10 things that made me stronger

 

Philippians 4:4-7
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

10 Things that made me stronger

1. I grew up without my dad on my side because he has to stay in Taiwan to work- I learned that being in touch with your family or love ones is the most essential thing in the world, their love is all I need.
2. When I was a little girl mom taught me how to fight for what I know is right- some things in life are not meant to hurt us, we just have to be true to ourselves to be able to accept and fight for what we believe is the truth.
3. I’m a slow learner but because of my persistence and hard work I overcome it- never give up on yourself, no matter how many times people will try to judge or put you down you have to stand up and believe that you can.
4. I always fail, I never do something perfect in my first try.- failing is necessary for us to learn, grow and mature, without failure there is no room for improvement.
5. While growing up, I always get humiliated in front of many people- people will never understand what you’re really going through, never belittle yourself, sun shines after the rain.
6. I have to work to earn and pay for my school and things I need and want- there is nothing wrong in taking all the responsibilities when you know you’re capable of achieving something great, do it without hesitations without the approval of people surrounding you.
7. I usually walk home alone in midnight just to be able to dance- be brave, don’t let your fears stop you from chasing your dreams, everything you put your heart and mind to it will prosper.
8. I dance despite of my weak spine ( scoliosis) – we are limitless, if we believe then the universe will help us to do all the impossible things in the world, our only boundary is our own mentality.
9. People judge me, my walk, the way I talk the way I dress and the way I think- I live my life committing myself to my purpose and goals, I don’t need to please everyone because it’s easy to live in the world knowing what you want and accepting who you really are, despite of all the judgement I walk knowing I’m living my life and not someone else’s life.
10. At a very young age I’m working hard not for myself but for my family- you’ll never move forward if there’s no one pushing you to dream big, fly high and conquer the world with GOD. 

Life and death: time is running out

Death is not the enemy of life, but its friend, for it is the knowledge that our years are limited which makes them so precious. It is the truth that time is but lent to us which makes us, at our best, look upon our years as a trust handed into our temporary keeping. Joshua Loth Liebman

Tonight, the title of the passage that I read in my devotional book is “brevity of life”, to some of you who doesn’t know what brevity is then here’s the meaning according to the dictionary.com (n. shortness of time or duration). As I began reflecting about the new wisdom I gained from reading the scripture in Psalm 90, it suddenly reminds me of how fragile humans are, thinking about how humans went through in the process of living his/her life in this world opens up my mind on how privileged we are to take our own choice and how gracious our God to us by giving us freewill.

However, humans are born sinners and according to Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.” we all have to face death as part of our human nature.

In Psalm 90:7 it says that “all our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.”

we all wanted to remain young but we are reminded that years pass and death will one day arrive. by that, we should ask ourselves these questions:

1. Am I living His will for me right now?

2. Did I already accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior?

3. did I use my time here on earth well?

4. what are the things that I contributed to the world that made an impact?

5. Am I using my time here to please my God?

Pause for now, reflect, and think about the your current life. Are you satisfied with your life right now?

do you find meaning to everything you do?

if not, then remember you cant control the length of your life but you can control it’s depth, it s now or never.

“In life God doesn’t give you the people you want, instead He gives you the people you need. To teach you, to hurt you, to love you, and make you exactly the way you should be.”

Self-Discipline. Now or never

We can have more than we’ve got because we can become more than we are.-Jim Rohn

In order for us to succeed in anything that we will do. Self-discipline is the key!

while checking my email tonight I found out a new newsletter from my subscription of the “Early to rise” life lived well newsletters.

I’ve read that “In order to succeed, we need to take action. In order to take action, we need motivation and sometimes it takes a lot of self-discipline to motivate ourselves into action”. Yes. we should set standards for ourselves, standards that are realistic and attainable because without having a goal or purpose you can’t motivate yourself to achieve it because the foundation is not strong enough to build the discipline that you will need for you to succeed. Sometimes all it takes for us to achieve anything we want in life is building our own selves, we should be strong in layering our needs and wants. we should learn how to stop the things that doesn’t give us good results and how to adapt to things which at first are not comfortable to us but will give us good results at the end. 

I guess I will now take more time setting rules for myself.

Life is short to act recklessly. let us all practice self-discipline!

5 ways to turn your fears into breakthroughs

” God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at the time Enjoying one moment at a time Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. -from the serenity prayer

We often times scared of moving forward or taking necessary actions because we have a lot of fears, fears like; failure, commitment, humiliation, inadequacy, mediocrity, responsibility, success, rejection, being alone, unknown or even fear itself, but when we come to think of it without fears we cannot accomplish great things in life and actually fear gives us a greater blessing because it makes us to do something we need to do, it helps us to learn something and it can transports us to the new level of living. I would like to share to you the 5 things that probably can help you to transform your life and to let go of your fears.

1. turned whatever fears you have had into a positive inflection of your life.- learn to let go of things which you think is holding you back to achieve more greatness in your life. stop holding on to the things that disappoints you and stop looking for answers from the past. turned everything that happened to you into something wonderful.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

2. Ignore the Voice of judgement. – VOJ is the internal critic within you that is stopping you to see the possibilities in your life, if you constantly listens to it you will eventually trap yourself and you’ll always live your life in a safe box where you will hinder yourself to grow, mature or even experience the taste of success in your life.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

3. Don’t worry about the future because God is already there- when you always worry about something that is not yet happening you’ll eventually be lost. just do your best each day and live it as if it is your last and you’ll see your future will take care by itself because you’ve done the necessary actions that will take you to achieve the plans you have in mind.

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. (Isaiah 41:13)

4. avoid overcommitting- you can’t accomplish something great if your energies are scattered all over the place, FOCUS! accepting everything will not make you a good person, the fact you engage yourself to something you know you’ll eventually have to give up will just make you to acquire more fears.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

5. create your own culture- start doing things because you love doing it not because of the external or internal rewards that you will get, avoid making comparison from others and seek no approval always work hard and do your best, stay on the path where you will not regret sacrificing everything you have just to walk that path.

So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can Man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6)

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face” Eleanor Roosevelt.

<3,

JennyC.

The Teacher Speaks: the ineffectiveness of WISDOM…

“I. the Teacher was a king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. I observed everything going on under the sun and really, it is all meaningless-like chasing the wind.” ECC 12-14

THINGS TO PONDER:

“God has revealed Himself through a book. let us not forget that ” the greater my wisdom, the greater my grief, to increase knowledge only increases sorrow.” ECC 1:18

- In times of confusion, doubts,fear or sorrow let us consider reading His word because we can find all the answers in the Bible. remember don not say you agree or disagree, or suspend judgment, until you can say “I understand.”

“when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed 2 more days in the place where He was.” JOHN 11:6

-when God is silent let us not forget to trust Him…His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of Himself. have faith on Him. Obey and put all your trust in Him because God is Love.

“How can a young man keep His way pure? by living according to your word.” Psalm119:9

-Let us take some time and memorize some good verses. Let His words be our guidance everyday.

“So from now on we regard no one from worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way. we do so no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come.” 2 COR 5:16-17

-Serve God with the best way you can, do not be so attached to the world for it is temporary instead learn to be a faithful servant of God because His glory will reign forever and He offer riches that can last for eternity. 

“in the same way the spirit helps us in our weaknesses, We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express..” Romans 8:26

- We are Gods workmanship sometimes He use the twists and turns in our lives to make us more like His son. 

“The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and fromt he bear, He will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine.” 1SAM 17:37

- In the Bible the story of David help us to remember that if we  are facing giants in our life like problems, guilt, fears, doubts, loss etc. let us trust God the He will give us courage that we too can triumph over them.

“If you do well, will you not be accepted? and if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.” Gen 4:7

-remember that God won’t refuse a heart that is surrendered to Him. 

NOTE:

these are my devotions that I compiled from May13-19 Hope you can learn something it. May God bless you. for prayer request just put it on the comment box below. I’ll pray for it too. 

your sister in Christ,

Jenny <3

Invest in Your SOUL…

May 6-12, 2012 at Philippine Baguio Theological Seminary

“Travel is the best way to invest in your soul. It takes money, but since you can’t take money into the hereafter, travel is, in the end, the best investment.”- Sherry Hardage

St. Stephen’s Parish

50^th Summer Conference ” JESUS- the incomparable Christ”

Honestly at first I thought of not joining the camp because spending your 1 week in a seminary sounds boring to me but because of the peer pressures I decided to give it a try and I think it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life and the camp fee is so cheap for 3,200 pesos you can experience a life changing experience for a week!

When we arrived there I immediately fell in love to the place. The weather is cold, there are a lot of trees, and the place evokes calmness and peacefulness throughout your mind and body.

The food is simply amazing; I forgot to take pictures of them because I just can’t stop myself from eating a lot. Their services are quite impressive too and what I like most about the food is that it is unlimited.

I know I came there to study the word of God and to renew my faith on Him but of course it is also an opportunity for me to be highly fashionable by layering my clothes which I can’t do in Manila because of the burning temperature there.

To be sure we can maximize our time there it is necessary for us to follow the schedules given to us.

6:00-7:00 Wake up

7:00-7:15 Morning Praise

7:15-8:15 Quiet time

8:15-9:00 Breakfast

9:00-9:30 free time

9:30-10:00 praise and worship

10:00-10:45 message

10:45-12:15 Bible Study

12:15-1:00 lunch

1:00-3:00 free time

3:00-3:15 praise and worship

3:15-5:30 games/activities

5:30-6:00 free time

6:00-7:00 dinner

7:00-7:30 praise and worship

7:30-8:15 message

8:15-9:00 buzz group

9:00-9:15 evening snacks

9:15-10:00 ready for bed

10:00 lights out

Yeah, it’s quite a routine that they strictly implemented for us to follow in 5 days.

The first 2 days were my adjustment days because I’m not so used into getting up early in the morning and going to bed early too, it’s tough to listen to 1 hour of sermon and I’m not comfortable in sharing my life to other people too. But by God’s grace I was able to survive and the everyday routine seems to excite me after all.

One thing I love about joining the camp is that it is an opportunity for me to go out of my comfort zone while leaving the busy city of manila and staying in a solitude place in Baguio can really help you to discover something new about yourself that you can’t do if you’re afraid to take risk and go out to the norms or into your comfort zone.

Lesson I’ve learned: What we are is God’s gift to us.  What we become is our gift to God.  ~Eleanor Powell

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things…” –Colossians 1:19-20

I’m not an al…

I’m not an alcoholic person neither a teetotaler I’m just an average person who’s not afraid to try new things and who’s responsible enough to know the consequences.-Jenny C.

At certain point in our lives we’ve been gradually or intensely introduced to the worldly happenings or should I just say “good times” whatever it is for me it just what life is all about. We can’t be perfect all the time sometimes we have to act dumb or just be stupid for awhile to be able to know the difference and to grow and mature. Drinking is not necessarily bad for your health in fact I’m a health conscious person, I don’t smoke, I eat good food and I exercise a lot but I do drink liquor. Why? One of the reason is the ‘Pakikisama’ or a folk concept in a Filipino of having a good relationship toward others by giving In or yielding to the majority even if sometimes it can contradict someone’s ideas or values in life and to achieve this that you have to deal with euphemism a lot, but guilty or not at the latter part of the drinking session you can admit to yourself that you still had fun for even in the short span of time because you forgot the existence of the real world (problems, anxieties, stress, loss) or you enjoyed the company of your friends too and FYI there’s an inflammatory chemicals called Cytokins that is overproducing in our bodies when we drink alcoholic beverages which can results in memory loss, loss of focus, and sometimes pain in the head (just bang it on the wall kidding lol).

Drinking should not be a habit though; you should not make it as the solution or a celebration of everything that’s happening in your life. We should know our limits and we have to be assertive sometime too. Remember that ‘Pakikisama” is useless if you’ll use it to people who don’t value your virtues and principles in life too. We are capable of knowing when and where to stop. We should not take granted of all things. The freedom, money and friends we have are blessings and we have to learn how to appreciate and value it so that it will last if you don’t drink there a lot of alternatives to celebrate or enjoy your existence!

REMEMBER!

If you drink, keep it moderate

regular drinkers had a significantly lower risk of heart disease than nondrinkers or binge drinkers. Again, the key is moderation!

Have your good and trusted friends be at your side always. Wink!

just recently I went to my friend’s grad party and obviously there’s an overflowing drinks! nowadays the alcoholic bev. already taste good so don’t be shock if you find yourself drunk after the party because SWEETNESS CAN FOOL YOU!! you can’t stop yourself from drinking coz it’s so freaking delicious lol

I just love DAZED MOBILE BAR( good in mixing drinks+hot/gentleman bartenders+fun) <3

xoxo,