I remember something that I wrote on my journal when I was in grade school. I remember I drew a small and a big circle which looked like a tire that rolls. This symbolizes life, that sometimes you're down, the dirt is on your face, and sometimes you're up. When you're up, it won't be long until you're down again. Sometimes I think that the tire must have gotten stuck on a really big pothole, with busted interior, while it was my turn to be in the bottom. It didn't take long and I'd gotten used to it. After a while, I had thought that it wasn't so bad that I would forget what brought me there in the first place (poor driving?). Then I'll start to recognize that it (whatever brought me low) is still present inside me even when the tire seem to must've rolled without me noticing. And it wasn't so bad because it made me appreciate how nice it is to be on top, that happiness is not the absence of unhappiness.
"When we are unhappy, it makes us look forward to heaven all the more. Happiness on earth is always temporary." Max Lucado, Experiencing the Heart of Jesus (2003)
Now I don't view my unhappiness with eyes that couldn't wait, with eyes that are longing to be on top again because every time, it lets me know that true happiness is not something that I can find here. It lets me know that there is something more that can truly satisfy me!
11Dear friends, you are foreigners and strangers on this earth. So I beg you not to surrender to those desires that fight against you. (1 Peter 2)
Because I am an alien on this earth, I won't find true joy here. But "until I see Him face to face, and grace amazing takes me home" I'll trust in Him, because:
19I pray that God will take care of all your needs with the wonderful blessings that come from Christ Jesus! (Philippians 4)
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58)
God is abundant in His blessings and He allows me to take part in them. When snippets of joy fall from heaven, they are in the form of friends, family, and new acquaintances.
Now when I'm reminded of that 'tire' drawing from yellowed pages of my journal, I look at in another angle and I see it as a lifesaver. Something that God throws at me when I go overboard.
J.B.
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with Ptr. Jon Almusara (3rd from left, front row)
Two ladies from Lakas-Angkan,N. Ecija share their insights on each quiet time that they have ever since they heard about "ampalaya".
DO SOMETHING
"Faith that does nothing is dead!" (James 2:26)
Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. Faith is the belief that God will do what is right. God is always near and always available. Just waiting for your touch. So let him know. Demonstrate your devotion:
Write a letter.
Ask forgiveness.
Be baptized.
Feed a hungry person.
Pray.
Teach.
Go.
Do something that demonstrates faith. For faith with no effort is no faith at all. God will respond. He has never rejected a genuine gesture of faith. Never.
---He Still Moves Stones
Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. Faith is the belief that God will do what is right. God is always near and always available. Just waiting for your touch. So let him know. Demonstrate your devotion:
Write a letter.
Ask forgiveness.
Be baptized.
Feed a hungry person.
Pray.
Teach.
Go.
Do something that demonstrates faith. For faith with no effort is no faith at all. God will respond. He has never rejected a genuine gesture of faith. Never.
---He Still Moves Stones
SOLE PROVIDER, SOLE COMFORTER (from The Applause of Heaven)
As long as Jesus is one of my options, he is not an option.
As long as you can carry your burdens alone, you don't need a burden bearer. As long as your situation brings you no grief, you will receive no comfort. And as long as you can take Him or leave Hin, you might as well leave Him, because He won't be taken half-heartedly.
But when you mourn, when you get to the point of sorrow for your sins, when you admit that you have no other option but to cast all your cares on Him, and when there is truly no other name that you can call, then cast all your cares on Him, for He is waiting in the midst of the storm.
As long as you can carry your burdens alone, you don't need a burden bearer. As long as your situation brings you no grief, you will receive no comfort. And as long as you can take Him or leave Hin, you might as well leave Him, because He won't be taken half-heartedly.
But when you mourn, when you get to the point of sorrow for your sins, when you admit that you have no other option but to cast all your cares on Him, and when there is truly no other name that you can call, then cast all your cares on Him, for He is waiting in the midst of the storm.
Single Professional Fellowship
with Ptr. Jon Almusara (3rd from left, front row)
visit the LAKAS-ANGKAN website!!
Amena Brown: Ressurection
What's AMPALAYA?
Ampalaya or bitter gourd is a vegetable which has a bitter taste but very high in nutrients and said to be good cure for anemics. For Christians, it is devotion, the essence of your faith - that which Christians almost never like. It is the reading and meditating on God's word. Our faith may be focused on good deeds and making the world a better place, but it is nothing without ampalaya.
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