underhisgrace's Xanga

It's 2009!

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:45:27 GMT

I caught a really bad cold during the holidays, and never really enjoyed or celebrated the New Years – I even went to sleep before midnight (EST) on New Years Eve (which was before 9 PM Pacific Time). I never planned out all the wonderful things I would like to see happening in 2009. However, it was great to have a little break from work – sometimes I needed that to break the routine; and it made me think how I might want to live each day differently than how I had been living. And for the next few weeks, I plan to just read through Isaiah for my daily quiet times, and ask God to show me who He is each day. I really want to be reminded of His attributes this year. He has already reminded me that He is a God of relentless love; He hates sins; yet He loves people, and desires to forgive and make us holy. I think this is a good place to start – to remember who He is, so that I can learn to worship Him better in spirit and in truth.

A Sight of Diversity

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:44:32 GMT

Just heard that some gas stations are closing because gas are running out, as people are fearing of gas shortage or the potential skyrocketed prices. I guess I am just going to go home & enjoy a weekend at home – been so busy for a while, and now our house is in need of a good cleaning this weekend; also will be praying for Huston about the hurricane situation.

On a very encouraging note – the ESL ministry at our church has taken off for the new school year. We had about a dozen new students at the first night of classes. In our class alone, we had 5 new students (from Mexico, Guatemala, Germany, and India). I was so encouraged by the diversity, as this is something Eric & I missed very much since moving to our town. It has been my prayer that I will be better prepared to teach my students this year, all motivated by a love for them.

Turning Zucchini into Cantaloupe

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:35:43 GMT

The summer English Bible study for the ESL students are going well. I am thankful to the Lord for providing this opportunity for us. We miss regular fellowship (since our church does not have small groups in place currently), and this is the first time in a long while since we have a chance to dig deep into the Scriptures with others. The students are opening up and sharing their thoughts -- this is quite encouraging to us. As for me, I am amazed at God's Word as well. Last week we learned about faith through the story of Jairus asking Jesus to heal his daughter, and the story of the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. "Your faith has healed you" (Luke 8:48). What is faith? I looked out the window and saw the plant that our neighbor had given us. She thinned the seedling from her garden, and thinking it was a cantaloupe plant. We planted the seedling, and all the time thinking it was going to produce cantaloupes. Finally one day, we realized that it was a zucchini plant. If I had enough faith to believe that by asking of God to make our zucchini plant produce cantaloupes, my prayer would then be answered -- would this faith make my request come true? Eric made a good point about the kind of faith Jairus and the woman had -- it was based on who Jesus was and His promises. I cannot pray without Him in the center of it. There are so many things demanding our prayers, but God has to be the center of it all. He is the Faith-Giver. He is the one who says "Don't be afraid; just believe, and [it will be done]" (Luke 8:50).

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:26:19 GMT

It’s been a while since I have written. Life is busy...We are having an English Bible study for a couple of our ESL students this summer. I am totally enjoying the opportunity to prepare refreshments. In fact, this week, I made zucchini bread from the zucchini harvested from our backyard. The students never had zucchini bread before. They loved it, and that made me happy. I heard that zucchini plants grow crazy. In fact, one of my coworkers told me that there is a farmer town where no one ever locks their car doors, except during zucchini seasons, when everyone will be locking their cars before going into the stores. If you don’t lock your car doors, you will surely find zucchinis in your car when you return.

Well, if that’s the case, I am expecting to share some harvest with neighbors and coworkers. We’ll be having lots of things cooked with zucchini this summer.

By the way, we are starting to get some cantaloupes and watermelons, too - though they are still quite small, so I am not sure whether we’ll actually get a good harvest on that or not. Will see...

Life in the Seed

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:40:42 GMT

Spring is here! We are thinking about starting a vegetable garden in our backyard. This is a new thing for us, especially since I have never planted anything before. Due to the fact that we might still have spring frost, also to the fact that we haven't worked on the soil for the garden yet -- I've been planting seeds in doors. The basil seeds I have planted are germinating. This might sounds strange to you - but I am quite amazed seeing the green leaves sprouting. (Just to remind you, I have never planted anything). Eric must think that I am spending too much time staring at those seedlings. But I check them several times a day. Sometimes I would sit on the floor and just stare at them for a while. I think baby basil leaves are the cutest thing!

Doesn't this make you think how amazing life is? When I look at a basil seed - it doesn't look like much at all - in fact, it is quite small. But it can grow cute green leaves! I was recently reminded by a coworker, that life is in the seed. God causes things to grow. If we have received Christ as Savior and Lord - the life has begun.

"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (1 John 5:11-12)

Peach Tree

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:26:31 GMT

The peach tree we planted during the fall started to flower this past week. We saw some new leaves on it, too. This is quite exciting for us, since this is the first time we actually have a place to plant things.

We have been pulling a lot of weeds in our yard these days. The weather has been quite nice, and it's fun being outdoors.

We finally had our first visitors staying with us over the Easter weekend. We really enjoyed the time.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:26:09 GMT

I Needed a Miracle!

Today, I just want to thank the Lord for helping me through the day of work. I was just telling my coworker today, that "I can't wait for January to be over!" -- it has been such a busy month, that I am totally exhausted. And my coworker said to me, "Guess what, January is already over... it's February!". I guess in that case, I am looking forward to the next holiday.

Sometimes I wonder, how does one trust and depend on the Lord with their work - especially when things are handleable - and you just suppose to do your work. But these days, I really do feel very exhausted -- I almost wanted to cry yesterday because I cannot see the day I could slow down my pace. One of my coworkers prayed for me yesterday, and I was able to just let my work go at the end of the day & enjoy an evening with ESL students.

Today was a much better day. And I feel extremely thankful to the Lord. I know He really helped me through today. Thank You Lord, for giving me a miracle this day

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:28:09 GMT

I had one week off from work during Christmas time -- I can't even remember when was the last time I actually had one whole week off from work for Christmas. (Though I did have lots of time last Christmas - since I was still jobless this time last year).

Things have been quite busy since coming back to the office -- it will be for all of January , I think. I have so much work to catch up, as well as getting some projects done before the end of the month.

There are lots of things I want to do at home as well. Now we have expended our living space from a 2-bedroom apartment to a 3-bedroom house; there are many more things to work on. We still need to get a dining table -- right now we still have the breakfast table we had in our small apartment before we moved from SD. We did end up getting a folding table - so in case we invite a family over for a meal, we'll have enough table space at the moment.

We were looking for a queen-size bed for our guestroom -- and we ended up finding something for $100 -- it's not just a queen-bed, we actually got the whole bedroom set for that price -- now our guestroom is more furnished than our own bedroom.

Last week, someone gave us a TV for free -- we haven't had a TV for a long time. We got it set up during the weekend. I found myself watching a commercial for a restaurant - it seemed quite novel to me -- I can't remember when was the last time I have seen a commercial on T.V. It's nice to have a free T.V., so hopefully we will get to borrow some good movies to watch some times -- but hopefully we won't end up wasting too much time on it.

We already had a few people over to our home for meals since we moved in. Still, the house seems way too big for us. The winter months are colder, so we'll need to invite more people over so to keep our place warm and have some good fellowship -- we really miss the sweet fellowship we had in SD, and hope to have some good ones here as well.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:02:06 GMT

What do you have that you did not receive? -- 1 Corinthians 4:7

I saw this verse the other day, out of context of everything else; and it grabbed my attention. We know everything that we have has been given by the Lord, and the thought of it makes me feel so grateful.

Life is busy with work and church. The summer is over, that means I am back to helping with Sunday School as well as teaching ESL. I have learned something new about myself today, after taking the Birkman test, that I am a low-energy person. That means I need to be more selective about what to do and need to prioritize activities. What a bummer! I always feel so guilty about turning down things. But I hope this will give me the assurance that it's okay that I don't do everything. I always feel so apologetic whenever I can't do something. Then I get mad at myself for always tying to give excuses. I also learned that being critical of myself is another thing I scored real high on my Birkman. I think again and again, God is reminding me that I need to remember his grace in my life. He has created each one of us in such special and unique ways.

What do you have that you did not receive?

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:24:24 GMT

Thankful and Dependent on the Lord

These are the verses from Psalm 50, which really spoke to my heart this morning:

"...Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." (Psalm 50:14-15)

And my prayer this day is that I may acknowledge Him by giving Him thanks. I can never thank Him enough for all that He has done, is doing, and will be doing in my life.