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A few hours from now, I will be celebrating my 27th birthday. Yes, I am not ashamed of sharing my age because I tell you, I don’t look my age. People often mistake me for a student and I don’t know why but no matter how hard I try, I still don’t look like a young professional (or maybe a real lady?! haha!). But that’s the way God created me so I just have to embrace the advantage of being small – a youthful look.

Anyway, I don’t usually think about how old I am unless some people will ask me my age or will point out to me that I am already in my late twenties. I don’t also feel that I am running out time because I’m not in a hurry for marriage or even for earning a master’s degree because I’ve surrendered these ambitions to God four years ago when I gave up my life for Christ. Sure I do feel being tempted from time to time to choose my own fleshly desires but God is always gracious to bring me back to where I belong, that is, at the center of His will.

But then last year, while I was meditating on the Book of Ecclesiastes, I realized that time is really of the essence. I really need to learn how to number my days because this world is dying and Jesus is coming very soon. I know what God has called me to do yet I still choose to dillydally and wait passively for His second coming.

Praise the Lord that during the Sunday message this morning, I am reminded of the calling that God has entrusted to me: to follow Jesus and reach the whole world for Him. I know that there is no other way to live a fulfilling life but to live it for Christ.

Based on what I witnessed this morning, there are still a lot of work to be done in this city and in this country and I can’t afford to waste my time.

And for this year, this is what I am really claiming:

But seek FIRST His KINGDOM and His RIGHTEOUSNESS, and all these things will be given to you as well. – Matthew 6:33

I used to believe in the saying that experience is the best teacher. But sometime in 2014, I realized that I don’t agree with it anymore. The best lessons in life are not always learned from experience but from evaluated experience. The insights and learnings that we gained from our previous experience are the ones that teach us to become better version of ourselves.

Admittedly, I always fail in this area of evaluating my experience. Truly ironic for someone who is working in the country’s national planning agency. So for the first time in forever, (Frozen, anyone?! :D) I’ll try to write down the things I’ve learned in 2014 and I will do my best to remember and bring these lessons with me in 2015.

1. You will reap what you sow. I haven’t thought about this biblical principle before until I learned about it from one of the best books I’ve read this year: Boundaries. The Bible said in Galatians 6:7-8,  “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” In the same way, ‘As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.‘(Job 4:8).

One of the things that I really prayed for in 2014 is to have a group of girls whom I will lead and disciple in a cell group. However, one of my most neglected spiritual discipline in 2014 is evangelism. So how can I expect winning more souls if I haven’t planted any seeds of faith on people?

So for 2015, I commit to do evangelism at least 3 times per week.

2. God hates and detests idolatry. Idolatry is defined in the bible as worship of idols. An idol, on the other hand, is anything that is worshiped instead of TRUE God. In the Bible times, idols were often statues of false gods made of wood, stone, or metal. (See Deut. 4:15-31; 2 Kings 17:7-23; Acts 17:16-34; 1 Thess 1:9-10)
I’ve actually learned this truth when I was meditating on the Books of 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles and the Book of Isaiah. God is a jealous God so the first command that He gave to the Israelites was to worship Him and Him alone. However the Israelites provoked God to anger when they started to set up Aserah poles and  worship idols. As a result, God turned over Israel to their enemies.
I thought, ‘if God wasn’t so serious about idolatry, why does he need to discuss this issue in at least 5 books of the bible?’

Aside from physical idolatry, another form of idolatry that God hates is idolatry of the heart. It is defined as any immoderate attachment or devotion to anything other than God. Anything that makes us shift our eyes away from God can be an idol. It can be our work, our gadgets, our hobbies, and even our families.

As an application to this learning I want to shift my focus, time and energy to the work of the Lord. God wants my best so I will do my best to really honor Him with everything I have.

3. Disobedience to God has always consequences. God is just. He is not a man that He should lie. So when He said ‘don’t do this or else this is what will happen”, expect that He will carry out what He had declared once we disobey.

I’ve experienced it myself so I don’t want to suffer again because of my own disobedience.

4. God disciplines those He loves. This is in relation to #1 and #3. Because God loves us so much, He doesn’t want us to remain disobedient forever. He will make sure that we will learn from the consequences of our bad choices and mistakes.

5. Boundaries are healthy and they are important to develop and maintain in life. I’ll try to discuss this more later.

6. Less is more.

7. Godliness with contentment is great gain.

8. Faith without action is dead. It’s not enough to agree with what God is saying. If I want  to experience miracle, I need to exercise my faith and take the necessary step that God is asking me to do.

9. Counting blessings is one of the key to happiness.

10. It takes a very big God and a very big faith in God to be able to absorb so much evil. We live in a broken world, so experiencing evil is already given. Only God can enable us to respond positively to whatever evil thing we have encountered.

11. The opposite of love is not hate but indifference. Love is not a feeling but a commitment to show care and concern for other people. When we stop caring for others, it’s a sure sign that we’re failing to love.

12. Spiritual warfare is real.

13. Goal setting is an important step to success.

14. Everything is by Grace. Everything that I have is all by the grace of God so it is just right to point all the glory to Him.

I was thinking of writing about the lessons I learned in 2014 but God is always full of surprises so I have to put that post off and share the best gift I received this year, instead.

Ever since I came to know Jesus, it has always been my prayer that my entire family would come to know Him and accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior as well. I grew up in a family of a devout follower of the most prominent religion in our country so leaving this religion behind to follow Jesus is a new thing for my family. Though my family, especially my parents, are not opposed of me changing ‘religion’ (and I’m really, really thankful to God for that), it really pains me to know that I go to church to worship God alone. But like what my spiritual mother always tells me, the blessings of our obedience to Christ will always extend to our immediate families, even to the entire clan and the future generations to come. So I claimed the Lord’s promise in Acts 16:31: Believe in Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.
For four years I’ve been praying for my family, specially my parents, that God would finally open up their hearts so they would accept Christ and that they would come to know the truth. I tried to share to them the gospel once but I didn’t get a positive response from them. So after four years of praying, I praise God that He finally answered one of my prayers.

So yesterday, I had this meaningful conversation with my parents, especially my father,  about God, and based from what he is saying, I am sure that my father has finally opened up his heart to Jesus. I am not sure of the story of how he got to know Christ but I am really really happy that he is now starting to read the bible.

So as of this writing, I am still teary-eyed because of this great joy. This is the best gift that I ever received this year. So friends, please continue to help me to pray for the salvation of my entire family. I’m still not sure about my mother but I know that Jesus will also open up her heart soon. I am also holding on to God’s promise that He will not take the life of my grandparents back without having the assurance of their salvation.

Praise the Lord! 😀

Dear Lord Jesus,

I’d like to celebrate this day by simply thanking You for the wonderful gift of salvation you have given us. Thank you also for the gift of eternal life. Thank you that You are my peace and the source of my joy. You are more than enough for me.

For those who are feeling alone and lonely in this time of the year, I pray that you give them comfort. I pray that You show Yourself to them and make them realize that you are the reason for this season.  Shower them with your steadfast love and make their heart open up to you.

This I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Okay, here’s the part two of my quotable quotes for 2014.  Some of them may not be a direct quotation but I’m sure these are the words that have somehow influenced my way of thinking and my attitude towards things as well as the way I view myself. Others are things I discovered about myself based from the perception of others.

• Don’t compare people, they are different individuals.
• The opposite of love is not hate but indifference.  
• ISTP ka kasi. Kaya pala uptight ka. 
• Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.
• Alam mo Cary, ang gusto ng guys sa babae ay self confidence.
  

  Me: may confidence naman ako ah, wala nga lang self.

• Ikaw eh, may sariling mundo ka kasi.
• Strong-willed ka pa. Kelangan pang ma-break yan.
• I don’t care about what other think about me because even if they know things about me, they will not know the real me.

I wrote a post the other day about my prayer for a friend, and then I saw this song from youtube and it made me cry because it’s really touching. 😦

These are some of the words of wisdom and the things I’ve learned about myself. These are combination of what I’ve heard from my friends and words I uttered myself this year that I think I want to bring with me in 2015:

‘We don’t feel old every year naman because we grow everyday’

‘Ayusin ang motive, saka na ang malisya.’

‘Balance is the key.’

‘Ok lang na nalate ka, at least may nainspire ka.’

‘E kasi Cary, pag may nagkukuwento sayo, wala kang reaksyon. Luging-lugi sila sayo.’ 😀

‘Cary, hindi ka ba napapagod magbasa?
Me: E kasi pag nagbabasa ko, iniisip ko ung binabasa ko, pag tumigil naman ako, iisipin ko pa rin ang nabasa ko.

Ma-flatter na lang sya noh!

These are just a few. I’ll think about the others later.

During my Quiet Time this morning, I can’t help thinking about a friend who I know is hurting deep inside but I don’t know how to reach him/her out. But because I believe in the power of prayer and because I believe it’s the best and surest way to help my friend, I just uttered a simple prayer to God and asked Him to take care of my friend’s needs. I also know that no matter how many encouraging words I say to this person, it’s not enough to remove all the pains and hurt he/she’s feeling right now (see, I’m trying not to reveal my friend’s identity so I’m not going to tell whether my friend is a she or a he, just in case she/he’s reading this. :D). But I know someone who can heal all his/her hurts and that’s Jesus. I want to tell my friend that all he/she needs is Jesus but I don’t have the opportunity to tell it to him/her, for now. So friends, please help me pray for my dear friend. And if you think you are also hurting, please claim this prayer as my prayer for you as well.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that you love this friend of mine very much. You also know how much I love and care for this friend so I’m lifting him/her to you. I know that I can’t do anything to change his/her heart, or even heal his/her broken heart so please take care of my friend and be his/her comfort. I also pray that You reveal Yourself to my friend so that he/she would be able to accept You as his/her personal Lord and Savior, and accept the free gift of salvation you are offering to everyone. This I pray, in Your sweet name, amen.

I also thought of sharing this song to my friend because every word in this song speaks about the truth in my friend’s circumstances.