thoughts

It's Easter. Lent's over. I'm home. Jesus is alive. There's great hope. There's power. There's life.

Initially I gave up facebook for lent. Then halfway through lent, I gave up blogging which is why you haven't seen me post in a few weeks. During these weeks, God taught me a lot more about himself and his heart for people. A lot has happened and the next month is about to be crazy. It's been spring break and I went to a conference this weekend. This break has been so refreshing. I just love spring. I love the weather and I love how it's still sunny out at seven in the evening.

Faith, hope, love. We hear these words all the time. Well, I do anyways. But do we actually know the depth of each of these words? Each of these words have so much meaning in them. This year, God has been teaching me the deeper meaning of each of these words and in the end, they're all intertwined.

I believe in a God who can do big things. I believe he can move mountains.
Matthew 21:21 says "Jesus replied, 'I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.''"
This is amazing.

Today is Easter. What is Easter and what's so significant about it? I have heard the Easter story countless number of times, but I learn something new each year. Jesus was blameless, pure, and innocent. Yet, he chose to die on the cross for our sins. For my sins, for your sins, and for the sins of everybody who has ever lived. He died a painful and humiliating death on a cross. I asked God today -- "Why? Why did you do this for us?" I look around and I see the weaknesses in people. We are proud, arrogant, inadequate to do what we're called to do, irresponsible, judgmental, short in patience, careless with our words, insensitive, selfish, and more. To sum it up, we are sinful. Yet, Jesus died for us on the cross. Why? It's because he loves us. I do not say it lightly that he loves us. He deeply and passionately loves each one of us. I was thinking about this during the conference. God does not favor anyone. He loves each person unconditionally. If you study the life of King David, we can really see how much God loved him. Same thing if you study the life of Jesus. With the same abundant love God loves them, He loves me too! Isn't that amazing? Going back to the significance of Easter. Why is it significant? Jesus died for our sins, but not only did he die, he rose again from the dead. He conquered death. He conquered Satan. He is victorious. That is the basis of Christianity.  If we choose to receive what Jesus did for us, we will one day rise from the dead again and be alive with Jesus Christ. Here, we see hope. There's hope for our futures despite the difficulties because no matter what, Jesus is victorious. Satan tries to tell us otherwise. Miracles did not just happen during Jesus' ministry. It happens today too because Jesus is alive!

This spring break, I actually read a book titled Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis. It was a really good book. It was more than a book. It was a testimony of God's goodness and how God continues to use Katie Davis as a missionary in Uganda. She's only twenty-two or twenty-three and she has adopted 14 children. Everything she has done or is doing seems impossible, but it is possible because it's God who leads her. It's God who gives her strength. It's not because of her talents, but throughout the book, she emphasizes that it's because she chose to say "yes" to God. This made me think about my life. What if God called me to go somewhere right now. Could I leave everything I know behind -- my home, family, friends, college education? I guess I'm still asking myself questions, but I hope that when that day comes, I will be able to say "yes." The book also opened my heart to missions. Ah, although her life sounds difficult, it's also filled with the great joy.

Philippians 3:10 says "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." After reading Kisses from Katie, I realized that life is full of hardships and difficulties. People are suffering everywhere. There is so much brokenness in this world. And as Christians, life is not always happy. In fact, it's the times when we are suffering that we grow the most. All of this made me think of this verse. Jesus actually suffered so much. He was wrongly accused and suffered a humiliating death on a cross. To know Jesus deeper, we also must suffer. Because when we suffer we depend solely on Jesus; our relationship with Jesus goes to another level. Suffering is hard, but we always know that God is victorious in the end.

I'm just so excited about the future Jesus has for each one of us! Ahhhh, haha. When you say yes to Jesus, you may not have the "American Dream" but it will not be boring.

God has been teaching me to deny myself. This is really hard, but I need to deny what I want and my plans to let his plans fill my life. He is Sovereign. I trust that he has the best future for me. (:

Laugh. At the winter retreat in February, Jesus reassured me that he is victorious. He taught me to just laugh despite the difficulties in life because he is indeed victorious in the end. I totally forgot about this after a month or so after the retreat, but I was reminded again. I don't need to be stressed. I need to laugh and be joyful. There's SAT, AP tests, and a violin test, but I need to laugh through it all. All these seem like a huge mountain at the moment, but nothing is impossible with God, right? Though junior year has been the hardest year, I have learned so much from it. Deeper friendships, learning through sufferings, trusting God to another level, homeworkingworkingworking, etc.

I'm going to Mexico this summer. SO EXCITING.

When God leads, he will always provide.

This keeps getting longer and longer, but I've been learning more about God's grace! We always sing "Amazing Grace" at church, but I have never really appreciated the song until recently. God's grace is soooo good.

I need to get used to this new blogger format.