lessthanthree

precious moments with this little one.

But Help Me

Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
Mark 9:24

Thanksgiving {5 &6}

I am so bad at posting daily! Haha, I apologize for having to group my list of thanksgiving!

Thankful for...
{5} the little things we can enjoy on this earth. I've learned that I am unable to enjoy any of these things apart from God, so even the simplest perks in life should be something to praise God for (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26). I used to be a bookworm during my elementary school days, but once we were assigned to do summer reading in middle school, reading books became a huge turn-off. Since then, I never considered myself a fan of reading. This past summer, however, I started to pick up reading again when my younger sister recommended The Hunger Games to me. I got hooked. I stayed up past 2am, which I don't think has ever happened for reading-for-fun purposes, and finished the book within 2 days. Ever since then, I've been really curious about finding other good non-fiction to read. Currently am reading through Jane Eyre, and it's sooooo good so far! Usually the first few chapters of classic books bore me so much, I can't go past the first 20-30 pages. Jane Eyre keeps you engaged from the first page, at least for me! I hope to finish it during my Thanksgiving break, but I have a feeling I'm going to keep myself busy with hanging out with those I haven't seen in a while!

A few books I want to read/finish by next year:

• Idols of the Heart by Elyse Fitzpatrick (almost done)
  
• the 2nd & 3rd book to The Hunger Games series. (barely read the 2nd one, haven't touched the 3rd one)
• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (prequel to Bronte's Jane Eyre)
  
• Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Tim Lane & Paul Tripp (heard a lot of good things about this book)
• The Harry Potter series. Ohmygosh, should I do it? I've only read the first one (back when it first came out) and have failed to finish the 2nd.
  

Music, as always, has been enjoyable for me. This past month I've been listening to:

• The Christmas Song (Nat King Cole) Radio on Pandora
• Feist's Let it Die album
• Sara Bareilles' acoustic covers on youtube. I can listen to her cover of Yellow over and over again.
• Page CXVI's songs on soundcloud.
  
• Future of Forestry. all of it.
• A Virgin's Lullaby by The Nativity Voices (on repeat to practice for church's acapella group!)

AND

{6} the gospel. There's no guarantee in non-believers forgiving us if we have wronged them. I have wronged God so much more. But the new mercies that come from God is what gives us so much hope. I am so thankful that God, holy and majestic, would cleanse us of all our sins, and see us filthy, wretched sinners, as righteous while also giving us eternal life with Him.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^{[a]
Ephesians 5:25-27}

^{Ohmygoodness, how amazingAmazingAMAZING is that passage?! It is unfathomable to me that Christ sees us as His perfect bride. Thankful. So, so thankful.}

Thanksgiving {3 & 4}

Thankful for...
(this is a shout out to the ladies in my life)
{3} all the amazing women who have been bearing with my burdens, mourning while I mourn, and rejoicing when I rejoice these past couple of months. It's been a tough period of time, and God did not have to provide girlfriends to help me through it. I am so undeserving of the love that you gals extend to me, but your guys' friendship, prayers, and checkups on me have been such an encouragement. You all know who you are, and I love you all.

AND

{4} the recent mothers (pregnant or with newborns) at our church. I am in awe by their faithfulness to maintain a good relationship with the church. It's difficult to imagine how they balance serving their family while also doing their best to make it out to all the crazy church events we have. I am so encouraged even just by their presence to these events, even if they're unable to stay for the whole time. Most of the new mothers have made some kind of impact on my life, and I'm grateful that they still make time to minister to me. You ladies exemplify Titus 2 women to me. Thank you.

Thanksgiving {2}

Thankful for...
God's grace. I was originally scheduled to work the day after Thanksgiving because my boss always needs a person to watch the phones/front desk if he's at work. Knowing this since I first started working, I was pretty bummed for the first couple of months of working. I let my parents know how I only get Thanksgiving day off, and they told me it was best to just stay in San Diego b/c it wasn't worth driving to and back in 1 day. That was hard for me to hear because I haven't visited home since I started working. If I remember correctly, I probably complained about this to someone once a day. When November hit, rather than continuing to sulk over how I can't be with my family for the holidays, I decided to make the most of my time in San Diego and create opportunities to serve others. I looked up tons of different holiday recipes to see what I could make for those who are also staying in San Diego. God was preparing my heart to be content. Funny how God works, because once I completely came to terms staying in SD, my boss told me this past Monday that I could get Black Friday off. I am undeserving, but I am one grateful person.

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more
Romans 5:20

Thanksgiving {1}

Friends, be thankful!

There is so much to be praising God for.
Since Thanksgiving is only a week away, I will post one thing I'm thankful for per day until the actual holiday. My hope is to daily remember to give thanks to God, even after Thanksgiving.

Thankful for...
God's faithfulness. I actually looked at my past journal entries (2009) and some video logs I used to make (2010). Haha, it was so humbling to read through and watch, but I was able to see how much God's grown me since then. What a blessing it is to see God, who started a good work in me, continuing to perfect that good work until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6). =)

Family Secret Santa funnies

I created a Secret Santa questionnaire via email for my family members to fill out because we want to get our Christmas shopping done sooner than later. Here are so funny things my family members wrote when they filled it out. All quotes will remain anonymous:

if you could get tickets to anywhere (i.e. musicals, basketball game, football game, opera, concert, traveling, etc):

• Family member 1: no tickets. I don't want to go anywhere. I don't want to be forced to go anywhere. If I want to go, I'll buy it on my own. It's my free choice to go.
• Family member 2: LA NFL football game (oh wait, there is no team in LA!), Dallas Cowboys football game (oh wait, I live in CA!)

practical things you could use:

• Family member 1: a mustang GT (2011) or mustang fastback (1967), Banana Republic gift card
• My response to Family member 1: LOL, a mustang GT is a practical thing you could use?!
• Family member 1's reply to me: Of course. It will get me from point A to point B, much faster than my current car.

all i want for christmas is/are:

• Family member 1: babysitting
• Family member 2's response to the babysitting email: I think no matter who gets you as a secret santa, I'm going to end up being the one who babysits anyways.

original question was, 3 things you want to do before you die, but a family member changed it to 4 things you want to do before you die. -___- way to change my questionnaire.

• Family member 1: Well, since we upgraded from "3" to "4" thing we want to do before we die, I would also like to work for Disney's art or be one of their imagineers (or work for the FBI)
• Note: Family member 1 already wrote 3 things prior to the response above. Family member 1 turned 4 things into 6 things (4. work for Disney art, 5. be one of their imagineers, 6. work for the FBI)
  

I love my strange family.

Like a Newborn Baby...

I can long for the pure milk of the word, because of this:

⁶ For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will hardly die for a righteous man; ^[a]though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified ^[b]by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved ^[c]by His life. ¹¹ And not only this, ^[d]but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Romans 5:6-11

My sins seem greater and greater as I get older, but the gospel just gets sweeter and sweeter.

be still, worry wart

am i like this girl?

i'm afraid i am.
guilty. very, very guilty.

since high school, friends would call me a worry wart. even at work, one of my coworkers mentioned that i freak out too much. this is a problem.

coming back from retreat on peacemaking, i realized that the root of the problem isn't the circumstances that cause me to worry. the real issue is that my heart treasures comfort/security and values the thoughts of man more than the thoughts of God. there are so many uncertainties about the future. sometimes, i grow very impatient, wanting God to tell me what everything is going to look like rather than having to wait.

how do i combat this, Lord?

Ah, the Lord answers.

³ Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

Psalm 37:3-7

Come Thou Fount

Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise His Name I'm fixed upon it
Name of God's redeeming love.

Hither to thy love has blessed me
Thou has brought me to this place
And I know thy hand will bring me
Safely home by thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Bought me with His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Lord, I know my heart is prone to wander.
Daily remind me of the redemption that I have because of Christ.
May that draw me closer to love thee more.

veggie-dip pairings

Woohoo for lighthearted posts!
I like to think I'm giving my brain a rest when I blog posts like these.

I've been trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies into my daily meals because I noticed that chips & dark chocolate have been my go-to foods. Anyway, here are just a few vegetables I've been munching on the past few weeks, and I am still not sick of them! Sadly, I don't eat them by themselves, but pairing them with a good dip can't is better than not eating vegetables at all. :)

Pair No.1

celery sticks with...

TJ's sunflower butter!! [better than plain 'ol PB to me]

Pair No.2

baby carrots with...
TJ's original hummus!

Pair No.3

persian cucumbers with...
ssam jang!

I need to go search for some other good veggie-dip combinations.
Next vegetable adventure: how to make steamed vegetables that actually taste good.

Choosing to Be Joyful

Joy by PageCXVI

The lyrics of hymns are so profound. So full of good, simple, yet convicting truths. My appreciation for hymns didn't grow until last year. It was when I came across this band called Page CXVI that I started paying more attention to lyrics of hymns. Page CXVI takes the good 'ole hymns and reinvents the composition of the song to give it a modern feel, while still keeping the lyrics in its original form. I love what they've done. Listening to their works has helped me to be more mindful of the hymns that we sing every Sunday. One of my favorite times now during Sunday worship is the time the congregation has to sing a hymn. Our elder takes time to explain the history behind the song and will sometimes read a particular stanza to emphasize the character of God and how thankful we should be that God is like this.

The song, Joy, that I put up definitely has more of a somber melody. I read their blog to see why the song was composed this way. I'll let the artist explain it here:
http://blog.pagecxvi.com/post/683764188/joy

In the midst of the pain she went through and the loss she had, she still chose to be joyful. That is what is so amazing when believers go through trials. Though there is hurt, though there is pain, there is a greater hope. The hope and peace, which comes from the Savior. We can be confident that God intentionally put us in a difficult circumstance because He loves us. It was best for us. It was for our own good. And that is why the artist can still say that she has joy in her heart.

I was reminded of Philippians 3. As I've been meditating on this book for the past few weeks, I've been learning more that even if God were to take away everything that I love on this earth and allow me to suffer, I would be satisfied because all I have and need is Christ.

⁷But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.