God, and the heart-wrenching love of a daughter

"God's promises are like the stars;

the darker the night, the brighter they shine."

- David Nicholas

I was sitting alone at church, away from the cell group because I was late from Econs tuition.

It was Mothers' day; there was a video skit with a narration about a girl who had the love of a mother who was always there for her. I didn't see where this video was going until the mother in the video said "Carmen"... and "cancer". And then I realised.

Carmen.

It was a video of her life, growing up with a mum who later realised she had fallen to cancer.

Dang. I started crying helplessly. Beside me was a preteen stranger.

Later on, Carmen went on stage. "Hi church. My name is Carmen. The video you just saw was the story of my life." And I could only cry even more. She talked about how her mother had motivated her to sing, and then she sang on stage.

And I bet you, the thousands of people there at City Harvest Church were captivated - they were in complete awe of the angel that sang in her. The angel that gave her a voice of overflowing beauty, a heart of strength and a soul of praise. They were in awe of God's work through her and her voice of an angel. I was in awe of God's work through a beautiful girl with an even more beautiful heart, a girl I was blessed enough to have to help me through my own tough times.

The guest pastor that day was Dr Kim Sunghae, the wife of Dr Yonggi Cho, the founder of the church with the world's largest congregation of a million as of 2007 - Yoido Full Gospel Church. There was a video introducing Dr Kim and her piano-playing talent that she used to write songs of praise, and the healing miracles she had done - getting the wheelchair-bound elderly to stand up and walk while she encouraged them from behind with continuous shouts of 'Hallelujah!' - and I instantly loved the very lovable woman. She's so cute. She raises her hand and waves when she says "Hallelujah". Awww <3

"I hope that you and the church will embrace the Holy Spirit, and be a Christ-like Church"

She spoke a lot about trials, how the newspapers and the people can impose personalities and claims upon you, but nothing changes or makes who we are because God alone makes us who we are, and knows us inside out and loves us regardless of our faults.

You can't stop God from loving you. We may try to run away from Him or insult and mock him and do horrible things knowing He's watching, but you can't make Him stop loving you with your actions and thoughts - He loves you because of who He is, not because of what you've done. Nothing will change who He is.

And like the waves that rose above the breakwater as she stood there in terror,

troubles may come all of a sudden. They may be unpredictable. But need we worry? Our whole life is a test, but our love for God prepares us for these trials. We, children of God, stand firm in His love through the trials and He will protect us with His calming, reassuring presence. He can turn these trials into blessings.

I've experienced it. It's pretty beautiful to look back upon.