I'm not artistic, I was known as the althete at home, my mom always told me that I have terrible handwriting, and she's right, my handwriting is unbelievable! =P So why am I studying graphic design?? In my final year of high school, I accidentally took on a job for my best friend to make a video about an historical building at school, I didn't know anything about video editing, that was my first time ever trying. and I learnt how to use IMOIVE!! YEAH!!
During that time, "something" was stirring in my heart to re-do our church's website and make posters for church events, now this is all new for me and I could have easily said "oh, that's a stupid idea" and just left it as that. But I went ahead and tried it. I started watching YouTube tutorials on Photoshop, Illustrator and coding, and after a year, I redid the church's website with Dreamweaver and got to do posters for church. Designing was hard. You need CREATIVITY & TECHNICAL skills!! As an athlete and a beginner, I lacked both . . . But how could you grow if you lack perseverance? That "thing" stirring in my heart grew by the day. I knew strongly in my heart that serving the Lord is not about how good you are in certain areas but whether you have a willing heart or not. It's NEVER about YOU!! it's about Him and His glory. ". . . Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Zechariah 4 : 6 Therefore I continued in my search for tutorials, and held on to any opportunity to practice my skills . . . The University I was had a few but not a lot of digital art classes, however, I had the opportunity to go on an exchange semester at the George Washington University (GWU) in my junior year and I was so excited and took all "art" classes, frame by frame animation, motion graphics, web production and even a sculpture class. It probably wasn't the smartest discussion taking all these creative art classes all at once cause each class made us do around 3 big projects and the due dates crashed every time!! But it was during this environment where I have to constantly come up with creative ideas that I've realised --- creative art, animation and design --- is what I really have a passion for. During that summer, I heard about the Bible project and the ministry they have, and in my heart I knew that God's calling me to serve Him with digital art. And that's why I'm going to Liberty for a Graphic Design Master Programme, seriously, I'm scared cause I don't know what to expect and how big the challenges will be or if I'll be able to make it or not, but I know that God is bringing me there so I can grow and learn in areas where I lack, it's actually really easy to start comparing with my classmates, cause many of them are really good. But no, we are all there to be equipped and grow to where God is leading us personally. And that is my long story (super) short, below will be work I've done and short descriptions to help you understand my progress in art and design =] by the way, I've mention I redid the church's website with dreamweaver, well, just a week ago, I've relaunched the website and this time, it was made with WordPress.org, again another story of how God stirred and taught, here's the link, just in case your curious =P
I find myself always over complicating projects, and to my surprise, in GWU, people in the same class as me were mostly digital art majors and had prior experience compared with me, however, professors were somehow really impress with my work, I can only understand it as the grace of GOD =] cause I know I'm not creative at all without Him =P
During my final year of university in Macua, I was able to take the only few digital classes we had and had these...
My most recent work, which is also my favourite piece, was a 3D Blender project, and no surprise, this was also my first try to use the software and to make a 3D animation, this piece was inspired by the story of "the garden of Eden" from the Bible and "the last battle" from Chronicles of Narnia. "Fluff" was a little guy I drew on a piece of scrap paper after I've finished my maths exam revision in 9th grade. I loved it and started including it in letters, signatures. so when my animation class had us make a short animation, I was like "Why not make a story about fluff?". **interesting fact, it took 5 days rendering on 28 computers for this little guy to come to life, the quality is not as good as I've hoped and you'll see lots of flaws in the video, but in the time that I had, this was the best I could have done, so I'm happy =D Being a new MFA student in Liberty is going to be challenging, especially when design classes in general are new to me. Don’t know what to expect or whether I’ll be able to meet professors standards and keep up with my classmates. Challenges are fundamental for growth, therefore I’m excited to learn and explore areas I have never even though about. I don’t exactly know where God is leading me with creative art and design, however, seeing how He completely changed my path a few years ago showed me clearly that I am just a tool willing to be used by the Creator =]
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*This post ended up a bit longer than expected, but hope you'll enjoy it =D
Have you looked at David, Esther and Joseph just be in awe of how God has been preparing them for something huge way before hand?? How He trained David through him being a shepherd, how He made Esther queen to save her people, how He brought Joseph to Egypt to save the kingdom years later.... God is amazing when it comes to planning, today a want to share a "short" story of how God had taken care of something happening in my life right now about 20 years ago =] As a missionary family, my parents don't receive salary and the family lives by overseas offerings from friends and churches. Throughout my life it's been a lesson of faith of how God provides just enough. When we were going through school, our parents never knew when we'll have to drop out, but every time we just enough to get by =] When we graduated from high school, none of us dreamed of going to university but God made way miraculously, my two brothers and I got full scholarships and someone volunteered to sponsor my sister's tuition all the way to her doctor's degree if she wants to get one!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A little background on myself, I inherited dyslexia from my dad which gave me much difficulty from primary and up, I've even failed 5th grade cause I got 30 on my Maths exam, anyways, the point is that me getting a full scholarship going into university is beyond imagination and I really don't know how to explain it if it wasn't God. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, if you think that was amazing, sit tight cause this will blow your time!! During my last year of high school, my godmother and her family came to visit us from Singapore. We went and had dinner and she told me something that made me felt out of the chair!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We met around 20 years ago when she and a group of college kids came to Macau for a missions trip, I was around 2 years old, a chubby, active, troublesome girl, she was a 20-ish kid who's about to finish university. She told my mom that she wanted to be my godmother, not only did she very sincerely write a letter, explaining her background, she even gave me a little gold baby bracelet that her mother gave her to show how serious she was. Guys, I was 2!! she was 20-ish!! WHAT IS GOING ON?? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, back to the dinner story..... She took out a set of ear rings, and two necklaces, she gave them to me and then told my parents and I to sit tight, she said, "heather, I've been saving up a college fund for you after I went back to Singapore, and it will be ready next year" Just imagine the faces of me and my parents. we were like, "God! What are you doing?!" we were blown away, college fund??? (I didn't know I will be receiving a full scholarship then, so it was like, "I have a chance to go to college?!") the family was stoked to hearing the news!! isn't God amazing?!?! Ever since then I kept wondering and asking God, "Lord, you gave me this amount of money, what are you planning for my life? How should I use it?" I know God won't gave me something for me to waste, and I know that this money came from God, and He has a purpose for it, I didn't want to waste it so I kept praying about it. So later on I got the full scholarship of my bachelors degree in Macau, I've never though about getting a Masters degree or anything for financial reasons, but since I didn't have to use the money my godmother saved up for me during university, is there a possibility for a Master's degree?? I started thinking about where God might be calling me to, and during my third year, I really sparked an interest in graphic design, animation and digital stuff (this is what my next post will be about, so I won't go into the details here =]), and two summers ago I heard about the BIBLE PROJECT, and was really inspired by their work. I was more and more sure that animation and graphic design might be where he is leading me, so I started looking for schools. MAN! Graduate Schools are EXPENSIVE!! especially in digital art majors and the "animation" institutions are even worst, I was about to give up looking when God put the though of "Liberty University" in my head, it's where my sister was getting her bachelors degree.. So I checked it out. Liberty was supposed to be the cheapest private Christian university out there, and long story short, I was calculating the tuition cost one afternoon and was feeling hopeless cause the amount I've calculated was double of what I could afford for. I was hopeless and lost and picked up my Bible, and the as I was reading Proverbs 30, and God met me right there right then... "“Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." Proverbs 30:7-9 I saw that verse and I was crying, I was praying it as a prayer to God and telling myself maybe God has other plans for this amount of money given to me. I kept reading that verse over and over again, God has been faithful all through my life, I trust in Him, whatever plans he has. Afterwards I felt the need to re-calculate the tuition and guess what?! IT WAS EXACTLY THE AMOUNT MY GODMOTHER GAVE ME!!! I was like, WHAT?!! I was so exited, re-calculate over and over again to make sure I didn't get it wrong again, and as true as His word is, He gave me just enough!!! And yes, that was only the tuition cost, I still haven't thoroughly figured the cost for living but it's in His hands, I have faith that God won't bring me there and let me starve to death =P I trust in Him, even when I'm tight in money, I mean this is the God who fed over 5000 with two loaves of bread and five fish, who walked on water, who rose from the dead and conquered sin & death. He is the God who does the impossible!! so in Him I trust =D --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Heading off to Liberty University this Aug for my three-year Master's program< --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whoo! GUESS WHAT?! I graduated!! Although my whole family was in America for my sister's graduation, my church family came to mine and we had a BLAST!! =D Four years went by so fast that high school memories are still fresh in the back of my head. But God really shaped and mod me during my time in uni. During my exchange semester to the states, God really reshaped my self-image, and give me confidence in who He made me to be. Let me give you some background from where I'm coming from : I studied in a Chinese school from kindergarten to the end of high school, and as a foreigner in a Chinese environment, you get quit a lot of attention. Classmates have always called me "女神", which mean "goddess", because I guess they think I'm pretty?? anyways, so all through school I had an invisible pressure to always be presentable, the best, just very self-conscious of how people think of me, my weight, my hair, my looks. I gained weight after my first heartbreak while entering into college, and I was always feared of meeting up with my old high school classmates cause they might will see my change and think differently of me. I mean, I have a reputation to keep!! But things got worst, a group of new believers started coming to church during that time, they were boys and they loved making fun of my weight, it came to a point where I had the though of not wanting to go to church cause they there, and whenever I see them, they called me "大隻", which meant "huge", "big", "fat". EVERY TIME I go to church!! I started getting so self-conscious that I even brought weight lose pills for a few times. (now, that is messed up!). I will go to the dentist every year, and each year I return, the dentist will none stop commenting on my weigh while working on my teeth. I'm a young girl, and if God wasn't in my life, I could have committed suicide.!! It was getting to much for me to bear. My mother was always very good in helping us with our problems, and our relationship with God. I remember on my 21 birthday, the family was in HK visiting and decided to go to a nice beach to celebrate my birthday. As we were there, one of the boys from church posted a "birthday" wish on my fb wall, and it was a picture of my head keyed on a very masculine body. I BROKE DOWN, and even wanted to leave the beach and just skip my birthday. My mom, as patient and loving as she was, spent half an hour helping me through my sadness and reminding me of who I am in God, my father. And how precious I am to Him. She reminded me that our bodies are not the MOST IMPORTANT thing to us, God is.. Body shapes changes, but who cares, if I person doesn't love you just because of your weight, then he doesn't deserve your love. She reminded me that this body will decay, this body won't last, beauty is fading daily! If I let that take my focus away from God, it's not worth it. I slowly tried to not be that self-conscious, but I still was a little. It was't till I came back from the States when I was truly set free from this bondage. During my time in the States, I saw so many joy filled Christian who were way heavier and "bigger" then I was, but they were confident in who they were and didn't care about what others felt about them. They were literally JOYFUL . Something happened, I forgot how, what or when, but during my time there, God slowly peeled those pieces that I was holding to..... my reputation for being a "女神", my self-conscious, my love for trying to be fit... oh! I remember, one of the thing God used to reshaped me was my roommate in the States. She will go to the gym every week, and is very self-conscious of her body. I see her coming back from the gym and taking pictures and measurements for comparison all the time. It hit me, when I see no real difference in her hard work at the gym after a semester that our self-consciousness of our weight is a serious bondage to us. I started seeing the meaningless of trying to keep the perfect body shape. I realised that God was using my roommate to change my perception of beauty. And I felt what freedom is once again when that bondage is broken! Trails came when I came back to Macau. The second I step foot in church, a "elder" form church said to me, "woo, you gained weight", I replied expressionless that "this is life" and turned around and left the room that had around 10 people, including my brothers, and everyone heard the conversation. This was my first encounter after coming back from the States and being freed, I still needed time to process everything that God is changing in my heart. I wasn't mad at the "elder" that made the comment, cause they are human too, but I guess I was still trying to find a way to respond to those who comments like that. Later that month I was to the dentist again, and with no surprise, the first thing she stated as I walked into the room was my weight and the conversation went through the whole section. she even stated that "it's good that you chin is kinda sharp, you can fool people from a picture", the dentist was working on my teeth so I couldn't respond, but in my heart instead of being so mad at her, I pity her that she is still captive in the bondage (forgot to mention that this dentist is also a Christian friend that our family knows). Anyhow, this was another important thing God has done in my life, and is continuing to shape and mod. I feel lighter now that I don't put others opinions of me higher that God's opinion of me. "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Proverbs 31 : 30 Stay tune to hear about how God used a young girl 20 years ago to be a big part in me going to LU for my masters degree =D
Haven't posted in ages!!! LOTS HAVE HAPPENED!!
well, I suppose you won't be able to intake all of that information at once, so I'll break them down in future posts! Today i'll share with ya'll something a bit personal, something God has taught me during my little break =] ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Love is a choice, feelings comes and goes. When you feel sth about a person, you can't stop but wonder whether they feel the same way, or is it just me. . People say that singleness is the best time to grow tight with God. You acknowledge the fact that you're already whole and complete with God in your life. Needing a mate to complete you is a lie from the Satan because two incomplete person can't complete one another, that's God's job, not mine. . Growing tight with God also means that you honor Him in your thoughts and choices, you honor His definition of love and dating, not a game, but a path towards marriage. . As a girl in her early 20s, you can't help but wonder and ask, "where are You calling me to and how will I be a helper for 'him'?" You'll dream of yourself in a wedding dress(literally). You are reminded by pass foolishness that following your feelings and not God tears your heart in pieces. . So you learn to keep the feelings to yourself, you pray, seek and trust God for who He is. . A few months, two different countries, rarely talking, scrolling through fb, you know he's active, but what could you do? As a person with the crush, you want to tell him. As a sister in Christ, you want to protect him from ideas he probably didn't have. . You stop when his picture comes across the screen. You wonder if you'll never see him again, if not, than what's the point? The feelings faded as time passed. But like I said, love is a choice you'll have to make. . Ok, my point is, you probably will have feelings for more than one person during you walk in life, but if you say you love someone because of a spark of feeling, what happens when you don't feel "it" anymore? . So, seek, pray, don't rush, use this time to deepen in the Word to growing the only relationship you really can't live without. Enjoy your singleness!!! I believe God will make it clear to both parties in His perfectness =] ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… - Merry Christmas - There's always something in your life that will only happen once. Birth, Death, being 18, marriage.... And the fact the these things only happen once makes them so precious, so valuable and memorable! This past Wednesday, I experienced something that would probably never happen even again in my life! Together with HC class 2018, we've organized our very own musical/ Talent Show!! The whole process took over two months, we had to set the theme of the story, arrange the performances, practice, call for helpers and then the two long days of full rehearsal. To be honest, I was very nervous about the show, I had a fear that no one would come or people will think that it was a boring show, and many other negative thoughts towards the show, however, I kept the feelings to myself, fear that It will contaminate the excitement of the rest of the class. For the musical I was apart of the newly formed band - VEACH, and had volunteered to be the voice over(narrator) because I have always enjoyed doing speeches but have stopped for over 2 years, therefore I wanted to take this opportunity to once again express my emotions to a large audience..
follow as the band was practicing! I left sorry for the girls whom had tolerance as I repetitively had them remind me of how my part should have been sang.... But they were the kindest and had the most patience, they taught me how to sing harmony and encouraged me to not let discouragements stop me from learning. So in the end we were able to be on stage and shared with the audience what we're made of =P During two long days of practice, we faced many difficulties, such as the timing, lighting, and the lateness of people, however, we were able to talk it through as a team and everyone took their part extremely serious during the actual show and the audience enjoyed it! I was surprised to see all the friends who had come just to support and see our out come! Many of my friends told me that they didn't just see us putting out a show, but they also felt the "FAMILY" among us! I couldn't agree more to what they have said about us, just like what JOY, vice president from our class, had said that "You, as audience, might have seen the result of the show. But I saw the whole process"!! What a speech, our goal was for the audience to enjoy the show, but what we gained was way much more than just applauses from satisfied crowds, but how to work as a team, how to not give up on one another, how to sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of others, and most importantly how to serve with love! OHHHH!!! Almost forgot!! It was such a privilege to be able to be the hair designer for many of my classmates!! But girls remember, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL even without the fancy hairdo, and make up =] "Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry,
or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." 1 Peter 3:3-4 --- WEEK 1 & 2 --- Hahaha,, sorry guys haven't blogged in ages again!?! Well, if you want to know what is going on these few week, better sit tight, cause you're about to take in a lot of information!! Last time I probably left off during the preparations for the HC promotion month, well, time flies, and we've came to an end to all our activities concerning with the promotion month. However, they were two major events that I would want to share with ya'll, they are"Leadership workshop 1" & "Leadership workshop 2",, Hahaha,, let me tell you, those were 2 whole days of tiredness! We had to organise two whole days of leadership workshop to over 60 freshman per day! We included LOTs of games, dramas, videos to show them how a true leader should be leading their teams. I hope the freshman found the activity as useful as I had. However, how to become a good leader wasn't the only thing I've got out of these two days of workshop. Because it was me and my classmates who organised it, I've learnt what team spirit was. I've discovered hidden talents among the class, and I, like the rest of the class, opened up a whole lot and got better communication and understanding of one and other!
What would you do after hard work??? Of course, it's to relax, Therefore, we didn't have a normal lecture the week after the workshops, instead, EVERYONE BROUGHT LUNCH AND WE SHARED IT TOGETHER! Oh yeah! That day wad also my good friend Esther's birthday, and she even performed for us. She has this beautiful voice and played the guitar elegantly =P After lunch, we all got our bikes and paraded around the campus!! Although it was an extremely foggy day, you had an enjoyable time. --- WEEK 4 & 5 --- "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." ~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8~ There is a time to rest and a time to work!!! We are once again back on track, but this time, it's a task bigger and more changeling then the 2 leadership workshops we've held two weeks before. This time, it's A Talent Show!! This Talent Show is about how we are all perfectly imperfect, everyone has flaws and things that we don't like about ourselves, things that make is seem different and out of place sometimes. Many people would want to take away these flaws and fit in with everyone else, but won't we just be robots walking around if everyone is exactly the same??! We might not be perfect, but our imperfections are the very things that makes us special, unique. That is who we are! Beside, don't forget when God made Adam and Eve, He said "IT WAS GOOD"!!!! And every time you complain and say that you are imperfect, you are actually yelling and complaining about how God had made you! He doesn't make mistakes! You were never a mistake! He made you and Loves you a lot! During these two weeks, we were also told to share the GAS with your fellow classmates, which are gratitude---things we thankful about, apologies---to those we have wronged, support--- things we could do for our classmates in the remaining few weeks of school. At first it was really hard to think of things to say, however, as I quite down my heart and start to recall the journeys we have experienced and gone through together, can't believe that it's about to end, but the experiences were worth it, still remember all the birthday parties we've celebrated, all the difficulties we've over come together, but most importantly all the JOY and that were generated and smiles that shown on their faces were wroth all the late nights we've stood up and all difficulties we've faced. Maybe we had arguments, but these were there to help us mature, and to grow closer to one another!! Also here are some sneak peak of the talent show we have next week!!! Hope you enjoy =] If you've ever gone through a break up, you'll understand the pain i'm taking about. An aching in your heart , a cut that is pushed in further in each passing day, a heart beat that is slowly fading away, a wound that could take years or even decades to heal, a disease that even a heart surgeon fails to cure. What do I do with a heart like this? What could I do with a heart like this? That was me two years ago, a pain I've brought upon myself with the wrong decisions I've made. These decisions didn't just give me a torn heart, It added a fence, a wall around it. A fence that would protect this small beating life from further damage. However, it kept my heart from healing as well. Many of you might not know it, but these strongholds within me made me doubt what true love is, it made me doubt my feelings, my appearance, and my body to a point that I started hating myself! I had a short period of extreme eating disorder, I would either indulge in large amount of food or starve myself to death! That was me two years ago.... Although God told me that He has a better one prepared for me, it still took me two years to cure this heart of mine. But eventually, those broken pieces of my heart were being patched up one by one by the healing power of God. He used my close friends, families to show me that if I put my hopes and dreams in this world, all it will give me is disappointments; But in 2 Corinthians 4: 1 8 it says"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Everything on this earth is only TEMPORAL!!! Love, Fame, Wealth. Everything!! So there is no way that I would be eternally satisfied by things I chase after. Yes, this person broke my heart, but showed me a truth that would change my life, my values forever! Jesus was my heart surgeon, He gave me back my hopes, my confidence and most importantly, He took away that fence I've been trapping my heart in, and He made that small heart pumping again!! Now, you might be wondering what this has to do with you, well, you are a heart surgeon as well! Every day thousands of people are passing around you, and you won't know what's going on in their hearts! Each word and expression you make would either patch a piece back on their hearts or tear another piece down! Well, the choice is your, I encourage you to stop living for yourselves, but make it a habit to lighten another blown out candle, and to pump another stopped heart! However, of course, you won't be able to help others when your candle is out can you? So, Let me introduce you to the best heart surgeon and lighter I know --- JESUS =D
Are you afraid of being yourself? Do you live up to other's expectations? Was there an important element in your childhood that has been wasted away by the passing of time? On average a child laugh more than 300 times a day, whereas adults laugh less than 20 times a day. I recall that when I was still a kid, I could easily find small things to laugh for hours and hours non-stop, "Reasons to have fun, and laugh out loud were never far form Heather" says my friends. However, now when I'm in my 20s, I find it difficult to express myself through crazy laughter in public, instead I would just smile and not laugh. So WHAT HAPPENED?? Well, I was influenced by the media that it doesn't look or sound pretty when people laugh out loud in public. Because of this, I've actually trapped myself in a cage. A cage that has been shut for so long that I don't know how to be myself in public anymore. I've always been living up to others expectation of who I should be instead of who I really was, especially at school, when people look up to me. During class today, my professor asked us to stand up and promise to do what the speaker in the video asks us to do! Well, will you take the challenge, Stop what you are doing, where ever you are and do what the speaker from this video asks you to do? Well, the choice is yours, but it will brighten up your day and probably change your life!! Laughter is a simple small thing to do, a normal human expression that has been neglected and shoved away as we grow older (well, for most people). By the way, GIRLS! Believe or not, laugher has a real good benefit for health and is actually a really good way for burning extra calories! According to a new research published in the International Journal of Obesity "15 minutes of laughter a day will burn 10 to 40 calories, depending on a person’s weight and the intensity of the laughter." so, wake up and get out of the cage you've trapped yourself in! Stop worrying about the wrinkles at would form just because you are enjoying a moment of your life with families and friends!
God made you just the way you are and he wants you to have fun! So do that!!! Here's an interesting question you could think about, I reveled the answer at the end of this blog entry. Which one of these numbers below are the most unique compared with the another ones? 1.) One 2) Thirteen 3) Thirty-one After 3 weeks of school again, we have another 2 weeks holiday!! It's Chinese New Year!! Yeah! Although I've haven't been in school this past week, However I have been surprisingly busy, designing things for the HC promotion month, re-editing a short interview clip with a Macau singer (cause I accidentally lost the one I did two months ago...), helping the Church with Chinese New Year preps, trying to finish some books that I've started half a year ago and preparing for the annual family trip to Hong Kong for the holidays... It's seems like I've been tightly packed into a small sealed box without any air to breath!! Does it sound familiar? Have you been dealing with somethings that seems like you are hard-pressed, perplexed, persecuted and struck down on every side? Well, trust me, If you're a leader of some sort, It will happen. But the problem is not the situation itself, instead, it is now you respond to the situation. How do we solve the problem reflects how we live our lives! Do we just following the crowd and do what everyone else does? Or do we have a mind of our own to think instead of constant copying what we are told to do? The thing that bugs me is that schools are shaping our minds to a twisted worldview, they expect us to think and act in the way that they want us to, and most of the time these teaching are in contrast to the Christian ethics. However, God created us with our own minds so we could think outside of the box that we strapped in. We need to learn to look beyond what we're taught to do, and think with the mind we were given. Now the answer to the question I've asked earlier was actually 2. Now don't be shocked and say I didn't mention that the numbers on the left were counted as well. I stated clearly at the question that "Which one of these numbers below" See, we were taught to think in a way that we would easily ignore certain things that actually matters the most to us. Maybe you're a leader at home/ work/ school, but you will face difficulties that challenge your faith, your morals. However, remember that they is never only one way in dealing with situations. God gave King Solomon wisdom when he asked, so what are you waiting for! "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted,
but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. " ~2 Corinthians 4:8-12~ "When you share material things, it become less; but when you share joy, it multiplies." Every day we are surrounded by people, those who we've probably known for a long time and those who we've spent most of our time with, but at the same time are those who we've neglect the most... how so very often do we take it for granted that there's someone who cares for us, cooks for us, comforts us? How so very often do we take it for granted that we could open our eyes, that we could breath, that we have food, friends and warmth? How so very often do we forget to say the most powerful word in the word? Well... that's our weakness... cause we do it all the time. Have you even taken the time to write a "thank you" note to your friend/ colleague that has helped you in someway or another, however you've never got the chance to do so? If not, I strongly recommend you to try it. For the first part of class, we were told to write as many "thank you" notes we could to our fellow classmates within 5-minutes, I've discovered that 5-minutes was not enough at all!
Now the class is all hyped up with emotions, the teacher told us to write another "thank you" letter, however, this time a longer piece meant for only one person---someone who is STILL alive and has influenced me the most! If you have a couple of minutes, I encourage you to do the same, write a letter expressing your gratitude to that particular person, it could be anyone, your boss, your parents, your spouse, etc. (don't scroll till you've finished your letter =]) "Now," said the professor, "CALL THAT PERSON, and read him/her the letter!" Everyone was like W-H-A-T??! But the professor just said it again, "Call that person and see what will happen" so embarrassingly everyone left the room to a quiet place, got their phones out and started dialing the numbers, well some classmates including me just sent a message due to the fact that the person we wrote to is either in a different time zone sleeping or busy at that moment. On the way back to the classroom after I've finished my voice message, what I saw was priceless, people were talking on their phones with tears of Joy. Living in a generation exploded with technologies, it's so easy to just spend hours on our tablets instead of being with people; it's so easy to just type an emotionless "thank you", instead of expressing how you very feel about someone. Expressing your gratitude to a person, especially those who you love the most, is so rare nowadays that one of my classmate's mom even asked if she was about to commit suicide! The most important word in the world that will only take a few minutes to do, but the impacts when we do it and the consequences when we don't do it creates are beyond imaginations. Here's a video of a real Experiment in gratitude from SoulPancake ...... One of Switchfoot's songs <GONE> says that "Gone, like Frank Sinatra, Like Elvis and his mom, Like AL Pacino's cash nothing lasts in this life, My high school dreams are gone, My childhood sweets are gone, Life is a day that doesn't last for long" People come and people go, time is precious, we'll never know what would happen tomorrow. Dolly Parton once said "Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life." Life is a gift from God, and the people around us are blessings from God. Don't take them for granted and don't live like no one else matters! Reach out to others, show your gratitude, your love and your joy to those whom God has put in your life. Maybe, just maybe, like Queen Esther, God has a purpose for you to be in that situation at that moment to make a different in that persons' lives! "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18~
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