Friday, July 24, 2009
hello log :)
heres sth i came across while watching House ystd, a strange way for God to speak to anyone, but I supposed our God is quite strange.
"Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is geniune. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will recieve praise and glory and honour on the Day which Jesus Christ is revealed"
1 Peter 1:6-7
i think this verse kinda had a delayed effect on me, it didnt really speak to me until i was thinking about it during Deacon Harold's talk on surviving the culture of death. we all know God sends trials to test us, but i think the verse really showed the purpose of testing which is to allow your own faith to grow and endure. so be comforted, that the Lord God remembers and is with you always in every situation. maybe some of you are going through personal doubt, struggles with the faith, difficulties in ministry, lack of purpose/direction in life or simply caught up in Sin. be comforted that perhaps God is calling you to something deeper, a greater faith and trust in him.
recently ive been struggling with going back to school. I'm not exactly involved in school and i struggle with having a group of friends i can be comfortable with. up to now, i guess i havent found that and there are times where i feel mega lonely i just wanna cry and go home. so im super apprehensive about facing this new term, especially since there'll be modules im taking by myself :/ super big challenge for me. im not the kind of person whos all comfortable being alone in the midst of so many people. so i guess God is trying to teach me something? i havent quite figured it what, maybe its being comfortable with the fact that perhaps i dont need to be surrounded by people all the time. i guess in some way, God is calling me to trust, to silence. and i know, deep down, i can overcome all this and that i will come out stronger. its just the process of getting there. so whats your own trial/struggle that you're facing? maybe God is calling you to something deeper? have you wondered whats his purpose is in your trial? maybe you need sometime in prayer with God! (ado ado ado)
heres another verse to share, that might serve as strength
"For this reason we never becomes discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention , not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever"
2 Cor 4:16-18
I suppose for some of us, the decaying extends to the spiritual being. we feel far away from God, lost, distant, apathetic, perhaps we dont know how to connect with God anymore. I took something else out of episode of House I watched ystd, that is "If you're angry with God, it means you believe that God exists". I think in the same way, if we're able to feel all those spiritual dryness/lack of God in our lives, that we must at least believe that God exist. And yes, so perhaps only our fundamental faith remains but we are called and challenged to cling and rely on God alone. so perhaps what matters is that fundamental faith that Jesus died for you and me, he loves you and me and gives of himself in the Eucharist, and that he has a plan for you and me.
often i guess, we mix faith with feeling. as cliche as it sounds, i guess the world really "brainwashes" us to be sensationalistic people. we must feel, touch, hear, taste etc, so much so that when we dont feel God, we feel alone. But i guess like what St Paul says in 2Cor, the things we can see (feel) are temporary and transient and what we set our hopes and faith on are the intangible, the God we cannot see yet we know as the ever-living God. so perhaps in our own little ways, we called to be little Mother Teresas. We all know about how she felt distant from God for so many years in her life, yet she remains faithful. faithful to the God she knows exists, faithful to his teachings of love, charity, obdience and truth.
You and I are called to be faithful, and we cant do that alone. So I guess if you had the tenacity and patience to read up to here (haha), offer a prayer for the community/individuals :) and rmbr what community is all about. Not just you being with God, but us with God.
<3 jess.
hello log :)
heres sth i came across while watching House ystd, a strange way for God to speak to anyone, but I supposed our God is quite strange.
"Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is geniune. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will recieve praise and glory and honour on the Day which Jesus Christ is revealed"
1 Peter 1:6-7
i think this verse kinda had a delayed effect on me, it didnt really speak to me until i was thinking about it during Deacon Harold's talk on surviving the culture of death. we all know God sends trials to test us, but i think the verse really showed the purpose of testing which is to allow your own faith to grow and endure. so be comforted, that the Lord God remembers and is with you always in every situation. maybe some of you are going through personal doubt, struggles with the faith, difficulties in ministry, lack of purpose/direction in life or simply caught up in Sin. be comforted that perhaps God is calling you to something deeper, a greater faith and trust in him.
recently ive been struggling with going back to school. I'm not exactly involved in school and i struggle with having a group of friends i can be comfortable with. up to now, i guess i havent found that and there are times where i feel mega lonely i just wanna cry and go home. so im super apprehensive about facing this new term, especially since there'll be modules im taking by myself :/ super big challenge for me. im not the kind of person whos all comfortable being alone in the midst of so many people. so i guess God is trying to teach me something? i havent quite figured it what, maybe its being comfortable with the fact that perhaps i dont need to be surrounded by people all the time. i guess in some way, God is calling me to trust, to silence. and i know, deep down, i can overcome all this and that i will come out stronger. its just the process of getting there. so whats your own trial/struggle that you're facing? maybe God is calling you to something deeper? have you wondered whats his purpose is in your trial? maybe you need sometime in prayer with God! (ado ado ado)
heres another verse to share, that might serve as strength
"For this reason we never becomes discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention , not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever"
2 Cor 4:16-18
I suppose for some of us, the decaying extends to the spiritual being. we feel far away from God, lost, distant, apathetic, perhaps we dont know how to connect with God anymore. I took something else out of episode of House I watched ystd, that is "If you're angry with God, it means you believe that God exists". I think in the same way, if we're able to feel all those spiritual dryness/lack of God in our lives, that we must at least believe that God exist. And yes, so perhaps only our fundamental faith remains but we are called and challenged to cling and rely on God alone. so perhaps what matters is that fundamental faith that Jesus died for you and me, he loves you and me and gives of himself in the Eucharist, and that he has a plan for you and me.
often i guess, we mix faith with feeling. as cliche as it sounds, i guess the world really "brainwashes" us to be sensationalistic people. we must feel, touch, hear, taste etc, so much so that when we dont feel God, we feel alone. But i guess like what St Paul says in 2Cor, the things we can see (feel) are temporary and transient and what we set our hopes and faith on are the intangible, the God we cannot see yet we know as the ever-living God. so perhaps in our own little ways, we called to be little Mother Teresas. We all know about how she felt distant from God for so many years in her life, yet she remains faithful. faithful to the God she knows exists, faithful to his teachings of love, charity, obdience and truth.
You and I are called to be faithful, and we cant do that alone. So I guess if you had the tenacity and patience to read up to here (haha), offer a prayer for the community/individuals :) and rmbr what community is all about. Not just you being with God, but us with God.
<3 jess.