Be Joyful, Always. Posted on 5th Sep 2010, 11:29pm by admin

“Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess 5:16).
“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.” (Psalm 28:7).

There are many such verses in the Bible that ask us to place our faith in the Lord and trust him in all things we do. Yet as humans, it is easy for us to forget, to worry and to place our faith in our own human ways.

There have been many times in life when I have found myself at crossroads as to what to do with my life. In my younger years, I was never entirely certain which path I was to take in life – only that I wanted to be in a vocation where I could help people through my daily work. The idea of being a Doctor did occur to me at times in my early education, but I had always dismissed it as 1) the thought of studying so much about the human body was terribly daunting and 2) Furthering my education in Singapore was not the most appealing (for numerous reasons best left unsaid =]).

When I was granted a place in NUS Medical School, I really wondered why I was given such an opportunity since I wasn’t the most keen or the most gung-ho of candidates. To be honest, I was of half-minds as to whether I should accept the place, especially as I had also already accepted a scholarship to study overseas (a lifelong dream!). It was in this time that I turned to the Lord in prayer – and I only prayed that he would give me the wisdom to trust in his ways. And I am glad I did, because as I look back now, the Lord has helped me through all the difficult moments of studying and clerking, to allow me to finally be a doctor, to be in a vocation where helping is part and parcel of the job.

So as I reflect back on my life thus far, I am constantly reminded that the Lord is always with us. Though his ways may not be apparent to us from the beginning, we need to take the step to trust in him. And yet, that is often the hardest thing to do. I pray that all of us will have the wisdom and the courage to do so…