Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
Crossing off another one from the summer reading list.
I really, really, did not like The Time Traveler's Wife - I finished the book in less than a day, and I was so upset about the book that I vented to my sister for about half a day afterwards. Ugh. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I did not have Internet for about 4 more days after my post-reading venting session that I became exhausted and will not be dedicating this blog post to listing reasons on why I didn't like the book.
I'll just say a few words on it: there was too much unnecessary sex, and the characters were completely flat. They didn't develop at all throughout the novel! There was nothing to explore. Yeah, the ending was "sad" - but not the type of sadness that deeply entrenches you for days onwards, but it seemed like the sadness was completely shallow. The plot was very interesting, I'd give the author that. It definitely put a new twist to the concept of time travel but ugh, the characters were so boring...
ANYWAY.
I had an epiphany the other day.
It's an epiphany that repeats itself over and over again, but every single time, it's just so fulfilling and overwhelming that it can be given the heavy title of an epiphany each time.
I was praying the other night and felt so...complete. It's something that is repeated over and over again in those sermons, taught to us over and over again - but it is so true. Only God can fulfill that emptiness that all of us feel at the end of the day. Not love. Not friends. Not family. Only Christ. It's so wonderful to be completely satisfied, calm and at ease. In those moments, when I feel nothing else around me except for God, with no distractions, no worries about Internships and what-not, no stressing over relationships - that's when I feel so overwhelmed and blessed by His presence that I want nothing more but to stay there forever, with Him alone.
And I thought, this is what Heaven must be.
100% satisfaction, just worshipping Him for who He is. I think I figured it out. People repeat this phrase a lot too, but I don't think I fully grasped the concept of it until very recently: God is love. God is 100% pure love. And that is why God alone is enough to satisfy ALL of our needs. Bathed with His presence, I feel love surrounding me to a degree that everything else in the world seems so small.
I'll just say a few words on it: there was too much unnecessary sex, and the characters were completely flat. They didn't develop at all throughout the novel! There was nothing to explore. Yeah, the ending was "sad" - but not the type of sadness that deeply entrenches you for days onwards, but it seemed like the sadness was completely shallow. The plot was very interesting, I'd give the author that. It definitely put a new twist to the concept of time travel but ugh, the characters were so boring...
ANYWAY.
I had an epiphany the other day.
It's an epiphany that repeats itself over and over again, but every single time, it's just so fulfilling and overwhelming that it can be given the heavy title of an epiphany each time.
I was praying the other night and felt so...complete. It's something that is repeated over and over again in those sermons, taught to us over and over again - but it is so true. Only God can fulfill that emptiness that all of us feel at the end of the day. Not love. Not friends. Not family. Only Christ. It's so wonderful to be completely satisfied, calm and at ease. In those moments, when I feel nothing else around me except for God, with no distractions, no worries about Internships and what-not, no stressing over relationships - that's when I feel so overwhelmed and blessed by His presence that I want nothing more but to stay there forever, with Him alone.
And I thought, this is what Heaven must be.
100% satisfaction, just worshipping Him for who He is. I think I figured it out. People repeat this phrase a lot too, but I don't think I fully grasped the concept of it until very recently: God is love. God is 100% pure love. And that is why God alone is enough to satisfy ALL of our needs. Bathed with His presence, I feel love surrounding me to a degree that everything else in the world seems so small.
He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
- "Oh, How He Loves Us" by the David Crowder Band
This song's been on repeat on my iTunes the past week, and the bolded phrase strikes me every single time. It so beautifully captures the "epiphany" that I feel every time I surround myself completely to God, one-on-one.
Honestly, I suck. A lot. In so many ways. But He is more than enough.
