[01-13-2017] Empty

            I have a big and happy family with all the techies and food that I can have. I have money to buy anything that I want or to spend on something that I don’t need. I have such a wonderful and caring person who affectionately loves me. But at some point, I feel empty.

            I have always wanted to be an Accountant; took the board examination twice but to no avail, I wasn’t able to pass it. At first, I thought that makes my being empty especially when I see my friends post about their adventures or hardships of being in that profession. But I continue with life.

            I started working to a company and felt happy. But all of a sudden, the job that I loved and enjoyed seemed to be empty and pointless, so I decided to resign because I can’t find the reason to continue working.

            I have my devotional with me every day but sometimes, I can’t have the willingness to continue and read but I need to because this is one of my resolution, to be closer to Christ. Until I decided to go to Church one Wednesday afternoon; and as I entered, I knew from then on that the feeling of emptiness is in my heart.

            I know that there are also others out there who feel incomplete in their life and I must say that it is God who is lacking in their lives. If they allow Christ to touch their heart with His mercy and compassion, then they will be made whole. Just like what I feel right now; being complete with Christ.

            

            Sharing to others about Jesus and showing them how He changed my life can be a good way for them to turn back to Jesus and seek His love; most especially those who are hurting and spiritual abused. We shouldn’t look at them with fear, but with compassion – displaying an attitude of mercy towards their needs.

[01-12-2017] Is Mary Really Right?

            We have 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 4 weeks in a month and 12 months in a year to spend with all the people that we love and cherish; and to give time for ourselves. But God only wants us to spend an hour at Church to listen to Him once a week. Now, that is not really a big favour, isn’t it?

            We are distracted by a lot of things right now. We have the social media sites wherein we spend almost all of our time with by just scrolling and hitting the like buttons on some not useful things posted on the site. It takes a lot of our time that we sometimes forget the most important thing, spending time with Jesus.

            I wake up early in the morning to have my devotional. It is a time of the day that I spend talking with Christ and listening to His sermon through the Bible. An hour everyday is not that hard to give to someone who gave up his whole life for me to save me from my sins.

            Being able to read through His words and reflecting on it allows me to realize the most important thing in my every single day and that is offering my time to Him and allowing Him to come into my being and be one with me for the moment of time.

            We have all the time that we can have to be able to spend on other things especially on things that we think are valuable to us; these things are not evil itself but these keeps us from doing the one things that we must be doing – spending time with Jesus.

            I might forget to have my devotional every day especially if I wake up a little late but that doesn’t stop me to find time to talk with him, it isn’t surprising because it is something that I wanted to do: listen to Jesus.

            When are you going to stop and spend time with Him?

[01-11-2017] Adopted

            I had to stay in another city which is far from my hometown for more than 5 months for a review, in relation to my major. I lived in a dormitory together with some of my classmates and gladly, new found friends.

            I always feel hesitant whenever I go together with my classmates in college because I felt that I don’t belong in their group. They have their own lives and are living a far different life than mine. I chose to stay at my room than to go out with them, not because I don’t like them, but because I can’t adjust to them.

            At some point in our lives, there are really moments when we feel like we do not belong to the group of people or even a circle of friends, because we can’t relate to them or we have some personal issues with some of them. I do not beg for their attention anyway because I am more comfortable with a few true friends.

            I also went to a church for Christians and from the moment that I entered their door, they never made me feel different or alone. I always have someone that I can talk to and during worship and praise; I really feel the sense of belongingness.

            Just as my life with Christ, I always feel that I am a true daughter of the Heavenly King despite the reality of being a sinner because He offers me forgiveness every single day of my life. Aside from that, He never fails to amaze me with his blessings which I never really asked for but was given to me.

            Being in Christ’s family is difficult because we have to be Christ-like; however, God still accepts me because He knows that I am doing my best to live a life away from destructive habits and always challenged to be an imitator of Christ.

            I may not belong to a group but I will always belong to Christ adoptive family.

[01-10-2017] Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy – January 10

            “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are filled with your glory. Hosanna, hosanna on high!” Holiness isn’t something that we inherit from God just because we are created in his image and likeness; we only become holy in relationship to Christ.

            Jesus himself is the Holy One because He came down to earth to be one of us in order to save us from all the sins of the world despite knowing of his death. Being holy is a new person in God, it means that aside from the Trinity; God is still separate, another being, another form- in a different special kind of way.

            Even if he is different and special, God still showed us who he was through his love, mercy and forgiveness. Even if he is far greater than us all, he allowed us to know him and to acknowledge his existence in our life. He allowed us to be his sons and daughters/ brothers and sisters.

            During the time of leading the Jews out of Egypt, Moses wrote a song celebrating his holiness by saying, “Who is like you among the gods, O Lord – glorious in holiness, awesome in splendour, performing great wonders?” (Exodus 15:1-18).Truly God is holy because he is the only one true God who saved his people from deep slavery and leading them to the promise land.

            In the Bible, God’s holiness is the only word mentioned in triplicate; meaning it is with serious emphasis and his holiness is vitally important not only to Him but to each and every one of us because we are his family.

            Knowing the triplicate holiness of our dear God is a blessing I am most thankful to know about because I can lift up his power and to stress that our one Holy God is the most wonderful and without equal and I must declare to the whole world, “You alone are the Holy One; You alone are the Lord. You alone are the Most High with the Holy Spirit and the glory of God, the Father.”

[01-09-2016] Genuine Life

Genuine Life – January 9

            I always hear the quote, “YOLO : You only live once” and that is indeed really true especially because this life that we have is just one and we must live every day. But that doesn’t count the fact that we have to jump from a mountain high because YOLO! For me, YOLO is more on giving myself to God every single day.

            I remembered a sermon from our Priest saying, “Life’s problems are life’s source of beauty. Those painful experiences are actually the learning that God sends us. God never promised an easy journey in life but a sweet arrival in paradise.” Indeed, this is true because I experienced a lot of hardships in my life and things that I don’t want to look back at but as time passed by, those things are actually the reasons that I am strong today.

            I became a better person because of those wrecks and ruins in my life and those are also the reasons that I appreciate my existence here on earth especially because this life is given by God unto me and I should cherish it. It was God who gave me life and it should be for God that I am living my life.

            For me, life is not the whole life that I have but the life that I spend every single day with the people I care about. Life may get stuck at some point in time simply because God reminds us that we take life easy and slowly and with a good and joyful heart. If we allow God to enter into our life, we find ourselves further into what it means to be truly human and truly alive.

            Only God can give us the genuine life that we want because God alone is the life in us. “Just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same Spirit living within you,” (Romans 8:11)

[01-08-2017] Unplanned Changes

I’ve been working in a certain company for more than a year; I actually loved it because the tasks are piece of cake; however, things eventually changed since I started to get bored with all of my routine at the office.

            So I’ve decided to resign and find another job. I applied to some other companies for almost a month; giving my curriculum vitae and attending to their 5-minute interview. To include a debate-like interview. I waited patiently for the results but until now, I got no response from them.

            However, something unexpected happen around November and we all got really busy with the processing of our documents and all. I didn’t plan for it to happen right away but at some point, it seems like it was already planned by Him; that I resign and I do not get the job that I want in order to accept a greater blessing.

            Sometimes, we plan a lot of things in our life that we also forget to live for now. We tend to do everything we can for our future and for the sake of others that we forget to offer everything to God and allow him to direct our steps.

            God is the only provider who doesn’t let us know all His plans but gives to us in an unexpected time and unexpected manner that we can almost break down and cry. We feel like we’re lost with our plans and it’s not going according to what we want but as time goes by, we realise that we had created an even better scenario in our life.

            We can’t have everything that we want right there and then because God knows the exact timing to give it to us. We don’t need to feel discouraged and all because all of the things God made are part of allowing us to experience an even greater glory.

            They say, “When in doubt, wear red”, but for me, “When in doubt, let go and let God.” 

[01-07-2017] Loving Correction

Loving Correction – January 7

            I saw an animation at a certain website about a teacher. She started her class by writing equations on the whiteboard. She wrote, “9x1=7; 9x2=18; 9x3=27; 9x4=36 and 9x5=45”. Her class started to laugh then she asked them what was wrong. One of the students said, “Your first equation is wrong.”

            She kept silent for a while and asked her students, “Did you not notice the four other equations that I wrote were correct? Why did you just see that one equation that I wrote wrong?” And the class went utterly quiet. And she continued, “We tend to see flaws rather than the good things that people have. We criticise people for making mistakes or for doing actions that is not acceptable to us. Why don’t we acknowledge the good, as well?”

            Human as I am; I easily see people’s mistakes and I tend to continue noticing it but I don’t like it when people see my flaws; ironic, isn’t it? I am always tempted to judge a person without knowing the real reason behind his/her actions. I tend to forget the good side of the person.

            In this world full of people who ridicules others; we are not safe because even if we do a lot of perfectly acceptable things to the people dear to us-a single mistake can ruin everything; a single mistake can make them forget everything that you’ve done for them; a single mistake can even ruin a life-long relationship.

            “For you will be treated as you treat others”, (Matthew 7:12). There is nothing wrong in speaking our mind but we must first make sure that before we speak for others; we know their stories and the reasons behind their verve. We do not have the right to judge them or to speak to him of our judgement because the truth is; we don’t know all the facts and we can’t read their minds.

            Only God can is the perfect judge to people.