Why stop before we Begin?

Here I am in the middle of another busy week, writing this blog. So why am i writing it? Because God is Goood!! A lot of the past year has been a struggle with my career path. As a lot of you who know me, i was wait-listed for optometry school at the University of Waterloo. And when I found out, i was reading the book of James at the time and the first thing I saw was

consider it pure joy , my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you maybe mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

And after talking to a friend, who didn't get into their school of choice, he said that his 4th year was actually very fulfilling as he did many things that he wouldn't have done if he did get into his post undergrad school.

So i began to think.. maybe God really wants me to do my 4th year and become complete, mature and not lacking anything... this was pretty much reaffirmed when off of the wait-list, 13 people got into the school of optometry at UW and the end of August, and guess what? I was number 14!

But all Said and done, this year i finally Got into Optometry! Praise the Lord! and once again i say that God is good. But i definitely believe that God put me through my 4th year to teach me, to mature me and to make me complete. But i will share that that stuff with my brothers and sisters at CCF during sharing night before i write a post on it (Mainly because i haven't processed anything yet! and also because i need something to share about during sharing night!). But i Do want to say thank you to those who have been praying for me and support me all this time!

So where do we go from here? I got in. What now? Just coast and do whatever until September starts up again? (Which im NOT going to do [for my mom's comfort]No worries.. im still competing with my roommate for marks haha)

Im going to use this part of my life as an analogy for something that ive been thinking about recently. That is, when Christians get baptized or come to accept Christ, we tend to believe that since we re saved, we re automatically saved and free from everything, that we just have to wait until we die and then God will just let us into Heaven?

I mean if it were that easy, why not just go into Heaven directly after we accept Christ? The fact is that we are on this Earth to be witnesses to others who do not yet know God. Also God gave us some jobs we must fulfill. The greatest commandment, Love God, love your neighbours and also the great commission: GO forth and make disciples of ALL nations.

The fact is that after we ve accepted Christ, the Journey is JUST beginning.

We still have to go and Live like Jesus, doing all we can to show people that you dont have to conform to the patterns of the world (Romans 12:2), but we can break free of any sort of expectation or stigma that society has put on us where if someone does something to you, one would usually retaliate or why do something if it doesn't benefit you?

In Ephesians 4:1-2 it says:

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Is it not harder to live a life of a Christian? To do the "Good" thing? To wake up extra early on a weekend day to go to church? To set aside time in a society that is always on the GO to read the bible and to devote some time to God. To have society's eyes on you, watching every step of the way pointing out every that isn't "Christian like". Doesn't it seem like you re walking through a pathway of knee deep snow where no one has shoveled and you re making the first footprints? Why am i encouraging you to take this path?

I am going to try to use a part of my own personal testimony as a source of encouragement.

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is Good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him

Just last year, i made the commitment to daily search for God and live my life the way God wanted me to live. And I can say that i've tasted and seen that God is Good. Everything that i've gone through, i've found joy, happiness and peace. I can say that in the past year, with God in my life, even when times weren't looking great, i was still able to find joy in my life through God.

What more can I say... its been just pure awesomeness! How can i not share this goodness with whoever i can share it with! And my journey is STILL not over yet!

Whats even better is that when you come to know how Good God is, you just keep wanting more... i would say its a GOOD addiction then!

Theres so much to learn about God. I like to compare it to a game with unlimited levels.. and no matter how long any one of us has lived, we re like at level 10 or some low number like that...


SO my encouragement to you is to not to stop searching for God, no matter how tough the journey it may seem! There is no level of seniority and there are no experts out there.. all there is, is people full of sin who are in need of healing and forgiveness, something God can only provide. There will never come a point where someone will experience all of God's goodness at any point of their lifetime so KEEP SEARCHING and good things will happen!