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| my four-minute testimony on the lake tahoe retreat, for those of you who missed it and are interested in knowing about it:
Prior to the Lake Tahoe retreat, I’d been feeling really depressed. I didn’t understand why people didn’t come when I invited them to fellowship meetings, and I didn’t understand why our tutoring program seemed to be so unsuccessful. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t control my anger and my dislike towards other people, or why some of my friends seemed to lose interest in me, particularly when I talked about Jesus. I didn’t know why things weren’t working out the way I wanted them to work out in my life, and I blamed it all on myself. I felt like I wasn’t pretty enough, wasn’t friendly enough, and I’d refuse to leave my house because I was so ashamed of myself. I’d just sit in my room and do nothing or cry because I felt like I was such a failure.
I wondered why God wasn’t using me. I prayed to Him about giving me opportunities and changing me, but it seemed like He wasn’t doing either of those things. Even after attending Vikki’s baptism class for three weeks, I didn’t feel like I was ready enough to get baptized because I felt like I couldn’t do anything.
So I was really excited to go to the Lake Tahoe retreat. I thought it’d be a good place to help me deepen in God and hopefully transform my mind into seeing things through God’s perspective. And it did.
At the retreat, Vikki and Joanne led us in Bible studies through the first half of the book of Mark, and through these studies, I learned that Jesus takes imperfect people and uses them no matter how little they have to offer, so even when we don’t have faith in ourselves, we just need to have faith in God and we will witness miracles.
I learned that God doesn’t always work the way we want Him to—He’s the one who uses us, not the other way around. He has a plan for us already and He makes things happen for different reasons, so instead of dwelling on why things aren’t working out, we should concentrate on figuring out why He made things happen the way they did.
What particularly stood out to me is that being a Christian means we are walking down a path of suffering and rejection. Jesus lived a life of persecution, not a life of comfort and luxury. My favorite part of the retreat was when Vikki shared with us part of her own testimony. She told us about how she lived through persecution from her peers when she tried to get students to join her Bible study at UCLA, and how those people later on recognized how much pain she went through for Jesus and became believers themselves. That was really encouraging to me because I realized that I have to continue inviting people to fellowship and telling people about Jesus even when they don’t want to hear it, and God will be the One who performs the miracles.
I’m glad I went to the retreat because it was a big wake-up call for me. For those of you who didn’t go, you really missed out, and I hope you all make it next year!
k that was a corny ending and stuff but oh well. hope you guys enjoyed that, byebyeeeeeee~ | | |
| the retreat was very fun! vikki ( and joanne=D ) did a really good job of leading our Bible studies and teaching us more about Jesus through the book of mark. i just wanted to share with you guys some of the things i learned these past couple of days.
[ reposted from blog ]
sometimes we could feel like the dumbest people alive, knocking on peoples' doors and sharing Jesus with them, with complete strangers or people you don't know very well or sometimes even the people you do know very well, but that's what Jesus did, and that's what He wants us to do, too. being a christian doesn't bring comfort... being a christian is walking into the path of rejection and hurt and death to our own lives, Jesus states that pretty clearly in mark 7:34.. "if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." that's doing things we don't want to do, that's walking straight into death... but that's what we're supposed to do. "for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it." ( mark 7:35 ) it may be difficult, but that's the truth.
some more points:
Jesus's disciples dropped everything immediately, their family, their belongings, their lives, the moment Jesus called for them to follow Him. the disciples are exactly like us-- imperfect people who take time to develop their faith. but with faith in Jesus, miracles happen, many times not in the way we expected or wanted for them to happen. sometimes we feel like we can't do anything, but Jesus loves everyone, and He takes our five-loaves-and-two-fish [ refer to mark 6:30-44 ] and multiplies it... meaning He takes what we have and finds a way to use it, no matter how little we have to offer. He makes things happen as long as you put your trust in Him.
faith is not only belief, but action. if what you do doesn't reflect your faith, it doesn't mean anything. giving in to the world is sin, giving in to the temptations of the world is actually giving in the satan. sometimes it seems like there are shades of gray, but if you think about it, there really isn't... we are all satan worshippers at times. sometimes things may not seem so serious but that's because satan is a deceiver and he makes things attractive to us and good to us, but think things over before you do them... is it worth your soul?
[ end repost ]
if anyone wants to know more about Jesus, i would love to talk about Him with you.
ook now, byebye=) | | |
| it is so important to manage your time well. also according to the purpose-driven life, time is one of the most significant things you could truly sacrifice to someone else because you're never gonna get it back. love IS time, that's the truth.
i hated how "you" didn't have time for me anymore.
in the same way, where am i spending all my time? certainly not on only what is truly important. certainly not on the people who truly need my time.
reader, where are you spending all your time?? | | |
| i hate how the boy asks the girl to drink the water in tuck everlasting [ the movie, i didn't read the book ]. why did he have to ask that of her? i like how she doesn't drink it in the end. she shouldn't have to. he shouldn't have even put her in that situation. who is he to assume that she'll do that for him? pshhh.
you know what else is stupid? romeo and juliet. both of them are. just because the person you love [ "love", considering they were what, 14? or something. and they barely knew each other? ] is dead, it doesn't mean you have to kill yourself, too, so i don't see how they died for love. i don't get why other people think it's so romantic or something, cos it's not. it's like... a stupid mistake because they both thought the other one was dead or whatever.
it's crazy how other people throw their lives away for another person. actually, it's not just crazy, it's really kind of wrong. that's just what i think.
also, this isn't really related to what i've been writing, but i hate this, too. when a boy and girl are looking at scenery or something that the boy made the girl look at in the first place and the girl says, all whispery-like, "it's beautiful" [ even if the scene is only OK or something ], and the boy says while gazing at the girl all pervertedly, "yes, you are", and the girl thinks it's really romantic or something when in fact that's not romantic or original or anything cos it's in every single movie, anyway, and it's just extremely corny and lame~~~=S
ok enough ranting gonna do theory now bye=)
happy spring break, everyone. | | |
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