Random snapshots of Today's "Living In The Moment..."

I thought I would reward myself to a good lunch with my very good friend Seny @ Red Lobster. Maybe, seafood with broccoli will help ease the discomfort that I have been feeling in my belly for a while. And it did help.
This week, I took Cocoa, my beloved Chocolate Labrador to the Pet Med. for an annual thorough physical test. I had no doubt in my mind that she'd pass the tests with flying colors. I also took her to the very first walking trail we used to go five years ago. That made her day. Even dogs like to visit, sniff on things that were buried on the ground.
Still need to declutter & organize my room. And that's a big task to tackle. I'm not worrying about making resolutions anymore. I just have one thing that I need to work on wholeheartedly. I need not be affected or bothered by anyone or people who are notoriously sapping your energy without even knowing it. I just want to be in sync with what God is in store for me.

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After lunch, we went to Hastings bookstore instead of going to watch a movie. This stack of magazines may be overwhelming but not really. Some of these magazines are only worthy to be perused with just less impact; other topics could just be scanned with mental images and the rest may need more an hour or two to digest...What I usually do is pick up some new words or vocabulary or fragments and make them my own in my texts. Just like giving a new profile to each word depending where your heart is, as we speak...right now.

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"The Incredible First Cousins"

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"Thank You Lord Jesus for Christmas..."

From my family to yours...may you had a very Blessed Christmas!
It's been a family tradition that we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus on Christmas Eve so each family can celebrate his/her family Christmas celebration respectively on the 25th.
I spent my Christmas morning with a walk in the park with my beloved dog, Cocoa. I figured that the best gift I could give myself and my dog is keeping the regiment of the best exercise I know which is walking esp. in the morning.
In retrospect of this season, it doesn't get any more poignant than thinking of love ones that are no longer with us. Or love ones who are serving in the war zones for our liberties and couldn't be with their families. Or children who are living as destitute, and those with mental illnesses and sicknesses contemplating suicide.I would like to tell them that even in our worst nightmares that His grace & mercy endures forever upon our lives.
When I think about the frailties of humanity and what we put on to keep it that way instead of taking the less travelled path and focus on what is really important, we fail because we're lost spiritually.
I am thankful for the tangible gifts I received this Christmas and the gifts God has afforded me to give in return. I am thankful for the solidarity of a family. I am thankful even for the bad and not so bad influences of people around me for only in those experiences that I learn and decide my "take outs" in life.But I'm more thankful for the saving knowledge of the Word of God. In His Word, lies the very foundation of His love.
May John 3:16 really sinks in us.
Merry Christmas to all who visit my page and read through me and with me.

My first born who shares my cravings for words...

"Noel" Love This Version...

"In The House Of God..."

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 I look forward to going to church service on Sundays... My safety net is being around my family. I also get to shake hands and say "hello" to my sisters and brothers in Christ. I am totally immersed singing with the worship team and the whole congregation is in it, too.
But what touches/moves me most is the message that the Pastor encapsulates in his sermon.
I love how he builds up to the momentum...accelerating, pumping to the truth of the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
For me, a sermon is a good one when it calls the heart to repent, when it doesn't feel good to hear it; and when it ushers your spirit to believe in miracles, especially at Christmas. It is an anointed sermon when it takes you get closer to your family values that anchor your faith  in His name.
This morning, I am reminded that Christmas is all about the birth, the resurrection of Christ, the saving knowledge of His Word, and His love for all mankind.

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"Places In Your Heart..."

I have always loved  Richard Max's very evocative way of singing the lyrics of a song. Although he did this cover of Katy Perry's, his  version is very reminiscent, transcendent, nostalgic--all of which taps one's keen vulnerability.

Besides, I love the acoustic rendition. You get more of the song and the artist's emotions than having backup singers, the band and a big production. This way, it's more than entertainment to your avid fans/listeners. It's real, organic music that penetrates your soul.

Didn't we all have someone in our life who got away? And for your sanity, you just had to let it go. Somehow there are places in your heart that are still mending, stronger than any other experiences in your present. The truth of another life is great hope in the making. You no longer ask for anybody to stay because he's there to stay. You both made it through...

"Mary, Did You Know?"

"Call It Grace..."

"On My Niece's College Graduation..."

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Yesterday, Dec. 05 was my niece's college graduation. We celebrated a very joyful celebration with the family. We thank the Lord for His faithfulness and amazing grace that covers us all from  the journeys and the human experiences we could possibly have. At times, the "walks of life" seem treacherous, risky and narrow... but through it all it all comes down to believing that God is for us! 
I give my "kudos" to my sister and brother-in-law for instilling the value of higher education and how that translates to helping others to my beautiful niece.Their loving intentions and sacrifices as parents paid off in bounds.
 My prayer is for her not allow anything or anybody deter her from following God's will for her life. There is no greater gift than doing what you're called to do in this physical life we call earth.

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God, "We are Thankful for family..."

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  Thanksgiving Day is still the most celebrated family gathering...This is the time when every soul demonstrates his or her loving intention that is to be with the family to give thanks to God for everything and everybody in their life.This is the day when our hearts wants to reconcile even to those who have wronged us considerably. This is also the time when we look back and realize how blessed we really are on how God put us all together in one place...I mean, for us; out of 8 siblings, the five of us are only a few minutes away from one another where we reside. I call that divine providence.
 And most of all, I'm thankful for my mom's life who is still alive & well.
The Lord's hand of grace must have been more outstretched to my mom and that favor is outpouring...
Sending everyone my heartfelt greeting: Happy Thanksgiving.

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"November Rain..."

Outpouring rain in November yields its delight to my soul...maybe not a consolation to
many but we all know rain stops. God will never use flood again as a form of judgment.
A rainbow in the horizon is there to remind us just that.
So, when it's raining, take it as your replenishing moment; your sense of sustainability--
an inspiration to something bigger, better and beautiful...I hope!

"Hello November..."

 I have almost forgotten that Today marks the first day of November. Spacing out a little bit here... Even walked 2.5 miles. That, too, didn't quite register. Oh, the pangs of aging--it's not a joke. Well, as long as what embers from my memories of you remain untouchable, it's all good. That part of me is engraved within. It renders me to take heart this November...
Happy November 1st. everyone!

"Run With God"

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"Rock of Ages..."

This song will bless your life today. For it blesses me each time ...
Have a very Blessed Sunday.

After The Movie, "Little Boy..."

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 I shed some tears...maybe more like a whimper. I didn't care how it would be conveyed. More likely vulnerable, soft, sensitive --all of which transcendent of me going beyond ordinary emotions.
I wish that I could occupy that rarest boldness and childlike faith in believing that miracles do happen. And the little boy's journey to his indescribable love for his father's return from war was finally rewarded.
 I believe that it's a combination of faith greater than a mustard seed that became as high as the sky from the little boy; the will to survive on the part of the father and the divine intervention of the Heavenly Father that were interwoven as the ultimate God's plan. 

Thank you, Lord,  for the chance to watch the movie with my sister Cely and the church congregation. I know that nothing is happenstance and that you are directing my steps.

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference..."
by Reinhold Niebuhr


Have a very Blessed Sunday everyone!

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My chocolate Lab Cocoa with me. I guessed, she has missed me while I was out watching the movie. For I don't usually go out on a Sunday afternoon. Nice to be missed...

"A Family that Prays, Eats & Laughs Together Stays Together..."

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"Fall's Ardent Arrival..."

Others' periscope of Summer coming to a close is maybe a week from now; perhaps depending where they live but as for me "the arrival of Fall" came yesterday at dawn. It feels like a new appearance that rises from a cloudy sky coming down as a brazen breeze touching my shoulders. Could it be just a rising perception? 

Thus, I opened my upstairs' windows to air out the house. Then, brewed some coffee grains and headed out to the park with my favorite friend Labrador Cocoa. Nothing excites me more than walking/jogging in the park with some enthusiast outdoor walkers, some with their dogs, too; others with their families & friends. 

Thankful to God for the dense, concise, heartfelt and beautiful creation of the four seasons. Each season carries more than a vestige of a mystical realm of the human heart. However, I tend to unearth Fall's season of revelatory blessings. Oh, how I love the more than exquisite foliage colors. I don't have a precise adjective or verb to explore God's majestic hands except perfection and glorious.

Here I leave you with a golden scripture in the book of Isaiah 55;12 KJV "For ye shall go out with joy, and be led with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

May each one of you delve deep into the God's spiritual rhythm of this season. For me, this season is celebratory.There's a halt in chasing other "stuff." My mindset is fixed in just be in awe of this season's monumental task: the splendor, the breathtaking, intrinsic & heavenly bursts over the landscape but more so, let its joy soak & sustain you at every heartbeat.

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"God, The Healer Of All Wounds..."

photo courtesy: FloRamos M's photos


I used to believe that time heals all wounds but apparently, not. We let time run its course--going through the motions without really thinking the fallacy of time healing all wounds.Time just prolongs the agony if not healed by the Healer of all sicknesses, diseases, and brokenness.
When  we negate God's sovereign healing power over all our hurts & pains no matter how deep-seated they are, we are bound to be a slave to hopelessness and a chain of failed maneuvers of our own capacity continues.

Learning to let go bad ruins in our life do not equate to a long period of time. As time passes, our wounds are still scalding from the inside; they still lurk and find their ways to enslave us; to cater to them. We may not be aware of that stronghold because our focus was in the wrong doctrine of faith. All because, stubbornness and pride got stuck in our wicked way of thinking.

So, on this labor day, be good to yourself: labor and invest in the right things; to the right people and to the right Book of instructions, the Book of life...The Holy Bible. We all know that "perilous times" have come. There will be that time which is coming very soon that our Christian right to carry and read the Bible and share the Gospel will be altogether curtailed. That's when this "time" comes in. It's time to do something about time. It's time to proclaim the goodness of God. In Matthew 16;26 says  "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lost his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? The reality of eternal life in heaven and eternal unspeakable suffering in hell is at hand. One more thing to think about: where will you be when the trumpet sounds for Rapture? This, too, is real. It says so in 1Thessalonians 4:17: "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Oh, what a divine promise!

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8 (KJV)
Thanking the Lord for a three-day weekend.

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"In Every Thing, Give Thanks To The Lord..." 1Thessalonians 5:18 ( KJV)

        Outdoor walking/jogging may be just the right thing to do at 7pm before going to" hit the sack." I also take this Melatonin, a 3 mg supplement for supposedly helping you relax and sleep better. Even drinking organic ginger peach tea is in my diet routine. All of these aids you to a better sleep but without the power of prayer and trusting the Lord primarily for all our needs, esp. insomnia, you would still be "counting Sheep..."
Happy labor Day Everyone & May the good Lord blesses you the desires of your heart. But then again, be careful what you wish for. It all comes down to examining inner motives. We all have them-- but some may be more operating on their own external strength and realized later that it doesn't stick.

I thank the Lord of Heaven & Earth, the One who laid it all on Calvary Cross so that we may live victoriously and have eternal life. In 2 Peter 3:9 ( KJV) says that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance.

"I Can Only Hope That Better Days Are Coming..."

Let's face it: 

Scores of us in the thousands are fed up with what is going on in the heartland of America. Had already stopped subscribing to any of the news tv stations. We don't even know how reliable their sources are and how they leave out the important piece of disseminating it to the public. Tired of hearing the phrase "politically correct or incorrect." Or how they only want to air what they think the public wants to know. In this regard, I don't think the newscasters have any inkling what we need to hear. I just want to hear the whole truth of every matter that make us human again and not infusing their hidden agenda. Idon't think these people in the news really knows the heartbeat of journalism. 

I hope and pray with all my heart & mind that every Christ believer and born-again Christians in this country to get on their knees and move God's heart to healing our nation from unbelief, wrong doctrines and dogmas and  from putting our faith in the box. 

Hope is the only thing we can't afford to lose...
May God open the windows of Heaven to pour out greater understanding of His saving grace upon our lives.

"Let The Dead Things Go..."

My sincere apology for not posting and sharing as often as I should have been writing. There are no legitimate excuses for staying dry and rigid in the mind. Many pondering thoughts flooded my mind and ended up just fragments--broken and sinking words that never put on a page.Now I wonder if I could even call myself a writer when the only commodity to writing is to write every day no matter what the surrounding circumstances are...and failed to do it.

However, that's in the past. I always have Today to recoup my train of thoughts, rediscover who I really am according to the divine grace and power and the love of God for me.
And that is the most important truth that holds true through eternity. You may hear voices in your head telling you hideous things that you've done Yesterday but you can't undo the Past. And you're not Alone...

We've all been there to a point where it got us to taking medications and a lot of praying. Who wouldn't be a part of the statistic of millions suffering from one illness/disease to another? But let me tell you something--it takes a lot of courage and faith to do the right/moral thing on every stance in life. If you have friends and people in your circle that are weighing you down, let them go. Think about it: why are you wasting your time waiting on them to change? You can only be responsible and accountable to your actions. The same principle applies when it comes to your jobs and hobbies--they could become burdensome when you're letting the murmurings cripple you to change course.
Never let fear and unfamiliarity be your crutches. 
It is never too late to let the dead things and people go... in your life. Of course only you who knows the right ones for you; the ones that God  had put in your life for a season and those that will be with you for all seasons.

Happy first day of September!

"My Cocoa Turns Ten (in human years) Today"

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My way of splurging on my dog's 10th birthday is very simple. We went out walking in the morning. I just let her do more of his sniffing on his favorite corners. I kinda went with her pace. Afterwards, I took her to Petsmart where she helped me pick her new toy; bought her a new leash and a small personal birthday cake. I couldn't find any single party hat or tiara and a birthday banner so we found all that in the General Dollar Store--on our way home. 

I also gave her a bath using Martha Stewart's product shampoo and served her kennel food with canned Dutch ham earlier at breakfast. She devoured that in less than 3 minutes. I think Cocoa looked so pretty wearing that tiara but I wouldn't be surprised if she'll put up a fight with me to wear it. Glitters catch none of my attention either.

Thank God for my dog Cocoa. I know she's just a dog but what a very special dog she is in my life. I pray for another ten healthy years for her. Looking at her pictures when she was a puppy and now a senior dog made me realized how my years count because of her.

Happy happy 10th birthday to you Cocoa!!!