Good reminder of who has saving power: Jesus, not me.
(Source: alwayshavfaith)
And every eye will see,
Jesus, my God,
You are great and mighty to be praised!
Chinese Christians are amazing
“We are absolutely nothing. We have nothing to be proud about. We have no abilities and nothing to offer God. The fact that He chooses to use us is only due to His grace. It has nothing to do with us. If God should choose to raise up others for His purpose and never to use us again we would have nothing to complain about.”
-Brother Yun, “The Heavenly Man”
Let Christ Heal You
Praying for my grandma. I believe Jesus is Healer. God is Jehovah Rapha!
Holding nothing back
Psalm 84:11 For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Oh, how this speaks to my soul! If anyone ever doubted the goodness of God, let them doubt no more at this verse. The sun gives life. Shields protect. Grace is unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor. Jesus is the glory of God. And He does not hold out on me. Let me just let that soak into my veins and let it circulate to my heart. God freely gives good things to those who walk uprightly with Jesus. If I hadn’t known Jesus before this moment, then I’d definitely want to know Him now.
Notice how the good things the world offers can be good, but they also have the power to consume me? The good things of God come from God, so if I praise Him and thank Him for letting me have good things, these good things will be had by me, not the other way around.
Moderation is a hot word these days. Moderate your caloric intake. Moderate your TV time. Moderate your computer time. No one needs Jesus to moderate these things for them. These things are not inherently good things. What’s a good thing to me? Excellent health. No one says, “Hey, gotta watch that excellent health of yours, moderate it so you don’t get too much of it and die!” That’s asinine! Excellent health is a blessing from God. Enjoy it fully. Health is both inherited and learned. God created each of our DNAs. God allows us to learn from our surroundings. It’s all God. He literally is at all places at all times.
Originally written on Thursday, April 5, 2012 in China.
You told me I was pretty when I looked like a mess
It’s 10 o’clock in the morning and I hear three knocks at the door. No one was home except me, so I thought it was my aunt. The person at the door then rang the bell because I didn’t get there fast enough.
Let me preface this story with the fact that I had woken up with an upset stomach. My head spun in circles, my sweat glands decided to clock in some overtime. My hair was unkempt in a careless ponytail. The toilet became my frenemy. Mostly because toilets in China stink. If you’re from China or ever been to China, you know exactly what I mean.
So I wasn’t exactly thinking too clearly when I got up from my warm cozy bed to answer the door. If it were actually my aunt, she would’ve just used her key to unlock the door and enter. But my mind was stuck in a vapor.
It was the 50-ish lady next door asking how my grandma was doing. I answered her questions to the best of my abilities in Mandarin, and then she asked me who I was. I tried to say, “I am my grandma’s firstborn son’s daughter,” but I didn’t know how to say that. Blame my vaporized mind trying to say something convoluted as that. So instead, I said, “ 我是她的孙女 (I’m her granddaughter).”
Her reply, “Oh! You’re the foreigner!”
What could I say to that? I smiled and nodded in agreement.
“哎呀真漂亮!(Ahhh so pretty!)”
I was taken aback for a second before I smiled and thanked her, and then she left.
I must say, I don’t think anyone has ever told me that I was “so pretty” when I felt like a mess. I didn’t think it was possible to feel utterly miserable, yet be complimented. Absolutely no makeup, dressed from head to toe in purple UW sweats, and mostly blind without glasses or contacts. I realize that she might’ve just been saying that because that tends to be what Chinese people say to young girls and women, but whatever! I’ll take it!
Some of you still wonder why I ditched the eye makeup a long time ago, back in January. This story is one of the reasons. It means nothing if someone tells me I’m pretty if I have the magical Dior mascara on. Some of you have seen my eyelashes when I’m wearing Dior mascara. They go on for miles, they’re thicker than Trophy frosting, and they curl up like they’re trying to touch the sky. It’s a nice effect, but when someone compliments me when I’m wearing mascara (and anything additional), I find it difficult to believe their sincerity. What they’re actually saying is, “You’re pretty when you put stuff on your face to make you appear to look better than you actually do, so keep doing it or else you won’t be pretty anymore.”
