"Consecration Sunday"

Last Sunday was a "Consecration Sunday" in our church. It was a blessed message the guest speaker delivered for us. He was talking about stewardship and giving. We were challenge to increase in our giving. I committed myself to move 2% on my giving. It was a challenge for me. I don't know if it does to them. I didn't do it just because the preacher told us, but because I know this is what God requires from me.

After I committed and placed my notes at the altar (I was the last one), I had a strange feelings that I can't even described. Must be fear... fear that I may run short on my Philippine vacation savings. Why should I feel this way? I have been doing this before in a long time. I made myself committed to give up 13% before, and I saw how God had blessed me. Why should I feel fear this time? It was really strange that I felt that way. Or was it because of the written commitment that we made that gives us an odd feeling? Must be.

I believe in the word of God and the principle about giving. I have witnessed and experienced God's faithfulness to His words. "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38 NIV

Rather than nurturing this strange feelings. I will and choose to be thankful to God for this opportunity and be blessed knowing that great things are about to pour in my life very soon... and to the whole household. Thank you, God! You are awesome!

The Art of Wive's Submission To Their Husbands

In the early stage of our marriage, there are many things that God was trying to teach me, but of all them, this is my favorite; to learn to depend to my husband.

My father died when I was only 10 years old. My mother taught me how to survive both by showing herself as an example and by teaching me micro-business in my early age which I am so grateful because it carried me in so many ways. It probably the reason why in my early age I learned to provide my own needs in ways of handiwork. I was never a financial burden to my family.

Aside from my being "self-made-financial-stability", I also made myself emotionally and mentally stable. Any problem I had, I solved it myself without bothering them. I know I had always been in a compromising situation, but somehow, I managed to come out from them. I can always find answers to most of my questions. I can handle some things that are beyond my educational status. But when I got married...

When I got married, God changed me little by little everyday. God removed from me my being dependent to myself and taught me to share whatever problems I have to my husband. It was amazing how a very simple things that I used to know, and then all of a sudden I am caught in helplessness because I can't solve it. Then, out of despair, I would mention it to my husband... and then bam... the answer appeared. It happened to me a lot. My husband doesn't have to solve it (although sometimes he does). All it takes is sharing to him my problem at the moment. Sometimes, too, he suggest something, and my "self-made-stability" wouldn't agree to him, but in the long run, I end up following his suggestion. In the present time, I learn a lot. I am trying to agree on every thing my husband, and if it doesn't sound appealing to me, I can always voice out my idea, too. There's no harm in that.

God designed marriage in this way; Husbands have the voice... but... it doesn't mean wives can't open up or present their suggestions and ideas. They can, but the husbands got to decide which one to follow. It doesn't mean husbands are always right, sometimes they are wrong, too; but God will bless the decision of the righteous husband. And in the process of being a righteous husbands, their decision became wise and right, too.

In the case of unbelieving husbands, wives prays for their husbands to God that He may bless their husband's decisions and come to know Him. The faithful submission of wives will lead their husband to seek God.

"Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5:22 NIV)

Losing The Key - To The Glory Of God's Name (Final Update)

May everybody have a blessed Sunday today.
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It took me almost two weeks to update my blog again. One "anonymous" comment advised me to upate it, and I want to apologize for not doing it right away. It is the same old reason... work... house chores... and quality time with my husband.
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Well, I have a very good news here; a very good thing to blog about. Actually, I consider this a "victory". After almost three months, the key was finally retrieved. Praise God! Once again, God brought glory to His own name. Once again, God displayed His faithfulness of His word.
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I feel so blessed that I trusted Him all the way; that I was not tempted to fake it just to impress my boss and to recover my neglection. I always believe that there is a reason on every single thing that happened to us; and I just realize that God may have sharpened my "Honesty" in my workplace. In the situation I am in, temptation is in my hand. I opened and closed the store all by myself. I counted my money from the drawer all by myself. But never one item that I took from the store was unpaid... down to the very cents of it.
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Another thing that God sharpened in me through this incident is my faith in God. Good or bad, I trusted in Him. There are times that the situation was not favorable to me, but it never drive me negatively toward my job. I did everything to my job as if my employers were watching me all the time; (but they are not there most of the time). I love the store as if it is mine. I did everything to it, the best that I could and is growing into it. I don't know how long I will have this job, but I know that if I lost this, I can look back with integrity in me.
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"Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them." (Matthew 18:20 NIV)
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This verse is very "alive" in my life. I can't count anymore how many times I got a hold on this verse and really "saved" me. God's word is alive and gave us a life. The purpose of this post is to give God the glory... to Him alone, for he alone deserves it.

Soar On Wings Like Eagles

I thank God that so far, there has been no scooter-related problems or any unpleasant that happened to us, except for the tanned skin that I accumulate from riding which I hate (but my husband love it). Come winter and the scooter will come to seasonal rest, and I hope that I will regain my natural skin tone again. ................................................................................................. While I learned to enjoy riding the scooter, I also learned few things that are related to our spiritual life, and one of them is what I call; SOAR. ...................................................................................................... I noticed that every time we crossed high and long bridges on a very windy day, after battling the bothersome wind, there is calmness when we reached the peak of the bridge. It reminded me of this word: "...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31) ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I was told that whenever there is a storm, the eagle would soar beyond the wind and there the eagle felt safe and free from the strong gush of the wind that may lead the fall. It has application in our life, too. But I want to believe that only the spiritually strong ones can soar beyond the "storm of our life", because it will need strength and determination to be able to conquer it. Not all the birds can do it, only the strong ones. As well as, not all God-believers are strong and determined. Strength and determination are acquired through regular prayer and meditation of His holy word.

Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear

My husband just bought a new scooter a week ago, and I was so worried about it. I was so against of the idea in the first place, but he explained to me that it is savvy this way because the gas price is going up lately. I understood... and I chose not to complain about it. He has been riding a motorcyle for a long time already and I chose to trust him rather than whining about it. Although... I can't help but be scared every time I ride with him, I chose not to show it so that he will be comfortable with me, and also, I see and I know that my husband is a very careful driver, in which I am very thankful to God. . For days, I was holding God in my prayers every single minute, to keep us safe, especially when I was on the scooter. Then, I come to realize that I was no longer enjoying God's blessing to us... the scooter. So, I opened my Bible and look for His word. I was thinking to myself that I really need a verse that I can hold on, something that will blow my fear away. God gave me this: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear." 1 John 4:18 . I know I heard and read this verse a million times already, but I didn't realize that I haven't understood its full meaning. I didn't care to understand either. Until then, that God gave this to me... and I asked Him, "God, what does this has to do with my problem?" God revealed to me then that His perfect love will keep me safe, protected, provided and loved; and that perfect love should make us feel invincible... that no harm will befall on us, because He is our shield and that He takes care of us, and that He has total control over everything that happens in our life. His perfect love means 100% safety and security. As a result... we will no longer fear on anything... anything at all. As long as we prayed and asked for protection, have faith in God... and don't entertain the fear anymore. It will be like an insult to God if we doubt it. And besides, God gave us a blessing... and He wants us to enjoy the blessing that we got. That is what I am clinging to right now. . Thank God for the scooter!

Closet Clutter

My husband left early for school this morning, and my work shift will be late this afternoon. I have half day all to myself. I had decided to spend my morning offering Him a song of worship, reading God's word, and meditating on it. I just love to be in the presence of God.
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The message God gave to me this morning was about clearing out our clutter. If we have been too busy in life (like me) and if you live with somebody who don't care about orderness in the house (like my husband) chances are you end up with clutters all over the house. Every time I perform a general house cleaning, I always start in our closet. Probably because it is the most remote part of the house, and it is where most clutters are filing up because I always hid there the things that I don't want to be visible somewhere else. After I cleaned it, it always feels like it took away the biggest part of the job.
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To some people, the part of the house that has more clutters are in their garage, to some in basement, to some in bedroom. (Well, we don't have both garage and basement.) But one thing is sure, we are ashamed to open that door to our visitor or guest. We don't want them to see our clutter.
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It is the same thing with our life. Living in this world, meeting new people, getting acquainted with all these modern stuff and the world's ways, somewhere in our hearts and minds, all these made us accumulate clutter in our lives, and some of them, we are ashame for others to find out. Things such as hate, envy, covetousness, lust, disatisfaction and many more. These are the things that makes our life's "closet" dirty and disorder. And while we think we can hide the clutter, eventually, it will show.
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The word of God says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV ) Knowing this, it makes me think that I let God live in my heart with all the clutters. It is not a good place for a King. It is not how we treat a very special guest in our house. I feel so awful!
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Well, I think it is about time that we spend a day to clean up the mess in our life. General cleaning is not just needed in our house, it is also needed in our hearts and mind. It is about time we throw away the hatred, the bitterness, the unforgiveness, the lust and everything unpleasant that are hiding in our "closet". It is about time that we organize our attitude and fill our hearts with the beauty of God's Word. Let us make our "closet" clean and then be confident again knowing that there is nothing bad and shameful that you hide in there anymore.

Find A Job You Love

It has been almost four months since I got this job that I have now. I am very thankful to God for giving me this work. For a lot of times, I was just amazed that I am being paid to do these things I am doing... I so loved it. This reminds me of a certain quote that I posted on our "couple's multiple picture frame". It says, "Find a job you love and you'll never have to work another day in your life." So true!
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I love my job, not only because I enjoy it. I love my job because it gives me all Sundays off, which means we can go to church and spend the whole afternoon together. Other reason why I love my job because it helps me build up my personality and confident in dealing with people here in USA. There are so many things that my job helped, than just supporting me financially, and I believe with no doubt that this is a blessing from God. I never ever regret giving up my previous job which paid better than what I have now, but the downside of it was physical abuse and more.
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I am not bragging, although it may sound one. I am just very thankful that God give me this job. You can't blame me. If you know me, you will glorify God's name, too, because of the blessing I got. I don't know what lies ahead. I don't know for how long I will stay in my job. It can be like smoke... here now, gone then. Or it can be like a bubble gum stuck to your shoes, it will stick for good. Either way, as long as it is God's will... there is absolutely nothing to worry. The most important is that I always give the best that I can to my job. My employers may not aware of them all, but my ultimate "boss" knows it and the reward is sure to come in any form and on his perfect time.
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"...then because of this, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to." (Deuteronomy 15:10 NIV)

Losing The Key - To The Glory Of God's Name (Update)

May everybody have a blessed Sunday today as I do have.
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This post is an update about the key that was lost few days ago. It is still in the state of "lost" right now. It has not been retrieve yet. However, I believe that it will in His perfect time.
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My employers keep inquiring me if I found they key yet and I feel sorry that I have to give them the sad reply "NOT YET" to it. I could have faked it by making a duplicate of the key because they gave me another one, and it would have make them happy and relieved that the key has been retrieved, and it will do good on my part, too, but... this is not how God wants it to happen. Absolutely not! God definitely don't need my manipulative help to save His name. My two boss and I were praying together, with joined hands, that they key will be retrieve, and faking the divine answer would be a blasphemy in God's holy name. Well, we did our part. We prayed and trust in Him that He will answer our prayer because we have faith that this is not impossible to Him, His part is to answer our prayer, and He takes pleasure in doing so... in His perfect time. So, here I am, living in faith every minute of my day, praying that the key will soon be retrieve... to relieve my employers... and above all, to the glory of God's mighty and powerful name for this is all about Him.
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“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20 NIV)

NaCl = Table Salt

NaCl= table salt

I found out that the table salt is part of every meal here in USA. It is actually on the table on every meal time. My husband (and everybody that I know here) put salt on their food (plate). I don't. However, in the Philippines, we use salt for cooking, dips and preparing the food.
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NaCl is used for many purposes.
It is used to add flavor to food;
... is used to draw out the water in foods;
... is used to cure food for longevity;
... is used to create traction on icy roads.
(Calcium chloride is actually used for this purpose more, but if you don’t have any of that sitting around, you can use table salt to create traction on your front step on a snowy day.)
I believe that salt was even used for antiseptic purposes.

The physiological requirement by the human body is immediate and life sustaining . Without salt any animal including the human animal would die and the importance of salt to any civilisation may not be underestimated. In comparison many other everyday uses are today taken for granted. In ancient times, before any chemical analysis was possible, experience and wisdom, was necessary to discern the purity of the salt for use with the many every day specific applications. To sustain a growing population, more salt was required. The fact that salt may have been available or was relatively easy to produce was a basic condition which allowed a population to increase and develop. . Where salt was not available..... populations stagnated and even disintegrated.

The bible tells that the believers of Jesus Christ are the salt of the earth. We are the ones who add flavors to the life of those who needs us. We are the one who preserves lives. We may ask "how?",
*by our little act of kindness towards another,
*by giving a genuine smile to others,
*by taking time to listen to them
*by being there when they need us
These and more can made others realized that we are the ones who help preserves lives. Those who have committed suicide, they were the ones who were unreached by the "salt of the earth". Their lives could have been saved if some "salt" was applied on them. But hey, look around... there may be somebody who needs us. Lives that they consider "tasteless". Forward, believers of Christ! Share the salt that we have to make others life worth living.

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Matthew 5:13 NIV)

The Ten Commandments & The Greatest Commandment

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When it comes to spiritual things, I am richer than my husband, and in some sense, I am not proud of it. I want him to be as rich as I am. Note that I am only comparing myself with my husband, that is to say that I may not be as rich as those I go to church with. Spiritual richness can't be determine solely on how much you know the Holy Bible or how much you have studied it. You may have read the entire bible a few times already, but it is the personal experiences that made you wise and grow to spiritual maturity. He asked me few nights ago if I am following the Ten Commandments, and he finds my answer very enlightening.
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The Ten Commandments was given by God to the world during the lawless age where crime and violence were increasing at a fearful rate because there was practically no respect for law or constituted authority among His people. It was God himself who wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablet and appeared to His people on Mount Sinai to give it to His people.
....."Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him." Exodus 19: 18-19 (for more information, I suggest that you read the entire book of Exodus.)
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Although Jesus gave the "new" Greatest Commandment, it is wrong to proclaim that the Ten Commandments are being replaced, abolished or "done away". Ten Commandments was given by God to His PEOPLE for all the years.
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Jesus gave this "new" commandment during the last night of His physical life on earth. He had—by teaching and example—already shown the disciples that keeping God’s commandments was simply an expression of love. To worship and obey God, allowing no other "gods", idols or anything else that comes in His place, to honor His name and keeping His day holy; summarizes the first four of the Ten Commandments into what Jesus called the "Greatest Commandment" that can be found in the New Testament; "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength". (Mark 12:30) The rest of the Ten Commandments which were from 5th to 10th were summarized into the second great commandment which is the "Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31)
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Jesus did not abolish the Ten Commandments that were from Old Testament, He was only making it easier for us to remember or to follow the whole text, and condensed it into two commandments. It made sense to me. Does it to you?

Who Can Touch The Apple Of God's Eye?

I found myself asking tonight when I was on my way home from work, "why do we always have new problems?". I feel down tonight because of the problem I had encounter at work this afternoon. But my soul says; my problems are design to make me stronger and wiser for future use. Thank you, God. You are my strength.
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We are very precious in God's eyes. He takes good care of us. He does what is best for us. At times, we may don't understand what is happening in our lives, but rest assured, He is in control, and nothing harm befalls to His children. We are the apple of His eyes ("apple" means "pupil") and like anybody else, nobody wants their eye's pupil be touched. It is our natural instinct to protect our pupil at all cost. And that is what God is exactly doing for us. He is protecting us at all cost. Even to the point of giving His son to die on the cross for us. Who can touch the apple of God's eye?
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"...for whoever touches you touches the apple of God's eye." Zechariah 2:8 NIV

Let God Be The Builder Of Your Dreams

All of us have desires and dreams in one way or another on how we want our lives to be in the future. Only those that are in the mental hospital doesn't have this dreams and desires. Most of us planned carefully on it, while some just go for it on impulse. Some people would put much effort and all that they could for their dreams, while others it may mean self-denial and sacrifices just to be able to build their selves up. Others would be willing to commit any crime and while others were taking short-cuts only to find their selves trap in a "dead end" zone.

There are people who found their selves failure, blaming it on following the guidance and advices of from somebody they love. While some people found their selves futile and empty after realizing they made a mistake on their decision. Their common falling ground was regrets.

The word of God says in Psalm 127:1 a “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builder labor in vain.” We could dream for our future but it is always wise to ask for His guidance first. Answers may not come instantly, or on the time that we want it. To some it may mean to wait a while. But by doing so, we are saving ourselves from trouble that may come out from wrong decision and have to start all over again. Unless what we are doing is what God wants us to do, we will not succeed in it.

Fear Of The Lord

The topic of the devotion that my husband and I had this afternoon was about "Fear". It was about a successful golfer who had the "fear" that drives him to be excellent in what he is doing. My husband commented on why we should live in "fear" when our God is the God of "love", and that we should not fear Him because God is kind.
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It is true. But sad to say that human are born defiant and disobedient that we all need discipline. If God's love and kindness will just allow us to go where we want to go and to do what we want to do, we will all end up to our destruction. But because God cares, He has to impose the consequence in us to whatever we did wrong so that we will learn to fear Him in a constructive way.
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Learning to fear God will make us wise by learning His ways. To learn His ways is to read His word which can be found in the book of life, The Bible. The more we learn from it, the more we will know the right thing to do, that will lead us to avoid the path of destruction. Living in fear to God doesn't mean God is terrorizing us. God is a God of balance. He loves us... He nurtures us... He teaches us... and if we did something wrong, He punish us, so that we will not go astray. God loves us so much that He wants to see us walking in the right path every day and enjoying the life that God is so abundantly offers to us.
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"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding." (Psalm 111:10 NIV)

What Matters Most Is Godliness

I was so excited on my first day that I came back to work after a month of vacation to Philippines. Everybody greeted me “Welcome Back, Grace”. Although I wasn’t feeling physically ready to go back to work on that day because I haven’t fully recovered yet from being sick, but because my leave of absence was over, that is why I have to go back to work, and it wasn’t a bad day though.

I brought some native delicacies for everybody to try, and was glad that they loved it. I was also happy to see the post card that I sent for them from the Philippines on the bulletin board. It makes me feel that I was important to them. Everything was fine except of two things.

The Mexican houseman, (also the acting supervisor if the supervisor is not around) has been interested in me since few weeks after I started working there. He has been telling me that he likes me and that wants me to be his girlfriend, regardless that I am married. There were uncalled behaviors that I thought were harmless but were annoying, but because it weren’t too serious that can be considered as harassment, I thought it was safe to tolerate it and just keep my distance as much as possible. He is married, too, and had been away from his family for four years. I told him that he badly needed to visit his family to cure his loneliness. To my surprise, he did, while I was on vacation. I thought it was a good sign for my sake as well, but I was wrong. The very moment that he saw me again, he hugged me so tight and whispered on my ear how he misses me. I thought that was just normal. Everybody hugged me anyway, but not with a whisper. An hour after that, he just got the chance to have me all by himself and hugged me again, and told me that he wants me to go out with him in the next days to come. That was how it became frustratingly alarming to me. I can’t play on this kind of game. Nobody can play safe on this kind of game.

On that night, I pondered very well on it. I had decided to quit right away. It wasn’t that hard, because the task that they used to give me was no longer needed for awhile, and I was given a new task that was a treat to my health. Plus, I know I wouldn’t be happy doing that new task. As I said, it wasn’t that hard at all. I quit right away. No, they didn’t know the real reason.

Although I am aware that it is not that easy to find a new job, especially with the same rate that they gave me; although I know that quitting would negatively affect my employment history; but for me, what matters most is the godly living and the good health that brings peace of mind.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6 NIV)

Turn Your Birthday Song To A Victory Song

I believe that a birthday song should be a "Victory" song regardless how old we can be. Every year that added to our life should be consider a miracle. Millions of human being were not given the chance to live as long as they want to. Babies that were dead didn't give their parents the joy of seeing them growing up. Teen-agers that died didn't had the chance of seeing their selves becoming successful in the careers they would have choose. I may go on and on, but my point is, I believe that we should be proud of the length of hours we have stayed here on earth. Let us not hide our true age, as some did, instead, we should be happy that another year is being added to it.
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Consider the cancer patients, birthdays have a special meaning for them and to their loved ones. They understood that the life is a gift from God, and that every year that added to it is a miracle. They hope that there will be many more birthdays to come to them.
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"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12 NIV)

Fellowship

There were weeks that I was not able to go to church because of my previous job. (I am so glad that I am done with that job now.) Having a fellowship with people of the same faith is important to me… to us. Yes, we can study the Holy Bible in our house. Yes, we can do the praise and worship in our house. But fellowship is as much important as studying the bible and singing praise and worship, too.

Fellowship is what we are called to do as a believer. It is a relationship of inner unity among believers that expresses itself in outer co-participation with Christ and one another in accomplishing God's will on earth. Fellowship is not just being together. It is not just doing anything together but it is working together to accomplish God's will.

Fellowship is an act of working together to accomplish God's will continued in the church with the practice of a multiplicity of leadership, diversification of activities, giving to the needy, exercise of different spiritual gifts, supporting of missionaries, calls to different mission fields, corporate prayer, group worship and in other ways. But the importance of fellowship to the church does not rest solely upon the fact that it was the natural result of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Rather, its primary importance stems from the fact that: The instruments are our spiritual gifts and natural abilities. And the indispensable means we used to perform is fellowship, co-participation in accomplishing His purpose. It is only as we work together in this way that it is possible to accomplish God's plan. This is why fellowship is indispensable to the church. This is why we should go to the church service and be a part of the fellowship.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42 NIV)

Lean Not On Your Own Understanding

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
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This bible verse is one of my favorite verse during the first few weeks that the bible was introduced to me. It is still my favorite nowadays. Every once a month, I always spare a day to be alone in a room for my monthly spiritual evaluation. It is a day of reading, singing my love songs to God and writing down whatever comes to my mind. I wrote down my plans, needs and prayers for myself and for my love ones. It is a time of picking myself up if I stumbled. It is a time of evaluating my self about any things that has been done and has been left undone. It's kinda like presenting to God my current agenda in life, my plans and wishes. But in the end, no matter how smart my plans may sound, I don't fail to acknowledge that all my plans and ways will fail if God will not be with me. I declare that I needs God's guidance on every step of the way.

Just Another Day By The Pool

This picture was taken last week by the pool within our place. It was my day off from work, Jane's off from work, too, and so we have decided to hang out together with our other Filipina friends. We are growing in numbers, but this time, some of them did not join us for some important matters. I would like to name this three other lovely girls that I was with, right after me was Elvira, Jane and Riza.
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After eating our delicious lunch that Elvira made at Jane's house, (and by the way, she is the best cook among us) we then proceed to the pool. We had a good time in the pool, the sun was just perfect and the best part was that nobody else was on the pool that time, too. All of us just learned how to swim, and it was the perfect time to do so when nobody else was around us. It was just another day by the pool. We did this at least once a week. This is our kind of "girl bonding moment" where we just talk about anything on our own national language.
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"Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel." (Proverbs 27:9 NIV)

Happy Girl

When I arrived at the office this morning, Tom, my co-worker said; "Here comes the happy girl." Everybody noticed that I always wear a genuine smile and give it away to everybody that I met. My personal policy is not to wear heavy scents when working, because I believe that some people around me may not like it and will cause discomfort to them. The scent that I am wearing is something that makes everybody comfortable and happy to be around me, it is the smile on my face.
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Honestly speaking, I have a conversation with my General Manager yesterday. He told me that my speed (performance) is not good enough. "But you have a very good personality, you always wear a smile, and that is what we need in this company and that is why we want to keep you. We might try to give you another work, and let's see from there on how you are doing." I give God the glory for that! "For we are to God the fragrance of Christ... the aroma of life leading to life." (2 Corinthians 2:15-16)
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Although there are a lot of times that I feel like I am ready to quit my job because I felt like I sin against my body for working too hard to the extent that it made me feel unhealthy. But I cannot decide if I should, because I am thinking that it is God who gave this job to me, and if this is not good for me anymore, then, maybe God knows better when to take it away from me. Do I make sense here? I really don't know what to do, but I know that we ought to take care of ourselves, too. I am praying for this everyday, and laid it on His mighty hand.

Tired, Bored or Losing Interest?

It has been more than a week since I last posted here in my blog. Why is it? Could it be that I am always tired, could it be that I am bored or could it be that I am just losing interest lately? Truth to tell is that I don't really know which one I feel right now. It could be all of them. I even didn't do some blog visit anymore. I may need to rekindle the fire of blog passion that used to be here in my heart, but I don't know where to start.
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As of now, I am busy both in my job and in preparing my very soon vacation to the Philippines. I am very excited about it. It is my day off from work today, and I spent it cooking meals for us (my husband and I), watching good movies together and some house cleaning. Right now I am here in front of my computer trying to put into words what I am feeling right now. I don't want to say that I will quit blogging because that is definitely not what I want to happen. Maybe lately I am just in a stage where I feel that the pressure in my job has putting too much weight on my brain that everytime I come home I just want to sit beside my husband and watch our favorite TV shows.
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My passion is in writing ever since I was younger. In fact, I feel better now that I have poured out what was on my mind. Maybe I will be writing more often from now... or maybe not. But one thing is sure, I will never quit blogging. I know, I live to tell God's "Amazing Grace". One proof, God's amazing grace is the reason why I still have my job besides the fact that they are not satisfied with my performance, but God knows that I always gave my best. Whatever will happen, the most important thing is that I can give glory to God's name.
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"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:4-7 NIV)