Chemotherapy 2014

Love that Never Runs Out

When you have come to the end of yourself, God is just getting started. Because of God’s unfailing and unconditional love, we are not consumed by the world and the heaviness of our sins. His love does conquer all. You name it! Our insecurities, fears, doubts, guilt & shame.

 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.  For I For I am convinced that neitherdeath, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39

 

Sometimes we find ourselves in a too-good-to-be-true moment with God. “Really Lord, You can still love me? Inspite of my failures? And the nth times I’ve disobeyed You?” I myself doubted God’s ability to love and accept me for who I am. But then it came to me, this verse:

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is LOVE. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” – 1 John 4:16

Like sand, His love never runs out. He is love and He’ll always be. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. You see, our inability to accept God’s perfect love for us is not a question of doubting God’s love or His ability to love us but of doubting our worthiness. Looking in the mirror of our lives, we become so discouraged by what we see and disheartened by what we know to be true. I realized instead of dwelling on the fact that i’ll never be worthy of his love, I found comfort in His words that his grace is sufficient for me. And his power is made perfect in my weakness.  I found this unexplainable joy of surrendering. This world taught us that to surrender is to accept defeat, but the bible tells us that to surrender to God is the first step to victory. Instead of crying my heart out and soaking myself with all the guilt and shame, I hold on to his promise of a new morning. A clean slate. A new day to start all over again… to live and love again.

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you”

Psalms 139:17-18 

A Steward of Grace

1 Corinthians 15

The Resurrection of Christ

¹Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

³For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance^[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Peter,^[b] and then to the Twelve. ⁶After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. ¹¹Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”

What in the world was I thinking?! The grace we show to others is not our own. The only reason we can “give” grace to anyone is because God has already given it to us. We can pass along only that which we have received from Him.

So whenever someone hurt me, I should always think that I also (continuously) hurt God by going against his will but He (continuously) without any condition nor hesitation, forgive me in spite of.

Passion Manila 2010

“Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.”

Isaiah 26:8

all pictures from 268blog.com

1. Religion tells you to do this and do that and try and try and try and try and try to be good enough… but you’ll never be. Why? Because our hearts are sick. But God did what we cannot do for ourselves and that’s GRACE.=)

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

2. We are all little seeds. Our lives remain meaningless not until we decide to leave our comfort zones (fame,money,career etc.)and bury ourselves into the ground (Surrender our lives to God). Only then we’ll grow into trees that will bear more seeds. And only then we’ll understand that “losing our life” for God’s sake  literally means “gaining it back”.

“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” – Matthew 10:39

3. Our life here on earth is about HIS-story. From the beginning to the end, everything that happened,happens and will happen shall reveal God’s glory. The day we were born to the day we lost our way home, tells about not our mistakes or failures but reveals the Grace of God in every step we make. Once we accepted Him in our lives, we already play a role in His story. He is the starring role! We are merely extras. Our names won’t be included in the credits. Our lives should be directed,produced&written by God!

So, let me ask you, little seed, are you willing to lose your life and find purpose in the end? or continue to work hard for your so called life and lose it in the end?

THE BEAUTY GOD SEES

Last Saturday, we had our first “Sisterhood” gathering! =) I’m really blessed to have these girls in our ministry. They’re all living testimonies of what true beauty really means. =)

photos by Olivia Dela Rosa

“Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” – Proverbs 31:30

“The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them.People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”-1 Samuel 16:7

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. – 1 Peter 3:3-4

I would like to share these powerful videos that really show how we should see BEAUTY not in our own perspectives. =) Please watch them all =)

Give Until it Hurts

^“1And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. ²Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. ³For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, ⁴they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. ⁵And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. ⁶So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. ⁷But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us^[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

⁸I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. ⁹For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

¹⁰And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. ¹¹Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. ¹²For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have” 2 Corinthians 8:1-12

God has been dealing me with this for years now. *sigh* and yeah it’s tough! Writing about this is already painful for me. But I guess that’s the point, you need to feel the pain in order for you to really value it. I always ask myself, “How can you truly say that you are GIVING? Is it possible that one can show the act of giving but doesn’t truly give at all? And how can you say that you’ve given enough?”

To answer those questions, I decided to look back on how God moved in my life for the past years.

2008 – I had my first job as a Product manager for a small advertising company. I stayed for 8 months but the pressure,stress and unfair treatment made me realize that it wasnt worth it.  My salary was not enough to sustain me and even help my family.  I remember always feeling bad  because I wasnt giving to God the tithes I was supposed to give.  I only earned a whopping  5k for the whole 8 months of my employment. I also found out that the company did not pay for my taxes,sss, healthcare etc. , so where did they put all the money they deducted from my supposed to be salary? that I don’t know. So this made my first job (ever) very traumatic. I prayed and asked God why He let me experience all this and why He let me give up my dream of having a successful career in the industry.  He just answered me with this verse: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him”- romans8:28

I remember exactly what my prayer to Him was: “Lord, I know you have greater plans for me. I will quit this job. I will not worry because I know you will replace it with something better. If having a job will only take away my time for you then don’t give it nalang.  I want to work for you alone. I want to glorify you with what I have.”

So, weeks before I left the company, Rj and I were thinking a lot (as in a lot!) about the days to come. What’s our next step? Are we going to stay unemployed for the rest of our lives? Or are we going to take risks and start our own business? He told me to just wait and let God do His thing. =) So I did.

One day, as I was sharing to Rj all this cool stuff  I learned about E-commerce, SEO (search engine optimization) and the possibility of making it big in the WEB industry,and then bulb of a bright IDEA suddenly appeared! He (jokingly) proposed why not I make a website about all my ukay finds (since he was overwhelmed by the quantity inside my cabinet). hehe  Since I already know how to market/and sell a website, why not give it a try and get as many readers as I could. He also (jokingly) added, that maybe I could also sell some of the treasures online. At first I was really hesitant and just gave him a big “nyek, okay ka lang?sino naman bibili nun?” But I still gave it a shot.

And what do you know, we never thought that this was it! The thing that we’ve been praying for!  Our Online Ukay Business was born and it totally changed our lives.  Before I totally quit my job, Rj and I were already earning twice/thrice my salary.  Grace! Grace indeed! Now, we are able to save for our future and extend our help  to others as well. =)

So why am I sharing you all this?

1. GIVING is MOTIVATED by GRACE.

I want to show you that it’s all about GRACE. We live because our God is gracious enough to sustain us. What we have or possess is not ours but God’s. So, if God is gracious enough to give us all these, why can’t we be gracious to bless others as well? Paul started his letter in 2 corinthians 8 by acknowledging the Grace of God to the Macedonians that helped them overcome all the trials.

Do you agree that we cannot give what we do not have? But since God first gave us, there’s no reason why we should not give anything back. We give because He first gave us.

If we find it hard to be gracious to others that means that you do not value the “GRACE” that God gave you.

2. GIVING is a PRIVILEGE. v. 2-5

The Macedonians despite all the trials and scarcity they experienced, were able to give and share what they have to others even if they almost had nothing. I personally think that GIVING is of no value if you don’t give sacrificially. You should give until it hurts.

^“1As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. ²He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.^[a]3“I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”- Luke 21: 1-4

“It is more blessed to give than to receive. ” Acts 20:35b

Jesus’ words challenge our basic assumptions. What does it mean to be blessed? According to Jesus, blessing others is what it means to be blessed oneself. It is “more blessed to give than to receive” because blessing others is what it means to be blessed in the first place.

I learned that the greatest blessing is to be a blessing to others.  Doesn’t it feel good to share what God has graciously given to you? It’s not yours anyway. =) We should always be thankful for His grace that whenever we give, we give with a joyful heart. =)

3. GIVING is an ACT OF WORSHIP.

Do you ever wonder what this phrase really means, “To God be the glory.”?

“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” – Colossians 3:17

“Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever” – 1 Peter 4:11

Giving and blessing others is a powerful testimony of God’s grace and love.  Sometimes the most effective way in sharing the gospel is through our lifestyle. If we continue to share our blessings, we are opening the doors of those people who hardened their hearts from God.  =)

Let me close this entry with this, “Give Until There’s Nothing Left” by Relient K

May God bless you all so that you may bless others more! =)

SUGAR CLICHE

This is a song I wrote for my girls. We (girls) always have our own set of heart (love)issues and we have to admit that there’s always a vulnerable spot in us that can either make or break us.  So this song pretty much sums up in a simple way how we must deal with the pressure and all that . hehe

“Guard your heart above all else,for it determines the course of your life.” – PROVERBS 4:23

“SUGAR CLICHE”

Honey, what are you thinking?
let me guess your next move
Sorry for being so sensitive
do you know what’s at stake here?
do you know my heart is at stake here

SO I,

i wont let my guard down
coz’ i know how it sounds
i don’t need your sugar cliches
i dont want your empty promises
if you really like me,
then just let it be.

I know the clock is ticking
do you feel a bit pressured?
Sorry for taking it too long
do you know what’s at stake here?
coz my heart is at stake here

SO I,

i wont let my guard down
coz’ i know how it sounds
i don’t need your sugar cliches
i dont want your empty promises
if you really like me,
then just let it be.

if you really like me,
then just let it be.
if you really like me,
then just let it be.
if you really like me,
then just let it be.
then just WAIT FOR ME

The Lack of Judgement

This is what God revealed to me today:

“A man of understanding holds his tongue.“-Proverbs 11:12

I remember a friend asked me how I handle a gossip especially if it’s about me. I just smiled at her and said, “I don’t”.

Unsatisfied with my answer, she just raised her eyebrow.

You see, Christians don’t handle gossips. They shouldn’t be entertaining any of it after all. Would you rather listen to what people say than what your heart says? It’s better to enjoy the quietness brought by a clean conscience than the selfish desire to picnic on a diaspora of malicious stories that can later lead to injury and distrust. Everyone likes a good story, right? Well, not necessarily. What about the person the story is about? Does that person like the story? Probably not.

If you hear rumors spreading about your brother, should you not go directly to him and confront him? Or is your mind malicious enough to do so? If you are really concern about a person, let the gossip end with you. If you don’t passon the gossip there is nowhere for it to go.

“The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.”- Proverbs 18:8

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers… Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”– Ephesians 4:29

“The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”-James 3:5-6