Month: March 2015

Letter #7: Letter to My Local Church

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Dear Church,

We are crossing over. Many seasons have come and gone and now we are again at that point of crossing over.

I am amazed at what God is doing here. It really all just boils down to faith, hope, and love. Faith in Him and His faithfulness. Hope that keeps on finding the silver lining in every cloud, hope that keeps on waiting for the rainbow after every storm. Love for God, love for people, and love in all the things we do. We don’t know what will happen after all these, but as long as faith, hope, and love remains, we’ll be so much more than okay.

Let us enjoy the season we are in right now. Let us enjoy this sense of newness, this excitement, this childlike expectancy in our hearts. For behold, the God of wonders is moving. He is moving in the hearts of the broken. He is moving in the hearts of the proud. He is moving in us. He is moving through us.

Let’s enter the promised land!

Letter #6: Letter to that Special Someone

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Hello love, how do you do?
I think I’m somewhat missing you
But don’t you worry ’cause I’ll be alright
‘Cause you’re the one who makes me smile at night
And in the morning and the evening and the afternoon
So let’s just chill, relax, we’ll see each other soon
And be together, together, again

(Mari Anjeli, LDR Story)

Here we are, living out this LDR Story. Here we are, connected by the Internet, by cellphone lines, by thoughts and prayers — attempting to bridge the gap. I’m not going to complain any longer. I am grateful for what we have.

Being grateful does wonders. Being grateful and looking forward – these, along with lots of heart-rending prayers are my secrets. They are some of my keys to staying strong. Because when there are too many miles, too many minutes, too many days, too many weeks, too many months between us, it’s far too easy to either be numb or weak. But I choose to be neither.

I look forward to moments your name pops up on screen. To moments my blue Nokia phone buzzes, may it be in the middle of the day or night (as it often does). I look forward to hearing your voice – hyped up at times, crazed out some others, but my favorite is when it’s slow and relaxed. Most of all, I look forward to moments when I’m physically next to you, when we’re holding hands, when all these times we are apart become distant memories we have used to teach us, to strengthen us.

I know we’ll be able to see this through. By the grace of God, we will see this through.

Letter #5: Letter to My Brother

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Dear Balong,

Wassup ketcup? And I don’t mean Ash Ketchum. I know you get the Pokemon reference right there. This letter won’t be mushy or anything like that. I would just like to tell you how proud I am that I have a younger brother who is taking up his PhD right now while teaching (and playing Farmville 2) on the side.

Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep running. Keep getting your body, your mind, your spirit into shape. Get some more stamps on that passport. Eat more good food and just jog it off later.

Hay, we are growing up. I can’t believe we’re teasing (and ranting) about wedding plans already (oops, Mom and Dad might read that). But we’ve come so far from those two little squimples doing foot wrestling on the Armidale couch.

Keep in touch, continue to let me know what’s going on in your life. Though it’s only by a year-and-a-half, know that I’ll always be your proud big sistah.

So. Bye for now,

Ate Mari