Posts by Abby Soon

Our current memory verse is James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. I read this in the King James version and noticed a change in the wording: My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the…

I was reading Joshua 5 – 6 the other day. Basically, it’s how the Israelites prepared and conquered Jericho under Joshua’s command. The thing that stood out to me about this passage was that one of the first things Israel did in preparation for this was to circumsise the men (Joshua 5:2-8). It was a time consuming step, as everyone had to heal up before they could conquer Jericho, but it was a direct command from God, so they did…

Some relatives are staying with my family and I for a few weeks, which has been pretty cool, as we don’t see them that often. However, it involved a of planning and scheduling from all of us. As we were comparing schedules and trying to plan outings/sightseeing together, I noticed that my family and I have a lot of church/“Christian” commitments during the week. I know, I work with a church and it’s to be expected, but after tabbing up…

This week, Bible Study Fellowship covered Jesus’s arrest and trial before the priests and religious leaders. A theme from the the lecture was how Jesus was fully in control of the situation, despite being the one getting arrested. The beginning on John 18 reads “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. 2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the…

Have you ever been at a lost for words as you realize that you have to say something in front of a bunch of people? I can confidently say I have, because it happened last Sunday when I was MCing. I had nothing to say, and we were nearly at the last song, so I would be up really soon. I was getting ready to panic when I felt God saying, “You may have nothing, but I have everything. And…

Jesus’ life was quite the rollercoaster. First, He was just a baby born in a stable. Then, the king wanted to kill Him, and His family had to move to Egypt for a time. As time went on, he was just a carpentor’s son, until He got baptized and the Spirit of God descended on Him like a dove. Later, he performed miracles, grew a following, and clashed with the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the time. Then, He was…

The children of Israel were certainly not a “model nation”. Whether in dealing with the struggles of life in the wilderness, their behavior in the absence of their leader, or facing their odds of survival in Canaan, the Israelites showed time and time again that they were prone to impatiently giving up when the going got tough. Their shortcomings, however, can teach us a lot about how to patiently endure. As we look at Israel’s time in the wilderness, a…

Lately, I’ve been quite interested in ballet dancers. There’s a group of them from a studio in Arizona that have gotten quite popular on YouTube, and for good reason. They have impeccable technique, tremendous strength, and win many competitions, but they are just kids. We admire their talent but often forget that they have been training in ballet for most of their lives. The videos we see are just their highlights and leave out the hours and years they’ve spent…

Last week, I had the opportunity to take Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training online. MHFA is quite similar to first aid, where you try to stablize/provide temporary relief to someone injured until help arrives, except you’re trying to help people with mental health challenges. This was my first time taking live online training, and I have to say that it was excellent. I had a great instructor who brought the course material to life and taugh us many useful…

A few days ago, I was working through university applications. Basically, you input your personal information, academic background, schools of choice, and supporting documents into the form. At the end, you get a summary of your application and fee. When I saw the fee, my heart skipped a beat. I’m not telling you what it was, but it was a LOT. I hadn’t even finished adding in all my university choices, and I was pretty sure that when I was…

This week, BSF covered the story of Jesus healing the blind man in John 9. A point that stood out from the night’s lecture was “[Some] Christians think that their story is not worth sharing because they feel their story is not as painful and therefore not effective as someone else’s. When we think this way, we forget that our testimony is not about us, it’s about Jesus. Because each one of our stories is unique, they all reveal different…

I had an essay prompt that ran along the lines of “What do you expect to be remembered for and why?” It really got me thinking, If I died today, what would people say at my funeral? It’s a morbid topic, I know, but bear with me. The “Correct Christian Answer” would obviously be “people saw Christ in me”. As I was trying to envision what that would look like on paper, a thought I had was, In what scenarios…