Tag Archives: peace

No Longer Slaves

Posted on by

2

You unravel me, with a melody
You surround me with a song
Of deliverance, from my enemies
Till all my fears are gone

My sister emailed my family this song a few weeks ago, but I didn’t get around to listening to it until now while (finally!) reading emails. Turns out, it’s the perfect message for this mid-semester morning.

It can be so easy to dart our eyes around quickly and stumble into listening to the world’s message on every front in life, especially during stressful times. The common lies that we choose to hear and believe are sometimes shocking. Concerning school: “You should be scared. That exam is going to be so difficult. And you definitely didn’t study correctly for it. Plus, you’re not even smart enough to be doing this.” Concerning relationships: “You never do anything “fun.” Fun friends do this. Why can’t you just shut up and join the crowd for once?” Concerning identity: “You’re not unique in any way. You are not special. You’re just like everyone else.” Concerning ability: “You don’t have any talent whatsoever. People are probably laughing at you behind your back.” Concerning practically everything else: “You should be worried. You should be hesitant. You should be filled with fear. Good luck getting through this.” That’s why the constant refrain of this song couldn’t be any more powerful or true:

I’m no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God. Continue reading →

Gentle Like a Lamb

Posted on by

4

It’s a virtue.

It’s a weapon.

It requires true patience and compassion.

What is this “it”? Gentleness.

During the month of November, I’ve been studying gentleness as a fruit of the Spirit. The first thing I thought when the month began was that gentleness was a bit like patience: it’s a well-lauded virtue, yet still slightly overshadowed by “more prominent” virtues like love, joy, or peace. But I couldn’t have been more wrong.

After a few weeks’ study, I’ve grown to realize that gentleness is actually one of the most powerful virtues out of the nine fruits of the Spirit. And, in light of recent events surrounding Ferguson, Missouri, gentleness is a virtue that we could certainly stand to use more of in our society. Oftentimes, gentleness is put on the back-burner. On the virtuous extreme, everyone wants to exhibit grand gestures of love, kindness, or faithfulness; on the worldly extreme, the world screams, “Be loud! Be assertive! Stand your ground! Fight!” Meanwhile, gentleness is in the background, quietly waiting to be put into action, whispering, “Listen. Be gentle. Be calm. Be patient.” It’s not easily understood, but truthfully, gentleness is an important component of what makes a society – and an individual – truly great. Not “great,” as in a great, or fantastic, person to be around. But great – as in someone who is an influential warrior who wins in life for Christ and His kingdom. Continue reading →

European Med Life

Posted on by

0

It’s Labor Day for all my American friends and family, and usually I join in enjoying the day off with copious amounts of food, sleep, and HGTV. But today’s the first time I’ve actually put “laboring” into Labor Day, because it was the first day of classes over here at the University of Pécs Faculty of Medicine.

Yes, that’s right – I’ve officially began my journey as a European med student!

I know, I’ve been MIA from writing these past two weeks as I’ve gotten settled in (shout out to those whom I promised pictures and updates…they will come gradually). But bear with me; I’m a med student now (eek! I get to say that!).

Recently – as in, about two weeks ago – my Dad and I took all my packed bags (which was only 2 suitcases, surprisingly) and headed off on the long journey from Dallas to Pécs (rhymes with “h”), in beautiful southwestern Hungary. Med school is already a crazy ordeal; but to embark on that life change in a new country? Where I don’t speak the official language? Does that sound crazy? Yes? Well, sign me up! I’ve loved travelling since…forever. I’ve also loved medicine (and music and writing, but that’s a different story for another time) for practically my whole life, so in thinking of med schools, I wanted to go to an international school that would seamlessly blend these two passions of mine. And wow, the UP delivered. In my class group (about 15-20 of us), there are students from Jordan, Iran, Israel, Spain, Germany, Norway, Cyprus, Nepal, India, Canada, Argentina, and Nigeria. It’s the norm for students here to be multilingual; if you want motivation to learn a new language, just come here and make some friends. On my first Monday at the school, I met a 3rd year student who spoke nine languages. NINE. And he wasn’t kidding, because he broke out speaking those languages with various other students and patrons who passed by. I was, and am, in heaven just listening to the massive accomplishments of the other students in my med school class. Continue reading →

MCAT

Posted on by

2

About four or so days ago, I took the MCAT. I can’t express how HUGE it is for me: it seems that a weight was directly lifted off of my mind. Taking the exam really gets the ball rolling with my applications to medical school coming up soon… it’s all so much more real! I haven’t been able to stop smiling since it’s been over (seriously though, I’ll be sitting at my computer working and a smile will randomly creep up on my face; It feels great to be done). And I realize that many people despair afterwards, or try to forget it, or think about the next available time to retake it, but for me? None of that. All I’ve experienced is an immense sense of peace and relaxation. It’s truly a beautiful and joyful blessing for me to have had such a wonderful experience after completing the MCAT.

I really think that the already-large amount of warm fuzzies in my heart were greatly compounded by my family and the many, many friends who came up to me afterwards, asked how the exam went, hugged me, prayed for me, wished me well, brought me celebratory meals and snacks, wrote me notes, and overall rejoiced with me as I closed that chapter of my life. One friend said, “You’ve just made a huge step in becoming a doctor by completing the MCAT!” I hadn’t thought of it that way before; sure, the MCAT is important, but I didn’t think of it as a major achievement to cross off my application to-do list.

But now, I see it for exactly what it was. A true accomplishment. And I’m just incredibly blessed to have shared that experience with the many wonderful, amazing people God has placed in my life.

Beautiful Exchange

Posted on by

2

When only love
Could make a way
You gave Your life
In a beautiful exchange

When only love
Could break these chains
You gave Your life
In a beautiful exchange

Holy are you God
Holy is Your name
With everything I’ve got
My heart will sing how I love you

Seems to be one of the few things for me capable of easing the pain of knowing that someone heartlessly took the lives of so many young children in Newton yesterday morning. In times like these, when all I can do is weep and ask why, Lord, I pray for Your comforting peace.