The Sun and Snow

What it was a week ago:

What it is this weekend:

I think the snow is beautiful, but I personally prefer the sun. Now I understand why people get so excited about "first shorts day" or the like. I miss Indonesia and it's glaring heat - but maybe once I get there I'll take back my words.
It's so hard to be contented, isn't it? haha.

Talking about contentedness - realizing that I'll be going back to Indonesia in the summer is making it hard to be content here. I'm thinking of home all the time. It's probably normal, but it made it hard to be all here. I am so excited for the weather to get warmer, though!

Don't Give Up

don't be afraid to try :)
because Walt Disney wouldn't become the genius he is without the 302 rejections.
be thankful for hard things, for rejections, because an overly comfortable life is a dangerous life.

The dusty sand, weary feet, and God

I feel weary following God. So, as I was walking along with Him, I stopped. I looked down to the sandy road, to my tired feet. I frowned.
This is not turning out like I thought it would.
I'm disappointed.
I don't even understand Him right now.
I tried to search Him but He seemed to leave me with my weariness.
If this is all truly from Him, then why is it tiring? Why couldn't I find that joy?
The decision I made felt large for me. But why wasn't it turning into anything?
Endurance sounded plainly stupid. I don't know what I should do to please Him.
So I frowned.
I sat down, cross-legged on the sand, with my arms folded in front of me.
He stopped, He looked back, His eyes full of inquiries.
Trust Me?
He seemed to ask.
I started to have tears in my eyes. I looked down to my feet and refused to answer. It's not a no, not a yes. I simply didn't want to answer. Didn't know how to.
So He came, walked back a few pace, and knelt in front of me.
He knew it was hard for me, to trust Him.
So He stayed silent and looked at my eyes.
Why couldn't you trust Me?
Because I'm scared!
You knew who you are. Don't look at your circumstances or your feelings. You know my nature. Believe in Me, not what you thought I would do. My actions are not always what you predicted.
But what iffff..... I was full of what-ifs.
The conversation went on back and forth.
But what He told me is this:
You are able to go through this. But focus on yourself, and it will hurt you.
He doesn't answer what I asked, but His kneeling down besides me was enough. He understood.
and somehow....
I didn't feel wrong about stopping for that little while.
It seems like.... He appreciated my cries and questions.

and...wow. I'm proud to have God in my life.

Give Me Your Eyes

By Brandon Heath

Look down from a broken sky 

Traced out by the city lights 

My world from a mile high

Best seat in the house tonight

Touch down on the cold black top 

Hold on for the sudden stop

Breath in the familiar shock

Of confusion and chaos

All those people going somewhere 

Why have I never cared

Give me your eyes for just one second 

Give me your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted 

The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me you heart for the ones forgotten

Give me your eyes so I can see

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah 

Step out on a busy street 

See a girl and our eyes meet

Does her best to smile at me 

To hide what's underneath

There's a man just to her right

Black suit and a bright red tie

Too ashamed to tell his wife

He's out of work, He's buying time

Pre Chorus / Chorus

I've been here a million times 

A couple of million eyes

Just move and pass me by

I swear I never thought that I was wrong

I need a second glance

Give me a second chance

To see the way you've seen the people all along

Chorus

Video Courtesy of Youtube.com and lyrics from lyricsmania.com

A Flower for your Monday Blues

                 taken from flowerpicturegallery.com

I like daisies. They're so simple and they seemed to somehow picture the 'unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit' mentioned in 1 Peter 3:4.

One source said that daisies symbolizes fidelity.

Fidelity, according to the Wikipedia, is the quality of being faithful or loyal. Its original meaning regarded duty to a lord or a king.

These days, I'm learning to be faithful. To have this so-called fidelity.

It's not easy, when you've decided to follow God, and you realized that following God is an everyday life thing. As a 12th grader, I may be suffering of what my teacher called 'senioritis'. It's when you finally have to see ahead of school, and school stuff comes to you as being so monotone and boring. You started not doing home works, you never feel like studying for tests, and you get through the day as if you simply don't care. Apathy, maybe.

I used to be quite competitive about having good scores, or about making the best of assignments, but now my little perfectionist ambitions seemed to be buried somewhere underneath stacks of college applications and entrance essays. That 'spirit of excellence' seemed to disappear.

Then one day, questioning about the dullness of school routine and wondering simply about how Daniel could be found excellent in everything he did, I knew what I lack.

Faithfulness. Faithfulness in small things, faithfulness in even the dullest of weekdays.

I suddenly found faithfulness, or fidelity, as a peculiar form of strength. On Monday, last 2 weeks, I was having, again, caught up in my emotional turmoil. Monday blues, maybe. More like, I had much fun on the weekend, and facing the weekdays felt like going through a battlefield. However, I was reminded of being faithful. Suddenly, I understand that it's useless to lock myself inside my grey little room and contemplate on what I'm feeling (which I do a lot). Suddenly, I know I have to go despite my feelings. I have to work and do something, even when my feelings drag me into a personal hell.
I found strength, even though I was as much in a turmoil the next morning. I found this weird determination that I'm going to go through this day the best I can, with God. because this is what following God means.

So, why am I posting this?
Because this is the night before Monday, obviously.
Because Monday is the start of another week with God.
Because even though following God means walking through a rough, uneven road, it also means getting to be with God.

Another week, another grace.

taken from mypinkdaisy.wordpress.com

un-chewy cookies

Soft Chewy Cookies Recipe

Holidays.
Unlike most people, I get more stressed out on holidays then on school seasons.
I mean, the sense of getting NOTHING done throughout the whole day just totally stresses me out.
I love going out of town, or going out with friends, or all those kind of stuff, but staying at home........................ ugh.
I would always end up just watching TV for 12 straight hours! (you get the point)
and then when it's finally noon, and it starts to get dark, I just feel........... you know, like:
HOW COME THE DAY WENT SO FAST! THIS IS HORRIBLE. I SHOULD NEVER WATCH TV EVER EVER AGAIN.
but the next day, that's EXACTLY what happens again.
frustrating, I know.
instead of the MUCH NEEDED refreshing, I'm literally stressed out.
So..... I started trying to bake these.
I had my friend Dyna coming over, and it took half of the day making these supposedly-soft-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.
It turned out hard.
But it's worth the try, and at least i'm not burning my eye watching TV.
And it looks good on photograph righttt? :D
(the recipe link is under the pictures. it's from food.com)

ooooh and I tried baking supposed-to-be-homemade-oreos too. only mine doesn't quite taste like oreos.
I'll post the pictures next time!

Sweetest Escape Giveaway

Don't forget to join Stevia's giveaway on her blog!