“how are you feeling now?” my friend asked me online just a few minutes ago. I guess she was referring to my day yesterday wherein I wasn’t really feeling all that great, and after a couple of years of not having depression, it was strange seeing it rearing its sad face peeking through my metaphorical window, asking if it’s ok to come in. No, it wasn’t ok to come in, and the whole day was like a roller coaster wrestling match (sorry for mixing my metaphors) with self-pity as I just kept on praying and pleading for more of the grace that I already know was enough and that was already given to me.

“My grace is enough,” He assures me time and time again. Even if I didn’t open my Bible, I know where it is, where to find it. I always went back to it. And throughout the day the grace that is always enough covered my big and small mistakes, carried my unwilling ass from one task to another. Raised my spirits when I just couldn’t even lift the corners of my mouth for a smile.

Things are changing again. And while I used to boast that I thrive on change, the in-between time is sometimes so uncomfortable.

I’m at a crossroads again. Weird, wasn’t I just here a few months ago? Did I miss a turn somewhere? But lead on Lord.

Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

(Monday’s Child, traditional)

What if

we sleep early and wake up early? Like 9 or 10 pm early and 4 or 5 am early?

What if

we meet up for breakfast and coffee (well, you guys can have coffee) somewhere in one of those 24 hour places in the Makati CBD area while the rest of the world is asleep and start our day with good company, intelligent conversation, and maybe even prayer to start the day?

What if

we do this once a week?

Wouldn’t that be cool

to get at least one gimmick in with friends once a week and get a good night’s rest too? According to studies, sleep before midnight is twice the quality of sleep we get after midnight that’s why even when we wake up extra early the next morning, we don’t feel groggy or tired.

and wouldn’t that be cool

to walk around Makati before it goes into its rush hour mode? the air is still chilly, and quiet. hardly any cars on the street (which reminds me, I should bring my longboard to the apartment already.).

It’s really a great way to start a day.

What do you say?

(Yes, I am aware of the irony of this post because I know I have a reputation as the girl who never sleeps. But I’m changing my sleeping patterns slowly but surely– except when there are deadlines, like right now. But, anyway… it seems like a good idea while I was walking down my street coming from breakfast this morning at 5:40am.)

Children of the 80s, remember that Mighty Kid Christmas commercial where the kid in the car gave his shoes to the street kid? The memory still makes me teary-eyed because it was a rather selfless act in a holiday where sometimes it’s about receiving presents. And he was a really cute chubby kid so happy with his shoes until he saw someone who needed them more.

Anyway, my friend is organizing a gift campaign to give shoes to the children in poor communities. all you have to do is pick a kid (or more) by tagging or leaving a comment under his/her pictures. and you can receive his/her shoe outline via email. buy her/him a pair of shoes. I can organize a one-time drop-off at my friend’s if ever you guys want to join. I participated last year and it was nice to go shoe shopping for children who I know don’t get new shoes all that often.

so, game? It’ll certainly make their Christmas.

To see the Facebook album click here.

I wish for more quiet times with You, but then again. Maybe that’s what all these crazy traffic jams on EDSA are for.

p.s. I love You. My heart beats for You.

With a bunch of people I’ve never been to the beach (and most of them I haven’t met) before.

And I got to watch a sunset over a beach (and province) I’ve never been to before.

It’s the last month of my 20s and I’m so grateful that I can still look forward to more first-time weekends like this one.

God’s too good to me.

(How He loves us so.)

“Not all powers are spectacular. Sometimes the hardest power to master is the power of yielding.”
(Hestia, The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan)

Control. Over emotions, circumstances, crises, people– most of us have this automatic response to try to be on top of them. I know I do. But we can’t always be in control of everything.

Duh. Of course you know that already. I know that too. Every time I mess up or witness something or someone fall apart within an arm’s reach, but unable to do anything about it, I am reminded keenly that there are just too many things that are beyond my help or control. But, oh, God help me, I still try. I fight until I get to the end of my strength and even my sanity. Yielding is the final option, but I hardly even think that far.

Which brings me to Elvie. People  who follow my facebook and twitter statuses would probably have heard about her because I got to donate blood to her recently and have been looking for more donors. I met her in 2008, but I got to know her better just this year, when I got to work with her in the Single Adults Ministry (SAM) at church, and recently, when we started a Bible Study at her house.

Elvie is dying of cancer. Invasive ductal carcinoma, histologic grade 3.  She’s at stage 4 already and the cancer has spread to the spine, bone marrow and liver since it was detected in 2005.In the past few weeks, she’s been in and out of the hospital. She stopped her chemo routine because it wasn’t working anymore, and now she’s trying a new one.  There is a tube plugged through her stomach to drain it of fluids regularly. She has lost all her hair. She is so thin now that I’m scared I might break her whenever I give her a hug.

She is only in her 40s, still too young to die. Sometimes, I don’t even want to acknowledge it because, really, what can you say? Last Friday, she texted me, telling the facts of her situation flat out– “Alam mo, sis, pwedeng matigok ako anytime…” Her hemoglobin and platelet count is dangerously low that if it gets even a little lower, she could die if she doesn’t make it to the hospital in time and immediately get and injection and a blood transfusion of blood type A+.

But you know, she’s one of the most optimistic, joyful and positive people I hang out with right now. She still shows up at church and the SAM activities when she can. She still goes to the office! She even told me that, even as she is scared of the pain, she’s grateful for her cancer, because if she hadn’t gotten sick, she wouldn’t have experienced this full-on dependence in God, and seen just how much He could take care of her. It may sound cliche and trite, or even crazy, but coming from her, her gratitude is so real that it’s sometimes baffling.

That’s Godspotting for you.

By yielding to the fact that she could succumb to her sickness at any time, Elvie has her priorities straight. Each day counts. She keeps on going so that God’s power and glory can all the more be shown in what’s left of her days, and to see the people she has shared the Gospel to grow closer to our Savior. But she has surrendered her sickness to God. She is ready to go whenever God calls her home. Her only prayer is to be able to keep on serving until the end. She is no longer afraid of death because it is already welcome any time.  She is free.

See her victory?

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
(Exodus 14:14)

The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Physical Touch
with a secondary love language being
Words of Affirmation.

Complete set of results

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don’t understand our partner’s requirements, or even our own. We all have a “love tank” that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

God’s been filling up my days like it’s nobody’s business. Sometimes I still remember to stick to the 60-60 program, sometimes. It’s just that I’ve been moving almost non-stop, moving from one task to another with such urgency that I’ve never felt before. Like I just have to keep on going and going and going.

But there’s no panic, just this energy that I couldn’t explain. My recklessness is back ten-fold, but this time it doesn’t feel like I’m just free falling and bracing myself to hit the ground.

Quite the opposite, really.

One day I just stopped and saw what’s happening to me these past weeks into the 60-60 experiment. I’ve been learning a lot about God’s love– for me, for everyone in this world. And while I have been drilled with all the Bible stories and verses about God’s love, this time, it’s like I’m being shown a new dimension of it. I’m experiencing it in a way that it gives me a greater sense of security in my position as His daughter. For someone who’s been a Christian all her life, this isn’t supposed to be something new, right? But it feels so new, and exciting! And it’s not the security that gives me permission to be complacent, but it all the more gives me reason to keep on moving, keep on exploring, finding new adventures in this life. It’s the love that gives me the courage to jump, knowing that even if I fall, I can get back up.

It’s all so awesome!

Unfortunately, I have to go now. It’s nearly 2am and I have to get up at 4am for a team building thing later. Today was a full day too… I hope I get to blog about it. I took notes. haha! anyway. gotta go. I’ll leave you with some pictures from my last few weeks just to show how it’s been really crazyfuninteresting over this side of the world.

The gate is wide
The road is paved to moderation
The crowd is kind and quick to pull you in
Welcome to the middle ground
It’s safe and sound and
Until now it’s where I’ve been

The future’s wide open these days. A new President (even if I didn’t vote for him), new horizons, new opportunities, possibilities and responsibilities. I’m in a season where I’m in a place I know to be safe and secure, a perfect place to be when I’m recuperating from the last adventure and planning on jumping off to another one in the great wide somewhere. While it’s nice to be in the middle ground while I’m healing, I don’t want to waste my time playing it safe anymore.

Cause it’s been fear
That ties me down to everything
But it’s been love, Your love
That cuts the strings

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,” God’s Word declares. Oh to soar in the wind not be afraid to fall! It’s funny how I still get that slightly worried feeling whenever I do jump out in faith, even if I do know that God’s never let me down ever. I guess it’s only because I can never predict what He’ll do next. But whatever He does always turns out to be awesome. Anyway, where’s the courage in complete certainty? All I have to know is the one who loves me.

So long, status quo
I think I’ve just let go
You make me wanna be brave
The way it always was
It’s no longer good enough
You make me wanna be brave
Brave, brave

I want to be brave. I want to keep on moving forward, living in today, today, today, and leaving tomorrow in the hands of the One who knows what’s in store. All I need is the courage to make the next step after the last one. I can’t be happy with status quo when I know that the world and the universe and the One who made them is much bigger than I can ever comprehend. I want every minute to count knowing my God and everything and everyone through Him.

I am small
And I speak when I’m spoken to
But I am willing to risk it all
To say Your name
Just Your name, and I’m ready to go
Even ready to fall

I will move forward in Your name, Your name alone. I know that not everything will be easy, and yes, I will fall. But with You, every fall is in forward-motion, and You are my healer. So I am willing to risk it all.

Why did I
Take this foul compromise
Why did I
Try to keep it all inside

I don’t know why I’m still afraid or nervous even after everything. I guess I’m just too aware of my own weaknesses and failures in the past to be completely confident. But God help me to move forward and be brave despite them.

I’ve never known a fire that didn’t begin with a flame
And every storm will start with just a drop of rain
But if You believe in me
That changes everything

It all starts with one spark, one drop… being the first to step out can be lonely. When I look at just myself, I don’t believe that I can get anywhere (at least, not without blood. haha!), and I don’t see why I always find myself in situations where I’m in way over my head. It always takes a second for me to realize that the one who made and designed me knows what I am capable of, and believes that I would choose to swim even when it gets too deep and I can’t see the shore anymore.

I look back and see that in most cases, it’s because God has placed me in situations beyond what I know I could handle I find out what I am capable of– because He’s with me.

It’s amazing to realize that the God of the universe believes in you more than you believe in yourself.

Now what to do with that realization?

Be brave.

(Brave, Nichole Nordeman)

(Stef)

I have to confess, with all the work and traveling and gimmicks this weekend, I had a hard time sticking to the 60-60 experiment, but God did give me something to reflect on yesterday as I was wrestling with procrastination (internet is a black hole!!!) and it’s:

I’M THE ONE YOU ARE LIVING FOR.

Yes, that was my facebook status yesterday too. And it hit me hard. I’m living for God, right? So what am I doing procrastinating? If i was living for Him, shouldn’t I be striving for excellence in everything I do? My work is part of my witness to this world– just as my church and ministry are. Work is part of my worship and by coddling with procrastination, I’m just treating it as something unimportant and can be put off at the last minute and submit something half-baked as a result.

What does my work say about my God?

Anyway, something that I thought we should think about. It is my prayer that we do everything excellently because WE ARE LIVING FOR GOD and He deserves nothing less than the best. It doesn’t sound easy in theory, and it’s a lot harder living it out. Because I fail so much more than I succeed. Praise God that He has grace enough to forgive and to strengthen us beyond our limits.

So anyway… with my backlog done. I’m going to do my best not to procrastinate anymore. God’s been bugging me with it all this time, as if to tell me– how can I expect Him to do wonders in my life if I keep on letting myself be distracted by trivial things?! So yeah… more stuff to give up, more stuff to handle. But it’s all for Him.

Live today for God’s glory!