2012 in Review

What an eventful year this has been! Give thanks to the Lord for all His miracles and grace. There had seem to be many speed bumps this year that I had to go through, but all things worked together and caused me to increase my faith, to learn more about myself, and to enlarge my capacity. Overall, my trust in the Lord and friendship with the Lord has increased! Lets take a look back at this year!

1. At the beginning of the year, I learned a whole lot about myself and weaknesses. But at the same time, I learned to accept my mistakes and failures. Being a person with a fear of failure, I had a huge breakthrough to view failures as a process that the Lord provided me to go through and to learn from. I can say that now I am more brave to face myself and more bold to "just do it".
Well one thing I learned about myself can be summed up by a story that V told in a message recently....I will briefly share it. There was a huge bear (or some kind of big furry scary animal) outside your house! It was so cold outside, and a huge storm was hitting. This bear knocks on your door and asks if it can stick just one paw inside your window. You are hesitant, since this is a big animal that can gobble you up in his tummy. But with his sweet talk, you feel bad for the bear, and let him put one paw inside your house. A while later, the bear speaks again. He appreciates your help and asks if you can let him stick his other paw inside, since it feels sooo very uncomfortable to have one paw warm, and one paw cold. Again, you feel bad for him, and with his sweet talk, you give in and let him stick the other paw in. This happens again and again until you let the whole bear into your house! And you are doomed! He gobbles you up! (well I made the ending up-anyhow, the ending is that you are doomed with a dangerous bear in your house!)
In that meeting I realized that I am very much like the person who lets the bear in the house! I realized I can endure things that I know will not be good for me, and make excuses to let them into my life. Even though I may be a rigid person, but I also give leeway to let things happen, that may not be beneficial. In a way I have to be more disciplined, and stick to my plan, and dont let things alter the way it should be! That was one huge lesson I learned this year!

2. I finished all my chem courses!! Chem has been my worst enemy since high school, thank God that after two repeats in university, I have passed them all!!!! This is a great accomplishment for me!

3. Went to HK, Singapore and Cape Town for missionary trip! It was such a productive trip I found, and it was a joy to involve in God's work, even though it was non-stop busy! What I gained the most is to live freely before the Lord, I really saw the Lord's victory in this trip, and learned to live in the reality of His victory! Btw, 4 boys we were helping in Cape Town just got baptised in the past week! Praise the Lord!!!

4. My parents moved to Vancouver! This was a huge change in my life, it took a while to get used to, and I am still adjusting. But I am happy that we can be together as a family again, and serve the Lord in Vancouver! So precious that we can be trained up by Him together and be a more glorious family, to be greatly used by Him!

5. I got a job at Forever21! It was kinda random, but it turned out to be a pretty good job! Even though the pay is not that good, but I actually dont mind going to work. Give thanks to the Lord that I got to work cash a lot, especially on grand opening day! I wanted to be a cashier ever since young! I think the Lord also helped me to find favor before my managers. I got to work at the back with one of them once, to help her with a personal project, I also get along with most of them well, at least they know my name and it seems like trust me. I just realized I'm the only one working in my family now too. Oh and I like shopping there too haha....my poor pay cheque.

6. In October, we found out that my grandma (on my mom's side) got cancer. This was a huge shock. But her faith towards the Lord was so comforting and encouraging. The Lord really cares for everyone, and no matter at what age, you can still love the Lord and increase your faith towards Him. The Lord answered many prayers for my grandma. She had a surgery to remove 2/3 of her stomach, and just 2 days later, she was taken off ALL pain killers, and said she felt NO PAIN! It is truly a miracle. Even my bruises still hurt after 2 days when I get them! She was also able to eat congee after a week or so. And now she can eat pretty much anything! What a wonderful blessing from the Lord! I also realized how much I treasured my grandma through this.

7. The day after my dad came back from HK, we found out that my grandpa (on my dad's side) was in the hospital with a serious condition. There was lots of praying for him, and give thanks that the Lord sent some brothers to go and preach to him. To my surprise, he accepted! I prayed for him since I knew how to pray, and he has actually rejected me when I preached to him before, but I guess the Lord used all things to soften his heart! This was a very happy news, please keep praying for him so that he can experience God, and will have the desire to follow Him closely. Also for God to confirm his faith!

8. K.Y., L.F., and K.N. believed in God this year! Give thanks that we can have breakthrough in the gospel to the ones close to us! WOOHOO!

Well thats all I can think of right now. Theres 10mins till 2013!! The Lord answered many prayers, and His grace has always been sufficient! I'm excited for the new year for what the Lord has prepared. It may not be a easy path always, but it is always an upward journey! Lets faith on, and rejoice all the way!!