simple truth

i've been wrestling with so many questions in my spiritual life - which isn't all bad because it means my spiritual journey is on my mind, but i think i've ended up confusing myself more than anything. i was talking to an older sister the other day about some of these things and she said something that made me stop short: God is simple. we try to make things complex and ask Him if there's more. today while i was doing my QT i realized that's completely true.

in Experiencing God, the unit i'm currently going through is all about our relationship with God, the nature of God, His love, etc. and although i've thought about this topic so many times, going through it again brought up all these questions doubting my own motives and true spiritual state - am i truly serving because of my love for God or are there selfish motives? am i substituting these works for more depth in my relationship with God? do i really love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength - and what implications does that have for how i live every day? what does it even really mean to love God? does it mean that i have to have these warm fuzzy feelings every time i think about Him, or does it mean loving His people?

but one verse from today's devotion made everything fall into place.

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." - John 14:21

it's that simple. loving God is obeying Him - obeying Him when He tells me to take up my cross and follow Him daily, obeying Him when He tells me to lay down my pride and consider others better than myself, obeying Him when He tells me to trust in Him only, obeying Him when He tells me to have no other idols before Him. and when i do that i realize that i've just been complicating everything unnecessarily - all i need to do is follow Him and allow Him to direct my feet.

today in particular i feel like my blog is so aptly named; i'm constantly finding myself flat on my face, tripping over these simple truths that i still can't get over. luckily for me, i have a God who is always there to pick me up when i fall :)

when everything falls apart

You said
You'd never leave or forsake me
When you said
This life is gonna shake me
And you said
This world is gonna bring trouble on my soul
This I know

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
You're the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on

When I see
Darkness all around me
When I see
That tragedy has found me
I still believe
Your faithful arms will never let me go
And still I know

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
You're the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on

Sorrow will last for the night
But hope is rising with the sun
(It’s rising with the sun)
And there will be storms in this life
But I know you have overcome
You have overcome

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
You're the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
You're the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on

- Everything Falls, by Fee

until then

i look inside me and all i can see is selfishness.brokenness.ugliness.pride.insecurity.fear.discouragement.darkness.anger.hurt.jealousy.anxiety.shame.unworthiness.
the sin in my heart passes in front of my eyes and fills up my vision until it's all i see
i can't run to you because i'm shackled by these chains, i'm tripping over myself until i'm flat on my face
all the things i've been trying so hard to do start to unravel and become transparent, useless

but somehow

You look at me and see Your child covered in a robe of righteousness
You make me whole, You make me new, putting together the broken fragments to make something beautiful
You pick me up where i fell and free me from the heavy burdens weighing me down, You meet me in my brokenness
You have already said that it is finished, but the good work You began in me will be carried on to completion

until i am made like You,
until i see You,
until i am with You,

mold me. break me. refine me.

A-Z randoms about me

i promised that my blog would tell you more about me so here goes :)


Aloe: asian drink i've been addicted to lately

Blankets: i love blankets - they make you feel warm and loved

Continents: i want to travel to all 7 (even antarctica!) by the time i die

Dance: one thing i can't do but seriously wish i could..

Elephant Love Medley, Moulin Rouge: probably most listened-to song since the summer <3

Facial hair: one of my biggest pet peeves on asian guys >.<

GCC: I LOVE GRACE COVENANT CHURCH. my home away from home, my family :)

Harry Potter: best books ever written, worst movies ever made

Ice cream: is not as good as froyo

Jessica: my full name that no one uses except for strangers or profs

Kenya/K'NEX: the country where my adorable World Vision Hope Child lives + the BEST summer family group :D :D

Laughing: so hard i fall off my chair is the best kind

May: my birthday month, most beautiful month of the year

Naps: i could nap my whole life away. enough said.

Orgo: currently the bane of my existence T.T

Philippians: my favorite book of the bible

Quirkiness: unfortunately a characteristic my mom encouraged in me when i was little.. no wonder i am the way i am >.>

R&B: music FTWWW

Siblings: older sister (24) and younger sister (11), i love them but they make me wonder sometimes if i was adopted haha

TWITTER: my completely awesome family group! :D

UP: my freshman year family group, will always have a special place in my heart =]

Vests: i have a total thing for vests - men, women, kids, everyone ;)

Wisconsin: born in Madison, grew up in Milwaukee in the same house since i was 3

X-files: include all my baby pictures of when i was digustingly fat

Yi family Monopoly Deal reigning champ: me ^^ (it was such an intense tournament, i'm proud to have this title!)

Zero: number of all-nighters i've pulled

my happy place :)

TWITTER <3

being refined

lately i've been having a hard time because i've been involved in a lot of conflicts. it's been somewhat discouraging because it's made me see so clearly how much i'm lacking in patience and love, plus it's been a strain emotionally and mentally; tension is something i don't deal with well and mostly just avoid like the plague. but i've realized slowly that this is really an answer to my prayer that God would show me where i need to grow more, that He would show me my sin so that i can grow from it. and i really believe i've been growing, not only in how to lay down my pride and seek to understand the other person, but also in realizing just how far i fall short of God's perfection. it's truly amazing to think about how God can love someone as flawed as me, when i can't even love other people as imperfect as i am. also, i think God's been giving me opportunities to deepen relationships with people around me - older brothers and sisters who listen and give me wisdom that i need to hear, friends who sympathize, and my roommate who stays up late into the night to talk and pray with me. but most of all, when i'm able to talk to that person i've fought with and we come to a place of understanding, it's like a new depth has been discovered - we're able to love and forgive because Christ is the base of that relationship, because God's love is flowing through and between us. i see God's hand working to shape my character, to show me the depth of my depravity and how sufficient His grace is in the midst of that. i am a work in progress, being refined to become a worker for His kingdom :)

daddy's little girl

i love my mom like crazy but ever since i was little, i've always been a daddy's girl. i have two sisters and no brothers, so my dad doesn't have any sons, but i was a little tomboy when i was younger. for example, when we went camping, my older sister would help my mom cook and set up the beds, while me and my dad would set up the tent and get wood to start the fire. i also took up the mantle of my dad's obsession with Star Wars, going to see all the movies with him in the theaters and watching all the rest so often that i could (and still can) quote multiple scenes by memory. i played (or tried to play) all the sports my dad liked too, namely soccer and tennis. since i utterly failed at soccer, i settled for tennis and played as long as i can remember, as well as for four years in high school; i still love to play with my dad when i go home for breaks. i even imitated my dad in the foods i chose to eat when i was little. since i couldn't eat kimchi when i was small, i settled for eating pickles so that i could make the same kind of crunching noise my dad made when he ate kimchi at dinner ^^

having this kind of relationship with my dad should have been easier for me to accept God as my heavenly Father, and to enjoy the same kind of warm and loving relationship. but for reasons that are still unknown to me, i really struggle with viewing God as my Father. i know others struggle with this because their earthly fathers are distant figures of authority who simply demand results from their children, but my dad is not like that. he always told me to do my best, but never instilled in me a performance mentality; rather, i did the things i did when i was younger to please him because i love my dad. in the same way, God calls us to serve not because He orders us to; rather, He wants it to be an offering of ourselves that results from a love relationship with our Maker. i tend to view God as my Master, and trying to live my life as a servant rather than a child of God. i constantly find that i'm frustrated with myself because i know what God wants from me is just an outpouring of His love returned to Him and i'm not sure why i can't view serving in that light - why it sometimes feels like a burden rather than a joy, why i get frustrated with others who i'm supposed to be humbly serving, why my heart is sometimes simply not in the right place. i get stuck in performance mentality - doing things for God without allowing the relationship to drive those things.

enter Experiencing God! it's only been a week but already, i love love LOVE this bible study guide and i'm so glad that me and my accountability partner decided to go through it this year. last night, i was feeling really run-down from being sick and trying to plan the saturday hangout, but after going through the bible study i felt RENEWED and completely invigorated. the study was about serving and said that a servant is not someone who asks God "what do you want me to do?" but rather someone God works with and through. it reminded me that is not our own efforts that that accomplish anything; everything we do without God is worthless. it is God's work that we are partnering with, God's work that is establishing His kingdom here on earth. another point i really liked was that "to be a servant of God, you must be moldable and remain in the hand of your Master". i felt like this was really basic, but again, something i forget all the time! although God does send me off to do His work, i can't forget that i'm never taken out of His hand; He is always carrying me so i should never feel the burden of "having" to do His work. God's work is a delight, and even when it can get hard, God himself is so much bigger and He takes all the weight off my shoulders. all i have to do is enjoy serving Him and bless His people, showing them the great POWER of the God we are serving :) essentially, i can just take on the role of a child, having eyes only for my Father - watching and imitating the things he does, but also resting in His arms and allowing Him to carry me. i'm not required to follow my Father's example, but because i'm driven to be like Him and please Him, i will naturally end up serving like He did. i want to have the mark of my Father on me, for everyone to be able to see that i am my daddy's little girl.

This is my memory verse for this week, courtesy of EG: "I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:5