For the Suffering Saint

I know in mind and heart that this is your most difficult birthday just yet. How it feels to have an ever gnawing pain with you when you wake up in the morning, and when you go to sleep at (mid) night,
and every single time you let your thoughts wander far enough during the day.

Maybe you also feel sometimes that you have to "suck it up and get on with it" because "it's been months," and you can't do anything about the past, so you just have to move forward. It's hard and difficult and painful, and the task before us is looming and terrifying. I mean how can life be not terrifying when so much has changed?

But He who promised to us life and life abundant, in this world and the next, is faithful. And somehow this thought gets me through the hardest nights. Hoping it would also be of comfort and soothing balm to you. I love you, and happy birthday.

I'm always praying for you, and for the day when we'd all cross beyond the River to our eternal home, with all our beloved saints who went on before us. As for today, let's press on. 💖

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Salvation Testimony

[I presented this testimony earlier this year to the congregation for an evangelistic night. An evangelistic night is a vesper service modified to accommodate the sharing of the gospel to unbelievers, and one part of it is the sharing of the members' testimony of how God saved them. I was one of the first ones to share.] A friend once asked me just a few months ago for my written testimony when I applied for this church. I didn’t think there was any problem, but when I thought more about it, I realized that my testimony I wrote for the church 6 years ago is not something I could share anymore. Not because my salvation story then wasn’t true, but because a lot of God-given, life-changing lessons happened after I was saved. I guess the first thing I realized is that testimonies are always changing because God never stops writing our story. For this afternoon I would like to share who I was before I knew God, what God did to save me, and what God taught me after being saved.

Overfamiliarity Breeds Contempt

July 8, 2021 | 11:15 AM Overfamiliarity breeds contempt. I don’t know why I feel this way, but I feel tired of being a friend and then being discarded whenever I’m not convenient to be around anymore. They don’t say it, but I think at some point everyone thinks that of me. When it’s limited slots, I’d be one of the first people to go. Excess baggage they’ve been just able to keep around the dock when the storm wasn’t hitting yet, but one of the first cargos to go when the waves become rocky. I don’t really resent them because I would also do the same to myself—throw myself out the window the moment I don’t contribute anything to the table if only I had the choice. Haha but I’m stuck with myself. But yeah, I feel like I’m that add-on friend people just befriend because anyway, I’m already there. I just happened to be in the same circle because a friend plus oned me at some point, and now they’re pretty much stuck with me. Arielle’s friend. Someone's church mate. Always s

Faithfulness in the Lens of Genesis 24

Faithfulness is denotatively defined as the quality of being steadfast in affection or allegiance; to be firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty; to be true to the facts, to a standard, or to an original. (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, n.d.) This term nowadays usually has the connotation of simply staying consistent with what one has originally said. Faithfulness, however, is not simply staying true. The word faithfulness is derived from the Hebrew word ‘e-meth— a word contracted from the Hebrew word ‘âman, which means to build up or support; figuratively, to render firm, to be permanent, or quiet. Being faithful, then, according to its Hebrew origin, is about one’s trustworthiness. To be a faithful person is to have certainty in truth. In the Scripture, the word “faithfulness” appeared 75 times, with “faithful” appearing just about as much—78 times. If one searches for all the occurrences of the word ‘emeth in the original translation, one would see that

Reminiscing Truths ⚓

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