God is great

Guys, check this out, it is amazing. And scary.

Survival Story

New Blog Layout

Yay! Check out the new blog layout I made =) I started it this summer, and I just finished the top part today. Of course some sisters are missing, which I will put on later on the upper right hand side of the blog. Cheers!

Steph's Bday San Fran!

Fun fun fun!

35 Reasons Not to Sin

Check this out:

http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2009/08/35-reasons-not-to-sin/

Question

I'm planning out my Fall 2009 schedule right now and I realized MCB 32 and Econ 136 lectures are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays back to back.

MCB 32 9:30 a.m to 11:00 a.m (VLSB)
Econ 136 11:00 a.m to 12:30 p.m (Lewis Hall)

Question: Do you think I'll be able to make it in time to Econ every Tuesdays and Thursdays? I mean VLSB to Lewis Hall is a hefty distance away. What if there's an exam in Econ that day...and I'm late.... =_= Do you think this schedule plan is a good idea or should I change it?

Help me! =)

Best,
Lily

Ahh! =)

To my wonderful sisters,

I LOVE YOU GUYS =) Thank you so much!!!! I got your card and your mini letters Monday night (7.27.09) ahahha. My mom gave it to me around 11:00 ish pm. I didn't really open it until 12:00 p.m so I guess you can say I officially received it on my birthday! I love it so much. Thank you! It's the best birthday present someone who's 2,419 miles away could receive (thanks Nancy for doing the "distance" research...and did you know your mini-letter was the only one that was gray? Everyone else's letters were pink and purple) Guess what I got for my birthday from my parents? A CAMERA! Yay! Now I can take pictures when I come back to Berkeley w00t. How are you guys doing? Ahh, I can't believe Chanhee is joining our small group! Yay!

As for my guitar playing...ahem...it's going. Hehe I can play "How great is our God" using 4 chords! Hah-hahhaaha. I'll keep improving on it until I come back. Promise!

I feel very much loved on my birthday. That was all I had wished for. Thank you! And also thank you for your prayers. My grandfather is doing well (though he's got a slight lung problem now) but the doctors say this occurs often after people over the age of 70 undergo surgery. Thank you thank you thank you. I need to post up pictures. I'll post up pictures from my tiny birthday party on Sunday. Hahhaa I invited two people to my birthday party hehe. It was the smallest, most wonderful birthday party I ever had. And o.m.g has anyone ever played CLUE before? It's so fun! I'm bringing it with me to Berkeley so we can play together!

Love,

Lily

What's happening

I'm thinking of changing my blog theme again. I already have the sketch laid out, and part of the design finished. I think you guys will be pretty shocked when you see it hahaha. I'll give you a hint (I've got all of you in the design).

Internship has been interesting. I never knew I could actually wake up early in the morning and make it to work by 8:00 a.m. I think I'll have no problem getting up for 8:00 a.m classes anymore. I really like the projects I'm doing, even though research is taxing. My co-workers are all super smart, and my office is next to a bunch of medical officers (Pediatrician, Physician, Veterinarian, etc.) When I'm hurting somewhere, I just have to go next door and ask for a diagnosis hahahha. Oh, and if any of you drink coffee with fake sugar, watch out for Splenda =) I'm not telling you why.

Ever since Obama signed H.R. 1256, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (the Act) into law (June 22nd), FDA is getting a new addition to the family: a "center" for Tobacco regulation w00t. This is what our director said in the email: "FDA is looking forward to playing a key role in reducing the human toll of suffering and disease caused by our nation’s leading cause of preventable death." Aren't you guys excited?

Another good news is I got into the Econ major! Yay! Now I just need to somehow get into the public health major as well. Alas, my GPA is poor so I must work hard on my personal statement again. Hope you guys are well!

Love,

Lily

A Brave Witness

Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains, Fireproof, Left Behind I, II)

Love, Lily

30 Hour Famine

Hi guys,

Just wanted to shout out: "Good Luck!" while you fast until tomorrow morning. Please be careful as well. To first time fasters: if you need to drink a little juice, please do. Love you all!

Love,
Lily

Urgent Request!

A interesting, but exciting conversation with my best friend

I seem to just ATTRACT people with intellectual doubts about Christianity to my side. This is the 6th or 7th time! I seriously think this is a sign (lol) from God that I need to brush up on my Christian knowledge.

But anyhooz, my best friend took a "Christian Tradition (or rather Christian History)" class at Dartmouth, and she came back really unsettled. How could I tell? Well like 5 minutes after I came to visit her (who I hadn't seen in 5 months), she exclaimed that she just took a religious class and asked me what I thought of Jesus destroying the temple (why did he do it? What's wrong with sacrifices?(there's plenty of it in the old testament)), that she didn't believe in the New Testament because the early gospels were spread by "oral tradition" (like "telephone" and we know how many errors that can cause!), that she couldn't understand why Christians got all anti-semitic (what's wrong with the Jews?), and that she liked the morals displayed in the old testament but she didn't believe in God.

Hm. I think this time I handled it better than all the previous times I had conversed with people who had intellectual doubts. I think mainly it was because I had prayed to God for opportunities like this to talk about Christianity with her, and when it happened today, I just felt humbled and gracious that God would give me this chance. Secondly, I love her so much =) And because of that, I was even less prone to arrogance or pride. Third, I was just happy that she TOOK the initiative to request an explanation to her doubts! Boy I'm proud of her. It would be worse if she had an indifferent attitude to this. And so I had no unstated expectations whatsoever.

I answered her questions to the best of my abilities. Now I got stumped at the part about the "oral tradition" and how that screws up some of the validity of the earliest manuscripts of the gospel. (especially when she brought up the "telephone" analogy) Now I definitely played telephone before and I know the results of that game. But how could I answer a question like that without bringing up the holy spirit? I even mentioned to her that there were more than 100,000 manuscripts (or even more...) found, and that MOST, if not all, of the manuscripts did not deviate from the truth of the gospel. I even said that the time frame between Jesus's ressurection and the earliest manuscript is TINY! (50 years was it?). But her argument was that "alot can happen during 50 years," and so I mentioned what I learned in Course 101 about the timeframes of other old manuscripts that we have determined to be "true" like Odyssey's Iliad that were MUCH MUCH BIGGER. Still she concluded: "because the gospel was initially spread through oral tradition, much of the gospel we have now could be erroneous, and so I do not believe in the New Testament."

Aish. My best friend also has a good friend in Dartmouth who's Jewish. She doesn't like the fact that Christians are so "anti-jew." Hm...wait a minute...what? My FDA supervisor is Jewish! And we get along like Grandpa and Granddaughter! Really! Okay, well here's the question: What are the differences between Judaism and Christianity? Was it just that they did not believe Christ was divine?

P.S And yes I will post up pictures of my hair hehe :p hahaha you'll be surprised when you see it!

Lily cut her hair....REALLY short

Hehe. I did exactly as the title said. =) I'll post up pictures...maybe :p

Color Vision

COLOR VISION

Inspired to take the color vision test again after reading David's Blog, I took it and scored 0 again. But doubting the score, I took it again and scored the same. I guess it wasn't a fluke the first time around. Cool! I don't know why but this makes me really happy =) Also, congrats to DP for scoring a 3! That means you only missed one color switch! Sweet! That's a hefty improvement from last time. Photography does help!

Love,
Lily

Obama names June "LGBT Pride Month"

I just checked my FDA mailbox and received the shock of my life. The email title: "A Message from The President: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, 2009."

Here's the proclaimation the President wrote:

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 1, 2009

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION


Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

---
What do you guys think?

NEXT Conference Day 2 *VIDEOS UPDATED!*

VIDEOS

A brief video of Kevin DeYoung speaking


A brief video of D.A Carson speaking
PICTURES

Kevin DeYoung! Amazing speaker, amazing author, and absolutely hilarious! Read his book "Just Do Something" - short read, tiny book, BRILLIANT content.


Moi! =) For this photograph, I admit I played around with it in photoshop for a bit, I didn't like the lighting or the "spots" on my forehead in the original so I fixed all of that har har har...Behind me is the Baltimore Convention Center


Happy People!


I really like this picture for some reason. It's kind of poignant. Next to the harbor, I see Deborah and Rachel's bibles stacked neatly on top of each other, and that Next button just tops it


While I was exploring Baltimore, I saw this HUGE Barnes and Nobles, Cool!



Saw this cool looking clock tower from behind these metal thingies that fenced around the Baltimore Convention Center, where the conference was held


Deborah and Rachel! (She is wearing one of those rare NEXT shirts)


Bob Kauflin!


Found a new friend! Her name is Deborah. She is Josh Harris' home-school teacher

*Will upload Videos next, keep on the lookout for updates!
Love,
Lily

Sketchbook Pictures

SKETCHBOOK

I know I was going to post up notes, pictures, and videos from Day 1 and Day 2, but I couldn't resist putting some of these pictures I drew from Winter Break up on this blog. I found them in my sketchbook and couldn't believe how ugly those horses are haha jkjk, but I totally forgot I drew a bunch of you guys in my sketchbook and never brought it with me back to Berkeley, so here they are (too bad they're so rough, maybe I'll define it more in Photoshop later), and an unfinished watercolor painting:

Love,
Lily

Next Conference Day 1

CHRIST'S PREEMINENCE

Speaker: Joshua Harris
Focus Text: Colossians 1:15-20



Paul is writing to the Colossians because the Colossians have started to exalt human philosophies and have started to bring Jesus down. But remember:

• Jesus is greater than all things (He holds all things together. The atoms, the molecules, the "stuff" holding together the walls of your house or the tree arching over your roof; Jesus holds it together. One word from Him, and all of it can collapse)

• Every breath we breathe is a gift from God

"Have you been impressed by ANYTHING in this world?...Turn from that and worship Jesus, because He made it and is so much greater." - Joshua Harris

• Jesus is Preeminent! But are you living your life and shaping your life based on the reality that Jesus Christ is preeminent? "It is one thing to say Jesus is preeminent but another thing to LIVE as though Jesus is Lord...Do not say Jesus has ultimately authority over my life. LIVE IT." - Joshua Harris

Focus Text: Luke 6:46-49

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

Is Jesus talking to Godless people? NO. He is talking to believers, people who go to church, people who call Jesus "Lord."
"It is not enough to give 'lip' service. Is your life in Jesus grounded? When obstacles and hardship come your way, will [your house] stay firm or will it be KNOCKED down?" - Joshua Harris

Points to remember:

1. Come to Jesus. Go to Jesus.
We often come to Jesus on our way to something else. We see Him as a means to something else such as healing, material stuff, peace, car, new home, wealth, liberation from a tyrannical government, etc. But this is the wrong foundation!

"Paul tells Timothy 'remember Jesus Christ!' Does Timothy need to be remembered of Jesus? He's a pastor!....YES he does. We all do. We forget Jesus so easily...It's so easy to think we have come to Jesus Christ but it's so easy to replace the truth with your own ideas and philosophy; with your own desires. Do you want to build your life on a rock? Jesus Christ is our rock." - Joshua Harris

2. The person who's life is built on a rock HEARS Jesus' word.
Most of the time, yeah, we hear about 10% of what other people say. But this should not be the case when it comes to Jesus' words.

"You're in big trouble if the 10% case holds. There is eternal danger." - Joshua Harris. Do not ignore the wisdom of Jesus' word.

"Studying God's word requires WORK...a wise man digs." - Joshua Harris. What this means is that a person who's life is ROOTED in God's word is saved from eternal destruction. Many times we give up reading difficult passages or we no longer find God's word refreshing, or we no longer feel that "emotional thrill or pang" when we read God's word. But as C.J Mahaney says:

"If you want to feel deeply, you need to think deeply."

Most of us want deep, emotional feelings for Jesus (we want this experiential relationship with God) but "feeling built on feeling, emotion built on emotion is EMPTY." - Joshua Harris. "Emotions need to be built on something solid. Something unchanging. And what's unchanging? Sound Doctrine!" The Truth = Jesus. The unchanging truth. (Not something that changes with the weather like that moment you had or some time you cried in the past)

3. We must put Jesus' truth into PRACTICE.
Jesus is talking to believers. "You can know all about Jesus. You could have grown up with Jesus' teaching in your ears. You could have been soaked in his word since you were little, but if you don't put it into practice, you house is built on SAND." - Joshua Harris

Please do not think you're a "rock" person just because you know all about the truth.

--Josh Harris shared his testimony--

And then "Jesus is preeminent. He pushes everything aside. You can't have two preeminent things in your life. You can't say "God, you are preeminent rightttttt alongside my girlfriend heh-heh." - Joshua Harris

His ending words: "You can't truly love your mother, your father, your brother, your son, your daughter if you put them at the center. When you place Jesus at the center, you gain everything." There was a young man who visited Buddhist temples and read the Qur'an, but the closer he got to Pu Sha and Mohammed, the smaller they became to him. And then he turned to the scriptures, and he came to this sudden realization: "The closer I got to Jesus, the bigger Jesus became!.... "

The closer you get to Jesus, the bigger Jesus will get. You might disappoint Jesus many times throughout your life, but Jesus will never disappoint you.

Here is a video during praise with Bob Kauflin:




And pictures:


(The picture above shows the sold-out t-shirts before the Conference even started)


I will post up Day 2 and Day 3 tomorrow. *sigh* so tiredddd.. zzZZzzz
I love you Jesus.

After Next Conference

I am dead tired so I'm just going to post up like 3 pictures and just call it a day. I'll post up notes, videos, and pictures tomorrow.

I bought these three books at the conference:
1) Just Do Something (A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will) by Kevin DeYoung
2) Humility by C. J Mahaney
3) Sex is not the problem (Lust Is) by Joshua Harris

Above is a bunch of books I'm reading. I have 30 more books on my reading list. I actually finished "The Shack" by WM Paul Young recently. I would recommend this book but I would read it with caution. The author has a huge bias against the institutional church and organized religion, but since the content of the book was amazing, I overlooked that.

I also met a band named "Reilly" at Next Conference. I got to meet two of the members and got my album autographed =) I highly recommend their songs. There's none of that lovey dovey wishy washiness you might see in other christian artist's songs where you can't tell whether it's a love song or a worship God song. Another amazing thing about "Reilly" is that their music has an amzing blend of classical music and rock. The two band members I met, Noelle and Dan (married to each other), are the violin duos on the band. They were really happy to hear I go to school in California. I promised to email them if an opportunity to come to UC Berkeley to give a concert at our church comes up. I'll have to talk to Eunice about that.


http://reillytheband.com

I also got this funny sticker from Next Conference:

Love,
Lily

Conference: Day 2

First of all, I just want to tell you guys that I'm so blessed to have sisters like you. Your comments on my last post really really made me happy =)

Second of all, I'm being challenged and pulled left and right by the messages from the conference (and the sessions). Today Kevin DeYoung and D.A Carson came to speak to us (yesterday Joshua Harris spoke of Christ's Pre-Eminence) about Christ's Life and Incarnation. I learned things I never knew before, and it has made me realize how small I have made my God to be. How easy and manageable I have made Jesus out to be in my mind. Kevin DeYoung's message was like a siren in my ears (Do you really know Jesus? If you have never felt fear or ever felt discomforted by Jesus like the way the disciples felt when Jesus only spoke ONLY three words to a STORM "Quiet! Be Still! (Mark 4:35-41) and the storm OBEYED immediately...you do not truly know him). Jesus commands nature, demons, sickness/disease, and death (Storm, "Legion," the bleeding woman, and Jairus's little girl). Through Jesus....all things were created. The fullness of God dwells in Him. Jesus is God and Lord over all. I don't think I have truly, deeply understood the gravity of this.

D.A Carson's message was also like a needle that penetrated my shrouded view of God. God does not need you and me. YOU need God. God did not create the earth and people so that they can whip out their guitars and sing praises to Him. God is so much from himself, he doesn't need anyone or anything. It was out of goodness that God created us. When John wrote God so loved the world...John wasn't talking about the dimensions of the world and relating it to how big God's love is. God's love is awesome not because the world was so big but because the world was so bad.

**This is just a very tiny synoposis of what I learned. I will post up notes and pictures and videos hopefully the day after tomorrow. The conference ends Tuesday and I've been there basically from 9:00 a.m till 11:30 p.m. (More than 14 hours of just worshipping and praising God. It's been wonderful).

As a side note, I got to shake Josh Harris's hand. I was so speechless to see him just kind of pop out of nowhere and say "Hi," that all I could do was just shake his hand back and just kind of like nod my head in acknowledgement. I was standing next to someone who was Josh Harris's kid's home-school teacher and he saw her and went up to say "Hi" and then saw me and was probably like "Hey, new kid" and just said "Hi" as well. Yeah, even now I'm still a little shocked, and I kind of wished I got to say a little bit more. Man, now I'm thinking what it'll be like to meet Jesus Christ face to face....I think I'll just drop dead or something...okay maybe not drop "dead" cuz I was saved and all but most likely fall to my knees with my head bowed to the floor and never get up.

Anyways, I'm excited about tomorrow. C. J Mahaney and Sinclair Ferguson will be talking during the sessions. Can you believe Convenant Life Church gets speakers like Jerry Bridges and John Piper to come speak on Sundays? I'm excited.

Love,
Lily

P.S Like I promised, I'm taking good notes for you guys! And cool videos too!

Life in MD

What's Happening (Currently in Baltimore, Maryland)

• Tomorrow is the NEXT 2009 conference (Starts at 7:30 p.m tomorrow) So Excited! Can't wait! My mom and I will be driving up to the Baltimore Convention Center. Here's the schedule for tomorrow night:

7:45 pm - 10:15 pm -- Christ's Preeminence: Joshua Harris
10:30 pm - 11:30 pm -- Community Groups

• Here's a picture my mom took of my brother and I before he left for China today (I told him to buy a "I Love China" shirt for Angel and I! *If you want one too, tell me!)
  

• That's all for now! I'll definitely post pictures from the conference tomorrow!

Love,
Lily

Loving the Unlovable

This bible verse really stuck out to me today:

Matthew 5:46 "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

I couldn't help but take a very critical look at myself. I came to this conclusion: I seem to love people only when they love me back. I love this verse so much because it motivates me to fight my natural tendency to distance myself from people I don't get along with or people I don't really like.

But like the verse stated: "What are you doing more than others?" When I'm loving certain sisters, my parents, and my leaders but distancing myself from people who seem "unlikeable" or people with strange personalities (kind of funny considering how strange I am), or coarse people with rough tongues, or selfish, whiny brats who only seem to care about themselves, or the awkward, or the people who love to point out other people's flaws or talk about others behind people's backs, or people who are always suspicious of other people's motives*, etc. how can I call myself "Christian" (Little Christ**) when I'm not doing anything more than what non-Christians do?

*All of these bad characteristics actually describe me. When others display these characteristics and therefore are like me (similar in flaws), I naturally want to put as far a distance as possible between them and me.

But this verse really opens my eyes and it encourages me to step outside my "zone" to reach out and to care for people who I normally don't like to associate myself with. The funny thing is the people who I normally don't like to associate myself with are the people I relate with the most because I am a sinner with many, many, many bad points. Honestly, I see a little bit of myself in everyone's flaws.

As I become more spiritually mature, I hope I never lose the awareness that I am a total, complete sinner but God loves me anyway. Because I have experienced this wonderful love that I do not deserve but God has shown me anyway, I want to show the same compassion to other sinners who don't know Christ or know Christ but is wavering in their faith.

I don't want to become like a Pharisee who says "I thank God I am not like this tax collector..." Or else I'll never be able to relate with other people! Oh how puffed up I would be! Instead, I pray I will have the tax collector's mindset: "Have mercy on me, for I am a sinner." I want to be someone who has ZERO illusion of his/her own merit, so I can truly experience God's wonderful grace, mercy, and unconditional love for me.

Love,
Lily

** C.S Lewis's description of Christians: "Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else." (Mere Christianity) - This touches on the last part of the verse "Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." We got to imitate Christ :)

Yea-uhhh Volleyball Spring 2009

We are so cool...AHHHH jk =)

Fun Fun Fun

Meet Ditto, the puffball who can squash and stretch and transform into anything!....



Yes I was bored and decided to make this. (P.S I'm whistling to "Forever and Ever" by David Crowder) Practice for 3-D animation- start with 2-D.

-Lily

An inspiration

After talking with Sofia today, I was really inspired by the story of her Aunt's struggles. Even though life had thrown all kinds of curve-balls at her, even though the devil within her husband tormented her daily, she picked herself back up and said, "Praise the Lord." She is now an eighty year old woman, still full of spirit and energy, and still full of joy. Praise the Lord indeed. I wish I could understand that joy- so powerful it can allow someone to stand up even if every part of one's body is hurting or every bone in one's body is cracking, and say with utter joy, "Praise the Lord." What kind of joy is she experiencing? Throughout my life, I think I've only felt a glimpse or a sliver of that joy. Though believe me, when I felt that little sliver of joy, it was always a momentous experience for me; I thought "surely indeed, this must be that 'joy' of salvation, of knowing God's existence and His word, of His amazing grace and mercy that would save a weak and unworthy creature like me." But now it seems I haven't quite grasped it yet; that feeling or conviction that all the apostles seem to know so well. I'm now left with a great feeling of anticipation. If the joy I had felt in the past was just a mere glimpse of "true joy," then I'm excited to seek out more of God. He seems not only willing but eager to bring all of us closer and closer to realizing what that "true joy" really means.

Love,
Lily