" It's All In The Goodness Of God..."

 Every Season of Life bestows a big opportunity to know the goodness of God, his heartbeat for us, 
and his love bursting forth in resplendent beauty. If we are to receive all the Blessings that are meant for you & me, we must learn how to be dependent, reliant to his Word, and in full surrender of our unchastened desires to God.
This COVID 19 unequivocably disrupted the freedoms that we have enjoyed for many, many decades. I was shocked to have watched hours, days, weeks, and months (for me, anyway)slipped away beneath the shadows of the clouds. I hear myself murmuring over compounding restrictions/mandates and somehow suffocating the flow of my life.
I still remember one late afternoon when a police officer on his car started blasting the siren and telling everybody by the duck pond to leave immediately. Whew, for some reason I wanted to go to him and ask why; or with my stubbornness, I wanted to defy a person of authority. It must have been my foolish pride that wanted me to launch resistance because he interrupted my walking with my dog which is to me, a blissful quietude. 
Oh Yeah, I really did go to him and asked him why the "all of a sudden" commotion, and he did tell me that they just received that day the mandate to close the area. That was a relief on my end.
I operate on"there's no harm in asking" mantra and from there to now, I still couldn't walk my dog neither feed the fish in the pond. I got over it and just went to the other park with Tootsie.
God gave me grace...
The same thing with the churches that have been shut down with all the guidelines that the government has against congregating. I, too, along with others I know have gotten over the pangs of reality. Sometimes God will direct us to be a discerner of the good things unseen, morphing behind the scenes into which he already knew how we react to unprecedented times of plagues. We may not be inside the sanctuary of a building but we somehow have forgotten that we are the church. We are the heart and soul of a church. If we are to praise, worship, glorify, and pray to God in the comfort of our homes, then we do it willingly for such a time as this. 
This is just for a season and when God speaks to us, we move forward forgetting what's behind us and be ready for a new season of Hope, Faith & Love.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him..." Romans 8:28
Thank God for his Grace!

Happy 65th Birthday manang Cel...

Birthday Prayer...
Heavenly Father God, we are coming to your throne of Grace to give thanks for all that you bring to our lives...love, faith, hope, protection, and provision in all aspects of our lives.
We thank you, Father God, for this divine opportunity that we're able to be together as one big loving family to celebrate manang Cel's 65th birthday tonight. Thank You Father God for your presence in her life. She has tremendously touched every family member represented here tonight by continually extending her help and she never expected something in return. And I speak for myself as a witness for that generous heart that manang Cel has and for all of us here that experienced that first hand. She really is an epitome of a good steward of love that generates more love.
We thank you, Lord, also for bringing to us, our sister Meldang from new York for such a time as this. She's still grieving for a great loss but chose to be here just to celebrate manang Cel's birthday. We thank you, Lord, for family solidarity that manang Cel works

hard at solidifying it. We thank you, Lord, for our mamang, the matriarch of the family for it all began when she planted a seed of prayer and hoped that it will reap the harvest and there is no denying that mamang's heart's desire exudes in our hearts. We thank you, Lord, for those hands that prepare a sumptuous delight of food, the embellishments for the party, and the "behind the scene" helping hands.
We ask now Lord that you be with us celebrating manang Cel's birthday with good food, fellowship, good ambiance, dancing, and singing as we give our thanks for this beautiful soul...my blood sister and sister in Christ. Thank you for the joy, and happiness and prayers that you add to my life...

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"There is a Season for Everything..."

 
It is heartbreaking to see our country that was once America, the Beautiful, and all the Stars Spangled Banner that is flying high above our eyes is now savaged by tumultuous anarchy. It is worse than Sodom & Gomorrah. The face value of respect to authority has become idolatry to lawlessness & sheer evil. I won't categorize what we're experiencing as the fruits of socialism or communism brought by wrong ideology, doctrine but rather the unbelief mindset.

Everyone is at its height of vulnerability. We're at the precipice of revolting what's been bottled up in our exile from home for more than 3 months to date... We've cooped up for so long that when there's absolute injustice done we have a ticket to boil all these frustrations to explode. Our minds have become a target of annihilation from the truth and our hearts untamed and even cold and hardened to what is absolutely right in our lives. To which we licensed our actions to burn buildings, march-like there is no tomorrow, looting like they owe us our plight, removing statutes that were a symbol of who we are as pillars of strength and success, and taunting the President as if he asked for all of these inconsequential riots and plagues in existence and what about our religious leaders? Where is your heart in all of these? Show me some wisdom and what kind of life are we promoting for our younger generation? Have we really totally lost our mind & soul?
Where are the real pastors of America? There is no substitute for congregating in the church or in the temple of God. Preaching online is so banal to me and I, too, is getting fed up with complacent, slumbering preaching of the gospel. Coronavirus has gotten us in the palm of its hand. 
 As the book of Ecclesiastes says, "there is a season for everything." We rise up above all these tribulations. How do we do that? By opening up the Church and opening up the Bible and opening up our hearts to receive His Word!

On Hope, Faith and Love..: "What To Say And Do In These Perilous Times"

On Hope, Faith and Love..: "What To Say And Do In These Perilous Times": It's Testing Times--for sure. I have just now reconciled with the facts that how we navigate our lives from hereon will be different, ...

"What To Say And Do In These Perilous Times"

It's Testing Times--for sure. I have just now reconciled with the facts that how we navigate
our lives from hereon will be different, challenging, and solitary. You may be adept to adjusting
to these set of rules that the government bestows upon us, good citizens of the USA, but let me tell you something: this coronavirus has caused me fear, dread, apprehension and discouragement to a point where I experience panic attacks that I never imagined I would be.
Going in public places especially to the grocery stores with masks and sometimes with gloves
is suffocating. I don't care how expensive or elaborate your mask is. Wearing it annihilates a considerable part of all of my faculty. It is insane to be covering your face and hands with gloves when you're not even sick. So many myths yet to be discovered about this virus and the truth
about its potency to kill is obscure. Their operative word is "evolving."

My nephew in New York died of complications of this virus. I'm not going to magnify the power of this virus nor diminish its grievous effect to many people. I just couldn't wrap around my brain how it is being aggrandized in so many facets of our lives where you're left more confused, perplexed, and disturbed. And they're doing an Academy Award performance bringing us news that saps, withers and annihilates our good energy. As I said the death of my nephew stunned me, the whole family to oblivion. He was only thirty and just finally discovered what made him tick.
He loved photography. I've never seen his work of art but I believe his mother, my sister when she said, Chris had a very keen eye on capturing people's emotions. Besides, being an educator had helped him also enhanced his Art. When they found him not breathing early morning of March 26 in the living room, my brother-in-law tried to do CPR with my other younger nephew, taking turns while my sister was probably already dying in agony with what she was witnessing.
Oh, the hell that they went through is indescribable. It took nearly five weeks before they could give Chris a proper burial. Only ten people attended for that was the rule then. I couldn't imagine how much pain my sister Remy must have been going through. We were just praying that God's presence enveloped her being. Because that's what God does. My sister, my other nephew were both tested positive of the coronavirus. My brother-in-law wasn't? Through it all, they survived the pangs of this virus.  God will never leave you nor forsake you. It was Chris's appointed time to meet the Savior face to face and tells him, "Welcome to your eternal home, good and faithful servant." Angels were rejoicing while here on earth we grieve for such a time as this but what follows afterward is a sheer joy that culminates God can call us home anytime so whether it is a portion of this virus that sent you to heaven or a merciless act that led you to the heaven's door, we don't lose our hearts...we do the right thing. We hope we pray, we lift up each other and know that God is still on the throne...
Thus, we trust the sovereignty of God, his faithfulness, and his will for our lives. We may not understand it but remember we're finite and he is infinite. His ways are higher; his thoughts are higher...we'll know everything then when we get this right, the so-called Life...

As for me, I can't wait for my freedom to walk in the park again where I don't have to look over my shoulder and the 6ft. distancing be obsolete and abandoned; where shaking hands and hugging necks are still the best communicators of how you care about People!
It's about 1:04 am. Central time.Good Night, Good Morning...
God Be Praised!

" Great Is Thy Faithfulness..."

 The Sound of Good Music is found in Sonlife Broadcasting Center. Their Praise and Worship Team is one that moves the heart that is cold and dry. They don't compromise the choices of songs they render each time. All of their musicians are beautifully crafting their instruments like they're waiting on the trump of God...
SBN is my primary source of getting the information I need personally and spiritually. If you want deeper insights on the knowledge of the Word of God, they have programs that run 24/7 like the Message of the Cross, Insight, Frances, and Friends, Crossfire Youth Ministry, The story behind the Song and Study in the Word and of course, The Family Worship Center.
I don't usually stay more than a year or two on one Christian tv station/channel but there's something truly very special about Sonlife Broadcasting Center. I've been listening to them for almost a decade now.
Their music is phenomenal or maybe the right word to describe their music is anointing. It empowers you to worship in spirit and in truth. 
I do listen to preachers and gospel singers on other Christian channels but my heart always follows SBN. 

"On Partaking Communion..."

We're on the third Sunday that we can't congregate in Church. Our living rooms have become our sanctuary to have service via Livestream. It's true that the building is not the church. It is we, the people, are the church. Does it feel foreign or awkward having church at home especially you're the only one person in your living room watching your pastor preaching? Absolutely.

My first Sunday service at home was definitely a unique experience. I, too, dressed up like I was going to church. But I really missed human interaction and being surrounded by the atmosphere of praise and worship that is "live" right there on the stage. I can only hear myself clapping alone when I'm touched by the worship team singing my favorite songs...ON the second Sunday morning service, I don't know why I didn't change to my church clothes. That was odd for me to do that. I have always carried the torch of my mom's traditional belief that when you go to church you wear your best dress or outfit to church. And when you have something new, you wear it to church first so it will be blessed and will last longer. I've been doing that ever since in honor of my mom's belief. I actually believed it, too.

It's Palm Sunday. I woke up with a very strong sense of commitment to have a church in my living room. I got a piece of cracker and a mini glass of cranberry juice for the communion prepared. I did partake communion twice. I did first with my Grace church and then with Family Worship Center at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, both via live stream. However, it's not the same.
My heart is screaming for the normal to go back. How long would this quarantine and isolation and social guidelines stay into effect? We don't have a timeline. Only God knows when...

As I pause, this line in the song at FWC at this morning service kind of rubbed off on me..."Take the hand of the man that stilled the water, that calmed the raging sea." When we do, I know that there is no sickness or virus greater than the power of God. I will wait on the Lord; wait for the Lord for He is the answer for healing and deliverance. And we pray for a miracle that next Sunday is going to be a miracle day of a Blessed Hope.
Take good care of yourselves because we're in this great challenge Together. That's the good part and rest assured that God will see us through if we believe and you can take that to he bank of Truth.