What is Naomi?

So I finally studied my name… Naomi… what does it really mean?

First off…. IT IS HEBREW and NOT Japanese….! Once too often I have to educate many well-meaning individuals… Though for their benefit, I typically take such comments to be complements… I guess.... I do seem to come from a rather… well… Exotic breed… hahaha… but seriouly, as far as I can tell, I am as Chinese as one can be…

Back to serious business… According to Vine’s (which is the only way I can ever understand Hebrew on my own)….

Naomi (no-om-ee) = pleasant
(and before u scream… think first… I am pleasant in more ways than you think… =)

It does come from a Hebrew root word (naw-ame), which has many other related words (nah-am, nah-am-aw, no-am, new-eem), that essentially means the following:
agreeable, pass in beauty, delightful, pleasant (- ure), sweet, splendor, grace.

Further search through Strong’s Concordance showed that these group of words typically appeared as Pleasant, Sweet and Beauty in the bible.

As pleasant / beauty, the scriptures tended to focus on knowledge and words... but it was a verse that talked about beauty that really struck a chord and really gave a voice to my heart....

Psalms 27:4
"One thing I have desired (asked) of the Lord, that will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord (in His presence)
all the days of my life,
to behold (and gaze upon) the BEAUTY (the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness) of the Lord
and to inquire in His temple"
(NJKV+Amplified)

Isn't it amazing my friends?
we are transformed into His image when we behold Him... we become beautiful as He is without any conscious effort... we just dwell in His presence and behold His beauty....

Piggie Song....

So, remember the piggie soft toy from the piggies from the performance? hehehe... it has an awesome song that was recorded inside and gets played back when i press it's cute little right front paw....

"I love Nao, You love Mi,
We love happy Naomi...
With a kick, step, piroutte,
On her golden toes...
We love Naomi the most!!!"

am sure by now, you would have figured out the tune and pls feel free to sing along.... !!! =)

Welcome to Naomi fan club.... mua-hahhahahhahaha.............

nao

TRUST HIM and Just Be Me...!!!

So, it's been a trying week... buried under the months, perhaps years, of ought-to and shoulds, I was at the brink of being burnt out... the physical demands of dance and work brought the tipping point... n i was burnt out... the physical tiredness just brought forth the emotional and spiritual stress that has been subciously been building up.

for every single prayer that was offered during this week, my friend, i thank u! it definitely was answered.

so, i just wanted to share the some lessons that i've learnt over the week, after gallons (so, i'm exaggerating, good sign that i'm coming back to normality... =) ) of tears and many hours of friends therapy... i hope you will be blessed too...

1) God is already VERY PLEASED with me
because He sees Christ in me, and already declares me righteous, holy, blameless and very, very precious... He loves me unconditionally, and I don't have to do a gazillion things for Him to be accepted. There's no actions to do or words to say that will add more or less to my position of great favor in Christ.

2) Focus on BEING REAL and not achieving
I need to be real with God. it's not everyday that I feel like doing all the good Christianity things or say all the nice spiritual words. these are all good things that we should desire but willing oneself to do these things (depending on own strength) or pretending that this is really what one really wants to do is very hypocritical. we can be honest with God about our true feelings (as if He doesn't know) and He'll understand and help us. while it sounds "holy" that we only want to do what a good Christian would do, or say what good Christians should say... God wants us to be real with Him... to be honest with Him about our own feelings / desires.

3) He gave us FREE WILL
He did not make robots... He made humans, with a mind to think and a will to choose. We are not puppets that God control from heaven. He delights in us being us... our own unique personalities. we don't give up being who we are... He doesn't want us to give up free will or He would have made us thus.

there are all precious lessons... but if I can have a favorite... this is it...

4) TRUST HIM and Just Be Me
generally, i distrust my own heart / desires and seems like the right Christian thing to do... but when it comes at the expense of me checking constantly whether my desires are inline with His, it borders on being fearful and not stepping out and following my heart (which is where the living waters is going to flow from...duh ) I don't have to look to myself to justify or cleanse my desires... I can trust that the living GOd who lives in me will do that.... I will have confidence to just live as Naomi not because i have desires that are His but I trust that He will take care of that.

GOd is awesome... and I mean it... no cliches, not coz it's the right thing to say... He just is...

be blessed!

nao

My Friends

So it was a hectic performance week... physically super draining but i guess worth the while at the end of the night... and the most rewarding bit of it all... is to see such awesome support from u... my friends (my parents too but they r not so savvy to come read my blog....) while I am going through a faith crisis at this point, I still do thank Him for every single one of you.

here are some pics....

Fellow Princessess... (serene, me, gracie)














Piggies from Purdue...














Monkeys from QBC...

























"Slaves" from Office


















n how can we forget... all the beautiful ppl with golden toes, voice and fingers....













(tangible) LOVE from my friends....

Week Ending 08/10/06

01/10 --> so had late night on saturday, and decided to sleep in... ignored the prompting in the Spirit to go to church and realised later that I was suppose to be ursher for church that day. =( headed for dance and we had first session of Par de Deux (go figure.... =)) it's really quite funny, i always end up doing partnering work with guys (really boys) that are 7-8 yrs younger...

02/10 --> quick lunch errand run to buy tix for Tick, Tick Boom, lunch and birthday cake @ cityhall. it was JJ's b'dae on Saturday (20th Sep) so bought a cake and got ppl to celebrate his belated b'dae and turns out that Shankar's (my immediate boss) b'dae was on the 26th and Lars (an associate director from Corporate Finance) today... so 3-in-1 celebration. cools. then surprise, surprise, it was dance at night =)

03/10 --> had lunch with Angela (colleague from office that just got back from Australia vacation.... I wanna go!!) and tried this Hong Kong cafe, quite yummy. a mini-party sponsored by Sharad (another associate director from CF) for the arrival of his new-born.... so sweets! got chance to interact with some of the newbies in CF... then it was dance again.... i really must refrain from eating when i get home from dance... keeps me up too late in the night, but how, hungry after dance??!! jia lat....

04/10 --> had lunch with Huan (friend from church) and went to the Hong Kong cafe again and introduced her to "the muffin place" @ lau par sat... hahaha... then realised got MSG attack!! so it's either bye bye HK cafe or risk being thrown out when ask them to not put MSG when I next go there =) then lancing lancing again lar....

05/10 --> ooh... it's Niluka's last day in office so arranged for lunch at Pagi Sore (real decent Indonesian restaurant). before that had a really good talk with her abt where she's at in life, etc... though she isn't the most pious Christian but her holding onto the faith is an inspiration. then before she make her official exit, there was this mad rush of "giving away" Nilu's office momentos.... =) Nilu, we are gonna miss ya!!

06/10--> this is quite a day i must say.... so 12pm comes n it was off to People's Park for foot massage with a bunch of colleagues.... NICE!! never realised that People's Park was the hub for such services... there were like at least 10-15 foot massages places on just that floor that I was at. worth every penny of the $20 that I paid... i can "gai siao" if you wanna go.... back to work after lunch but u can imagine how enthu we were that afternoon....

after work, was still full from lunch so we just hung out at IndoChine Bar before perf start... then the phone rang with a weird number.....

surprise surprise... it's Wahyu from Purdue... i was like, "how on earth did you get my number?" and he was like, "i'll tell ya when we meet".... so I obviously "had" to meet him, u know? =) turns out he's in town for a fren's wedding. but as weekend is super packed, could only squeeze in a saturday lunch in between workshop n dance.

oh, back to happening Friday.... so the musical was so-so... maybe 6/10... at least engaging enough to not think about how hungry i was mid-way through. fav part was the message that we should pursue our dreams and not sell out to the popular / easy way out. least fav part was the rather flat perf that day... maybe the haze got to them or something, with a cast of only 3, the performers really needed to be super on-form or it can be quite a drag. oh, n btw, it was interesting to watch it with 8 other men... I mean one would have thought females are more into such stuff.

was super hungry by the end of the musical and very frequent these days, I had super big craving for meat (not exactly most lady like, but.....).... thank goodness, so did Aldric. on our way to Brewekz, noticed how pale / sick the moon loooked with PSI:140-150.... i mean, i feel like we are in a big BBQ party... only thing is where's the meat? (okok... so this meat thing is getting to me as well) at least got the brief fireworks to offer some relief to what is a real gloomy mid-autumn festival.

Aldric, Terence, Jason, Yung Yih and Chee Siang were at brewekz... funny thing is, the last 2 guys have left KPMG already and this was the first time we were having proper conversation... what can I say, we all work hard in office... no time for interaction... hehe.... must say that for the first 10 minutes after the food arrived... i was just concentrated on feeding the tummy... they serve really decent quesadillas there... =)

it was just interesting to hear them talk about work / finance / business stuff, very unlike the spiritual / philosophical conversations that I usually have. though didn't have much to contribute but good exposure nonetheless... then it was time to go home and leave the boys to their "if girls around, cannot have" conversations... =) then had a ~intense conversation with terence on way back....

07/10 --> saturday really was a blur... workshop @ NUS from 8am till 1plus. then it was zipping to Marina Square to meet Wahyu with Ah-xian and another Purdue schoolmate (i really can't remember his name). we had a real interesting conversation on our views on romance / marriage and hope that in some ways witnessed to the 2 non-Christian guys. then it was off to dance.... from 3 -10pm. met Paul, Australian dancer who was born in Singapore and looks way younger than his age.... =) we will be performing together for the improv next week.

then, since it was sung-ho (korean dancer who has been in the US for the past 14 yrs) birthday yesterday, me and ah-si rushed to cityhall during dinner break to pick up cake, dinner and haha... a whole roasted chicken from Jason's for him (he has been having meat cravings too!!.. our muscles need the protein to repair the tissue....) he was super happy and glad that we made him feel special.... been so busy with rehearsals we haven't had the chance to bring him out as hosts.... maybe after the performances....

had our first full run with musician and poetry reader in the evening.... got home way too late...

08/10 --> half the mind to skip church again... but decided i must not ignore the prompting and hopped on a cab to church though already missed both services. was just blessed with the opportunity to catch up with the church family. glad to know that the turnout from last night's mid-autumn special event was good and there were many youths. then it was rushing off to QBC for rehearsal. celebrated 3 youths' birthday in between the rehearsal and was super touched when a bunch of them wanted to come for next week's perf.... felt super loved.

something awesome that evening....

my (2nd) brother wanted to speak with me and we just started sharing and for the first time, prayed together for our family and for each other... it was just amazing... praying that we will meet regularly to honor God in our family.

then had special delivery of Magdelene portugese egg tarts... yumms!! thanks dude!



to all those that are watching the perf next week.... thanks muchie for ur support!! I will Jia You!!!

Boy + Gal = Platonic friendships?

well, for sometime now the Lord has been teaching me about this topic... here's my stand...

it's best not to open up your heart to a friend of the opposite gender unless the Lord is leading the both of you towards marriage... and as such, spending one on one time is also the exception and not the norm.... i know it sounds a little legalistic, but will explain further.

opening ourselves up emotionally to another of the opposite gender opens up the door to compromises that we may not be equipped to handle, esp if we indulge in our own flesh and lose sight of Christ along the way when emotions are already involved (either mutual or with one party) this is an analogy that I've used... u can walk 5 cm away from the edge of the cliff or walk 1m away... either way, u won't fall, but if u r walking 1 m away, i really believe u can walk more at ease and enjoy the walk a lot more then if u were walking 5cm away and constantly on high alert in case u r gonna fall....

granted that diff ppl have diff characters and some are more secureed in the Lord than others but I still believe that it's good to set the standards higher so that even if you fall short, u won't be as far off as if the standards had been lower... i know it sounds a little legalistic... but it's about how easy / difficult for one to make compromises..... and yet, with all these in mind, it is still by His grace and strength that we can even begin to stick with the convictions that we feel in our spirits.... definitely not by will power or our own strength...

seeing how God instituted marriage and His calling for singles, I believe that emotional support / intimacy with the opposite gender is the special privilege of one's spouse... sure, some ppl have close relationships with ppl from opp gender and the friendships never gets complicated but that doesn't form the basis that such relationships are wise. there are always exceptions to the rule but they are what they are, exceptions.... ( e.g. I've heard of a lady pastor who married a non-Christian having heard clearly from the Lord that that's the way to go and the guy came to know the Lord and ended up having a much more powerful ministry than his wife)

Ultimately, it's most important that God is our source of strength and support... it is too easy to just turn to another brother or sister for help/support when the going gets tough... it's so much more tangible. but even in a marriage, our only true source of strength is the Lord not our spouse.... it is vitally important that we establish Christ as our rock when we are singles so that when we enter into marriage, we can look to Jesus and not at our spouse for support... we are in a marriage to support our spouse but even then i believe that the best support that a spouse can give is to point that person to God. For only He has the ability to meet us at our deepest needs and sustain us in our very areas of inadequacies.....

friends are important, they give us support as the Lord grants us, but they should not be an indispensable source of strength.... without them we must still feel complete for we already have the One that completes us.... as in a marriage... we don't need our spouse to complete us... we are already complete for we have the awesome love of the Father.... no matter where we are, no matter what we are going through, He is more than enough... if we feel something's missing and need anything else besides / more than Him, then I believe we really need to sit down and slow down to let Him minister to our hearts, to meet the areas that are yet to be filled with Him.

one does not become cold-hearted and unfeeling with such an approach... in fact, it requires us to be even more open and vulnerable towards God, and towards friends of the opposite gender such an approach frees us to minister to/ interact with/ love them in a godly manner without selfish human emotions / needs being involved because our motivation is Christ and not our own needs.

that has been my journey thus far, and I believe that the journey towards marriage for many others are not that far off... God jealously guards over us, not in an egotistical way, but out of His love that will not give us anything short of His best... which is Himself.

with all these said, it doesn't mean that I have not made or will not make compromises along the way... but we do our best by His grace, knowing that the Almighty will never forsake us.

my Beloved is mine and I am my Beloved's...
and that my friend, is already great cause to rejoice and celebrate for eternity to come.

nao

In HIS Presence...

So, I have somehow slipped out of flowing in His Glory in the past week... instead of going where the Spirit leads, I keep getting into the "alright, I'm gonna go this way, Lord is this correct?"... this is what is known as 本末倒置 (a.k.a. getting the order wrong). Was reminded last night that one really needs to be led by the Spirit and not go wandering off the path and then turn around to see if God is still around. Just when your walk with Him undergoes a turnaround....

the enemy will try to distract and cause one to take one's eyes off Jesus and focus on the "not-so-nice" situations at hand.

I need more joy at work and i guess, productivity n efficiency too... really, just for one particular project. Contrary to all the "not-so-nice" thoughts that the accuser places on my mind.... I must stand on the truth and know that God places me here to be a blessing to my boss and n with His help and by His grace, I WILL do just that!!! hopefully, at some point, i don't need to step out of the office for a breather and look for oppty/place to just scream to let the frustrations out.... It's not easy just focussing on Him and not let "stuff" get to u...

but I'M PRAYING..... n BELIEVING!

nao

just 2 days.... 2 cab drivers

don't think i've blogged this much in a week...

guess, it's all the late dinners working their charm n the caffeine of course that' re keeping me up... i mean it's 2.45am??!! i'm suppose to be in bed =(

so let's recap friday and saturday....

hmm... had lunch with Fanny, Lynn n Grace (ex-colleagues from EDB) at Sun Japanese Dining @ Chijmes... we used to all meet for our weekly fellowship ladies lunch (and Sun is a place we go quite often for "good" lunches) ... really missed the bunch of them... good time of sharing and rejoicing and encouraging one another in the faith. interesting group of ladies, one's married, one's gonna get married, one's dating someone and of coz... there's mua... still single... =) talk about having perspective on love / marriage around the table...

then had rehearsal at night.... n the most qiao thing happened when i was heading out of the building with couple of dance mates (jia n peisi) enroute to boulevard @ e red dot building. we were going to drop by to say hi to another dance mate (lay teng) with her bunch of frens (no, i cannot remember their names)... too tired to stay but had promised will go over and say hi... then... on our way there, i was like, wait a minute, who're those 2 jokers walking past the entrance of TAPAC (telok ayer performing arts centre.... where ODT is... arts building that's in urgent need for upgrading....) turns out that Terence n Aldric had just finished hanging out @ red dot and was walking off to their next destination... it's kind of cool to bump into them... or is it.... STALKERS? (n for the record mr. ma... i had first claim to that statement!!!!!)

after a real brief hi/bye to LayTeng's friend (which technically was more a .... "u must all come n support our performance" pitch and frantic giving out of brochures) jia, si, me and terence ended up sharing a cab home...

now, for the first cab driver was this uncle.... well, first off, i felt kind of sheepish coz i know some cab uncles don't like multiple stops and well, we are making the max # of stops allowable in Sgp... 4... he was quite patient and even volunteered to correct my comment on availability of durian... (don't ask, it's quite random how that came up) in any case, at some point of the journey, we started a conversation about how many hours we sleep each night and uncle sleeps only like 3-4 hrs daily.

he said, "well, i eat something after i go home, then read newspaper then read my book, and then i go to bed about 3-4am"
I said, "maybe if u don't read before u go to bed then you can have more sleep, it's healthier"
he said, " no, the book is very important, it's the bible"
i was like, "AMEN!! uncle!!"

haha... turns out God is calling him back to church... while one who seems to walk close to the LOrd he hasn't been attending church for about 2 yrs now. but God is calling him back to the Tamil church that he used to attend... n the amazing thing is... he's CHINESE... only one in the entire church... but he knows he feels the presence of GOd strongest there. n he shared about how his wife is a believer now and how her life has transformed from one who used to go partying and their marriage was very strained just 3 yrs ago is now mended and better after she came to know the Lord. the thing that encouraged me the most was when he shared that during the difficult times... he never stopped his wife from doing what she wanted to do... he just fervently prayed for her salvation and just look what the Lord had done in her life... it's so amazing... prayer can truly move mountains if we apply our God given faith!! =) i felt so alive when i arrived home... hope that Jia (only other person left in the cab by then) caught some of that fire and will rekindle /fire up her passion for the LOrd.

8am start for workshop on Saturday... yeah, i know, it's too early.... hailed a cab and then met cab driver #2 (so sorry, really didn't remember their names) we were just having normal conversation during the journey but at one point, i asked him what is his religion... coz he stands out from other cab drivers in that he wasn't the complaining sort... the sort that actually knew contentment and had good thing to say about Singapore n singaporeans.... believe me, if u take cabs, n u talk to cab drivers.... u will know what i mean by the more "typical" cab driver... neways, realised that he wasn't a believer but his wife is n quite a strong in the faith.... squeezed in whatever testimony i could... but he really blessed me when i was alighting... he said... "GOd Bless U".... i mean, i can totally like see the seed that the wife planted growing right there... it's so amazing... God really gave me a good start for the day... esp when He knows i am not terribly thrilled to have to work on a saturday morning.....

then it was dance rehearsal and then my movie date with Cyn Yi... which i can use one word to describe... it was BRILLIANT... the company was, the movie was, the dinner was (korean outlet @ le meridien good court) n the fellowship/sharing of course... of coz... i still totally forgot the I love SAmsoon korean drama serial to pass to cyn yi for lynn... but apart from that... we had an awesome time... now, to fix up the haircut appt for the both of us....

one last word about the movie... it was surprisingly good. believe me, when i saw the title The Devil Wears Prada.. i was like... i am not particularly motivated to go watch a materialistic movie... but this one had depth. acting was good, issues were real, it's set in new york (can;t wait for my US trip), i like the ending, i identified with the characters... aaarrrr.... worth every single cent of it...

i am REALLY getting very cheong hei~~~!

nao