God-centered family

there's such a significant difference between a family who loves God versus a family who doesn't know God. to hear about families having family worship at a certain time of the night, to see a family overflowing with God's love... i want that. i really want it.

there's no such thing as a perfect family. but last night, i couldn't help but feel like i was witnessing THE perfect family. the perfect parents, the perfect kids, the perfect home. and i couldn't help but think, this is all because of their undying love and devotion for God. His presence fills their entire household. what an amazing blessing it is to see the Holy Spirit living within this beautiful family.

i'm still in awe.

happy thanksgiving

this is my first thanksgiving away from home. ohh, i'm pretty saddened by this. i absolutely love spending thanksgiving with my immediate and extended family. i'm not sure what it is about this holiday but my cousins and i have soo much fun together. i'm going to miss out on our traditional yearly family portrait but i hope they know that i'm there in spirit :')

i'm thankful for a lot of things: my loving parents, beautiful sisters, genuine brothers, jobs, church, yag, mama bear samoneem, my dt girl, extended family, warm water (i was showering the other day and the water stopped running for 10mins. the little necessities in life that we tend to forget..), and the list goes on.

but in particular, i am most thankful for my life and my identity. i know that my recent posts have consistently been about my complaints of how difficult it is to live a life as a christian but as i reflect on it more, i am SO thankful for these struggles. i'd rather be struggling as a christian than never having accepted God in my life. so, i thank You, God, for accepting me. for loving me. for protecting me. for saving me. thank You, God, for my salvation.

"He loves us not because of who we are but in spite of who we are." amen.

sonnet 116

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

William Shakespeare (1609)