ok, so where am i coming from here? yesterday, Pastor D spoke on perseverance... on how trials come to toughen you up. today, i was able to apply his preaching. funny how yesterday, as i sat there, i laughed at his illustration on how one should continue on praising God in the midst of trials, only to find myself faced with a trial this morning. so i struggled with it, and remembered his words (or the Bible's, rather): "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you experience troubles of many kinds..."
when i entered the conference room for my meeting, i told A about what Pastor D preached on yesterday and how i am applying it to my situation. PRAISE GOD for trials, because they toughen you up.
if there is one thing i have learned in the past two tumultuous years, it is how i should depend solely on God and not on men. of course there are people sent by God to help you out of your situation, but God wants us DESPERATELY dependent on Him. who is the first person you run to for help in times of trouble? why not call on God first thing as He is MORE THAN ABLE?
TO BE JOYFUL in spite of hard times is a test of faith. but wouldn't you consider it PURE JOY that it is God who can lift you out of your depths of despair? who but Him is your BEST HELPER? A, J, K and i laughed our heads off this morning as i mumbled "Thank you, Lord, for giving me a husband like R!" but when i look back, i smile because can you just imagine the wonderful ways God can remedy my situation? it will be more than i have ever imagined!
i see my problems from a DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE. i've said it before but i'll say it again: God is finishing His work in me. He is honing my testimony. i don't even see R the same way i used to see him in the past. i don't even see my situation as miserable (would you believe?). i am THANKFUL for my situation. it has made me closer to God. it has taught me a lesson on unconditional love. God is PERFECTING MY FAITH.
so why do i hope when all seems bleak? when my situation seems helpless? I HOPE IN HOPE. i hope in Him who says "...ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE FOR THE ONE WHO BELIEVES."
not to say that i do not cry. not to say that i do not get hurt. i have probably had more than my fair share of pain. hence, i am blessed, to say the least. but i am not giving up. my eyes are set on the goal. and I WILL FINISH MY RACE.
one day, when my kids look back at the life i've led, i wish for them to learn one thing: that i lived my life for God, not knowing what's on the next bend, but expecting God to meet me at the end of my journey with open arms. GOD IS MY REFUGE AND STRENGTH.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Closer Than You Think
Today's Scripture
"Do not cast away your confidence, for it carries a great reward" (Hebrews 10:35).
Today's Word from Joel and Victoria
Have you been praying and believing for something that seems like it's taking a lot longer than you thought? Many times, people can miss God's best simply because they give up before they see their "due season" come. Don't let that be you! Be encouraged today, your answer is closer than you think. If it seem like things are getting more difficult, remember, when the intensity heats up, that means you are closer to your victory. It always seems darkest just before the dawn arrives. You serve a faithful God, and He's working behind the scenes on your behalf. Don't cast away your confidence today because your reward is coming. And just like a new mother forgets about her labor pain when she is finally holding her newborn, you'll forget about your struggle when you are holding on to your promise. While you are waiting, keep an attitude of faith and expectancy. Wake up every morning and say out loud, "I've come too far to give up now. My due season is coming. I will reap my harvest." Stay in faith and look for His hand of blessing because He has promised you victory and it's closer than you think!
A Prayer for Today
Father in Heaven, today I stand believing that You are working behind the scenes on my behalf. Give me Your strength to continue believing until I see Your promises fulfilled in my life. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Prep School Life, Oh Her Prep School Life!
our daughter is now in Prep. her work load is overwhelming, to say the least. every day, she comes home with a bag full of homework and activities. quizzes are scheduled every week (sometimes 3-4 in a given week). nyar.
not that i want to complain. she breezes over all her English subjects (math, reading, language, science, etc). thanks to her constant addiction to workbooks (we buy her about 3-5 new ones each month). but with Filipino, it's a whole different ball game.
actually, we never really thought about talking to A in tagalog when she was younger. even her nanny was tasked to talk to her in English (yea, yea, K's pet peeve, hey, we're talking about the freshie who aced the grammar competency test in Ateneo! *cough* hehe, don't ask me where it all went, ask my husband, hehe). one incident however changed all that and had us determined to teach her to speak in the native tongue. see, back when i was still chummy-chum-chum with one of the ex-PBB... uh... housemates (hmm, i wonder where she is nowadays? last time i saw her was on my hubby's digicam. apparently, they're now friends, and have the same embassy-ascend-alchemy-jaipur-what-have-you clique), she took A inside the PBB house, where A met one of the directors and the other peeps behind PBB. and this conversation ensued:
Director: Hi! Anong name mo?
Ex-PBB Housemate: What's your name daw?
A: A!
Director: Hi, A! Ang pretty mo naman. Gusto mo bang mag-artista?
A: Oo...
Director: Para pareho kay ni Ate (names Ex-PBB HM)...?
A: Oo...
Director: Sinong mas maganda sa inyo ni Ate (names Ex-PBB HM)?
A: Oo...
when our nanny realized that her ward can't become a celebrity because she couldn't speak Tagalog, she started teaching A simple words. today, A speaks in broken tagalog. "Gulat ako" "Ano pakain mo for A?" and all those funny broken tagalog phrases, which hey, i attempt to correct, but to no avail.
so anyway, because i've been spending more time teaching A (we didn't need to teach her a thing last year, since everything was easy as pie for her, what with her workbooks at 1st and 2nd grade levels already), i have been struggling with teaching her Filipino. last week, she had a "quiz" on Alpabetong Filipino, where she had to memorize all letters that are Patinig, Katinig and those Hiram na Titik (kayo, alam nyo yun?). The quiz was announced the day before. and because it was the first time for us to see her Filipino notebook that day the quiz was announced, i couldn't help but despair on how to explain to A what those letters are. i explained it in English, and she got it naman after a few tries (yea, we got through studying at 1130pm, and by then, she was already running a fever). she aced the test though with a perfect 40/40 and a big "O" for "Outstanding", so yey!
because of that test, i figured i should make note of every single lesson she brings home each day just so i can review it with her, in case her Filipino teacher springs another surprise. we started with words that begin with or contain the Patinigs A through U (i got it from her Binhi book, which she brought home for homework). see, i have to work with A in such a way that simple words such as aso, araw, apoy, etc. are translated into English. as a result, we already have a mini English-Filipino dictionary of some sort. there were about 8 words per vowel, so i figured it'd be pretty easy as long as we prepare for any upcoming quiz. true enough, a quiz was announced Wednesday. the quiz was to be on Friday (today). and i was glad that her teacher announced the quiz two days early so at least we'd have enough time to go through what A had already started to learn. but then when i read the notice in her homework notebook, it said "pag-aralan ang mga salita sa BINHI at WIKA"! that's two books! and when i got all the words for all the Patinigs from both books, it summed up to about 20-25 words per vowel! how'd you expect a 6-year-old to learn more than a hundred new Filipino words in two days?!
funny how you have to be very graphic when teaching A. it works well for spelling so i figured i should do the same for Filipino. i go through each word, and what i cannot explain in drawing or English, i draw plus demonstrate. example: ARARO which is PLOW in English. since she doesn't know what a plow is, i drew it for her (with matching carabao and farmer plus field) and demonstrated how a farmer plows his field by walking around the room with an invisible plow. :P last night, at about 1115, we were going through the U words, i was trying to make her remember the Filipino word for HUT, which is KUBO (since she kept getting the same mistake). so aside from showing her a picture, i told her "diba, you know the song Bahay Kubo?" to which she replied with a "nooooo..." but then a few seconds later, her face lit up and she gleefully said, "yes! yes! i know Bahay Kubo!" then she stood up, placed her right hand across her chest and sang... "Bahay Kubo, Perlas ng Silanganan..." ayayay! :P
we worked through Wednesday and Thursday ('til late at night) and in the car each morning, with A "testing" her dad since it makes it easier for her to remember the right answers when R purposely makes a mistake. and today, she came home telling me that the test was a little hard but she prayed before the test and got only 3 mistakes (haay, salamat! i thought she was coming home with a red mark!). i checked her results page and true enough, she got a 38/41, an "HS" for Highly Satisfactory or i dunno... "High Score"? R is relieved. nakakaawa na daw kasi yung bata, ang dami sobra ng inaaral, akala mo college. and being the loving dad that he is, he told me we should get A something to reward her for her hard work. :)
this is just Prep. what do kids do in grade school nowadays?!
not that i want to complain. she breezes over all her English subjects (math, reading, language, science, etc). thanks to her constant addiction to workbooks (we buy her about 3-5 new ones each month). but with Filipino, it's a whole different ball game.
actually, we never really thought about talking to A in tagalog when she was younger. even her nanny was tasked to talk to her in English (yea, yea, K's pet peeve, hey, we're talking about the freshie who aced the grammar competency test in Ateneo! *cough* hehe, don't ask me where it all went, ask my husband, hehe). one incident however changed all that and had us determined to teach her to speak in the native tongue. see, back when i was still chummy-chum-chum with one of the ex-PBB... uh... housemates (hmm, i wonder where she is nowadays? last time i saw her was on my hubby's digicam. apparently, they're now friends, and have the same embassy-ascend-alchemy-jaipur-what-have-you clique), she took A inside the PBB house, where A met one of the directors and the other peeps behind PBB. and this conversation ensued:
Director: Hi! Anong name mo?
Ex-PBB Housemate: What's your name daw?
A: A!
Director: Hi, A! Ang pretty mo naman. Gusto mo bang mag-artista?
A: Oo...
Director: Para pareho kay ni Ate (names Ex-PBB HM)...?
A: Oo...
Director: Sinong mas maganda sa inyo ni Ate (names Ex-PBB HM)?
A: Oo...
when our nanny realized that her ward can't become a celebrity because she couldn't speak Tagalog, she started teaching A simple words. today, A speaks in broken tagalog. "Gulat ako" "Ano pakain mo for A?" and all those funny broken tagalog phrases, which hey, i attempt to correct, but to no avail.
so anyway, because i've been spending more time teaching A (we didn't need to teach her a thing last year, since everything was easy as pie for her, what with her workbooks at 1st and 2nd grade levels already), i have been struggling with teaching her Filipino. last week, she had a "quiz" on Alpabetong Filipino, where she had to memorize all letters that are Patinig, Katinig and those Hiram na Titik (kayo, alam nyo yun?). The quiz was announced the day before. and because it was the first time for us to see her Filipino notebook that day the quiz was announced, i couldn't help but despair on how to explain to A what those letters are. i explained it in English, and she got it naman after a few tries (yea, we got through studying at 1130pm, and by then, she was already running a fever). she aced the test though with a perfect 40/40 and a big "O" for "Outstanding", so yey!
because of that test, i figured i should make note of every single lesson she brings home each day just so i can review it with her, in case her Filipino teacher springs another surprise. we started with words that begin with or contain the Patinigs A through U (i got it from her Binhi book, which she brought home for homework). see, i have to work with A in such a way that simple words such as aso, araw, apoy, etc. are translated into English. as a result, we already have a mini English-Filipino dictionary of some sort. there were about 8 words per vowel, so i figured it'd be pretty easy as long as we prepare for any upcoming quiz. true enough, a quiz was announced Wednesday. the quiz was to be on Friday (today). and i was glad that her teacher announced the quiz two days early so at least we'd have enough time to go through what A had already started to learn. but then when i read the notice in her homework notebook, it said "pag-aralan ang mga salita sa BINHI at WIKA"! that's two books! and when i got all the words for all the Patinigs from both books, it summed up to about 20-25 words per vowel! how'd you expect a 6-year-old to learn more than a hundred new Filipino words in two days?!
funny how you have to be very graphic when teaching A. it works well for spelling so i figured i should do the same for Filipino. i go through each word, and what i cannot explain in drawing or English, i draw plus demonstrate. example: ARARO which is PLOW in English. since she doesn't know what a plow is, i drew it for her (with matching carabao and farmer plus field) and demonstrated how a farmer plows his field by walking around the room with an invisible plow. :P last night, at about 1115, we were going through the U words, i was trying to make her remember the Filipino word for HUT, which is KUBO (since she kept getting the same mistake). so aside from showing her a picture, i told her "diba, you know the song Bahay Kubo?" to which she replied with a "nooooo..." but then a few seconds later, her face lit up and she gleefully said, "yes! yes! i know Bahay Kubo!" then she stood up, placed her right hand across her chest and sang... "Bahay Kubo, Perlas ng Silanganan..." ayayay! :P
we worked through Wednesday and Thursday ('til late at night) and in the car each morning, with A "testing" her dad since it makes it easier for her to remember the right answers when R purposely makes a mistake. and today, she came home telling me that the test was a little hard but she prayed before the test and got only 3 mistakes (haay, salamat! i thought she was coming home with a red mark!). i checked her results page and true enough, she got a 38/41, an "HS" for Highly Satisfactory or i dunno... "High Score"? R is relieved. nakakaawa na daw kasi yung bata, ang dami sobra ng inaaral, akala mo college. and being the loving dad that he is, he told me we should get A something to reward her for her hard work. :)
this is just Prep. what do kids do in grade school nowadays?!
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Voice of Truth
we were supposed to catch Casting Crowns last Saturday, but tickets were all sold out. people were literally standing in front of the Sommet Center hawking for extra tickets, some even holding up signs that said "i want YOUR tickets, sell me some". so we skipped that. it would have been fun to watch Casting Crowns live. they are my favorite group right now.
i was able to catch Chris Tomlin though and a talk featruing Louie Giglio over at the Renaissance, but yea, missing Casting Crowns was like missing the next big thing. see, unlike the other groups, Casting Crowns holds dear to my heart, with most, if not all, of their songs, having real meaning and great impact in my life. i especially love THE VOICE OF TRUTH as it speaks about the giants one faces in life and how those giants tell you that you will fail. and you rise up against all your giants because you choose to listen to the voice of truth.
i was able to catch Chris Tomlin though and a talk featruing Louie Giglio over at the Renaissance, but yea, missing Casting Crowns was like missing the next big thing. see, unlike the other groups, Casting Crowns holds dear to my heart, with most, if not all, of their songs, having real meaning and great impact in my life. i especially love THE VOICE OF TRUTH as it speaks about the giants one faces in life and how those giants tell you that you will fail. and you rise up against all your giants because you choose to listen to the voice of truth.
Oh,what I would do to have
the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And he's holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name
and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win,
you'll never win."
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
Oh, what I would do
to have the kind of strength it takes
To stand before a giant
with just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound
of a thousand warriors
shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
But the giant's calling out
my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
time and time again
"Boy you'll never win,
you'll never win."
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
But the stone was just the right size
to put the giant on the ground
and the waves they don't seem so high
from on top of them looking down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
when I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
singing over me
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
The Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of truth says "this is for my glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me (calling out to me)
I will choose to listen and believe (I will choose to listen and believe)
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
I will listen and believe
I will listen and believe the Voice of truth
I will listen and believe
'Cause Jesus you are the Voice of truth
And I will listen to you.. oh you are the Voice of truth
the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And he's holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name
and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win,
you'll never win."
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
Oh, what I would do
to have the kind of strength it takes
To stand before a giant
with just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound
of a thousand warriors
shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
But the giant's calling out
my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
time and time again
"Boy you'll never win,
you'll never win."
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
But the stone was just the right size
to put the giant on the ground
and the waves they don't seem so high
from on top of them looking down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
when I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
singing over me
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
The Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of truth says "this is for my glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me (calling out to me)
I will choose to listen and believe (I will choose to listen and believe)
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
I will listen and believe
I will listen and believe the Voice of truth
I will listen and believe
'Cause Jesus you are the Voice of truth
And I will listen to you.. oh you are the Voice of truth
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