lover of God - where are you?!

lover of God - where are you?!

does your heart not mourn for His return?
does your heart not ache for things to be redeemed?

when did you let your heart become calloused and let the voice of this world convince you that the way things are now is good enough? when did you let your hurt heart be taken away from true peace and comfort? when did the enemy come in and steal your rightful joy?!

lover of God. believer in Christ.

C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N.

where has your heart strayed?
have you forgotten that the Bridegroom is coming again, and He is coming for a bride who is ready?

yes - this time on earth is precious and so incredibly blessed as it is hard. but also very temporary.

have you forgotten that Heaven is real. that hell is real? and that God has overcome this world through the giving of His Son, so that we may be with Him again in heaven?

dont fall into despair.. but please.
please...
please don't let your heart die.

dont let your vision for the future be blurred by the sting of the past and the mundane nature of the present.
dont let your thoughts be captivated by things that can moths and rust destroy.
objects, plans, things. things that will fade away in the end.

set your eyes on things above!
set your passion on things that will last.

even if you cannot physically see the future now, it is not far from your reach.
it is not mystery that He will come again. it is not a mystery that there have been signs of His return.
it is not a mystery that we need to awaken our eyes to see, and ears to hear.

the marvelous sound of redemption riding on the clouds. blowing a trumpet for the unfolding of victory!

lover of God, loved by God.
where are you?

from: "Can Hope Be Real?"

i have a ton of blog posts to catch up on... a lot of plans and thoughts swirling around in my mind!

 

but for now, this blog post from Gary Wiens, director of the International House of Prayer NW stuck out as a much needed word.

 

here's a quote from the post:

 

We have trained our young people for several decades now to think of themselves as nothings that come from nowhere and who are going nowhere [emphasis added]... Everything inside us screams at us that the opposite is true...

 

young people crave purpose.

to live purposely... to be intentionally loved and known... to make impact...

 

God created us to be and do impact, from the basis that He created each of us with His amazing love and great purpose.

 

without that crucial fact burning inside our core, we are vulnerable to the bruises/beatings of everyday life that lead to despair and hopelessness for young and old alike.

 

today, as i think about and pray for the millions who have been hit by disaster in Haiti and those who are involved in providing aid... for the thousands of prisoners locked away in the horrendous North Korean concentration camps... for the countless orphaned children sold into sex trafficking... my heart could fail me from the gravity of these dire situations.  what is going on?  WHY?!

 

yet, i know that God is good.  and His purposes are always good.  a huge part of those purposes is us.

 

on this side of eternity, God carries out the hope for the world through us.  not that we ourselves are the hope.  but as vessels of His love, we become light.  if we don't know that - what will become of this world?

 

hope is real. 

keep it alive, because you were created to.

 

plus, you've got some pretty good back-up :)

Posted via email from Angie's posterous

braceface

it's official!!!

as of today, i am officially a "braceface". embarking on a new lifestyle/journey for the next (hopefully) 20 months or so.

stories and pictures to come! :)

i mean, :#

Posted via web from Angie's posterous

"i don't know... something amazing?!"

 

i LOVE that kid :)

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (fireworks! explosions!)

 

like the kid in The Incredibles clip, i am waiting for something amazing to happen in 2010!  

 

during the first few days/weeks of the year, there's a tendency for people to throw around the question, "what is your new year's resolution?". i've decided this year that i don't really like new year's resolutions. i never follow through for more than a month, at the most. plus, a lot of my past resolutions were centered around vain things such as losing weight, and i ended the year feeling worse than when i started. (ya hear me?)

 

this year, im not interested in striving to become a perfect person over the course of a year. nor am i interested in going hard after something that can be more of a burden than a benefit.

 

NOW NOW. i am not saying that i am going to be laissez-faire or complacent about life. and im not saying that i won't exercise or try to be nicer or whatnot.

 

rather, i have a simple desire - to fall in love.

 

don't get your hopes up about this materializing into a post about a burgeoning relationship! im talking about falling deeper in love my Creator. and in doing that, cultivating an assurance about who i am. i want to build my character and my identity in the One who created me and knows me inside and out. who could be a better counselor?

 

2009 was a shaky year in the character-building department as i was faced with many changes in this new "season" of life. after graduating from college out in the Midwest, i moved back to live with family on the West Cost. it was definitely a challenging time of transition... socially, spatially, mentally, spiritually.

 

socially, i had to reconnect with old friends, get used to the fact that my friends weren't a short walk away but scattered all over the planet, and find other outlets of fellowship. friends all around me were getting married, pursuing careers, getting involved in world-traveling adventures, and all sorts of cool things. i would often feel envious of what others are doing, and restless because i felt that i could be doing so much more!

 

spatially, i lost so much independence moving back into my mom's house. at first, i didn't even have my own room to wind down in after work. i also commuted on a bus for a while, which ruled out alone time while driving.

 

mentally, i started worrying more than i ever had in my entire life! worrying about my younger sisters, about my mom's health, and finances, about friends, anything and everything. it felt like i had a 20-ton weight on my shoulders that i couldn't shrug off, and worry was an infection that wouldn't go away.

 

spiritually, i started out the year still operating out of the overflow of love God had poured out onto me over the previous year. but as the year progressed, i started finding myself in droughts and deserts from time to time. struggling to be joyful. struggling to be patient. peaceful.

 

2009 was a year in which i wrestled with life... but also experienced so much grace and mercy. 

 

this excerpt from Ephesians (2:1-5) speaks aloud to me:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

 

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath .

 

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

hmmm "alive with Christ". thats good. even though life had its trials in 2009, there was sooo much goodness, too.

 

in Romans 12:1-2, Paul gives us a tip for how to understand that God's will/plans are good:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 

 

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

a holy life isn't one that is void of disheartening incidents or sinful mistakes. it is a life that, when faced with trials, acknowledges that it is only by God's mercy that we can live in goodness. it is a life that responds to his mercy by making a choice to renew the mind in the Word. it is a life that thrives and grows because through renewing, it starts to see that God's will is good, pleasing, and perfect. behind that mercy we need oh-so-much is LOVE.

 

i want to know this great Love deeper in my heart.

 

right now, i am so grateful for where i am at. YES - i still get frustrated about little things or day-dream about what the future holds. but somehow, i feel more steady in knowing that if nothing else, i am loved by a mighty God!

 

i want my heart to expand in true worship to God, not just out of obligation or performance. i want to become more compassionate for the things that burn on God's heart in this day and age. i want to have eyes to see and ears to hear truth amidst the noise of distractions and lies. i want more boldness to live in those truths that i know and more humility in knowing that i am only strong through God's grace.

 

character-building is a lifelong process - and a grand endeavor at that! but a truly worthy pursuit in knowing God... and in turn, getting to know oneself. Ephesians 2 goes on, with verses 6-9:

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus [gasp!], in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

 

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

sigh. i can feel it in the air and in my soul that amazing things are yet to come in 2010.

who knows? going deeper in knowing His love might reveal a love relationship on this side of eternity :)

Posted via email from Angie's posterous

goldendoodles

do you believe in love at first sight?

 

i usually don't... but this chance meeting was an exception!

 

meet odie.

 

odie is a 12-week old goldendoodle, which is a hybrid between a golden retriever and a poodle. he is the beloved new addition to the erica&brian li family.

 

what made me fall in love with this little pup?

 

the kind eyes.

the soft, curly hair.

the teddy bear-ness.

the SMILE.

 

i love dogs that smile :)

 

it's a little superficial to fall head over heels over a picture (or 4) and declare that it really is true love.

 

so i did a little research on the fella's background to see if this was "the one", and found out that indeed, my instincts were pretty spot on.

 

not only are goldendoodles "everybody's friend and devoted to their family" (www.goldendoodles.com), but they:

 

exhibit hybrid vigour (meaning they are generally healthier than their purebred counterparts)

don't shed much

are intelligent

are easy to train

are social

can live in the city or on a farm

and can be trained as service dogs!

 

so what is a girl to do when she thinks she has found "the one"?

 

pray and see if God agrees that i have found "the one". cuz if God and i are seeing eye to eye, heart to heart... i may be able to rescue an odie one day!

 

Posted via email from Angie's posterous