Check out this awesome blog: Critique My Blog. You submit your blog url and a real life person reads your blog and critiques it. How cool...I submitted it last night, and by this morning, I had already received my critique!

"Lily's story of jumping over barriers and overcoming her alcohol addiction is an inspiring one. For those of you who may have or have been affected my alcoholism you can attest to the intense grip it has over you, even if you want to stop. Her blog chronicles this story along with other sprinklings of ideas and thoughts along the way. As for the blog itself I thought the layout, while cool looking, was a little narrow making the blog seem long in length. I didn't notice any kind of a site meter to see who is visiting your blog which you may want to add just to satisfy your own curiosity...other than that I think the blog is wonderful and just keep taking things one day at a time."

Thanks, Mr. CMB! I will definitely keep in mind the layout next time I change it.

Yesterday, I had a picnic with this girl that I met last week at church. I'd only met her once before, but God really blessed the time we spent together, and opened our hearts to each other and enabled us to connect on a much deeper level. We sat on the grass eating our sandwiches and cup noodles and started chatting about life, and before we knew it, we had talked for 4 and half hours! It was unreal. It's only with another sister in Christ that I could just feel so comfortable and share my struggles and my past. It was wonderful just listening to how God has blessed her and moved in her life, and it was such a blessing to be able to testify about God's power to her because it reminded me of how good He has been to me.

The best part of the day though, was when I was telling her about my past and my struggles with alcohol and just how bad I was before, and she said, 'Wow...it's not that I don't believe you, it's just that God has changed you so much that I just can't connect who you are now with who you say you were.' Isn't that such a testimony of God's grace? A new person who never knew me before only sees who I am in Jesus now because He has transformed me so much!

He is the God of second chances. The God of new beginnings. He is a God of mercy and kindness, and He has poured out His blessings on my life, and He wants to do the same for you. Even if you have never sunk as low as I have, He wants to give you a life where everyday is an adventure with Him. He wants to give you an unshakeable peace that does not depend on your outside circumstances.

He has already paid the price, and His hands are stretched out to you with the gift of salvation. The question is, will you receive Him and allow Him to show you just how amazing life is when you're walking with Him? Trust me, it will blow your mind because the life He wants to give you is more wonderful than you could EVER imagine.

My cat Kim died last week Saturday. I wish I had a photo of him to put up here but I don't. I'm sure there's one somewhere but I need to look for it. Anyways, he was with my family for 10 years - 2 different countries and 6 different homes. He was a well-travelled and well-loved cat. He didn't eat fish or drink milk, and boy, did he love water! A few days before he passed away, I was putting on my contact lenses after showering, and as I turned to walk out the bathroom, I saw him playing in the bathtub!

It took me a few days before I felt any grief, and surprisingly, I wasn't so much broken over his death, than seeing his brother Bim (yes, we purposely gave them rhyming names) who's our other cat being left behind. See, Bim has been with Kim for 10 years too, and he's always been a restless and angry cat, but Kim always calmed him down and kept him company. This last week, he's been following everyone around the house and during the nights, he sits outside my door and cries. It breaks my heart and I found myself sobbing at 5 in the morning over him.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I would be so upset over a cat, so I asked God to show me why, and what He showed me blew me away. See, I saw myself in Bim. Seeing him pining over Kim and desperating trying to make himself feel better by throwing himself at me and my family reminded me of all the long dark hours I spent crying over people leaving me. It seems that everytime I got close to someone, they'd end up leaving and I'd be left behind, trying to grasp at anything to take the pain away.

Praise God that is all in the past though. He revealed to me that people will always end up leaving at some point in life, either through breakups, moving away or even death, and so I can't place my dependence wholeheartedly on them. I can't use relationships to fill the emptiness inside. God is the only one who will always be there, and He will never leave or forsake me. First, I need to empty myself of everything so that He can pour out His love into me. It's only when I am dwelling in His perfect love, that I am capable of loving people without expecting them to meet my all needs.

Of course it will still hurt when people leave, but I must make sure that I am getting my needs met by God and not demanding them from others.

I miss you, Kim. Hope you're enjoying all the baths and wonderful food in Cat Heaven ;)