{Marriage Monday} Reflecting Christ

This is one of my favorite shots of my made-to-order gown. Before getting married, I wanted to have those expensive designer gowns but by God's grace and the few women whom He used to speak to me, I realized that my wedding need not be grand and expensive. The most important thing, I realized, is our MARRIAGE. And my prayer since then is that God's glory and story will be the canopy of our life together as husband and wife.

Seven months ago, I took the plunge to give up my self to be united with the man I love--the man I have always considered as God's sweet surprise and wonderful blessing, the man the Lord has lovingly chosen for me, the man who has continuously shown me short glimpses of His glory. 

A year ago, I released all fears and placed them at the feet of the Lord as my sweet surprise and wonderful blessing formally asked my hand in marriage from my parents {and a fleet of my relatives! :)}, fulfilling all customs and traditions, which event ultimately showed God's glory and favor. 

And so, today, as we celebrate these beautiful manifestations of God's love and favor, I am taking the plunge, saying goodbye to my comfort zone, and reluctantly but excitedly obeying God's nudge--I am starting this {Marriage Monday} series to show my thoughts on this crazy-beautiful thing we call marriage and to share lessons I learned from the Bible and from the Godly women I look up to. 

One of the things I loved about our wedding is that we got to incorporate a lot of handmade elements! ;) Shown here is our handmade ring and arrhae pillow-nests. We decided to veer away with the traditional ring and arrhae pillows and instead, chose a nest to go with our theme. Because we are a bit needy when it comes to arts and crafts, the Lord blessed us with the awesome Veronica Vallente-Vicuna of The Purple Parasol to create these lovely nests!

To start this {Marriage Monday} series, let me share to you what I have learned about the ultimate purpose of matrimony. 

When I was younger, I have always thought that you get married to start a family and by starting a family, I can somehow contribute something to the world and perhaps make the future brighter by raising smart, good, law-abiding kids.

Life happened and I realized that I only love kids when they are not mine and so my mind trail took a different turn and my naivety dictated that I should get married for companionship. 

As I grew older, I became more selfish and I concluded that marriage was invented to satisfy the different physical, emotional, and financial needs of the husband and the wife. 

Somewhere along this journey, I bumped into the beautiful and awesome Lord and Savior who loved me first, gave His life to purchase me from the bondage of sins, and gave me a new life through His resurrection. I read and learned and experienced first hand how important it is to be satisfied in Him first and foremost before ever longing to have a husband and a lifetime partner. I learned more things about love and relationships in His way, which were usually way too different from the ways of the world. 

Our wedding was held four days after a 7.2 magnitured earthquake hit our province. Bridges were cut in half, buildings were destroyed, even old churches collapsed in rubbles. But the Lord is still so faithful in His promise, He even made a way that we can still have beautiful flowers on our special day :)

And then He gave these beautiful verses in Ephesians and through a Saturday Bible class and a Friday Homebuilders Fellowship, He made it clear: He created marriage to mirror Jesus Christ. 

Marriage is not about satisfying each other (although that is an integral part of the husband-wife relationship) nor is it about having beautiful children (though it will make it more fun but we should always remember that it is God who gives and takes away). 

Marriage is reflecting Christ in ourselves and seeing glimpses of Him from our spouses.  

As a couple united in the Lord, it is our duty to safeguard this high purpose. It is our duty to actively pursue this purpose so that we may show to the whole world Christ and His love, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, mercy, forgiveness. 

While preparing for our wedding, there were things that I really wanted which would not fit into our budget. While I could have used my debating skills or dramatic prowess to convince my then hubby-to-be to increase the budget, God used several persons to tell me and constantly remind me that the ultimate goal of getting married is not to have a grand wedding ceremony and reception but to reflect Christ in ourselves and to the world. 

This gave me so much peace in the preparation and anticipation that I freely threw away my dream of preparing for a grand wedding. This allowed me to focus on the essentials--instead of being busy of preparing for a wedding, God gave us so much time to prepare our hearts and lives for our marriage.

How do we live out God's purpose for marriage? The best answer that I learned is to simply live by His Word, the Bible. 

Now that we are seven months into our marriage, I can honestly tell you in the eye that it is really hard to reflect Christ all the time. 

As the verses proclaim, my role as a wife is to joyfully submit to my husband just as the church submits to Christ. And I tell you this, for a strong-willed woman like me who basically lives my growing up years in the women power era, it is really HARD to submit. There are times that my selfishness creeps in and all I wanted to do is to allow my sinful self to reign.  

But as I ponder on God's word more and more, the more I realized that it is the only way to have a satisfying and lasting marriage. God created marriage to mirror Christ and it is through reflecting Christ-likeness to our spouse and the people around us that we can find true joy and fulfillment in our marriages. 

It may be hard but the One who called us to do this will enable us. From our text in Ephesians 5, God's words tell us that we should follow Christ in living out our lives. And if we go backwards to Ephesians 4, we have the assurance that God is for all, over all, through all and in all. If He is for us, over us and works through us and in us, there is no reason that we cannot reflect His glory in our marriages. 

My prayer today is that all of us who are married and all those who are planning to get married will discover God's ultimate purpose for this beautiful thing we call "marriage" and may we call on the one true God to equip us and enable us to fulfill this purpose that more and more people will see Christ in ourselves, in our marriages, and in our families. 

Extravagant Love

I have a huge confession to make. And I am going to write it because I want to be reminded of this every time I slip.

You see, I have been a slack in my devotional time (my husband and I call it QT for quality time with the Lord) the past two or three weeks. Before, I used to wake up really early but now my body clock refuses to go alert unless and until it is six o'clock in the morning. And when I do not start my day with a quality time with the Lord, I usually mess up--when I have problems, I resort to talking with my sister or friends or my husband before even praying or talking to God and this would normally lead to more chaos. I can pinpoint many other illustrations but I would limit to just this one to save on time and space. But the end point is this: If I don't spend time with the Lord in a day, I usually make stupid and unGodly decisions.

But you might ask, "Hey, this post is about extravagant love. What's your point in sharing you slacking in your quality time with the Lord?"

Photo Source: darrellcreswell.wordpress.com 

 Well, my friends...That exactly is my point here--the extravagant love of God. That no matter how many times I have fallen in this area, He still continue to shower me with unending grace and unconditional love.

But of course, this is not my license to slack or to sin.

My point here is this: I am extremely dumbfounded to wake up every morning and still feel myself breathing, still see and eat tasty meals, and still get to be able to dress nicely (ahem! I am claiming it! haha) and still think properly in the office and in my cases, despite my inadequacies and weaknesses! It is just so amazing to know how great, how deep, how expansive, and how perfect is God's love for me and I am just so thankful that I am not in control of my life.

Photo Source: darrellcreswell.wordpress.com 

And I am so thankful that God is perfect and that He is not like me 'coz I would have given up on myself a long time ago. Really. If I were God (which, thankfully I am not and will never be and let me just put it on record that I neither have any desire), I would have punished myself severely for the sloth and all kinds of sin I do everyday. Every time I would sin or fall short, I would have my "payback time," so to speak.

That is, if I am God. Fortunately, I am not. And I am so much fortunate that my God is a perfect, holy, and faithful God. :))

Which brings to mind the need to deny the false belief some people hold on today that God operates the way we, humans, do--that for every sin we do against him, He will retaliate and cause us so much misfortune. While it is true that bad things happen when we sin, it is also equally important to stress that these supposedly bad things are just consequences of our bad decisions, actions, reactions, etc. In short, bad things happen as natural consequences of our sins.

But no matter how bad our situation may look to us, God's love for us never changes. The consequences of our sins may look bad to us but if we put our trust to the Lord Jesus, then He will make things turn out for our own good. Once we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, His love will never let us go until the end, even if we sin or are in trouble. For it is written in the book of Romans, Chapter 8 therein:

 ³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”^[a]) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Once we have Christ as Savior and Lord in our hearts, our salvation is complete. No one can no longer take that away from us. :)

This is the truth from the words of God, Himself.

And let me end with this picture that says it all:

navaljournalofchristianfellowship.wordpress.com

Happy Truth Thursday, everyone! :)))

An Answered Prayer: The Amazing Love

Last February 15, the Youth Group and Young Adults Fellowship in church co-sponsored a Post-"Valentine's" Activity dubbed as Amazing Love: The Truth About Dating, Courtship, and Marriage. It was a dinner-talk-show tackling the most discussed and sought-after topic among the youngsters today: love. Pastor Ianderson Balandang and his beautiful (inside and out) wife, Joan, were the guest speakers. They shared their so inspiring and so amazing love story, gave advice and tips founded on Biblical Truth and most of all, illustrated the true amazing love of Jesus Christ through their love story

Pastor Ian and Joan with the night's host, Irish Tan-Llorente, sharing that it is only by
knowing the love of Jesus Christ that we can truly enjoy a fulfilling earthly love story. 

The beautiful stage set-up collaborated by the Youth and the Young Adults. 

The Ates from the YAs making sure everyone has his/her sumptuous meal
of Payag's Chicken Inato or Pork Barbeque Meal. 

You know, looking at all these pictures makes me teary-eyed. You see, I have been praying for this event to materialize since 2012 and when it did not happen last year, I thought to myself that perhaps God's way of answering it was through the informal event we had at McDonald's during Valentine's of last year wherein we shared burgers, fries, and sundaes and talked about C and I's love story and ultimately, God's perfect love for all of us. I was not really expecting that the Lord will give me a very definite answer (actually more-than-I-can-ask-for) this year so this really shows what a sweet, sweet, Lord we serve! :)

For this year, the youth and the young adults joined forces together in prepping the stage, serving the meals, and in staging a contemporary praise and worship music. Each member was encouraged to invite at least one friend and to actually pay for the friend's meal to show illustrate to them the cost of discipleship. Imagine, there were 50++ youth who attended and heard the Gospel! We were not expecting that! One of the young adults hosted the show, someone from the women's group volunteered to train the youth for a dance-drama--and all these really show how amazing things work for His glory if His body will cooperate with each other and heed His will.

Some of the youth members doing a dance-drama of the woman who wept Jesus' feet with her tears,
used her hair to wipe it, and poured an expensive alabaster jar of perfume. 

The invited friends hearing the Gospel and being led to pray for Jesus to come into their hearts. 

The Youth and YA Worship Team

And I am sharing this because I want everyone to know that 1) God does answer our prayers and 2) His answers are always perfect in timing and in abundance! :)

The Amazing Love

The whole world celebrates the Day of Love today. If you have read my Valentine's post last year, you might already know that my then-fiance-now-hubby, C,  and I never celebrated this particular holiday in our relationship. I enumerated my reasons and argued my points in there. But I did emphasize that I was not against anyone who chose to celebrate this holiday. To each his own, they say.

Photo credit: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82683343132809532/

In fact, the afternoon after work that I wrote my post last year, C and I met with our youth group at a McDonald's in our area to discuss about God's true love. We had burgers, fries, and sundaes and our Bibles and for the first time in our lives, C got me some balloons and chocolates. :)) Awww.. That was sweet and extremely unexpected. :))

I don't know what his plans are for today. He just told me that we'll meet after work. All I know is that God knows that I love surprises and for the four months of being married, I am pretty sure He has allowed C to know that as well. (Thank you, Lord!)

Back to my convictions, I still believe in what I wrote last year. As long as we are grounded on the Truth, we are on the right track. As long as we do not allow the media and the business industry to blind us on what True Love is, then, there is nothing to be ashamed of. As long as we prioritize God, recognize Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and live under His will by His grace, then, there is nothing to be guilty about.

And oh, we should celebrate love not just today but all the days of our lives, with or without a partner. Remember, God has already demonstrated His Amazing Love to us, about 2,000 years ago. While we're still living in sin, He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to be a human being and to suffer the cross, to die a shameful death, and to illustrate a glorious Resurrection.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we're still sinners, Christ died for us. 
~(Romans 5:8)

And we have the assurance that if we truly accept and believe in our hearts that Jesus Christ is our personal Savior (meaning, He is the only means to our salvation), and confess that He is our Lord (meaning, He has the first and last say in all directions and decisions in our lives), we will have eternal life (meaning not that we will not die, but that we are promised of a life in heaven after our death).

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 
~(John 3:16)

And while we're at this, let me just say a love note to my husband of almost four months already:

My love... I am always awed at how our great Lord has equipped and enabled you to become a Godly man and a loving husband. We are both imperfect but your humility to owe up to your mistakes is always encouraging and your quickness to forgive is awe-inspiring. Long before you asked me to marry you, I knew that you love me just as the Lord has loved you unconditionally. Thank you for the sacrifices that you are making as my husband and the leader in our family--for those times that you would manually squeeze fresh ponkan juice every day and every night for me, everyday that you wake up early so you can help in the household chores, that night that you had to risk riding a habal-habal to reach me in talibon because I had high fever, those grueling days and nights that you brought me food, water, and meds while i was in solitary confinement for two weeks that I had c/pox, your loving massages when I was tired though I know you were also tired on your part...I can enumerate many more things and all these things always point out one thing: that yours is a sacrificial kind of love. Thank you for the love, forgiveness and grace to allow me to grow to a Godly, loving and submissive wife. May we continue to grow more in love with our King as we continue to minister to each other and others in need. I love you next to God and I pray that I will always love you the way He wants me to. <3  

Must Watch This

Well, one of my friends posted this in my FB newsfeed. Honestly, I was first excited about the movie, Noah, but after watching the full trailer, I got a bit turned-off that some of the parts of the storyline are not actually Biblical. But well, I am still excited that mainstream cinema is featuring one of my favorite characters in the Bible. But what I am more excited about is this movie. To know why, please watch the trailer above. :)

Photo from http://www.christianfilmdatabase.com/review/gods-not-dead-the-movie/

I am just drawn by the main conflict in the movie: a Christian guy in campus determined to walk with Christ but is actually being challenged by his Philosophy professor to write "GOD IS DEAD" on his notebook on the first day of school or else face a failing grade. Without even thinking, everybody wrote except him.

Photo from: http://www.christianfilmdatabase.com/review/gods-not-dead-the-movie/

And this made me think: If this happened to me, would I be obliged to write what professor tells me to, thinking that it's just for academic purposes anyway? Or will I stand up in my faith for the Lord, no matter what happens? Will I compromise or will I fight?

This kind of conflict in our Christian walk seems to be nothing compared to the kinds of persecutions Paul and the other apostles faced, subjecting them to dangers and death itself. Daily, we make decisions based on our faith and convictions. There may be things that may seem too small or too insignificant for us to matter but in the eyes of the Lord, we are always accountable for every thought we think, act we do, and word that we say.

I pray that we will know more and more of the depth of Christ's love for us that we will be equipped to stand up for Him in no matter how significant or insignificant situations we may be in.

To have a full background of the movie, read the synopsis.

To view the Top Seven Christian movies for this year, click here.

Whatever happens...

I'm not really a US Masterchef big fan although I admit that I am one that I would like to call as a culinary junkie. I enjoy watching homecooks battling it out in the kitchen and I just love watching people cooking. (I try to apply what I have watched though in my limited resources and capabilities). I was more drawn to Masterchef Australia, but that's another story.

Anyhow, this week caught me with the c/pox virus so I had not much choice but to stay home. I found it as an amazing time to deepen my relationship with the Lord and at the same time, get my share of rest from all the traveling and the stress of hinterland work.

I also was able to catch up on some TV time and it was quite a welcome since I did not have much of the television for the five months of my hinterland duties. And so, it was in our very own sala and in our very own TV set that I get to watch the last few episodes of Masterchef US Season 4. Now, to start with, I have had a few re-runs of season 4 during the weekends or holiday that I am home and to be very honest, I did not quite like it. To begin with, there was a lot of bad-mouthing and pride and people fighting and calling each other names. I mean, that was just so unusual for a reality cooking show.

The Judges. Photo credit: http://awesomedl.ru/tag/masterchef-us/

Anyway, I am not going to write about the culinary masterpieces or critique about the show. Instead, I am going to write this very small albeit life-changing moment that happened during the semi-finals round--something so small and may be insignificant to others but something which has a profound effect on me.

You see, the semi-finals saw three of the best contestants left, namely: Luca, a restaurant manager from New York City but is actually Italian; Natasha, a stay-at-home mom from San Diego; and Jessie, a yacht stewardess from Georgia. Since Jessie won the previous challenge, she enjoyed the privilege of choosing her own "king" ingredient for her dish which was Kobe Beef. Natasha got the Alaskan King Crab while Luca got the king of cheeses and forgive me for forgetting the name. Afterall, I am no chef. :))

Masterchef US Season 4 Top 3: Natasha, Luca, Jesse.
Photo Credit: http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2013/09/masterchef-season-4-finalists.html

So, I'll spare you the other details but what happened was while on the semi-finals round, Jessie forgot to get butter from the pantry for her Seared Kobe beef with Ponzu Butter. Since she won't be able to go back to the pantry, she asked for spare butter from Natasha who was on the kitchen counter behind her. It was an intense moment as Natasha paused and had a let-me-think-it-over look in her face. A part of me was already expecting that she was going to give at least one stick of the three butter sticks in her counter which were obviously just sitting there. I mean, come on, isn't it a girl thing to share? Although there was this small part of me which doubted that she would actually do that because I just had that gut feeling that she was being competitive. So, it wasn't really much of a surprise when she said "No." I kind of understood her because she was in a competition, after all, and that one stick of butter might be her loss.

What surprised me then was the gentleman in Luca who stepped up and threw a stick of butter to Jessie. And if that gesture alone was not enough, what he said during the interview is really something all of us should always consider. It goes something like this: "It was just one stick of butter so what's the big deal? And if I go home just because of that stick, then, at the very least, I can still look at the mirror tomorrow and say that I am still Luca." 

You know, not all of us would have that attitude. I cannot judge Natasha just because of that one act but really, just that one small act will have an impact to a person (and a lot of persons actually, counting the viewers from around the world) and will forever be associated with her. Luca did not care if that one stick of butter will make Jessie's dish a whole lot tastier than his and which in turn will earn him an elimination. He only cared that someone needs something and he actually has that capacity to help. 

This really made me think about my life. I am pretty sure that there were times that I was very hesitant to help others because of personal reasons or convictions. There were also several times that I did not do what I know I was supposed to do in the name of saving myself or for any amount of advantage to myself. 

And this brings me to the verse in Philippians which commands us to conduct ourselves worthy of the Good News, whatever happens. 

May we all learn from the simple act of kindness of Luca. Let us be like Christ...whatever happens. 

In the end, Jessie was eliminated and it was Natasha vs. Luca for the final round.
Photo credit: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/12/news/la-st-masterchef-luca-natasha-20130912

And after serving a three-course meal of seared duck liver, short ribs,
and basil panna cotta with tomato jam, Luca wins the Master Chef title! Photo credit: http://www.ctv.ca/Masterchef/article/Natasha-vs-Luca-Who-won-the-MasterChef-finale

My Top 13 for 2013

I know. I've sort of lapsed out of this blog for a couple of months. I did introduce Wedding Wednesdays but did not actually commit to it. MY FAULT. I am so sorry {praying and believing I have and still have readers here}. Work and too many commitments and the planning of our wedding got the better of me. 2013 was an "all YES!" year for me, so...

I promised myself and to God that I'll cultivate deeper and more meaningful relationships this new year, 2014, starting off with my relationship with the Lord. As such, I am starting this year with my first ever post (thanking the Lord Almighty for all that He has done last year) and praying and hoping and actually committing to be more intentional with this blog. After all, my prayer is that this blog will be an instrument of His love and hope to anyone who stumbles upon this. :)

So, here's my Top 13 for 2013! I started this "attitude of gratitude" last year, as inspired by one of the beautiful Christian women in the blogosphere. I have not met her (nor does she know that I exist) but her blog entries have made so many positive impacts in my life.

Anyway, here goes my Thanksgiving List:

1. Our Godly and evangelistic wedding.
In my last post for 2013, I did verbalize the need to pray that "God's glory and story will be our canopy" in the preparation and in the actual wedding. Well, guess what? HE did just that. And MORE. He used various individuals and groups in our church (family and personal friends as well) to bless us with our needs. My personal prayer really was for the guests to say that our wedding was different from the usual ones they have attended. And yes, somebody said that to me, three months after our wedding! :)

What makes me more amazed by our wedding is the fact that it was scheduled on October 19th, four days after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit my province of Bohol, causing severe loss and damage to several towns. But the Lord is just so amazing and so faithful that He won't let any earthquake of any magnitude or any aftershock of any magnitude ruin what He has already ordained! I am just so overwhelmed at how God provided everything--from providing us a new venue to setting the schedules and commitments of our suppliers, and the attendance of our guests (one of the towns most hit was my father's hometown but my aunties, uncles and cousins still graced the affair)!

2. A Christ-centered hubby whose boldness in the Lord inspires me! :)
The first time we met, I knew there was something special about him. I could not just pinpoint at that time. And no, I was not drawn to any of his physical attributes at that time. But the more I think of it now, I very well knew in my heart what it was that drew me to him and what it is that keeps our bond together: it is his inner glow that only a man fully given to Christ can ever have. The more the days I spend with him the more inspired I get to, by God's grace, strive to be like our Master.

3. Obedience to God's will for specific members in our church youth group.
I've had the privilege to go on individual "dates" with the girls to address some concerns on their crushes, boyfriends, and the like. And I praise God for the wisdom in all those times. Though I must emphasize that I am not perfect and I am pretty sure that there were also times that I did not quite know what to say. But God answered my prayers that these young ladies will seek His will and do what He commands in their personal lives. Hoooray for that!

4. The Lord's sustaining grace in my Talibon sojourn. 
Talibon is a town opposite of the city where I live and used to work. Three months before the wedding, when wedding preparations were at the busiest, I was asked to transfer to the District Office there and the obedient side of me said "Yes." (See, it was a year of "yes" for me!) I knew no one in there and I definitely had no idea what to expect. But the Lord was just so abundant and amazing with His grace for providing me a safe and clean apartment to stay, patience to deal with the clients (though at times I just felt like giving up), and most of all, the strength to survive land travel of three hours (a total of six hours) per week! To top it all, He even designed that my husband dear was also doing fieldwork in a nearby town for two days a week!

5. Much love and fun with my family and relatives.
Before the year ended, we had a mini-reunion and sportsfest in my father's side. My husband and I are still staying with my parents as we pray for our own space in the city. And I praise God for these opportunities to have fun and show love and be loved by our family and relatives!

6. My cutie-patootie nephew and niece!
Well, children are always blessings! My sister has a son and a daughter and both of them are so sweet and close to me, calling me their Auntita! The older baby boy is running three so he's starting to talk and he's just very witty. And recently, he's been talking a lot of English, thanks to Disney Junior, and we are always awed at how he can use the phrases in context! The younger baby girl is just so adorable with her sweet smile and doe eyes! They take the kapoy out of me!

So there goes six of my thirteen. I will be blogging seven more within this week, Lordwilling! God bless us all!