Saturday, April 23, 2016
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
3-month update
The past three months have flown by like whoah. I've went through every emotion in the book. The beginning of the year started as a very tough season for me for a various amount of reasons but things have gotten better.
But on 1/25/16 - I got a new job at the hospital - the title is: Patient Access Liaison but the real word for it is, call center. It's a very easy brainless job but it's something I didn't mind taking because it was referred by a good friend in which now I get to see everyday, although I'm getting paid very little, I get to work on a computer where there's some downtime and I don't have to see patients so it's not as demanding as my church job, and the commute is amazing, it's a total of 30 minutes one way including finding parking. And if I was being dropped off, then I could leave my house 20 minutes prior to start time and still be on time. I haven't experienced that in forever! I get home at 5:30 and get to play with the baby for a good amount of hours before he goes to bed. I don't know how long I see myself here for, there's a lot of cons at this job, but it'll do for now. I don't know I'm ready to commit to another demanding job yet because I'm doing so much at church already.
It's interesting because I prioritize church and have been revolving all my schedules around church duties. I accepted this job so that I can focus more on my church stuff even though I know I can find a job that is more related to my field and learn things that are more exciting and can challenge me in my degree. And I do so because God provided an opportunity where the other and I can serve together and be used in a capacity that challenges us and in a place where we feel like we are great fit in. Because it's ministry and God entrusted us with it, I probably will continue to prioritize this because I'll be here regardless of working here or not.
Mondays have been my do nothing day. I've been watch "the Bachelor" with the other after work and have committed to doing no work after work. It's been nice and although I know I should be doing stuff, I need time to myself and Monday nights have been that day.
I've been pretty stressed and occupied with preparing for mission trip and there's a lot of in between things like events, sunday and friday messages and activities, retreats, baptism, preparing for teacher meetings, keeping pastors and deacons up to date and it just goes on and on and on, like nonstop. In addition, these kids go through so many issues and I'm so glad that they've been trusting me with their lives more but it's been hard to manage and the only thing I can do is to give it up to God and ask God to take care of them as I do whatever I can.
The baby has been growing so quickly and it's so exciting to watch him grow so far. He has a new milestone basically everyday and it's just such a joy to watch a baby grow. Living with the in-laws have been a blessing and there are many things that can cause me to look at things with negative eyes but when I really think about it, I have nothing to complain about because the baby's grandparents love him so dearly, are so supportive of me and the other of whatever we do and they literally are taking care of all of us in the family. It's bitter sweet only in the sense that the baby finds more comfort with grandma but there's no one to blame because she does everything for him and loves him like crazy. One thing I hope I'd be able to handle is baby getting spoiled. Disciplining him will be pretty hard considering the baby literally has her in the palm of his hands but by God's grace, everything will work out for His good.
Oh, I got a haircut with bestie a couple of weeks ago and I got layers for the first time in years. I've been cutting it straight for a while now because perhaps I thought it was going to be more even and it's better (no clue what the thought process was). But I got layers from this indian lady and I really like it. Now when I tie it in a bun and let it loose, it looks like I have nice waves, whereas before with my straight cut, I looked like a mess.
I think that's all I can think about for now.
But on 1/25/16 - I got a new job at the hospital - the title is: Patient Access Liaison but the real word for it is, call center. It's a very easy brainless job but it's something I didn't mind taking because it was referred by a good friend in which now I get to see everyday, although I'm getting paid very little, I get to work on a computer where there's some downtime and I don't have to see patients so it's not as demanding as my church job, and the commute is amazing, it's a total of 30 minutes one way including finding parking. And if I was being dropped off, then I could leave my house 20 minutes prior to start time and still be on time. I haven't experienced that in forever! I get home at 5:30 and get to play with the baby for a good amount of hours before he goes to bed. I don't know how long I see myself here for, there's a lot of cons at this job, but it'll do for now. I don't know I'm ready to commit to another demanding job yet because I'm doing so much at church already.
It's interesting because I prioritize church and have been revolving all my schedules around church duties. I accepted this job so that I can focus more on my church stuff even though I know I can find a job that is more related to my field and learn things that are more exciting and can challenge me in my degree. And I do so because God provided an opportunity where the other and I can serve together and be used in a capacity that challenges us and in a place where we feel like we are great fit in. Because it's ministry and God entrusted us with it, I probably will continue to prioritize this because I'll be here regardless of working here or not.
Mondays have been my do nothing day. I've been watch "the Bachelor" with the other after work and have committed to doing no work after work. It's been nice and although I know I should be doing stuff, I need time to myself and Monday nights have been that day.
I've been pretty stressed and occupied with preparing for mission trip and there's a lot of in between things like events, sunday and friday messages and activities, retreats, baptism, preparing for teacher meetings, keeping pastors and deacons up to date and it just goes on and on and on, like nonstop. In addition, these kids go through so many issues and I'm so glad that they've been trusting me with their lives more but it's been hard to manage and the only thing I can do is to give it up to God and ask God to take care of them as I do whatever I can.
The baby has been growing so quickly and it's so exciting to watch him grow so far. He has a new milestone basically everyday and it's just such a joy to watch a baby grow. Living with the in-laws have been a blessing and there are many things that can cause me to look at things with negative eyes but when I really think about it, I have nothing to complain about because the baby's grandparents love him so dearly, are so supportive of me and the other of whatever we do and they literally are taking care of all of us in the family. It's bitter sweet only in the sense that the baby finds more comfort with grandma but there's no one to blame because she does everything for him and loves him like crazy. One thing I hope I'd be able to handle is baby getting spoiled. Disciplining him will be pretty hard considering the baby literally has her in the palm of his hands but by God's grace, everything will work out for His good.
Oh, I got a haircut with bestie a couple of weeks ago and I got layers for the first time in years. I've been cutting it straight for a while now because perhaps I thought it was going to be more even and it's better (no clue what the thought process was). But I got layers from this indian lady and I really like it. Now when I tie it in a bun and let it loose, it looks like I have nice waves, whereas before with my straight cut, I looked like a mess.
I think that's all I can think about for now.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Self-Help Book
Yesterday was my official last day of internship with my client which means I'll officially have a master's degree. What a ride.
We ended on a really good note last night. I asked for her feelings of our counseling sessions coming to an end and she processed through all that's happened this year and how she's "not the same". Thens he referred to self-help books. She goes... those are all bogus. There's no possible way you can help yourself. Even as much as a person wants to think that they want to help themselves, it's not possible, that's just not the way we were made.
She referred to the scenario of a person who was diagnosed with cancer. The doctor's said that this person was uncurable. A couple of months later, the person was cancer-free.
In that example, one would think that this person did something that resulted in such type of healing. But that's impossible, there had to be an intervention and that is God. Even a more practical way of speaking, we want to solve our problems on our own, deal with our own emotions but the reality is that we were not made that way. We need people in our lives to walk with us and go through our pain and misery with us. We need people to help us grow and make us stronger.
So in regards to self-help book, that's stupid because no one can truly help themselves.
We ended on a really good note last night. I asked for her feelings of our counseling sessions coming to an end and she processed through all that's happened this year and how she's "not the same". Thens he referred to self-help books. She goes... those are all bogus. There's no possible way you can help yourself. Even as much as a person wants to think that they want to help themselves, it's not possible, that's just not the way we were made.
She referred to the scenario of a person who was diagnosed with cancer. The doctor's said that this person was uncurable. A couple of months later, the person was cancer-free.
In that example, one would think that this person did something that resulted in such type of healing. But that's impossible, there had to be an intervention and that is God. Even a more practical way of speaking, we want to solve our problems on our own, deal with our own emotions but the reality is that we were not made that way. We need people in our lives to walk with us and go through our pain and misery with us. We need people to help us grow and make us stronger.
So in regards to self-help book, that's stupid because no one can truly help themselves.
Waiting
During this advent season, I gave messages on waiting. One thing that stood out to me as I was sharing was that I was really speaking to myself. The main idea:
Patience --> humility --> joy
Impatience --> pride --> bitterness
I've taken on the latter for many many months and it just made me continue to face what a prideful person I am.
Patience --> humility --> joy
Impatience --> pride --> bitterness
I've taken on the latter for many many months and it just made me continue to face what a prideful person I am.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Thanksgiving
When I am preparing for something, I have a tendency to look through google or take ideas from other people and other things and use it for myself. Then I start looking and there is SO much information out there that I don't even know where to start reading and gleaning ideas from.
Well it's another year and Thanksgiving is this week which means Thanksgiving Potluck with my youth group is at the end of this week. I find myself wanting to do the same thing again, look through different blogs, youth ministries, etc and it's SO MUCH work. It's just as much as work as me actually preparing for the specific thing itself. I also have a habit of trying to avoid speaking when necessary because I feel that I'm inadequate to do so. But as a person who oversees the yg, I have the privilege of public speaking at least twice a week, Fridays and Sundays. The privilege of speaking into the lives of many youth group members with the potential that these kids will have a deeper and more personal relationship with Christ and each other.
To be completely honest and frank, I could do so much better but I don't know how. That's where it's up to me to allow God to assist me in these areas in where I am weak and lacking, where I can allow God to take control and be the driver instead of me always trying to steal his seat. It's a battle, it's hard because I'm always trying to think of things in which I can do myself. Well, this Friday, I have another opportunity to speak, and this time it's about Thanksgiving.
-- Side note -- Even now, I just stumbled upon a post on Facebook and about stuff that interests me regarding youth ministry and now I book mark something new, once again. Never ending continuous cycle, so much information but none of them applied --
-- Another side note -- At the convention, I was really tempted to buy every single downloadable message of the entire convention for $99 so that I could get the benefit of listening to things that I missed out on. But I resisted temptation because I knew I wasn't going to get through everything anyway and I need to apply the immediate things I have learned one step at a time and that's probably going to take a year in itself. --
So, right now, I do want to spend a lot of timing looking at other resources about what to speak about Thanksgiving and I already have but it's not helping and I'm not speaking from the heart and still running from empty. So I'm taking these next couple of minutes to blog about whatever is on my heart regarding thanksgiving and hopefully God will give me some revelation on what to speak about to my youth.
Thanksgiving. Every year, the holiday seasons is always a very busy year for the church. We're always planning for the next program, the next retreat, the next performance, the next thing to decorate, gift exchanging, meeting up with different groups for holiday festivities, eating food, there's always something going on. It's been such a ritualistic thing for me that these events have to be held for the sake of church culture that personally, I have lost the meaning and thought behind what these events really mean. I mean, I know why we celebrate it but I definitely don't appreciate it and take it to heart.
So what should be the focus of Christians on Thanksgiving aside from just getting together and eating a good meal together? This was actually a really good resource: http://www.gotquestions.org/thanksgiving-Christian.html.
-- I know what verse I'm going to share my message on... 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.--
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Thank you God, and now.. to get started. It took 3 hours to finally get started on preparing for this Thanksgiving message... lol.
Well it's another year and Thanksgiving is this week which means Thanksgiving Potluck with my youth group is at the end of this week. I find myself wanting to do the same thing again, look through different blogs, youth ministries, etc and it's SO MUCH work. It's just as much as work as me actually preparing for the specific thing itself. I also have a habit of trying to avoid speaking when necessary because I feel that I'm inadequate to do so. But as a person who oversees the yg, I have the privilege of public speaking at least twice a week, Fridays and Sundays. The privilege of speaking into the lives of many youth group members with the potential that these kids will have a deeper and more personal relationship with Christ and each other.
To be completely honest and frank, I could do so much better but I don't know how. That's where it's up to me to allow God to assist me in these areas in where I am weak and lacking, where I can allow God to take control and be the driver instead of me always trying to steal his seat. It's a battle, it's hard because I'm always trying to think of things in which I can do myself. Well, this Friday, I have another opportunity to speak, and this time it's about Thanksgiving.
-- Side note -- Even now, I just stumbled upon a post on Facebook and about stuff that interests me regarding youth ministry and now I book mark something new, once again. Never ending continuous cycle, so much information but none of them applied --
-- Another side note -- At the convention, I was really tempted to buy every single downloadable message of the entire convention for $99 so that I could get the benefit of listening to things that I missed out on. But I resisted temptation because I knew I wasn't going to get through everything anyway and I need to apply the immediate things I have learned one step at a time and that's probably going to take a year in itself. --
So, right now, I do want to spend a lot of timing looking at other resources about what to speak about Thanksgiving and I already have but it's not helping and I'm not speaking from the heart and still running from empty. So I'm taking these next couple of minutes to blog about whatever is on my heart regarding thanksgiving and hopefully God will give me some revelation on what to speak about to my youth.
Thanksgiving. Every year, the holiday seasons is always a very busy year for the church. We're always planning for the next program, the next retreat, the next performance, the next thing to decorate, gift exchanging, meeting up with different groups for holiday festivities, eating food, there's always something going on. It's been such a ritualistic thing for me that these events have to be held for the sake of church culture that personally, I have lost the meaning and thought behind what these events really mean. I mean, I know why we celebrate it but I definitely don't appreciate it and take it to heart.
So what should be the focus of Christians on Thanksgiving aside from just getting together and eating a good meal together? This was actually a really good resource: http://www.gotquestions.org/thanksgiving-Christian.html.
-- I know what verse I'm going to share my message on... 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.--
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Thank you God, and now.. to get started. It took 3 hours to finally get started on preparing for this Thanksgiving message... lol.
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