Category: Uncategorized

Day 17. What are your spiritual beliefs and how do they impact your relationships/relationship status?

Excerpt from “Reflections of a Man” by Mr. Amari Soul

Welcome back to this long overdue challenge!

I only have two verses in mind when it comes to my spiritual beliefs and my relationships. The first one is 1 Timothy 5:1-2, which is my guiding principle for cultivating godly relationships in general, and the second one is 2 Corinthians 6:14, which is my guiding principle for romantic relationships.

On godly relationships

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. (1 Timothy 5:1:2)

When it comes to dealing with other people, I always try to follow this framework based on the verse above:

Older men – treat them with respect as with my father
Younger men – treat them as brothers, with absolute purity.
Older women – honor them like my own mother
Younger women – treat them as if they are my own sister.

My only problem with this framework is that the verse says nothing about how should I treat men of my own age range, and I’m really struggling in this area.  I really don’t know how to relate with them so my natural tendency is to have nothing to do with them altogether. ?But then lately, God taught me that I should not reject friendships with the opposite sex altogether. With the right and pure  motives and clear boundaries, being friends with guys, especially with   my brothers in Christ, can be a beautiful thing as they can help me understand more the dynamics between men and women.

On romantic relationships
I’ve been taught early in my Christian life that when it comes to choosing a romantic partner, I only have one rule to consider, and that is:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

This means he should be a Christian, and that is, he is fully committed and submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ. I know how hard it is to be romantically attracted to someone who doesn’t meet this standard but God was so gracious that He enabled me to uphold it. So now, having this standard makes it easier for me to identify who are those I can consider to have romantic business with. ☺

University Adversity

​A. W. Tozer once wrote, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” God has a mission for your life and mine. But before we can carry out that mission, we will often go through the boot camp of adversity. If this is where you find yourself today, ask God to give you His grace to walk through this time with you. He promised He would never leave or forsake us.

Am I Ready to be Poured Out as an Offering?

I’ve  been taught that following Jesus is costly. I’ve always known this in theory because Jesus himself said this to His disciples a lot of times.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37)
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. (Luke 14:26‭, ‬33)

I said I’ve known all of these in theory but for the longest time, I failed to realize is that these very same words from Jesus also apply to me. I always tell Jesus that there’s nothing else I want in my life but to follow Him all the way, but now that He’s asking me to give up my whole life for Him, then why am I relenting?

I’ve been praying for fruitfulness in my personal ministry for a long time now but it seems that nothing is really happening. Yes, there is fruit but not the much fruit He had promised. So I was asking, ‘God, what’s wrong with my motive and my strategy?’ Then last Saturday God answered me during our usual DIPF. God told me that if I really want to achieve a different result this time, I need to totally change my lifestyle. I can’t live my life in the same way I had it before.

As if God wants to make His point clear to me, He confirmed the direction that He wants me to take during my quiet time yesterday through this text from My Utmost for His Highest: 

The text asks me to tell God I am ready to be poured out as offering but I told God otherwise. I told God I don’t want to say it because I know that once I’ve said it, He will surely do it. He did it the last time  I told Him I am willing to take the more difficult path for the sake of my growth, and it was painful. I’m not sure how painful  it can get this time because I’m looking forward to a greater reward. I’m struggling because as much as I hate it, I know that there is no other way but to go through it. So in the end, I told God that I am not willing, but please, make me willing!

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

2016 Playlist

I was supposed to publish this last month but life happens so I’m posting this only now.

Only a few days left, and the year is about to end again. As with my usual practice, I want to keep a record of the songs that made this year a little more exciting for me. I don’t have much music discoveries this year though, so I can only name a few memorable songs in my playlist.

Anyway, here’s  my most memorable songs in 2016:

1. Make Me a Servant by Maranatha Singers. If I am to summarize the lesson God taught me this year, I think this one is the perfect song to describe it. I always tend to forget that Jesus is Lord and I am His servant. Since He is my Lord and King, I really need to have a servant attitude.

Make me a servant
Humble and meek
Lord let me lift up those who are weak
And may the prayers of my heart always be
Make me a servant
Make me a servant
Make me a servant today

2. No Borders by Ginny Owens. I actually discovered this song last year but it’s only this year that I’ve learned to appreciate this. I realized that if I really  want to experience God and see His amazing miracles in my life, I need to let all my walls down and let Him accomplish whatever He has planned for my life. I also need to learn not to put limit in what He can do for my life.

It’s time that I abandoned the familiar
to chase what I don’t understand
You’re teaching me that when I trust Your promise
I finally find the promised land
no borders, no boundaries could ever be enough
to hold back the wonder of Your overwhelming flood
in the beauty of Your mystery
freely now I run with
no borders, no boundaries
Lord I’m surrendered to Your love

3. Start a Fire by Unspoken. I first heard this song during one of the service I attended this year. I liked this song because of its message of asking God or start or rekindle the fire in our soul. I think I liked it because it was the song I needed to hear during that time.

Start a fire in my soul
Fan the flame and make it grow
So there’s no doubt or denying
Let it burn so brightly
That everyone around can see
That it’s You, that it’s You that we need
Start a fire in me

Thank you, 2016

I celebrated New Year with a thankful heart.

As I was saying two days ago, I’m having mixed emotions about the coming year because of uncertainties. Thank God because after I’ve written that previous post and after I uttered a short prayer to God, I finally have this peace in my heart reassuring me that I need not to be afraid of the future. This was also confirmed during my quiet time this morning when God told me that when in a crossroad, the best response is SURRENDER. Surrender everything to God and trust that He is only up to our own good.

I realized that even if I have a number of reasons to think that 2016 was a bad year (e.g., death of two officemates, father’s operation and lifetime dialysis session for maintenance, greater workload, etc.), I still have a lot more reasons to be thankful for 2016: 2nd international travel, promotion and new friends at work, new sisters in Christ, and many other small things that I fail to thank God for. The seemingly bad circumstances that happened in 2016 also turned out to be blessings in disguise. For instance, my father’s sickness provided me an opportunity to spend more time with my parents. The sickness was also used by God to serve as opportunity to share the Gospel to our relatives. The untimely death of my officemate earlier in 2016 also taught me to really view the Gospel with a sense of urgency. When I tried to look back how my year 2016 was, I realized that the blessings still far outweigh the challenges. And with that, I’m truly grateful.

So yes, thank you, 2016 for all the blessings, the joy and the lessons. And welcome, 2017! I’m ready and.excited for you. ☺???

No Ordinary Day has a New Home!

First of all,

Merry Christmas, dear friends!!

I finally decided to set up my own site so I’ll be moving out from this hosting site starting this week.

But since I’m a sentimental pack rat, I’ve also transferred most of my blog posts here, including my reviews from my old book blog to my new blog.

So… welcome to my same old brand new No Ordinary Day site.

P.S. Thanks to my blogging partner, Lynai and her hubby for assisting me in setting up this site. 

see you!

Thank God It’s Monday!

So it’s Monday again.
The sun is finally out. I hope it’s for good this time. Just like how my father is finally out of the hospital. Just like the weather, life has been gloomy for the past two weeks. But praise God because despite the gloomy atmosphere, Jesus never failed to shine His light upon our family the whole time. JESUS is the reason why despite the desperate situation, I can still laugh and think about make up, food and other silly stuff that I shouldn’t worry about during times of trouble. Sure I have fears but God has never failed to assure me that He will bring upon healing in the end to display His glory not only to me but to the entire family. True enough, they have seen how God has been good to us. They have seen how God has provided everthing we need to help us endure the test in order to grow our faith.

And with that, I am truly grateful. All glory, praises and honor to God! Thank you, Jesus. 😀😂

How To Get Through Life Like A Cat

Nice Read!

daleydowning's avatarThe Invisible Moth

Take the road less traveled. Sure, it’s tempting to go down the path others have already been on for ages; the pawsteps before you are clear and easy to follow, and most of the dangers that may come, you’ve been warned about. But nothing will make up for what you’re supposed to do in your own life, for jumping onto the path destiny has set for you and you alone, regardless of whether it’s planned or prepared or expected or not. Don’t worry too much about what others think you should or shouldn’t do. Find your own road, and proudly put your pawsteps on it.

Remember to play. Chasing that butterfly or leaf is valuable. It reminds you to let go of worry and fear; you can’t control the world, you can only control how you react to it. The sun may not always shine, the butterflies may not always…

View original post 447 more words

Week 7: I love it when….

image-9e8374e1d6f3ba0d8a3d18acc71d38c312001c39cd89711aad56feafd964fa01-v.jpg

Hello! Welcome to week 7. I want to make a longer list for this post but since this post is way long overdue, i’ll just make it two. So here we go!

I LOVE IT WHEN…

God answers my most random and silliest prayers.
I’ve always known that Jesus is the God of the impossible but I often forget that He is also the God of small things. So I always find it amazing whenever God answers my silliest and even my unuttered prayers and secret desires.
One perfect example of this was when I made a note to myself that I need to buy an external drive for my computer files. A few weeks later, our office issued a 1 tera external drive because our office laptop has very limited storage capacity. I praise God for it because I no longer need to pay for it. Indeed, why pay when you can pray, right?

I get random updates from my old friends
Rekindling and nurturing old friendships is quite a challenge for me nowadays. As much as I want to keep in touch with my old friends, life happens so spending time with them became less and less through the years. Even simple sms and online chat became less frequent that’s why I always try to say hi to them from time to time. But then I realize that it’s me who always try to make the effort to reach out to them so I got tired eventually and just let our friendship remain silent for a while. That’s why I always feel happy whenever I get some opportunity to hear updates from old friends. I also appreciate it whenever I get random sms or chat from them, specially when they are the first one to do so.