Grace 2012 was amazing as it always is.
There's not much time for me to spend writing paragraphs and paragraphs of what I learned at Grace Retreat due to missions; thus I will try to summarize it in a brief and concise way. I never want to forget what I learned.
1) A person needs core values in life. I want to live my life full of love and integrity. Actually not want, but will. Well, at least I will try. I will try to do my absolute best in everything I do because I live for the approval from God, not men.
2) Prophesies are to encourage people. Everyone can prophesize because everyone can hear from God.
3) Consistency is important, especially being consistent in reading the Bible.
4) The enemy, the devil, will try to discourage you as much as he can. He will try to convince me that what happened at the retreat was all my imagination. Those are all lies. What happened was real and I need to live my life with authority knowing that. Yes, the devil is strong, but guess what. My God is stronger.
5) We are the new revival generation. We need to step it up as leaders - leaders that walk in love, integrity, and boldness.
6) Big things are going to happen. God does big things. He heals. It's not just in third-world countries. He heals today.
7) We need to cry out for this generation. The theme for this year's Grace Retreat was "HeartCry".
8) Never be content. I should never be saying "I'm okay in my relationship with God." It might be going well, but we should never ever be satisfied because God always wants to give us more and better things.
9) I have other dolphins with me. I'm never alone in my walk with God. Yes, it's between Him and me but God provides other brothers and sisters in my life for us to support each other. (: I am extremely thankful for all my friends!
10) God is full of love, joy, peace, etc. All good things come from Him. The more I know him, the more I get to know of his good gifts! It is amaazzzing. It never runs out either.
11) God's resources are bountiful. The world's resources run out, but God's resources never runs out.
12) "The more you know Him, the more you know Him." "Words carry knowledge but a voice carries a spirit." "Wisdom is knowing how to apply knowledge." The last one maybe paraphrased, but good stuff. (:
Grace Retreat 2012, twelfth year, twelve disciples -- generation of leaders! Woohoo. ♥
Mexico in two days. AH.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Cleaning
Whooooo. I just cleaned my laptop by deleting 15 + GB worth of pictures and then emptying my recycling bin. Now the computer feels so clean and so much faster. (:
It takes much less time deleting pictures than moving them to the hard drive. I think I have hours to go to transport all the newer photos. After getting a DSLR, the picture sizes, along with quality has gone up much much more, which means more work for my hard working laptop. Hopefully it will last for at least one more year! But my computer feels so much faster now that I freed 40 GB on the computer. Phew.
Talking about being free, I am learning that there is so much freedom in Jesus! On the outside, Christianity seems to be bounded by rules and regulations, but the commands God gives us is out of his love as a loving father has rules for his children. What kind of father would let his child eat only candy and soda while growing up? In the same way, God has these rules and regulations because he's looking out for us. True freedom is not being lawless. Often times people talk about how they're free in college because they're away from their parents. They can eat whenever, sleep whenever, and do whatever they want without their parents. However that is not freedom. I really don't think I will feel free if I do whatever I want. Rather, I'll be bound by the consequences of the bad decisions I make and eventually become bound by sin. Thus, I believe true freedom comes from following Jesus. That may seem ironic, but as it says in the Korean Memorial in D.C. "freedom is not free." My freedom came with the price of Jesus' blood. In Jesus there is freedom. I have the freedom to be who I was created to be because I know that Jesus loves me. I mean, who really cares what everyone else says when my worth is determined by just one - God himself? He loves me and that's all that matters. It is extremely important to find your worth solely in Jesus.
I went to costco with my mom and my sister today. It has been forever since I have been to costco. My Saturdays this past year was filled with chemistry outlines and problem sets. (: It felt so nice walking through the aisles at costco.
I cannot believe we're going to Grace Retreat tomorrow. It really came really quickly this year. Perhaps it's because of the busyness of missions preparations and whatnot, but I'm still really excited for the retreat. I know that God never disappoints. The retreat may not go the way I expect it to be, but God will not disappoint me. I'm excited to learn so much more about him and I really pray that I may be blessed to bless others in Mexico!
I'm just so thankful that God never disappoints. He always provides - finances, opportunities, etc. He always knows the best for me. Even though it's really tough when I don't get what I want at the moment, God always knows the best. Time of refinement is extremely important!
Expect great things from God.
It takes much less time deleting pictures than moving them to the hard drive. I think I have hours to go to transport all the newer photos. After getting a DSLR, the picture sizes, along with quality has gone up much much more, which means more work for my hard working laptop. Hopefully it will last for at least one more year! But my computer feels so much faster now that I freed 40 GB on the computer. Phew.
Talking about being free, I am learning that there is so much freedom in Jesus! On the outside, Christianity seems to be bounded by rules and regulations, but the commands God gives us is out of his love as a loving father has rules for his children. What kind of father would let his child eat only candy and soda while growing up? In the same way, God has these rules and regulations because he's looking out for us. True freedom is not being lawless. Often times people talk about how they're free in college because they're away from their parents. They can eat whenever, sleep whenever, and do whatever they want without their parents. However that is not freedom. I really don't think I will feel free if I do whatever I want. Rather, I'll be bound by the consequences of the bad decisions I make and eventually become bound by sin. Thus, I believe true freedom comes from following Jesus. That may seem ironic, but as it says in the Korean Memorial in D.C. "freedom is not free." My freedom came with the price of Jesus' blood. In Jesus there is freedom. I have the freedom to be who I was created to be because I know that Jesus loves me. I mean, who really cares what everyone else says when my worth is determined by just one - God himself? He loves me and that's all that matters. It is extremely important to find your worth solely in Jesus.
I went to costco with my mom and my sister today. It has been forever since I have been to costco. My Saturdays this past year was filled with chemistry outlines and problem sets. (: It felt so nice walking through the aisles at costco.
I cannot believe we're going to Grace Retreat tomorrow. It really came really quickly this year. Perhaps it's because of the busyness of missions preparations and whatnot, but I'm still really excited for the retreat. I know that God never disappoints. The retreat may not go the way I expect it to be, but God will not disappoint me. I'm excited to learn so much more about him and I really pray that I may be blessed to bless others in Mexico!
I'm just so thankful that God never disappoints. He always provides - finances, opportunities, etc. He always knows the best for me. Even though it's really tough when I don't get what I want at the moment, God always knows the best. Time of refinement is extremely important!
Expect great things from God.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Seven to Eleven
Day Seven:
Day Eight:
Day Nine:
Day Ten:
Day Eleven:
It's been difficult taking pictures each and everyday. Some days I almost forget to take the picture for the day. I want to thank all the people who have been in my pictures (mostly Susan and my sister) ahahaha.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Integrity
What is integrity?
That was the question I ended the last post with. Yes, it is the next post, but I really do want to know what you guys think it is. I want to know what it is. Integrity. It's a word I have heard before, but never really thought about what it was. I googled it and it seems like integrity has something to do with moral principles, trust, consistency, character, and honesty.
I found this quote online -
"Integrity means doing the same thing whether people are with you or whether you are alone." - Ed Anderson
"Officially, for Compassion (International), integrity is: aligning our thoughts, motivations, attitudes and actions with the ethical principles found in God's Word. In both our personal lives and our ministry, what we believe, what we say, and what we do should be consistent, congruent, reliable and transparent."
source: http://blog.compassion.com/what-is-integrity/
Looking at these definitions, it seems like having integrity comes from fully living before God alone. These quotes remind me of biblical characters Joseph and Daniel. Joseph, when tempted by his master's wife, fled from temptation and held his integrity. Daniel, when told he couldn't pray, stood firm and did as he always did - pray three times a day with the windows open. He stood firm. That is amazing. He knew he was going to be thrown into the lion's den, but he did as he always did. He opened the doors and prayed.
When we face adversity and temptations - what am I going to do? What are you going to do? When no one is watching, what are we going to do? Who are we living for?
What is integrity?
That was the question I ended the last post with. Yes, it is the next post, but I really do want to know what you guys think it is. I want to know what it is. Integrity. It's a word I have heard before, but never really thought about what it was. I googled it and it seems like integrity has something to do with moral principles, trust, consistency, character, and honesty.
I found this quote online -
"Integrity means doing the same thing whether people are with you or whether you are alone." - Ed Anderson
"Officially, for Compassion (International), integrity is: aligning our thoughts, motivations, attitudes and actions with the ethical principles found in God's Word. In both our personal lives and our ministry, what we believe, what we say, and what we do should be consistent, congruent, reliable and transparent."
source: http://blog.compassion.com/what-is-integrity/
Looking at these definitions, it seems like having integrity comes from fully living before God alone. These quotes remind me of biblical characters Joseph and Daniel. Joseph, when tempted by his master's wife, fled from temptation and held his integrity. Daniel, when told he couldn't pray, stood firm and did as he always did - pray three times a day with the windows open. He stood firm. That is amazing. He knew he was going to be thrown into the lion's den, but he did as he always did. He opened the doors and prayed.
When we face adversity and temptations - what am I going to do? What are you going to do? When no one is watching, what are we going to do? Who are we living for?
What is integrity?
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Softball Tournament!
Today was our annual softball tournament. The weather was so beautiful; it was a great day to be outside.
It was fun cheering! Even though I wasn't even playing, it was so intense watching the games. I don't know how the guys handle all the pressure, especially when they were down by five in one of the games. Phew, I would not be able to handle that. Today's games felt more chill than the other years from what I remember, but it was fun. Good job guys! Well, it was a bit disappointing to lose the last game (I wasn't even playing), but I realized that softball is more than just the tournament. The years of practice and playing with each other really showed in the games as the guys worked together. They knew they could trust each other if the ball went to a certain direction. Maybe not always, but most of the time. They hit very well and just in general played very well.
Haha, our church is always the odd-one, but I love it. We had 3 elementary schoolers, 1 middle schooler, and 6 high schoolers.
Day 6 - softball
I have a question for you guys: What is integrity? Or what do you think integrity is? (comment below!)
It was fun cheering! Even though I wasn't even playing, it was so intense watching the games. I don't know how the guys handle all the pressure, especially when they were down by five in one of the games. Phew, I would not be able to handle that. Today's games felt more chill than the other years from what I remember, but it was fun. Good job guys! Well, it was a bit disappointing to lose the last game (I wasn't even playing), but I realized that softball is more than just the tournament. The years of practice and playing with each other really showed in the games as the guys worked together. They knew they could trust each other if the ball went to a certain direction. Maybe not always, but most of the time. They hit very well and just in general played very well.
Haha, our church is always the odd-one, but I love it. We had 3 elementary schoolers, 1 middle schooler, and 6 high schoolers.
Day 6 - softball
This rainbow appeared during the last game. (:
I have a question for you guys: What is integrity? Or what do you think integrity is? (comment below!)
Friday, June 15, 2012
t-shirts and talents
Alliteration anyone?
Today was a lot of fun as we decorated t-shirts at Sarrilly's house today! Spending hours and hours on a single shirt made me appreciate people who design and make t-shirts. Some parts of the tshirt making process is so painstakingly slow. I think each of us spent five hours working on one shirt. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun making the shirts, helping each other, and just spending time with each other! (:
We are wrapping up more and more of our fundraisers. Service auction was today and I believe it was a success! Tomorrow will be the softball tournament for guys and the raffle tickets! After a month of selling raffle tickets, one more day to go. I can hardly believe that we'll be leaving for Mexico in less than three weeks. So much work to do, but I'm excited for it.
As I sat and listened to all the services people were offering at the service auction today, I realized how talented people are. God gives each and every person talents - whether they may seem small or large. It is important for each person to cultivate their talents and use it to glorify Him. I know God has poured out an abundance of talent in our church. However this does not mean one person can do everything because each person has what they are good at. I listened to a message Pastor Stephen Chandler gave and he said you know you have a talent when it comes easy to you. Other people may struggle to do what you do with ease. That's a talent. I believe it is sooooo important to cultivate the talent that God has given you and use it to glorify Him because He gave it specially to you. No one else may have the ability as you do.
If you want to check out the message, it's here: http://vimeo.com/43876692
Today was a lot of fun as we decorated t-shirts at Sarrilly's house today! Spending hours and hours on a single shirt made me appreciate people who design and make t-shirts. Some parts of the tshirt making process is so painstakingly slow. I think each of us spent five hours working on one shirt. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun making the shirts, helping each other, and just spending time with each other! (:
We are wrapping up more and more of our fundraisers. Service auction was today and I believe it was a success! Tomorrow will be the softball tournament for guys and the raffle tickets! After a month of selling raffle tickets, one more day to go. I can hardly believe that we'll be leaving for Mexico in less than three weeks. So much work to do, but I'm excited for it.
As I sat and listened to all the services people were offering at the service auction today, I realized how talented people are. God gives each and every person talents - whether they may seem small or large. It is important for each person to cultivate their talents and use it to glorify Him. I know God has poured out an abundance of talent in our church. However this does not mean one person can do everything because each person has what they are good at. I listened to a message Pastor Stephen Chandler gave and he said you know you have a talent when it comes easy to you. Other people may struggle to do what you do with ease. That's a talent. I believe it is sooooo important to cultivate the talent that God has given you and use it to glorify Him because He gave it specially to you. No one else may have the ability as you do.
If you want to check out the message, it's here: http://vimeo.com/43876692
Day 2 - ice:
Day 3 - macro:
Day 4 - sleep:
Day 5 - romance:
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Mordecai
Reading through Esther, there seems to be four main characters - Esther, Mordecai, Haman, and King Xerxes. It's easy to focus on Queen Esther while reading through Esther because well, the book is called Esther. However, I want to focus on Mordecai today.
I believe that Mordecai was a righteous man; he was right with God. He lived to please God and God alone. We can see that Mordecai obeyed God from the actions he took. He took care of God's orphans - "Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother" (Esther 2:7). He raised his cousin, Esther (Hadassah) as his own daughter. When she was taken to the king's palace, Mordecai was her adviser. Because he was close to God, he was able to advise her to go to the King to beg for her people, the Jews when Haman issued a decree for to death of Jewish people.
I admire how Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman because he lived to please God. "All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not knell down or pay him honor" (Esther 3:2). Day after day when people urged him to bow down to Haman, he refused. That takes strength not to cave in to peer pressure!
"During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway, because angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were hanged on a gallows" (Esther 2:21-23). Mordecai honored God by honoring the King by doing the right thing. Even when no one was watching, he did the right thing. Even when his deed went unnoticed by others, Mordecai's intentions were not to be honored and glorified, but to do the right thing before God. In the same way we should not do the "right things" to be noticed or praised by others. Therefore even when I am being unnoticed and no one is watching, I should do the right things before God. At the same time it doesn't mean we can't be honored for doing the right things, but our motives should not be to be gain praise from others. Although Mordecai's actions went unnoticed in the beginning he was later honored for saving the King's life (Esther 6). I think this passage is really encouraging - even when no one recognizes or notices what I am doing, I should keep doing what is right before God because he knows. (:
We can see that Mordecai's reputation began to increase. "Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful" (Esther 9:4). It's amazing considering how just a few moments ago, Mordecai was simply a poor man standing by the King's gates everyday.
"Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews" (Esther 10:2-3). I love how Mordecai, with this new found power, used it to help people. He continued to honor God. Whether he had power of not, he lived to bring justice to people. He lived to honor God with everything he did and I think that's so cool! We can see that he truly loved God through the bold actions he took for his people and for God.
Mordecai. He was a godly man.
I believe that Mordecai was a righteous man; he was right with God. He lived to please God and God alone. We can see that Mordecai obeyed God from the actions he took. He took care of God's orphans - "Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother" (Esther 2:7). He raised his cousin, Esther (Hadassah) as his own daughter. When she was taken to the king's palace, Mordecai was her adviser. Because he was close to God, he was able to advise her to go to the King to beg for her people, the Jews when Haman issued a decree for to death of Jewish people.
I admire how Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman because he lived to please God. "All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not knell down or pay him honor" (Esther 3:2). Day after day when people urged him to bow down to Haman, he refused. That takes strength not to cave in to peer pressure!
"During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway, because angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were hanged on a gallows" (Esther 2:21-23). Mordecai honored God by honoring the King by doing the right thing. Even when no one was watching, he did the right thing. Even when his deed went unnoticed by others, Mordecai's intentions were not to be honored and glorified, but to do the right thing before God. In the same way we should not do the "right things" to be noticed or praised by others. Therefore even when I am being unnoticed and no one is watching, I should do the right things before God. At the same time it doesn't mean we can't be honored for doing the right things, but our motives should not be to be gain praise from others. Although Mordecai's actions went unnoticed in the beginning he was later honored for saving the King's life (Esther 6). I think this passage is really encouraging - even when no one recognizes or notices what I am doing, I should keep doing what is right before God because he knows. (:
We can see that Mordecai's reputation began to increase. "Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful" (Esther 9:4). It's amazing considering how just a few moments ago, Mordecai was simply a poor man standing by the King's gates everyday.
"Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews" (Esther 10:2-3). I love how Mordecai, with this new found power, used it to help people. He continued to honor God. Whether he had power of not, he lived to bring justice to people. He lived to honor God with everything he did and I think that's so cool! We can see that he truly loved God through the bold actions he took for his people and for God.
Mordecai. He was a godly man.
Monday, June 11, 2012
looking back
I had this empty, blank screen up literally for a day. Every time I told myself I would write something, I would find myself doing something else. Last night I was going to write but then I fell asleep. I'm not sure what time I fell asleep but I think it was around seven or eight. I guess I was that tired!
The last day of school was last Friday. I still can't believe it's finally summer. Junior year went by so quickly and it was one tough year. Today I spent an hour reading through my journal from junior year. I actually picked up journaling when I came back from Mexico. Most of the times, it would just be my prayers being written out. I would recommend journaling to anyone. It's always good to look back at it and sometimes it helps me when I don't even know how I feel. Anyways, as I read through my struggles and victorious, I realized that everything I did was through God. All the glory goes to God. At certain times, I was struggling so hard but God brought me victorious through it all. As I read through the struggles I had, I couldn't help smiling and laughing because of the end results. God knew the ending but I didn't. In hindsight, I saw my worries were futile. There were no reasons for me to be worried throughout junior year. For the future, I want to tell myself "Stop worrying. Did you just see what Jesus did? He loves you and he knows the best for you. You don't have to worry about anything. He has the best plan for you."
My junior year did not begin the way I planned it. Due to a schedule conflict, I wasn't able to take orchestra the way I wanted to, but got intro to photo first period. Surprisingly, I learned so much from it. I always heard that photo was the easiest class and you don't learn anything from it, but I beg to differ. I learned incredible amounts of information such as rule of thirds and leading lines. I definitely agree with the former part though- photography was so easy. All the tests were open-computers and so simple. I'm so thankful that I had it first period; my day began 45 minutes later than everyone else's day.
Then a month after school started, I had a random change in my schedule. I was moved from my 3rd period calculus class to 8th period. I really think there was no reason for me to have changed classes, but I'm extremely thankful because throughout the year, 3rd period had all the hard tests. I think my grades in calculus definitely reflect how gracious God is. It makes me smile whenever I think about how God provided a problem that I knew how to do on almost every single test.
I'm so thankful that I didn't get sick often this year. That is amazing considering all the things I did this year.
I'm incredibly thankful for the leadership position God gave me in TLC this year. Looking back on everything, I learned:
1) You have to pray. Praying is not something that you resort to when all else fails because if God's presence isn't there, then there's nothing. It's important to know what's on God's heart. It's also important to continually pray - for TLC, members, etc.
2) It's not easy working with other people. It was hard in the beginning but as the year went by, we truly became a team!
3) Although the outcome is not wholly dependent on the amount of input, the amount of effort you put it into planning meetings matters.
4) It's all about Jesus. Everything we do has to revolve around Him. Praise, discussions, messages, etc.
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" (Proverbs 16:3).
When the year began, my Bible study teacher told me to pick a key verse for the school year. I had no idea what to choose, but I kept seeing this verse so I chose it. After a few weeks, this verse even came in the mail! It was for a Christian college or something, but it was so strange that this verse was on it. Anyways, that's how I knew that God really wanted me to hold onto this verse. God is definitely the victorious God! I claimed this verse for my tests and basically everything I did this past year. (:
I really liked Aug's message yesterday. Looking back on the year, I realize that there's really no reason for my worry about the future but sometimes I get caught up in a pool of worries. It was on Matthew 6:19-33.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).
I was actually thinking about this passage before Aug gave the message. The last weeks of school made me think about this passage and challenged who or what I was living for. Though painful, I had to think about that once again. Who am I living for? What am I living for? The obvious answer would be Jesus, but does my life reflect that? There's been so many distractions lately, but no excuses! Once again, I need to focus my eyes solely on Jesus.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry, about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" (Matthew 6:25).
I don't have to worry about my future. I don't have to worry about what colleges I will be going to, what career I'm going to have, what I'm going to do in the summer, or anything. God doesn't want me to worry because he has a better plan than any plan I can have for myself. His way is the best way. I know it's easy to get worried, but don't because if you trust God, he will definitely take care of you - your future career, husband/wife, where you live, etc.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
This is one of my favorite verses. This should be my life key verse. It was my key verse a few years ago and ever since then, I've been learning more and more what it means. This is a true promise. I've seen it over and over in my life. If you seek God first, he will provide everything you need!
Now I need to trust God with Mexico because I know he will provide everything in the end. God is really funny.
I need to finish my resume, but I really don't want to. It takes too much effort, haha.
I never wrote on the three topics I was going to write on after that essay...oh well.
All the glory belongs to God. (:
Oh, and I started the 30 day photography challenge! I don't know if I'm going to work around Grace Retreat and Mexico, but I'll see when they come!
The last day of school was last Friday. I still can't believe it's finally summer. Junior year went by so quickly and it was one tough year. Today I spent an hour reading through my journal from junior year. I actually picked up journaling when I came back from Mexico. Most of the times, it would just be my prayers being written out. I would recommend journaling to anyone. It's always good to look back at it and sometimes it helps me when I don't even know how I feel. Anyways, as I read through my struggles and victorious, I realized that everything I did was through God. All the glory goes to God. At certain times, I was struggling so hard but God brought me victorious through it all. As I read through the struggles I had, I couldn't help smiling and laughing because of the end results. God knew the ending but I didn't. In hindsight, I saw my worries were futile. There were no reasons for me to be worried throughout junior year. For the future, I want to tell myself "Stop worrying. Did you just see what Jesus did? He loves you and he knows the best for you. You don't have to worry about anything. He has the best plan for you."
My junior year did not begin the way I planned it. Due to a schedule conflict, I wasn't able to take orchestra the way I wanted to, but got intro to photo first period. Surprisingly, I learned so much from it. I always heard that photo was the easiest class and you don't learn anything from it, but I beg to differ. I learned incredible amounts of information such as rule of thirds and leading lines. I definitely agree with the former part though- photography was so easy. All the tests were open-computers and so simple. I'm so thankful that I had it first period; my day began 45 minutes later than everyone else's day.
Then a month after school started, I had a random change in my schedule. I was moved from my 3rd period calculus class to 8th period. I really think there was no reason for me to have changed classes, but I'm extremely thankful because throughout the year, 3rd period had all the hard tests. I think my grades in calculus definitely reflect how gracious God is. It makes me smile whenever I think about how God provided a problem that I knew how to do on almost every single test.
I'm so thankful that I didn't get sick often this year. That is amazing considering all the things I did this year.
I'm incredibly thankful for the leadership position God gave me in TLC this year. Looking back on everything, I learned:
1) You have to pray. Praying is not something that you resort to when all else fails because if God's presence isn't there, then there's nothing. It's important to know what's on God's heart. It's also important to continually pray - for TLC, members, etc.
2) It's not easy working with other people. It was hard in the beginning but as the year went by, we truly became a team!
3) Although the outcome is not wholly dependent on the amount of input, the amount of effort you put it into planning meetings matters.
4) It's all about Jesus. Everything we do has to revolve around Him. Praise, discussions, messages, etc.
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" (Proverbs 16:3).
When the year began, my Bible study teacher told me to pick a key verse for the school year. I had no idea what to choose, but I kept seeing this verse so I chose it. After a few weeks, this verse even came in the mail! It was for a Christian college or something, but it was so strange that this verse was on it. Anyways, that's how I knew that God really wanted me to hold onto this verse. God is definitely the victorious God! I claimed this verse for my tests and basically everything I did this past year. (:
I really liked Aug's message yesterday. Looking back on the year, I realize that there's really no reason for my worry about the future but sometimes I get caught up in a pool of worries. It was on Matthew 6:19-33.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).
I was actually thinking about this passage before Aug gave the message. The last weeks of school made me think about this passage and challenged who or what I was living for. Though painful, I had to think about that once again. Who am I living for? What am I living for? The obvious answer would be Jesus, but does my life reflect that? There's been so many distractions lately, but no excuses! Once again, I need to focus my eyes solely on Jesus.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry, about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" (Matthew 6:25).
I don't have to worry about my future. I don't have to worry about what colleges I will be going to, what career I'm going to have, what I'm going to do in the summer, or anything. God doesn't want me to worry because he has a better plan than any plan I can have for myself. His way is the best way. I know it's easy to get worried, but don't because if you trust God, he will definitely take care of you - your future career, husband/wife, where you live, etc.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
This is one of my favorite verses. This should be my life key verse. It was my key verse a few years ago and ever since then, I've been learning more and more what it means. This is a true promise. I've seen it over and over in my life. If you seek God first, he will provide everything you need!
Now I need to trust God with Mexico because I know he will provide everything in the end. God is really funny.
I need to finish my resume, but I really don't want to. It takes too much effort, haha.
I never wrote on the three topics I was going to write on after that essay...oh well.
All the glory belongs to God. (:
Oh, and I started the 30 day photography challenge! I don't know if I'm going to work around Grace Retreat and Mexico, but I'll see when they come!
Day 1:
Monday, June 4, 2012
spark
(I'm actually looking back at what I wrote and I'm wondering why I wrote this, haha. It started with the first sentence and then I felt the need to explain it and it just kept going on and on. It's more like a rant than a structured argument or prose. I hope it made some sense. If not, I hope I didn't waste too much of your time.)
Truthfully, it's been really hard these few days to keep my eyes on my goals, and above all, the ultimate prize -knowing Jesus. I have been just so busy that I haven't had much time to just think. It's like I'm getting caught in a cycle of living without really thinking or realizing what I am doing. Even though the future is extremely foggy and misty right now, I'm going to hold on. I don't want to be a twig that snaps or a flimsy plant that just sways back and forth when the wind comes. I want to be a plant rooted so firmly and deeply in Jesus so that I stay rooted when the winds and the waves come. I want to be passionate about the things I do, but I know that anything created by humans cannot last forever. The passion I have, created by my humanly desires will never last because I will eventually get burnt out and maybe even apathetic. Thus, I'm praying for passion - not from me, but from God. Sometimes it's hard, actually, most of the times, it's hard because it's a everyday thing to push on or to take that time to spend time with God, but we have to keep pushing!
Random thought, but I actually really miss going to prayer meeting on Tuesday. Going through prayer meetings on Tuesdays definitely helped me get through junior year. It may seem like a waste of time, or even unwise in humanly point of view to go to prayer meeting when I had homework to do, tests coming up, and essays to write, but it wasn't. Every single prayer meeting was worth it. It was good having fellowship with everyone else while helping each other get through the toughest times by supporting each other through prayer.
"Pray without ceasing."
Let's pray for Mexico. (:
Things seem impossible right now. We don't have plane tickets, our skit's not ready, and we're no where near our fundraising goals, but God's going to provide. I know that God definitely uses us in our weaknesses to reveal his powers. I know that God is the bountiful God and he will always provide enough. All we can do right now is do our best and keep praying for this missions trip this summer! It's going to be so beautiful. (:
Saturday, June 2, 2012
rain
I have been trying to take pictures in black & white more. On Friday I took everything in black and white and hopefully I can spend more time on photography over the summer! Today's weather was amazing - calm after the storm. There was the sun, there was the breeze, and then there was the SATs. YAY, no more SATs (hopefully). I actually have no idea how I did on the SAT subject tests because how I feel and how I actually did can be quite different. However how I feel and how I actually do usually matches up. I just felt really bad about physics because I really did not study at all from the AP tests, but it's fine.
Praise team hung out today. We went to the Baltimore Harbor and ate at Five Guys. So good. I'm still really full.
I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to think. Yeah, it's good to just take a step back and relax. Living on the East Coast, everything needs to be fast (correction: faster), but most of the time "fast" doesn't mean anything. A person can't always keep moving from one activity to another. That's why so many people have ADHD these days. Quality is always more important than quantity. It's good to take a step back and just enjoy right now because God wants me to enjoy now.
I'm excited that junior year's almost over but a part of me can't believe I only have one more week of school left. I'm so excited for summer! Ah. I was thinking of taking on a photography challenge once summer vacation starts. Maybe I'll take on a thirty day challenge because I'm not up for a 365 day challenge. (:
Senior year is going to be so different, but I'm going to be excited for it. God placed me here for a reason and all I can do is do my best in whatever situation God has placed me in. I'm really excited for all the activities that are going to happen next year. A part of me really wants to join the yearbook but I have no idea if I have room in my schedule. Another part of me wishes we had a photography club, but still, I have no idea if I have room in my schedule for that. TLC, NHS, LHS. I hope I don't get senioritis, especially in the beginning of the year.
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