Thank You Lord For A Very Merry Christmas...

 

Now I know how my mom feels beyond exclusively overjoyed especially @ Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day & Birthdays when she's surrounded with her children. There is nothing more perpetually important & beautiful than having your loved ones, your family, enjoying the blessings of health, the abundance of food, the sentiments of love, and the shared challenges that made us stronger and wiser--all because we believe that "the deepest wounds can be the very catalysts that cause us to reach toward Him and that He is for us and not against us...

Merry Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve...In less than two hours it's Christmas. It's funny that I'm writing this post in my garage table where your thoughts could be hovered with images of special kind of junks that are stored...For the first time I wanted to try the unorthodox setting to write not jut writing in your most special niche, the master bedroom all the time. Tonight, it feels natural, more like organic, down to earth atmosphere. Beautiful weather, too, for a wintry December. What about 68 degrees, my kind of weather.

Let me share with you what happened in the wee hours of this morning. My son's new sport's car was broken into. His passport, his ticket to Amsterdam for Monday were stolen. His Master's Degree graduation money from last week and his 6 valuable watches were also taken. And for all we know, it could have been a more than one man's job.  One grabbing for stuff and one on the look out. The Ring captured a man sitting on the front passenger's side but it was blurry. You may be wondering why the alarm did not go off. 

There are many speculations. May be even tremendous warranted guilt of what ifs' and should haves' suppositions on my son's behalf. I'm so sorry for this to have happened and I love you son were the only things I told him. Did I have any inkling? No, but at this time of year especially at this Christmas, I've heard so many car thieves, home invasions and packages getting stolen even in broad daylight. 

However, these suppositions may seem irrelevant now. I thank God that my son had a very strong sense of moving forward and getting over unprecedented event rather than mulling over it senselessly. It's just money and physical valuables that he worked for diligently. I pray that the culprits be convicted and will return the passport and everything that was not theirs. Is that a dreamy, farfetched prayer? No, because God does miraculous transformations on the human heart. And if not, the valuable lessons alone outweigh the evil deeds. God has a way of returning it back to you what was taken. Never leave valuables, cash, or any electronic items in your car no matter how tired you are. Deposit your checks and money the day or the next day you received them. And never forget to mutter a prayer, silent or unspoken on your way out...

Most of all, don't let the devil sway you from celebrating the greatest gift of the Heavenly Father to us, His son, Jesus...

God will promote you, will protect you when you don't let circumstances circumvent or beat you.

From my Family to Yours, Merry Merry Christmas to you All!

God Bless

 

" Give Thanks Unto The Lord..."

 

In every circumstance, challenge, and ordeal that we go through this life, new revelations and learning experiences walk our path. We just have to wear the right lens of God's perspective, what He says about all these events, chartered and unchartered territories in our lives unexpected, uneventful...

My best friend was in ICU on a ventilator, in a dormant state for two months. Visitations are only for families so I was excluded. I was left in the dark that the only thing I could do was to pray for God's miracle. I do believe that God still performs miracles for "He is the same yesterday, Today and Forever."

While waiting for God's heart to move from all the prayers and fasting from hundreds of saints everywhere, there are moments when the enemy encamps my mind showering me with doubts, fear, insecurity so I may be led astray from going to church to praise and worship the Lord Jesus.  The devil whispering those lies in my soul that my best friend has long been gone in the physical realm did not pull a string in my heart for I know my God, what He's able to do...  But you know, when satan starts to bewilder you with accusations and try to reframe your thoughts, please know that He is the father of lies, and don't you ever forget that he is "the devil that wants to devour our lives keeping us from the joy of living in a relationship with Jesus. His plan is obviously to steal, kill, and destroy one's life. And God calls us to be alert and of sober mind, watching out for the schemes of the devil who prowls around like a lion looking for someone to make his move."

So, last week, my prayer was answered; not just mine but many of those who prayed for healing over my best friend's situation. She woke up cognizant of her surroundings and her family by her side. I may have not witnessed such an incredible move of God but it gives me overwhelming joy that I still have her to continue this friendship that God bestowed on us. She can't speak yet but I know that in God's marvelous ways of loving us, that day will come very very soon.

November is my birthday month...and it's around Thanksgiving week. My heart is full of gratitude...

May you see what I see; may you feel what I feel and may the Grace of God abounds in your life because it's only through Him that we truly live...

 

I find solace in the changing of seasons...

October is when I start to feel whimsical with a dose of nostalgia and utmost gratitude. My eyes can see beyond the colors of the season. My ears can hear the tweeting of the birds sitting on the electric wire high above my home. I could smell the crackling and the crumbling of the warm comforts of food...the crisp peach cobbler, cinnamon roll pancakes, creamy lentil stew, homemade fried chicken marinated in soy sauce, lemon, and pepper & salt, and don't forget the hayride or stroll down to the picks of the pumpkin patch. It's a wild, dreamy thing for me...

The sprawling showcase of vibrant colorful pumpkins of different kinds of shades and texture engulfs me in awe and wonder. And, yet a traditional orange carving pumpkin brings me delight.

There's autumn excitement in my daily walks. 

I get to my school campus an hour early in the morning so I can walk around the school building 4 times which is roughly equivalent to a mile or so for a half-hour, from Monday to Friday. The only time I trail the parks is on the weekends since I take good care of my mom after school. There are five of us siblings that pitch in with our time to take good care of our mom. This is the only way that she wouldn't live in a nursing home. Besides, for all mom's quirks and idiosyncrasies, she won't last a day in a nursing facility. There are days that this schedule is taking its toll on us. But the love for a mom or for a loved one justifies the sacrifice...God is mindful of our hearts.

So here I am... taking a solo venture that I have yet to discover the unfolding of a life that is unprecedented and punctuated by uncertainties. Would there be an intimate rendezvous on the horizon?

God is faithful...All things are possible with Him to those who believe. I'm counting on it!

Happy Fall.

W

''It's Time For Me To Be Vaccinated..."

 

                          After contracting Covid 4 months ago, I swore that I will get the vaccine. But let me tell you some things I experienced physically and spiritually: it was very dreadful to face it knowing I got it on Mother's Day and also my mom's 86th birthday, both of which I planned to celebrate with family but life had other plans for me. I have had gotten so many narratives about how Covid turns into a death sentence, a horrifying and debilitating affliction it is to you if you get it. But until you experienced Covid which I never wish for my worst enemy to have, you don't have an inkling what sickness or disease means.

Before the inception of Covid, I was very confident that my immune system is strong enough to battle the virus. Never in my life that I was so wrong about my physical health. I thought I would be spared from it, maybe even an exception but I did get it even with ardent prayers to God every day. I had chills and fever that stayed with me for 72 hours; I had pinching-like pain and pressure in my chest for a night and lost my sense of taste and smell for a month. My energy was very low that all I wanted is to lie down and sleep. The weakening of my body was too much to endure. And when I was about ready to go back to work after 10 days of quarantine and with a negative Covid result, I sprained my left leg by doing strenuous body exercise. Thus I stayed another week. Another lesson learned: learn to take it easy and be patient and be accepting that growing old entails simplifying your life. 

But even then that I was so sick experiencing all the symptoms listed if you have Covid, I know somewhere deep down in my soul that this virus is not going to be my cause of death. With the help of my very supportive and loving family and friends and most of all God's covering on me, I knew that I will regain my strength, recuperate with fortitude and run this challenge with the ingrained promise of God in my life. Amidst the precipice of things, I wasn't about to give up on the path that God has led me to take. Because only in God's presence you can have joy forevermore.

So, this morning, I finally got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine. I was adamant about taking it for I still see it as an experimental drug but some things just corroborated into making me decide that it's okay to take the chance for a lesser risk to be in an intensive care unit. I prayed that this vaccine will serve me right and to those who put their trust in these vaccines. So far, I only have a mild sore over the spot where they put the needle in. Praise God.

Oh God, I pray that this Covid 19, Delta variant, and any other virus that the enemy will plague us will cease and will have no power over us. In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hello September Rhythm Of The Wind...

 

You Are Not Alone...God Loves You.

 

We're blazing another round of tumultuous period of an onslaught to Delta Variant. Masks are required again. We were just having a breather and people are really enjoying this freedom until another so-called strand popped to threaten our livelihood. And we ask, when will this charade be over? That's just my opinion. 

I can't help to implore the question, "Who's benefiting the most from all of these? I'm sure that crossed into the forefront of your mind. Who and what are we giving the fidelity and the integrity of our constitutional rights to? 

Each day I grow weary and perplexed of how this beautiful, blessed, and most powerful country in the world is not holding up against tyranny among those we put into power to protect the people but instead we, the people are constrained in a box. Again, it's just me and my thoughts. We don't really get the real substance of media reporting. It is disconcerting that I no longer watch the news of any kind...I read up on articles though by trustworthy writers and re-read them again with punctuations and notations. 

It's a crazy world we live in, so they say... However, we can be more informed, equipped, and prayerful so "we may not be destroyed and perished because of lack of knowledge." We, the people of God have that opportunity to learn what the Bible says about all of these. "All Scriptures in the Bible is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV