He's looking at you kid

That beautiful and romantic song comes just to hurt... then someone who thinks she's a friend makes that famous remark 'when are you ever getting married?' If I were you, I'd reply 'You mean with the wind?'

This is the time you need to use your faith. It's that completely insensible, cold, short, to the point conviction that no matter how long it takes, how difficult it gets, and how hard it feels - you know you'll get what you want.

It's time to stop...

1. Listening to romantic songs - they can be a single lady's worst enemies!

2. Comparing yourself with others - you're not like everybody else, you're you! If all your friends are married already, so what?

3. Stop thinking about it - the more you think about this area of your life, the more anxious you get, and the less faith you have.

The secret is to invest in yourself, shooting down all the idleness and empty mind once and for all. Get busy with yourself and your faith. Learn new things, apply your time into doing good and useful things. The more you give yourself to God, the more you'll receive from Him and when you least expect, there will be someone looking at you kid.

USA beware

Back in 1995, when I first arrived in London, I decided to love the people of that city. 

It wasn't easy, but I loved them anyway. Every time I took the Tube or drove the church's car, I'd notice a sadness I had never seen before. Their moods were somehow linked to their weather - always cloudy. 

One day, as I was stuck in traffic with my husband, I noticed this young woman seated at a street corner begging for money. I prayed for her but a voice inside of me said 'go up to her and give her a leaflet about the church'. I filled myself with an unknown courage, opened the door of the car in the middle of the road, and went up to her. 

She was surprised at my reaction and by this time probably the whole street too, but I didn't really have the courage to look around. I gave her the leaflet and said 'God can take you out of this situation, give Him a chance.'

But she shouted 'Get out of here!' and threw the leaflet out in the street.

I went back to the car looking down all the way. From then on, I loved Londoners even more. They needed all the love they could get.

It's a Don't-tell-me-about-God society and why? Because it's a Liberal one. USA, beware.

Call it a Day

Sometimes your brain takes the computer mode and though you try to quit, it’s stuck. Stuck in all kinds of ideas between things you have to do and things you didn’t do. You’re tired, you want to get some sleep, but you just won’t stop thinking! So many opened windows, so many things you have to think at once…

And then you try some entertainment. Perhaps a good TV comedy will do. It doesn’t. You go to your closet and try to rearrange it, but the headache is there, inside, bothering you like a flashing Microwave sign – you know you just have to shut the door but you don’t, you just can’t shut down.

Leave the room quietly so the husband won’t wake up. Get your laptop. Start writing about it. What else will you do, lie in bed and wait while the clock continues ticking?

Write your thoughts down. Let a computer handle them. This is one of the most efficient ways to get rid of a day’s stress. Some use diaries, other use to do lists, and still others, like myself, write a blog about it.

I homeschool, reply to emails, and advise on various church projects every single day. It’s sometimes exhausting, especially when it clashes with my own expectations. I expect myself to write another book. I expect myself to do more for God. I expect myself to be a better mom and wife. I expect myself to be a better sister, daughter, and friend. And so I fail many times. I don’t always meet my own expectations and this frustrates me right at the core.

There are so many great ideas that come to my mind, but when I’m about to implement them, I can’t. I’m alone. I’m not enough.

It’s time to shut down and call it a day. Tomorrow is another day.

February 30th

Your boyfriend is always telling you to do things differently. He tells you off, he rebukes you for every little thing, and he can be a pain in the neck sometimes. On the other hand, he can be lovely when he wants to and you're so in love with him, despite all these negative things... and so you've been tolerating him... 

If you tolerate him now, how about after marriage? I really don't understand why would anyone stay in a faulty relationship. 

Here's what I think dating is all about. It's about getting to know that person so you may decide if he's for you or not. Everything else is a gamble, people get hurt that way.

He has shown he's not worthy of you, why bother wait for him to change around February 30th?

Women in the church

I’m so glad that I’ve found you on Facebook site. I used to reed your column in our church's newspaper, but they discontinued your articles and we don’t have your link in our church’s site anymore. Sometimes I feel that here women don’t have enough space to express themselves. I can find a lot of churches on Internet that have a special link for women’s speeches. We don’t have TV programs, we don’t have women from the church in our radio programs. Am I wrong asking for this? Are we supposed to be quiet? Is that God’s will? I understand we can’t lead the congregations, that wouldn’t be right, but I think something is missing. 70% of our churches are women, they bring their boyfriends, their relatives, their husbands, their children to the church, they fight for the people that they love. Is that all that we can do, fight and be quiet? 

Don't feel that way, the devil wants you to feel small and insignificant so you won't achieve anything through your faith.

If we don't have more women out there making a difference it's because women have felt the way you've felt. We are what we think we are. If we think we can't, we'll never do anything.

One day I had to remove this wrong thought from my mind and believe that God could make use of me, even though I've always felt small and incapable. From that day on, I did what I could do. I started reaching out to other women. I started to grab opportunities. God would give me ideas on things that I could do and I would get the courage to go and approach whoever I had to in order to implement, leaving all those thoughts of 'what will they think of you' and 'who do you think you are' behind.

I used my faith and God honored me.

Do that and He'll do the same to you!

Why do girls flirt?

Most girls grow up hearing the following in the background: 'You're daddy's little girl', 'My little princess', 'You're the most beautiful girl I have ever seen!', 'Come here sunshine.'

Can you see the pattern here? We grow up thinking everything revolves around us, loving the attention while we are at it. The more attention we get, the more beautiful we feel. That's why some of us will go to extra lengths for some attention... revealing clothes, inappropriate behaviors, and the natural female talent - the flirting.

The problem is that girls can be cruel when it comes to flirting (and I'm not even going to talk about the revealing clothes and inappropriate behaviors - those are beyond cruelty). Many guys fall in love with girls who are simply playing them up. They love the idea that they're in control, that they can ask anything they want, and these poor guys will gladly give them in exchange for a kiss or 'some nice time'. 

These girls are nice to them, laugh at their jokes, hug them, whisper something in their ears, and even touch them on the shoulder sometimes (one of girls' favorite way of flirting by the way). 

Girls who flirt enjoy the attention - even if it means breaking a man's heart. It's like the calendar semi-naked models. Boys hang them on the wall, models get both the attention and the money! 

Boys, be alert. You can be too naive at times. If she's coming your way, turn around, run, and don't look back.