It's always a doozie trying to come up with some interesting first sentence to catch my reader's attention, but I just fail :P
The past week's been pretty busy, just wanna update on my Chinese New Year. Spent time with family, and got to eat some fancy feasts. My family is culturally Buddhist, and they are not the most supportive of me becoming a Christian. But God has been SO good, they've softened (I think..) my parents' hearts a lot since I've moved back home... letting me go to church regularly and small groups, etc. But anyways, a tradition for New Years is going to the temple and stuff. I normally concede and just respect my parents and go a long with what they say and do, knowing fully that it's not good witnessing to "just go along with it." But I love my parents too much to disrespect THEM, not the religion. And this is something Neil constantly reminds me to work on, and it's very tough.
Well, this year my Mom paid the temple money to have the monks bless/pray for me specifically... and so in return I had to pray at the temple and stuff. And I told Neil, and he encouraged me to talk to my mom about not doing it cause it no longer reflects what I believe in. I know my mom, and I could already picture the verbal throw down that was going to happen between us. I was scared crapless, but through prayer- God was able to be behind my every word in talking to my mom, and help me stay calm and collected while my mom was speaking above normal vocal ranges. PTL! And thanks to Neil too :)
So just wanna encourage brothers and sisters that through prayer, all things are possible, even when you have major doubts and fear. For me, I just need to find that right balance of honoring Jesus without disrespecting my parents!
I am going to start gyming it up again after work. I hope that I'll stay motivated for a longer time :) Gyms are so packed recently, maybe cause of people's New Year's resolutions?
