Jesus is the reason for the season

I can't believe that the year has flown by so quickly. Sort of. It's already Christmas eve and tomorrow will be Christmas Day! I'm not doing much but just chill at home with the family (I presume). Material gifts don't mean much to me but I still have them. So I'm definitely thankful for that. I'm thankful that God has blessed me with so much in the past year. Soon enough, this year will end and a new year will come. It's just... weird. Especially not knowing what's ahead of you.


Break has been chill. At least school is one of the last things on my mind right now. Thank God! But I hope everyone's having a good break.

I wish you all a happy and joyful holiday with your family and loved ones.
Merry Christmas & God bless!


REMINDER!

Cherish everyone in your life. No matter how annoying/hurtful/a pain in the butt they may be. They're put in your life for a reason. Plus, you'll never know when they may leave. Spread the love ♥

Yours truly,

Bethany Nguyen

Glory Goes to You!

Thank God for the victorious battle Saturday night. He truly blessed us with success. The rally went great! Although lots of friends dropped and weren't able to make it.. God blessed us with other friends and even Pastor Bang's youths from Oregon! We all had fun with worship, games and food downstairs. P. Bang's message was very touching, and I pray that everyone in that room came home with a "gift." If you know what I mean!

Pictures from the rally will be posted when I receive them =)

Now that the rally is over, the Tacoma T.I.M.E.S. Youth Group intends to have a once a month "youth group night." It will be the 3rd Saturday of each month. So when we find the official date for January, I'll be sure to let you guys know and invite you all! Not a giant rally, but a small event.

It's already winter break! But it doesn't feel like it for some reason... Maybe lack of snow?

God is good, all the time.

Love, Bethany Nguyen

Love is a Habit
by Rick Warren

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. Luke 6:32 (NIV)

If you only love on and off, like a light switch, you're not loving like God wants you to love. Jesus said, "If you only love those who love you what credit is that to you?" (Luke 6:32a, NIV)

His point is - anybody can love those who love them. Becoming a master lover means you learn to love the unlovable. It's when you love people who don't love you, when you love people who irritate you, when you love people who stab you in the back or gossip about you.

This may seem like an impossible task and it is - that's why we need God's love in us, so we can then love others: "... We know and rely on the love God has for us." (1 John 4:16a, NIV)

When you realize how much God loves you - with an extravagant, irresistible, unconditional love - then his love will change you're entire focus on life. If we don't receive God's love for us, we'll have a hard time loving other people. I'm talking about loving the unlovely; loving the difficult; loving the irritable; loving people who are different or demanding.

You can't do that until you have God's love coming through you. You need to know God's love so it can overflow out of your life into others.

Love must become your lifestyle, the habit of your life. Through [the magazine, bundled material] we're going to learn the habit of love and you're going to become one of God's master lovers.

But it starts with a decision. Are you ready?

Your life is worth far more than you think, and by learning to love others with the love God gives you, you will have an influence far greater than you could ever imagine. If you will commit to this, you will experience love as God means it to be, filled hope, energy, and joy.

My prayer for you is "that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love ..." (Philippians 1:9, NCV)

Love cont'd.

COME TO THE WINTER RALLY NEXT SATURDAY @ 5PM!

Today's message with Rick Warren is about... showing love, through action.
God is good, all the time.

- Bethany


LOVE IS AN ACTION
by Rick Warren

Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. 1 John 3:18 (NLT)

The baby Jesus shows us that love is something you do. You show love by what you do, not just by what you feel.

Do you really love someone? Let's see how you act toward that person.

Love is more than attraction and more than arousal. It's also more than sentimentality, like so many of today's songs suggest. By this standard, is love dead when the emotion is gone? No, not at all. Because love is an action; love is a behavior.

Over and over again, in the Bible, God commands us to love each other. And you can't command an emotion. If I told you "Be sad!" right now, you couldn't be sad on cue. Just like an actor, you can fake it, but you're not wired for your emotions to change on command. Have you ever told a little kid, "Be happy!" I'm trying, daddy!

If love were just an emotion, then God couldn't command it. But love is something you do. It can produce emotion, but love is an action.

The Bible says, "Let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions" (1 John 3:18 NLT). We can talk a good act: "I love people." But do we really love them? Do you really love them? Our love is revealed in how we act toward them.

Spread the love!

I always get these daily e-mails that help me get through each day and learn about God. I think I'll be sharing with you guys the ones that I really like most. So.. enjoy! Hope you can get something out of it too.

- Bethany

LOVE IS A CHOICE

by Rick Warren

"... That you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Deuteronomy 30:20 (NIV)

The birth of Jesus reflects the truth that love is a choice and a commitment. You choose to love or you choose not to love.

Today we've bought into this myth that love is uncontrollable, that it's something that just happens to us; it's not something we control. In fact, even the language we use implies the uncontrollability of love. We say, "I fell in love," as if love is some kind of a ditch. It's like I'm walking along one day and bam! - I fell in love. I couldn't help myself.

But I have to tell you the truth - that's not love. Love doesn't just happen to you. Love is a choice and it represents a commitment.

There's no doubt about it, attraction is uncontrollable and arousal is uncontrollable. But attraction and arousal are not love. They can lead to love, but they are not love. Love is a choice.

You must choose to love God; he won't force you to love him (Deuteronomy 30:20). You can thumb your nose at God and go a totally different way. You can destroy your life if you choose to do that. God still won't force you to love him. Because he knows love can't be forced.

And this same principle is true about your relationships: you can choose to love others, but God won't force you to love anyone.