Broken pieces

1. When I am struggling with my full plate of work and disturbing thoughts, another part of the world just breaks out with unexpected news. All of the sudden, I came to realize how pitiful I am to just get beaten up by life’s little stories. My dear friend just presented me her questions about life unexpected events, which no answer can ease her shock.

2. … BC said, “regardless if God brings me down or puts me on the high place, all I need to do is to do His will. I cannot expect Him to bless me but I just want to do what He asks of me…” This is precious. See him growing each day under the wings of the Lord, I cannot be more thankful.

3. As for JS, I wish you could understand one day… It is all right if the “one-day” is never though.

4. I wonder why I am the one going through the hassles to defend YZ and to protect his heart. I do not complain of my decision and ask not for sympathy. All I ask is that my Lord will give me strength to carry on.

5. Hua Jing, I am blessed and thankful for you. You know who I am.

I guess I take the little stories too serious. I try to encourage myself and speak the words of victory yet I cannot hide my desire of going Home, where I can be free and drink in only beauty and joy.

Despite of the fact that I am a little weak I still want to praise the Lord of His loving kindness. I still want to love Him with all that I am. I still want to do His will even if it costs me everything. I still want to pursue His beauty and grace while I might face my darkest night. I still want to enter His rest when I am not worthy.

My daily bread:
Wounded Oysters

When seemingly needless suffering invades our lives, we often ask ourselves, "Who needs all this grief?" But consider, for a moment, the origin of pearls.
Each pearl is formed by an oyster's internal response to a wound caused by an irritant, such as a grain of sand. Resources of repair rush to the injured area. The final result is a lustrous pearl. Something beautiful is created that would have been impossible without the wound.
In today's Bible reading, we see Joseph in a position of influence, a position God soon used to feed surrounding nations and Joseph's family during famine. But how did he become influential? It began with a wound—being sold into slavery (Genesis 39)—which produced a pearl of usefulness. Because Joseph drew on God's resources when humiliated, he became better, not bitter. He named his second son Ephraim, which means "twice fruitful," and he said, "God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction" (41:52).

Author Paul E. Billheimer says of Joseph, "If human pity could have rescued him from the sad part of his life, the glorious part that followed would have been lost." So if you're suffering, remember: No wounds, no pearls! —Joanie Yoder

If we accept adversity,Enduring every pain,Then we will learn what we should know;Our grief will turn to gain. —Sper