Week 1 Recap

Yay this week has been super productive. And when I say week, I mean Jan 1-7th. Even though that’s 8 days. But whatever, I’m writing this now, ok?? :P

  • I blog 3x (this is the third!)
  • Exercised 4x (I just came back from getting my butt kicked by NCT 127’s Simon Says. Thanks, Yireh.)
  • Our new pastor started!
  • I read Bible & did devo daily, except Sunday… but that’s because on Sunday I got our pastor’s sermon notes (yay!) and was re-reading them at home and my brain was more or less exploding. (It was a really good sermon. On the Source, Service and Significance of Scriptures from 2 Tim. 3:16 – 4:2. Yep, 3 verses. I wasn’t able to fully get it during the sermon and even reading at home afterwards I felt my head pounding with all the info. I had to stop after section 1 to allow myself time to absorb. One day I wish someone would invent photosynthesis for humans and information.)

I think those were my primary goals fulfilled. Though getting more exercise wasn’t even on the list haha, but I guess I really wanted to stop being so unhealthy.

It feels great to be physically fitter, but more importantly it feels great to be in better shape spiritually. God knows I’d die without Him. I don’t even know what gave me the audacity to think I could handle my life alone for a while. 

Just being in a better place with Him has meant most if not all the stress has been lifted off my shoulders. I read an article about millennials being the the burnout generation, and to a large degree I agree, I can feel it in myself as well.

However, I suddenly had a thought that maybe a lot of the burnout also has to do with our generation being the one that is arguably furthest from God.

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Progress

Yesterday I went to a friend’s house for fellowship and prayer. Regular church prayer meeting had been cancelled due to holidays but Jon opened up his place so we had an impromptu one there instead.

Aw man, I bought ingredients I wanted to eat and they cooked up this FEAST. My photo doesn’t do it justice but man every dish was bursting with flavour. I am salivating just thinking back.

Thank you, Trader Joe’s, for providing a nutritious and delicious meal for a small army for <$20 (omg). And thanks to Jon and Ak for actually cooking it, of course. I have a new found respect for Jon’s cooking now. Don’t tell him. Out of all the many meals he’s cooked (seriously many), this is probably my favourite.

That wasn’t the point though. Sorry. Read More

2019.

Happy New Year, everyone. I pretty much missed an entire year’s worth of blog posts last year. That’s my fault. Hopefully this year will be different…

The sunset was beautiful today, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who sees the beauty of nature and is breathless in awe of the wonders formed by our awesome creator. Jacky and I watched the sunset and prayed together for something like an hour. I spent much of my evening thereafter meditating on the Word and praying and bringing everything back before Him, and just having some generally much-needed God-time.

Last year was… interesting. Still full of blessings, but if I’m honest I am disappointed with myself. I had become prideful of my self-determined spiritual growth in 2017 and thought I didn’t need a Bible reading plan. As a result, my reading was sorely lacking and my stress levels have been at an all-time high over issues that really shouldn’t have been as big of a deal. It signified a lack of faith in the God that I claimed to believe in and it took a long and painful process to recognise that.

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Rejoice!

He Is Risen

He is risen! (A couple of days late, but… the truth remains :))

Tomorrow is my birthday! It’s been a while *cough* another Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year, multiple birthdays (not all my own, obv) etc. *cough* since my last post. Maybe I should start writing again, but it really depends on whether or not I have time these days.

Reading back on my previous posts, I’ve felt blessed to think back on all that God has led me through. A lot has changed, but I hope it’s more an indication that I have grown (and I don’t just mean age-wise!) – hopefully in wisdom and love, like my previous revised prayer! I’d forgotten about it, but thinking back, I hope that indeed was the case…

Either way, I’ll try to put up a real post soon. I think getting Namecheap reminders recently to pay for this domain again has kicked my butt into gear re: writing again. I like writing and reflecting, and sharing my life with my friends back home.

In my visits back to the UK, I realised that I posted more on social media about my escapades in UK than I do about what I’m doing all the way in LA. It’s almost as if LA is home, and UK is my holiday destination (which, given that I’m living and working here 300+ days/year, it definitely feels that way right now).

Anyways, will find some time to write again I hope… I love hearing that some people still check here every now and again to see if I’ve written anything :o Yey

In the mean time, rejoice, Christians! He is risen. He is risen, indeed :)

A New Prayer

(Okay last super personal post I promise, unless you guys don’t mind reading them? I do invite you to join me on this journey… I’m trying to improve, and would love for you to keep me accountable. If anything, I thank you for caring enough to read my story.)

Oh man. These past few weeks have been tough. Not that anything bad has happened to me, but I have noticed issues with my own attitude non-stop.

I’d get mad at things I never got mad at before and my anger would not easily subside. I’d curse, and it’s typically unlike me to ever swear. I would slander people as if I were somehow more righteous than them. I found myself becoming a jealous, selfish, unloving person.

Or perhaps, that’s been a part of me all along that is typically supressed. It’s scary to think that this type of person is hiding in me, but I think there exists an ugly side of every human – hence our sinful human nature.

My prayer for this year – righteousness and holiness – was a dangerous one indeed, and I think in principle it would be a brilliant prayer… if we weren’t living this side of the cross.

As with last year, He responded to my prayer right away. This time, I was put in situations to constantly test my righteousness and holiness, to see if I could somehow control or subdue my sinful nature alone.

It’s only been a few weeks and I have already had my answer loud and clear: I can’t.

But that’s the point. Read More