This term has been quite stressful so far (and it's only the 3rd week!) I've been struggling to meet all the deadlines and trying to stay on top of things since I'll be out of town for 2 separate occasions. I can't even get quality sleeps because my brain is constantly filled with things that need to be done urgently. Even though I've been through these, I felt overwhelmed and ready to break.

Then, something amazing happened, and I was reminded that God had promised to take care of me in times of trouble.

For my Psyc class, we're supposed to sign up for presentations. I had to sign up for next week, the earliest date, since I have other arrangements for October. On top of that, we just finished a midterm today, so there really isn't much preparation time. All my other ECE classmates signed up for later dates, as they all know that we really don't have enough time to prepare for a presentation with such short notice. So I was "stuck" with working with people that I only see during Psyc class, instead of those whom I see 5 days a week. I knew right away that setting up meeting time would be difficult.

When I was brainstorming on ideas for the presentation, I had an idea to break down the topic into different perspectives: patients, family members, medical professionals, and educators. I thought this would be a good breakdown of the topic while dividing the workload evenly. And then, I found out during today's group meeting, that we had a near-perfect combination of backgrounds in our members: we have an educator, a social worker, and a therapist. These fit perfectly into my initial idea! I couldn't help but exclaim in my mind: "Hallelujah! My prayer is answered!"

Now I'm super pumped for this presentation!

Why do you celebrate Christmas?

Do you know the implication of this day?

The devil uses many cunning ways to distract us from the most important focus that we all should have in our lives.

Sometimes it's temptations, but more often, he uses many "good" things to trade with us the "best" thing in our lives.

"Let's use X in place of Christ," says Satan, "it's ok, people will still know it's a day for Christ when you say Xmas."

(Would you throw a party on, say, my birthday, without even the slightest idea of who I am?)

"Let's celebrate with lots of gifts and an old fat man in a red suit and his reindeers and elves and all get warm and fuzzy in the cold weather," says the prince of hell, "it's ok, people will still remember that Christ is the main focus on this special day of celebration."

(Would you be giving each other gifts at my birthday party, playing with the hired entertainers, but totally ignore my presence?)

This Christmas, I invite you to not only have the most fun in your life, but also take some precious minutes in your life to get to know more about the birthday boy. Afterall, you don't celebrate Buddist's birthday the same way, do you?

No, not the MJ movie. :P

As my last day is approaching, the uneasy feelings continue to stir up inside.

What will I do without income?

How will I fare against people 10 years younger than me?

The anxiety attacks continue...