Last night, I saw my high school teacher’s Facebook status that no amount of self-hypnosis can make her like Mondays. It got me thinking that I used to love Mondays (because of certain pastor’s day off), but lately, Mondays have gone back to its old ways and habits that make me dread them again.

This morning, I was determined to like this Monday. I have a shoot this afternoon, a free lunch with Food Magazine, and I have a staff meeting this morning, and a free evening later that could turn out to be anything. But the Monday seems to be as equally determined to fight my happy perkiness by having a brownout at 4am, thereby ruining my plans of writing my article before I get to work, the ridiculous traffic all the way to Quezon City (it took me 2 hours and a half!), and an overdue article looming over my head.

But you know what? I still woke up singing (in my head) even as I was sweating. My cat is still sleeping beside me on the bed despite the heat, and that’s always a good way to make me smile. And I am reminded this morning of God’s consolation that brings joy to my soul (Psalm 94:18-19).

I texted some of my friends about seizing this Monday with rejoicing, including my highschool teacher who hates Mondays. I told her I’m trying to rekindle my joy for each day, despite the overwhelming circumstances. And she replied, “When you do, teach me how.”

So i’ve made up a step by step program to liking Mondays. I’m just making it up as I go along, but at least I’m road testing them already. hahahaha!

Step 1: Wake up singing. While this doesn’t come naturally, maybe with practice?

Step 2: Start with a declaration of praise, read your Bible (I like starting with Psalms in the day)

Step 3: Take a shower and dress your best!

Step 4: have a good breakfast ala carte! (from my friend Liza)

Step 5: smile. smile. and keep on singing!

Step 6: Keep in touch with God the whole day

Step 7: Make the most of every opportunity to make this day better for other people

Step 8: Always find something to be grateful about

Ok…. that’s it so far. But try it! If you have anymore suggestions on how to turn a Monday to an awesome day, leave it on the comment box below.

I hope you guys have an awesome great Monday with our awesome great God. May you be overwhelmed by His grace and extravagant love!

by Jonathan Foreman and Tim Foreman (from Switchfoot’s, Hello Hurricane)

I’m on the run
I’m on the ropes this time
where is my song?
I’ve lost the song of my soul tonight

Sing it out
Sing it out loud
I can’t find the words to sing
You’d be my remedy
Sing it out
Sing it out
Take what is left of me
Make it a melody

My song
My song
I’ll sing with what’s left of me

Where is the sun
Feels like a ghost this time
Where have you gone
I need your breath in my lungs tonigh

Sing it out
Sing it out
I’m holding on
I’m holding on to you
My world is wrong
My world is a lie that’s come true
and I fall in love with the ones that run me through
When all along all I need is you

Sing it out

¹ Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.

² Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

¹² Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

¹⁷ May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

(Psalm 90: 1-2, 12, 17)

I’m skipping the backlogged days (I’ve written drafts of the posts, but I’ll p0st them later), I just want to start the day with this prayer, a reading from my devotions this morning.

You know how it is when God’s Word just hits the spot– like you’ve just bitten into a soft burger bun and on to the actual burger itself– crusty on the outside but oh-so juicy inside– and the flavors burst in your mouth like warm, spectacular, comforting fireworks. That’s what Moses’ psalm was to me this morning. Talk about breakfast of the champions!

No, I’m still not feeling a hundred percent yet. I’m going to start driving again, I have to even if I still feel a little shaky. I’m praying that the nerves will steady once I get on the groove. It’s a long day ahead, that’s why I’m so glad for my spiritual breakfast.

That song got it right: “Everyday with you, Lord, is sweeter than the day before.”

Godspeed everyone!

“When the earth goes topsy-turvy And nobody knows which end is up,
I nail it all down, I put everything in place again. .”
(Psalm 75:3, The Message)

I was dreaming that I wore a magical scarf that made everything be delayed for a couple of seconds after I’ve already done something– like whenever I would turn my head, it took my vision another second to be yanked into place. When I woke up and turned on my side, the feeling of having to yank the world along with me was still there. I sat up and the world started buckling under me and I recognized it– “uh, oh… I’m too young to get vertigo!”

It took me a while to stop yelling like I was in a roller coaster every time the world spins with every turn of my head. It must’ve been annoying to my sister who had to put up with me whoo-ing in her room while I held my hands over my eyes. My friend asked me if I think this has anything to do with the 60-60 experiment, and I said, why not? I don’t know what it’s all about yet, but God let it happen, so like in everything else, I’m going to trust Him with this.

I laughed when my Bible reading for that day took me to Psalm 75: 3: “When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.” And I laughed even more when I saw The Message version of the same verse. God, I love it when Your word is so spot on at the very moment I need it.

On a different note:

I got to clean out my closet and found out how much clothes I actually have! I have three big garbage bags full of stuff to donate to the SAM garage sale, and funny enough, I still don’t have enough organized space in my closet for the clothes left over.

I have way too many tank tops and exercise clothes– and how many times do I go to the gym in a week? I have so many dressy tops, but I’ve been wearing dresses lately. Most of my jeans don’t fit anymore (they’re too big on me. naks!). I still don’t have space for my shoes. I’m running out of hanging space for my dresses and jackets. I think I still need to let go of more things– and that goes for the other things in my life. I’ve always seen my room as a metaphor of my life. I guess that much hasn’t changed.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psalm73:26)

This day was hard, emotion-wise. Everything may have gone smoothly and on schedule, but my heart was stuck on the breakup once again. It felt fresh again, and for once, I was glad for the traffic jam that let me have a lot of time to cry and pour out my heart to God.

I complained and whined. I asked God why do I have to be the strong girl– a complaint that I’ve had most of my life. Why can’t I just be the regular girl who can cry and be weak and heartbroken? Then I was interrupted with the thought, “Who say’s you’re the one who’s strong anyway?” And who says I don’t cry and I’m not weak? Ok, so I may not be heartbroken, but why do I keep on acting like I am? And that shut me up for a beat. I stopped complaining for a while and took out my Bible (yes, the traffic jam was that bad). Turns out, Psalm 73:26 was part of my Bible reading that day. Touche, God. Well, of course I knew all along that it’s not really my strength, but God, I’m so tired.

I wonder if Moses ever thought of making his friends put his arms down because they were already asleep during the battle of Rephidim.

Thinking about it now, that day was a like a battle for me. And God sent unlikely (well, not really that unlikely) friends to hold me up. M, my unofficial cheerleader, just kept on assuring me that I was awesome– and if he weren’t gay, he would totally hit on me (haha!). And J, my chocolate bear– who knew what it’s like to feel one thing despite knowing what is right, and has lived with that struggle all his life with no end in sight– just kept on telling me to hang on and move forward in faith and hope. For what else can we do, when things are beyond our control?

At the end of the day, I found myself talking to another friend in her room while she struggled to hold herself together under the pressure of everything that she had to finish at work and at church. We shared our struggles and gave each other encouragement. And I prayed for her– something we both needed. She needed it because she was so stressed and lonely, and I needed to get out of my head and share the strength that I had been given to help out a sister.

Thank God for friends, Christian or not, God uses them just the same to comfort and to teach lessons that should have been learned several times before.

For some reason, I really thought that life would get easier during the 60-60 Experiment but then again, if my desire is to grow even closer to God and go farther with Him in our journey, that’s not exactly going to happen all the time, right? If I want to see His strength, He would have to expose my weaknesses. If I want to be healed, I have to show Him all my wounds. If I want to minister, I would do it with all transparency, because I’m a person saved and sustained by grace too. Kinda scary, right? But onward we go!

It all started with  a prayer on the way home yesterday. I was asking God to bless my plans for tomorrow (today) when I realized what I was doing and stopped. Then I just said, “What about I just go along with Your plans for tomorrow? What are your plans, Lord?”

Apparently, nothing like the plans I had in mind.

My plan was pretty simple and very official: leave the house at 9am, get to Alabang at around 9:40 to pick up garage sale donations from Alabang Hills, get on SLEX just in time for the colorcoding window (10am-3pm), pick up more garage sale donation from Rheea’s and then to the office for the meeting with the bosses at 2:30am. The 7pm, SAM team training at church. Turns out, God’s plans for me for Thursday didn’t include any of that.

This happened instead: Ninna took the car to Alabang for her very important appointment with a client, and I will just hitch to the MRT with mom and Sherie. I started feeling really sick. But I forced myself to get out of the house because I didn’t want to miss the meeting. If I was going to get sick, I reasoned, Friday would be the best day because all I had for that day was a seminar and a party I could afford to miss. On the way to the city, I was informed that they had moved the meeting to another day, so I didn’t have to go anymore. I ended up riding with my mom, sky and sherie to MOA and Manila, just finding a resting place where I could. I got back home at 5:30pm. Did some babysitting, and ended up (despite trying very hard to avoid it) sleeping at 11:30pm. I didn’t even get to write anything that day, except a few tweets and a facebook status update.

The thing about this day though was I got to spend time with my Mom, my sister and Sky. I also got to spend a lot of time getting used to my phone ringing every hour to remind me to get my bearings with God. Mom and I got to talk about her concerns in my growing involvement with my ex-boyfriend’s church, and I got to explain to her my reasons for staying. I also got to tell her about the 60-60 Experiment and encouraged her to do it; she got to tell me about my Dad’s concerns about money and retirement. I got to pray for my dad when my phone’s alarm sounded soon after that.

While I didn’t get the rest I was expecting, the day was a good break from my regular pursuits, and I got to spend a whole day with some of the most important people in my life. I haven’t been home most of the time for the past few weeks, and God gave me a whole day with just them and no work! And I suppose, in a little way, it gave my mom some assurance to see for herself that I’m doing more than just fine.

I know that God won’t necessarily give me a day off every time whenever I let Him take over, but Day 2 was a gift, I realize it now.

Soon and very soon
My King is coming
Robed in righteousness
And crowned with love
When I see Him, I
shall be made like Him
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon
I’ll be going
To the place He has prepared for me
There my sin erased
My shame forgotten
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see
There my soul will be satisfied
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon
See the procession
The angels and the elders
’round the throne
At His feet I’ll lay my crown, my worship
Soon and very soon

Though I have not seen Him
My heart knows Him well
Jesus Christ the Lamb
The Lord of Heaven

(Brooke Fraser)

The 60-60 Experiment is basically taking a minute out of every 60 for 60 days to stop and be conscious that God is with me right now. Thus, knowing that brings me to the next thought, which is, “What is His will for me at this moment?” The whole point is developing a habit of communing with God minute-by-minute.

This isn’t exactly new. I’ve actually been doing this already, but it’s not like I’m conscious of doing it continuously. I’m sure, hours have passed that I haven’t talked to God (mostly while I’m playing Plants vs. Zombies. heh). For the 60-60 Experiment, I followed the instructions and set my phone to ring every hour with a reminder “Re: 60-60″ every hour for the next 60 days… well, only from 6am to 11pm. I should be asleep in between those times. hehe

If you’re doing this with me, it would also be nice to encourage other people to join you. My friends from the Single Adults Ministry (SAM) from WINmakati have agreed to meet for lunch every Sunday after the service to discuss about our own 60-60 Experiment experiences. If you don’t have a group, do blog or post a comment here about your breakthroughs.

If you’re just starting, here’s the Truth Thursday prompt to get you started. for your minutes, you can meditate on the characteristics of God… so the prompt for today is:

GOD IS…

INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRUTH THURSDAY:

1. Every Thursday, i will post a question or a prompt on this blog and participants will write something that answers the question or was inspired by it. (or post pictures or artworks!)
2. Participants who wrote something for that Thursday must leave a link on the comment box of that day’s prompt to let people know that they have posted.
3. TRUTH THURSDAY must be on the Title of your entry, followed by the question (so people will know).
4. This does not have to be emo– although these things tend to be a bit on the emo side, but TRUTH THURSDAYS are meant to be a fun way to bond through blog, and to get people writing and posting something meaningful and real. (disclaimer: this isn’t to say that you’re not doing so already!)
5. No pressure. Just be inspired and post something!
6. Be TRUTHFUL!

++++

So, about Day 1… it’s normal, except that my phone buzzes every hour to remind me. Since this has already been a habit anyway, it didn’t really break my stride. But I love it every time my phone rings with the reminder.

I attended the midweek service at WinMakati as usual. And I take the time to sit in my car for a few deep breaths and a prayer. This is supposed to be a secret, but since it’s part of the experiment now, I might as well share it… I’m always anxious and nervous whenever I go to church. Not because I’m not sure if I should stay, but it’s just part of the post-break up process, I guess… the dread. hahaha! But as soon as I’m inside and just hanging out, the nervousness go away and everything is all right in the world again.

Consciously praying more now also helps me see the need and be more sensitive to the need around me. Which is cool.

Ok, I’m sleepy and tired now, but I can’t wait for tomorrow. It has no mistakes in it yet.

i was a zombie at work yesterday (kahiya), still recovering from last week. I’ll blog about my marvelous week soon.

For the meantime, I want to tell you guys that I’m going on the 60-60 Experiment. I stumbled upon a book called Soul Revolution last week in OMF and browsed through it, getting that feeling that I usually do when I know I should get the book. Anyway, I bought it last night and just started on it before stopping to send you an invite to join me.

See, I’ve been a Christian all my life (and became a Christ-follower as well when I was eight years old) and every day since then has been a great and awesome journey. Well, I’m nearly thirty now (grabe no?) and I’ve seen God do wonders in my life and in other people’s lives as well. Every day, God’s been showing me just how much bigger He is compared to my concept of BIG (and I thought I already thought He’s BIG). Well, I want to see how much BIGGER He could get  but stepping it up with my faith even a bit more.

Anyway, I’m inviting you guys to do it with me. Can’t go on an awesome journey by myself right? Check out the website for more information on the 60-60 Experiment and let me know. I’ll be updating my blog as I go along, but it would be great to have some people with me so we can swap stories. Leave a comment and a link to your blog if you have decided to commit to this.

For the people who miss Truth Thursdays, I’ll be posting the questions and insights on Thursdays in lieu of our tradition so you can hop in.

Ready?