When the Oceans Rise

What would you do when everything in life fails you? Our sister Clara found her answer when she hit rock bottom recently and this is her story.

“Even if the fig tree does not bloom and the vines have no grapes, even if the olive tree fails to produce and the fields yield no food, even if the sheep pen is empty and the stalls have no cattle — even then, I will be happy with the Lord.  I will truly find joy in God, who saves me.” Habakkuk 3:17-18.

It was a tough month.

Within a matter of weeks, I totaled my car and I couldn’t drive to work, my computer permanently died, I lost my job (and income), a bike I was borrowing to get around was stolen, and I was unable to immediately find another job.  After 2.5 months, I realized I had to move — paying rent and bills without income coming in and no car had become more of a challenge. I didn’t even have any real career path and I found myself feeling so defeated, insignificant, frustrated, angry, discouraged, confused, and disillusioned by post-grad life.  It was hard to live out Habakkuk 3:18.

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Imperfect Memories

“At a certain point, you just believe there is a divine architect who will course correct for you even when you try to go astray.”

The human memory is a fascinating thing. Deep in our consciences and sub-consciousness, our memories are stored in our psyches – past pains, experiences, triumphs, insights, dreams, and hopes. All our fears, wildest vulnerabilities, insecurities, and darkest secrets. It stores our greatest passions too alongside our greatest moments, for better or for worse.  Sometimes I like to think of our memories as the ultimate culmination of us… the things that have shaped us, who we truly are, what we’ve become.  But they say we can only access about 20% of our brains, so I wonder just how accurate our library catalog of old memories really is.

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My Awakening

Our friend boldly shares how God rescued her from the brokenness, abuse and destruction stemming from her childhood. Let her story remind us that even in the midst of darkness, God is knocking at the door of our hearts just waiting for us to open the door and experience life through Him. Will you let our Father in today?

Looking back, I’ve come a long way.  I was baptized as a baby, received confirmation at 15, and went to church almost every Sunday of my life.  But I stopped believing in Christ 11 years ago.  Guess it was when my dad started to yell and hit me every time my report cards and progress reports came home, and because of my occasional disobedience.  It hadn’t always been that way.  I used to do be his golden child until he turned to alcohol.

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How Did You Get That Back?

Have you ever lost something and prayed that God would help you find it?  Our friend Bruce shares his story.

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Love Japan

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV) 

World Vision is a globally recognized organization that is dedicated to serving the world’s most vulnerable people.   They are one of the first organizations to respond to the disaster in Japan.  They have organized and dispersed teams to go into devastated communities to identify and respond to the needs of the victims.  In Miyagi prefecture, World Vision distributed relief aid to victims and is helping them, especially the children, cope with the aftermath of the disaster.

“As a relief agency that focuses on children, we have to respond and are raising money to support our teams already on the ground. They are now bringing supplies to those who have lost everything and setting up safe play areas for children. It is vital that children in these situations can have somewhere safe to go and can be looked after by trained counselors who can help them come to terms with all that has happened.”

If you are interested in partnering with World Vision in serving Japan, please visit their webiste to find out how you can help.  Please know we can all play a role in helping our brothers and sisters rebuild their communities.  

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A Threefold Cord Is Not Quickly Broken

“And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken” - Ecclesiastes 4:12 (ESV)

There is something different about a God-centered relationship, something powerful.  Something so threatening that the enemy will do whatever it takes to try and undermine it.  Thankfully, the enemy will fail.

I’ve never experienced something like this before, to be with someone who loves and seeks God as much (if not more) than I do.  And when I think about that famous verse in Ecclesiastes, I love the image that it presents.  A person alone is an easy target.  Two together is stronger.  But it’s only when the two are tied together with God in between them - the threefold cord, that it’s hard for the enemy to break you.

I woke up around 3am for the second night in a row.  When I woke up, God had placed an idea on my head - that for some reason I should BBM my girlfriend in Hong Kong to remind her that she’s beautiful and that I was thinking about her.  So I messaged her.  Turns out, it was perfect God timing…[click “Read More” below to continue]

She wrote me back right away.  “You won’t believe it,” she said, “but this is such perfect timing.  Right when you wrote me, I was being spiritually attacked and discouraged.  For no reason, a guy friend on MSN was telling me how he didn’t think you were right for me - how it’s impossible for a cat to change its stripes, and if you were one way before you’re not going to be able to change.  How we wouldn’t make it to see even 3 months.  And not only that but my ex boyfriend had started messaging me too - completely out of the blue - and he didn’t even have my BBM anymore!  But your message broke me out of all that and lifted everything off of me!”

Apparently all of this was happening right when God woke me up with that idea to give her some affirmation.  I had no idea at all - but it was just the right message at just the right time.

I was in such a good mood from how God intervened to protect and encourage her that I started typing some nonsense on BBM, making a joke about how far away Hong Kong was from Los Angeles.

“You know that old Irish song,” I typed, “‘My bonnie lies over the ocean….my bonnie lies over the sea…”

But before I could finish she quickly replied “So bring back my bonnie to me!”

I was surprised.  “How did you know that song?” I laughed.  “That’s so random.  Didn’t you grow up in Malaysia?”

“My dad used to sing that song to me when I was little,” she said.  We laughed.

I couldn’t help but think - how amazing and tender and loving our God is.  That not only does He intervene to protect our relationship and ward off the attacks and lies of the enemy in His perfect timing, but out of nowhere - He gives me a song to sing to her that I hadn’t thought of in years.  And that song just so happens to be the one that her dad used to sing to her when she was a kid.  Out of all the songs in the world, this was the one God gave to me in that moment.

What a great reminder that God knows us inside and out, loves us to the last drop.  He’ll sometimes remind us of how well He truly knows us, remind us of things we don’t even really remember or think about anymore.  But our Heavenly Father is a doting one - He keeps a huge scrapbook of every last detail we grew up with, and on the cover there’s two huge words written on it “PROUD FATHER.”

And who better to look out for our relationship than that?

Questions? Want to know more about Jesus or go deeper with God?  Connect with us here!

INTERACT with this story: When has God stepped in for you just in your time of need?  We want to know!  Please share with us in the comments below.

You Are My Princess, My Bride

Our friends Celine and Leah remind us that God is always with us…we just need to open our eyes.

Our God is a living God; with us every single second of our day. But how easy is it for us to forget that? How easy is it for us to get caught up in our everyday struggles and lose sight of Him? I think we tend to overlook the relationships God has PLACED in our lives. We are in each other’s lives for a reason… to share His love, to help one another grow in His love; our relationships are here to remind us everyday how REAL He is. When we “don’t see him working” in our lives, He is STILL working… we just need to open our eyes.

I was lucky enough to meet my friend Leah through church, only a few months before she moved to Seattle. Ever since she left I’ve been thinking about her, praying that she is coping with her struggles in the new city and settling in just fine. It has been a while since I’ve last spoken to her. With midterm season reaching its peak, my work load has been getting a bit overwhelming. With less time to journal and spend with Him, I’ve been feeling so alone.

But God’s love is so faithful… I can honestly say, He knows me so well. And when they say, He knows our heart’s desires… IT’S TRUE! He let me have my little break down along with a good cry and the next day He has my dear friend Leah send me a message with an update on what’s been going on with her. In her message I found out that everything she has been struggling with has surpassed. Our prayers have been answered. And I am reminded that He is never away from us. This is what she said:

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What is Spiritual Warfare?

Our world is surrounded by opposites: black and white, yin and yang, good and bad. Without one, we aren’t able to fully grasp the other. For me, being a Christian means understanding and accepting that there is our heavenly God and on the opposite end of the spectrum, there is Satan. From the beginning of time, starting with Adam and Eve, Satan has tempted God’s creations. Till this day, the evil one continues to tempt us, enticing us with deceivingly empty gifts and false promises. In our personal lives, we witness Satan’s doing when we struggle with right and wrong. Evil also tries to ruin our relationship with God by hurting, breaking and sometimes even destroying us. He succeeds when we turn around and blame God for our mishaps and misfortunes.

What is spiritual warfare? In my humble opinion, it is a battle between good and bad. More importantly though, it is how faithful we remain in Him when things don’t seem to go our way. When blessed abundantly, Satan attempts to steal God’s glory by placing bumps and hurdles in our lives in an effort to instill doubt in our minds that ultimately turn us away from God. Recently, I have experienced spiritual warfare on a minor scale. Within the last month or so, I have been blessed by God in so many ways. After a year of being in an unhealthy relationship that deprived me of my self worth and security, I found a sense of freedom and peace that gave me the ability to live and breathe again (I will share this testimony in the future.) I graduated law school, took the bar exam and finally started to live the life that I studied so hard to attain. My dearest friends, one by one, started accepting Christ and opening up their hearts to God. In short, good things kept happening and I thanked God for each blessing. Then, the devil decided to do his tricks.

About a week ago, I got rear ended by a semi truck on the 91 freeway during peak traffic hour…[click “Read More” below to continue]

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Satan Tried to Kill Me but was Defeated

Our friend, Marian, was involved in a car accident where her vehicle was completely destroyed.  It was truly a miracle she walked away with minor stitches, let alone survived.  She shares with us how God spared her life that day and how he used this tragic event to transform her.

“For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Psalm 91:11-12

This past Saturday morning, around 7:00am, I was on my way to a tournament driving westbound on I-90 in Chicago.  There was limited visibility on the highway because it was raining hard.  While driving on the passing lane, a semi truck suddenly makes an illegal lane change into my lane without seeing me.  I saw that there was too little space between the passing lane and the divider on the highway, so I hit the brakes to try to avoid getting sandwiched.  It was too late.  I lost control when the truck struck me on my passenger side, my car spins 90 degrees to the right and gets stuck underneath the semi.  The truck driver not knowing that I’m stuck, continues to drive at highway speed as I’m being drilled down, glass flying everywhere around me, and dragged sideways in my car for the longest 10 seconds of my life. I look out my driver side window and I see the divider inches away.  I’m frozen, scared, and anticipating how much it’s gonna hurt once I hit that divider.  I wasn’t sure if my head will still be attached to my body once it all ended.  All I could do was calmly wait.  The back end of my car smashes into the divider, releasing my car from beneath the truck.  I’m tossed around in my car as the truck rear wheels skid against my passenger side.  I finally come to a stop and I am undeniably alive.

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