Letting Go

Hello! This is Karen. It's my first post on this blog.

If you know me, I study Architecture at Ryerson. Currently I'm on my fourth, and final year. It is a very intense program. Practically everyone pulls an all nighter at least a few times per semester.

Recently my emotions have gone downhill, even to the point that it becomes in the way of school. I have broken down in tears during class at least twice this semester. Being a person with AS, I struggled to fit in since school, and I would feel very lonely because of the lack of close friendships I have in my life.

But this past week, approaching end-of-semester deadline where the workload is the most intense, I was so down that I couldn't focus on school and turned to the Lord and His truth. It was though I was going through a Paul episode where he was blinded by the Lord's light, not noticing the matters around him. Then I thought to myself: What should I do and treasure in my earthly life before His Second Coming? Will I be spiritually prepared? Will everything I do be meaningless in the future? How will the Lord reveal His heart to me in my life journey on this earth?

I feel so blessed that the Lord has spoken so much to me this week, and that I was able to draw closer to Him more than I could. Although my schedule is pretty packed for the upcoming weeks, I was still able to attend today's meeting and meet loving B/S, because I know that they are God's prepared family. And I do regret that I did not spent enough time with B/S because of my overindependence and social anxieties. And this week the Lord has told me to let go, from the stress and matters of this world, and seek Him.

I know that it gets stressful when you don't have much time to complete deadlines, if you trust the Lord and enjoy His delight, he will help you overcome difficulties in life.

Psalm 37:4- Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

-Karen

Tattoos

(Continuing this series of 'Protecting our Bodies for our Spirits')

I was walking downtown and noticed how society has changed, especially in the context of tattoos. When I was younger (I still am, btw), I remember a friend of mine got a tattoo on her arm. She figured it was "cool" and "rebellious", but others in our group of friends didn't think so and eventually stopped talking to her. Nowadays, a lot of people are accepting that tattooing is an art and not an act of rebellion. Some people I know have deeper meanings with each tattoo they have. Some of these tattoos are personal (i.e. to honour a dead family member), and for me to look at them and think, "what a mistake you've made" seems rather offensive--so I keep that thought to myself.

Despite tattoos now being slowly accepted by society, doesn't mean that as Christians we need to "keep up our image" by also thinking it is acceptable to get a tattoo. By not getting a tattoo isn't something Christians have made up just so that we can prove to society we are "good" not "bad". The arguments against tattooing are much more symbolic and spiritual (let alone a written commandment!), than it is just skin-deep. This also pointed out the symbolic meaning of wearing the cross. I realize that I wear a cross necklace. But why? And so I went deeper into understanding why we shouldn't really need to wear the cross around our necks to let others know we are Christian. In some other post, I will explain...

I was going to write a post about tattoos myself, but I didn't have the time to research and collect verses so I Googled for an article that was helpful in understanding why this trend isn't worth following. This article is useful and provides enough information without being boring, not in a condemning tone of voice to read in, and has relevant verses. I hope you find the time to read this, whether you may be thinking of tattooing or to use this to strengthen your foundation against it (from peer pressure and what-not). I highlighted what I think are some important points (if you don't have the time to read it fully, take a look at these).

It seems important these days to talk about our bodies as being something we should protect not because of just health issues, but because of the spiritual importance as well. May we honor this fact, and protect our bodies from temptation and wrong doings so we can pursue the Lord all together!

With love,
Kay (article is after the jump break--not included in this notification email.)

Keeping Physical and Mental Health in Shape

I shared this with a sister and thought I'd share this with you all too. Lately I've been under quite some stress, And because of this stress, hours of sleep were impossible to achieve. Socializing with friends also increased last week, and so eating out and drinking happened quite frequently. I also stopped exercising to make more time to study. And worst of all of these, I haven't kept a balanced diet; my diet consisted mostly of grains rather than vegetables, protein, and iron. So finally, yesterday, I felt as if my body was a broken down 95' Dodge Caravan. My liver felt sore, my head was pounding, my legs were unable to stand from all the walking I did on Saturday, and the need for sleep was weighing me down. This was greatly affecting my school work; with not enough sleep I wasn't able to pay attention in class--and most importantly, it was affecting how I would pursue the Lord!

God is for us and with us!

As some of you might know that today (Saturday not Sunday as I am making this post past 12 am) my family and I took my brother Peter to the hospital because he was very unstable at home. All day I've been fighting evil spirits away from Peter and had many support and prayers from b/s. This was truly a test of my faith and I've never prayed so hard and cast so much in my life. How precious that God and His presence was with me the whole entire time! I cried so much not because I was afraid of Satan and what he was doing to my brother but because I felt so blessed to have God and b/s. I was non stop getting text messages with encouragement! I also really give thanks for our precious sister Jennt, who also went through this with me. I literally texted her every 2 mins with a new update on whats happening and what is to come for about 8 hours! Jennt helped me send mass messages to b/s to pray for my family and I.

After when everything was starting to settle a group of b/s and I went to the hospital to visit Peter, pray for him and cast the evil spirits away from his body, soul and spirit. I went home and told my mom, dad, and brother, Jason, what we did and they all seemed very grateful for what we did. Today it gave me an opportunity to pray with my mom in the hospital and confirm her faith in Christ. Although I know there is a lot of things she is confused by about God. Also it has been my life long vision to be able to have the opportunity to preach to my brother Jason because he has always been the "black sheep" of the family. And he is also very good at reasoning and arguing which makes it hard for me because I am terrible compared to him. But through today and my testimony, God really glorified me in front of him and gave me the right words to speak to him that he did not object to anything I said. He was interested in what I did at church on Wednesdays and Sundays. I invited him to come to meeting with me, but at the moment he is not ready to. Also he is confused between Islam and Christianity because Peter had preached to him once, and they prayed together, and now I'm trying to do the same thing. He also has a lot of Muslim friends at work that are good people so he feels that Peter was just an extreme case. I did give Jason 2 spiritual books for him to read and learn more about God. The one is called "More Than a Prophet," I bought this book to learn the differences between Islam and Christianity. The authors are 2 brothers, Ergun and Emir Caner, who were born Muslim, but at a young age they discovered God and became Christians. The other book is "Case for Faith" by Lee Strobel. Jason asked me for books to read by best-selling New York authors and Lee Strobel is one of them :) Please pray that God will reveal Himself to Jason, I have faith that one day he will be sitting next to me in the meeting! (that was a dream that I had one night a long time ago)

Anyways I want to share the bible verses that encouraged me today:

Psalm 22: 21, 22, 24

21 "... You have answered Me."

22 " I will declare your name to My brethren;

In the midst of the assembly I will praise You."

24 " For He has not despised no abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;

Nor has He hidden His face from Him;

But when He cried to Him, He heard."

This Psalm in particular is talking about Jesus' crucifixion, but I was able to apply this to my day. How precious that God listened to my cry for help and He did not delay His answer to me. And I also had the opportunity to preach to my family and testify His might! The Lord did not ignore my affliction and He was with me the entire time!

Faith on!

-Doreen

God is Listening..

Hi Sisters!

Recently I've been dealing with spiritual battles and I am experiencing a lot of Satan's work in my family. How precious that I know that God has already conquered Satan and His victory is also my victory! And that I am not scared of Satan and what he did.

Today when I was drawing near to God, I asked God to give me the perfect bible verse to read that will encourage and comfort me! God never fails to listen to our prayers and this is what He said to me:

Psalm 31: 1-5

"In You, O Lord, I put my trust;
Let me never be ashamed;

Deliver me in Your righteousness,

Bow down Your ear to me;

Deliver me speedily;

Be my rock of refuge,

A fortress of defense to save me.

For you are my rock and my fortress;

Therefore, for Your name's sake,

Lead me and guide me.

Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,

For You are my strength.

Into Your hand I commit my spirit;

You have redeemed me, O Lord

God of truth."

It was so perfect <3 It's true never be ashamed when you are facing Satan because the Lord will deliver us speedily and guide us. He is our rock of refuge and fortress of defense. He is our strength and redeemer, the God of truth!

I'm not going to go into too much detail here but I need you all to pray for me and my family, mom, dad, Jason, and Peter. Especially remember my brother Peter To. I strongly believe he is possessed by Satan and evil spirits, and also becoming mentally ill. Please cast them out in the name of Jesus Christ!