Reminiscing Truths ⚓

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 (ESV)                     I have been pondering upon this thought since early last week when Hapi and I were choosing the hymns for the upcoming Sunday (yesterday). Abba has been preaching a mini-series on Christian Service for some Sundays now. When we were told that the sermon for yesterday would be about the personal application of Christian service, the  Take My Life and Let it Be  hymn immediately came to mind as a fitting hymn of preparation. I'm not sure whether the hymn had a similar scriptural reference, but it turned out to be really such an appropriate hymn to what the sermon discussed. The text was in Romans 12. This topic, of course, has already been preached several times before. It was highlighted in the mini-series on Biblical...

      I will be honest. I went through last week without daily log of reads. I read and watched, yes, but I couldn't remember which ones I've read on what day. My bad. But one of the books that I've read just last week was William Philip's Why We Pray . It's a rather short read--just 103 pages--but it is ever full. of. beneficial. things. I do think that one of the reasons that I couldn't come up with my usual weekly reading list is because I've been too engaged with this one. I was able to read the book because I've subscribed to Scribd's premium membership (yes, the 1-month Freemium was totally effective on me). I shared my takeaways from the book during our department meeting yesterday, and I thought it's truly worth sharing. So instead of my usual, here are some snippets from the book "Why We Pray" for my reading recommendation. :)      When we think about how we pray, there are two things that the heart is tempted to feel: dep...

     Luzon's ECQ Week 4 coincided with the 2020 Holy Week. Originally, the school calendar indicated Wednesday - Saturday of this week to have no classes. Since the quarantine, however, our principal announced that we would have the entire week off work and encouraged us to have our personal retreat and more time for family prayer. Have I told you how much I'm grateful for this school I work in? No? Let me say it then. I'm truly grateful for MGCNL community, in so many areas.  So I was able to spend more time reading (and watching) more materials this week. At this point, though, I'd like to highlight first how I've been selecting which materials to read/watch.         I understand that in a world where new knowledge would be only a few clicks away, many could be intoxicated, so to speak, with the "power" to know more. But knowledge puffs up. The same authors who have helped countless believers to arrive at a deeper, personal, and experiential ...

Pililia Wind Farm, 2019 “I don't mind close-ups, I like them, but they're kind of forceful - you see a lot, you get a lot of information in a close-up. There's less mystery.” —David Duchovny When I saw this quote online, it got me thinking. Do we really lose the “mystery-ness” of things when we get more information about them? The sense of awe and wonder—do they fade as you see the things you admire at a closer perspective? Surely, with the imperfect and the flawed, the trend of feeling lesser awe as one sees more is set. Not necessarily because of the mere fact that you’ve seen more of it—but because, being imperfect, when we see more of something, we inevitably see more of its flaws. More depths to the beauty we have initially perceived, yes, sometimes. But the flaws, scars, dents, and imperfections that were so carefully hidden before are also now brought to light. In a different light, this fallen world, and everything in it, becomes less appealing. N...

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 ...

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 ev...

It has been a very meditative week of more devoted prayer and intermittent fasting (or intermittent eating because I fasted more than I ate). A lot has been shoved down my plate lately, and this week started off with another shaking and breaking. And there are many, many, many  lessons and happenings in the span of a week. Additional work load to my ever increasing pile of school duties. Same old issues resurfacing. The old burden and zeal to invest in the lives of other people--and not seeing pleasant results. Same old, but brand new stories of I-don't-like-you's. Of feeling like the girl in between two worlds--never quite in one, never quite part of the other. Many things. I am still trying to process each of these very much tangled, very much interconnected ball of thoughts and feelings. Maybe one day, I get to write about each one ever more clearly. But one of the things that I had (have, still not over) to deal with, is my still very much unsettled feeling and reso...

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,  who seek him with their whole heart,  who also do no wrong  but walk in His ways!                                                                     (Psalm 119:2-3) The psalms, and mostly all of the Bible’s poetry, operate through what is called parallelism . As a literary device, parallelism draws on this idea of connection and similarity. Parallelism is when an author constructs parts of a sentence to be grammatically similar, often repeating a specific word, phrase, or idea. This repetition creates a connection between the ideas discussed. These parallel ideas also become emphasized and become more important for the reader. (Study.com, Parallelism in Poetry) Parallelism, then, is used in the Bible to compare an idea previously mentioned and paint ho...