God's Academy

Praise God I made it through winter session. Thank you to everyone who helped me. Thank you Jesus for being with me through some rough nights. Thank you Bianca, my love, for being with me almost 24; you were there laughing with me and keeping my overall stress level down, editing and making my work a whole lot better. Thanks to the Bonus house for giving me a quiet place to study and use the wifi. Thanks to the De Alba home for feeding me and letting sleep in a comfy bed. And lastly, thanks to The Coffee Bean in Claremont Village for making some delicious lattes and ice blendeds that gave me a little extra boost to get through the day. Winter ’09 was fun.

During my little ‘first day off’ celebration today, God told me something about his academy- There are no graduations on earth.  This is the only school with all its alumni surrounding God’s heavenly throne. God is constantly teaching me. It feels like it’s something new almost everyday. However, I admit there are times when I feel like I’ve mastered some of God’s lesson and it’s time to move on to bigger things. I was reminded today that nothing is further from the truth. The second I think I’ve mastered something is the moment when God shows up and brings to light how dependent I really am. I’ve learned today and I echo the apostle Paul when he says that he hasn’t attained but he presses on toward the upward call. Lord, I am dependent on you to obey even in the smallest of things and to learn the most repeated lessons . Thank you for providing your Spirit to accomplish your work in me and making a way out of every situation that your name would be glorified when I resist sin. Thank you for victory through the cross of Christ. Continue to teach me and set me apart for your glory on earth until I see you face to face in heaven. Amen. 

hope

It’s really been a while since  I’ve written anything here. I’m almost at the end of my winter semester and praise God he has got me through it.  It’s weird because the months go by ridiculously fast and feel so long from each other; January feels like a year ago to me. I guess it might be change. Every month something happens that destroys the world I live in. God rebuilds it better though. I’m realizing through many of these mini trials that it is Gods way of answering prayer. I pray for patience and he makes me wait. I pray for endurance and he puts me through the fire.  I pray for faith and everything becomes hopeless. It’s hard to see in the midst of a trial but God is working to develop character. Character that reflects himself. Romans says that with character comes hope. Hope never disappoints.  I’m hopeful for my Saviors return. I’m hopeful for a glorified body, a body without aches and pains, a body that functions how it was created to.  I’m hopeful for peace on earth. No reports of wars and crime. I am hopeful for an abundance on earth, clean water and food to fill bellies. I’m hopeful for God’s heavenly kingdom to be established here on earth. I’m hopeful to see the face of love and the hands of sacrifice.  This is why I am alive, the reason for the breath in my lungs. Hope. 

Winter is Here!

Who is this God I serve?! Every time I feel defeated and worthless and cast out, God shows up and reminds me who he is and how he deals with sinners....HE LOVES THE HELL OF THEM!! I know it's pretty in your face but that's how it happens to me. Thank you Lord for that. 

The father in the prodigal son shows me something of Gods character. The son who basically threw away his inheritance, wants to go back to his father and work as a slave. Thinking his father will be angry, he comes up with a story to tell him when he returns. The best part is he didn't even need one. The father runs out in the field and receives him with open arms, no questions asked. I just don't get it. It's mind boggling really. When I stray and lose perspective; when I get crazy busy or caught up in the things of this world, God doesn't withdraw himself. God waits. He is patient. He longs for my return. He wants me back on track. It's amazing! Lord, I need you to show up everyday like you did today. 

I'm so thankful for the people God has put in my life. I don't know where I'd be. Thank you Bianca for helping me through all the craziness lately, especially this month. I praise God because you just get it. Thank you for standing with me in the midst of the storm. Your willingness strengthens and encourages me.<3 

Winter break is finally here! I'm so excited to see

what adventures will come. It started off great with two free tickets to "the happiest place on earth" and if I may say it was pretty *magical*.=) I praise God (wow I have so many reasons to praise Him!) that he has given us the ability to compromise and consider each other. I'm so thankful that He built us on a foundation of teamwork; it's really been that way from the beginning. I love how it showed even in the littlest of situations like deciding where and when to eat, choosing which park to go to first (we had hopper tickets!!), and which rides we would go on since time was limited. So, I'm pretty confident the big things won't stand a chance against team MB!=D I am really excited for these next few weeks! I plan to get in the Word more, make pancakes with my love, rest, and enjoy this short time off. And the fireplace!! You best believe we'll using that thing. Fireside devotions for sure!!haha.=) GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME. ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD. 

How Long?

“All of my life, in every season,

You are still God,

I have a reason to sing,

I have a reason to worship.”

 

As long as He is God, I will worship.

 

“Before the mountains were brought forth,

      or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

      from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”-Psalm 90:2

 

“Your throne is established from of old;

      you are from everlasting.”-Psalm 93:2

 

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

      from everlasting to everlasting!

      And let all the people say, “Amen!”

      Praise the Lord!”-Psalm 106:48

 

“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

      and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

      The Lord is faithful in all his words

      and kind in all his works.”-Psalm 145:13

 

“Have you not known? Have you not heard?

      The Lord is the everlasting God,

      the Creator of the ends of the earth.

      He does not faint or grow weary;

      his understanding is unsearchable.”-Isaiah 40:28

 

“How great are his signs,

      how mighty his wonders!

      His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

      and his dominion endures from generation to generation.”-Daniel 4:3

 

“And night will be no more.

They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light,

and they will reign forever and ever.”-Revelation 22:5

 

N.O.T. (Not Only Thomas)

Praise God for a pretty smooth day! The morning was ‘normal’ for the most part whatever that means. I was able to complete much needed to do tasks and still have some time to relax before class. My afternoon and night were great too! Class went well I think and I ate dinner with Bianca’s family after. I wish more days were like this.

 Somewhere in the middle though I felt God speaking to me about my trust in him. The Bible says the faith of a mustard seed is enough to move mountains (Matt 17:20).  I feel like I must have at least that, the mustard seed is so tiny! There is however a mighty hinderer of faith called doubt that I realize I have way too much of. Many times it seems like the Scripture must be mistaken about mustard seeds or maybe there was a different, gigantic monster variety that existed in Jesus day because often I find I suffer from insufficient faith to do even the smallest tasks for Gods kingdom. What I really felt God telling me was about proportion. Faith in proportion to doubt. My faith is either great or small in proportion to my doubt. In Matthew 21:12 Jesus tells his disciples after withering a fig tree, you can do this too if you have faith and do not doubt. Jesus doesn’t tell them “you can do this if you get more faith. And to move the mountain? well you need even more faith.” I don’t need faith the size of a mountain to move one, I just need a mountain of faith in proportion to my doubt.

I don’t want to continue in this ‘God of the impossible, I’m open to anything’ mentality but not really believing he wants to do mighty miraculous works right now. I think this is why I sometimes feel Christian commands like evangelism and prayer are so hard to do regularly because I’m not really expecting God to work. I’m open to it because God can do anything but I’m often hindered by doubts that God would really use me, a regular person.:/

This is an area I know will take sometime to grow in, but I’m glad it was revealed to me as an area to be conscious and aware.

 

 

 

Fire

Today was an interesting day for sure. All I heard on the news this morning was of the fires  that are destroying  parts  of southern California  ( God be with the families whose homes were destroyed too) or our country’s economic crisis.  It was like a tag  team of bad news, when one finished pounding on you the other would jump right in and continue where the other left off. The news is brutal. It  really made me stop and evaluate what I am putting my hope and faith in . The world seems like it’s going no where fast under its own rule so the question that faced me was ‘ am I looking forward to Christ’s return and am I really living like I believe  it?’ Something for everyone to think about I guess….

 

Anyways, this is short because it’s pretty late…..=)

星期五

WOWW! I finally have a Friday night free to do something and everybody else in the world is busy. =(. haha That goes to show you that sometimes what you want is not what you expect when you really get it.

雖然我有很多時間，但是不知道什麼做.有時候我不善用我的時間,=/