Light of Jesus

Blessed to share in Miraculous Medal Chapel. Thank you! Praise God! :)

Assigned Date: December 14, 2014

Assigned Verse: John 1:6-8,19-28

Reflection Story:

John was conceived in Elizabeth’s womb though barren at an old age. He was sent by God and to testify that with the Lord nothing is impossible. John the Baptist fulfilled his purpose on earth. He baptized people, spread the good news, prepared the way for Jesus and became a witness to the light. He humbly admitted that he is unworthy and he’s not the source of light which he referred to Jesus, the Messiah.

Let me share to you a story about the little candle’s discovery in knowing its purpose. Once there was a little candle placed in a room together with other candles. The little candle felt very tiny for it has seen several candles – plain, small, tall, glittery, scented, big, multi-colored, wonderfully shaped and expensive.

The sun went down and the room began to get dark. A man came to light the little candle then he started lighting each candle and the room was filled with light. The little candle realized that all the other candles gave out the same light regardless of what they are. Few hours later, the wax started to melt. It was then that the candle realized its purpose, “to give light until it dies”.

We are the different candles who are chosen by God, called to spread the word and be witnesses of Jesus. We were created on earth for a purpose and we should fulfill God’s will/plan in us. Jesus is the source of light. He first taught us to love. He gave his life for the salvation of our sins. He is the light that brought faith, hope, peace and love to all of us. He is the match/lighter that ignites the fire in our hearts. Apart from Him, we are lost, we are nothing and we are not capable. With Him, all things are made possible. Let’s continue to give and spread the light of Jesus.

11 days to go before Christmas! Am I excited? Is my heart ready to welcome Jesus and allow Him to light my path? Will I allow myself to be a witness to the light and live my life in accordance to God’s plan? Am I ready for the challenges that await me if I choose to follow Christ no matter how difficult it may seem? Am I ready to become an Alter Christus (alternate Christ) to my neighbors?

If the answer is Yes then be excited for the Savior is coming. Strengthen your faith, pray more and be ready since greater things are yet come. If the answer is No/Maybe then you still have time to prepare yourself for the birth of Jesus. Open your heart and allow the Spirit to teach, equip and lead you to the right path.

SOLI DEO GLORIA! :)

JAM-PACKED WEEKEND (FEB2012)

JAM-PACKED WEEKEND (FEB2012)

March 17, 2012 at 12:23pm

Upon arriving from work last Thursday I was approached to give a talk to YFCs the next day. At first I hesitated and then it made me think a bit. I was thinking that maybe he approached me because he didn't have any options rather I was the only option he had. It really made me think deeply. I was reflecting if I should accept it or not. Knowing the situation he was in and somehow I understand the struggles he was experiencing. With the fact that there's not enough time left to search for a speaker for tomorrow's activity I just said YES. I'm sure God wanted me to come back to him. I myself was struggling in secret especially with my relationship and prayer time. I was given the privilege to select the talk that fits me. It was about values per the seven IDs of being a YFC…

I came across the talk about the value of TRUST under the YFC ID of BEING A MISSIONARY…  Then something hit me. I realized the true essence of TRUST. I had experience trust issues with relationships and I really learned my lesson the very hard way.

The talk is about TRUSTING THE LORD WITHOUT DOUBT AND THE VALUE OF THE SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION…

TRUST is hard to obtain but easy to lose. It takes hours to days to weeks to months and even years to build and develop trust but it only takes seconds to minutes or perhaps hours to days to lose it. When trust is lost it's even harder to obtain back.

TRUST can be compared to a piece of paper. If you do something wrong, a part of it is being torn apart. If you did something greater than the first offense then the paper is slowly being crumpled… But if you did something worse than the first two mentioned then it's like being burned to ashes. Gone and you can never get it back like it was before. It will always leave a scar or a mark in that person's life. Time can heal. It will surely be a long process to have it back again but it will never be the same as before or it depends on the person or the situation. It's a case to case basis. It's how I see it as it is based from my experience.

YOU CAN ALWAYS TRUST THE ONE YOU LOVE BUT YOU CAN NEVER LOVE THE ONE YOU DON'T TRUST… Love and trust always go together.. All of us are given the privilege to trust and be trusted. How we take care of that trust depends on us. TRUST can be very fragile so we should be careful.

Humans as we are it is always difficult to trust others. It's even more difficult if you have experienced something in the past involving a loved one and you just got hurt so much that you closed yourself and learned to never trust others so easily. Our family and loved ones will surely fail us but GOD WILL NEVER FAIL US. God wants us to feel that we can trust Him. In His presence we are secured and confident that He'll never let us down. He even loves us more and will continue to bless us even if we're not that deserving. God wants us to learn to trust and lean on Him. He wants us to acknowledge His presence and even develop a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.. God assures us that trusting Him would be the best decision we can ever make that we will never regret.

Trust is developed during 0-1 year old. It starts when we were born and until we turn 1 year old. When we were babies we would cry a lot since we can't speak. We cry for them to feed us. We cry to have our nappy changed. We cry to be cuddled by them. We cry if we feel something wrong. During that time, we cry to meet our needs and wants. In that time the trust is developed if all needs are met but if it's fixated then the baby develops mistrust. Trust usually is learned and developed first when you were a baby then enhanced as you grow and interact with other people. It changes as time passes by and as you learn from your experiences.

TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND LEAN NOT IN YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AND HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT.  –PROVERBS 3:5-6

T- Total surrender to God's will
R- Rest in His embrace 
U- United in His Love
S- Silent in His Presence
T- Thankful and grateful in His faithfulness

REMEMBER….
Whatever is the state of your heart right now, TRUST in God’s promises.  Know that in loneliness, HE is our EMBRACE; in fear, HE is our COURAGE; in doubt HE is our confidence; in confusion, HE is our PEACE.

Singing the song HEART of WORSHIP.. (learning to play the guitar again)
Trust God and surely He will never fail you. PRAISE GOD FOR THAT.. 

During that day, I attended the CLP of CFC Singles for Christ and the talk was about Repentance and Faith (same like the topic I discussed)..we even sang the song HEART of WORSHIP.. Would you believe that? There are no accidents... :-)
FEB 17, 2012

Me and Kiko with the YFC Ras Al Khaimah

We just met and talked for a few hours and with God's grace became family.. YEAAAH! Thank you for making me feel the love and warmth of having a family here. I am sooo blessed and I can't contain it...

God bless and be blessed.. :-)

XXLOVEXX

SARAHKAILYN <3 c",)

God's gift: T-A-L-E-N-T-S

The Parable of the Talents:

Jesus told His disciples this parable, “It will be as when a man who was going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one — to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. … The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’… Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Matthew 25:14-30 -----------------------------------------------------------

Based from the parable, God has blessed us with so many different and unique talents. The talents are God's gift to us and using them for His glory is our gift to God. We may not be aware of it but definitely He never allows our pocket/hands to be empty. We just have to discover it for us to find out. If we don't put our talents to good use then God has the authority to take it away from us and give it to someone who wisely uses it for the greater good.

Talents can be in many forms - a hobby, a skill/ability, a gift worth sharing, a treasure, can be related to money/finances and having that talent means opportunity, growth, maturity, business, pressure, increasing responsibility and prone to challenges. Knowing how to use your talent is an A+ because you only give God more reasons to continue blessing you and in return you can bless others more with your blessings. And then, everybody will do it and the cycle goes on. Amazingly WOW! Isn't God so great? AMEN to that!

As privileged sons and daughters of God, He is teaching us the right way to use these talents. He gave meaning that represents our attitude as stewards of these T-A-L-E-N-T-S.

T - Thankful (the more we say thank you Lord, the more God will generously bless us with more)

A - Available / Appreciate (find time to share and appreciate the gift because it's the perfect gift to the giver of gifts)

L - Love (without love, it's not meaningful. Love should be our fuel to share the gifts we have to others.)

E - Encourage / Endure ( Continue to encourage others and give them a push when things get rough)

N - Never ending grace (the more we share, we more we are blessed beyond measure)

T - Time, talent & treasure (sharing yourself through 3Ts)

S - Service, sacrifice, surrender (offering yourself for the good of many, denying yourself of your needs, putting the interest of others above you and lifting it all to God when the burden is too much)

Your unique gifts and talents... 

Do you know them?

Are you using them?

Let's take time to ponder and realize that we are blessed beyond measure.

God bless you! Take care.

#DeoGloria #iamBBM #thankyouLORD

God saved my 2 left fingers!!!

Usually, we don't give importance to something unless it is lost or forgotten. I realized that I almost lost 2 fingers in my left hand. Thank God it did not happen and I was surprised and even nervous. It was not because of firecrackers or anything but it was almost hit by the door in our bus. When I got in (usually the last one) and after I seated then closed the sliding door, the rubber of the door slipped off and I tried fixing it. I lost my mind because I focused on the rubber falling off when I did close the door. I was at risk on amputating my own 2 fingers on my left hand. I laughed as I massaged my finger and I was a bit caught up during the incident.

I am a left hand user by the way and I can't imagine writing or doing something if it did happen. After that, I laughed as if it was nothing but deep inside I became anxious and thought of all the what ifs. What could have happen if God didn't save me from that? I guess I am just blessed and God has greater plans for me that is why He didn't allow it to happen.

I learned I have to be aware of my actions. I have to be aware of my own safety. I have to be aware of my health. I have to be aware of my attitude. I have a lot of things to be aware of and I praise and thank the Lord for giving me a wake up calling. May I always continue the mission that the Lord has started through me as I follow and take up the journey towards Christ. May God be praised! AMEN!

(January 8, 2013)

Movie: Miracle in Cell no. 7

4 weeks ago, I watched "Miracle in cell no. 7". It was a tear jerker movie that emphasizes on the love of a family, importance of relationships, doing good without expecting in return, obtaining justice that one deserves and seeing a dose of reality. What happened in the movie was evident in our society today. Many are wrongly accused of the crimes they did not commit. They don't get justice that they deserve, somehow they are force to pay the sentence that is placed on them and they are unable to defend themselves because they are poor.

In the movie, the father was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. He was mentally incapable and he had a daughter whom he loved so much. Despite his incapability, He managed to help other people who was in need even if it would cost him his life. He is kind hearted, loving and caring to the people surrounding him. He was beaten and hurt several times but He never showed anger towards them. His fatherly image showed how much he loved his Ye-sung despite his unjust circumstances.

He built friendship in cell no. 7 which was the most difficult cell in the prison. He saved his roommate (who was the "boss" in prison) from being stabbed on the side. In return for the bravery he was asked what he wanted, he immediately requested for his daughter. The daughter and father were very close with each other. The emotions from the child was very moving and somehow there's an ache in my heart when I see the unfortunate circumstances they were having. She stayed in their cell for 2 days but was caught by the chief. They were separated and her father was placed in the cell being tied by a rope. An inmate set the prison on fire and they had to evacuate. The father was untied but he saw that someone needed his help and he saved the warden/chief. The doctor told him that he was lucky to be alive and the father begged him to save the chief. I guess that melted the cold heart of the chief towards him.

Things started to change in the prison. The relationship grow deeper and somehow they have proved that the father was not guilty of the charge against him. They started helping him and Ye-sung had to be in the box to see her father. The chief took care of his daughter. Everything went well but he was sentenced to death since he was brainwashed to admit the crime for the safety of his daughter. Everybody wondered why and there was nothing they can do but to accept what was decided. It is unfair that an innocent man who's mentally impaired had to be put to death. I felt sorry especially to the scene when they celebrated the birthday then as they parted ways in tears and denial.

The daughter who's all grown up was proving to everybody in court that her father was not guilty. They re-investigated the case in which she won and obtained the justice that her father deserved. Everyone received the peace that they were looking for. Finally the daughter visited her father who was warden in prison and she left. It was snowing and as she walk outside, she reminisced the time when she was with her father in the hot air balloon. The father and the young daughter bid goodbye and she was teary eyed. The movie ended as justice was served just like how sailor moon would say it and the main characters were copying her.

DEFINITELY A MUST WATCH MOVIE! :) MOVED ME TO TEARS! :)

Lessons learned from Kish Island

I wrote this post before I left Iran (about 2 months ago) but because of the busy schedule I have and things have been doing, I wasn't able to post it. So here I am sharing to the whole world the amazing experience through the realizations I have staying there. Better late than never hihihi!

This is my 2nd time to visit Kish Island after 2 years since I got my first job in Dubai, UAE. I can't believe that time flies so fast and here I am again exiting for change of visa from cancelled to tourist. This happened last January 27 until February 1, 2014. I stayed for 5 days as I wait for the issuance of visa.

We were in an island wherein most of us have been there for quite a while and there was nothing for us to do. We decided to go to places together, talk about random things/situations, had an experience to attend a bible study and we usually ate our meals together. We had fun because we enjoyed our stay there.

I have learned 10 things during my 5 day stay there........

1. Build RELATIONSHIPS through FRIENDSHIP with other people because no man is an island..

2. Sharing your burdens with others. In return, listening to their stories and learning from their mistakes.

3. No worries, less stress. Enjoy life. Relax. Take it easy. God is in control.

4. Try to learn something new. 

5. Be open to various possibilities. Get ready for the (unexpected) surprises from God.

6. Enjoy and savor your simple joys.

7. Overcoming fears and surrendering to God.

8. Waiting takes time. Great things come through patience.

9. Being distant is hard and communication is important to maintain relationships. Trust is essential.

10. Letting go of bad experiences, unwanted feelings and burdens then allowing God's love 

and forgiveness to heal you and take over. (Letting go and letting God)

At some point we were lonely because we felt isolated from the world but it was a chance for us to reflect and realize the importance of time for others, the presence of our loved ones and our time for our own self. Busy as we are with the priorities we have, we usually fail to realize that we are blessed. Sometimes we take for granted the persons whom we loved and the time we spent with them is almost too little.

Going to Kish was like a retreat for me since I don't spend my time wisely because I'm too busy with some things. I am happy and proud because meeting people, listening to them and journeying with them there was a bonus. I had fun and I didn't regret going there. God taught me to build and strengthen relationships and that I will put in to practice with His grace in time.