Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails

Proverbs 19:21

                This is the sequel of my 9 fruits trilogy. I decided to chop it down into three parts because discussing all of these 9 fruits would probably take me years and drain my poor mind in an instant. Now let’s get this thing done, for I’m so excited to finish this series. As an introduction, I cited three different people on this one. First one’s yours truly, the second was my favorite Preacher, and the last was the first Pastor I’ve met. They are with different fields and levels, but all posses gifts coming from one Mighty Giver, The Holy Spirit.

Patience

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. - Psalm 40:1

                Patience is a virtue. If you have patience, you will realize how important time really is. Actually this is one gift that I’ve just discovered recently when I got closer to God. Again, patience is not the act of waiting, but it is how you act while you wait. Then I realized I have so many things to be patient with: His coming, the right person for me, and my future, to name a few. Just last week, my friend, Rence, and I met up to continue my one to one. Before that, He said we’d meet up at around 3:30 PM at the Center. I arrived at the Center earlier than expected, probably 15 minutes earlier, for I don’t want him to think that I’m acting sort of like a VIP. He wasn’t there yet. At first, I was like, “O.K., wait ka lang, papunta na rin ‘yun. Masyado ka kasing maaga pa.” So I waited for more minutes until I noticed it was already 4:00 PM. Then I giggled and said, “Lord, are you testing me?” After that, I thought of doing something while waiting for his arrival. I was a kind of hungry that time so I decided to find somewhere to eat and perhaps stay there while waiting for Rence. Luckily, there was a bakeshop downstairs and I ate siopao while waiting. Minutes passed, I noticed it was already 5:00 PM and he’s not yet there. One of the service crew’s already cleaning up my table, LOL; But still… I waited. After hours of waiting, he finally came and said sorry for he had some things to finish at work. What a relief! For the record, that was almost 2 hours of patiently waiting. What’s funny was I never got irritated waiting. Maybe it was because of my desire to continue my one to one so badly. God waited for that moment when I surrendered myself to Him. Almost 20 years of waiting for me to come back to His arms. There is no doubt that I will do the same for Him. I will forever be patient in Him.

Kindness

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

                A friend told me the difference between kindness and goodness. I thought they were the same, but they’re not. The way she understands it, kindness is the way you treat others; if you’re polite, respectful, or helpful. It has something to do with others. On the other hand, goodness pertains to your soul; somewhat like your obedience to God; righteousness per se. I received a beautiful quote from a friend that says:

“We won’t always know who we inspire with our words… or who gets encouraged when we smile… or who’s strengthened by our presence. But let us keep doing them anyway; for we won’t always know it but sometimes we deliver a SLICE of HEAVEN to someone’s life.”

It is true. Never waste any opportunity to do good to others. Kindness makes a huge difference. Joyce Meyer has been challenging every people to make a commitment before God to do at least one thing, everyday, for somebody else. One day she felt like God wants her to pay for a lady’s earrings. She has no idea who that lady was. She even thought that the lady might think she’s crazy for doing such thing. Nevertheless, she got a 50 dollar bill in her hand and said, “Listen, I’m a Christian, and I just felt like that God wanted you to be blessed with. He wants you to know that He loves you, so this is to pay for your earrings.” Months later, that lady actually was with somebody who knew Joyce was and watched her on TV. And this lady had a neighbor who has been telling bad things about Joyce Meyer. Then the lady said, “Oh no, she’s for real. Let me tell what she did.” Then she told the story of Joyce paying for her earrings, and eventually that guy started watching Joyce Meyer’s ministries and ended up getting saved. Our simple kindness can even lead to their salvation. We can do good things in many simple ways. Honestly, I believe this is the easiest thing to have of all the 9 gifts. I have been challenged by Joyce Meyer, and now I challenge you. Would you sincerely do at least one thing for somebody else everyday?

Goodness

Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. - Psalms 25:8

                I attended last Sunday’s worship service and it was about the Goodness of God, Part 2 of the series Awestruck – the Greatness and Goodness of God. It said that the source of everything is God, and everything changes except for God. That is why we have to just trust Him in three things – in His words, His promises, and His plans and purposes. Always remember that God is good all the time. This goodness is just like righteousness. And by trusting in these three things will certainly lead you to the path of righteousness. If you can obey the 10 Commandments of the Lord, then you can consider yourself a good person. Pastor Rommel is probably my best example on this one. Aside from the fact that he is a Pastor, I can see that he does everything God wants him to do. He obeys every command, and trusts in Him completely. Can you imagine devoting your whole life and family to the Church and fulfilling what has been tasked for you to do – Honoring God and Making Disciples? That is not as easy as it seems. Since I met him, I learned so many things about life and God. Every insight or experience that he shares gives me this delight that God really is so good. If goodness is a disease, it is contagious; and it is the only thing that I am willing to be infected with.

                I hope you enjoyed reading this one. It’s kind of long though, but I couldn’t think of any way to make it short, yet beautiful. I want this to be special, for it is God’s gifts that I am talking about. I hope you have been enthused enough by this one to wait for my next post about faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – the last installment of my trilogy. LOL. Until next time, I have to dress up now and get ready for my small group later. God is with you. Stay safe!

Testimony: Patience is a test of Faith.

Life Lesson: Cherish every God-given gift that you have.

Godly Passion: Goodness is contagious.

Good News: Honor God, Make Disciples.

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season

-          Ecclesiastes 3:1

Yes, it is true. There’s no need to rush, for rushing things would only lead you to a much bigger problem. There are no shortcuts, detours, and u-turns to success and life. I can still remember all of endeavors that I’ve faced and luckily surpassed back then. Dang, there were too many of them to the point that I almost had given up; but God never left me, not even just for a second. Despite the fact that I didn’t usually ask for His help, He was so generous that He never failed to stay beside me. When I was down, He reached out His hand and helped me rise up again. When I was in doubt, He showed me reasons why not to. When I was about to give up, He gave me strength and the tenacity to continue fighting. He was there, and will always be with me.

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

I almost ended up in a different college back when I was in 3^rd year. I got a grade of 5 in my major subject, and in our school there’s no repeater or whatever, so the only choice was to transfer to a different school. I never thought that I will fail. I got way too overconfident of myself and didn’t focus on my studies well. It was really a disastrous event for me. I thought it was over for me in FEU, but then God came to the scene. When I asked for a rechecking of my grades, they found out that it was only a miscomputation. I felt so relieved back then, I called my parents, my tito’s and tita’s and thanked them for all the prayers and support. I thought that it was just a false alarm, but it wasn’t. It was a warning sign from Him and I didn’t respond well.

Despite what happened, I still lived in an easy, no-stress and egotistic life. Instead of focusing on what’s more important, I indulged myself on less significant activities. I’m not perfect… I commit mistakes; but I didn’t say I regretted playing Dota and hanging out with my friends. I also met a lot of friends just by playing Dota and had tons of wonderful memories with them, but it would’ve been better if I just prioritized them well enough so that there won’t be any potential problems. As a result, I failed my first take on NLE (Nursing Licensure Examination). I was stunned in disbelief and really never thought of failing that examination. There were so many things that were on my mind back then – a lot of Who’s fault, What’s wrong and Why’s this happening to me. Funny thing was it only took me about 30 minutes to jump from Denial phase to Acceptance phase of DABDA/ Stages of Grief. Funny yet amazing, even until now I’m still amazed on how God enlightened me that moment. I asked Him, and He gave me an answer. Again, having been overconfident and way too relaxed led me to lose focus on my studies.

After that, I said to myself, “Maybe this is not for me, or maybe this is not the right time; maybe there are things in my life that I have to fix first before I achieve this goal of mine.” So I moved on and tried finding out what was wrong and what was lacking. I worked in a BPO Company for around 6 months and learned so many things there. I went through tough decisions; I decided to forfeit my NLE last November 2009 believing I still have a lot of things to learn from work. I also chose to review here in Zamboanga for the past July 2010 NLE to focus on my studies. I learned so many things in my stay in ACS and ADZU review center, which molded me to become what I am right now. It took me almost a year to evolve and learn from all of my mistakes. 12 long months of waiting, learning, adapting and never giving up before becoming what I am right now, a full-pledged nurse.

I am quite excited for all the things that God has planned for me now that I’m already a Registered Nurse. I have this vision of myself in the future that I am teaching young minds and at the same time drawing them close to God. I know I can make a difference, because God is with me. Speaking of vision, I would just like to add something that I’ve learned from Pastor Rommel just awhile ago. In order for us to grow in our present jobs/works, we should have these 4 P’s: Presence of God, Pleasure, Provision from God, and Purpose. These 4 P's will help you excel in your area and at the same time nourish your relationship with God.

It is not easy and will never be easy to understand what’s in store for us, not unless you let God control your life. God has plans for you, and if you let Him sit behind the steering wheel, He will give you everything far beyond your imagination. Never give up on what you believe in and never let any distractions slow you down to your pursuit of happiness.

Testimony: God gave me trials and sufferings for me to be dependent on Him.

Life Lesson: God is never in a hurry, but He is always on time.

Godly Passion: Think Big! Do not settle for less. Have a bigger frying pan.

Good News: You were made for a purpose. 

God gave me what I wanted, but He didn’t let me get it my way.

God gave me what I wanted, but He didn’t let me get it my way.

-      Joyce Meyer

When I already finished reading the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, I started thinking about what’s next for me. Then a friend suggested that I should try listening to podcasts of certain individuals such as Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, etc. Actually I don’t have any idea who these persons are. LOL. All I know is that they are messengers of God, spreading the Good News worldwide. So I downloaded Joyce Meyer’s podcasts and suddenly got interested in everything she says (if you want to know how and where I downloaded it, just give me your e-mail address and I’ll send it to you).

Joyce Meyer’s message was entitled An Attitude of Trust and Patience. Honestly, those were the qualities that I don’t have. I’m not good at waiting. For instance, if we will be meeting in a certain place, I would rather tell you I’m already there even though I’m not so you can get your ass off quickly to our meeting place. I’d rather be waited than to be the one waiting, and that is one classic showing of how selfish I am, which is I’m not actually proud of. Well about trust, it is in fact not a problem to me… it is the other way around. After years of reflecting and contemplating, I finally found myself so hard to be trusted. LOL. Maybe it’s because I’m really good at reasoning, I mean sooo good. A friend of my father’s even told me that I should’ve taken Law instead of Nursing ‘coz I’m so good at it.

 

In one single event, the saved who are alive at Christ's coming will be caught up together with the resurrected to meet the Lord in the air. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." - 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Christ is coming, and we don’t know when. All I know is that we should be focused on the mission He gave us. We don’t just wait until Christ’s return; we make use of the time He provided us so that in His return, we can say “Mission Accomplished.” This is where trust comes. We need to trust God, in every single thing that happens in our lives for us to accomplish our mission. Just by putting your trust in God, you can enjoy your life while He is solving your problem. Why should we trust God? I have three reasons for that:

1.      He is the omnipotent one

2.      He is the omniscient one

3.      He is the omnipresent one

He is the omnipotent one. He is our Creator, everything you see is made by God. He pulls all the strings of our lives. If you’ve watched the movie Bruce Almighty, there you will understand how powerful God really is.

He is the omniscient one. He is all-knowing. He knows everything that’s going to happen to us, every single detail of our lives has been already written down. He knows everything, and it is only Him that knows it all.

He is the omnipresent one. He is everywhere. He is the reason why we can fight temptations, feel safety and comfort, and make holy actions. Joseph experienced it. He had brothers who were jealous of him and sold him into slavery. Later he was lied against by Potiphar's wife; and yet "God was with him."

Then on Sunday I had the chance to attend at one of Victory’s worship services. That was my first time at Victory; again, my good old friend referred it to me. I didn’t know what to expect upon entering the center. I was just looking for a small group and hoped to find it there. Then I heard Pastor Ritchie telling something about Laying of Hands – more of like passing the torch or blessing someone. I enjoyed listening to his message, I felt like God was really close to me that time – like He was reaching out to me. Then every moment has just gone surreal. I cried… hard. That was the first time that I cried for Him, and it felt so great. I believe those were not just tears of joy; those were tears of guilt, confession, thanksgiving, and praise to Him. I felt like I’ve been healed from my pains, freed from my sufferings, and unloaded from all of my burdens.  

The day ended up so well; I met Pastor Rommel, who eventually adopted me to his small group, I found new friends in the likes of Ate Lei, Rence, and Joed, and I’ve finally found a family in them. I thank God for giving me this opportunity to do the things I want to do while waiting for His return. I want to thank Him for giving me another chance and entrusting me this very important assignment. As what Joyce Meyer also said, “Patience is not the ability to wait; it is how you act while you wait.”

PBPGINFWMY – Please Be Patient, God Is Not Finished With Me Yet. Don’t be in a rush. It will take a lifetime for us to fulfill what we are tasked to do. You will be taking a long journey to His salvation. Now be patient and have trust in Him, for it is the key to living a Christ-centered life. All along, I thought doing things in an old-Frankie-way was right; but then again, I was wrong. :)

Testimony:  Jesus led me directly to His path to Salvation.

Life Lesson: Patience is a virtue.

Godly passion: Your spiritual family is bigger than your physical family and in some significant aspects, it is probably more important.

Good news: Parousia- God also said the ever-great Douglas McArthur line.