If there is one thing my body needs right now, it is this.
I need physical and spiritual rest.
For reasons unknown, my body suddenly took a U-turn this week, starting with an irregularity in my tummy last Monday. Until now, I am feeling unexpectedly extremely weak and easily tired and I do not know why.
My usual self wants to freak out but my renewed heart and mind want to rest in Christ.
So, please say a prayer for me that I will feel better and that whatever this is, everything will be alright by His awesome and perfect grace.
Thank you very much.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Monday, May 26, 2014
{Marriage Monday} Marriage's Top Secret
This is my second {Marriage Monday} post. To know more about this series, please read my first post here.
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| One of our pre-nup photos, taken by the amazing talents of Super Seven Studio. |
Today, I am quite excited to share the top secret for fulfilling and thriving marriages! :)
But let me digress for a while and tell you about myself and my awesome hubby. We have been married for, hold your breath...seven...months, that is. And I am telling this fact to make a point here. Since, I published my first post a week ago, I felt inadequate for doing so. Why, everybody would probably question my credibility on writing a marriage series when I have been married for only seven months!
But that is just basically what I wanted to do here. Marriage is crazy-beautiful but it takes a lot of hard work for it to become well, crazy-beautiful. For the seven months that I have been married to the love of my life, I can say that the quality of our marriage totally depends on our attitude and hard work. If we want a thriving and loving relationship, then, we have to work at it. It is the same as our desire to have healthy bodies--we have to work for it, make sacrifices, eat healthy choices, and say no to a lot of junk food that has, unfortunately, become mainstream staples in our tables today.
So, this series every Monday is part of my "working hard" efforts for a thriving and loving marriage. I am not saying that I have perfectly applied everything I have written here nor have my husband and I attained the perfect state for our relationship. No, we're quite far from that!
These posts are here to remind me what I am working hard for and why I am doing it. I will not only post tips and lessons that I learned but my struggles and failures as well, with the permission of my beloved husband, of course! ;)
I also hope that the Lord will use this {Marriage Monday} series to encourage and minister to other women, whether they be single, recently married, enjoying marriage or struggling with marriage. This is the place where we can encourage each other, laugh at each other's mistakes, cry with our struggles, and pray with and for each other. :)
Basically, this {Marriage Monday} series has a two-pronged purpose: one for myself and my hubby, and two, for everybody!
Last week, I wrote about the real and ultimate purpose of getting married and that is, to reflect Christ. I honestly believe that it is only when we know our exact purpose that we can actually function well, thrive, and be fulfilled. Knowing our real purpose is the basic foundation. If we know our correct purpose, then, we know our right destination and the proper way of getting there.
Today, let me share to you the TOP SECRET of a loving and thriving marriage, which is also very much related to the real purpose of matrimony. I am no marriage expert but by the way I see it, this is the most important secret and the good thing is, it is not actually a secret. Everybody knows about it; it is very basic. Yet, it is too basic for us to neglect it at times.
So, the top secret for marriage to be successful is actually one word: FORGIVENESS.
Yes, that is right. CAPSLOCK that, highlight, and underline because it needs all the emphasis to make a mark in our minds and hearts.
You see, if our real purpose in marriage (and in life, actually) is to reflect Christ, then we must know and live forgiveness.
For Christ came to this world while we're still sinners and demonstrated His great love for us by dying a shameful and painful death on the Cross so that our sins will be forgiven. God initiated forgiveness. And He keeps on forgiving us every time our heart truly repents.
Since the purpose of every marriage is to mirror Christ in this dark and horrible world, then our marriages should show His forgiveness--unconditional, faithful, true, complete, abounding, inexhaustible.
And I don't want to be a hypocrite in writing this. Before I had a personal relationship with Christ, I used to claim that forgiveness is not in my vocabulary. Once one of my friends or acquaintances offend me, then, that person is automatically flushed out of my heart and mind. That's how callous I was, dear friends, and I do hope that you will not judge me by my past. ;)
So, just imagine how hard it is for me to transition as I live and build relationships with Christ as the basis! And how harder it is now for me to live under one roof, one room, and share one bed with my husband who has quite a different background/stand/opinion/habit from me?
Too many times I have fallen for the trap of conditional forgiveness. "I will forgive you if...." "I will forgive you but..." "I will forgive you when..." The list can go on and on.
But I always remember how the Father has forgiven me. He never negotiated with me like this. He never said "I will send Jesus Christ to die for you if you change your ways" or "I will forgive you if you promise never to sin again." No, He sent His only begotten Son to die for me even though He knows that I will offend him countless of times. He sent Jesus anyway.
Too many times too I have fallen for the trap of pride. More often than not, I know I have offended my hubby dear but I was too arrogant to ask for forgiveness. "I'm his wife so I am entitled to royal treatment"--this is what would often cross my mind.
There are also times that it would be my hubby's fault so I'd tell myself that he should say sorry first.
But by the Spirit's nudging, I'd realize that humility is essential. If Christ, Himself God in His own right, was humble enough to leave his Heavenly Throne to be among us so that He could die for us, then, what right/entitlement do I have not to ask for forgiveness?
Often, I would be too hard-headed to feel or obey the Holy Spirit's nudging. And often, I would usually realize late and feel so embarrassed of myself before I can actually confess my sins and ask for forgiveness.
Next week, I am going to share to you several lessons/advice I got when it comes to forgiveness.
For now, I am going to end this post with two practical steps in forgiving and asking for forgiveness:
1) Think of JESUS on the Cross; and
2) Swallow your pride.
Happy Monday! I pray that we will continue to show forgiveness to everybody and be quick to ask for forgiveness should we offend someone... Enjoy the rest of the week!
*All photos are from our pre-nup session with Super Seven Studios.
*All photos are from our pre-nup session with Super Seven Studios.
Monday, May 19, 2014
{Marriage Monday} Reflecting Christ
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
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?"
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.
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:
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:
Happy Truth Thursday, everyone! :)))
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?"
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| Photo Source: |
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.
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| Photo Source: |
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:
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Happy Truth Thursday, everyone! :)))
Thursday, March 6, 2014
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
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.
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! :)
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| 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. |
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| The beautiful stage set-up collaborated by the Youth and the Young Adults. |
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| The Ates from the YAs making sure everyone has his/her sumptuous meal of Payag's Chicken Inato or Pork Barbeque Meal. |
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.
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| 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. |
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| The invited friends hearing the Gospel and being led to pray for Jesus to come into their hearts. |
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| 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! :)
Thursday, February 13, 2014
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.
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
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| 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
Friday, January 31, 2014
Must Watch This
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| 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.
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| 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.
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