Couple days ago at work, I had a student say to me, "Its much easier to add than subtract!" while he was referring to math, my mind went racing into various applications to life. It is not easy to subtract attitudes from the norm of society. It is easier to add new accepted attitudes instead.

I find it easier for me to add new practices to my life, but even when i know something is bad for me, its a struggle to subtract it. When God points out that I need to subtract worldly behaviors in my life, I try to rationalize my behavior. How can I expect Him to add to my life when I am not willing to make any room?

I know I know, sounds so trivial. When i say "23+7" its easy for the majority of us to spit out "30" but when i say "23-7" it takes us a second to think about it. But apply it to life in general.

One of these days, you will run out of room to add, then? Do you stop adding? growing? Do you hit a plateau and stay there? Mountains might be hard to climb but after you have conquered the climb, ask any climber about what the want to do and its never "i just want to stay here forever!" They want to climb down and do it all over again. They want to add new climbs, harder climbs to their accomplishments. That is how they become better climbers, by growing in their skill. By doing this they are also subtracting anything in their body/mind that will stand in their way.

As a human, Christian or not, we have a life span. Do we use it to sit around? Do we add new skills to our list? Ever heard of a bucket list? Its a list of things you want to accomplish before you "kick the bucket." Not to sound morbid, but I believe everyone should have one. I mean we cant escape death, right? Might as well make the best of our lives before death finds you. You might as well die doing what you loved on earth.

So GROW, ADD, INCREASE YOUR SKILLS, but DONT you dare FORGET TO SUBTRACT the negativity, the mundane, the extra weight holding you back from being the best you can be. It might mean that old habits need to be erased from your life, people need to be curbed for now, lifestyles need to change. It will be hard, I KNOW! But in the end, adding is so much easier when you know the worth of what you are adding.

Love God and the rest will follow!

I was talking to a dear sister in Christ a week or so ago and during one of my rants, the words "Is He on pause in your life?" came out of my mouth. As much as I would like to take credit for this phrase, God put it there as a question to me. HAHAHAHAHA I know! dont you love how He operates?

For all the control freaks out there! This includes meeeeeeee :)

How many times in your life have you wrestled with God about things you WANT in your life? How about circumstances in your life? Do you ask Him how you can get out of it? How can we hit fast forward on this part of my life? Is there something you are holding on to?

Today, on my "birthday" I am essentially forced to recap all of what has happened in the last year and of course during my journey thus far.

"Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis" "Times change and we change with them"

-William Harrison

For me to say that things are the same as last year or even yesterday would be a lie and bad. Bad, because I hope none of us are living the same day over and over. We have to change, evolve, learn, grow and most of all be the best version of ourselves possible.

God gave me a wake up call this past year! If you asked me, a year ago where I saw myself, I wouldn't have seen/picked this. But He works in mysterious ways all culminating for the good of those who love Him. The thing with that quote is... times change, humans change, the earth changes butttttttttttttt GOD REMAINS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER!

We can bank on the fact that He continues to be there for us, wanting the best and hoping we would see Him in our lives. He is constantly in Play and we should keep it that way.

Love God and the rest will follow!

I am in Eustis... small town in central florida... well not small town really but old school town. i love the feeling here. we went down to the lake eustis boardwalk and walked around and absolutely loved every moment of it! right now we are sitting outside, music playing, just breathing in non ac air. i love it! so many pics to share... cant wait to upload those. saw a pretty sunset. listening to the fountain in the pool and its so calming. i love times like these... so nice and chill.

missing my folks back home though!

love God and all else will follow!

I am procrastinating from doing some homework at the moment. I am sitting in the library where I am surrounded by people on cell phones, iphone(yes they get their own category) and on laptops. Then you get the folk who are on the library computers. There are folks at tables studying together but not talking to each other. Each one of them has a laptop. The degree of our dependence is beyond belief to me. I realize we are a internet savvy generation but is it necessary for us to essentially allow it to take over our lives. When will we realize that this is not the answer. Inundating our lives with continuous streams of images, news stories, music, decent things, indecent things is not the answer to living a meaningful life!
Denying our urges to do things like that and spending more time to follow Christ is what is worth it. I realize as I blog that this blog would not be possible if it werent for the internet/computers. I am nto saying we should abandon it completely but be sensible of how much time you are spending tied to "technology" versus how much time you are investing in the promise of eternity! How much time are you spending building your relationship with God? How much time are you spending praying for people around you? Deny the world! Follow Christ's example!

Love God and the rest will follow :)

Recently, I've been challenged about being alone... being alone with God. I've been distracting myself recently with other things in my life. The whole point of praying/meditating to tap into God's plan for us. To place our hope/worries in His hands and walk away knowing that He knows and He will take care of it. How else would we know how much He loves us and wants so much for us?

We are called to spend some time with Our Father; one on one with The One who made us. Life may not "allow" time but we have to make time. I feel like some days, I cant find time to eat/breathe. But I have also discovered, praying shouldn't get pushed aside for anything else. It changes the tone of the day when we wake up in the morning and start it with prayer. Same thing goes for our lives in general! Prayer changes the tone of how we live and what we do with our lives.

A movement is starting at UCF this semester. A movement that has only come about because of prayer. The South Asian Christian Gathering is coming together. I believe that God is finally opening up a door because people are willing to answer to the call. I pray that we don't lose focus and think this is about any of us. All glory goes to God. 9 yrs. ago when I stepped on campus, I was the only colored person in my English 1102 class. This campus has since transformed into a vibrant community. To be the only Indian in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship never really bothered me, but I cant wait to see what God will do with a group of South Asians who are ready and tapped into God.

Please pray for this group as God opens doors and allows for experiences that only God can orchestrate. I know that it will be a learning experience for many, please pray that everyone holds onto God during this ride of their lifetime. There are people out there, not only of the South Asian persuasion, who need God. My prayer is that they are all presented with the opportunity to get to know The Almighty.

Love God and all else will follow.

So i am in a new place...

new apt

new city (sorta)

new lifestyle

new priorities

I am in a new place in life in general

I miss my folks, I miss my munchkins back home. I miss my gummy bears. I miss my comfortable life back home. God brought me out of that for a reason I KNOW IT!

I knew this move/ new life was something I wanted/needed before my surgery. I also know that I needed the surgery, that wake up call to come before I came here and started this whole endeavor. Life isn't always handed to us on a silver platter. I know we all wish it was. Sometimes we just have to accept what is placed in our path because all things work together for the glory of God.

I know that I couldn't have handled any of this if it weren't for that surgery, that close call where I was brought to a point of utter/intense/face to face submission to God. Everything that I am, everything that I can ever hope to be has to be in His plan. There is no use trying to win in this world without the ALMIGHTY on your side. Its pointless to try and figure out life without the ONE WHO GAVE YOU LIFE!

Prayer is the key.

For us, believers, its what keeps us grounded.

For the non believer, think of it this way...

In an electric circuit, if there is no ground then the power will just go in loops until the circuit has so much voltage, it burns up. Humans are like that, if we think we can do this life without being grounded in something, we'll just run in circles until we burn out. then what? we turn to worldly things to "chill out." Soon we find ourselves craving the relaxation more than the power and we are worthless now. All we want to do is live in that bondage that tells us, "we deserve to be the way we are."

NO! WE CAN BE BETTER!

God has a plan for each of us. He is waiting for us to want to walk in our destiny. Wont you surrender your life today? Just stop trying to run in circles! Ground yourself in God! in The Word! in The Spirit!

I read this awesome "joke" in The Reader's Digest... yes yes go ahead and laugh at me... i am a nerd... MOVING ON!

There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved

because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be

able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might

be able to take some of his wealth with him.

An angel hears his plea and appears to him, "Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you."

The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules. The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed.

Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. Seeing the suitcase Peter says, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here!" But the man explains to him that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord.

Sure enough,. Peter checks and comes back saying, "You're right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check its contents before letting it through." Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, "You brought pavement?!!!"

This made me think... Gold is one of the most valued things on earth, yet in Heaven... WE WALK ON IT!!! All that you are striving for on earth... is it anything of value in eternity? Where will your eternity be?

Love GOD and all else will follow!

wow cant believe that i haven't blogged in 7 months! the last 6 months have been crazy at work. i have been back and forth between 2 centers. "helping out" they call it. i am just thankful i have a job. i have a job where i do what i enjoy. i also, took a class this past semester. with working 50 hrs a week and taking the class i hardly knew that i had hit july. today while watching the fireworks, it hit me. this year is half way done. 2009. wow! 

i also had some health issues. i suppose that helped with the months passing by too.  sigh. God has been awesome. God has been great. God has been there for me through all of it. even when i was angry at all the things going wrong. God was good to me!!

Joshua 1:9 (New International Version)

⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

1 Corinthians 10:13 (New International Version)

¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Psalm 37:7 (New International Version)

 ⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; 
       do not fret when men succeed in their ways, 
       when they carry out their wicked schemes.

the verses that got me through my surgery!! Praise Jesus!