Chen Chronicles

God is Good All the Time.... and ALL the time He is Good Never STOP running the race..... NEVER stop learning!  To say that the last few months have been easy would make me a liar, but I have held on knowing God would heal me, move mountains so that Katie can attend a school, whether online or in person, that fits her special needs (and He has answered every prayer). Since there has been so much sickness with me because of surgeries I had, I pray that I can stay well so that Aaron's stress goes down and we have a peaceful and happy time when his mom comes to visit for Christmas.  I came across something I wrote in January this year when life was tough. I thought I would share it in case anyone else can use these words of wisdom about their marriages.  Choose to understand that love isn't always a feeling. Many days love will be a choice. It's a choice to press through and learn to enjoy the fragile blend of both the bliss and disappointment of two people sustaining a fami...

I was inspired to write this because of our church's MOPS chapter.  This month's theme was "Courage to Tell Your Story," and falls under this year's theme, "Be You, Bravely."  Thank you for inspiring me to share this testimony.  I did not see God’s purpose in all the suffering until over a decade later, in the cold, dark abyss of Eastern Russia.   Twelve years ago, I was a tiny, energetic, beautiful 22-year old with stars in my eyes.   I was an on-air personality for a national radio conglomerate and was going to be the NEXT Katie Couric.   I had the world by a string….until one fateful day when a host of medical problems stopped me in my tracks.   Three kidney stones, a horribly traumatic infection and a blood clot left me a miniscule of my former self. I was broken. What I did not know then is that God had greater plans for my life than even I could envision. In the book of Jeremiah, it is written,"For I know the plans I have for ...

A very wise woman recently compared the brain to a computer hard drive. She said when it's full, it is very much like that of a person who worries and internalizes everything . I am that person. That realization is shocking.  I suppose you could say I have just experienced the ethereal "blue screen of death," we all hate.  Sometimes the awareness that this has happened is all we need to fix the problem. Sometimes, it isn't just as simple as black and white.  The simplicity in this idea cannot be understated, but sometimes I have to be slapped upside the head with something to conceptualize and apply the principle(s) to life.  Admittedly, I have lain awake many nights with so much on my mind that I could not sleep. A friend once told me that anxiety isn't a sign of  weakness   as a Christian, but a symbol of our own deep-rooted insecurities. Those are hard to change , but it doesn't mean I shouldn't strive to change them. Now, this isn't to sa...