This past week I’ve been waiting for something to happen. I was eager to see the answer of my prayer.

It’s been three weeks already since I got here from my Educational Tour in Cebu. God did an amazing thing in making a way for me to be there. He used my classmates for letting me barrow money for my fee. I really thank God for meeting my needs on time. What bothers me now is the payment of the money I barrowed. I praise God that last week I paid my debt of P2000 to my boardmate and I still have to pay P4000.00 for my classmates. I thought I would not be able to take the test last week because of my debt. Praise God, He is expert of making ways for me. Till now I’m waiting for God’s provision for my payments in school, my rent in my “bhauz” and my “utang”. The worst thing is I will get a “No Grade” when I fail to pay my classmates and that’s the condition. I really don’t know what I feel right now if this is the peace from God or a feeling of disappointment. Though God has proven to me many times that His word is always true. You can’t deny the fact that I’m human and I am weak..

Right now all I know that I am nothing without God. I can’t put my trust to people for I know they will fail just like me. I have no one to turn to, but I will choose to put my hope to my Lord Jesus Christ for I know that He is able to deliver me. Sometimes waiting is painful but I have learned that waiting is an attitude we should always practice

God has its own timing for everything. We can truly trust His ways in our lives. Sometimes we are so impatient to wait and see the things He has prepared for us. Everything that happens, has its own reason intended for our own good. Last Saturday Manoy and I went to Batuan to attend my cousins wedding. While going back to Tagbilaran , as we’re riding on the bus, we had our evaluation and shared our latest learnings in the Lord. We talked about how the Lord sustains us by His grace with our relationship, our experience as a student and with the ministry He has entrusted to us.

We both know that it is God alone who holds our future. We know that in His time God will honor our desire to be one. Though it takes years before it will be realize but we learned to trust His timing in our lives.

So much for that, we also discussed about our life as a student, especially to his situation that he’ll be graduating this March. I have witnessed the years that he struggled so much in his studies. There were a lot of pressures and crying times before the Lord for him to pass the subjects and indeed God never disappoints us. Manoy told me that He is going to write all the things God has done through the years of his student life to proclaim His goodness. As we were talking God impressed something in my heart about the abundant life that God has promised to us. We learned that every now and then God is allowing us trials to succeed and to have victory in Jesus name. Every challenge is different from the other and needs different level of faith. Indeed it’s true that “things never happen the same way twice” quoted from Aslan of the movie Narnia of Prince Caspian. As we face new heights of challenges in our lives means God is increasing our faith and allowing us to experience more of His power in our lives. I have concluded that abundant life does not mean only financial provision. The strength we have, the step of faith and the grace that sustains us is already enjoying the abundant life God has promised.

And the last thing we discussed was about the importance of waiting God’s timing. Things happen were all part of God’s great plan in our lives. We need not to rush things to make His ways happen with no hassles. God knows the big picture than us. All we need to do is trust His ways for His ways are higher than our ways. He knows what’s best for us. While watching the movie the “City of Ember” it says two things: “do not rush and one step at a time.” We may feel bored of waiting for something to happen, let’s always remember “He makes all things beautiful in His time”.

Prayer:

Dear Lord you are so good, forever faithful and loving to me. You never change Lord and indeed your WORD is true. Thank you for working in my life and for changing me from glory to glory. The things I received now, all came from you and I’m so happy and blessed. Lord I bring you back all the praises and glory for you deserve it. I  thank you that I have learned and not just learn but experience the true meaning of loving others. Thank you that you extend first your grace and love for me, for I can also extend grace and love to others. Indeed loving is not pain free. The true meaning of love is accepting someone’s imperfection, choosing to care even how many times you’ve been rejected, trusting even being betrayed and extending grace and love to those who don’t deserve it. Just like what you did for me, that the true expression of love is sacrifice. I’ve learned through your love to sacrifice my rights, being misunderstood and being rejected by others. But still Lord I praise you for allowing it to happen in my life. It is all worth it. It is not love when there is no pain. Thank you for teaching me to love until it hurts. The time you have captured me again and the time you have started to work in molding me was not easy. My desire to live a life that is pleasing to you is I know I should always learn from it continually. I thank you Lord for using people in my life who walk with me and cares for me so I could grow spiritually. Thank you for giving them the grace in guiding me though it’s not easy to extend their love and time. The way how you have used them to touch my life encourages me to do the same way. The desire to disciple was the burden and the passion that I know you’re the one who put it first in my heart. I thought caring and loving others is easy. I thought Lord as I pray, in an instant relationship will grow. Now I know Lord the pains and the struggles of my “mga Ate” were not easy for them in giving their time, effort and guidance just for me to learn and grow. Thank you Lord for sustaining them not to give up on me. Thank you for the privilege to be one like them, to love and care others unconditionally. At first it’s so easy for me to say that I should love and consider others better than myself. But it’s not easy to give up your pride and put others before yourself. I know that nothing is hidden from you even during those trying times in my life. There were times that I want to give up on loving them because instead of love and affirmation that I expect to receive, I get rejections and hatred. I thank you Lord for your sustaining grace. Thank you for all the discipline and rebuke when it turns that my effort would glorify myself. I learned a lot during those struggling and painful moments in my life. Thank you for allowing those experience in molding my character and changing me to be more like you. Thank you for breaking my heart to be whole again. Thank you for the honor to be “ate” to others. Though I know I’m not worthy to be called one. Thank you for choosing me Lord to be one of your servants. Thank you for the opportunity and the privilege. It is a humbling experience on my part. Lord. All the glory and honor belongs to you.

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Indeed in building relationship won’t come over night. It is a process. It takes time, effort, perseverance, patience or let say the right attitude in handling this. Most importantly Jesus should be the foundation in any relationship. Every motive should always be pure to glorify Him. Pain is part of it in order to grow with this relationship. I really learn a lot of things when it comes to relationship matter. God showed me the fruit of the pain I go through from the past. Praise be His Holy Name! I thank the Lord that by His grace I have come this far with my walk with Him. Indeed let’s not grow weary in doing good for in due time we will reap a harvest. And God has proven that promise in my life now. Though there were times we can’t understand the things that are happening but rest assured that He is there and He is in control of everything. What I want to share is that let us not grow weary in loving others. Never stop loving in the same way that God loves us. We may not see the result on an instant but God will indeed reward our labor in Him. The bible says that we will always reap what we sow. If we want love, let’s sow love to others. If we want to be affirmed let’s learn to practice to affirm others. So therefore continue to sow kindness, goodness, every good things coz in the same way will reap it in His time. Let’s continue to learn to trust His ways in our lives. Let’s learn to humble ourselves before Him. Trusting Him that He is control in every circumstances. I’m so blessed and thankful to God that I am enjoying the fruit of what God has promised in my life. Though it took years of adjustments, struggles but God all used them to mold me to be a better person now. Again loving someone is a choice to make. It is giving yourself. It is choosing to love without expecting something in return. Just like what Jesus did for you and me, loving us unconditionally and sacrificially.

Rebuke is being reprimanded or corrected by your mistake. It hurts when somebody corrects us and that’s our most common reaction. Do you agree with it?

We can’t deny the fact that corrections would cause us pain. But it would make us a better person depending on how we respond. There are times that people’s correction is not what we need, but if we look at the brighter side there’s a truth with it that we should ponder and learn from it. Have you ever been rebuked by someone close to you and you never listen to him/her? What’s the result? We face consequences out of our actions and regret comes always at the end.

I praise God for the people who love and care for me. For they never let any of my mistakes unnotice. A person who cares will not delight on evil but rejoices with the truth. Though truth hurts but I know it’s for my own good and by it I’ll grow more as a person. The same way with God, He wont allow His children go astray, so, He shows His love through disciplines.If we will not undergo discipline, then we are illegitimate children and not true sons of God. (Hebrews 12:8)

Praise God I am your CHILD Lord!:)

Have you ever been in a party where you dress up inappropriately for the said occasion?

Just want to share to you my reflection on the parable of the wedding banquet. It’s so amazing to know how the Lord reveals Himself to us in different ways. While studying the passage in Matthew 22: 1-14, God has impressed to me three things. But before that I will narrate you first the story.

While Jesus spoke again to the Pharisees in parables, saying. “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his sons. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

Then he sent some more servants and said “ Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.

But they paid no attention and went off- one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army an destroyed those murderers and burned the whole city.

Then He said to his servants, “the wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. “Friend”, he asked, ‘ how did you get in here without wedding clothes?” the man was speechless.

Then the king told the attendants, “ tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

For many are invited, but few are chosen.

The chosen one…

Israel was the nation God had chosen. God’s favor and blessing was with them. They were the first invited guest for the wedding banquet of the king. But because of their stubbornness and disobedience they were punished and the invitation was given to us, the Gentiles. Other reality in this truth is that there are many people who hears the word but never listens. Most of the reason why man refuses the invitation of God’s salvation is that we are always busy. Like the first invited guest in the wedding banquet.

God’s grace….

It is said in Ephesians 2:8 that “it is by grace we have been saved through faith” and indeed it is true. We can do nothing to get salvation by our own means. Grace defines as a favor that we don’t deserve to be received. Like the second scenario in our passage, it portrays of God’s grace to all of us. Because of the disobedience of the first invited people He opens salvation to everyone, whether good or bad. It’s really an honor and a privilege for us to be invited in God’s banquet. Considering that He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. God invited us for who we are. How amazing is God’s grace!

A Christian uniform…

During the ball or the party, the King noticed somebody who was not wearing a proper dress or attire knowing it’s a wedding banquet. The king was so furious about it and because of that he let his guards tie his hand and feet and thrown away to the darkness. Sometimes we are like that man who doesn’t wear proper clothes before God. It is true that God invited us for who we are but the time we accepted the invitation we should act or live in His ways. How many Christians who have the form but have no power? And sometimes, or many times we are like that. We claim to be Christian but the people around us cannot see God’s righteousness in our lives because we do things in our ways, not God’s ways.

I was reminded of this passage to live a life worthy of Him. To walk and talk like Jesus. Though sometimes it’s so hard but I know that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. It is by His grace alone that I’ll be changed little by little. To you my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ now is the time for us to stand firm in serving Him for the Day of the Lord is approaching. Let’s encourage one another to wear God’s righteousness in our lives. We should wear the Christian uniform.

God is always true to His promises. I am walking by faith every year with my studies. There were many times that I want to give up my desire but thank God, His grace is sufficient for me to continue what He has started doing in my life. Indeed God never fails and He always cares.

Looking back the time that I asked God to go to college I remember what I said that I am willing to face hardships to achieve what I desire. And God honored my prayer. He provided people to help me by any means. I praise God that I was accepted as a working scholar in our school to have 18 units free but it is not enough for me to pursue my dream. I still need to have a weekly allowance for my food and daily expenses in school and payment for my boarding house. And God saw what I need so He provided people to help me. For three and a half years I’ve been working in a house having a free board and lodging. Though my work was not really that difficult you can not deny the fact that people who help you will expect something from you in return. So, I find it so hard to manage my time coz I also work for my studies. There were “misunderstandings” happened along the way and that made me struggle about it. I realized that I can’t serve to masters at the same time. So I decided and prayed that I’ll be in a boarding house with my own expenses. At first I was scared, I have a lot of “what ifs” that comes out of my thoughts, like, what if I’ll starved to death and have nothing to pay for my “Bhaus”. But I thank the Lord for giving me the inner peace that led me to be brave enough to step out of my faith. Praise God that He honored my desire. I am now residing at Remolador St. and so blessed that God has prepared a place for my safety at Maam Cirunay’s bhauz. I’m so glad that it is a Christian environment. I don’t know what lies ahead but I am looking forward for the great things that God will be doing in my life this semester.

It is my prayer that I will be a blessing to the place where He put me and that I will respond positively to His will in this new chapter of my life.

To God be the glory, always and forever. AMEN!

I am going to buy a ticket this 2:00 p.m for Anamae, Nelson and me. I praise God for being so great in my life. Every year it’s been a habit or a practice that I’ll be joining LCDC. This is a one-week intensive leadership and discipleship training camp sponsored by IVCF. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has been a great help in my walk with the Lord. God has used IVCF in molding me in a lot of ways. My first LCDC was last October 2004 and praise God, this will be my fifth time. Every year God is showing His goodness and proving His faithfulness to me through IVCF.

I thank God that every year He is increasing the numbers of participants who are joining LCDC and it’s a great reward for me. It’s really my desire and prayer to disciple students and lead them to Jesus. You can not deny the fact that in the ministry there are also frustrations and discouragements to face. Honestly speaking I was discouraged with the last year’s batch who attended LCDC. I was expecting too much from them that after the camp they will commit to serve the Lord in the campus work through IVCF. It was just so unfair that they left me all alone.

During that time I was counting my efforts and time I gave for them to be there in the camp. So as the school started I told myself that, “if somebody wants to join LCDC, so they should make ways and do their best so they can go. I will just help the person who I can see the desire and the actions of their faith.” Though I find it helpful coz I really see the effort to those who want to attend, but my motives were not right before the Lord.

Then God rebuked me last night.

I was reminded that I should serve Him intentionally, meaning, sincerely and with thanksgiving in my heart. I forgot that what I am doing is for His glory and not mine. And it’s not me who is calling those students to serve in the campus work but it’s Him alone. If God will raise up student leaders from this year’s batch then, Praise God but if not then, still I’ll Praise Him!

Glory to God!

Finally I’ve already finished the three series of the film “Lord of the Rings”. My friend James has a card collection of this movie so I was intrigued to see it personally and do my own judgment about it. I thought C.S. Lewis was the writer of this movie but in my dismay it was R.R. Tolkien if I am not mistaken. Aside from my discouragement about the writer, I was discouraged knowing that it will took you three hours to see one film. I was about to give up then but thank God I was persuaded by Manoy. I am not going to tell you all the events happen in the movie but I’ll share to you my learning and reflections from it. Over all, the story talks about the value of friendship, unity and love. What I appreciated the most was the friendship of Sam and Frodo. It portrays the true meaning of friendship or let say on how to be a real friend. Frodo was the main character of the story. He is a hobit who has been given the task to return the ring to Mount Moore in order to destroy it. This ring has the power of evil and so if a person owns this he will become powerful to rule over the earth. The task given to Frodo was indeed a heavy burden. There were times he was tempted to wear the ring but thanks to his friend Sam who was with him through thick and thin. Frodo was the main hero of this story but for me Sam was the real hero. He never leave Frodo even in times he was accused as a traitor. Without Sam, Frodo can’t make it to the top. Though there were other heroes who help them finished the battle, thanks to them also. They were: Aragon who became the king of Minastherith; Nigolas, an archer elf; Gandalf, who became a white wizard; Mary and Pipins, also a hobit and other more coz I can’t recall all of them.(hehe) And I also learned that unity brings peace and success. And from the love story of Aragon and Princess Aruana I learned that love can really wait no matter how far and how long it is. Love means trust and sacrifice. That’s all thank you..:)

I’m happy that God has given me peace in spite of my heartaches in life. Though it’s hard to rejoice but that’s the best thing to do. You’ll get nothing but heartaches when you continue to think of the bad things you encounter so, better smile and be happy. The bible says that, “a merry heart is like a medicine” so just smile with your problems. I have many reasons to be thankful and to rejoice in life. First thing is for having another life to live. God is the author of everything; He can give and take away my life if He wants to. He has all the rights and authority. So i should be thankful everyday. Second thing is for giving me the things that i need. Like the air that I breathe everyday, the shelter that He provides for free, clothes to wear, food to eat and the opportunity to study in college though I’m still praying that I can really graduate this 2010, God willing. God is really amazing working in my life. Third is, the people who cares and loves me despite of my imperfections. I should be thankful of my family coz without them I’ll never become the person that I am now. To my friends who lift me up when I am down and to my ever loving manoy who is with me through tears and joy. If I would enumerate all the things that I should be thankful, a day won’t be enough. Manoy keeps on reminding me and telling me that there are a lot of reasons to be happy and it is also a choice. If I want to be happy all day long I should choose to smile, choose to love and choose to be kind to everyone. I remember the message of our speaker during our prayer meeting he discussed about 4 things to be joyful that will be found in Philippians 4:4-9. these things are: 1. be humble, 2. be thankful, 3. think about good things in life and lastly, 4. apply what you learn from God’s word. The result will be the peace of God that transcends all understanding and His presence will be with you. I love you Lord!

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“Don’t forget to wash your face and comb your hair,” said mom when Joel got up from the breakfast table. “There’s Jam on your cheek, and your hair look likes you just got out of bed.”

“OK,” agreed Joel. When he got to his room, he looked at himself in his dresser mirror and saw that mom was right. But by the time he found his books, he had forgotten about how he looked. Out the door he went with his face dirty and his hair uncombed.

When Joel arrived home after school that day, he found his sister, Claire, talking to Mother in the kitchen. “You should have seen Joel at school this morning,” Claire told Mother. “He was a mess! His face was dirty, and I don’t think he even combed his hair. My friends laughed at him and called him ‘Sloppy Joel.’ I was embarrassed!” She made a face at Joel.

“Well, I went and washed my face right after recess,” Joel defended himself. “Combed my hair, too. So there!” He noticed Mother’s frown. “I saw myself in the mirror before I left for school but I forgot,” he confessed. “From now on I’ll be sure to clean up and comb my hair right away when I see I need it.”

A family devotions that night, Dad announced, “Checkup time! We’ve been talking this week about the importance of Bible reading and prayer in our daily lives, and we all agreed that the verses we read convicted us about our need to be more faithful in those areas. So, Joel, how have you been doing with your personal, daily devotions?”

Joel blushed, “I still forget most of the time,” he admitted.

“The Bible is like a mirror,” said Mom. “It reveals our sins and shortcomings. But we must not only see what these are, we must do something about changing them – just as you should have washed your face and combed your hair right after looking in your mirror this morning.”

“That’s right,” said Dad. “We must not only hear God’s Word, but do it as well”

-That’s the way to see whether you’re pleasing God. When you see things in your life that need correcting, take care of them at once, before you forget what they are.

“To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to Him it is sin.” James 4:17