peace given in the worst of times

Tomorrow, I'll be going to a funeral, for the death of the daughter of my piano teacher. She's the most precious thing, such a little princess. Only 6 months old. When I heard this news, I just balled. My piano teacher is the sweetest woman and she always has such peace and patience especially when I don't do my piano homework. But this was the last thing I would ever think could happen. I thought, "she doesn't deserve this", but we all deserve death but God gave us life because of his great mercy. And what God decided to do with this precious life after he gave her life, was to call her back home. Maybe he missed her too much. ;) ahaha but today, I went to the visitation at the funeral home and I saw her lying in her little casket and she looked like a doll, I couldn't help myself I started crying. I needed peace in my heart even though I wasn't the parent of this little soul. I couldn't look into my teacher's eyes or her husband's, I didn't want to cry even more in front of them. That was probably the last thing they wanted. But what took me by surprise was how calm they were. There seemed to be peace within their hearts. That's the amazing thing about our Lord. He offers peace when you most need it, when it seems nearly impossible to have. And the only thing my piano teacher said to me before I balled again was, "I wish you could've seen her more often." I had never got to see her once, and my family had. So she had promised me in the second week of January that she was going to bring her in for one of the lessons. But the day never came, and it never will. The thought just made me cry even more, I really needed strength. I felt silly because I felt like I was struggling more with keeping myself together and strong than they were. Then one of those awesome moments where God puts that random verse in your mind happened. (ps. I wanted to put that verse on their card, but it was too late)

Colossians 1:11

God will strengthen you with his own

great power so that you will 

not give up when troubles come,

but you will be patient.

My teacher and her husband sure had that verse down because they were very patient and seemed like they had strength provided by God so that they could keep strong. And I think I need some of what they have because I am just breaking down. The thing I love though, is how God designed us. He designed us with feelings for one another, we may not be close to a person, but when they're hurting, we hurt too. We don't have to be identical twins to feel each other. We know how depressing death is and how it could affect one's life. We know that many people's heart were dear to the dead's. Sometimes though, we might need help ourselves, and I'm not just talking about girls (my brother couldn't hold himself either and he's a strong person, we had to leave because he couldn't bear to see her lying there). We sometimes look for things to help us through our sadness like food or friends or music. But there isn't always assurance that it will keep you strong. One thing is sure though. That is the Bible. We could relate to it one way or another no matter what our problems are. In this situation, my teacher, her family and her husband and his family, can relate to David. His son was very ill and was going to die, so he grieved and prayed until the day came when his son was called home. Then David did something remarkable, he got up, cleaned himself and worshiped the Lord then ate for he fasted while the child was alive. Everyone was wondering why he wasn't grieving because of his son's death. He said that what was done is done, he can't do anything about it. But while his son was alive, there was still hope that he could become well. He also said that he will see him one day and will be reunited with him. Just like how all those dear to this precious girl will be reunited with her again one day. So all we could do now is clean ourselves and look towards that day when we shall see her again. My teacher and her family will be in my prayers and thoughts, and I am also motivated to work harder on my piano so I don't give her a hard time with it anymore. She has really encouraged me in the 5 years she's been working with me and she has set great goals for me and so far we have accomplished them and I want to continue to accomplish them for I don't want to let her down. This little girl will always be in my heart and she'll always remind me to stay strong and patient when trials come. I just pray for their peace to continue through the funeral ceremony. 

This post I think really gets the idea about strength in devastating times.

(click on the sentence above to get to it)

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Friends

To me, I don't really care about popularity or if my friends aren't popular. I was thinking lately that the reason why I hang around my friends is because of the saying, "You are who you hang around" and I realized that every single person that I hang around has a personality or characteristic that I would like in myself. My best friend is very humble and she never says anything negative about anyone. She does not boast about anything, even if she is proud of what she had accomplished and she doesn't ask for favours from anyone. She agrees with everyone because she doesn't like to argue. I just find her personality overwhelming and I really need some of that myself. She may not realize this, but she is such an amazing example for me. I admit, I speak my mind often and if I don't agree with something someone says, I say my opinion up front and most of the time it results in arguments. Perhaps the reason why I want to be a lawyer is because I like to argue, but I also want to be humble and a peacemaker like my friend. I think that if I were to be friends with my best friend forever, I could end up to be the person I have always dreamed to be and who God wants me to be. Another good thing about hanging around the people that I do is that they are all Christians and encourage me in my daily walk of faith and we even discuss questions about who God wants us to be and what God wants us to do. They also come to me for answers and comfort when they're being troubled. Did you know that YOU have a HUGE impact on the people you hang around? Yeah, I know, scary stuff. So we must also be careful about how we act, because if we do not act the way God wants us to act or if we have made many wrong choices, your friends will soon make the same choices and do the wrong things that you have done. Therefore, the people on whom you rely on to create you, are actually not becoming the role models you have relied on before. When you make them something you did not want to be, you will be stuck in the position that you did not want to be in, unless you change yourself and be the huge impact on your friends. It is just this big circle. You must try to keep it consistent and not change the way it had been functioning before. (I mean when it functions the way God wants it to function).
What type of people do you hang around? Do they affect who you are, and how you act? How much impact do you have on your friends?

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Loving others (Behind the Scenes)

I had just started my first year of high school a couple of months ago with excitement and anxiousness.
Not knowing what I was going to face, whether God was going to use me or use others to help me grow strong in character, what adventures he might bring upon me and what troubles and stresses I might go through. All these thoughts were running through my head as I took my first step into the building with my friends.

It looked normal, but what was behind the scenes at my high school? What were the students like?

High School is a major leap from Elementary school. More work, bigger facilities, more students, more studying, gym everyday (I'm not much of an athlete, I just like Thai kickboxing and Brazilian Jujitsu), more rotary, and harder teachers.

But what was so good about high school was that you can find more people who you enjoy to be around, whereas in elementary school, you were practically forced to be friends with the people in your grade since Kindergarten until grade 8 graduation. This was an advantage for me. I figured, the more people who would listen to me, the more I can share God's love, and in a Christian school! So they've already had some background knowledge from chapel.

I would like to share with you a heart changing experience that I've had in my first semester of high school.

My homeroom is science which I have with one of my close friends, I didn't really get to know much people then because we were just settling in and getting to know our teacher, but one person caught my eye right away, and I'm pretty sure he caught everyone's eyes too. You can't miss him. He was a boy about 6"5 and here I am 4"11 or maybe 5"0. About double my height. WOW. I know. All my life I've dreamed of being tall, but I never thought about being that tall. When you think about Goliath, he sounds pretty tall, but you don't actually see his height, you just get a written description. Now, I think that Goliath was massive because the boy is only 6"5 and Goliath was like 9 feet!

See, this boy, I got to know him as the days went by, he is actually the sweetest boy I have ever come across, but what I didn't know about him was all behind those eyes of his.

I was talking to him one day in one of the classes we had together and another girl as well and we were talking about our elementary school years, the girl was telling me about how she wasn't treated properly because she was born in U.S.A.! Isn't that crazy? People will try to find any reason to bring you down and to raise themselves up. The boy on the other hand wasn't treated well either because of how tall he was! That tore my heart away, all the stories I have heard, it was unbelievable! I started to pray for them, for them to find someone whom they can trust and someone who will treat them as a friend, a true friend. I also gave them my link to my blog.

Later I asked the boy if he looked at my blog, he told me that he didn't have time but he always had that piece of paper with him that had the link on it. That brightened up my spirit. It told me that I was doing the right thing.

That night I went on my blog and found that i had a new follower. I took a look at my comments and found one by a person named Tall but small. I laughed, surely this was the boy. I was so happy that he commented. I clicked on his name and on his profile it showed that he had a blog. I decide to read it and follow it because he didn't have anyone following it. What I read in the next 10 minutes broke my heart. It showed me what I was missing. People in the world look like they're having a great time and enjoying their lives, but once you look behind the scenes, its a whole other world that they're living in. But at the end of each post, he wrote about how he could always count on God to help him get through his pain and how He'll always be there for him. This showed me that I had really impacted someone. After he took a look at my blog it inspired him to make one of his own and I think that through this process he was strengthening his faith in God. Before it seemed as if he had given up on God but now he's a whole new person. I feel like God had used this boy in my life to show me that there are many others in the world who need this type of love and understanding, and a friend. He had also recently added a post called  Friends, it was about me and it showed me how much I impacted his life and how much he impacted mine.
If you want to visit his blog, and know more about him, here's the link:
http://goodformegoodforu.blogspot.com/

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Have Faith and Watch Your Actions

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things in him that strengthen me.

This past year has been a test to my Faith and courage. I have been faced with many obstacles that questioned me and my Faith. It has been very hard but I had faith that the Lord could give me the confidence and courage to go through them. The Lord has blessed me with a christian family and christian friends of who I am very close to, he has also blessed me with the encouragement of my church as well, and the faith that they have in me. Those who do not know the Lord need someone like all the comforters I have and they need someone to show them the way. If they do not know the way then they will scatter like lost sheep and be like the seeds that had fallen on the thorns, they might hear the word but they will not take it in for they need someone who cares for them to bring it to them. They need the Holy Spirit surrounding them and making sure that they don't wander away, they need our love. They need to see what the Lord has done in our lives, they need to see that they will change their ways and that accepting the Lord will have an impact on how the act, speak, and think. That they will make wiser choices and that they have peace. But if we, as 'born again believers' don't even contain peace and do not  make wise choices then they will not be interested and will think that this God will not change my life. We impact others by our actions, if we show that we make bad choices and do very bad things then we will have a negative impact on others. If we show God's love to others by the way we act then we will have a positive impact on others. People are looking for peace, they are looking for a love like no other and we have to give them what they are looking for. But this is very hard to do when we have people against us, that is why we need to pray together to the Lord in order for him to strengthen us and to give us confidence and faith that we can change many lives. I, myself am not perfect, sometimes the way I act  gives a negative impact on others, I have to watch what I say and how I act and how I think.

So please pray that we, as Christians act the way that God wants us to act and show the world his love through us.

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