humble boldness

These past few weeks, God has continued to push me to become bold.
and so just a thought i’ve been having.

to be completely bold in Christ, is to be completely humble as Christ was. humility produces boldness.
humble boldness..
-in always speaking the truth of the gospel without hesistance and without the pride, self-righteousness, and arrogance towards others.
-in having full confidence in the gospel, and all hope in Christ–without any of that in ourselves. knowing that only He grant us boldness in the first place, solely because of His grace.
-putting God before ourselves..in boldly fighting for the gospel even if it leads us to hard places.

your will be done..not mine

quick thoughts, yo

happy new year, people!

REALIZATION: i’m not very good at blogging!
but i was reminded of why i wanted to start blogging a few days ago.. since it was a new years decision last year. and hopefully that will motivate me to blog more.

thoughts, thoughts..
this break was good. i often feel very bipolar about home, either very excited or dreading it. it wasn’t any different this time, but i was blessed with deep conversations, fun times, and great family bonding.

God is moving in my family. I know it. Of course, I can say, He’s always been moving, but I never felt that way. My little faith never saw it or believed it. And still now, I am wondering when He will take off those blinders! But, I’m starting to see differently. Thanks to Urbana and some good QTs, God opened my eyes to understand the gospel more. I’ve had many “realizations”. And with realizations, comes action. Usually.

The theme for Urbana was “He dwelled among us”..and that Christ is the model for missions. Being Christ in our neighborhoods..dwelling amongst the broken, being like them, depending on them, living with them, and then transforming them from the inside out.

May that be my model for witnessing to my family and to Case.
And may this year be filled with boldness in Christ, taking risks for Him, and seeing the truth of Christ revealed~!

–

‘They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” -Acts 16:31
I believe your promise God!!!

Some good tunes…

“Alive” by North Point Community Church
Rarely do I find albums where I like a majority of the songs, but this is one of them!
The songs are really Christ-centered and preeeettttyyyyyyyyyyy :]
I especially like Hands of the Healer, No One Higher, Glory to God Forever, and Forever Changed!

Can’t find it on youtube….
Preview it…here

and the theme of this semester is….

i like to think that every semester has an overarching theme or idea. i know, kind of weird. hahah. two semesters ago, change and growth. one semester ago, discipline. this semester…..

trials and relationships.

relationships.
my eyes have been opened to how important they are. and what a healthy one is too. one of the greatest blessings this semester..finally experiencing relationships founded in Christ. you guys it’s taken so long! i think i realized i have major issues believing that people care? anyway.. slowly but surely making steps
and i have definitely been convicted of treating my relationships with my brothers and sisters in Christ as “just friends”. God has given these friends to me to glorify HIM. we are all here to glorify Him together–to encourage each other to persevere and trust in the Lord so that we can live a life all for God and be sent out as imitators of Christ to the communities around us…

trials.
i hope i’m not being overdramatic when i say i feel like i’m going through a period of trials. it has not been an easy semester. there were periods of so much frustration. SO much anger. towards friends, towards family, towards God. it’s still hard, and my faith seems so small sometimes. i think now i’m trying to just trust and obey. if this is what is glorifying Him the most right now.. I don’t ask to understand it, or to fix it, but just a more faithful heart.

but all i can say is hallelujah for having a God who DEMANDS us to GIVE Him our BURDENS. Although I deserve all His wrath and all the suffering from my own sinfulness..my fears, my selfishness, my conceitedness, my anger, my desire for control..He wants us to GIVE them to HIM and just be joyful in Him. He loves us just that much! That’s just how God is..He loves us so much that He took upon our sins to the cross so that we may know who HE is.. may we never stop being in AWE of how gracious and merciful He is.

can’t believe the semester is coming to an end…(and that survived last week hehe). i’m now 7 pages from freedom! then home! then urbana!
happy holidays people..!

i wanna be real…

like pinocchio!
forreal though.

i feel like i’m lying to people when i’m not 100% real to them.
do you ever feel that its easy to be a certain part of yourself to some people, and express a different part of yourself to someone else? at least that’s how i am. why is that? for instance, i can only open up about God with the Christian ones. and maybe the non-Christians won’t understand what i mean, but if i’m not telling them what i truly believe is happening in my life, then i’m holding back what i truly think. and ultimately, i’m lying to them, right? grr.

my hatred for lying is exponentially growing. now i wholeheartedly believe that lies is so much more harmful than the truth. like my mom used to say, once you lie you never trust people and people never trust you. so true. she doesn’t believe me when i say i’ve stopped lying. classic example. and i know this whole “being real” thing may not break trust. but it won’t build it either!

so, in short, i wanna be real. 100%.
real with my friends [all of them].
real with my family.
real on this blog.

even if it hurts.
i’m gonna try. only with the grace of God, of course.

there could never be a more beautiful you

So turn around you’re not too far
To back away be who you are
To change your path go another way
It’s not too late you can be saved
If you feel depressed with past regrets,
the shameful nights hope to forget can disappear, they can all be washed away
By the One who’s strong can right your wrongs
Can rid your fears dry all your tears
And change the way you look at this big world
He will take your dark distorted view
and with His light He will show you truth
And again you’ll see through the eyes of a little girl

(more beautiful you-jonny diaz)

i pray this for her.

listen..

i have never loved a DCB album more than this one. the songs are seriously amazing!
i think my faves would have to be “how he loves”, “alleluia, sing,” and…he does this phenomenal cover of “all around me” [originally sang by flyleaf..]

ah so good :]
praise god for music.

TOMS

I think I tend to online shop a lot when I’m busy/stressed. Bad habit. But I’m really excited for these!

i wanted to get the designed ones but don’t know if i can put them off…

REALLY wanted these but they were sold out:

ones i ended up getting:

Behind TOMS:
In 2006 an American traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring TOMS customers.

can’t wait for my TOMS!!! HEHEHE

get your own

big big BIG praise report!!

Fall Conference this weekend was beyond words. Simply left me in awe of how GREAT of a God we serve. I went in excited, and pretty hungry for God’s word. But I was distracted by everything and everyone.. I know I have a control problem.. always want to control the hearts of people and getting super frustrated when nothing happens. So throughout the first half, I was feeling so burdened. bad news bears.

And God really really showed me up this weekend. I wholeheartedly believe I saw God move (prayer answered). Hearts were changed (prayer answered), eyes were opened, Koinonia was united (prayer answered). I just kept thinking, THIS is what a Christ-centered community is, and THIS is the type of God we serve. He ANSWERS prayers, He is SO powerful, and He is MIGHTY to save. And I KNEW people were praying for Koinonia this weekend because seriously, awesome awesome things happened this weekend. All I can say is Hallelujah!!

So for everyone who prayed, THANK YOU.
and in summary, PRAISE GOD.

how i procrastinate

http://www.givesmehope.com/