Service

This year in youth group, we have been focusing on different topics that are necessary as Christians (we're on our second topic now!). The first topic we focused on was prayer and now we are transitioning into service. We had Miss Ann come speak to us on serving and I wanted to share the main three points of her seminar.

The three main points were:

1. Serving = devotion (relationship with Jesus)
2. Authentic Christian life must involve a lifestyle of serving
3. When we serve others, we are whispering with ours cations "you are worthy to be loved." (Serving can be picking up trash at church, washing the dishes for your family, cleaning the bathroom, etc.)

Before we can give to others, we must first receive what God has in store for us. If I try to give without first receiving the love from our Father, I find myself running low on love, patience, and joy. I am learning that it is important to guard my relationship and time with God. Before I can help others, I must be secure in my relationship with Jesus. I also saw this quote a few weeks ago and it was a good reminder for me - "You can do anything, but you can't do everything."

Overall, I thought her seminar was really encouraging as she shared the joys and struggles of serving! I hope this encourages you to keep serving the Lord in all that you do. If you don't know how to serve  others, ask God and he will definitely show you the ways you can serve others. (:

Laying it Down

Although I had not planned on going, I attended a seminar/message by Pastor Shin titled "Introduction to Spiritual Warfare." He urged us to lay down the worldly weapons we use about to bring change that we want.

The seven he listed were the following:

1. anger & rage
2. bitterness & unforgiveness
3. slander & gossip
4. jealousy & envy
5. self hatred & condemnation
6. despair & suicide
7. selfish ambition

In his message, he made an argument that in the world, we use these weapons when we want to bring about change. However, these weapons do not bring about good change in the world. As I listened to the message and as he went down the list, I thought that I wasn't really an angry or bitter person. However, he told a story of his daughter (maybe it was his son). His child was sick and had the fever for  a few days, but he wasn't concerned since it was less than 100 degrees. However, it persisted. His wife informed him that having a low persistent fever was as life threatening as having a high fever. Through that experience, Pastor Shin learned that low grade anger, bitterness, forgiveness, etc. was poisonous as well. 

Through attending this, I was really encouraged to lay down any weapons that I may be holding onto and to really pray for others. He shared a funny story of how God would place people to pray for during his college years. When God placed the people in his heart, he would pray for them for hours throughout the whole week. Then during a Friday meeting he attended, he would see the people show up! During the service/prayer, he phrased her - "a short Asian girl" would walk up to the person he was praying for and pray for them. As a result, the person would cry and she would get all the credit for praying for them. And then he said - "what do you do with a girl like this? I married her." This really encouraged me to really start praying for others because when we pray, God hears and answers our prayers. I believe that when we pray, God moves. Let's pray and have greater expectations because God will do big things in the months to come! Death can come at any moment, but so can life.

First Message

It's hard to believe that we're already nearing the end of semester and the year. At the beginning of the school year, our church chooses what we we call a "key verse" for the new year. It's usually a verse you want to hold onto for the upcoming year. For 2014, I chose 2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction." Throughout my freshman year, I felt that God wanted me to share the gospel - the good news, with others. Although I struggled to be bold about my faith, I believe the Lord was preparing me and equipping me throughout that season. Last year, he was calling me to just sit in his presence. However, this year, He was now calling me to go forth. I chose 2 Timothy 4:2 as my 2014 key verse, not knowing what the Lord had in store for me. As the fall semester began, I joined the youth group once again, not just as a member, but as a teacher. It has been difficult at times to lead and teach, but God has been teaching me a lot through it. I gave my first ever message to the youth group last Sunday! I believe that the gospel has the power to save and transform lives - and my hope is that others, too, may believe and be saved by the power of the gospel.

I also wanted to share what I wrote on instagram on my blog as well:

I believe God has put in my heart the love to create things. As I was thinking, the song "create in my a clean heart" came into my mind. I realized that the older I get, the more difficult it is to be pure/clean. However the lyrics say "create in me." When you create, you bring forth what was not there before. As we ask God to create things within us, we're asking Him to form things that are not already in us. God's words have absolute power that when He speaks, He creates. As I create things, I get to see glimpses of who God is as the creator God. 

Sufficient

Last week I was a bit overwhelmed with all the work that I needed to do. On Saturday, I chose to go hiking, but it turned out to take much longer than I anticipated. We left around 9:00 in the morning and came home around 5:30. While hiking down the trail from the top of the mountain, I had some time to myself to think and enjoy the view. While I was thinking, I realized that God is sufficient; he is enough. This is an analogy that may not make sense, but in BSCI207, we learned about sufficiency in relations to genes. If a gene is sufficient, it can be removed and inserted in a different part of the embryo and the gene will still be expressed. For example, the gene bicoid is responsible for the formation of the anterior part of the body (the head). But if it is inserted to the posterior end of the body, the organism will have an additional head (this was done on fruit flies). The presence of the gene is enough to produce a head in development. In the same way, I realized that God is sufficient. I don't need anything or anyone else to lean on. If God calls me to do something, He will make a way and he will help me. Even though I have much to do, I choose to trust Him, believing that He is sufficient.

NYC

Last weekend my friends I went to visit Preethi in NYC. We planned to visit last winter, but somehow our plans fell apart and we couldn't go. We saved our tickets for later (I'm so thankful we could save the tickets), and we were finally able to go! We left Friday around four o'clock and arrived back in College Park at eight Sunday morning. A lot of time was spent in traveling, but it was a nice break after my first round of midterms. Since I don't get to see Chris & Vinona very often (even though we go to the same school) it was so nice to spend the weekend with them, catching up on what's been going on in our lives. I'm also thankful that although it was drizzling Saturday morning, it cleared up to be a beautiful day. We went to the Chelsea Market, Soho, Brooklyn Bridge, Time Square, and Grand Central Station. I really liked the Brooklyn Bridge and Grand Central Station. They were so pretty! Visiting NYC made me wonder if I wanted to or could live in the city. It's interesting to think about where I will end up in five, ten, twenty years. Only God knows right now. I could be living right here in College Park, in another state, or even country. It's exciting to experience all the things God has in store for my life now and in the years to come! 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

This was from Chelsea Market. For some reason, I just really like this picture.

Love this picture of Vinona.

It was raining in the morning, but it cleared up to be a beautiful day.

The girls!

Sunflower Preethi randomly bought for $2 that ended up being part of our day.

Brooklyn Bridge!

The city that never sleeps.

New Lens

God's funny.

He always seems to work in ways that I don't expect him to. During Grace Retreat someone prayed for me and she told me that God would give me a new lens to see God's love for people in a new way. At that point I interpreted that as, "God's going to give me a new perspective to see people in another way." In the past two months, God not only gave me one new lens, but two!

During the Summer Bible Conference, an accident occurred and my 85mm prime lens fell and broke. Despite the tragedy, I felt the peace of God. Through this accident, I got to trade the broken 85mm f/1.8 for the 50mm f/1.4 lens because they were around the same price. To be honest, I had wanted to buy the 50mm f/1.4 by the end of the summer. Although the 85mm prime lens was one of my favorite lenses so far, I love the 50mm prime too. It gives a more softer look than the 85mm. So I had the 50mm for the rest of the conference and about one more week or so. While I was filming while I was at work, my lens fell slow mo to the ground while on a tripod. Even though it was like 2 feet from the ground on a mat, it still wouldn't autofocus anymore! I was really sad because my family was going to Toronto that week and I wouldn't have been able to take nice pictures. And through this tragedy, I borrowed the 15-85mm lens from Esther. And after coming back from the trip, I bought the lens from her. And after a month, I finally got my prime lens fixed and I love it!

I never expected to have such sudden changes in my equipment, but I'm so thankful. Although it was kind of painful to go through, God knew that I really wanted the 50mm prime lens. It was sad letting the 85mm go, but the 50mm prime is definitely a better fit for my camera at the moment. (:

This semester's such an exciting journey!

Summer

At the beginning of this summer, I had no idea what this summer was going to be like. Honestly, I worried what I was going to do with more than three months of summer vacation. While a lot of my peers had internships and jobs lined up for the summer, I had no plans. A few months before summer vacation started, I began to ask God to provide summer plans for me. As I look back on this summer, I am extremely thankful for all the ways that God provided over the summer. God never fails to provide when we seek Him! I've seen over and over again how God provides in His perfect timing - financially, knowledge, etc.

This summer I (so I don't forget!):

• attended Grace Retreat as a photographer and as a young adult track member
• got a car from my parents!!
• took more than 200 GB of pictures
• I ended up taking a lot of family portraits, which was a really good experience for me.
• I learned more about event photography by photographing Grace Retreat and Abby & Maddy's first birthday party
• helped out at the Elephant school (church day care)!
• volunteered at the In & Out Surgery Department at Providence Hospital with Luke
• tutored Luke some geometry & algebra
• attended the Mid-Atlantic Summer Bible Conference
• learned more about designing tshirts, typography, and Adobe Illustrator
• made a reflection video with Susan + Hannah!
• learned so much about video editing that I never knew
• visited Toronto with my family
• made a video for the gym! 
• (This is one of the two that I made of the series. Also learned a lot about video editing from this experience.)
• went to the gym
• became a youth group teacher

It's hard to believe that school has already started. I think I'm still in summer mode.