Expectations

You may have already heard about this research before, but just take five minutes to watch this youtube video to learn about the Pymalion Effect. For some reason, I can't embed it into the blog post, but if you click "this" it should take you to the video! I first heard about this study when I studied A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado (which I recommend reading) during my senior year of high school with Sarah & Sarah. I had to watch this video for my PSYC100 class which has been really interesting so far. Interesting, but so different from my other science classes!

In the study, all the students were tested in the beginning of the year. Then the researcher randomly picked students, despite their test scores, and told the teacher that they were the ones that were going to "bloom" that year. What amazes me about this study that although the teacher wasn't consciously trying to treat the "smarter" kids better, she did. And she didn't know she did! The students she had higher expectations for ended up meeting the expectations and tested to be smarter at the end of the year. This study really amazes me because it shows that teachers' expectation for their students can shape the students' learning, goals, and eventually their future. As a youth group teacher, I want to have high expectations for them and hope in and for them. I want them to live this one life they have for God and not just for themselves. I want to see them grow and bloom. However I realized that in order to do that, I must give and teach them the tools to do so. My life should also be transparent - that they see that it's not always easy to walk the narrow path. That they will struggle and struggle, but despite their struggles God will never leave them. For me to lead, I need to dig further into God's word - and grow in my personal relationship with God. I also need to teach them to read the Bible and to depend on God. During the retreat, Pastor Jane said something that really caught my attention. She asked her youth groups kids - "why do you have to read your Bible?" and they answered "because it's the word of God" and things like that. But her answer really surprised me. She said, "You have to read your Bible because I'm going to leave." (paraphrased) But that has been on my mind. Even though she's with them right now, one day she's going to have to leave. In the same way, I won't be with them forever. We cannot live our Christian life depending on other people's relationship with God. Also no one else can live my Christian life for me. Only I can. And in the same way, I can't live out my Christian life for the youth groups kids. Only they can. It's really hard to teach, correct, and rebuke but I believe that as teachers, these are our responsibilities.

I am so excited for the journeys God is going to take each one of them when they say yes!

Worship is Life Part 1

Although the "Worship is Life" retreat was mainly for the youth group kids this past weekend, I was so blessed! Throughout the retreat, I was reminded of the joy of my salvation. I will write a longer post reflecting on what I learned this past weekend (hopefully tomorrow or Thursday). But for now, I just wanted to share a bit of what God has been placing on my heart. I believe that God is doing something in our midst - he's stirring hearts because he's going to do big things! And he's doing it here in College Park. As I saw the youth group kids truly worshiping God, God stirred my heart to hope - to hope for their futures and for others not because they're perfect and will never fall, but because He is good. We will all stumble and fall, but no matter how hard or far we fall, God calls us to get back up again. As I see the subtle change in my sister's heart and her newfound genuine faith, I remembered that God too, first met me at a youth group winter retreat. And I am so soo thankful that he met me there because life has been so much different since then! If you are interested, you can read the first part of my sister's testimony here!

& thank God for snow days!

Spring 2015

It's hard to believe that another semester has begun and it's only been the second week of school. It's exciting to be back, but at the same time, it can get overwhelming very fast! I know you cannot define people through their personalities and personalities can change as you go through life, but I am always fascinated by the Myers Brigg Personality Test. A few weeks ago, I was reading the descriptions of INTJ, and I couldn't help laugh at how accurately it described me (of course, not every single part, but most of it). At the same time, I realized that it's difficult for me to communicate and express my thoughts and ideas to others. It takes me a long time to really think through things and form them into words and paragraphs. Maybe that's why I like to post pictures, haha. Despite the busy-ness of the semester, I hope that I can take some time this year to reflect and share what I'm learning! (And hopefully you can do the same!)

So what's new? I really believe that 2015 is a year of hope. When I started college, I couldn't help feeling that I was spiritually backsliding. It seemed that whenever I looked back at my spiritual life in high school, it was full of so much joy and hope. Back then,I honestly believed that God could do anything. I wondered - was it because I didn't know and understand the harshness of life? How did I have so much faith that God could do unspeakable things such as heal cancer? How did I have so much hope for others? How did I even have Bible study every week with my Bible teacher even when I was busy? During freshman year, my eyes opened to the tragedies of this world, and to sum it up, I would say I lost hope. But I believe that it's time to hope again. However, my hope is not grounded in my circumstances or how I feel. We have this unshakable hope because it's rooted in Jesus. January was a journey of learning more what hope is. Romans 5:3-5 says, "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." From this verse, I learned that if all of these thing produce hope, hope must encompass all of these things - suffering, perseverance, and character. Although hope seems to be a concept that I know of because I heard it so often, it's a concept that I am learning more deeply about. The dictionary definition for hope is "a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen." Hope requires waiting. But waiting for what? When I think about waiting, it sounds unpleasant. Waiting requires patience, which I thought I had a lot of (but I realized I really don't). But when we hope, we are not wasting our time waiting. Instead of rushing into things, we are waiting for the Lord for his perfect timing. Why? We trust that his will for our lives is higher than the plans we have for our lives.

Aug gave a youth group message on Psalm 37:1-7 in January which was really encouraging.

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when people succeed in their ways,

when they carry out their wicked schemes."

Psalm 37:7

After I sort of had an understanding of hope, I wondered - what does it look like? What does a hopeful person look like? Then during Bible study, Romans 12:12 really stood out to me. "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." A hopeful person looks joyful. And from then on, it's been a journey of learning to be joyful! It also reminds me of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Yes, being joyful always is God's will for us. And like hope, joy is not rooted on our circumstances, but in Jesus.

Here's something that I have been reminded of recently.
Background: one snowy day
Words written with an Aquash brush

As the new year began, I have been trying to cultivate a lifestyle of prayer (and discipline). It's been really difficult, but I believe that God is going to do big things. And I can't wait to see how God will unfold things in my life and in the lives around me! The youth group winter retreat will be February 13-15 (next weekend)! I invite you to join with me in prayer for the guest speaker, Pastor Jane & Pastor Jason, as well as all the youth group kids that will attend. (:

Typography Adventure

It has been an exciting week! I've been trying to take advantage of the last week of winter break by creating things that have been in in my mind for a while (esp the build your kingdom one). I didn't intend to make something every day, but somehow it ended up that way. And shh, it sounds bad, but the best inspirations come from doodling during messages. Here are all the ones I made this week! Instagram has been a great place to learn and get inspiration from designers, typographers (is that what you call them?), and photographers. It's so exciting creating things!

This was based on missionary Elijah Park's seminar for the youth group last Saturday. He taught us the importance of studying (not just reading) the Bible - why we should study it and how we should study it. The main thing that stuck out to me was "read, read, read." In order to study the Bible, we must read the same passages over and over again. And then we will gain a deeper understanding of the passages. I realized that reading the Bible is a continuous process. If you read the Bible once, that's good. But that's only the beginning of your journey of knowing God! I also realized that I have merely been reading the Bible the past few months. I read it, but I didn't gain much understanding. I want to be able to meditate on a few passages this year and truly glean from it! But of course, I can't do this without the help of the Holy Spirit. 

The background is the foundation of the addition to our church! I also love the lyrics of the sound "Build Your Kingdom Here" by Rend Collective and see is as a prayer for our church. Listen to the song here!

flat brush + ink
This was part of Susan's new years key verse that stuck out to me the most. "And I realized we're all broken." And this made me wonder - how many times do we see people smiling and seemingly happy on the outside, but completely broken on the inside? Probably far more than we realize. I believe this perspective will change how we treat and love others!

This was from Aug's message to the youth group a few weeks ago. He encouraged the youth group to truly love one another.

background: Quantums Cafe, Comp Sci Building at UMCP
"Lord I need you" - the only way I survive every semester. I cannot believe the semester is about to start so soon! I'm still in vacation mode and I really cannot gauge how difficult this semester is going to be. But I pray that God will strengthen me and carry me through!

Aquash water brush + ink; background: NYC
Just a reminder that you are loved. (: 

From Philippians 2. I've been reminded this whole week about the importance of unity within a church. As a church, we are united by one common thing (person) - Jesus. And it's important to realize that. I may not have anything in common with some people at church, but it's okay. I am still called to love them because Jesus loves them. I can choose to lay aside my interests, and listen to theirs, because unity is more important than my interests. If you are interested, you can read the whole chapter here.

2014

As 2014 began, I decided to write post-its throughout the year, thanking God for the little and big things as well as my prayer topics. I finally went back and read all of them today! Although most of the post-its were written in March and the latest one written was in May, it was a good reminder of all that God has done. In 2014 I experienced new struggles, temptations, victories, failures, but through it all, I see God's goodness and favor over my life.

Here are a few:
"I'm thankful that God gave me such an awesome community to live in. Even though we do get annoyed at each other at times, God gave us each other. I've grown in so many ways because God, you have used those around me. 1/1014"
"I am so so thankful that our internet got faster and now I don't have to wait for videos to load. 1/15/14"
"So thankful God answered my prayers & I won the raffle for the iPad mini. 2/12/14"
"Shared Spring Symposium on Genesis 1 today. In you, there is life God and only in you. 3/10/14"
"God, I pray for summer plans. 3/26/14"

Looking back, it's cool to see that God answered all these prayer topics and provided in His perfect timing! I haven't blogged consistently last semester due, but I hope to blog more this semester.

Mason jar Preethi gave me last year for my birthday. :)

Abraham Lincoln

I wanted to document and share the process of digitalizing an artwork. I'm still in the process of learning how to use Adobe Illustrator so it's not perfect, but this is the workflow that I found that works for me! I think Abraham Lincoln's quote is the most complicated artwork I've created with Susan so far. How did this come to be? I really like this quote by Abraham Lincoln so I asked Susan if she had any ideas. After an hour or so she sent me this:

She drew this, took a picture of it, and texted it to me. 

I deleted the words using the eraser took and filled in the picture with black. I also changed the lighting. You can see that the lighting is kind of weird here, but I did this so that when I traced it on Adobe Illustrator, it could give me the cleanest look.

I opened the previous photo on Adobe Illustrator and clicked the "trace" button. Sometimes if the picture isn't clean enough, it doesn't give you the picture that you want. But this is what I wanted! Then I opened this file in photoshop to save it in JPEG.

Then I printed a copy of Susan's picture and rearranged and rewrote the words in pencil. Then I traced it one more time to a clean sheet of paper (bottom to top paper).

I traced the words with a pen as neatly as I could. Then I took a picture of it with my phone and put it in my dropbox. (Dropbox makes things soo much easier!)

I changed the lighting by changing the levels to try to get the cleanest look. I think I ended up erasing the speckles in the corners.

I took it to Illustrator and "traced" it. I also took it back to Photoshop and stretched some of the words. I think it's really subtle, but I think it made a difference. I tried to curve the words "you want to" and "a man's" a bit more so it could follow the overall shape more.

Then I made the words into a "brush preset."

Which allows me to use it as a brush and just "stamp" the words.

I "stamped" the quote on the Abraham Lincoln's face (which I created earlier) and took it to Adobe Illustrator and "traced" it for the last time. I might have also gone back and forth to work on little things. And ta-da, it was done! (Well, I realized there's still something wrong with it, but it was finished.)

So what is this "trace" thing I keep talking about? (It's all that I know how to do on Illustrator at the moment...haha). But it's really simple! You open your file and then just click "image trace" and just wait for it vectorize your image. The difference between Photoshop and Illustrator is that Photoshop is pixel based while Illustrator is vector based. This means that you can blow up whatever you make in Illustrator and it will still look good. But if you blow up something you make in Photoshop and you made it really small, you'll be able to see all the pixels once it's blown up.

2015 Key Verse Testimony

At our church, we write what we call a "Key Verse Testimony" each year. At the start of every year, we choose one Bible verse for the year that we hope to hold onto for the year. We also take time to reflect on the previous year. Here's what I wrote for this year!

As 2014 began, I chose 2 Timothy 4:2 as my new years key verse. 2 Timothy 4:2 says,

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage -- with great patience and careful instruction.” After learning the Word of God my whole life (19 years) I felt that God wanted me to share with others the gospel - the good news with my peers and what he had done in my life. If I believed the gospel to be true - that Jesus died for my sins and rose again from the dead to conquer death, what kind of friend was I if I didn’t share my beliefs with my closest friends? Though this is a constant struggle to talk to my friends about God, I believe God taught me over and over what the gospel was. And I am continually amazed that the simple gospel has the power to transform lives! In the beginning of the year, I had no idea where God was going to take me with this key verse but it has been very exciting! As the new school year began, I took upon new responsibilities as a youth group teacher. And it was (and is) a great opportunity for me to share the gospel with the youth kids. I used to read 2 Timothy 4:2 lightly but throughout the year I realized how difficult it is truly do what Paul commanded. “Correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction.” As a high schooler, I thought it would be easy for adults to correct kids, but I realized how difficult it was to correct rebuke and encourage. I also studied the Bible with my friend Helena throughout the year. Although it was difficult to meet every week because of our conflicting schedules, I’m thankful for the times we did meet. As I shared my beliefs, I was reminded by God’s goodness - who God is as the creator, loving Father, etc. I realized the importance of Paul’s command to “preach the word…” I learned the joys of sharing God’s love with someone who has not experienced the love of God yet. However, I also learned of the difficulty and struggles of being dedicated to consistently have Bible study. The word of God has the power to fully transform lives. And I believe as believers, it is our responsibility to share this gospel - to share Jesus’ love because in the end that’s all that matters. I also learned that the work of God is fully His. The Holy Spirit works in His timing in people’s lives. My responsibility is not to convince others, but to simply share what God has done. And it is their decision to accept or reject him. But I also learned that there’s a greater responsibility when you teach others. I think that’s why Paul says - “with great patience and careful instruction.”

2014 was a year of creativity as well. God gave me opportunities to learn about video editing and typography with Susan. I also saw God provide in His perfect timing with my school work, grades (in both semesters), summer plans, and God taught me a lot through my key verse. God gave me boldness to share His words with friends, strangers, and the youth group. I also gave my first youth group message last year! I also learned of God’s sovereignty over my life.

For 2015, I believe that it will be a year of hope. I chose Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility value others above yourselves.” I can be really selfish and do things ultimately for my gain. I hope that I can continue to grow in loving and hoping for others, especially the youth group. Although this is really difficult, I hope to live out this verse by really consider others this year, following Jesus’ example of humility.