this year 2007 started off with many uncertainties and unforeseen things.... o level ; grade 8 piano ; syf competition ; chinese o lvl in may ; prelims and of course the 'o' s....
many many things happen this year and i would sae that it had been a wonderful year altogether even though there were many obstacles and difficulties that i faced ; i believe that's part of the process that God has installed so that i become a stronger person ...
so the first four months of the year was really really taxing .... almost every day after school, band practices , which were essential for the preparation of syf band competition in april . really burdensome , by the time i return home, i am really tired ; at times wanting to give up altogether .... and i thank God for pulling me through this tough period ... it hadn't been easy even after band practices that were not productive and effective .... after rebuking juniors and all that, at the end of each band practice , i would feel lethargic, sometimes not even having the energy to complete my homework ; and having lesser time to revise and prepare for my chinese 'o' s in may... i really dunno how i manage to pull through but i knew it was the strength of God that enabled me to push forward .... it was a really tough time and o levels was really approaching as i started counting down.
so in march , there was my grade 8 practical exam ... and months leading to the exam , i wasn't really prepared , i only had time to practice either 15 mins per weeek or if not it's juz the next piano lesson, praying that i would improve without practice ( which at times i actually did! )
so because of a lot of band practices and homework, i literally had no time to practice my piano at all coz i was really tired... only the last week i chionged 30 mins to 1 hour every day.... and i guess during the exam God's favour was upon me, i played quite average... the way i play when i practiced and the sight reading score - there wasn't much key signatures for a grade 8 exam - it really surprised me! and with so less practice, i thought maybe i would just merely pass but thank God for His favour and grace , i attained a merit in my grade 8 exam! i mean to me, it was really a miracle! and just to back-tracked a bit, during my exam date, there were 3 other class tests that day ( i actually prayed that there would be no class tests ) so the piano exam was the fourth test that day! this was probably a test of faith from God and through this , i guess i learn to trust Him completely . i thank God that it's not by my strength that i achieved the merit but it's through Him!
the following month was the syf band competition. exactly a week before our band competition, our playing was so horrendous and judging from the initial days of competition, it was hard by human standards to achieve a gold .... and that night i spoke to an alumni who listened to the other bands.... saying that our band had no hope.... of course i was initally discouraged and a lot of doubts soon crept into my mind... thinking whether it's possible or impossible to attain a gold... i was feeling sick during that time and my cough was so bad i had to see the doctor that nite... i just continued to pray and believe and the circumstances around this whole competition for the band didn't seemed positive, it looked negative through human's perspective. on the competition date itself, i was told by a teacher that a teacher actually dreamt of the band attaining a gold... i couldn't doubt i knew it was from God... and i guess it was a miracle from God and He was proving all of us wrong that it was possible to attain it ... i remembered crying with tears of joy ; it was feeling that couldn't be expressed... i mean as one of the band leaders it was taxing becoz many people were watching if this was possible , and people will say that we wasted lots of time if we dun achieve it ! i mean having gone through one experience before back in 2005, i felt the hard work then was all in vain , was all useless! but i really wanna thank God ... no matter what the circumstances are , i've learnt to fix my eyes on God knowing He's the source of hope!
chinese o level - chinese was a subject that i didn't excel well..... i had to literally force myself to 'love' chinese by doing lots of practices ; failures in the past had haunted me and i really did not want a repetition of that again in the national exams . so thank God that i attained a b3... intially i calculated that i would probably get a high c5 low b4 marks ... but i was a little startled when i saw my results... my friends were asking me to retake but i knew i had then put in my all and i needed to focus on other subjects.
you could sae that 2007 had been a year of surprises for me :)
band concert in august was 12 days before prelim ; another obstacle limiting my time to prepare for prelims ..... thank God for the chance to conduct even though my post din given me too; and prelim preparation was a rush for me... only after prelims did i really had the time to sit down and re-revise and prepare for the ultimate 'o's .... so throughout the year i was taught to really surrender God my anxieties ; and trust God no matter what the circumstances are .
after 'o's i had the time to really enjoy life... well i mean slacking and i juz really cannot imagine how i manage to pull through the difficult times well :)i started to avoid all sorts of responsibilities placed ahead of me (especially after stepping down as band secretary ) i literally wanted to 'siam' , passing responsibilities to others .... it was only during a recent pri sch chalet gathering in november that i learnt that responsibility is part and parcel of life; people look up to me and i gotta either deliver it or avoid it altogether...
this year was also the year i started to serve in the youth worship team ; and it was also something that i learnt to surrender to God ... i guess i was more focus on playing the correct chords than worshipping God ... so it was something that i finally learnt at the end of this year.
was also given the opportunity to serve in the radi8 blog ministry.... even though there was a lack of manpower... i was almost the only one trying to man the blog and thank God that people help keep the blog alive when i was busy preparing for my 'o's
there's many ppl i am thankful for helping me , telling me to chill and relac and many other things
- family
- friends , classmates when i faced doubts
- radi8 peeps
- band peeps , leaders during tough times
so entering 2008 for me looks another period of uncertainty where many decisions need to be made and it's a transition point in my life.... but i know i should not fear for God is with me ... and i recently posted this song by deb fung called hear the angels... it's really a nice song with meaningful lyrics to it....
so yup that's the last post for 2007!