[Greater Suffering] Imagine this. Government officers barge into your house at night. They don’t only drag you out, but they also grab your parents and the kids too. You’re all thrust into concentration camps. Interrogated. Tortured. Locked away forever. Your crime? You believe in Jesus. Personally, the common kind of suffering I’ve experienced is stress …
[Breaking Point] It was the summer of 2016 when my stomach decided to throw a tantrum. My swollen jaw throbbed from the recent wisdom tooth extraction. But it was nothing compared to the rising acid from the depths of my gut. The pain bubbled up, tightening my chest. I sprang for the bathroom as I …
[The Daisy Complex] I love sunflowers. They’re bright and alive, their sunny petals raised towards the skies. Eye-catching. Beautiful. The center of attention. Sunflowers are easily the stars of the garden, singing of their Creator’s glory. I wanted to be a sunflower—prominent and visible. But I felt like a daisy. I was small in the …
Three Different Families I. Mommy left this morning. It was inevitable, like a ticking time bomb set to explode. Right now, the casualties in the wake of her outburst included one devastated father and four traumatized kids. It’s the youngest daughter who asks the right questions, “Why did Mommy leave? Why aren’t you chasing her, …
[Two Different Kinds of Beauty] A music video splashes across the screen in psychedelic colors, throbbing with imposing bass-lines. The star dances like she’s the most attractive goddess on earth. I sit in the comfort of my bedroom, pondering how our culture finds this beautiful. The star bends and twirls. Her ultra-revealing clothes leave no room …
I. There he is again. The guilt settles on his shoulders like snakes with weights, coiling around him, pulling him down deeper. He sinks into the quicksand of his own self-abasement and abandons the thought of change. He did it again—looped another porn video; broke his promise to end the addiction. He vowed to change, …
[The Weirdo] “You’re so weird!” My classmate blurted at me. Her friend shushed her. “You’re so mean.” The words didn’t stop my classmate from giggling. I stood before them with a plastic smile on my face. Play it cool, I told myself. My steps shuffled away from their snickers and grins. Yeah. Act cool. Like you’re totally unaffected. …
[Triggers] “*Ate, what should you do when you have a suitor?” my cousin asks. She’s pretty and smart. She rides the rollercoaster of high school flings, which I have zero experience in. She’s only a year younger than me, but she expects me to say something wise. All I say is something honest. “I don’t …
Two years and a half. I’ve been running for two years and a half. Wandering between shades and trees, head under the sun like some nomad. I kept that hand-written story with me, but I started losing the letters to them. How did some of my pages have blurred lines now? Two years and a half ago was …
Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Hell week. Deadlines pile up. Exams, paperwork, and unnecessary stress come crashing in like a tsunami of demanding expectations. On top of that, personal issues are amazing at being unhelpful. Add in the drama with family, friends, (maybe frenemies too?), and …
