Hey ppl, just an update on my life right now :)
the Lord is moving me into a season of trusting Him to provide in many areas of my life right now.
I'm currently not working full-time as I've heard from the Lord to complete the work that He has called me to do.
Firstly, it has been a dream, and I sense in me, a calling to serve the Lord using my band by ministering to the broken hearted using our songs. Here's a little background story.
Mid last year, during one of my quiet times with the Lord, I was thinking of calling it quits about the band. I sat on my bed and told the Lord, "Lord, I think maybe I should just stop doing this band thingy and just get a regular job, so I can feed my wife, my kids, and my parents and live a NORMAL life... yeah, that's what I'll do... sounds good... "
I managed to convince myself actually, so I took out my journal and wanted to write all these down about getting a regular job and settling down...
Lo and behold, the moment I flipped my journal open I saw the words, "I will use your band."
and it was something I heard from Him and written down a few months before... so it was one of those GOD SPEAKETH moment... and I just sat there in awe...
"ok, God! I hear You LOUD and CLEAR!"
Knew I wasn't supposed to give that up... so I persevered and continued.. but it just seemed like a long draul cos everything seemed to be going against us and getting this band thing going... We had commitment issues and had trouble setting a direction for the band...
At the end of last year, as I was spending time with the Lord and as I was reading the Book of Matthew, I came across the passage of Jesus going out of Israel just to meet up with the Phoenician woman who wanted her daughter healed. At first, Jesus told her the blessings go only to the children of Israel, but she said that even the dogs would take the crumbs left over. This touched the heart of Jesus and He immediately healed her daughter and complimented the faith of this woman.
Then, the Lord asked me, "If I were to send you to just one person, will you go?"
I wept and said to the Lord, "Yes, Lord, cos You went all the way out of Israel just to reach out to one woman!"
This will be the theme passage for Nara's Playground. Being sent by the Lord to where He wants us to go, and not where we want to go; and to heal the broken-hearted.During an altar call last year towards the ending weeks of 2006, the Lord also used a brother to speak to me as he came over and prayed for me. He saw a vision of me like Jacob wrestling with the Lord. He told me the Lord wants me to keep struggling, to keep persevering and not give up...
"wa.. very tiring leh... wrestle very long liao leh..." my heart was thinking. But it made me resolve to just put in my last ditch effort and pull through the band ministry.
So, here I am, I told the Lord that I'm going to put in these few months as a statement of faith to work out the songs and produce our maiden gig, which will probably happen in May.
Right now, we're in the midst of recording our songs in acoustic guitar and we're aiming to release a pure acoustic album of all the songs we've written on Feb 28th.
The Lord has been really good. His timing has always been perfect. My friend Troy who works in the music business just came back recently from the States and he has kindly lent us his mixer and a really good mic and mic stand. We've done a couple of recordings last Wednesday and they are the best sounding recordings we've done so far.
I also find that my song writing skills have really improved, based on my recent compositions. It's like the Lord has given me extra anointing to write melodies and lyrics. I've never seen such quality in my work before. The thing is, I'm so amazed by it that I really didn't feel like I've written it. When I look at the songs, I just thought to myself, "I didn't write that". Yup, that's how amazing it is...
Also, as many of you know, my voice had been hoarse and I've not been able to sing for about 2 months since I got hit by a throat infection last December. I was hit exactly the time when I decided in my heart to record th acoustic album. Seems like the devil really doesn't want me to do this huh... Recently, I was also facing some persecution from my parents due to my job situation, but the very day that I was persecuted, the Lord healed my voice. It was as if He was assuring me that I'm walking in the right way and I must not fear man. I wasn't even aware of it until I was taking up my guit and playing and singing with it, before I realised, "hey, I can reach the high notes again!"
HALLELUJAH!!
And it all started when I took the step of faith to say, I'm going to do this and honour Him.
People have been telling me how good the songs sound, but I'm really a little skeptical about it, cos maybe I've heard too many good stuff, and by pitting it against these giants, I feel tiny... But I tell the Lord, "Lord, even if I don't believe in myself, I'll do it, because You told me to, and You believe in me, so I'll believe it."
Right now, as our recordings will be put onto a CD and sold in a few weeks' time, we have limited access of our recordings to only between our band members on the multiply website to prevent copyright issues.
You will, however, be able to hear our latest studio demos on our new myspace website at
http://myspace.com/narasplayingKeep a look out for our acoustic album out on Feb 28th, entitled "Nara's Raws" and help us fund the band by purchasing a copy of it.
Cheers!
