how to have constant energy from the source

constant energy

Second year of medical year is by far one of the most challenging years of my life, and with that it could be very draining. Relying on God has helped me in so many ways to be reenergized, especially when studying 14 hours a day. I'm about to take the fall quarter finals in about a day, so whoever reads this please pray for me. I believe I will succeed, all glory to God!. Below are some words that have helped me, and perhaps can help you to.



Isiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. "
Isiah 40:29 " He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength."
Acts 17:28 "In Him we live, and move, and have our being."
John 10:10 "... I am come that they might have life, and they they might have it more abundantly."
Be attuned to God's rhythm.
Prayer
"Dear God, You are the source of all energy. You are the source of the energy in the sun, in the atom, in the body, and in the mind. I hereby draw energy from You as from an illimitable source."
One never does wrong by doing right.

Eden Yoon

when the stars are fading

one early morning in Australia
just about when the stars were fading,
and the pink light of the morning spread through the dark bank clouds,
with the waves roaring against the sand,
and the great rays of the glory of the sun rising,
a thought transfixed me:

For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers, and declared by God. The truth--that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I began to grasp the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. For the first time, I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contempation of an infinite glory, love."

nobody likes a complainer

The last thing we want to hear is someone complaining, yet we do it all the time. I find myself feeling sorry for myself or feeling like I deserve more. "Med school's hard and taking up my free time" is one of my bigger complains, but honestly, this doesn't serve any purpose except for bringing my colleagues and myself down to a bottomless pit.
Lately in medical school we've been learning about heart murmurs right now and the patient's chief complaint. This led me to think of the time of Moses and their constant "murmuring". In the King James version of the Bible, the common term used for complaining was “murmuring.”
The Lord always considered their complaints as an act of unbelief directed toward Him. When they complained about their circumstances, their type of food, and even at Moses, God was displeased because they weren’t thankful for what He had provided them. He was disappointed that they refused to trust in Him to provide, protect, and direct the order of their lives. A verse here shows God's displeasure with the constant murmuring that often is in our lives. “Now when the people complained, it displeased the LORD; for the LORD heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp” (Numbers 11:1).
Many times, especially lately in medical school when it's been tough, I've found myself murmuring. However, looking at the big picture I feel as silly as the tribe of Israel when they constantly were murmuring to God even though God led them out of slavery, out of Egypt, and giving them the Promised Land. When I look at the big picture, God has given me such a great opportunity to be in the position that I am. He in so many ways has prepared a special path for me, just like how He prepared a special path for the Israelites to the Promised Land.
Being an admirer of John Wooden, the great coach of UCLA, one of his maxims in life (I think he had 5), was to never complain. This I truly something I need to strive for, so from here on out, whoever is reading this, whenever I complain, call me out on it and I'll give you a dollar! Nobody likes a complainer, not even God.

meaning of life

The ultimate question "what is the meaning of life?" has never been really asked by me until recently. Many today work so hard for a means to live, but no meaning to live for.
I picked up a book by Dr. Viktor Frankl, an Auschitz survivor and famous psychiatrist, who wrote the best selling book "Man's Search for Meaning." In this book he says each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therefore he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.

Vikto Frankl at his time in Auschitz realized that everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

One of God's greatest gift to mankind was the freedom of choice. It is this attitude that I must carry on in life to not only succeed, but to be responsible for my life. We often ask questions about the meaning of life, and to this question we can only answer to life by answering for our own life. To this question, we can only respond by being responsible.

devotional journey: romans 1.

it has been an interesting time since i first started first year medical school. Today is September 30, 2010, and i am studying pretty hard these days. It is the second year of medical school and school has been all encompassing. During this stressful time(although considered stressful to me I have been very fortunate to live an easy, awesome life), I want to try depending on God more and being empowered in this relationship I want to have with God. In some ways, it may be selfish that I'm looking into getting something out of this relationshp, but also I want to develop a broader sense of what my life goals are, and what I can do to make me a better person, and the world a better place. What better place to start with the Bible? therefore, the next posts I'll be giving will be somewhat of a devotional from reading a chapter a day. I decided to start in Romans because I remember liking it's message and had very good points on how to live a Christian life and what it means to be a Christian.

I hope by doing this, I strengthen my relationship with God and I become not only a better person, but it will help me in my studies to become even a better doctor with selfless goals, such as helping other people. Here are my thoughts on
Roman Chapter 1:

Paul starts off in his letter giving thanks to God. He talks about his love for the gospel and how he is unashamed to give it. Suddenly, he talks about the wrath of God. A verse that struck me was "who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator" found in verse 25. It talks about the backbiters, haters of God, proud, boasters, inventors of evil tings, disobedient to parents, that these people will suffer from the judgement of God.
In a way, I thought it was an odd way to start off a letter, but also, it struck a cord within me that probably did the same to those who received this letter form Paul. I find myself sometimes thinking I am too wise, and I'm ashamed to admit that I do commit many of the wrongs Paul lists in the chapter. We do deserve judgment and we are inexcusable. However, I live my life thinking sometimes I am God's gift to man. I sometimes proudly walk around thinking I'm the best, when in reality, I am a sinner. Perhaps instead of judging others or criticizing others, it just takes a minute to think about all my negatives and makes me realize that I need to change. This change needs to take place right now, not later (because who knows when later is). I believe this is a start, and I plan to live conscioously a Christian life. I do want to become a better person, and I do want God to mold me into the man He wants me to become.

My prayer,
"Dear God,
Thank you for blessing me so much in so many ways. Help this to become the start of a fruitful relationship. Help me to realize that I am not perfect, and that I do need your help. Amen"

insight...

Give us this day, our daily bread...---A famous start to a prayer Jesus told us how to pray, but this whole time I thought daily bread meant food. After being a Christian for 2 decades+, I didn't realize that the daily bread Jesus talking about is ...Jesus, himself, the flesh and bread so that we will never be hungry again. Wow, so many times we look for Jesus to feed us things that won't last. We thank him for the meal that was just prepared, we thank Him when things are going great, but yet we fail to thank Him for giving us the bread that will make us never go hungry again, Himself. Yes-at times Jesus will fulfill our temporary needs, but He has already given Himself the Ultimate Bread, and through His word we can experience it everyday. Wow--This is how we should pray. To daily ask for the Bread of life, Jesus.

So today Jesus, the day before my last two weeks of test after my first year of medical school, I thank you for providing your Word, and your sacrifice. Let me be reminded by the prayer you taught us how to pray how much you gave, and how much things of this world are temporary, while the Bread you provide is permanent.

medical school

Yes, the analogies of the trying to drink from a fire hydrant are pretty accurate of medical school, but like everyone says, "you really don't know what medical school is like until you actually go through it"...in a way, medical school has somewhat isolated me, just from the fact that you can't relate in a lot of ways to others except your fellow class mates. I'm sure studying the majority of your life in the first two years has a huge part in it too, but still..

Anyways, as I go on through medical school studying about the complexities of the eye and the brain (we're studying those two areas, which are both complex and interesting), I find myself contemplating a lot on what I want to accomplish in life and what happiness truly is (which in a way is alot more complex!). It's true, I have found myself happiest when life is really simple, and you're out there just helping others. Really, life was awesome in the Amazon jungle, because it was just so simple. However, that's not reality, is it?

I constantly try to find ways to motivate myself, and I tell myself that "it's ok, in the end it'll all be worth it." But will it? I mean, all this studying to be a doctor, will it be worth it? My answer is no, if the goal is to just become some great, accomplished doctor. I guess the only way it will be worth it is not in just becoming the best doctor you can be, but using those skills to make a great impact to those around you. It's true, you get great satisfaction from doing something that you're great at while making others around you happy or feel better. I guess in that sense, a doctor can have a lot of influence. Whatever people may say, doctors do have a great impact on others, and are highly influential to those he/she takes care of, but to the community as well. In a way, it's awesome that I'm studying all this so that when somebody's sick and nobody knows what to do, I will have that knowledge to help that particular sick person feel better.

I guess I just gotta focus on the big picture, and realize this studying will be worth it, not for my own benefit or to have some great title as being a doctor, but for what I will be able to accomplish in others.

the rose that grew from concrete

Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.