last two weeks

So much has happened the last three weeks that I wanted to take time to recap with some pictures! Although it has been busy, it also has been really exciting and fun.

On May 7th I went to the Gaither Vocal Band Concert in Woodbridge, VA with ten other people. The Gaither Vocal Band was so good live and you could tell that they just had fun making music! The song that I really liked from the concert was "Do You Wanna Be Well" and "Sometimes it Takes a Mountain." The song is based on the story of the invalid man that's been sitting next to the fountain for 38 years. "But you gotta wanna be well, really wanna be well // Are you willing to take up your mat and help yourself? // Do you wanna be free, really wanna be free? // If you wanna be healed and whole, you gotta wanna be well." At times we may be stuck in times of self pity and despair. But no matter what you may be going through, Jesus has the power to heal. But before He can do so, you "gotta wanna be well." 

it wasn't always like this

My cute little sister chillin' on my bed doing her homework.

:)

If you happen to stop by at our house on a weekday evening, you would most likely find my sister, not in her room, but in my room (one of the smallest rooms in the house), sitting on my bed doing her homework. Why? After all these years, I don't know why she chooses my room over hers. I ask her every time, but I guess she must like me, haha. However, I wanted to write this blog post, because it wasn't always like this. I look at our sweet relationship and I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that God mends broken relationships and He heals. Well, I'll start from the beginning. If you know my testimony, you know that when I was little, I prayed for a younger sibling (since I was the only child at that time). My mom told me that when I lived in Canada and saw other families with a lot of children, I really wanted a sibling. God heard my prayer and knew the desires of my heart and gave me Rebekah while we were living in Korea! I still remember the week when she was born. I was SO excited and visited the hospital after school every day (sometimes even on my own at the age of seven) to see my mom and my cute baby sister. We have a really big age gap so for the first half of Rebekah's life, I was more like a mother than a sister. Well, kind of in between. I didn't take care of her well as a mother would, but I did change her diaper and fed her rice, haha. Nowadays, she's taller than me (as she reminds me often) and I think people get surprised that we are seven years old apart when we seem so close. Because my dad went back to get a RN degree during my late elementary/middle school years, I had the responsibility of babysitting my sister during elementary and middle school years. Looking back, while other kids probably went outside and played, I spent a lot of my time indoors reading books and "babysitting." To be honest, I probably was not a great baby-sitter. When I started attending youth group in seventh grade, I noticed how different my responsibilities seemed to my friends. While they had siblings 2 years older (or siblings close to their age), I had a sister 7 years younger than me. Though my parents didn't say I had to, I had this sense of responsibility that I had to be home to babysit. And for a while, it felt like a burden. Whenever I would want to go to a event or somewhere, I would have to think of my sister and make sure she had a place to go or a babysitter (in case my parents were not at home). And somehow I think this lead to resentment. Even though people told me "oh Rebekah is so cute!"I honestly could not see it at that point. Now I look back at those pictures and she was really cute (look at the picture)!

Community Series Part 2

Community Series Part 2: We Need Each Other

I saw several people share this (the photo above) on my facebook the other day. At first glance, I thought it was cute and then dismissed it. But the longer I stared at the photo, I began to understand the true meaning. Above, you will see three people walking through life (literally walking, haha). As each person walks, there's a chasm he or she must get through. Someone walking alone will have a difficult time getting over the chasm. A person walking alone could try to leap across, invent a gadget, etc. to get to the other side. However, because they are holding each other up, each person is able to get through life. There's a t-shirt that has a stick figure kneeling in prayer that says - "someone's praying me through." When I first saw this t-shirt, I remember thinking it was kind of weird because I didn't understand the meaning. But I realized that everyone has highs in life as well as lows. There will be times when I may fall or go through a difficult season. This is when I need people to pray for me. But when I am doing well, I need to spend time to pray for my friends and those around me. As much as we would all like to always be strong, we will all eventually face a day when our strength fails us. Let's be a community that supports each other through the good times and bad.