A Letter to My Love

Dear my handsome love,

I miss you cutie. Today is once again the day of the week for me to write in my blog. You’ve always encouraged me to write because you think I write really well. And you like to half jokingly say I’ll become a writer one day and we’ll both be famous and rich. At the beginning I would think it’s ridiculous for you to think and say that, but now I start to realize how precious it is for you to still have the ability to dream while I don’t dare to dream that much. And that is a part of you that I love so much! 

But as I sit in front of the computer, starring at the blank page, I have no idea what I should write about. Especially in times like this when I have so much other things yelling for my attention and deadlines persecuting me. A huge part of me just want to hide under God’s wings until I get to see you. But you know how I’m not a quitter. If I start something, I’m determined to finish it. So I calmed my heart and asked for God’s guidance. Then I remembered a blogger who once said, “You have to write about something you’re passionate for.” And I immediately thought of you. I have so much I want to share with you, I could talk and talk for hours with you. Thus, I decided to write this letter to you.

I just checked the calendar and in 50 days we’ll finally see each other in New York!! I’m so excited and I really can’t wait to give you so many hugs and kisses! I think you will like New York a lot. I know you’ve always liked the city more than the country side. Honesty, I’m still getting to know New York, but there’s quite a lot of things that I don’t like so far… I don’t like how I can’t really see the sky, how people aren’t so friendly, how everything is so artificial. On top of that, the weather’s been so cold and without you by my side, it’s even colder.

I think you know how I really long for some friends here in New York. Some time ago I started to think if I went to New York University instead, I would have made friends with a lot of people already. Then I asked God how come New York University never gave me an answer to my application. I would think New York University would have more graduate students my age. I told God to at least tell me why NYU never replied me. The next day, NYU sent an e-mail telling me they decided to save my application for the Fall semester instead of this Spring semester. I was thinking, “Really? Without any reason NYU just decided to postpone my application to the next semester? That doesn’t make any sense at all!” But at the same time, it’s so amazing how God just hears prayers and answer them immediately.

Anyways, NYU’s e-mail made me realize that God never intended me to go to NYU. Remember how much trouble we went through just to sent my application? It pretty much ruined the last day we had at the beach since I was so frustrated at the NYU’s application system denying my application. It wasn’t until I prayed to God to at least give me a chance to submit my application that I successfully sent my application. I should have just obeyed God and not send the application and save the 70 dollars, lol. But God is so nice for granting my prayer and giving me a chance even when He had the door closed. Sounds familiar? hint,hint, Taiwan 😉

Now that I think about it, I am super thankful for God bringing me here to the New School University. I really like all my teachers and my classmates. Even though all my classmates are a lot older than me, many of them are experienced teachers who just lack a TESOL degree (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language). Therefore, I’ve gained so much from listening to their teaching experiences and working with them on projects. Even though I still want to have more friends my age, I actually get to have a lot more free time to work on my blog and write my songs 🙂

Romans 8:28  says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” This is the verse God has given me for this year, 2014, and it is so true! I can’t wait to see what else God is going to do this year in our lives! ❤

I love you cutie, you’ll probably be pretty shocked when you see this letter on my blog, haha, but I think you’ll like it 😉

Hugs and kisses,

Lynn

How Does it Feel to be in a Long Distance Relationship?

As I’m typing these words, in about 100 minutes, my handsome love would be back home from work and he’ll skype with me.

I will tell him that the carefree days when we were both innocent students seem so far away.He would probably give me a warm smile and tell me we’ve definitely grown more mature and more in love. Then he’ll stretch out his arms and give me a space hug as I blow him kisses through the screen.The love in his eyes would enlarge the pain that has been in my heart for the past 571 days.But then I’ll hold on tight to the hope of the day when we will fully belong to each other.

If you ask me how it feels to be in a long distance relationship, I’ll tell you it’s like you’re trapped on a different planet and your love is trapped in a cold computer box. You will feel the mixture of pain and love, joy and sadness, sweetness and bitterness every time you see him or her. This conflicting sensation reminds you day after day that even though you’re together you don’t really have each other. You’ll smile when he or she’s having a great time, but your heart hurts because you are not there. You’ll feel loved when he or she tells you that you’re what he or she thought about the whole day, but you’ll also worry because you don’t want his or her heart to be sad.

Occasionally, you might question yourself if going through all this hardship is worth it. You might look at other couples and wonder why they have their loved ones close while you don’t even get to hold hands with yours. And when a voice of doubt rises, you can’t help but listen to it, but then you immediately shut it down and feel guilty about it. Then you find yourself complaining to him or her why there’s this distance between you. You fight, you cry but you don’t feel anywhere better when you see there’s really nothing you can do now. But you love each other so much that you chose to stay in this long distance relationship. 

The good thing is, as days pass by, you realize how strong your love for each other is. Before, you would never wake up at 6 or sleep pass midnight, but now you’re willing to do so for each other. You would sacrifice your time with family or friends, just so you could go back home and see each other. You start to seriously talk about the future and set a date to end the distance.The friends who used to laugh at your choice to love someone so far away, will be amazed at the love you have for one another. The family members who are waiting for you to give up, will start blessing you when they see your perseverance. And after many nights crying alone and missing each other, you realize you have to be strong, live beautifully and stay happy for the sake of the ones you love.

I really like this quote, “Distance is just a test to see how far love can travel.” Love can travel further than you can imagine, just give it a chance. To those who are considering of going  into a long distance relationship, don’t be afraid if you really love the other person. 🙂

Hugs,

Lynn

P.S “Like” if you want to hear more about long distance relationship, I’ll be more than glad to share my story! ❤

Celebrate Your Weirdness!

Hi everyone!

Here’s another new post and I can’t believe another week has passed already!

I prayed to God this morning, hoping God would give me more inspiration for my blog. And most importantly, I need to “CLEARLY” know the ultimate purpose for my blog every time I write and ask myself ” What does success of my blog look like?” The hope to touch and bring some joy into others’ lives seems too broad. I haven’t quite figured it out, but meanwhile I will continue trying my best 🙂

I read a few days ago that you can learn a lot about a person from the kind of pet he or she chooses. I always think those old ladies who always have their chihuahuas carried in a bag are control freaks. (Causing the poor little chihuahuas losing the ability to walk). But then again, it might also show that these ladies really need some company.

That made me start thinking about the pets I’ve had. I had my first pet when I was 11 years old. Back then in Taiwan, the most popular pet for little kids to have was a turtle. Even though what I really wanted was a puppy or a cat, my parents still thought we should start with a turtle.

Now that I think about it, it’s quite funny that turtles were popular because they are easy to take care of and they don’t die easily…very needed qualities for crazy little kids, haha.

After my request to have a pet, my parents took me and my sister to a small aquarium to pick out our very first turtle. I remember starring into a tall tank with about 30 small turtles swimming around. When we approached even closer, all the small turtles started swimming towards us. They eagerly bounced against the glass and pushed their companies away. My little sister was very amused and immediately picked a very  energetic turtle that had a small head but huge eyes. Then they went on buying a small tank for her turtle while I still stood there trying to find my Mr. Turtle Right. They all looked very similar with slight differences. Some had orange on the side of their green heads, others had a more reddish color.  Some were slightly bigger with stronger little claws, and others looked like new-born turtle babies.

Just when I was starting to panic because I couldn’t decide which one to choose, I spotted an elegant turtle at the very far back of the tank where fresh water was pouring. He stood alone on a huge rock under the pouring water as if he was an outsider but he didn’t care and was perhaps even somewhat proud of it.  I took him home and named him “Special”.

My second pet was a hamster. I was already 14 years old and we were living in Belgium. There were many cute hamsters eating, playing or sleeping. We decided to buy a dwarf hamster just like the picture below, aww.. they’re so cute! Then, I realized one of them was with an extraordinary big ball of white fur at the top of his head. I held him in my hands and found him the most adorable among all others. But the shopkeeper of the pet store suggested me not to choose him because the fur could indicate that he had some kind of illness or genetic defection. Even my mom urged me to choose another healthy-looking hamster. But that only made me want him more because I thought, “If I don’t buy him, who would want an unhealthy hamster”?

I loved both of my pets so much, I had them with me all the time. I liked to hold them and touch them so much that my mom even thought I was overly obsessed with them. But at the same time, I wanted to give them freedom. I would let my turtle walk around the house and it was very easy to lose them. Once, there was even a whole month that I couldn’t find him, until one day he appeared with dust covered all over him. I guess he showed up because he was hungry, haha. 

Reflecting back, I realized how I chose my pets does somehow reflect my personality as a kid. I’ve always considered myself different and somewhat excluded from the crowd. Mainly because our family moved to many different places because of my dad’s job. That made me feel very lonely inside of my heart.

As I grew older, I realized I wasn’t the only one feeling awkward and out of place. Everyone is special and different in their own ways. Some people can easily embrace themselves the way they are, some need a bit more encouragement to see how lovely they actually are.

If you like to follow the trend and blend in with everyone else, as long as it makes you feel happy, there’s nothing wrong about it. But if deep down inside, you know there’s something different about you, don’t be afraid to show it. Don’t be afraid to stand out from a crowd. Just because not everyone knows how to appreciate how precious, unique and special you are, doesn’t mean you’re not.

And when you find someone who sees your “weirdness” and knows they are a part of what makes you super lovable, that’s one of the greatest treasures in life 🙂

Very Glad to be here and sharing!!

Hugs,

Lynn

No One Ever Taught Me How to Pray

Hi everyone!

It feels great to start posting my second entry, and believe me, I have a huge smile on my face right now! 😀 It’s so encouraging to see some of you amazing bloggers following and commenting, thank you so much! I have to say some of your wonderful blogs are definitely very inspiring! Thank God for blogs!

A few days ago, I watched the movie “Gravity”  and it had me on the edge of my seat, hands sweating from the very beginning. I would definitely give it a 4 out of 5 for it’s fast-paced and captivating story line. Here’s the poster down below for those of you who don’t know the movie 🙂

But what I remembered the most was when Sandra Bullock sat all alone in the spaceship with no fuel left to go back to earth and she started crying when she found herself face to face with death and no more hope.

And then she said a line that was stuck in my mind for days,

“I don’t know how to pray, no one ever taught me…”

I felt both very shocked and sad in my heart. I wish no one had to face death to suddenly realize that they need God or want to at least pray to Him once. I wish no one on this earth was never given a chance to know who Jesus is. I wish everyone had a chance to learn how to pray to the God who has created you and me. That’s why I thought, ” I have to write a blog entry on how to pray!”  And it really isn’t hard to pray at all!

You don’t need to say any pretty words to draw God’s attention or win His approval, you don’t need to be afraid that He doesn’t know you, and you definitely don’t need to be anywhere close to a saint to have your prayers heard! Why? Because God loves you whether you feel it or not, He knows you because He created you and He knows we’re nothing close to being perfect and that’s why we need Him!

So here’s three easy steps to your first prayer to God. Let’s get started!

1) Say Hi!

Yes, it sounds funny, but it’s true! Say Hi to God and know that He’s all ears waiting to hear you! When I’m super happy and I just want to praise Him for His wonderfulness, I would say, “Oh God, You’re so good!” On rough days, I might just say “Hey God…., I’m here…”

2) Tell Him!

Tell God what you’re thankful for, what makes you happy! Tell God what’s frustrating you, what’s worrying you. Ask Him what he thinks about your situation.  I have to admit, some days I have a lot of things I want to share with God, but there are also days when I just don’t feel like telling Him anything. And that’s perfectly fine! The more you talk to Him and want to be with Him, the more you will want to tell Him everything and know how He thinks too! Just remember, nothing is too small for Him to care and nothing is too big for Him to handle 😉

3) Send your prayer!

God is so good that you don’t need to buy a stamp to send your prayer 😛 All you need to say is, “In Jesus name, Amen.” at the end of your prayer.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The father that Jesus is talking about here, is GOD. We go to God through Jesus, that’s why we say “In Jesus name, Amen.” Amen comes from Hebrew, meaning ‘truly’, ‘so be it’ which is declaring affirmation and believing that God will respond to our prayer.

Now, what does the trick is not how beautiful or eloquent your words are, it’s FAITH. Have faith that your prayer is heard by God and He does not take any prayer lightly.

Here’s a little testimony (which I have tons and I want to share as much as I can to all of you!) My superman is right now working in a beautiful country in Latin American and he is so sweet that he wrote a card to me for Valentine’s day. But the card never arrived to me in New York and many weeks after he sent it, he pronounced the card lost. I felt a little bit disappointed but I decided to pray to God. Here’s my prayer, “Dear God, thank you for giving me this sweet man. You know how he spent the time writing the card and I really want to receive it as well. You know where the card is and I just ask that it will arrive! In Jesus name, Amen” The next day, there’s was  no card, and the next day, still nothing. But there was this faith inside of me that it will get here to me somehow. And on the third day, I got the card with loving words from my love, yey!

You might be thinking, “What?! I don’t think God would care for such a trivial thing.” Or, “That’s nothing, maybe the mail just got lost a little bit.” But the truth is, the way to exercising your faith is by starting small. Start small and let your faith grow! Imagine how much faith you would need to open the eyes of the blind!

So, here it is! Three easy steps to start a wonderful prayer to God 😀

I would be so happy to have some of you who are willing to ask any question you may have or share your praying experiences 🙂

Hope this is helpful to anyone who needs it 🙂 God bless you all with an amazing week!!

Hugs,

Lynn

This is for You

Hi there 🙂 !

Even though I don’t know you and can’t see you, I just want to tell you, YOU ARE AMAZING! How do I know? I just do 🙂 And if you’re still not convinced, here’s the real reason. You are amazing because someone who knows you very well thinks so. I’m just telling you on behalf of them ❤

And if you’re still reading and haven’t shut this window thinking “What a weirdo!” Thank you so much! I am so happy to have you here! So friend, (please allow me to call you that, if you don’t like it, feel free to tell me) here’s my little blog story: It has been on my heart to start a blog for a very long time, but I never did because I’m afraid that I would quit very soon. So instead of worrying so much, I decided to do a little experiment and see if I can succeed in updating this blog at least once every week for the next 6 months. If I am able to do so, I will move on and create a self-hosted blog and invest even more time in blogging! And you, my friend, will be one of my biggest supports and motivation to continue posting. You are so important!

I really want to share my life and my belief to you. Life isn’t always perfect, but it’s always beautiful if we learn to appreciate every moment together (huge smile on my face).  My greatest hope is that you can be blessed through my posts, and when life is rough, my words (and pictures, and videos and hopefully later, songs!) can bring some light and warmth to your heart.

I am so excited to start this journey with you! Yey!

Here’s a little introduction of myself~

I am a 24 year old young woman now living in New York. I was born in the States, but grew up in Asia and in Europe (the total time of me being in the States is only 8 years!) My parents are from Taiwan, and I love that country! I also have a younger sister, Irene. She is a great joy in my life. She is very very beautiful and she reminds me of Stitch, Yes, it is possible for her to be both of that! lol The greatest love of my life is Jesus. He is AWESOME! He saved my life and has continued to do remarkable things in my life everyday! I also want to introduce to you a very special man in my life (shy >///<). His name is Raul Erazo and he is the sweetest and most loving person I’ve ever met. I cannot imagine life without him. I learned the piano when I was young, but discovered this passion for ukulele two years ago. Actually, my passion for ukulele is also one of the reasons why I set up this blog. I have probably a dozen songs at hand and I am planning on recording and sharing them with you 🙂 Hmmm.. what else? Oh, I’m a really sensitive person, and I’m learning to be proud of that because I have realized being sensitive doesn’t equal touchy. It means I can be very sensitive to others’ needs and provide help or kindness whenever I can! Talking about looking from the positive side! ;D

So here it is! My very first post 🙂 If you’ve read this far and you are not my mom, I just want you to say I really appreciate it, truly 🙂 And if you are my mom… well, I love you and I am so proud you can read so much English! haha

Hugs to you,

Lynn