, ada aja mukjijat2 yg Dia lakuin buat gue. Gue mo cerita beberapa mukjijat dan revelation yg gue dapet recently and last year.
As you guys know, two years ago, we moved church (our home church for almost 20 yrs) and karena itu, si G juga resign dari kerja di gereja. Karena emang ga bisa kerja di gereja yg bersangkutan kalo dah pindah gereja kan. So, for a while, our family cuma single income, yaitu cuma saya alias daku seorang. Salah satu reason kenapa gue delay begitu lama untuk pindah gereja (padahal Tuhan uda ngomong berkali2), ya karena gue worry kalo G resign, then our income gimana. Gue selalu bilang ke G, pindah gerejanya kalo dah dapet kerja baru aja. And ternyata G ga dapet2 kerja laen hahaha. Sampe Tuhan akhirnya kasih ultimatum yg lumayan keras, baru akhirnya gue berani ambil langkah iman untuk pindah gereja.
The first few months berat karena income jadi menurun drastis. There was one Friday pas lagi dikantor, gue baru inget kalo we didn’t have enough to pay rent. Kurang $650an. And we needed to pay the rent on the following Monday. Wah gue panik donk. Soalnya kalo rent telat, kita kena denda perhari sampe kita bayar full. Gue mikir2 cari jalan keluar. Gimana kalo gue pinjem dari sini, dari sono. Gimana kalo gue minta advance salary dari kantor gue. Gue bilang ama boss gue aja lah, kalo gue mo ambil salary dulu.
Ini smua terjadi pas lagi di kantor. Gue uda mau samperin boss di ruangannya yang tempatnya cuma di sebelah ruangan gue doank. Tapi tiba2 ada suara in my heart yg bilang, “Those who wait for the Lord, will not be put to shame.” Suaranya jelas banget! Trus somehow gue jadi diingatkan. Boss gue itu orang Kristen, dan dia tau G itu pastor (disclaimer: sekarang G uda ga jadi pastor lagi ya, karena dah pindah dari gereja yg ordained dia). Jadi kalo ada temen atau client kita yg Kristen, Boss gue itu suka ngenalin gue as a pastor’s wife ke mereka.
Nah kalo gue samperin boss gue and bilang gue mo ambil advance salary karena ga bisa bayar rent, what do u think he will think? It’s not about saving face, but dimanakah posisi kita sebagai hamba Tuhan yg melayani Tuhan dengan setia di ladangNya. Masa sepertinya Tuhan yang kita layani ga bisa mencukupi our needs? Kalo gue begitu, I didn’t show that God is a supernatural God who can do supernatural provision! I’m not condemning anyone here kalo one of u ada yg harus pinjem or ambil salary dulu. Kalo memang Tuhan ga ngomong apa2 ke kalian, ya go ahead. Jgn follow my conviction. Pokoknya yg jelas Tuhan ngomong gitu ke gue, that gue ga boleh berbuat apa2 selain nunggu Dia move.
He was dealing with me.
The voice that said ‘Those who wait for the Lord, will not be put to shame” semakin kenceng and I really couldn’t ignore it! So gue ga jadi deh samperin si Boss dan gue harus pegang kuat2 perkataan Tuhan tadi. I must not do anything else other than waiting for God to move. Ya deg2an donk gue. Gimana kalo sampe Senin, nothing happened??? But yah gue stop semua imagination gue and ambil keputusan, “I will not do anything because He told me so!” Susah bgt ambil keputusan itu, but ya gue nekad aja lah! Pokoknya Tuhan yg bakal beresin.
Nah itu kan hari Jumat. And after pulang kerja, gue and G ada persekutuan sama salah satu family yg kita uda layani selama beberapa tahun. Ya kita sharing, worship seperti biasa dll. Sehabis persekutuan selesai, and out of the blue, mereka wanna bless us. You know how much they gave us?
$700!
Pas buat bayar sisa rent yang kurang for Monday!
Waktu gue tau jumlahnya, oh my God! It’s not about gue dapet duit, but it’s more like oh my Lord! The amount is exactly what we need! And padahal baru tadi siangnya gue sempat panik, mo cari jalan gimana bisa bayar rent. Eh a few hours later at night, Tuhan supply what we needed, pas lagi amountnya! No wonder Tuhan kasih gue ayat itu. Coba kalo gue used my own wisdom and ways, I might miss this wonderful work of God happening in my life!
This was just one miracle among many supernatural things that God had done in our family. Tuhan emang luar biasa dan setia.
These past few weeks berturut2, gue juga alamin beberapa hal yg sepertinya sepele banget. But I know semuanya ini kerjaanNya.
- Gue tiba2 pingin makan kueh tutu. Tiba2 a few days later, temen kantor gue bawain kueh tutu ke kantor. Padahal for the past 5-6 taon gue dikantor ga ada yg pernah bawa kueh tutu.
- Gue lagi ngidam makan risoles and didnt tell anyone. And di spore kan ga gampang cari risoles. But about one week later, someone kasih kita risoles.
- Gue lagi pingin makan lemper, and few days later, ada yg ngirimin lemper ke rumah.
Luar biasa ya Tuhan! huHAuAUHA dan smuanya ttg makanan! kwkwk He knows His daughter well. Padahal ini smua kan sepele ya, hal2 yg kayak ga penting bgt gitu loh. But He was saying to me, yg kecil2 aja Aku perhatiin, apalagi yg besar.
Terus kemaren ada satu lagi kejadian. Sepertinya coincidence, but I dont believe in coincidence.
Kita kan baru buka cafe about 3 bulan yg lalu. Buka cafe dijaman Covid gini luar biasa challengenya. Yah kita ga tau kalo bakal ada pandemic, pas uda buka, eh pandemic terjadi.
Gue biasanya yg bayar2 para driver yg do our deliveries. Yesterday I was supposed to transfer $16 ke salah satu adhoc driver. Kan gue transfer ke hp number and ternyata salah pencet nomer, jadi malah ke transfer ke orang yg namanya Jerry Tan. Pas gue sadar kalo itu salah, I couldnt track back nomer telpnya to get a refund from him. Yah sudah lah, anggep aja our cafe bless that Jerry Tan. Gue ga tau sapa tuh orangnya. Yah sapa tau mungkin dia lagi butuh duit kali. So I let it go. Then sorenya, ada customer yg order makanan dari cafe kita sebanyak $100, seumur2 cuma sekali aja ada orang yg order segitu banyak dari cafe kita. And this was the second time and guess what his name was,.. Jerry Tan! And dia bukan the first Jerry Tan yg gue salah transfer. This second Jerry Tan uda lama follow our cafe and pingin order but baru kmaren pertama kali dia order. To me, it was amazing! From all days, knapa baru kmaren this second Jerry Tan order dari kita, after gue ‘lost’ money to the first Jerry Tan. And of all names, knapa namanya bisa sama! Why not Jerry Tang, or Jerry Lee.
I dont believe in coincidence. Mungkin ini ga make sense bagi kalian, but to me saat itu God sepertinya kayak ngomong ke gue, “I’m always watching over you. What you think u lost is not comparable to what I’m giving you.”
Tuhan pake orang yg namanya sama to ‘return’ the money, dan jumlahnya lebih banyak! Tuhan used the same name so that I noticed! Kalo namanya beda kan gue pasti ga notice!
He is showing me that He pays attention even to the small unimportant things. He wants me to trust Him for the BIG ONES. That He is preparing and doing something.
Trus ayat ‘Those who trust in the Lord will be joyful’ slalu kena ke gue.
During this COVID situation, banyak yg lose their job, financial crisis etc.
You know what, this is actually the perfect time to see what our faith is made of.
We will see our true character and the true anchor of our faith. Apa our security bergantung sama our finance, our career, our asset?
Trust in Him means 100% trust in His character. That He is faithful.
Di ayat yg bilang, those who trust in the Lord will be JOYFUL, joyful means a state of mind that is full of joy, resting, peaceful, hopeful and bebannya ringan.
A state of mind that is full of PEACE.
Trus Tuhan bukain… PEACE is a weapon of spiritual warfare. For all we know, in the world, yg namanya war is full of chaos. Weapon of war should be yg kayak pedang or gun, anything that bring chaos in the world. But then the Word said,…
For though we live in the world, we do not WAGE WAR as the world does.
Jadi kita berperang gak seperti how the world does war. War in the world biasanya full of action, quick, etc. Tapi kita berperang dengan our weapon of war yang sepertinya foolish kalo diliat orang dunia, weapon yg quiet and gentle, yaitu PEACE.
Sangat kontradiksi kan? Perang kok malah kita ga berbuat apa2 sepertinya. But…
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. PEACE has divine power to tear strongholds!
PEACE means kita trust 100% in God for every area of our lives. And that is such a powerful spiritual weapon.
Now is the best time to exercise our faith! To grow deeper and cling to God even more! It’s not about proving our faith to the world, it will make you tired after a while. Karena sepertinya harus show the world that your faith is strong etc. But it is not about that. It is about seeking Him even more. The more we spend time with God, people will see the fruits. Peace and joy will come naturally, and we do not need to prove our faith to the world. They will see it without us need to prove it!
The faith that we have and the action that we do should be the fruits from spending time with Him, listening and doing His Word.
You know what, when I was writing this blog, tiba2 si Lyon (skarang uda umur 5 taon) samperin gue and bilang gini…
Lyon: Mommy, just now God talked to me. He said live The Word everyday. The Word is here. And the evil bad guy also talked to me, he said Kill The Word. But I dont want to listen to him. I listen to God only.
Wow, from the mouth of a little one!
Pas banget, during my saat teduh tadi, gue dapetnya that God is always here with me. And saat Lyon bilang, “The Word is here” Wah gue merinding disko banget! Do you know that The Word refers to JESUS?
THE WORD IS HERE! JESUS IS HERE! JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US! HE NEVER LEAVE NOR FORSAKE US! NEVERRRRRR!!
That is the PEACE. He is the Prince of PEACE.
PEACE is always with us. In us. So that’s what make us JOYFUL everyday. Karena Prince of Peace walking with us everyday. That is amazionggggg! When you know and sadar kalo the Prince of Peace is always with you, everything changes. The way we see the world is different, the way we handle challenges is different. Our part is just to be concious of Him in everything.
We are never alone.
So, bagaimana keadaan imanmu sekarang? 🙂
Hi all,
Long time haven’t updated my blog ya.
There are drastic changes in our life for the past few weeks, one of the things is we move church.
The reason I wrote this blog is to clarify, to avoid rumors and assumptions, because people may jump into conclusions before hearing the true story from us. Because there are people we haven’t gotten the chance to tell them why.
So it all started from 4 years ago. We received a prophecy from a prophet, when he prayed for us, he said… “you will get out from IFGF.” Of course I was shocked, never in my life we thought we would move church. G had been in this church for 20 years, I had been in for 13 years. I actually laughed when I heard that, and didn’t believe it.
As years gone by, a number of pastors and prophets said things that basically sound the same. That is we are sent out, we have to get out etc. Last year, one of the prophets came back to us and asked, “why are u still in the church? why are u delaying?” I was shocked when I heard that, because I knew I didn’t want to go, I hadn’t received it from the Lord, and actually I hardened my heart from receiving it. This is my home church, and I didn’t want to leave, I love the people here, they are family.
Three months ago, another prophet came to our church, and he prayed for G,.. “they are waiting for you… these group of people waiting for you.” and when this prophet prayed for me, he prayed for strength. At that time, God spoke strongly to me that I was the one holding G back. I was the one that was delaying. God told me to be strong and let go.
Four weeks ago, I felt strongly that God said to me, “If I delay some more, there will be more consequences..”
So yeah, that’s the final say. So we have decided to move.
It was a shocking news for some people. But not so for others. They already know that we will be sent out anyway.
One of the leaders asked me, “I’m concerned about this. Seems like you guys are in the rush, unstable condition u are going to. You still haven’t found a new job, still unsure which church u are going to, are you guys ok?” (FYI, G also quit his job in the church)
I replied, “I also have no idea where we should go. But one thing I know, I was scared at that time, I had worries about a lot of things. But God showed me the cloud in Elijah story. You know when Elijah prayed for rain. There was not a single cloud in the sky. But for the 7th time they checked, they saw a very tiny cloud as small as our fist. God had shown me that small cloud, He had shown me a glimpse of His promise. The promise of rain.”
When I received that from Him, I felt peace and we know this is the right decision. God will be our provider and will show us the way. Two weeks ago, while I was worshiping in church, I saw that small cloud now is soooo bigggg and so nearrr that I can touch it! Wah haleluyah!! Amen for that!
And it’s true, God had shown us glimpses of His promise to us. There are a few doors that are opened, that we never thought they would be opened for us. Through basketball for example. It was initially a hobby, but through this hobby, somehow God connects us to this Christian sports organisation which primary ministry is to reach out to local and international schools in Singapore. For now, they have 25 schools under their care. They are official organisation that can come to these schools, to coach, mentor and impart values. Can be in secular setting or Christian. But the values are biblical values. And last week, G started to be involved in one of their sports programmes, as a volunteer coach/mentor for one secondary school. After that session, few of them contacted G and shared a bit about their struggle and fear. When I saw the chats, wow it brings joy to me, God give us souls! And they want to meet up regularly for training with G. So it started just because G has a passion for basketball, but God reveal to us to see beyond the hobby! Souls start to come and they are so precious! And it is one of our calling to reach out to the youth and young generation. And this is not all, this is just a beginning. God also opens ways to the government! Will update later when it’s time 🙂
And in another divine appointment, we got to know this Apostle in Australia who already has a bible school there. And he has a vision to open in Southeast Asia, and this school is for believers that have a calling in mission field. To empower them, so they don’t just go to places to plant churches and spread Gospel, but to build the community, build resources, build ‘wells’. To equip the community with skills etc. And his ministry already opened safe houses in India for women and children, who were saved from abuse & injustice.
Oh wow! And when he shared that, something inside of G and I clicked! And to cut the story short, the bible school application already in process. A few obstacles because not easy for Singapore government to approve. G and I will teach the one year course. It is a part time course btw, to make it accessible for people who work full time. The school is not established yet but like what God showed me about the cloud, it is there and it is coming!
And no coincidence, 6 years ago I blogged about “What I want To Do Before 40 Years Old“. In that post, the last point, I wrote about Human Trafficking. Deep down in my heart, I always feel that I will go to that area. I dunno how, but I know I will serve there somehow. I had no connection, I had no clue how to get there, but I know God will place me there somehow.
And!!! I got to meet this Apostle who has opened safe houses in India! And he saw our calling is the same as his vision. And the thing is I’m turning 40 in a month’s time!! HAuhuHUAHa So it is somehow fulfilled!! Not there yet, but God has opened the way! He has shown the cloud!
There are few other things that God opened! Once we stepped out in faith and move like what He ordained us to do, things are happening!!
We know for sure, this is not the wrong decision. People are hurt because it seemed we made rush decision, but we prayed over this for so long. Some might be offended why we never told them earlier, for that, we want to apologize. It was hard for us to come to this decision. We didn’t tell because I had not received it until 4 weeks ago. I didn’t want to open my heart, but once I did, God gave me peace, showed me the cloud and opened doors.
Another thing that we received is, the next church we are going to, will be our training ground, where we will be trained and equipped in area where we haven’t be trained before. We have a church in mind, it is small one. The reason was, the founder of the church was the first prophet that so specific saying we were to go out of IFGF. I was just being curious, so I thought of visiting his church. You know all along, most of the prophecies from different prophets/pastors, they say almost the same thing:
“I see you doing unusual thing with unusual people. Places where people dun want to go, God will send you there. Places where people are disgusted to go, you will go there. You are called for the outcasts, people who are different and rejected. The broken.”
Always like that. From different pastors. And when I checked the church’s website, I found out it is located in Geylang (red-district in Spore), and they wrote, we are surrounded by prostitutes, loan sharks and drug dealers.
WHOAH!! Our calling!!! That can be it! That can be where God wants us to go. Maybe. So we want to go this church and see. 🙂
So yeah, sorry for the long post. I just feel that I need to write all this to avoid any assumptions. We know for sure God has given us a new season in a new home church.
I always hold on to His promise to me in 2016,
“The things that you have sown, there will be a reaping. Much fruit to come, some fruits have been overdue, this is the day that it will come forth. You have worked secretly and you have been doing things that others may not know but I’ve seen the work of your hand. I’m going to give seasons in your life and the fruits will come. The fruits are going to bear fruits and you will know BY SWEETNESS OF THE FRUITS, YOU WILL KNOW IT IS I WHO HAVE PROVIDED FOR YOU.
Do not fear, says The Lord. I know the things that you do. Do not fear man, do not fear what they say about you. Do not fear what intimidates you, but as you begin to spend time in prayer, in worshiping Me, your spiritual senses will be more opened up.”
So, thank you Jesus!
Thank you for the people who support us and release us with blessings. Means a lot to us. It is a new season for our family and we are excited with what God has done and will be doing!
As you guys know, gue uda teriak2 happy di FB kalo Aiden is accepted in Singapore primary school. Mungkin most of you yg bukan penduduk di Spore kagak tau gimana sulitnya and ribetnya process masuk local primary skul disini buat foreigners (gue udah permanent resident disini tapi G and the kids masih foreigners karena ditolak PR applicationnya *udah ditolak tiga kali bok*).
Let me cerita ya ttg pendaftaran skul disini. Sekalian kasih gambaran buat parents yg mao daftarin anaknya (foreigner) masuk Primary 1. Sekalian juga I wanna share how ridiculous the system is sebenernya wkkwkwkw but ya justified sih karena of coz Spore government lebih mentingin Singaporean. Apalagi system pendidikan disini competitive buangetttt.
Sebenernya gue sih pingin Aiden di christian school/homeschooling. But ya of coz gue masih belon siap karena gue masih kerja fulltime. And Tuhan masih belon bener2 ngomong dengan jelas sih kalo He wants me to homeschool Aiden. Belon ada strong conviction for that. Cuma my heart desires aja that I want Aiden to be schooled secara kristen. Apalagi sebenernya gue ga suka banget system edukasi nya Spore. Emang bagus academically (top 10 in the whole world), but I’m worried it will be too much pressure for him. Ini aja di kindergarten uda ada test English ama Chinese tiap minggu coba. Masih TK enol besar gitu lho *sebenernya maminya yg stress setiap ada test wkkwkwkw*.
Tapi karena Tuhan belon bener2 ngomong ttg homeschool, gue daftarin dulu ke local primary school. Kalo jalan itu ketutup, ya berarti emang Aiden arahnya ga kesana wkwkkw.
Nah jlimetnya system pendaftaran primary skul itu kayak gini.
Sebelon tgl pendaftaran, Ministry of Education Singapore (MOE) kuarin daftar sekolah2 primary dan how many seats available for Primary 1 (SD kelas 1) in that skul.
Jadi misalnya, (contoh) Sambel Primary School buka 150 available seats for that year.
Pendaftaran dibagi dalam 3 Phases.
Phase 1, misalnya Agustus: pendaftaran cuma dibuka buat Sporean kids. Jadi orang tua Sporeans berbondong2 register their kid to their preferred skul (cuma boleh register ke satu skul). Misalnya Sambel Primary Skul ini sangat famous, pasti banyak yg mo register. Dan ke filled up deh vacancy nya, alias no more empty space in that skul. Dan MOE yg bakal milih sapa yg masuk, salah satu kriterianya adalah mereka yg tinggal less than 1km from the skul. Smakin jauh rumah loe dari sekolah itu, smakin kecil your chance to get into that skul. Ga sedikit ortu yg beli rumah deket skolah bagus even before anaknya lahir for this reason.
Trus misalnya 150 seats itu udah keambil, dan yang daftar padahal 200 kids. So 50 sisanya akan dilempar ke Phase 2.
Phase 2: Pendaftaran buat Singaporean kids yg belon dapet skul (sisa Phase 1 tadi) & juga yg udah Permanent Resident. Mereka akan daftar ke skolah yg masih ada vacancy. (MOE akan nguarin daftar baru skolah yg mana yg masih ada spot).
Nah kalo semua Sporean kids and PR udah dapet spot, MOE will issue another list of schools yg masih ada vacancy buat Phase 3. Phase 3 ini buat para foreigners (Aiden). Nah in this Phase for this year, kita ga dikasih tau ada berapa seats of vacancy in that skul. Jadi kalo misalnya, Terasi Primary School sebenernya cuma ada 30 seats left, tapi 100-200 orang yg register kesana, ya the rest bakal dilempar ama MOE ke sekolah lain yg masih ada vacancy. MOE will make the decision for us which school our kid should go to regardless loe register/tinggal dimana. And this decision is final. No appeal allowed.
Ga sedikit yg dilempar jauhhhh banget lokasinya dari rumahnya. Malah yg ridiculous, ada yg anak pertamanya di skolah X, misalnya. Anak keduanya diregister ke sekolah yg sama donk biar gampang. Eh ama MOE, anak keduanya dilempar ke skolah Y yg lokasinya jauh.
Ada lagi kasus yg twins. Parentsnya daftarin mereka disatu skolah, sebut aja skolah K. Eh MOE lemparin satu twin ke skolah X, twin yg satu lagi ke skolah Y, yg lokasinya berjauhan. Kagak make sense kan. Gimana ortunya mo jemput/anterin mereka kalo jaraknya jauh2 gitu.
Nah jadi setelah registrasi Phase 3, kita masih harus nunggu selama 2 bulan buat hasilnya. Gue kan ikutan FB group Parents for foreigner kids di spore skul. Nah dari pengalaman2 mereka bertaon2, ternyata normalnya every yearly intake hampir 80-90% foreigner kids ga dapet local skul di Spore. Most of them harus ambil international skul (kalo duit mencukupi) atau homeskul. Or some anak ambil lagi kindergarten sambil private tuition, nunggu next year register lagi buat Primary 2 (SD kelas 2).
Nah for us, international skul udah pasti ga mungkin. Harganya per bulan $1500-$2000 (kira2 15-20 jt/bulan). Gile bok.
Sebelon Phase 3, gue itu agak2 dilema Aiden mo diregisterin ke skolah mana. Karena cuma boleh register ke satu skolah. Kalo ga dapet, bakal dilempar ke skolah mana pun ama MOE, bisa jauh banget lokasinya. Jadi sepertinya kayak gambling milih skolahnya kwkwkw.
Trus gue tanya Aiden: which skul u want to go?
Aiden: Nearest to home…
Gue: Have three choices, Jing Shan primary, Mayflower primary or Townsville Primary.
Aiden: Oh I WANT MAYFLOWER!!!
Gue: Why???
Aiden: Because I like flowers!!!!
So yah gue jadi register ke Mayflower haha. Karena gue ga bisa mutusin, jadi gue let Aiden choose hahaha. And somehow ada a little voice keep talking to me, “just ask Aiden and follow what he wants” kwkwkwk.
On that day of registration, ternyata ada kira2 200+ an foreigners yg daftar di Mayflower. Wah banyak saingan! So kalo vacancy nya cuma 10, piye rek kwkwkwk. But yah gue daftar aja, kalo ga dapet, ntar aja dipikirin wkkwkw.
So makanya gue deg2an pas udah memasuki bulan November, karena hasilnya akan dikasih tau bulan ini. Tiap ari gue cek mailbox karena MOE bakal mail the letter of acceptance or rejection. Di FB group yg tadi gue bilang, udah mulai banyak yg update their registration status. Ada yg ditelp skolahnya, ada yg dah terima MOE letter. Almost 60-70% are rejection letters (jadi ga dapet skul sama skali). The rest are accepted tapi dilempar kesekolah laen. Ya of coz gue deg2an donk! Dari about 100-200 parents yg digroup itu, hampir semuanya dilempar ke skolah lain. Paling cuma satu, dua yg dapet their skul of choice.
Trus gue bilang sama Aiden..
“Aiden, u know what. What if you dont get into Mayflower? What if God want u to be in other skul?”
Maksudnya supaya dia ga kecewa kalo ga dapet. Preparing him for the worst lah.
Aiden: I only want Mayflower!!!
Me: But how about another skul?
Aiden: NO!! I only like Mayflower!!
Me: Why?
Aiden: Because I like flowers!!!
*ngotot aja dia*
Trus kalo kita lagi naek bus, and ngelewat skulnya. Dia selalu bilang, Mommy!! Thats my skul!! wkwkkwkwk.. so ya wes loh. Gue sih agak concerned kalo dia ga masuk, ntar dia jadi heartbroken…but ada little voice yg bilang ke gue ‘that is the faith of the little one, just wait and see’ wkwkwkwk yo wes.
Gue nunggu tiap hari for the result. Kmaren tiba2 gue liat tanggalan, wah udah mau deket December nih, setau gue bentar lagi ada skul orientation. Kayaknya hari ini bakal dapet kabar, kayaknya hari ini gue bakal ditelp skulnya.
Trus jam makan siang gitu, tiba2 ada nomer tak dikenal masuk. Wah gile gue deg2an banget, mungkin ini dia!!
Ternyata telpon salah sambung! Nanya apa gue ini National Geology Analyst… kwkwkw apa lah..
Sehabis gue tutup, ada telpon tak dikenal lagi masuk. Gue uda mikir wah ini orang salah sambung lagi kayaknya. Pas gue angkat, gue uda mo bilang, “wrong number again.”
Eh ternyata suara ditelpon agak2 beda. Ternyata dari Mayflower and Aiden diterima!!! Gile gue ga nyangka bangetttt!!! Sampe gue nanya beberapa kali, is this really from Mayflower???? U really from Mayflower???? sampe orangnya ketawa wkwkwkwk.
So yeah, there you go. Another chapter in Aiden’s life. Primary School Life. Sebenernya jujur gue ada worry nya, aduh gimana ini skul bukan skolah kristen. Kuatir kalo Aiden diapa2in diskolah, kuatir kalo kena pergaulan jelek, kuatir ini itu wkkwkwk. But yah, I believe this is where God wants him to be right now. Ga smua Christian kids panggilannya harus di Christian skul. Some of them are called to be a sheep in the midst of wolves. Gue kuatir juga, aduh anak gue lembut hatinya gini, dikit2 nangis, ntar kalo dibully di skolah piye kwkwkwk.
Yah namanya juga hati seorang ibu.
But God knows and I can trust Him to take care of my kiddo in the midst of wolves.
And kata2 yg terus mengiang ke gue sampe hari ini adalah…
‘the faith of the little one’
He completely refused other schools, either that is faith or just plain ngotot. If God gives such faith to Aiden to be in Mayflower, God must have a plan for him there. A promise from Him… for me, as a mom, to hold on to. When things get tough in that school (and I know it will), this is a reminder for me to keep holding on. To not give up.
Until God says to move on… hehehe.
Hi blog readers!
Miss me? hehehehe It’s time to write about Aiden again 🙂
————-
Scene: Tiap kali Aiden berdoa, sering kali isinya begini…
- “Lord Jesus, I bless Mommy and Daddy with the Holy Spirit. So Mommy and Daddy not be angry with me and discipline me if I do the wrong thing. “
- “Holy spirit be with Jiahao (anak tetangga) because he doesn’t know Jesus. The fire fall on this town, so the children can sleep by themselves. No need sleep with their daddy or mommy.” (Aiden lagi diajarin bobo dikamar nya sendiri ama Lyon, ga perlu ditemenin gue or G)
Aiden suka bilang sesuatu and kalo ditanya, jawabnya; “…. because Jesus told me”
For example:
Me: good, u remember to clean up your toys.
Aiden: yes, I do the right thing, Mommy. Jesus told me. I can hear him.
There was one day, he disobey about some old thing again.
Me: why did you do it again??? You know it’s a bad thing to do!
Aiden: Because Jesus never told me! He is sleeping now coz it is night time…!
———–
Scene: Aiden maen2 diranjang and accidentally hit my tummy
Me: Ouchhhh! Aiden, pain!!! *sambil pegang perut*
Aiden: Sorry mommy, your tummy pain???
Me: Yes! Be careful witt my tummy ok!
Aiden: Why? Is there a baby inside? I want a baby girl!
Me: No, not yet.
Aiden: but I want a baby girl! I already have a baby boy.
Abis gitu maen2 lagi, then tiba2 my tummy bunyi kenceng karena laper,
Aiden: Is that baby talking??!?!?!?
kwkwkwkkww.
Di laen kesempatan…
Aiden: Mommy, I want a baby girl
Me: Then you pray…
Aiden: But I already pray for so longggggggg!!!
Me: Then, what did God say to you
Aiden: He said wait…
Me: Really?
Aiden: Ya, He is still choosing the right one.
Me: *wah pinter anakku*… oh, so where is the baby girl now?
Aiden: in China…. *hahahahhahaha apa coba*
——————
Scene: Gue lagi boboin Aiden ama Lyon dikamar mereka. Lagi pura2 bobo supaya anak2 cepet bobo. Tiba2 si Lyon ngelempar botol susunya ke muka gue. Sakit bok.
Me: ouchhhhh!!!
Aiden: Lyon!!! Dont do that! Mommy, is it painful? Let me pray for you…
After praying…
Aiden: Do you feel better, Mommy?
Me: Yes, thank you, Aiden
Aiden: I’m kind to you, right, Mommy? Lyon is not being kind to you, but I’m always kind to you… *terus peluk gue*….
Awwwww
—————-
Scene: Aiden lagi gambar dia ama temennya, Maggie.
Aiden: I draw lots of hearts because I love Maggie!
(Aiden’s official name is Joel hehe)
Me: Wahhh that’s a lot of hearts! Why do you love Maggie?
Aiden: Yah I love her very very much. Even though she is always mad at me, I still love her.
———————–
Scene: Beberapa kali for a few days, Aiden bawain permen dari rumah buat temennya di sekolah. Biasanya kasih ke temennya yg bernama Giselle. But kali ini beda,…
Aiden: Mommy! Can I have sweet for Megan?
Me: ok. How about Giselle?
Aiden: Nah, not Giselle anymore. Now I give to Megan.
Me: Why?
Aiden: Giselle doesn’t want to be my friend anymore. Now, my friend is Megan.
Me: Why she doesn’t want to be your friend?
Aiden: I dunno. She always change her mind.
Hahahahhaha. Oh my dear boy… yah memang gitu, cewe sering berubah2 moodnya. Well, he is learning dari kecil about ciptaan Tuhan yg namanya cewe wkkwkwk.
————
Me: So do u like Tante Inka?
Aiden: No, cannot! Tante Inka is a girl! I’m a boy! Boy can only like boy, girl can only like girl!
Me: But Mommy like Daddy. Daddy is a boy.
Aiden: Oh, but I cannot like Daddy. Daddy is different colour!
Me: What you mean??!??! *ngakak coz G emang kulitnya jauh lebih item dari kita*
Aiden: Daddy is black! Daddy is a black guy! We are white!
Sepertinya, udah saatnya gue jelasin about racism hahahah.
————
Update:
So yeah, udah lama sekali ya gue kagak update nih blog. Si Lyon uda ampir dua taon umurnya. And Aiden bentar lagi umur 6. Taun depan udah Primary School. So fast.
Btw, Lyon and Aiden beda kali sifatnya. Kalo Aiden sweet and sensitip. He cried easily. Hatinya lembut gitu deh.
Kalo si Lyon, cuek and berani. Berani kejar anjing and tarik2 buntutnya. Waktu itu ada anjing buldog yg matanya gede, ama dia disamperin and mau dicolok matanya.
Ada juga anjing Husky yg modelnya kayak srigala gede itu. Lyon pegang dua kuping tuh Husky and ditarik2 diputer2 dengan nikmat hahahahah.
Kmaren ada dua anjing brantem, eh ama dia disamperin, ga tau mo apa tuh anak berani banget. Padahal Aiden udah jauh2 ketakutan. Sampe akhirnya Lyon diangkat ama G dibawa jauh2, eh Lyonnya ngamuk. Apa lah ini anak, perlu didoain spirit of wisdom. Kalo Aiden, spirit of courage kwkwkw.
Nanti gedean, kayaknya Aiden belajar dari Lyon to be more courageous and bold. Lyon blajar gentleness and be cautious dari Aiden. Pas lah, maknya bisa nyantai dikit hihi.
Btw, gue mo share about being Aiden’s mommy. Yes, he is a sweet boy. But he’s not a sweet boy ALL the times. Boys will be boys, there are times he misbehaves and makes me upset. Kadang2 kesabaran gue wuih diuji abis2an because he likes to argue.
Beberapa minggu yang lalu, ada satu kontes dari Focus on The Family Singapore, kita harus jawab pertanyaan:
‘what do you love about your child?’
That question made me stop and really reflect on myself as a mom.
Dan ini jawaban gue di kontes itu…
The statement, ‘write what you love about your child.’ got me thinking quite hard. So what do I love abt him? it really made me stop to think and reflect. He drives me crazy sometimes, didn’t listen and all those misbehaving moments all quickly came to my mind.As he grows older, I face more challenges being his mom. He is only 6 years old now but sometimes I felt already at the end of my wits! I got upset quite often at him. So when I was asked that question, I took sometime to think again about why I love him. I think despite all the challenges, the disciplines, the arguments (yes, he can argue well at his age), I love him simply because he is my son. No one else is like him. I was entrusted to deliver him to this world and to be his mom and caretaker. I’m still learning to be a better mom and he is also learning how to cope with the world, his peers, his situations, his challenges.
I guess we both are still learning to be better person. I love him not because what he does for me or for others. I love him just because he is my son, no matter what he does or does not do.
Pas gue nulis that last paragraph, gue tiba2 sadar satu hal. That sounds so much like how God loves us! How He loves us, no matter what we do or what we did not do for Him. He loves us just because we are His sons and daughters. No reason needed, no question asked. Oh how sweet that kind of love is!
I need to learn more to have that kind of love for my own sons. We are all still learning. Being a parent sure make me learn more about how God loves as a parent.
How many times I, as a mom, made mistakes? How many times I raise my voice a little bit too loud? We made mistakes as parents, but God never make mistake. Not even once. We cannot be perfect parents. More often than not, we do not know what the right thing to say, the right thing to do at that very moment. We acted on impulse. We fall short.
But, I learned that…
Parenting is about relying on God to transform our child’s heart despite all of our mistakes.
So don’t beat yourself up, moms and dads! We are all on the same boat. God will help us to mend what are broken because of our mistakes. He knows our heart. He knows our limitation.
He is our Father, He will fix the things we can’t fix.
————
*Btw, gue menang loh kontesnya ahahahhahaha*
Sekarang Aiden uda umur 5 taon lebih. Tahun depan udah masuk SD. Cepat amat. Smakin gede, smakin bawel and pinter bikin alasan.
Dia sukanya sekarang bilang, “but u never see me..” or “but I never see…”,
for example…
Scene: Aiden ga mau pegi skul.
Gue: Aiden, come go skul….
Aiden: but I dun wannnnnnnnt…
Gue: Must go, mommy already paid for your school, so you must go.
Aiden: When??? I never see you pay!
Gue: You dont need to see…
Aiden: But I never seeeeeee….
Gue: You never see because mommy used the computer to pay… bla bla bla… (must explain to him…)
Aiden: Oh okay… i get it….
Trus dia kan pindah sekolah yang baru, so this time gue pegi ama dia. When it was time to pay the school fee, gue tunjukin duit segepok ke dia. “See, Aiden, now you see mommy pay for your school fee. So you must go school ok.” haha so ga ada alasan for him not to go skul.
Aiden juga suka pake kalimat ‘but u never see’, buat menghindar dari di disiplin.
For example:
Scene: Gue lagi mandiin Lyon di kamar mandi. I heard Aiden jumped on the bed pake baju sekolahnya dari luar… alias kotor…
Gue: Aiden, don’t jump on the bed!
Aiden: No.. i didn’t jump!
Gue: Yes you did!
Aiden: but you never seeeeee….
Gue: I dun need to see… Jesus will tell me (haha.. jurus gue.. wkkwkwk. Gue sering emphasize to him, even kalo gue ga liat, God always see and He will tell me haha)
———–
Scene: Gue lagi di kamar mandi, and I heard Aiden turned off the fan di kamar kita.
Gue: Aiden, dont turn off the fan!
Aiden: No, I didn’t!
Gue: Aiden, you turned off the fan.
Aiden: But you never see me.
Gue: I dun need to see. I know. If you turned off the fan, and you said you didnt. That means you are lying. I dont like that. Jesus also doesnt like it when you lie.
Aiden: But.. in my school, my teacher told me Jesus loves me even when I’m bad!
Gue: *keselek* (mau ketawa harus ditahan) yeahhh of coz Jesus always loves you, but He is sad when you lie…
Alamak, anak gue ini yah!
Aiden ini juga memorynya kuat. Dia bisa inget places yg baru sekali dia pergi. Dia bisa lebih ngerti jalan dari gue or G haha. Dia bisa ingat pernah pergi ke satu tempat even it was a year ago. Tapi dia suka lupa kalo dia hari ini udah minum yakult. His most favourite drink.
Aiden: “Mommy, can I have yakult?”
Gue: “No, you just had one this morning…”
Aiden: “Oh I forgot….”
Gue: “No yakult anymore ok..”
Aiden: “Mommy,… can I have yakult?”
Gue:“I told you, u had one already…”
Aiden: “But I forgot!!!!”
Jadi dia seharian ngotot pingin yakult karena dia lupa kalo dia udah minum yakult in the morning. *ga make sense*
——————-
Kita juga udah pindah rumah baru. And this time, Aiden and Lyon punya kamar sendiri. Gue ama G gantian tidur jagain Lyon dikamar itu. Tapi si Aiden sukanya tidur ama gue,…
Scene: Gue suruh Aiden bobo dikamar dia.
Gue: Aiden, go sleep in your room.
Aiden: But, i dun want. I want to sleep here with Mommy.
Gue: You have your own room with Lyon now, and we bought you a car bed for you. If you dont want to sleep there, I will give it away.
Aiden: I dun want!
Gue: Then sleep there with Lyon and Daddy tonight.
Aiden: But later, you alone here, Mommy! Nobody sleep with you…
Gue: It’s ok..
Aiden: But later you cry….
Gue: (mo ketawa), no.. i’m big girl. I’m not scared of sleeping by myself….
—————
Scene: Bobo time, and he always wants me to hug him to sleep.
Aiden: Mommy, can you hug me?
Gue: Ok,… why you always want my hug?
Aiden: Because I love Mommy…
Gue: Daddy can also hug you..
Aiden: But I dont love Daddy…
Gue: Why?
Aiden: Becoz Daddy hug me really really hardddddd! I dont love Daddy!
Gue: But Daddy loves you. Daddy always bring you everywhere he goes…
Aiden: I love Daddy when he brings me go outside, but I dun love him hug me. I love Daddy only because he bring me outside. Not hug, ok.
————–
Scene: Aiden diem2 mao maenin game di hp gue.
Gue: Aiden, no playing game in my phone.
Aiden: No mommy, I’m not playing. (masih pegang hpnya)
Gue: Then put down the phone please.
Aiden: Wait wait mommy, I want to show you something!
Gue: Ok what?
Aiden: *dia buka app game dia*…
Gue: Aiden, no playing…
Aiden: No.. i’m not playinggg. I want to show you something…
Gue: *gue liatin dia mo ngapain*
Aiden: *buka app game dia and di screen pertama, dia mo mencet something to start.*
Gue: Aiden, I said no game..
Aiden: No mommy.. i show you something.. *then he proceed to show me the game screen*… see mommy, which want you want to press,.. this one or this one or this one?….
Gue: *gue ga tahan ketawa, jadi intinya dia pake alasan buat dia bisa maen…* eiii, so you pretending yaaaa???
Aiden: *dia liat gue ketawa, dia nahan ketawa dia* … mommy, you choose, which one you want to press… *sambil terus nyodorin game screennya*
Gue: *amazed of his ‘creativity’* ok, i give you play for 15 mins… not too long ok
Aiden: .. ok! *ga jadi nyodorin hp ke gue, tapi langsung kabur bawa hpnya*
Pinter yah anakku.
————–
Scene: Aiden bikin homework, nulis huruf Z.
Gue: Aiden, do your homework…
Aiden: But i dun want, i want to play…
Gue: After you do your homework, you can play.
Aiden: *nulis akhirnya… nulis Z banyak*… Mommy, Z Z Z Z Z Z make me snores… my hand tired…. *then dia pura2 tidur pake ngorok*
————
Btw Lyon sekarang uda setaon umurnya. While si Aiden anaknya sensitip, si Lyon ini agak cuek keliatannya and gahar. Ga takut gitu. Kalo Aiden takut pegang vacuum cleaner, si Lyon malah ngejar. And berani tarik buntut anjing dan kucing.
So gue doain Aiden punya spirit of courage and boldness, and Lyon supaya punya spirit of wisdom. 😀
So I just realized my last posting udah 3 bulan lalu wkwk. Saatnya di update lah ya.
For those yg ga tau, we have a new member in our family. Gue baru melahirkan second boy in January 2015. Prosesnya asik dan menarik wkwk, beda dengan saat ngelahirin Aiden.
So how did I find out that I was preggy? Kita ga ada rencana mo punya baby that moment. But pas tanggal 1 mei 2014, pas abis bangun tidur, kok tiba2 gue pusing and mual and pingin banget makan pizza!! kwkwkwk My hubby langsung beliin pizza deh. 8 pieces abis semua ama gue coba wkwkwk. Trus gue besok2nya muntah2, and gue have a feeling kok modelnya sama ama pas hamil Aiden, muntah2 gitu. Gue bilang donk ama G, apa gue hamil ya? Dia bilang ga mungkin and kayaknya gue mual gara2 kmaren masak pake expired oyster sauce hahaha.
But gue penasaran and gue ngerasa kayaknya hamil nih, jadi gue ke dokter buat periksa. And beneran loh saya hamil. Lumayan deg2an juga pas tau hamil karena yah of coz dimata manusia, financially kagak mampu. But itu kan pandangan manusia hehe. Kalo Tuhan kasih, berarti Tuhan yg provide, ya kan. So no worries, mate.
Luar biasa the proses of faithnya leading to the birth of Lyon. Sampe kayaknya ‘menantang’ dokter wkwkkw. Anyway gue cuma ketemu gynae (dokter kandungan) 3 kali selama preggy, because I felt gue ga perlu pergi sering2. Tuhan udah kasih gue conviction itu so yah gue santai2 aja. Banyak orang bingung pas tau kita ga sering visit doctor, but karena Tuhan udah ngomong ya kita damai sejahtera aja. He said, ‘Lyon is in His perfect Hand, He’s taking care of him Himself. No need to fear.’
Btw kita kan disuruh bikin appointment every month, tapi kita ga bikin. Pas kita ketemu dokternya lagi in abt 2 month gitu, dokternya sampe manggil gue balik lagi ke ruangannya (waktu itu kita uda mau pulang), and asked me, “why u didnt come back last month to see me?”
Gue bilang, “no need lah, everything is ok right? i mean baby ok etc…”
Doc nya replied sambil cengengesan and bertampang bingung,”yah ok everything ok…. ok then..” kwkwkwkwk
Nah terus waktu gue udah weeks 37 preggy, gue ketemu dia lagi kan. And my due date (hari estimasi Lyon lahir) itu tgl 1 january 2015. Dokternya bilang gini, “if on the 1st of January, baby not coming out, you must be induced ok?”,
(Induce itu proses dimana kita dikasih chemical oxytocin (disuntik) buat ngerangsang kontraksi. Supaya babynya cepat kuar. Nah gue ga mau banget. Because I believe in God’s timing. Kalo baby belon mau kuar ya ga usah dipaksa lah! Let him want to come out when he wants to come out. When he’s ready, he will come out.)
Yah gue bengong donk dokternya bilang gitu. Trus gue bilang, “lets wait and see. I want everything natural. Why so rush…”
Doc nya reply, “but some people in their 38 weeks, they already given birth.”
Dalem hati, gue bilang yah itu kan orang laen. Tapi gue diem and senyum2 aja lah di depan dokter… hehe.
Tapi dalam perjalanan pulang, gue jadi sebel and marah sama si dokter. Kok seenaknya sendiri suruh orang induce. Orang jowo bilang,”sak enak e dewe”. Lah wong babynya ga knapa2. Kayaknya maksa bgt sih. Lagian due date is just an estimation. Human estimation. Kan kita sendiri ga tau kapan conception (pembuahan) itu bener2 terjadi. I know so many cases, when the doctor induced the mommy, at the end, larinya jadi emergency caesar, because ada komplikasi or apaan lah, because babynya ga ready. It happens too many times and I don’t want that! Jadi yah gue sempet marah and ngomel2 ke G mau ganti dokter aja lah! Tapi G bilang, kita tetep sama dokter itu aja, but we dont have to come back to induce… we will show her (the doctor) God’s divine work.
Yep, I got it. So kita ga kembali lagi ke dokter itu sampe at the very end si Lyon mo lahir kekekek. Sampe ditelp ama dokternya karena we didnt make any appointment,… dan kita ga angkat telponnya 😛
Then tgl 1 january pun datang. Ga ada tanda2 kontraksi whatsoever. Tgl 2 juga Lyon masih adem ayem. Nah saat2 ini gue udah mulai gelisah. Udah lewat due date nih. And orang2 udah pada nanyain,”udah lahiran belon”. Tgl 2 itu gue lagi bersih2 rumah, sambil dengerin lagu… tiba2 ada satu lagu yg kena banget di gue. Judulnya, ‘My Desire’ by William Mc Dowell. Liriknya hits my spirit.
Liriknya:
We are waiting, Anticipating
We are creating, A place for you
My desire is to see A move of God
A move in me
My desire is to do all the things He’s showing me
Let us create Create a place
Release your faith
Releasing faith For God to move
So we will see The power of God
And we will know That he is God
We release the supernatural.
Uh PAS BANGET!! My spirit jumps when I heard that song! This is what I want, this is my heart desire! Is to see God move and we will see His Power, that He is GOD!! But for that, we need to create a space for Him to work His miracle, for us to see the supernatural!
So what is that space?
We need to wait for Him!
In many cases, kita terlalu cepet pingin ini itu terjadi, thus doing things yg belon tentu Tuhan suruh. Padahal if we wait, He is preparing something supernatural for us. And then when it happens, we can say waoooo thats God!!!! How many times that had happened in our family. Too many to count!! 🙂
So yeah gue smakin convicted kalo emang this is what God wants me to do. I mean the lyrics really strucks my spirit and connects. Because I really want to see His supernatural, the power of God with my own eyes!
So yah Lyon mau telat kuarnya ya silakan lah. Human bisa bilang telat, but God knows when.
Then ada bagian di lagu tadi, dimana yg nyanyi bagiin ayat, John 10:37
Jesus said: If I don’t do the works, dont believe everything I say.
Artinya, Jesus meant business!! He always demonstrates His power! If He say-say only, never do, we can stop believing in Him! (singlish amat sih) SO are we longing to see His power demonstrated in our life?!?!?!? Create a space then!!
So yah itu intinya yg gue dapat hahahha. So yah gue jadi sangat2 yakin (double triple conviction) that Lyon is in good Hands, and God will deliver him.
Trus besoknya tgl 4, hari minggu di gereja, gue ngerasa that I will get something from the sermon, that I have to listen. God will say something to me. When the sermon baru aja mulai, Ps Joseph kuarin statement, “Dunia bisa bilang terlambat, tapi Tuhan ga bilang terlambat. Waktu Tuhan ga sama dengan waktu manusia. It’s God perfect timing!” JEGERRRRR duilehhh pas banget kan!! Yah gue diconfirm lagi loh. My faith was being strengthened. That’s how God talks 🙂
Then the next day tgl 5, jam 8 pagi, gue mulai kerasa painful contraction. And it was regular. Aseeeek, I was so happy. I knew Lyon going to come out today. So gue jalan2 dirumah, ngobrol, and spent as much time at home because gue ga mau ke rumah sakit terlalu dini. Because nanti diapa2in ama hospital. I mean I didn’t want too much human intervention. Kita pertama kali mikir apa ke dokter dulu, but then I was thinking ga usah lah. Langsung aja ke hospital nanti. Daripada ke dokter dulu, nanti gue diapa2in lagi ama si dokter. Nunggu aja lah dirumah.
Gue juga track my contraction timing. Kalo udah every five mins ada contraction and it lasts for one minute, better go to hospital. Kalo belon segitu ya mending gue nunggu dirumah. While di rumah, gue pake birthball buat ease the pain, jalan2, goyang2, pokoknya keep moving etc. G and I praise and worship dulu, doa bahasa roh, baca firman. When painful contraction came, gue lakuin pernapasan yg buat ngelahirin itu. When contraction stopped, gue ikutan bahasa roh. So instead of rushing to hospital or dokter, mending kita rush ke Tuhan dulu kwkwkwkw. He will take care of everything 🙂
So finally contractions became very close. Time to go hospital. Perjalanan 30 menit juga. Lumayan.
Nyampe di hospital jam 12 siang. Pas admission, susternya nanya,”udah inform doctor?”, pas gue bilang belon, tampang susternya agak bingung gitu wkkwkwk. But then she called the doctor. Gue sih prepare aja ntar pasti dokternya dateng and ngomel liat gue wkkwkwkw.
Then gue ganti baju hospital, nah disini udah sangat2 painful the contraction. Sempet kepikir tuh, aduh ngapainnnn coba gue ngalamin ini lagi yaaaaa. Aduhhhhhh laen kali caesar aja dehhhhh wkwkwkkwkw.
Pas di cek, ternyata gue udah pembukaan 4. Praise God. Trus dokternya datang and beneran, pas liat gue langsung ngomong,”wah u were overdue for 4 days, why never call me? never come also for appointments”, ya gue sih cengengesan aja. Yah abis dikau dokter yg maksa sih, mana tahan saya 😛
Trus dia cek2 gue then pegi. Then one hour later, dia balik lagi. Itu jam 2 siang. Dia cek gue lagi, and said, “this is not progressing. I will put you on IV drip”
Heh? IV drip itu juga another form of induce. Ya gue kagak mau and gue bilang ama dokternya. Trus dia kasih option, “I put you on IV drip or I will burst your waterbag”, wah ini lagi mau pecahin ketuban gue. Knapa sih kok ga nunggu aja. Emang kayaknya slow but it’s progressing, kontraksi gue smakin sakit. Biarin kek waterbag burst sendiri.
Trus gue bilang, ‘i want everything natural’ alias ga mau diburst.
Dokternya bingung gitu, bilang “thats an unusual request”… hahaha. Then she said, “Either I burst your waterbag or I put you in IV drip… must choose now.”
Alamak. Gitu amat sih.
Then she continued, “I burst the bag lah, I want to see if the water clear. If the baby poo inside, I have to c-sect you (caesar)”
Dueggggg, itu malah gue ga mau bangetttttt… di caesar. Not because gue takut di operasi, but because kalo bisa natural, knapa harus caesar? I believe in natural birth.
Trus gue diskusi ama G kan, abis nih dokter maksa banget and kayaknya mau cepet2. And she also commented, “must go by the book ok???!!”
Aiyoh tante… ga usah segitunya kali.
So karena dipaksa gitu and gue ga mau di induce, akhirnya gue peaceful juga dengan pilihan waterbag di burst. So yah dia burst my bag and it was clear!!
Nah terus dia bilang, “Ok, after this I give you two hours. If no progress, I will put you on IV drip”…
Lhooo kok balik lagi ke sonoooo! Buru2 amat sih. Ini dokter ngefans kali ya ama IV drip.
Gue bilang, “I dun want IV drip, I want to wait and let everything goes naturally…”
Tapi dia tetep bilang yg intinya, “No, I give you two hours. Then must put IV drip.”
Haiz… then gue and G looked at each other. And G said to her, ya udah two hours, we pray that kita ga perlu pake IV drip alias things would happen before two hours were up. So after that, doc said she would come back in two hours.
Trus kita liat jam tuh, and we see in two hours time, it meant jam 4.
Nah gue udah sakit banget saat ini. And drowsy because of the painkiller. But ya painkiller cuma bikin kita ga terlalu tegang, not really kill the pain. Gue kan sambil pasang kotbah, to build up my spirit. Gue udah ga sadar kotbahnya ngomong apa, yg masuk ke alam bawah sadar gue cuma suara TD Jakes yg bilang, “fight for your territory! The devil is trying to take your territory!” wkwkwk… and gue denger G cuma bahasa roh aja.
Sehabis waterbag di burst, contraction became more painful. Gue udah nggliyeng2 ga jelas, dalam ati bilang, aduh laen kali caesarean aja lah!! aduhhhhh ga mau deh punya anak lagi!! aduhhhh why did i put myself in this kind of pain agaiiinnnn!!! AHUHAuHAuA
Then after a few burst of painful contractions, tiba2 gue diingetin ama satu article yg gue baca abt spontaneous pushing. Inti articlenya, kita push the baby out naturally when our body is telling us to. Trus tiba2 ada suara, I believe it’s my spirit yg ngomong, jelas banget.
“Just push if you want to push.”
Yah gue bingung juga, gimana caranya tau gue ready to push or not. Then gue tungguin the next contraction, bisa ga kira2 gue ngepush. Pas kontraksi dateng, gue ngira2 bisa ga ya gue push. Trus the next contraction dateng lagi, ini kayaknya gue bisa push…
Then dengan conviction yg nekat, gue bilang ke G, “say, I want to push.”
G nanya,”beneran???”
I said yes.
Langsung G manggil suster2nya and told them that I feel I wanna push. Padahal gue mana tau, ready to push itu maksudnya gimana ahhahah. Then suster langsung cek gue udah pembukaan berapa. Eh ternyata udah pembukaan 10!! (Bagi yg ga ngerti, pembukaan 10 artinya, the best, maximum pembukaan buat push the baby out)
Wah praise God!! Then langsung beberapa suster siap2in semuanya dengan cekatan. Manggil dokternya etc. Dokternya dateng and ngecek Lyon. Ternyata Lyon udah keliatan kepalanya. Then the doctor taught me how to push correctly, she said some people push with their face, which is wrong (haha, no wonder waktu gue lahirin Aiden, gue push with all my might sambil mengkerutin muka sampe muka gue biru smua hahaha dan itu bikin lebih cape) Nah I relaxed my face, but gave a mighty push with my poo-poo muscle hahahaha. Persis banget kayak kalo mo ngepoop. And finally after four/five pushes, Lyon pun keluar dengan sukses!! kwkwkwkwk gampang bgttttt dibandingin ama Aiden kapan ari, ampir dua jam gue ngepush2 sampe kecapean.
Sehabis itu, suster dan dokternya kasih ucapan selamat ke kita, dokternya bilang, “you very good, very strong. No epidural and also baby came out before two hours up. That’s your prayer, right?” … lol… thank u Jesus. 🙂
So gue masuk hospital jam 1 siang.
Jam 2 siang gue diancem dokter, dikasih waktu sampe jam 4. Kalo ga kuar bakal diinduce.
And Lyon kuar jam 3.. yeayyyy!! God is GREAT!! wkkwkwk
Btw full name of our second boy adalah Ethan El Elyon. Panggilannya Lyon. Arti Ethan = strong, and El Elyon adalah salah satu nama Tuhan yg artinya The Lord is mighty.
Btw the funny thing is, gue udah siapin begitu banyak list kotbah dan lagu2 yg gue mau puter buat build my spirit, buat waktu ngelahirin. Ternyata ga perlu kwkwkwk. Dan gue juga siapin list of things to do pas sakit kontraksi nya, seperti jalan2 di kamar rumah sakit (which is ga bisa and ga boleh coz gue udah di strapped down on the bed), drink 4oz water every half an hour (ga sempet), dll. Kata G, “tuh kan, kita bisa siapin, but then Tuhan berkata laen. It’s His divine work that He wants to do.”
Nah to sum up my experience. I want to explain, this is my personal journey of faith. In no way, gue minta kalian melakukan yg sama. Every birth is different. This is my conviction yg gue dapet dari Tuhan. Mungkin sepertinya menentang dokter, but it’s not about that, it’s really about my personal journey of faith. Don’t follow my faith ya. Follow what God tells you to do. Because dulu banget, ada pembaca blog yg cerita sama gue, dia doain satu cowo dalam idupnya udah lama banget. Dan dia udah mau give up, then temennya bilang, “kalo ci nelly bisa, knapa loe ga bisa.” Wah ini gawat. You can’t follow my faith. The faith that God put in my heart. You have to get it yourself. My faith is strong in certain area because God already SPOKEN to me. Nah kalo Tuhan ga ngomong langsung ama kalian, bisa gawat. Your faith is actually a second hand faith. Ini yg bisa bikin our journey of faith kelimpungan, because Tuhan ga ngomong but we anyhow follow aja because someone else udah ngalaminnya kayak begitu. Dan orang itu dapetnya begitu. Nah gue kayak begitu aja deh. That’s second hand faith.
And another thing about giving birth. Read as much as you can. People’s experience etc. I found out, many women lack of info jadi mereka struggle in the proses of giving birth. Some doctors said impossible to do this and that, but actually it is possible, cuma dokternya ga berani or mau cepet2 aja. Gue join FB group namanya, “Birth Without Fear”, disitu banyak sekali kesaksian dimana sepertinya impossible, but yet God intervened and the mommies can deliver naturally. One kesaksian yg bener2 nguatin gue, ada satu mommy yg ngandung triplets. Yaitu tiga babies. Secara medis, dan dokter2nya semua pada suruh dia caesar. Nah dia ga mau, dia dapet conviction that she can deliver the three babies naturally. Wah perjuangannya luar biasa, sampe ada dokter yg bilang and ngancem bahwa babynya akan meninggal kalo she insisted. Dan orang2 disekitar juga started to judge her etc. But she held her ground because she already received that personal conviction. And akhirnya tiga babies nya lahir secara natural and smoothly. 🙂
Hal2 seperti ini yg bikin my spirit jumps and connects. If you don’t get it, better not try it.
Hal2 yg seperti ini yang bikin my conviction stronger. What doctors said impossible, God says it’s possible!
Btw, knapa Tuhan bawa gue lewatin this kind of journey of faith? It’s because He is preparing us for our ministry. Baru last week kita officially taking over healing ministry from our sesepuh digereja. We will deal with doctors, dan juga vonis2 dokter. Nah inilah knapa gue harus lewatin hal2 seperti ini, to exercise my faith muscle 🙂
So this is my personal conviction and journey of faith, having natural birth without epidural. There are people out there yg ngejudge kalo kita caesar, that means kita less of a woman. Halah, darimana itu. I don’t believe that. I’m not saying everyone must go for natural. If you want to go for caesar, ya silakan. Nothing wrong with that. Yg penting baby keluar dengan sehat dan selamat. But the most important thing is, read a lot and learn about proses of giving birth etc. Jadi kalo dokter vonis ini vonis itu, you know what to do because you are informed. Dokter bisa salah, but Tuhan will not. And another thing, don’t be scared. Fear is not from the Lord. It’s human to feel scared, we must go back to the word of God again and again. He will strengthen us with His Word and put us above our fears.
When we receive the Word from God, there is nothing that we should fear! Not death, not sickness, not condemnation. 🙂
Aiden ini anaknya agak sensitip. gentle heart sih mestinya. Cuma kadang2 sensitipnya agak over wwkkwkkw, but that will be his strength when his sensitivity is developed in the right way and subjected to the Word of God. 🙂
Contoh nih…
Scene: Udah saatnya bobo, lampu udah dimatiin, udah diranjang, eh Aiden maen aja terus, umek2 ga bisa diem diranjang sampe lama bgt. Trus gue marahin. Dia nangis lumayan kenceng. Then biasanya kalo abis gue marahin/disiplin, gue ajak dia doa. Dia ikutin gue doa…
Gue: What do u do when u are sad/angry?
Aiden: Pray…
Gue: Ok lets pray…. Lord Jesus…
Aiden: Lord Jesus…
Gue: Forgive me…
Aiden: Forgive me..
Gue: For not obeying mommy
Aiden: For not obeying mommy…
Gue: Help me..
Aiden: Help me…
Gue: To obey..
Aiden: To obey…
Gue: And calm down…
Aiden: And calm up…
Gue: No, calm down…
Aiden: calm uppppp….
Gue: No such thing as calm up, Aiden.. it’s calm down…
Aiden: Nooooo, calm up! *sambil tangannya nunjuk keatas*
Gue: It’s calm down…
Aiden: Calm upppppp!! *then mewek nangis*
HAUEhaUEHauEH ok thennnn calm uppppp…
———–
Kalo abis di discipline, Aiden biasanya nangis kan, then biasanya dia akan meluk gue or G (whoever yg abis marahin dia), then say “sorry, mommy/daddy”… then biasanya kita bilang, “I forgive you”, but biasanya Aiden yg abis bilang sorry langsung nyambung sendiri, “I forgive you” sambil meluk kita.
———-
Kadang2 juga, kalo gue lagi marah ama dia for example disuruh pake baju malah lari2. Dia udah liat tampang gue tampang bete gitu, dia sengaja meluk gue and said, “I love you mommy” sambil gave a quick kiss on my lips. Supaya gue ga spank dia kwkwkwk. Dasar. Pinter ambil ati ini anak.
————
Sampe sekarang Aiden masih bobo on the same bed ama kita. And I love it! Suka aja cuddle2 ama dia. Tiap malem sebelon bobo, kita pasti saling bilang,
Gue: Good night, Aiden
Aiden: Good night, Mommy…
Gue: I love you…
Aiden: I love you too…
Trus kiss…
Tapi kadang2 bisa begini:
Gue: Good night, Aiden
Aiden: Good night, Mommy…
Gue: I love you…
Aiden: No mommy, say I miss you…
Gue: ok, I miss you…
Aiden: I miss you too….
wkkwkwkw
Trus dia suka minta dipeluk. Peluknya juga harus posisi specific. Gue harus peluk dia dari belakang and tangan gue harus ngelingkarin perut dia. Dia bilang, “because it’s nice”. Then malem2 kalo dia kebangun, dia bisa tiba2 bangunin gue and say, “mommy, can you hug me please..”
———-
Talking about his sensitivity, kalo kita ketawain dia coz dia berbuat lucu or say something funny, dia bisa marah, “are you laughing at me????!?!?!” or tiba2 ngambek, mewek nangis.
———
One day dirumah, si Vivian (our housemate) mau pegi keluar and she said bye to me. Aiden tiba2 mewek and said, “Tante Vivian never say bye to Aiden…”… trus nangis deh. Anakku ini emang one of a kind.
———-
Then dia juga udah mulai mirip bokapnya. Yaitu worship leader kwwwkkw. Tiap malem biasanya, kita doa mo bobo and praise n worship bentar. Biasanya Aiden yg mau lead worship.
Aiden: Mommy, you play piano. Daddy, you play drum. Aiden sing!
Aiden: Wait, wait…. Aiden sings first!!!
Aiden: OK now, everyone sing together!!
Kalo gue isengin dia, gue nyanyi duluan, mulut gue dibungkam ama tangan dia kwkwkwk.
————-
Kalo Aiden lagi batuk, gue ajarin dia untuk nolak snack yg orang kasih ke dia. Biasanya dia bisa bilang sama orang itu, “no thank you, Aiden cough” Tapi sekarang dia udah lebih pinter….
Scene: Aiden lagi batuk2 mayan parah, and ada orang yg kasih dia biscuit ga sehat. Dia insist mau makan. Gue kagak kasih…
Gue: No Aiden, remember, Aiden cough?? Later, you can’t sleep at night…
Aiden: Never mind, mommy…
Gue: what never mind.. later you cry at night coz pain, can’t sleep…
Aiden: It’s ok mommy, Jesus saves me and heals me…. I can eat the biscuit…
Gue:… *dueggg mau ketawa tapi ga boleh ketawa* .. yeah that’s true, but still you can’t eat the biscuit!
Pinter amat ini anak, sapa yg ngajarin jawab begitu kwkwkwkwk
Satu lagi contoh…
Scene: Biasanya kalo Aiden misbehaves, kita disciplinenya pake spanking. Pake Mr. Spanky gitu. Wooden spoon yang digambarin muka sedih. So one night, Aiden misbehaved, and Daddynya bilang,
Daddy: Do you want to obey or you want Mr. Spanky?
Aiden: No Mr. Spanky…
Daddy: Daddy disciplines and spanks you because Daddy loves you.
Aiden: Jesus loves us, Jesus never spank us…
kwkwkwkwk ok deh… well at least benih2 Word of Godnya masuk lah kwkwkwkwk
I am a female. I was involved with porn and masturbation since I was 10 years old. I didn’t remember how it all started. I can only remember that I did all those secretly and kept doing it until I grew up.
When I reached 21 years old, I was in relationship with my first boyfriend. At first, he seemed nice and gentle. But as time went by, I could see his bad side, he was full of anger. Entering the first few weeks of our relationship, he kept asking me to give him my virginity as his birthday present. I refused, but he kept pushing, telling me… “if you really love me, you should give it to me”
So, because of his persistence, I gave it to him. From that day onwards, he liked to ask me for sex, if I didn’t give it to him, he would get angry. A few times he got angry with me because of small matters. Btw, he was a very possessive guy. I had to do things with him around, even talking with my friends on the phone. He had to know everything that I was doing. Well, we were living together at that time (We lived in Sydney, the story was I was in uni, and my boyfriend was working, but the truth is, I was already kicked out from uni, without my parents knowing) And when I served him for sex, actually my heart already felt nothing towards him, but because I was scared of him, I stayed.
Sometimes, when he was angry, he would get physical. He pushed me towards the wall, threatened me etc. He often hit my 9 months old puppy, and one day he hit her so hard that she died on my laps. He was jealous of my puppy because it seemed I loved her more than him.
One day, he slapped me hard until I fell face down, then he held me on my neck, like he was trying to straggle me, while screaming like a mad guy. At that very moment, I knew for sure that I couldn’t live with this guy anymore. So to cut the story short, I ran away from home, with the help of my close friends. But for the first few months, he still terrorized me, called me and threatened me. He even threatened my friends who were helping me. At the end he stopped all that because he had a new girl.
Since that moment, my life went downhill. I went clubbing a lot. And I met lots of new friends who lived ‘freely’, smoking, drugs and free sex. Almost every week I went out clubbing with them until dawn. Sometimes, I would get so drunk with them until I passed out and also tried illegal substance. A lot of guys approached me, until finally I was involved in free sex, had several sexual partners, one night stands etc. But during those times, I seriously thought of killing myself, because I didn’t see the point of living anymore. I didn’t feel anyone care for me. Guys just wanted me for sex, nothing more. I had a broken family, there was no difference for me having them or not. So I was getting ready to kill myself.
Until one day, I was introduced to another guy. We became very close and I liked him. He seemed really care about me. We chatted online a lot and somehow, I told him about my plan to commit suicide. He was shocked and tried to talk me out of it. So because of him, my plan was postponed. I felt he really cared for me. We became even closer and finally had sexual ‘friendship’.
But he told me that, he couldn’t start a proper relationship with me as he just broke up with his ex. He was still traumatized to start a new one. I was okay with that, so we were just sexual partners.
I thought I was ok with that kind of relationship, but I realized my heart was hurting. When we hang out with his friends, he never held my hands or showed that he cared for me. But when we were alone, just the two of us, he always treated me special. So his friends only knew that I was his sex partner. That hurt because I already had deep feeling for him, but somehow I couldn’t bring myself to end this.
Since those days, I started to cut myself with knife, not to kill myself but to release the pain I had in my heart. To me, the pain inside was more painful than the pain caused by the knife. There was one day, I cut my both hands badly, then I walked down to his house, (he lived just two blocks away), and showed my bleeding hands to him. He was really scared and I think that was the time that he realized he was in a bad situation, being involved with me. I did read secretly his chat history with his bestfriend. He said he regretted being with me, he had no idea that he would be in this kind of mess.
When I read that, my heart broke into pieces.
The one I thought really cared for me, actually didn’t care at all.
So finally, I went to see a doctor, asking for medication to stop my depression. I thought it was hormonal imbalance, but the medication didn’t help. There was one day, I snapped and cut my hands again. And because I couldn’t stop it, I called my dad (who lived in Indonesia) while I was crying. All the 5 years I lived in Sydney, I never called my dad. He was shocked to hear my sobbing voice over the phone. He kept asking me why, but I couldn’t answer him, I could only ask him to come to Sydney as soon as possible. And before we hang up the phone, my dad said, “please don’t do anything silly, wait for me.”
I told about what just happened to my ‘boyfriend’. And he was glad that I finally talked with my dad. But as time went by, I felt we were growing apart. Until one day, I was sick of everything. I locked myself in my room, I got real drunk and cut my hands again with knife. A blunt knife this time, so I could cut myself over and over again until the skin broke and drew blood. I called him over online chat, he answered and I told him that I was drunk and almost jumped from the balcony. Before chatting with him, I went to my room’s balcony. I was drunk and I was looking down over the balcony. Looking at the ground far below me, I heard a voice,’ If I jump now, everything will be over, everything will be ok. I will be free.” So I lifted one of my legs over the railing, other leg already off the ground. But just a spilt second before I jumped, I was suddenly reminded of my promise to my dad. When he said, “don’t do anything silly.” Because of that sudden thought, I stopped and went back to my room. Now that I know God, I’m very sure that that was God’s intervention! How can that thought suddenly cross my mind in the very split second I was going to jump!
So I went inside my room and chatted with my ‘boyfriend’ in the state of my drunkenness. After I told him that I almost jumped from the balcony, he went offline all of a sudden. I became more upset, heartbroken and cried like mad until I fell asleep. Not long after, I heard my friend knocked on my bedroom door. That taken me totally by surprise because no one at home and I locked my house. Somehow that friend of mine got hold of my house key from other friend. So this friend went inside my room and asked me what happened. She actually heard me crying from the front door which was surprising because the distance from the front door to my room was quite far. How come she could hear my crying? How come it was such a coincidence she wanted to visit me at home? And because she heard my crying, she took a lot of effort to call me, but because I didn’t answer her calls, she tried to get my house key from another friend.
So to cut the story short, my friends knew what happened to me and they hide my knives away. I believe God used them, even though I didn’t know God at that time. And my ‘boyfriend’ also came to my house on that day. The very second when I told him over chatting that I almost jumped, he ran to my house.
One of my friends, let’s call her D. She was the only Christian friend that I allowed to be close to me. It was because I hated Christians last time, to me, they were hypocrites. Only D was close to me because she accepted me for whoever I was, never judged me, never tried to evangelize to me, but she just accepted me without trying to change me.
On that night, I only remembered part of her words,
“I have God, I have my boyfriend, but my life is not perfect. I have my own struggle with life…”
That really surprised me, because I always saw her as a strong person. Little that I knew, she also had struggles. So, since that night, I ‘woke up’. I told myself, “if she can do it, why can’t I?”
So for the next few months, I started to put my life back together. The relationship with my ‘boyfriend’ got further apart. And I got back to uni. But I still continued with my clubbing lifestyle. Still had fun with my ‘wild’ friends. I still felt empty in my heart, though. There was one night at my place, my friends and I were smoking marijuana. I didn’t know that marijuana was totally pure, with no mixture of tobacco at all. I smoked whole lot of it and my body couldn’t stop shaking. I couldn’t walk back to my bedroom, I had to crawl slowly. When I finally reached my bed, my body still couldn’t stop shaking. I was scared, I thought I was going to die at that very second. And I didn’t want to die. Funny, isn’t it? For the past few years, I had already planned my suicide, yet when I was really faced with death, I got scared and didn’t want to die.
I really couldn’t stop shaking. And this was the very first time I cried out inside and called God. I shouted in my heart, “God!! Help!!!”, And I passed out. When I woke up, I was happy of being alive! Hahaha. But then I forgot all about God.
But I believe that time He heard my cry and He knew that I was almost ready to open up my heart for Him. So He pursued me more and more. 🙂
So I moved on. Uni life, part time work, clubbing for another two years. I didn’t let any guy get close to me because I was sick of those uncertainties and mixed signals. I faced life with my own strength until one day I actually felt tired in my heart.
D, the friend that I mentioned earlier, often invited me to attend the cell group at her place or come for her church events. But only to those fun events, like Valentine cruise or Costume Party. I came because they had a dance party in it. While for cell group, I only came during the eating session, after that I just went home haha. But because I came quite often to their fun events, I came to know her church friends, and they were actually a fun bunch of people! Never judged me nor tried to change me.
One day, I hang out at one of the church leader’s house. Out of curiosity, since I love to read, I went through their book collections on the bookshelf. But to my dismay, all of the books were Christian books! But one book caught my eye, the title was ‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye’. Something just clicked in me, it reminded me to my situation at that time. So I borrowed that book.
In that book, there was one chapter where the author, Joshua Harris, received a vision. He went inside a room full of filing cabinets. He opened one of them, he took out the files inside. And he was so shocked because those files actually contained all the sins that he had done in his whole life! Joshua was a Christian, involved in ministry, but he had a double life. He was secretly involved in porn etc. When he read his files, he was so ashamed. Each page in those files had his name signed on it.
So he said to himself, please no one should see this, so he tried to burn it, but to no avail. All of a sudden, there was a man entering that room. That man was Jesus. He took one of the files and read it. Joshua tried to snatch it and prevented him from reading, but Jesus kept on reading without saying a word. Then you know what He did? He crossed all Joshua’s name from the papers and signed every paper with His own name! Using His blood!
When I read that part, I couldn’t stop my tears from falling down. I cried big time! Who was this person who wanted to take all my sins as His own? He didn’t know me and I didn’t know him! And why would He want to take my sins as His!! I just bawled my eyes out. Because of a man called Jesus. I never knew a man who would do all that for me! At that moment I felt, I finally found someone that understand me, understand my heart.
It was just indescribable!
Since that day, I was interested in a man named Jesus.
Who is He?
What is He like?
Why He did that for me?
So I finally accepted D’s invitation to her church to find out more about Him. I diligently attended her church service every week and read many Christian books. And the more I found out about Jesus, the more amazed with Him I became. Until finally I fell in love with Him. 🙂
He was everything that I was looking for in a man. I felt loved, treasured, pursued, and cherished. No man had done that for me.
Slowly He healed me from bitterness with guys, porn, masturbation. I stopped going clubbing, smoking, drinking etc. I was not interested nor excited with those things anymore. When I tasted the goodness of Him, other tastes pale in comparison. When I felt how He loves me, how He cares for me, how precious I am in His eyes, worldly satisfaction can’t compare to that and also no longer interesting to me. I was being satisfied in Him alone. In His presence, I didn’t feel empty or lonely anymore.
And He makes me feel so SPECIAL!! 🙂
God restored me fully until I no longer had any issue with my past. I had the strong conviction that He had cleansed all my sins away. I have been made white as snow. It took years for me to come to that point but I must not give up. There were times I was stuck in self-pity, but God reminded me again and again that I am a new creation in Him. He even put the desire in my heart to testify, to let the world knows, that God’s restoration is so real. Until I came to the point that YES, I’M A NEW CREATION! Let no doubt or whatsoever entered my mind again!
And all along I had been asking, “what’s the purpose of me living in this world? Why was I created?” God slowly revealed and guided me to my calling. Now I know what it is. And when I focused and chased that calling, out of the blue, God brought me to my future husband, a godly man who was beyond my imagination 🙂 God was very much involved and orchestrated all the process of getting to know him, praying, the struggle, the breakthrough, for three years until finally we got married in 2010.
Frankly, at that moment I didn’t give a thought about relationship. I was so content with just me and God. I really enjoyed my singleness, I was concentrating in finding more about Him. Ministry etc. (I have moved to Singapore around this time). Out of the blue, my mentor told me…
“Whoa God is beautifying you inside out!! I’m sure your prince will come soon, and he will be more than you have ever imagined!”
I just smiled when I heard that. Nothing more, because I didn’t think much about relationship. But it did come true! About a month after, my future husband really came to our church, he was a full timer (full time ministry). Yes, indeed he was more than I could ever imagine. I fell in love for the first time with his heart for God.
He only spent like two months or so in Singapore. Then he went to Malaysia for two years for mission work. And when I chased my calling in mission field, we met again. And after all the process of tears etc for 3 years praying for each other, we got married in 2010 and now we have two sons. 🙂
I know there are a lot of you who had ugly past like me. Girls who were involved with free sex, or even not virgin anymore because of other reasons. Don’t lose heart. God is a God who is full of grace and restoration. I am one of the evidence of His full restoration. When I repented from my sins, God forgave me. He also put this desire in my heart, my life testimony is to open up so many secrets out there. Secrets that the devil trying to hide. The devil says, you can’t and will not be able to have a godly marriage later, a godly husband. He can only lies, ladies! The truth is God’s mercy and grace are enough for ALL of our sins! Yes, we must pay for the price of our sin, it hurt to go through the process of His cleansing.
You know the story of a pearl? When a pearl was produced, its initial state was very dirty. It must be polished and cleansed until its shine comes out.
It’s the same with us. We were dirty, God accepted us just as we were. But He wouldn’t let us stay that way. He will polish; He will cleanse every dirt inside of us. Yes, it hurts, but it is absolutely necessary. Because He has seen our true worth, He knows our true value. But because that had been covered with so much filth, we are not able to see that. Only He can. So we have to let Him work hard in us, polishing us. Yes, sometimes we do complain during His cleansing process, but believe me, His cleansing process in me was tremendously painful because He knows I had a lot of filth inside, but at the end, it is all worth it!
How did I reach this point? Free from my past, restored, got married with a godly man, have godly family with two sons now?
The key is to really fall in love with Jesus. To feel how much He loves me, until I feel so content and satisfied in Him alone. I don’t have to look for love or approval from other people, especially man. Because no other man is more ‘manly’ than my Jesus who loves me so muchhhhh. Rescued me again and again, my Knight in shining armor. Pursued me until my knees grew weak. 🙂
By being filled with the Holy Spirit everyday, making me sick of sin. Holy Spirit gives me the ability and power to let go of the bondage of porn and masturbation.
Other than that, I also made the decision not to fall into self-pity. Never entertain! Once self-pity arrives, we must kick them out as soon as possible. Encounter with the Word of God. When self-pity says, “you are dirty, not virgin anymore, do you think any guy would want you?” Just kick the devil hard in the face with the Word of God that says,”God has cleansed me as white as snow, no blemish. God has a wonderful plan for me and my future. I will pursue my God, my lover until I know He is enough for me. Doesn’t matter if there is a guy in my life or not. I will be satisfied in Him alone.”
That’s the state we have to aim. Let me ask you a question. What if God wants you to be single forever, just being with Him alone? Will that hurt? Until you say YES LORD, it doesn’t matter anymore if there is a guy for me or not! And you said that not because of bitterness, but because you are truly satisfied with His love. What I meant is your heart will have to be truly fulfilled by Him, otherwise if one day you are involved with another guy, you can fall into the same old sin again. Because you will compromise. But when your love to God is stronger, you can stand firm, and don’t have the heart to commit the sin because you don’t want to hurt His feeling.
Say enough is ENOUGH! No more compromise, no more ‘just one more time’.
Do whatever it takes to take you away from that sin. If you and your bf/gf fall into sexual sin, don’t go to the secluded places. Don’t go inside his/her room. Recognize the pattern.
Mix with a strong Christian community. Be involved in ministry. That will build you and strengthen you to move forward. But you can’t always depend on people. Don’t make it a habit to look for people straight away for comfort. After you receive advices from people, you feel better of course, but that doesn’t last long. Go to God first instead. Let Him deal with you alone. At that time, God brought me to a very lonely place. I didn’t have anyone close as I just moved to Singapore. But at that moment, God dealt with me alone. I couldn’t find anyone for comfort, for sharing my pain, He was the only one there for me. That’s when I was fulfilled by Him, until I reached a point where I know He is enough for me.
Other than that, a mentor also important. Someone to guide you and correct you. Must be same gender.
Forgive ourselves, our past, our exes, or anyone that had hurt us. When we forgive, there is power of restoration from God through us. Confess our sins to trustworthy spiritual leaders. Healing starts when we confess.
Keep holding on to the Word of God. What He says about you.
Must understand that love is not sex. Some women make a mistake where we think love equals to sex. When we make love to our boyfriend, we feel loved, wanted, special. When I had that sexual relationship with my ‘boyfriend’, I thought I was expressing my love to him by giving him my body. And I thought, because we had a sexual relationship, I thought he loved me that’s why he wanted to sleep with me. The painful truth is when someone has sex with you, doesn’t mean he loves u.
Focus on finding out your calling. That’s where you will find out His great plan for you. So you will focus building yourself up, other than keep dwelling in the sinful past.
After all those, I’m finally free. Now, I really can’t imagine that I used to have that kind of past! Totally different life now. Serving the Lord together with my husband, one toddler and the upcoming baby boy 🙂
It is indeed beyond my imagination and thought! When I got married to my handsome husband, God gave us His word and His promise:
No eyes has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what God had prepared for those who love Him.
1 Corinthians 2:9
So true!!!
And the past is the past. God is able to change filth into beauty. Redeem the curse to be a blessing. The devil meant to destroy and kill, but God, with His power of restoration (without condition. It’s already yours), changed my shame to my victory. I no longer have any issue sharing all these because that’s what He wants from me, my past has no more effect on me. Sexual sins are covered up because they cause shame. But God wants to reveal them, because the more we conceal our sexual sins, the more hold the devil has over us. I don’t ask you to tell you secrets everywhere, but once you are free from all the bondages, maybe you can testify too, in your own way. Because the devil is defeated by our testimonies.
If I can be free from the sexual sins, you can do it too. I’m just ONE evidence of millions of millions of people who has been set free from the sexual bondages.
For the readers who read this, this blog post originally was in Indonesian, written in 2012. To my surprise, it went viral. Some requested to have some of my important blog posts to be translated to English to reach bigger audience, to bless their non-Indo speaking friends. So here is the first one to be translated. I do hope it will bless you guys.
Hopefully, not in distant future, I will write more details about ‘How to stop porn, masturbation and other sexual sin from our life’.
You see, God is so faithful to us. If we just obey Him, He will bring us far. My testimonies bring me and my family to places. We were invited to speak in different churches, travelled overseas etc. You see, it’s all because of His work in us. It is such a joy walking in our calling. To see many bondages are broken, to see many of God’s children are set free and receive the truth! God can do the same to you. You have a wonderful future in Him. Don’t let the devil tell you otherwise. Sometimes we tune in more to the devil’s voice than His voice. Shut it down and keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus. Hope in God will never be in vain. 🙂
So, blog kali ini ceritain ttg Majalah Pearl Retreat kmaren. Karena banyak yg nanyain, “how is it”… jawaban gue selalu, “ntar deh gue blog” abis males ngulang2 terus hehehehe.
So, retreat ini awesome coz isinya cewe semua wkkwkwkwk. And amazingnya, kebanyakan dari kita ga kenal satu sama lain, and dateng dari beberapa pelosok Indo dan diluar Indo. Some cuma kenal di dunia maya. Pesertanya kebanyakan para bloggers and blog readers.
Jadi asal mulanya, Pearl Magazine ini berdiri beberapa tahun lalu (3 years?) gara2 beberapa bloggers punya hati untuk Christian Indonesian women online magazine. Teamnya semua volunteer, writersnya, designersnya, editornya. Gue bukan team Pearl tapi ada beberapa kali mereka minta gue nulis articles for their magazine. We all know each other because of blogging 🙂
Nah one day, salah satu pencetus Pearl yaitu, Sarah Eliana, bilang one of her dreams is to hold a retreat for Pearl Magazine, eh ga disangka2 banyak yg antusias. So terjadilah retret kmaren.
Yg amazingnya, ada beberapa peserta yg bela2in terbang dari Singapore, Surabaya dan juga Kalimantan Barat hanya untuk menghadiri retret ini. Yg tinggal di KalBar itu wah udah tinggalnya di in the middle of jungle, karena dia kerja di perkebunan kelapa sawit. Jadi yah terpencil gitu deh tempetnya. Tapi dia bela2in jauh2 menempuh perjalanan hanya untuk dateng retret. Dan ada juga banyak yg dateng sendiri aja tanpa kenal sapa2. But they are so blessed by the magazine and also the bloggers, so mereka memberanikan diri untuk nekat aja dateng sendirian kwkwkwk. Ada yg nitipin anak2nya ke ortu untuk beberapa hari etc wkwkwkk.
Ada salah satu cewe yg kesaksian pas retret itu. Dia bilang dia itu sering jatuh bangun dalam perjalanan ama Tuhan, and pas dia ketemu our blogs, dia itu kayak amazed, “ternyata ada yah wanita2 Allah yg dipake luar biasa..” wkkwkwkwk. I dunno, I just found that statement menggelitik hehe. Sampe segitukah pesimisnya atas wanita2 Allah jaman sekarang dimata anak2 muda? I just wanna say, YES MASIH BANYAAAKKKKK, dan kamu adalah salah satunya 🙂
Di hari pertama, gue sharing the word of God di sesi pertama dan kedua. Sesi pertama, gue membahas ttg The Power Of God. Intinya, Tuhan Yesus adalah Tuhan yang menjadi manusia. When He became human, he was powerless, but when He was baptised in water and in Holy Spirit, BOOM, Dia langsung bisa melakukan banyak mukjijat. Dan banyak orang yang jadi tertarik ikut sama Dia. So the point is, without Holy Spirit, kita itu kristen yg powerless. Kayak mobil yang ga ada bensinnya. So this session, kita doain para peserta buat baptisan Roh Kudus, supaya mereka punya POWER untuk continue the work of the Lord. Ga jatuh bangun terus.
Dan Tuhan Yesus itu Tuhan dan laki2 yang sopan. Dia ga pernah memaksa kita untuk menerima KasihNya. Tapi Dia selalu mengetuk dan menawarkan kasihNya. Di penutupan sesi ini, para peserta dibagi beberapa kelompok. 3-4 cewe pergroup bergandengan tangan dan saling mendoakan. (nah gue agak lupa, session 1 & 2 penutupannya yg mana duluan, pokoknya penutupan sesi ada doa baptisan roh kudus, dan ada yg dapet bahasa roh. Ada juga mendapatkan pelepasan dari masa lalunya. G juga doain mereka satu persatu dan give them specific word of the Lord) Yah karena ini retret cewe semua, banyak yg bercucuran air mata dan mengalami pelepasan. Praise God! wkwkkwkwk
Session kedua, gue itu sebenernya dikasih topik sama team, “apa penghalang kita deket sama Tuhan”, what are the hindrance gitu. Jawabannya biasanya adalah, ya karena comfort zone, males, sibuk etc. But to sum it all, sebenernya itu smua point to ‘karena roh kita yg lemah’. Karena roh kita lemah, kita gampang distracted. So gue share ttg how to build your spirit, gimana bedain suara Tuhan, suara kita dan suara iblis. I also share about how the devil work in our lives, so kita ga tertipu lagi ama muslihatnya.
Terus session malemnya, si G lead praise n worship sebentar then ada session tanya jawab. Peserta bisa tanya apa aja sama gue and G. Ada yg nanya ttg gimana cari spiritual leader, ttg panggilan dan yg paling seru adalah pertanyaan2 pasangan idup of coz. Kita juga ditanya2in ttg our love story since some of them know about my blog. Ada salah satu peserta yang nanya ttg pasangan idup, “Buat cewe2 yg sedang mencari pasangan idup, bagaimana kita bisa tahu yg mana domba2 jantan yg ada digereja yang patut didoakan? I mean kriteria apa yg kita bisa liat dari hidupnya?” Throughout sesi tanya jawab, kita semua ketawa terus kalo ada term ‘domba jantan’ wkkwkwkwk I love that term!
Then the next day, session trakhir, sessionnya G bagi firman. Yah dia mah preaching gitu deh. Trus abis makan siang, kita pulang. Maap untuk mereka yg minta sessionnya direkam karena tiba2 mereka batal ga bisa ikut. Ga bisa direkam tuh soalnya pas coba rekam, ternyata hasilnya jelek banget. Karena ruangannya bergema so ga kedengeran. Maybe one day, I will blog abt topik2 yg gue bagiin dengan lebih dalem.
Sooo, at the end what happened is: semua peserta di encouraged to keep in touch with their group after the retreat, through Watsapp group apa FB. Karena within that group, mereka ada session dimana mereka saling sharing, ada yg sampe nangis dan juga saling mendoakan. These groups are supposed to strengthen each other. So my final message to them, is for them to be an accountability sister to each other within the group. Karena some of them ga punya that kind of support in their community so they definitely need that.
Gue juga terbeban untuk mentor beberapa cewe dari retreat ini. Dan my calling smakin ke-confirm. Tenkiu for Pearl Magazine once again for being faithful doing the work of the Lord. Padahal simple banget ya, dari cuma suka2 nulis di blog jadi bisa bikin online magazine and bisa bikin retret. Banyak peserta yg minta ini dijadiin event tiap tahun. G and gue yakin banget that this can be women movement in Indo. Kita terus doain buat Pearl Magazine yang udah menjadi berkat buat banyak cewe2 Indo di Indo dan juga di luar negri. Kalo dipikir2 luar biasa, karena pelopornya kan ibu2 muda, yang kerjanya kebanyakan ngurusin anak dirumah, but still they can impact the world from their homes 🙂 God bless u, Lia, Grace and also Sarah Eliana and also the team members yg masih single2 hehe. We have seen the fruits of your labour. 🙂
Tenkiu banget juga panitia retreat from Pearl. Buat Felisia Devi, yg bolak balik anterin/jemputin/nemenin shopping di Mangdu/beliin makanan kita/nemenin Aiden. And juga Viryani, Dhieta and Stepgun yang suapin dan nemenin Aiden gunting2 kertas selama kita isi session. Dan juga Eunike, for being cute…wkwkwkwk…
Seru ketemu para blog readers yang laen. Yg selama ini cuma tau dari komen2 mereka and juga lewat FB. Some gue kagak bisa ngenalin karena potonya and orang aslinya tampangnya bedaaaaa heuaHEuHAEea. Sorry kalo gue ga gitu mengenali kalian smua ya hehe.
I’m also very much blessed oleh cerita salah satu peserta yg namanya Yudith. Ternyata dia full timer, melayani di satu HOME yg nampung 450 anak2 jalanan di JKT. Waktu gue balik ke Spore, gue liat videonya, wow it is such an amazing ministry! Bener2 ga gampang man, pelayanan seperti itu, tinggal sama mereka dll. Yudith cerita, dia dipanggil Bunda kan sama anak2 ini. Sometimes, anak2 jalanan ini dateng ke HOME subuh2 dan curhat. Dan mereka ga bisa donk refuse these kids who come to them, meskipun subuh2. Kadang2 udah cape banget but yah God enables them to minister to the kids.
Gue cantumin disini yah videonya.
I hope, we can bring our mission team kesana one day 🙂
Hi All,
Cuma mo bilang kita sekeluarga bakal ke JKT tgl 8-12 Agustus, which is this Friday. Dalam rangka Pearl Magazine Retreat. As you guys know beberapa kali gue nulis articles for this women magazine. And for their first retreat, I’m honoured to be invited as their speaker along with G. The reason I’m writing this because, ada beberapa peserta yang tiba2 ga bisa ikut last minute, jadi semestinya sudah full, sekarang ada beberapa spot kosong kalo masih ada yg mau ikut this retreat.
The theme of the retreat will be for woman, of coz. How we get closer to Him, how to let go the distraction dan penghalang2 kita dekat sama Tuhan. Kalo ga bisa dateng full 3 days, mungkin bisa dateng weekendnya, tgl 9 or 10. Btw tgl 8 itu kita ga ada acara, nyampe di Depok (tempatnya di Sawangan Golf Resort) itupun udah malem. Session akan dimulai tgl 9, ada beberapa sessions and di tgl 10, satu session penutupan. Oh ya biayanya: Rp. 500,000 (sudah termasuk transportasi, akomodasi, 3 X meals dan 2 X snacks per hari, dan buku acara)
Anyways this retreat only for 50 peserta, jadi lebih cozy lah ya. Bisa saling mengenal satu sama lain, lebih deket, lebih ada rasa kekeluargaan wkkwkw. Apalagi cewe2 semua, jadi asek deh. Yang cowo cuma G and Aiden hehe.
So yah, please let us know kalo ada yg tertarik untuk ikut. Sayang kalo masih ada spot kosong yg ga terisi. Yang dateng kebanyakan para bloggers, and juga readers. And some of them ada yg ga kenal sama sekali, dateng sendirian gitu wkwkkw. So if you want to come, you are not alone. 🙂
Oh then, kalo ga bisa bisa ikut retretnya, kalo mau hang out with us, I mean, gue, G and Aiden, bisa aja sih. Kita tinggalnya ntar di Ancol. So just drop us a visit if bisa ketemuan. 🙂
Kalo mo ikut retretnya, mesti daftar as soon as possible ya karena udah mepet nih. Hari jumat ini loh.
Ok, c u soon!
shine 
Recent Comments