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ALL THE MEH'S AND THE BÄH'S AND THE UGH'S

A huge shoutout to all the students that are stressed with exam preparations, assessment papers and finals - I AM SUFFERING WITH YOU.

May is such a cringe-worthy month for me. All I can say is what's passed is passed. Therefore, I am glad I can focus my wandering mind on school stuff because quite frankly, I need to get on with school!!! Hence, I get challenged so much up to the point where often think to myself 'meh, I don't want to anymore, everything is so hard and I can't get my brain to think.' But I learned a lot from past events that just because you're challenged so much, that you can't just simply give up and put all your efforts aside. Being able to go to school is a gift and sometimes opening gifts don't come easy. That's one lesson I've learned, that nothing good ever comes easy. All the more we should try to embrace our challenges and our struggles because in the end, the reward will be so much better than you've expected. You might ask how I calm my always worrying heart. I simply pray and lift basically everything up to God because I know I can't carry all the weight on my shoulders. It also feel liberating to know that you don't have to be in control over things. Especially things that mean a heck lot to you. But hey, we got this! We will get through this and rejoice in the success we've worked hard for, right? Summer is not far away, so we better work hard and suffer now so we can completely enjoy the laziness that will be allowed during summer. If that motivation didn't help, here are two guys that hopefully will motivate you anyhow.

#studyranger

ON BEING PRODUCTIVE

Yes, I am still here and I apologise for being MIA during the last couple of weeks. As we all know, it's May and that month only screams for preparations for final exams, final papers and final everythings, hence, I sort of put the blogging in the back of my head for a while. Since we are all in Uni/School stress and our biggest and worst enemy is Mr. Procrastination, I've found a helpful way on how to be more productive:

Praying for you #studyrangers

#eastermission: LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

#brudiiii #brusjaaaan #curseofthejacket #turnedoversocks #bestmissionteam #somuchlove #yflireland #byfartheloudestdelegate

Picture: http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/3d/d9/e6/3dd9e65a51d862904c25be2a8f798606.jpg

SISTERHOOD: YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL BODY

"Comparison is a thief of joy!"

This is a great and relatable video when it comes to BODY IMAGE. I am super glad I can share this with you and tell you, that YOU. ARE. BEAUTIFUL.

I LIKE YOUR MIND.

Picture: http://data2.whicdn.com/images/104760132/large.jpg

To be honest with you, I pretty often get caught up in my own little bubble, where just my opinions count and nothing else. Yes, you're right - it's not the best attitude. And I agree with you. Hence, I always find myself in an uncomfortable situation whenever I meet people that have a totally different opinion as me. I learned that that's the beauty of being in a dialog with other minds, though. Of course, it's one of the best things to be surrounded by like-minded people, however, the more you're closed off to other opinions, attitudes and views, the more you stagnate and your mind doesn't get the nourishment it needs to be able to develop. 

LENT'14: THE 'WORK IN PROGRESS' TYPA SITUATION

"How do we wait for something we need so badly, something we know for certain is God's will, and something that we just can't live another day without? We must wait patiently and confidently, not complaining. To do otherwise would be to insult God by displaying a lack of faith in His ability to deliver. We renew our strength by "waiting" for the Lord (Is 40:31)."

Yes, it's lent season and I haven't given you guys my two cents yet.

It's a strange habit that my mind has. Whenever I try to study for exams, my mind just wanders away and the energy that should be spent on trying to remember what I've just read, simply transfers into things that my overthinking produces. Hence, I overthink - a lot. It's one of my worst habits because this overthinking just leads me to emotions that I don't want to feel. I don't want to spend my day in doubt, insecurity and anxiety. Especially now, during lent. I want to be at peace with myself and my circumstances. That's what I want for myself. And how is that possible? In trusting and relying only on Him. 

Yes, I am a work in progress. I haven't yet gotten to the point where I can confidently say to my struggles 'Come at me, bro, I'm ready!' After everything that has happened last year, I can say that there's still a lot of mending to do. The broken pieces apparently take time to heal bit by bit. Fears have to be overcome. The mindset has to be right. And hope most importantly should never be lost. Out of everything that is still unclear to me, situations where I don't know what specifically is going to happen, I know where I want to be and I know how my heart should look like. Step by step I want to get there because I know He uses ordinary people to create something extraordinary and I seriously want to be part of that.

And during this lent, I feel especially blessed and grateful. Even though the struggles are always here and they won't fade that quickly, somehow I've learned to keep my eyes on what's worth. And during the first week of lent, He affirmed so many things in my heart. He knows my heart. I've kept the faith, you should too!

My flesh may fail, but my God you never will.

ON ITALIAN GROUND PT.2

After everyone had left, Lisa, Kents, Venice, Gian and I decided to take a quick trip to Milan. Since the travel companions and I had to catch the flight from Milan anyways, we decided to just visit the shopping streets. I literally died by the stores they had. So did my wallet for this one copping. It was also great seeing the famous Duomo. It was beautiful! Thanks guys for the company. You guys make great travel buddies. Can't wait for a next time.

Good people, good times

ON ITALIAN GROUND PT.1

Before and after the planning we had time to roam around the city and even travel to Milan. The impressions of Turin exceeded my expectations. The traditional italian streets and buildings, the great way of getting around and of course its history and miraculous stories totally made me fall in love with this city. We were so lucky with the weather as well which made the sightseeing a lot more fun. Thanks Gian for showing us round your city and letting us get to know your homies. And thanks to the community in Turin as well, for keeping us tourists great company. 

Good company, good times

EYC PLANNING'14 TORINO, ITALY

#missionfeb has ended on a high and exciting note. You guys can really look forward to this year's EYC! The planning was great and we've come up with great ideas. It was refreshing to be creative again with great minds and great people. I really enjoyed everyone's company and we had the best host ever. I could really see how everybody grew in their own way and at their own pace. It was great to be a witness of this and to be part of it. The challenges are waiting for us to be overcome and I cannot wait for all the work and effort everyone is going to make for this Congress to be a great one!

#allforHisglory

SISTERHOOD: IN HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS

To live in a world where certain standards are being thrown at your face as a woman, is hard. And to be quite frank, as woman nothing is ever good enough. You're not skinny enough, you're not tall enough and you're not smart enough. What has happened? Why has outer appearances become such a great requirement to be attractive to the other gender? Why has our way of thinking become so shallow? How can a woman survive in this world who's not got a flawless body and this and that?

"WHY IMPATIENCE HURTS YOU NOW AND LATER" by TERRY JARROD

While going through my Newsfeed in the morning, I came across this blogpost.  Do you ever have that, when you're going through something specific at the moment and you randomly and suddenly find a blogpost, video or even just a song and you feel like He is talking to you through them? This is what I had when reading this post. Sometimes life gets too overwhelming and you lose sight, focus and clarity. I'm thankful for these little insights I get every now and then when I need them the most. I hope you enjoy this article, I've taken from the Weblog 'Bold&Unashamed'.

The article just sums up everything we need to know and what to remember while we are waiting. Don't lose focus. Work hard and be patient!
 

Picture: http://boldandunashamed.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/bankline-1024x682.jpg

SISTERHOOD: "I WILL WAIT FOR YOU"

I've found this ages ago and yet, it always does surprise and inspire me. Poetry is a very fine and beautiful art and it's sad to see that it's not been hyped as much. Girls, listen to this poetry about being a Proverbs31-Woman. Enjoy!

P4CM Official Poet Janette

“I WILL WAIT FOR YOU” BY JANETTE IKZ 

(taken from: http://franklinoutthebox.tumblr.com/ (21.01.2014))

So it seemed that it was cool, for everyone to be in a relationship but me.

So I took matters into my own hands, and ended up with him.

Him who displayed the characteristics of a cheater, a liar, an abuser, & a thief.

So why was I surprised when he broke into my heart?

I called 911, but I was cardiac arrested for aiding and abetting,

Cause it was me who let him in…

Claiming we were “just friends”.

It was already decided for me by the first date, that even if he wasn’t!

I was gonna make him ‘The One’

SISTERHOOD: 4 SIGNS OF A WOMAN WORTH FOLLOWING

Girls, whether you like it or not, in our environment we do play a certain role that comes with responsibilities. We might be the eldest girl in the family, we might have this certain 'Ate' role in the community or we simply have to be a good role model for the people we interact in our daily lives. Of course, a lot of pressure comes with that responsibility since we're just human and we can't always do the right thing. We make mistakes, we don't have the right attitude towards certain things and situations or we just simply don't feel strong enough to go towards the path of being a role model. However, we need each other more than we sometimes want to admit. It doesn't always have to be an hierarchical situation where you assume that the older girls need to take care of you. Some wise bird told me that a relationship shouldn't be based on 'give and take' but therefore, even better, should head into the direction of 'give and give back'. It even sounds a lot more optimistic! Whenever we reflect on what kind of woman we want to be, we tend to think of independence, strength and intelligence. I don't argue against that, but I guess before us girls should focus on those traits, the followings are a lot more important:

Picture: http://25.media.tumblr.com/7f8599fb2213b20274e9b15663db39a0/tumblr_mj5on1WchS1s3fivbo1_500.jpg

WAITING: PLEASE HOLD THE LINE

How many of you get easily annoyed when waiting for the train or bus to come? How many roll their eyes in their cars when the pedestrians take the longest time to walk across the road? How many of you just can't stand queues? We probably spend most of our days here on Earth waiting. However, whatever we do, whatever life throws at us, there's always a purpose behind it. 

You'd say waiting is just a waste of time because life is too short or maybe you'd say there must be something romantic about waiting. Either way, the movies and stories in books could have never expressed the actual state you are in as much as actually being in that state yourself. Sometimes it's bearable but sometimes it's also painful, which always leads me to thinking that the painfuller a situation, the best moments can spring out of it - when you believe. So whatever you're waiting for, I hope this will give you a better idea and understanding about the reasons why.

I was reading an article the other day that reminded me and showed me how to cope in times of waiting.

Picture: http://24.media.tumblr.com/793bf441dee3daf0214eb31215949017/tumblr_mz1yleT94j1r4ueyro1_500.jpg

NEW YEAR, NEW PROJECT: SISTERHOOD

The Lord blessed me with a task last weekend that I was very excited about. I was able to do an activity and give a sharing during the Sisterhood-Workshop. I was so happy that I got asked to do this since I've been wanting to do something like this for my sisters in a very long time. Since I have been trying to nourish myself with great quotes, articles and blogs about being a true woman of God and a great sister to everyone, I realised that it does not help me if I don't share it with everyone. 

So, I have decided to make this a project on my blog, so that all my readers can profit from things that I read about, just to give them something to reflect on, give them a guide and maybe also something that might challenge them. 

I have learned a lot during this weekend and I am beyond excited what the man up there has in store for us ladies. I hope the booklets that were handed out to you may always be at the back of your head because the things in there are so very important! My first entry will just be a short reminder of what we have learned during the past weekend.

© Esther-Marie Tidoso aka Ezzycupcake

d.f.t.s,

Ezzy