You are the Way, the Truth, & the Life.

Around a week ago, I went to a friend’s Friday night fellowship. To be honest, I have no idea what the small group discussion was supposed to be about, but we did spend that lovely hour (half an hour?) or so talking to someone who was interested in becoming a Christian. A question that she asked was “Why would Jesus die on the cross for us? He had His whole life ahead of Him.” I’ve never heard a question like this pop up, only questions like “How do you know the Bible wasn’t just made up by some random person?” etc etc, so I didn’t quite now how to answer it. Throughout the discussion, the only answer I had was “Well… He loves us and the purpose of Him coming to earth was to die for our sins..” but I realize how that could be an unsatisfactory answer to someone. It’s so hard to believe that anyone could love the world so much that they would go through all the pain and torture that Jesus went through willingly. That’s what makes God so amazing. He loves us THAT much and would give up His one and only Son for us. Be honest… Would you die for a world that seems to be full of corruption and hatred, in order to free everyone of their sins? You have your entire life ahead of you, but would you give it all up in order to be ridiculed, hated, tortured, and killed? As much as I’d like to say that I would do it, I wouldn’t. I don’t know a single person who would do it. So why would Jesus do it? Because He loves us so much that even we can’t even begin to comprehend the immense power of His love.

We’re called to love each other, and to love everyone. Hypocrites, prostitutes, druggies, you name it. Jesus is all about loving, and we’re called to be imitators of Christ. <3

Prayer Requests;

♥ A family just lost their mother in the hospital on Friday, pray that God will reach out and heal their hearts?

♥ FPCLA & SMTPC are trying to do a joint Sunday and other stuff together… pray that God will be able to help us to encourage each other and bring glory to Him

♥ Pray that I’ll be able to show love to everyone that I come across, and I pray that you will too =)

<3

I have so much to say, and I don’t believe words could ever describe what happened at retreat. From leading worship to discussing leadership and missions with fellow brothers & sisters in Christ, this retreat was… amazing? transforming? life-changing? Jesus filled? happy family time?

Something that really stuck out to me this year was the love that circulated around the English youth group. Since we are all called to be imitators of Christ, we’re all to love and accept as He did. To be honest, I don’t think that TPC could do it any better, because all you can see sometimes is LOVE when you go. There are no such things as outsiders or exclusive groups, but rather one huge group that welcomed every new person as family. I love you guys <3

One more thing :)

I haven’t posted on tumblr for the past few months because whenever I came onto my own page… I felt lost. I felt that I lost Jesus and that my life was slowly spiraling downhill, and that therefore writing on my tumblr about Him was completely out of question. During retreat, Steve Chua (one out of the three very blessed and talented speakers), had all of us do something where we wrote down everything we felt guilty for on a piece of paper and rip it into shreds. I don’t believe that ripping it into shreds was what felt good.. but rather while holding it in my hand and praying.. I felt God’s presence again… and it felt SO GOOD. I didn’t feel so burdened and heavy and stressed about everything I had done in the past, and I FELT SO FREE. Coming to Jesus was what I needed, for what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. <3

I should be posting more often.. but until then.. PRAYER REQUESTS!

♥ Pray for the upcoming joint fellowship with TPCSB, hopefully it’ll go well and we’ll have more in the future afterwards(:

♥ Pray for SMTPC as we keep rolling and hopefully try to direct ourselves more towards Jesus, Jesus, and more Jesus :D

♥ Pray for me that I’ll be able to come closer to Jesus this summer and for.. the rest of my life? :P

<3

resaayoon asked: HI CHARLENE.
YOURE CUTE.
AND I MISS YOU.
LEEETS KICK IT, OMG.
^___^.

LETS DOO IT :D ♥

I haven’t posted in a while, and I have no excuse other than.. I’ve been drifting.

I watched the Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and it immediately connected to what I was going through. If you haven’t watched the movie yet… go watch it. Then read my post. Or I can just spoil it for you.

In the movie, the protagonists (aka Lucy, Edmund, Eustace, & Prince Caspian) were sent on a mission. Their mission was to find seven swords that were to be put on Aslan’s table, which was located on an island that could only be found with the help of a blue star. They were successful in locating one, however had to go into uncharted waters in order to locate the other missing swords. On their way… a few things happened:

• Lucy became distracted with jealousy, and wanted to become beautiful. She was jealous her sister (Susan) was prettier than her and wanted to become what she wasn’t.
• Edmund was haunted by his past mistakes, and became obsessed with the thought of becoming rich and powerful. He got into a fight with his friend, Prince Caspian, and they fought for power.
• Eustace found a valley of gold and was greedy. He tried to grab everything in sight, shoving handfuls of jewelry, etc. into his pockets. From this, he became a dragon, for dragon treasure was cursed.

In each situation, Aslan helped them overcome their sins and temptations. Lucy was convicted, Edmund was rebuked by Lucy, and Eustace found Aslan, who freed him of his sin.

You and I are probably like them in many ways. Each day, Satan throws something in our way to keep us from pursuing our ultimate goal: to serve God. Their job was to fight against evil, although temptation and sin was always in the way. Similar right? To how our lives are? We are all fighting a spiritual war, and we are all being tempted to sin and go against what we’re working for. Satan seeks to destroy us from the inside out, but if our God is with us, then what could stand against?

Prayer Requests:

+ I’d love it if you guys could pray for me to lead a more Christ-centered, loving life. To be honest, I feel as though my passion and faith are slowly fading. Please pray for me <3

+ Pray for SMTPC. We’re all in need of spiritual renewal.

+ Pray for Japan. Yes.. I know.. everyone is saying it.. but really, we’ve got brothers and sisters out there that need us to pray for them.

=)

Is there really such thing as being TOO involved with church? I don’t believe so, but my dad seems to. As followers of Jesus, we’re to serve Him and “exercise” our body of Christ. As this week has dragged on, I’ve been seeing and feeling how great it is to serve God, yet at the same time I’ve seen how it could effect some of my relationships and other things that are “important”. Instead of practicing five hours of piano on Friday in preparation for my piano exams today, I took two hours practicing for praise & worship with Lillian and Sharon. My dad has begun to see how much I prioritize church over pretty much everything, and has now become somewhat concerned/upset with me for putting off things such as practicing for piano and homework to serve in the church. True, I have less time to do my work because I’m off on retreat, or doing bible study, or practicing for worship, but I’m finally doing something that I consider meaningful. I was listening to a sermon about discipleship, and it opened my eyes to what accepting Christ was going to bring into my life. Since I have joined this spiritual battle, I will have more hardships and problems because as much as I want Him to be, Jesus isn’t the solution to my problems. Problems with my dad are just beginning, I can feel it. We don’t share the same priorities because to him.. success in this world is everything, but to me, success in this world is nothing. All the money, the riches.. the success, the fame, the power.. you can’t take any of that to Heaven with you. There’s no such thing as being “TOO” involved with church.. or being “TOO” in touch with Jesus, now can there?

Prayer Requests;

+ Pray for SMTPC. It’s amazing how quickly we’ve begun to progress in both heart of worship and faith, please keep praying! :D

+ Pray for TPC Ventura. They’re just starting up an English ministry, pray that they’ll be able to grow in both faith and numbers :)

+ Pray for my CM exams? I didn’t do very well (and as much as I would love to blame it on the piano.. it really was my fault), but pray that a miracle will happen and I’ll pass? =)

+ Pray for my dad! His faith has been slowly decreasing as the years have gone by, and he really needs Jesus. <3

+ Pray for me! My grades & stuff aren’t doing very well with this new semester >.< I really need to improve them but keep my eyes on Jesus at the same time. <3

Let me know if you guys have prayer requests. =)