To Encourage Women and the men in their lives.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Look Up
It's been a while, more like two months ha-ha. A few weeks ago I was walking home and it was a beautiful evening. While I was walking I was thinking about all the things I needed to do and all that was possibly getting in the way. I personally love walking at night or super early in the morning. I think it's because I live in a very noisy city and every moment seems rushed and loud. Anyway while I was savoring the evening I felt the Lord tell me to look up and I stopped and looked at the sky and it was filled with a bright moon and the stars. This is a common sight in Africa, however living in Asia; the sky is always so polluted you forget that the night sky even has any stars. So when I looked up I was overwhelmed by the clarity and the beauty of the evening. As I was being refreshed by God's beauty and creation I just broke out in Praise and from the bottom of my heart I was so thankful and content.
I feel that a lot of the times it's easy to keep focused on the things we think we need or we don’t have. but the reason I think we do that is, we focus on I, Me, Myself we become less content but when we take some time daily to not look around us and ourselves and look up to God, there's a deep sense of knowing that there's a purpose larger than what you allow yourself to see. Knowing that a Great God loves you and wants you to look to him is a sweet reminder to know and be content in His Love.
My prayer for you is you would have a covenant love with God that lets you feel content in his Great love.
You're loved and you're a women of great worth.!!!
I feel that a lot of the times it's easy to keep focused on the things we think we need or we don’t have. but the reason I think we do that is, we focus on I, Me, Myself we become less content but when we take some time daily to not look around us and ourselves and look up to God, there's a deep sense of knowing that there's a purpose larger than what you allow yourself to see. Knowing that a Great God loves you and wants you to look to him is a sweet reminder to know and be content in His Love.
My prayer for you is you would have a covenant love with God that lets you feel content in his Great love.
You're loved and you're a women of great worth.!!!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Dear Fuss don't Fuss
Dear Friends,
I know it's been forever since I've blogged, it's still a journey for me to learn to be great at consistency. So I thought today I want to share something with you.
This morning while reading my daily intake of Dear Prudence,(an advice column) I came along a link also an advice column called “Ask Jane on Elle”. The link got my attention because it was about a twenty seven year old woman who was "frustrated" about being a virgin at her age and also has not yet kissed a guy. She mentioned that she was a bit chunky (not that it really matters) beautiful and smart and has always focused on school and never worried about having a boyfriend. She continues to say that she has not have had many opportunities to meet man and she was afraid that she would die a virgin.
Anyway as I read this I felt sympathetic towards the young woman, however I wish she was one of my friends who had come to me to talk about her touchy problem:) . Instead she wrote to an advice columni. It would have been ok if I agreed with the columnist but in this case I was dismayed to say the least.
The columnist "advised" her to go meet 27 guys she thought were attractive and ask them to take pictures with her sign their names on the PDF file version, to prove that they like her and had agreed to go on a date with her. The columnist continued to "advice" her that if she approved of the guys in her photos she would pay for them to go on a free date and if our beloved 27 year old virgin liked her date, she would then get rid of her frustration about her virginity.
I was shocked I thought to myself how about at least encouraging her to not fuss and assure her that she has so much she can look forward to in life. It made me feel as if this column was suggesting that virginity is an unwanted burden and that she should get rid of it like unwanted extra pounds just so she can wear a bikini on her next Caribbean vacation. Anyway, normally I don’t comment on columns but I felt that if anyone out there feels like their virginity is a burden they need to be reminded that it's actually a treasured responsibility, no matter the strength of our ragging hormones we can overcome.
I must be honest, there've been times I've been asked questions like am I dating anyone or how old I was when I had my first kiss and I’ve felt a tad bit embarrassed to say no I haven't been kissed yet . When I was in high school I was so proud of it but I remember when I turned 26 I became a bit embarrassed ha-ha , the lies in my head made me think oh no if I told them the truth they would think I'm unwanted or I have a deep dark secret or “baggage”.
The beautiful thing, I never felt as if God was angry with me, instead I confessed my feelings to him, He assured me that he values the choices that I've made and will continue to honor me for all those chances I chose not to make out with any guy no matter how seemingly genuine they were. I felt him remind me that there's no need to sometimes feel embarrassed when people ask and that I'm beautiful and I'm on the right track and there's no need for me to take matters into my hands.
So in all I do understand my beloved writer and her fussing. So I decided to upload my comment and I think I did my best not to sound like a Bible commentary filled with judgment, but I wanted to sound graceful just the way God is to me when I need it the most.
Whatever you're virginity status is, :) just know that God is a God of Grace and His son Jesus loves you and will not judge you. Come just the way you are. You’re a woman of Worth.
Here’s my comment.
Dear 27 year old virgin, I used to fuss about that too and I'm a year older than you and still a virgin and haven't kissed a guy. To be honest I meet plenty of men and I think of myself as beautiful and an intelligent woman. But after knowing women and girls who have lost their virginity in very sad and abusive ways, I learned that I should not be frustrated but instead be more thankful that I'm still a virgin. Don’t let your virginity define your self worth, but let it be something you treasure till you meet the right man who will treasure who you are. Please don’t loose your virginity instead, wait for the time to GIVE it away at the right time. We live in a world where so many women have lost it in very unfortunate ways. Virginity was never meant to be lost, but to be given away as a treasured gift. And yes great things come to those who wait. Kisses.
I know it's been forever since I've blogged, it's still a journey for me to learn to be great at consistency. So I thought today I want to share something with you.
This morning while reading my daily intake of Dear Prudence,(an advice column) I came along a link also an advice column called “Ask Jane on Elle”. The link got my attention because it was about a twenty seven year old woman who was "frustrated" about being a virgin at her age and also has not yet kissed a guy. She mentioned that she was a bit chunky (not that it really matters) beautiful and smart and has always focused on school and never worried about having a boyfriend. She continues to say that she has not have had many opportunities to meet man and she was afraid that she would die a virgin.
Anyway as I read this I felt sympathetic towards the young woman, however I wish she was one of my friends who had come to me to talk about her touchy problem:) . Instead she wrote to an advice columni. It would have been ok if I agreed with the columnist but in this case I was dismayed to say the least.
The columnist "advised" her to go meet 27 guys she thought were attractive and ask them to take pictures with her sign their names on the PDF file version, to prove that they like her and had agreed to go on a date with her. The columnist continued to "advice" her that if she approved of the guys in her photos she would pay for them to go on a free date and if our beloved 27 year old virgin liked her date, she would then get rid of her frustration about her virginity.
I was shocked I thought to myself how about at least encouraging her to not fuss and assure her that she has so much she can look forward to in life. It made me feel as if this column was suggesting that virginity is an unwanted burden and that she should get rid of it like unwanted extra pounds just so she can wear a bikini on her next Caribbean vacation. Anyway, normally I don’t comment on columns but I felt that if anyone out there feels like their virginity is a burden they need to be reminded that it's actually a treasured responsibility, no matter the strength of our ragging hormones we can overcome.
I must be honest, there've been times I've been asked questions like am I dating anyone or how old I was when I had my first kiss and I’ve felt a tad bit embarrassed to say no I haven't been kissed yet . When I was in high school I was so proud of it but I remember when I turned 26 I became a bit embarrassed ha-ha , the lies in my head made me think oh no if I told them the truth they would think I'm unwanted or I have a deep dark secret or “baggage”.
The beautiful thing, I never felt as if God was angry with me, instead I confessed my feelings to him, He assured me that he values the choices that I've made and will continue to honor me for all those chances I chose not to make out with any guy no matter how seemingly genuine they were. I felt him remind me that there's no need to sometimes feel embarrassed when people ask and that I'm beautiful and I'm on the right track and there's no need for me to take matters into my hands.
So in all I do understand my beloved writer and her fussing. So I decided to upload my comment and I think I did my best not to sound like a Bible commentary filled with judgment, but I wanted to sound graceful just the way God is to me when I need it the most.
Whatever you're virginity status is, :) just know that God is a God of Grace and His son Jesus loves you and will not judge you. Come just the way you are. You’re a woman of Worth.
Here’s my comment.
Dear 27 year old virgin, I used to fuss about that too and I'm a year older than you and still a virgin and haven't kissed a guy. To be honest I meet plenty of men and I think of myself as beautiful and an intelligent woman. But after knowing women and girls who have lost their virginity in very sad and abusive ways, I learned that I should not be frustrated but instead be more thankful that I'm still a virgin. Don’t let your virginity define your self worth, but let it be something you treasure till you meet the right man who will treasure who you are. Please don’t loose your virginity instead, wait for the time to GIVE it away at the right time. We live in a world where so many women have lost it in very unfortunate ways. Virginity was never meant to be lost, but to be given away as a treasured gift. And yes great things come to those who wait. Kisses.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
The problem with minding your own business
A week before Easter, I just had quite a long day at work. I did not have a horrible day but I was simply tired and ready to go home and relax for the weekend. While walking to get myself dinner I noticed a beautiful young lady. She looked like a junior high-school student and seemed quite young. Walking towards my direction with her shoulders drooping, I noticed that she was crying. Now I was really tired to and was really hungry and ready to get something to eat, to make things worse my feet were exhausted too. But something in my spirit told me not to ignore her. Seeing a young woman cry while walking or sitting at a park alone is something that happens quite a lot in Taiwan. If they're not crying alone, they’re either crying with a boyfriend or girlfriend or on the phone crying. Anyway I decided to stop her and I asked her gently if she was "ok"?? And of course she said she was but instead of letting her go and minding my own business, I just gently grabbed her and embraced her. While holding her in my arms she started sobbing and eventually pulled back. She couldn't say much, but I felt in my heart she had a lot of pressure and was stressed out. I asked her if her pressure was from studying and school. And she responded with a tearful yes. I felt in my heart to pray for her. As I prayed over her my deepest desire for her was for her to know how much God loves her and that her future was in God's hands and there was no need to be afraid. I believe what encouraged her the most, was that I reminded her to know that she had already done her best by studying hard and That God will honor her hard work, even though her parents seemed not to honor her.
After prayer she nodded and said thank you and we embraced once more. I feel at that time I was like being a loving mother to her.
I think one of the qualities God desires us to have is to be women who are not always intent on “minding our own business”. I feel we're being brought up in a society that walks with crutches of Fear or walks on egg-shells and these crutches keep us from noticing other people’s needs or even feeling a sense of compassion for others. Because some of us have been injured by rejection, we've relied on “fear crutches” and sometimes walk with a victim mentality instead of walking victoriously. Of course this requires discernment, but it's so easy to be focused on what you're doing or where you need to be, on how bad or long your day has been or even focus on how depressed you feel when you think about your past. But if we keep walking on these crutches and failing to stop and not “mind our business” we easily become cold and less compassionate and never grow in our relationship with God. See the enemy of our souls tries to become tactful by making sure that we are our own distraction or source of distraction.
In Mark 10:46-52, Jesus had a tight schedule and he had crowds following him all day, He had been minding his own business doing what He had come for on earth . He had been healing people all day and loving on them and ministering to His disciples. But the word says when a blind man named Bartimaeus was calling and everyone told him to "shut up" with such a busy schedule "Jesus stopped on his tracks" (the Message Bible) He stopped and noticed this man calling out his name and he healed him. Jesus as God could have easily just kept on walking and healed the blind man by simply saying a prayer in his heart and kept on walking to where he needed to be. But Our Lord knew that Bartinaeus needed more than just his eyesight but He needed to hear words of love from Jesus, to feel his embrace to be noticed by him to even hear Jesus ask him his name and remember it.
I feel that Jesus desires us to be women that notice, women that are willing to be side tracked for the sake of showing compassion and love to those who desperately need it. Maybe the person who needs to experience God's love through you is not a complete stranger, it could be taking out your mom or dad for a treat or calling them and letting them chat about their day. It could be that sibling you sometimes ignore, your co-worker, local waitress or janitor of your apartment building. I encourage you that as you walk into a journey of intimacy with Jesus and being a woman of worth you would have a heart to not mind your own business.
You’re loved and rejoice in your beauty.
Recommended reading
Her daughter's Hope (Francine Rivers)
Recommended Song
Come away with me (Jesus culture)
You're My Passion (Jesus culture)
After prayer she nodded and said thank you and we embraced once more. I feel at that time I was like being a loving mother to her.
I think one of the qualities God desires us to have is to be women who are not always intent on “minding our own business”. I feel we're being brought up in a society that walks with crutches of Fear or walks on egg-shells and these crutches keep us from noticing other people’s needs or even feeling a sense of compassion for others. Because some of us have been injured by rejection, we've relied on “fear crutches” and sometimes walk with a victim mentality instead of walking victoriously. Of course this requires discernment, but it's so easy to be focused on what you're doing or where you need to be, on how bad or long your day has been or even focus on how depressed you feel when you think about your past. But if we keep walking on these crutches and failing to stop and not “mind our business” we easily become cold and less compassionate and never grow in our relationship with God. See the enemy of our souls tries to become tactful by making sure that we are our own distraction or source of distraction.
In Mark 10:46-52, Jesus had a tight schedule and he had crowds following him all day, He had been minding his own business doing what He had come for on earth . He had been healing people all day and loving on them and ministering to His disciples. But the word says when a blind man named Bartimaeus was calling and everyone told him to "shut up" with such a busy schedule "Jesus stopped on his tracks" (the Message Bible) He stopped and noticed this man calling out his name and he healed him. Jesus as God could have easily just kept on walking and healed the blind man by simply saying a prayer in his heart and kept on walking to where he needed to be. But Our Lord knew that Bartinaeus needed more than just his eyesight but He needed to hear words of love from Jesus, to feel his embrace to be noticed by him to even hear Jesus ask him his name and remember it.
I feel that Jesus desires us to be women that notice, women that are willing to be side tracked for the sake of showing compassion and love to those who desperately need it. Maybe the person who needs to experience God's love through you is not a complete stranger, it could be taking out your mom or dad for a treat or calling them and letting them chat about their day. It could be that sibling you sometimes ignore, your co-worker, local waitress or janitor of your apartment building. I encourage you that as you walk into a journey of intimacy with Jesus and being a woman of worth you would have a heart to not mind your own business.
You’re loved and rejoice in your beauty.
Recommended reading
Her daughter's Hope (Francine Rivers)
Recommended Song
Come away with me (Jesus culture)
You're My Passion (Jesus culture)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
LET GO
Letting GO feels great, there's a peaceful freedom and courage that comes with letting go and trusting that God loves you and He has a plan for your life. No road block can ever come between that plan. Sometimes roadblocks are a great reminder that the journey of the dreams placed by God in our hearts are not just dreams but they’re promises that God will fulfill through us, although we have the responsibility it is not entirely in our hands. When we experience a roadblock instead of being frustrated we should see it as a rest stop and joyfully appraise the journey ahead of us. Trusting that God is not a control freak but He is in Control and loves us.
Women of Worth
Recommended reading
Her Mother’s Hope (Francine Rivers)
Recommended reading
Healer(Bethel Live “Here is Love”CD)
Women of Worth
Recommended reading
Her Mother’s Hope (Francine Rivers)
Recommended reading
Healer(Bethel Live “Here is Love”CD)
Friday, February 18, 2011
Take A good look in The Mirror
During my long extended vacation, I had an amazing epiphany about how the way we view ourselves affects our intimacy walk with God.
See it all starts in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them".
While I was on vacation I happened to gain a few kilos, and because of that I noticed I struggled with looking myself in the mirror. When I did look at myself in the mirror I said negative things about myself that were not so flattering. The thing was during my vacation I had specifically hope that I would use this time to especially take the time to focus on meditating in God's word, worship, prayer and lots of sleep. However most of the time during my focus sessions I honestly had a hard time pressing in, or feeling in touch with God. I kept asking myself what was going on. Why am I having a hard time being still in God's presence, while on my vacation I realized that most of the time I was plain negative. I had a hard time sleeping; I didn't want to meet up with any friends in fact talking to God started feeling like a chore. I honestly felt like I was literally avoiding God. It felt easy to spend time watching "the real housewives of new Jersey and Real housewives of Atlanta compared to writing love letters to Jesus. I honestly spent at least four days of my honeymoon vacation with God mostly depressed hahahah.
In the middle of the night while lying in my bed crying and I asked the Lord what is happening I feel were not connecting lately, I told the Lord that this was supposed to be our get away together yet here I am drained with four sleepless nights and craving more salt and vinegar potato chips.
I told Jesus that you're supposed to fill me up but here I am just feeling miserable. During the night the Lord showed me two things that He, that one of the reasons I couldn't sleep was because of the caffeine in the cough medicine I was taking ha-ha. Two the Lord showed me that I had been speaking negative things about myself while looking into the mirror. I finally had the revelation that because I was avoiding the mirror I was also avoiding God, which equated to me not being able to connect in intimacy with Him. Avoiding my image resulted to feeling a void with God.
In John 1:18 it says "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known"(Jesus Christ)
Now I know I've never seen God in person or in flesh, but I know his presence. It makes total sense that God would create each one of us in His image, how we see ourselves is how we relate to God. If you hate the way you look, or you're very critical towards yourself and others it is possible that your relationship with God will embody how you perceive yourself. I believe that God created us in his image so that we would be able not to only relate to him, but experience a void filling intimacy with Him.
To have a high Self esteem is not God's concept of loving yourself. However believing and knowing that God loves you and that you resemble him is the confidence we need to know and believe that when we look in the mirror we're women of Great worth. The Word of God is not only a spiritual mirror of us, however it is a character building mirror that affirms our Godly image and Identity in Jesus Christ. I believe speaking and praying the word of God while you look yourself in the mirror is a way of asserting truly who you are.
Recommended reading
Eat the cookie Buy the shoes (Joyce Meyer)
Recommended Song
How He Loves Us (Kim walker Smith)
See it all starts in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them".
While I was on vacation I happened to gain a few kilos, and because of that I noticed I struggled with looking myself in the mirror. When I did look at myself in the mirror I said negative things about myself that were not so flattering. The thing was during my vacation I had specifically hope that I would use this time to especially take the time to focus on meditating in God's word, worship, prayer and lots of sleep. However most of the time during my focus sessions I honestly had a hard time pressing in, or feeling in touch with God. I kept asking myself what was going on. Why am I having a hard time being still in God's presence, while on my vacation I realized that most of the time I was plain negative. I had a hard time sleeping; I didn't want to meet up with any friends in fact talking to God started feeling like a chore. I honestly felt like I was literally avoiding God. It felt easy to spend time watching "the real housewives of new Jersey and Real housewives of Atlanta compared to writing love letters to Jesus. I honestly spent at least four days of my honeymoon vacation with God mostly depressed hahahah.
In the middle of the night while lying in my bed crying and I asked the Lord what is happening I feel were not connecting lately, I told the Lord that this was supposed to be our get away together yet here I am drained with four sleepless nights and craving more salt and vinegar potato chips.
I told Jesus that you're supposed to fill me up but here I am just feeling miserable. During the night the Lord showed me two things that He, that one of the reasons I couldn't sleep was because of the caffeine in the cough medicine I was taking ha-ha. Two the Lord showed me that I had been speaking negative things about myself while looking into the mirror. I finally had the revelation that because I was avoiding the mirror I was also avoiding God, which equated to me not being able to connect in intimacy with Him. Avoiding my image resulted to feeling a void with God.
In John 1:18 it says "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known"(Jesus Christ)
Now I know I've never seen God in person or in flesh, but I know his presence. It makes total sense that God would create each one of us in His image, how we see ourselves is how we relate to God. If you hate the way you look, or you're very critical towards yourself and others it is possible that your relationship with God will embody how you perceive yourself. I believe that God created us in his image so that we would be able not to only relate to him, but experience a void filling intimacy with Him.
To have a high Self esteem is not God's concept of loving yourself. However believing and knowing that God loves you and that you resemble him is the confidence we need to know and believe that when we look in the mirror we're women of Great worth. The Word of God is not only a spiritual mirror of us, however it is a character building mirror that affirms our Godly image and Identity in Jesus Christ. I believe speaking and praying the word of God while you look yourself in the mirror is a way of asserting truly who you are.
Recommended reading
Eat the cookie Buy the shoes (Joyce Meyer)
Recommended Song
How He Loves Us (Kim walker Smith)
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