TBA

confused? uncertain? I know I am. I don't know why I'm going through the things i'm going through. Why am i dealing with loneliness, why am i fighting these certain struggles and problems. It might be the same for you. That you're going through certain things may it be a broken family, cutting or other addictions. I know that i myself don't want to be struggling with this. I've struggled with temptations and sins for years now, and its frustrating that i haven't permanently become victorious. But while looking through stuff, deciding on what to talk about today, i decided to talk about Proverbs 16:4.

"The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble."

Everything we struggle with, everything that happens each day, good or bad, a pain or a celebration, the people we meet, all has a purpose.

During Earth Hour tonight, I got to sit down and chat with my parents. But to be honest, it felt more forced. But as time went on, we started to talk about family. There's this TV show on right now called "Who Do You Think You Are" and it explores celebrity guests as they travel around the world, discovering their family tree and the genealogy behind it, uncovering secrets, and surprises about the past. Talking to my mom about it, she talked about her mom, my grand mother, and how her grandmother (my great grandmother) was a single family. It was tonight where she realized that my grandmother was raised in a single-parent family, and how it applies to today. Hearing about the past, about what was and what came to be, it can be seen as God's plan. Im not exactly sure how it was apart of the plan, but for instance, my grandmother (raised in a single parent family) could chat with others who also are facing the same issues, and can provide comfort, and words to share with generations down the line. Decades ago, when my grandmother was raised, she probably didn't understand why she was alone, why she didn't have a dad, but its possible that generations later, she realizes that this is why.

Same goes for you and me. Why am i struggling with this, why is that apart of our lives. But there is a reason. There is a purpose. Don't give up. God has a plan for you, and if you give up, he cannot use you to your greatest potential.

⁹ In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the LORD establishes their steps.

Proverbs 16:9

The Unknown.

It was foggy today, and it just got worse and worse throughout the day. On the way back from dinner, we could barely see what was ahead of us. I remember on the way back, I thought that we passed our street, but I was mistaken. Thinking about what to talk about today, i realized that this is exactly what life is like. Its blurry, and our future is unpredictable. You dont know if you a deer will come out from the side, if you're on the oncoming lane, or if you're reaching a dead end. We can only follow the 5m road ahead of us that we can actually see. Many times, we want to have complete control of our lives, where we want to live, the ideal family, the perfect career, but truthfully, there are things that are just out of our control. For instance, university, you dont know where you are going to go, all you can do is do the best you can in school and hope you get into the program you want. Marriage, how do you control meeting the perfect spouse?

Its all in God's time. Life with or without God is a blurry road. Life without is complete fog and you're just entrusting yourself, as well as the road on what is right. The road can represent the world and its standards, driving you towards a different destination. Where as with God, we have someone greater looking out for us. God will be that extra GPS you have in the car, which directs the route from satellite, much higher above us that can see all the routes, all the dead ends, and now, even which roads are more congested with traffic! If you were the driver, would you trust yourself based on what you know? or will trust the GPS?

The unknown is often a fear for many people. We all hate not knowing what is coming up and what's next. I know that I myself get paranoid when im not prepared or ready for a presentation or anything. Will you learn to trust our greater God?

Truth?

14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.² In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him andhave seen him.”

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 14:1-14

I was able to read through this passage several times throughout the day, and i think thats extremely necessary when we are trying to understand scripture, to fully break it down and understand each word and phrase. I also think that if one has a open heart and mind to receiving the word, it will speak and be understood different each time.

When I read verses 5-6, it immediately brought me back to a discussion we had at retreat, when someone brought up the question, "how do we know Christianity is the true faith?" I confess and admit that i've had my doubts, and im sure we all have. We may question, what if this isnt the "right" way, what if after we pass, there was no heaven, it was all a trick, what if the pastors knew about something and were just tricking us all along? How can i be sure that Christianity is what i should believe in? And as we were discussing, these are a few points that came up. Firstly, i've learnt that out of all the different religions, from Buddhism to Hinduism, that Christianity seems to be the only INVITING others to come see what this "relationship" is about. We also brought up a second point, that was that Christianity is not self-oriented. Many other religions are based on doing deeds/goods to gain blessings or goodness. Whereas in Christianity, Christ has already died for you, and he presents each and every one of us with the gift of eternal life, and it is only if we accept and take the gift, is then that we become saved. And therefore like in verse 12, we do these good works not to gain salvation or approval, but out of thanksgiving, out of commitment, as we follow Christ's footsteps.

side note: I myself am a Christian and believe that through Christ, believing that he died on the cross, and has forgiven me of my sins has saved me from the consequences of sins, and has granted me eternal life. Although i may say that Christianity is the "right" (lack of better word) way, it does not mean that all other religions are wrong, there are definitely things about other religions we can learn from and follow.

Verse 8 also stood out to me. Many many of us are like Philip, we are constantly looking for more. Again back to the retreat discussion, we talked about proof and facts. The world is all about facts, especially the science realm of things, we need proof we need evidence to believe that something is true, but this is faith, not science. There are so many crazy questions that we are curious about, for instance, how the dinosaurs fit into the whole seven days of creation, but over the years of being a Christian i've learnt that sometimes, its just not humanly possible for one to fully understand all this. We can go ask the father when we see him one day! Its hard to believe like that, blindly, but that is faith! Believing without seeing. Its impossible to have all the questions answered. I think this also goes for a test, that with these curiosities, these things that dont fully make sense, its another type of test of our faith. If we can continue to follow him, knowing that he is greater and has plans for us, even though many of our questions are not answered.

People are constantly afraid of change, of the unknown, but are you willing to dig deeper and follow Christ and let him take the reigns of your life?

verse of the day: Ephesians 2:8-10

⁸ Forby grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing;it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

seeing what we cannot.

I was totally under the category of what we talked about at church today. A person who lacks confidence, has little faith in Christ and is weak, not realizing His strength and His greater, different, mysterious and perfect ways.

¹³ Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
¹⁵ You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶ When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
¹⁷ The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
your arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸ The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.

psalm 77:13-19

1. God is HOLY and his ways are higher/better/different than ours.

We're constantly wanting our way. We fail to give up power, and control of our own lives. We as humans are so scared of the unknown. We dont want to change, we dont want to surrender and let someone take the wheel of our lives. We also have pride in ourselves, we think we're better, we're stronger, we know whats best for us, but the truth is, we really dont. If you have time, reflect on the past few months, years, and see how God has pieced your life together in the most magical, mysterious ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

2. God's work in the past tells of his work in THE PRESENT and THE FUTURE.

The big pointer here is KNOWING God's work in the past, and the only way to know that is be reading and indulging in the Word. It is the truth. Today our pastor said that should be reading off the word, in PHYSICAL, PRINT form, and im guilty of that. After getting my iphone i've been reading it electronically, and i think i need to change that and start getting back into the habit of reading his word in print. I think its better in many ways, electronically, there are distractions everywhere. But it is by reading his word that one will fully understand just a hint of how God works and see how great he is, for one to put faith into an almighty God.

3. God's work in our lives is MYSTERIOUS but PERFECT.

Our Pastor mentioned today in the passage (Psalms 77) that it talks about nature a lot, and he linked it with God's mysterious ways. Nature is very unpredictable, yet it always works out. If you study science, you start to learn about how crazy and amazing creation is. Although it extremely hard to let go and let God. Remember that his ways are always better. He's overlooking our lives, he's planning it, and he knows whats best and whats better than what you have in mind.