Stuff That Matters in Life

Katy’s Weblog

I picked up this book from the church giveaway table. It doesn’t look like it’s been read 🙂

I’ve heard the name Bob Goff, but I forgot the context. So I thought I’d give it a try.

It’s an inspirational book, though I don’t agree with all his spiritual reflections about God. I don’t like it when people say, “I don’t think Jesus would…” or “I think Jesus would…” We don’t know what Jesus would or would not do.  We can’t speak for Jesus. We only say what He has said, not what we think He would say. Goff does that a lot in this book.

But his life and adventures are pretty fun to read. It inspired me to live for boldly in obedience to God, especially in loving people. It also inspired me to have more faith in God for miracles.

I would only recommend this book to mature discerning believers to be inspired by another’s life, and not glean theological principles from it. It would help such believers to live passionately for God by taking more risks.

I didn’t know what to expect. The periodontist said the tooth extraction would take a couple minutes. I would be able to drive myself. So I was thinking it was no big deal.

It’s true, pulling out the tooth only took a couple minutes. But the whole process was about 50 minutes. The pain after the anesthesia wore off was quite intense. I wasn’t expecting that.

I am always amazed at medical technology. First, anesthesia is an amazing invention. The shot hurt a lot, I screamed and grip the chair. But it was less than 20 seconds, and then, I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t feel it when he pulled out the tooth, cleaned out the infection, he grafted in some bone, sewed up the wound, made an mold impression of my teeth to make a temporary tooth, and cleaned out all the blood and gross stuff. All this would be unbearable without the invention of anesthesia.

Within the 30 minutes of the drive home, the anesthesia wore off. Pain medication is another amazing invention. I immediately took 3 Advils and within 2 hours, the pain was gone. My headache was gone. The pain at the wound was gone.

The pain came back of course, but I was able to decrease the next dose to 2 Advils, then to 1. I didn’t have to take an Advil 24 hours later.

I am amazed at how God our body to be able to heal. My own bone and flesh will grow to attach the bone graft. Eventually, when the implant is drilled into that bone, my body will adjust to this foreign object as well. Truly amazing.

By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
    by understanding he set the heavens in place – Proverbs 3:19

 

Having been a follower of Christ for so long, I still wonder why God doesn’t do more miracles in answering our good and reasonable prayers. I know the answers intellectually, but on an emotional level, I have to keep asking God to remind me that though he slay me, still I will follow.

Here are a few reflections today when God does not answer my prayers:

He wants me to love the Giver more than the gift.

He wants to remind me in my suffering of His ultimate suffering on the Cross and his love for me.

He wants me to experience that His grace is sufficient.

He wants me to experience Him as the Good Shepherd who is walking with me in the valley of the shadow of death.

He wants me to grow deeper in seeking Him, not just seek a quick answer to a problem.

He wants me to experience suffering so I have compassion for those who suffer, thus know more of the compassion heart of God.

He wants me to not get too comfortable in this world.

He wants me to not put my hope in this world.

He wants me to know that the greatest treasure is not what this world has to offer but that I already have the greatest treasure in Him.

Unanswered prayer doesn’t matter that much.

“Why is it important that Jesus rose from the dead?” A fourth grader asked.

I’m working on explaining that in 13 minutes or less for the Easter sermon in a way that a 4th grader can understand and will change his life.

How has the resurrection changed my life? Does it change my life on a day to day?

Yes! It changed the trajectory of my life that Jesus is God! It gives me hope for the life to come as I am in the last quarter of my life! It gives me peace for this world that God has the ultimate power! I would make different choices if the resurrection didn’t happen. That’s what Paul says.

For a 4th grader, none of this matters. He just wants to play…

And that’s why it’s hard to prepare a children’s sermon.

To be honest, even for me, I have to remind myself the significance of the resurrection. My natural inclination these days is to be fearful of the future. I’m fearful of getting old, of dying, of bad news, of the world that my kids and grandkids will grow up in, of threatened physical safety, of the unknown.

I am glad we have Easter to remind me of the resurrection.

 

I decided this morning that I would be optimistic. I would be happy.

I have to remind myself of this often throughout the day. Otherwise my mind drift off to thinking about the weakness of my body. I am learning to be content with my body.

I visited a friend today – outside her house. I told her I’ve been feeling tired and can’t sleep too well. She said I looked like I have energy and my color looked good. That made me happy.

The most encouraging part was she told me how much she is enjoying my children’s sermons. She listens to it with her son and they talk about it afterward. That makes my work all worthwhile! Although it’s still worthwhile even if no one gave me feedback. I trust God to use it. But it’s nice to hear it.

I don’t know what gave me the courage. I don’t know why I said yes to an acupuncture treatment.

Maybe I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Maybe I was hoping it’d be the silver bullet I’ve been looking for to clean up my health.

Well, it was not the silver bullet…but at least it didn’t hurt.

He’s a Korean licensed acupuncturist referred by a friend. My friend said Korean acupuncturist use smaller needles than the Chinese acupuncturist. Maybe that’s why I did it!

He put a few on my feet and legs a few on my the back of my hand and lower arm, and one on my stomach (for my digestion).

I did not feel any difference that night nor the next day.

I’m going to try another acupuncturist with personal testimony of a friend who experienced healing from this one.  She seems to have similar symptoms as me. I asked her if it hurt. “Well…don’t think about that. Think about the results you’ll get.”  Not too reassuring. I have an appointment in 2 days. I told myself I won’t chicken out.

 

 

I’ve lost motivation to do crafts. I would rather read, walk, talk to people.

Making things that do not have purpose seem to be…purposeless, a waste of time.

Unless I can see some eternal value with what I make, I don’t want to spend the time.

Even with cooking, I just cook really simple. I don’t want to make anything with too many steps, like a lasagne.  I’ve lost the joy of eating because of my digestion problems.

I don’t know if it’s the pandemic, old age, lack of energy, depression, or a bit of all of those.

Maybe I’m feeling this way today because I’m alone at home. And I’m not having any fun. But I noticed I’ve been thinking this way for a while. Maybe that’s what people mean when they say they need a vacation. I’ve never thought I need a vacation. Getting ready for a vacation is stressful. I suppose everyone needs a change of environment once in a while.

 

Everyone highly recommended this book. It took me a while to read it. It’s not the kind of book you read to get through it for the information. It’s more of a devotional book to dwell on and grow it in your heart.

I was not too impressed with the first couple of chapters, but it started to grow on me.

Dwelling on the heart of Christ is definitely something I have not done. It was very encouraging and I want to read it again, a chapter a week or something like that.

Books read

Filed under 2020, 2021by Joyful

Every year, I say I want to blog more to keep track of my life. But as with every typical new year resolution, I fail after the first few months.

Now it’s another year!

I didn’t even keep track of books I read towards the end of 2020.

Here are the last 2 books I read last year: Highly recommend both

Resilient – Child Discipleship and the Fearless Future of the Church by Valerie Bell

Building Bridges – Biblical Counseling Activities for Children and Teens by Julie Lowe

 

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.

I’ve been reading various books but didn’t finish one to post till now.

I found this book very insightful and inspiring, highly recommend this old treasure. I love the style of writing of old books.

Books I started and did not finish:

Growing Together by Melissa Kruger

I heard someone talk about this book as a good book for mentoring women. It’s very basic, not all that insightful. I read half of it, but decided I don’t need to waste time with the rest of it. If I want to use it for mentoring, I will read it with my mentee, which is primarily the purpose of this book. There are discussion questions after each chapter. The chapters are a good springboard for discussion, but I wouldn’t rely on it totally because it’s too basic.

The Spiritually Vibrant Home by Don Everts

Someone left this book in my box at church. I read the first chapter and would like to read it. But it’s not engaging enough to be a priority.

Sacred Fire by Ronald Rolheiser

This is a self reflection type of book. A speaker I was listening to said he reads the last chapter every year as he gets older to give him perspective on aging. I need a perspective of aging so I bought the book.

The premise is that when we are young, we aim to give our lives away in doing things for others. When we are old we can no longer do things for others. We should aim to give our death away. That is to die well, continuing in good character and faith.

I would like to read this book, and I will try to read that last chapter every year. However, I don’t want to be reminded that I will die! The reality is, everyone is closer to dying as each day passes. When you’re old, you feel it more. I am feeling it.