The text I received this morning made me realize why this is God’s word for me this morning:

Exodus 33:13-23

¹³ If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.”

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Cary, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”

¹⁷ The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.”

¹⁹ The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh,^[c] before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. ²⁰ But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” ²¹ The Lord continued, “Look, stand near me on this rock. ²² As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.²³ Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.”

So okay. It’s time to take a rest from my blogging challenge with my friend, Lynai and proceed with my other blogging commitments.

As of 9:23 am today, the last person I texted according my phone is no other than my mother. Honestly, sharing about my relationship with my mother and my family in general is one of the most uncomfortable and scariest thing for me and I really don’t know why. It’s maybe because it’s the most vulnerable aspect of my life. Though I can say that my family is not the most broken family in the world, I can’t say that it’s the  ideal and perfect family either. We’re not even the sweetest family you’ll ever meet. And to tell you honestly, I’m really not that close to them, in general. But God knows that I love them and I praise God that He’s starting to correct this important area of my life.

So back to my mother, as I’ve said, ours is not the perfect and ideal mother-daughter relationship. Though she’s one of the people whom I’ve known the longest, I know that there are a lot of things that we still don’t know about each other. Like what I’ve said in my previous post, I was raised as a very independent and stubborn child so I grew up living independently from my family. I always knew what I want for my life and because I was so stubborn, I always get what I want from my parents.

Though I know that I’m stubborn, I can say that I’m not the spoiled brat and rebellious kind of a child. I’ve always known that we’re not rich so my parents really need to work hard for them to be able to provide for us. Because I know that truth, I always try not to add to their burden by studying hard and giving them back the honor by excelling in school. And between my two parents, it’s always my mom who I thought was really working harder for us. So seeing them suffering and working hard for us was enough proof for me to know that they love us. Because of that, I didn’t grow up seeking for their attention.

So I’ve learned to enjoy life on my own, of course with the help of my friends at school. Open communication was not also common in our household so telling my mom everything about my experiences in school was not a natural thing for me. That’s actually the reason why whenever I have problems, asking for help from them is not my default reaction. I usually tend to exhaust all the possible solution I can think of first  before telling them. When I’ve tried everything and still my solution won’t work, that’s the only time I’ll go to my family and ask for help. And usually, it’s my mom whom I will call first. So yeah, my parents are always my last resort, but usually have the best solution.

Do I regret having that kind of family background? No, because I’m thankful that my parents have raised me well and trained me to learn how to live my life independently. I’m thankful that they allowed me to explore this world on my own and learn about the consequences of my own choices, and thankful that they are always there to welcome me whenever I made the wrong choices. I’m thankful that they are not overly protective to the point of limiting me from reaching my full potential but always supportive of my endeavor. And it’s funny that it’s only now that I’ve realized this.

I’ll stop here for now for I need to go somewhere. Maybe later I’ll give some concrete examples of my fond memories with my parents especially my mother.

I plead to you, young lady. Let Him. Let Him love you first. Before you start waiting for the right guy, grant the access to your heart first to its Maker, Jesus. And when you give that heart to Him, I won’t promise that it will not be broken. Because it will be. Yet it will […]

via Let Him Love You First —

How are you, dear friends?! Welcome to the 3rd week of Cary and Lynai Blogging Change. Just to recap what we have accomplished so far, we’ve shared some qualities about ourselves during Week 1. We’ve also shared  some of the things we love doing in Week 2.

Now for Week 3, it’s time to share our most prized moments! Truth be told, this is my favorite topic in the challenge so far. I am really excited to write this post because I see at as an opportunity for me to finally write the long-overdue stories of my favorite travels and adventures. So in chronological order, here we go!

1. Ilocos Trip (January 2010).  One of the things I love about my first job was the opportunity to enjoy the perks of working while having fun.  Our organization was generous enough to bring us all to Ilocos to conduct our regular Mid-year assessment and planing. I can’t remember anymore the things we’ve discussed during the planning and assessment but the memories of the places  we’ve visited after the activity still linger on my mind (thanks to the pictures we’ve taken, of course!).

2.  Christmas 2012. I’m trying to recall why I’ve included this in my list. Then I remembered that my favorite Christmas celebration in my present job was in 2012. I love Christmas 2012 because:

• This was the first time I saw office crush, during the pinoy henyo contest. I was impressed by his performance during the game and I also find him cute so I decided to make him my office crush. Hihi!
• We won the Staff presentation contest. I really enjoyed the preparation we made for that contest, especially the costume, so I’m glad that all our efforts paid off.
• I received a surprise gift from my other secret crush. This is not actually related to our office celebration but another reason why Christmas 2012 was memorable for me is because of that gift. I’ll stop here because I want to keep that moment secret. 😛😙😅

3. F2F Discussion (February 2013). This is one of my favorite face-to-face book       discussion in our book club, TFG! I just love the romantic feels during this event.This reminds me of how much I miss attending book discussions.

4. LDI 2013 (May 2013). Attending the leadership development institute is one of the         most important milestone in my Christian life. It was a month-long of training for future disciplemakers in our church.

5. Relient K Concert (September 2013). It has always been my dream to see my favorite Christian band perform live here in the Philippines. But I never thought that I don’t need to wait that long to watch their concert. Thank God for the organizers because they brought Relient K here in the Philippines so I’ve got to see them live! By the way, it’s kind of free. 😀

6. Japan Trip (February 2014). Of course, this was my first out-of-the-country travel ever! I praise God that I was able to get an all-expense-paid training in Japan. Not only that, I gained at least 15 new friends because of that training. I’ve also got a first-hand snow experience as a bonus.

7. Ilo-ilo Trip (September 2014). This was my first out-of-town travel with my bookish friends, the Laslas Girls. Travelling with these ladies taught me that travelling is more fun when you do it with your beloved friends. And how can I not include this in my most precious moments when this was also the first time I met my dear friend and partner in this blogging challenge, Lynai (and her cute baby, Ikay)?!

8. Day in Prayer and Fasting (DIPF) (January 2016).I always look forward to our monthly DIPF. Our church usually do it every first Saturday of the month and I love attending DIPF because it’s the time of the month when I get refreshed and have an entire day devoted to spending time with God in prayer. The first DIPF we had this year was extra special for me because God answered one of my prayers in an unexpected way during that day. What’s funny about it is that my prayer was so random and kind of silly (or so I thought) so I didn’t expect that God would take that prayer seriously. Maybe someday, when the time is right, I’ll share the details of that prayer. For now, let’s leave it at that.
 9. Korea Trip (March 2016). This one of the greatest blessing I received this year. I praise God for He gave me another opportunity to go out of the country to learn.
 10. All other small things that matter. I want to make a list of 10 but I thought I have a number ordinary moments that are worth mentioning so I’ll save it for my next post.

Looking at my list, I realized that most of my unforgettable moments happened just recently. I tried to recall my favorite experiences during my college days but I find recent experiences better than before. This reminds me that indeed, greater things are yet to come. 

I first heard about the word meet-cute from my book club friends, during one of our online book discussion a few years ago. According to Urban Dictionary, meet-cute is….

meet-cute

Scenario in which two individuals are brought together in some unlikely, zany, destined-to-fall-in-love-and-be-together-forever sort of way (the more unusual, the better).

The way the characters meet in “Serendipity” or “When Harry Met Sally” or at least half the romantic comedies out there.

I celebrated my 28th birthday quietly.

Though I know that I’m not going anywhere on my birthday, I still decided to file a leave and celebrate it at home to spend my day in the presence of God. So on the morning of my birthday, I sat down and do my usual quiet time with God and spent some more hours meditating on God’s faithfulness for the past 28 years of my life. I thanked God for all the blessings He has showered upon me and recalled all the promises He’s given me two years ago. I also spent some hours recalling  all my frustrations, disappointment, failures and sin I have committed against God and laid it all at the Lord’s feet, trusting and believing that God’s grace is always greater than all these failures combined. The most comforting words I received from God during that day is this:

..But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” – Luke 7:47b

I praised and thanked God for the forgiveness and even for allowing me to undergo a series of disappointments and frustrations to humble me and so I will be able to love Him all the more. I also claimed Psalm 80 as my personal prayer to God.

As I’ve always expected, birthday greetings have started to pour out the moment I woke up. What surprised me the most are the greetings from people I haven’t seen or heard for so long. I was so delighted to get an update from them even for a short while. But what I love most are the birthdays greetings I received with prayers and God’s promises in it. For me, these greetings are tangible declaration of God’s blessings in my life that’s why I’m always looking forward to it on my birthday.  Now I want to keep a record of it so I can look back and say that God  has indeed been true to His Word and promises.

Acts 20:24 (NIV)

²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Isaiah 46:4 (NIV)

⁴ Even to your old age and gray hairs
    I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
    I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Hello there! Because today’s my birthday and I’m celebrating my 28th birthday, I thought of writing about something women of my age are starting to  get anxious about.  Yeah, I’m referring to wedding or marriage or everything about finding your true  love. Not that I’ve already found my true love or I’m getting married soon. I’ve been wanting to write about the songs I want to play on my wedding day (Lord willing!) and I thought today’s the best day to write it. 😀 Who knows, it might come in handy. 😀

So…. here you go!

1. Praying for You by Mandisa
2. Marry your Daughter by Brian Mcknight
3. Commitment by Sanctur Real
4. Other Guys by Jonny Diaz
5. Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts
6. When did You Fall by Chris Rice
7. How to Fall by Josh Wilson
8. Love is Not a Fight
9. To be With You
10. Love is Waiting

I just find these songs sweet so I thought it would be good if I would hear them playing on my wedding. 🙂

Today is the last Sunday of the year and I want to remember this day so I’m writing about the message I heard during our worship service earlier. Actually, I had a not-so-ordinary Sunday worship service experience today that’s why I decided to blog about it.

Sunday has always been the Lord’s Day for me. In fact, I think I’ve only missed 1 or 2 Sunday worship service this year and I really praise God for enabling me to be faithful in attending the worship service. But because I was so caught up with the busyness of the Christmas season this week, I decided last night that I will not attend the service today. I even intentionally woke up very late this morning because I’ve already planned to do some household chores in the morning instead of going to church.

So I woke up late but I still continued to do my regular quiet time in the morning. Before I start, I told God in my opening prayer that I really want to end this year and start the new year right so I asked Him to speak to me personally and I was really looking forward to God’s new revelation to me for the coming year. But God is really funny sometimes because instead of giving me a new revelation, He gave me a simple test of obedience. I was really serious about not going to church today but the message that God has clearly given to me as I meditated on Matthew 12 during my quiet time is this:

For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. -Matthew 12:8

So when I saw this verse, I  said “Lord, really?!! Why, I told you already I’m not really going to church today!” And then I started wrestling with God and told Him all the excuses I can think of why I won’t be able to make it to church today. I told Him it’s already past 8 and our worship service starts at 9 so I’m sure I’m going to be super late if I will change my plan. But the more I try to reason out to God, the more I realize how lame my excuses are, so in the end, I gave up and told Him, “okay Lord, I’m going now. I know I’m going to be late, ​but I’ll try my best to come just in time for the message.” So I took the cab instead of my usual FX ride. Praise God that indeed, I was able to arrive right after the praise and worship part and just before our Pastor gave his message. Truly, there is blessing in obedience because I can’t explain the joy I felt after listening to our Pastor’s year-end message. The Lord really knows what I really need to hear at the moment so I’m really glad that He enabled me to obey. Our Pastor’s message today was about how to stand firm in the Lord and I want to share it with you because I was really encouraged when I heard this message.

How to Stand Firm in the Lord

1. The Blessed Exchange.  If we want to stand firm in the Lord. we need to make thatserious  decision to give up our life, our dreams, our selfish ambition, pleasure and all the things that this world is offering, for the sake of our relationship with Christ and God’s kingdom agenda.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ. (Phil. 3:7-8)

2. Be Patient and Stand Firm.   Being patient is really a challenge for most of us today because we live in a world where everything is done in an instant. So when God delays His answer to our prayer, we lose our patience and start grumbling, and sometimes we even give up and turn away from God. But God wants us to be patient and wait for His perfect timing so we really need to be patient and trust God that He will give the desires of our heart when the time is right.

You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! (James 5:8-9)

3. Hold to the Teachings Passed On.  God usually uses people and delegated authorities who will guide us in our journey with God. But God also promised that there will be false prophets and teachers in these last day  who will try to lead us astray so we really need to stand firm and hold to the teachings that our leaders have passed on to us.

 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings^[a] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. (2 Thess. 2:15)

4. Do not be enslaved by anything . One sign that we are not standing firm in faith is when we get addicted to something other than God. So we really need to guard our hearts and ensure that God remains to be the highest good in our life.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

5. By Faith We Stand Firm.  Faith is simply trust in God alone. In order to overcome sin, we need to trust in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross.

Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm. (2 Cor. 1:24)

6. Have an Intercessor.  More is accomplished in prayer than doing all the work so we really need to pray that someone is really praying for us.

Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.(Colossians 4:12)

7. Give Yourself Fully to the Lord’s Work

 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

So there. I’m glad that God enabled me to obey today and I did not miss this wonderful message to cap my journey with Jesus this year. Plus, I was able to spend some quality time with my closest friend in the church after our service so I’m really glad that I was able to spend my time wisely. Thank you, Lord Jesus for your faithfulness in my life. 🙂