I Pray For You

I pray for you
To be like still waters,
   Rested and renewed,
   Content, not lacking in anything,
   Peaceful in your heart and spirit.

Psalm 23:1-3 "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul." 

I pray for you
To be like a wise man,
   To walk the straight and narrow path,
   To seek the star that leads to God,
   And find yourself in His loving arms.

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

I pray for you
To be like a song,
   Rejoicing,
   Singing praises that bring in the dawn,
   Thanking the Faithful One, your Redeemer.

Psalm 108:1-4 "My heart, O God, is steadfast; I will sing and make music with all my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;  I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."

I pray for you
To be like a prince,
   Prosperous,
   The crowned child of the Everlasting One,
   With a crown that will never fade.

1 Peter 3-5 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

I pray for you
To be like a warrior,
  Strong and courageous,
  More than a victor, more than a conqueror,
  Steadfast in the Truth of God- the armor that the enemy cannot penetrate!

Joshua 1:8-9 "'Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.'"

Scripture taken the New International Version (NIV) from Biblegateway.com. 

Images:
Calm waters
Lighthouse     
^6 2 3 

Something Ridiculous

Just as promised... But I feel so shy. ///^.^///

To further catapult me into this global embarrassment.  키키키!

But I'm warning you!  Turn the volume down and pardon my butchering of Taylor Swift's "I'm Only Me When I'm With You."  Pretty please... T__T

Anyway, this was for my little sister because I can really be me when I'm with her ^______^

Excuses and Grace

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

Every day we hear them, 

every day we make them. 

Interestingly, even the Bible is riddled with passages of excuses from real people.  Ergo, Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the serpent for their disobedience.  And one of the conversations with God that makes me pause and ponder a little longer is found also in Genesis, chapter 4:

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (verses 6,7).

Just as it had been thousands of years ago with our ancestors, we have been quite quick to pin blame.  Rather than admitting that we have been wrong, we come up with, "It's because of you that I am mad," "She made me do it," "Blame it on my PMS, my age, the heat, the noisy kids..." "This is who I am."

Oftentimes, I believe that what hinder us from changing and growing out of our mistakes are when we make rationales for our actions and identify ourselves so much with our wrongdoings: "I am mad, and this is who I am... Therefore, I act this way."  Until eventually, we accept them and approve of them.  (Read Romans 1).

But wait a minute!  God clearly states that we don't have to be a slave to our mistakes or have our identities marked by the wrong that we do: "sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it."

God has made a way for us to overcome through the blood of Jesus Christ because of His love for us.  Freedom is as easy as ABC, they say: A-admit that we have been wrong, B-believe that Christ came to save us, and C-confess that Jesus is the only way to God, and commit our lives to Him.*

Honestly, sometimes, the reason that we make excuses is because we are asking for a little grace.  But the beauty of admitting and confession is that we accept that we are wrong and we would like to change that.  And in addition, the more beautiful thing is that Jesus desires for our freedom and has granted us grace long before we had any idea of Him. :)

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

1 John 4:10

Text:

Scripture taken the New International Version (NIV) from Biblegateway.com. 

*"As Easy as ABC".  The Conservative Christian Resource Center. http://www.trettel.com/ccrc/christian/abc.html.

Image:

Excuse letter

Cain and Abel

Heart tree

Update on My Life: Sister's Grad ^0^

YAHOO!

Today was my students' last day of school!  (Mine is tomorrow D;)

I just want to say that my first year of teaching has been an immense blessing!  I couldn't have asked for a better set of students and team members.  I loved almost every day of it :)  I am so thankful to God for all of the smiles, frowny faces, laughters, and lessons.  *Sigh*  T___T  

Onward to SUMMER!  \(^0^)/

Also, a couple of weeks ago was my sister's graduation.  :)  So, yep, I am behind (again!) but I so want to share these photos with you ^____^

It's Ooo-ohg!

Mi Mama!

Yeah, it's my Pops ^-^

V for Victory*

I see you~*

I put this up because I actually think I'm quite
cute here... +^.^+  heehee...

Asians and them fish-face poses

おめでとお！

Sunset

View from Toh Lee Chinese Restaurant at the Hotel Nikko.  Sorry, no food
photos...  Too hungry :)

Singing along to Taylor Swift's "Our Song".

And, ah!  If you join me again tomorrow, you're in for a treat.  ^__^  Unless I shy away and bail!

Nah...

Good night, everyone!

*Photo Credits: To my brother... Not taken by me. :)

Your Champion

In this crazy and more often than not, unpredictable, ride we call life, sometimes it is so much easier to see the negative events that make life seem so unfair.  Promises broken, hopes disappointed, and hearts crushed...  Despite what the photographs show, the smiles, and the laughter, I know that many of us have gone through many disappointments, though we want to forget, remain as scars unto our very souls.

But rather than thinking that our Creator is merely a bystander, may we all be brought to the understanding and realization that He is near, with us, and will never leave us (Matthew 28:20).  And out of the pain that we felt or are still feeling, trust that God can and will turn mourning into dancing, and take our clothes of sadness and clothed us in joy (Psalm 30:11).

In turn, clinging onto the hurtful past is not something we should do.  May we live in the light of the promise that God's plans for us are wonderful!  May we find that there are always reasons to be thankful!  May we witness that God is our champion!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" 

Jeremiah 29:11

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." 

Romans 5:5

"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God." 

2 Corinthians 1:20

Be encouraged today! 

Scripture

Scripture taken from The New International Version 1984, www.biblegateway.com.

Image:

Excalibur