Reminiscing Truths ⚓

Father, thank you for this time of silence  so I can listen more carefully and keenly at your Word.  Thank you for this rare opportunity for solitude,  away from trivial concerns and earthly cares,  that I may have the precious moments to attune my heart back to You. You have proven Yourself faithful, and because of this,  though imperfectly,  I have made it my aim to devote my life  to Thy service. But my heart is wicked, and my flesh weak, my will flickering, That at times the very act of my worship for You are the ones that split my devotion to You. Father, forgive. I acknowledge in humble contrition that my love for you is weak that my effort to draw near to you is fleeting, that my warmest thoughts for You are cold that my will to serve and to obey is as fickle  and faltering as the waves that recedes every time. I confess that my love for You is not as warm and aflame as it ought--

And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  -Matthew 8:26 Why indeed are you afraid, self? Fear enters in when you focus on the waves and not on the Savior who beckons you to Him out of the comfort of your boat. Fear comes when you doubt the Hand that holds you. Fear comes when you fix your gaze on the troubles that assail you instead of the grace and the Author of that grace that sustains you. When you trust your own planning more than you trust the Divine Orchestrator of everything from eternity past, and when things don’t go your way, you begin to dread and fear. When you rely on your ability to understand and make sense of things and to know what to do, you begin to fear. Because not everything in this world will make sense; you can’t deduce exactly what to do in every single situation you are placed in. You’re afraid because your faith is little. Y

He whom the Lord loves, He disciplines. If you experience correction in your walk, rejoice. Not everyone is NOT left to their own destructive paths and ways. You hear the voice of God that reproves. Other have only silence. Every christian walking in his earthly journey still has a lot of learning and unlearning to do. If you see God’s hands coming down to you, and with great might, find comfort in this: that He makes your crooked ways straight. His hands are not to condemn you, but to correct you. So HATE your sin, Christian. Know that each crooked act and way is an offense against the Almighty God. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Mortify your sins; do not give any room for them, not even their shadow. Flee from them and their temptations. Discipline yourself, beat your body black and blue, lest you become disqualified and you fail to meet the test. Strip off your sinful and crooked ways, lest you find yourself unfit for the Kingdom. But also, learn to kiss the waves that

For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon Him?                                                               Deuteronomy 4:7 The LORD has chosen for Himself a people of His own. As a type and as a shadow of the full fruition, He redeemed Israel and brought them out of the land of slavery, out of Egypt. He has called them to be His own and revealed to them His name, the Name above all names, for them to call upon Him and be heard by Him. He chose them and took them for His own and had placed them above every nation. He had made Himself near to Israel. And yet this was but a type and a shadow. The church as the LORD’s true people have been called out of—made holy unto the LORD—a far greater, much more enslaving bondage. We have been delivered from an oppressor that holds every human being captive and imprisoned: sin. And while the Jews cried out for help when the Egyptians oppressed them, we loved our cha

A friend once told me that I should write more often my life lessons so that when I look back at this point in the years to come, I’d gratefully say, “God’s glory.” And I realized he’s right. In my years of keeping journals and blogs, I have often reminisced and reread God’s mercy and revelations that refreshed my soul in ways more than one. So here I am, writing. Or rather, trying. The past year has been so full of lessons so drastic, deep, and life-altering. Every day offers new experiential knowledge of who God is and how insignificant I am before the Almighty Father. But also, things happen so fast, and these lessons have been spinning ever so swiftly around and about me that my writings couldn’t keep up with them. A month ago, I went up to Tagaytay on my own for three days to have time to pause, reflect and meditate on all the lessons and occurrences the Lord is impressing upon me. (I’ll be sharing my raw writings in a different post.) I thought 2017 was a rough year. Th

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.                                                     (1 Corinthians 12:18-20) Christ has saved His people and designed them to be part of one body, of which He is the Head. To build up this body, He has so divinely appointed various members to various roles and gave them gifts that will help in the building up; in the caring for one another. And as we are being saved, "we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly , makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." (Ephesians 4:15-16) We all have a part in the growth of the body of which we have been so graciously added as a member. As each of us, the parts, does his/her own work, the

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion."                                                         (Psalm 84:5) Those who walk uprightly, who love the habitation of His temple; to those who long, yes, faint, for the courts of the LORD--those people are blessed. They will go from strength to strength until they appear in Zion, before the God in whom they delight. And even as such a man goes through the Valley of Baca--that is, the valley of weeping ( emeq ha-Baka )--he asks but one thing of the Lord: "Oh LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer... Look on the face of your anointed one." (vv. 8-9) Nothing else. Nothing more, and nothing less, than for God to look at him in his distress and assure him of His presence. So where does he go? To the courts of the Lord, where His presence is promised. To His holy temple, where His glory is sure to be revealed. A man of God holds on to nothing else but God. And what does

I know in mind and heart that this is your most difficult birthday just yet. How it feels to have an ever gnawing pain with you when you wake up in the morning, and when you go to sleep at (mid) night, and every single time you let your thoughts wander far enough during the day. Maybe you also feel sometimes that you have to "suck it up and get on with it" because "it's been months," and you can't do anything about the past, so you just have to move forward. It's hard and difficult and painful, and the task before us is looming and terrifying. I mean how can life be not terrifying when so much has changed? But He who promised to us life and life abundant, in this world and the next, is faithful. And somehow this thought gets me through the hardest nights. Hoping it would also be of comfort and soothing balm to you. I love you, and happy birthday. I'm always praying for you, and for the day when we'd all cross beyond the River to our ete

But the Lord said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build my house...' -II Chronicles 6:8-9a           "You did well that it was in your heart." Serving and glorifying God, while He does give a specific approach, can still be varied for every individual saved by grace. Sometimes, you get to be blessed with a task that has an easily recognizable path leading to it. Leaders taking care of the flock. Men being called to preach. To shepherd. To counsel. Women being called to motherhood. To rearing up godly offspring. To benevolent service. To playing the church piano. To counseling other women. But most of the time, for many people, the calling is not as clear-cut and descriptive of a "job description." Washing the mugs. Scrubbing the bathroom floor. Waiting for anyone who'd ask for help. Some roles, so to speak, are too shor

No matter what, we have to keep moving forward, even if we have to crawl.                                                 ― Kellie Elmore My 2018's end is marked by the death of my brother, Calvin. He died last December 7 because of a blood-poisoning disease, typhoid toxemia. He was fifteen. This occurrence shocked the tears and grief out of us, and while the hustle and bustle of the wake and burial compelled me to set my own emotions aside to take care of logistical things and other immediate concerns, I knew I had to deal with it soon after. Sure enough, when I opened my emotional ice box to retrieve these emotions, they came back in strong currents, in huge waves. And the best (or worst, still can't decide which) part in grieving after everyone else has grieved is, you're left on your own. After every condolence has been thrown out and said, after everyone else has gone home, I'm left to pick up all the pieces. To treat (and make sure I don't just poke