感谢主 for... for...

Some people's lives begin and end with pain. And every day in the middle - hear me when I say this, every day - is a struggle and obstacle and failure. Some people never trust Jesus. They die in darkness and pain.

感谢主 for summer holidays

You know what I love about summer holidays? Here's a few things.

That summer holidays are actually winters in Hong Kong.
Reading Austen fan fiction. (Yes. I am that lame.) Particularly Pride and Prejudice adapted to the world of professional ballerinas.
Going on day-trips to China with my Mum. More for the time spent together than the trip, the destination, or the shopping. I don't have the shopping-stamina she does.
Sugary drinks from Starbucks or Pacific Coffee: Christmas Mint Mochas, Toffee-Nut Lattes, Brulee Cappuccinos.
Watching a whole BBC series in one day.
Spending as long as I like at the gym.
Weekends with my dad.
Grocery shopping every day, spending hours cooking elaborate dinners every night.
Feeling snug under three doonas and my warmest flannel PJs.
Reading historical fiction in coffee shops on the 25th floor.
Getting mani-pedis and reading terrible magazines with my awesome sister.

感谢主 for beautiful days

Yesterday morning, the boy I've pretty much been in love with since I was 15, asked me to marry him.

I said yes. :)

He asked me on some rocks looking out to sea near Bondi beach, after reading James and praying to our gracious Father. He got down on one knee and I dropped my Bible. It was fairly perfect. :)

感谢主 for non-biological sisters

Tonight, in the midst of painful longing for my dear brothers and sisters far across the seas, in the midst of loneliness in a city I somehow never feel I belong to, in the midst of discontent in the dislocation that makes sinking into communities so difficult, I received an email full of prayer requests from a dear, dear friend. She is hurting tonight, as I am hurting. She needs God's love and grace, as I do. She is seeking to give all these concerns over to Jesus, as I am. What great timing our loving Father has: that, hanging up the phone in loneliness and grief, I open my computer and seek distraction, finding instead a heart similarly breaking. And how counter-intuitive these relationships we yearn for, that a sister's pain and pleas for help from our Father would be such a blessing. Oh, Father. Loving Dad. How we need You.