He is jealous for me.

Rock and roll!



Bittersweet

Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. Walk away, try something new. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal. Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep with me for this leg of the journey? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”

Now is your time. Become, believe, try. Walk closely with people you love, and with other people who believe that God is very good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t spend time with people who make you feel like less than you are. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.

Taken from Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist Copyright © 2010. http://www.zondervan.com/

Grateful for Twenty-Ten

I was at my heaviest last year. Literally and metaphorically.

With every ounce of blessing I received from God, my weight seemed to have followed accordingly.

Last year, He blessed me with several opportunities to travel (and eat, needless to say), the chance to be part of a world conference with 18K+ attendees, the time and resources to join a missions trip, the honor to lead a growing group of young women striving for excellence, and the ability to complete a 10-month Bible and leadership training.

My plate has indeed been full of God's goodness and favor.
Here are a few pictures which would hopefully speak a thousand more words -

We kick-started the year off with a 7-day backpacking trip in 7 cities in 3 countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, & Thailand)

 You can read about our adventures there here and here.


Meanwhile, our ministry at Kids Church was in full swing ...

By midyear, we were having random beach trips to Malaysia (Tioman and Borneo)

 

I'm so blessed to have been a part of the Every Nation World Conference -

Our missions to Penang, Malaysia
This is one big highlight for the year, because I was reminded of my prayer last 2009 which was to be able to celebrate my birthday in an orphanage. The trip was even funded by my office mates!

In the midst of working full time, I'd find myself in a weekly leadership course trying to fight physical exhaustion. Now that I have graduated, it still seemed surreal that I was able to complete this. 

I used to think that I don't need to learn more about the Bible and God, because He is very personal. But I learned that living out Christianity may not have a formula, but the Truth is absolute. Whoever wants to be a leader must first learn what the truth is. And a true leader is characterized by his/her servant-leadership. True leadership is not at all about exercising authority and power; it is all about serving.


And definitely not the least - the greatest responsibility that God gave me this year is to minister to these beautiful ladies who are hungry for the real thing.

Truth be told, there were times when I would be thinking of throwing in the towel out of frustration. I used to feel that there was not enough level of commitment being given by the girls, but I learned later on that I was not really in control after all. God is. I know that God is and will be working in them even without me. We are all going through different stages with our faith, and I realized that I need to allow them to grow at their own pace. 

And being awesome as He is, God even made sure that there were icing and toppings on my cake, too. On top of the highlights of last year, there were some little, pleasant surprises that gave me more reasons to smile about - encouragement from people who matter, salary increase, material gifts which were in answer to a dilemma of whether to buy them or not, and unsolicited assurance from men that only strengthened my belief on how I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Go figure). ;-) God really do provide all our needs, and then some. :-)

But on a serious note, what I would consider the greatest-est blessing I have received is not actually pictured here. It can't be captured by any camera or be described with written words. The thing I'm most thankful for happened inside of me. I can't say it's love or growth or contentment - it is way more than those things. Perhaps it's a mixture of the learning experiences I underwent and the God-given grace that keeps on 'pruning' my character. I'm sorry I can't articulate this further; it's really beyond me.

But just the same, for all of these I am grateful.

I'd like to leave you with a song.

May this inspires us to believe even more...

It's now that I feel 

You're graceful like rain

From every fingertip...