What a blessed Sunday!

I am inspired to create this blog because of the wonderful experience I had on February 7, 2010 Sunday. And would like to share it to you guyz…

I woke up early in the morning to go to my usual Sunday fellowship. I was late then but it did not stop me from worshipping God and be with them. The message was also so inspiring and I would love to share the message: Joy in Trails based on the text from James 1:2-12

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
9The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

How will you guys face the trials in your life? Would you accept with great joy or turn back from it and ask for a happy and peaceful life instead? In the verses above, God wants us to face the trials because it will help to mold us into a better person, and accept it with joy because it is a blessing that God entrusted us this kind of challenge for He knows we can do it. And through this, we will remain victorious in life. There are three essentials for victory in trials.

A JOYFUL ATTITUDE (James 1:2)
God wants us to face the trials of many kinds with joy because our outlook in these trails will determine the outcome of this. Our values will also determine our evaluations and our attitude towards trials will determine our actions to take. If you face trials with joy, you surely will overcome it with lessons and a stronger outlook in life. It also makes you a better person than before. And if you see trials as a pain, then you will not win from the challenge it gives.

AN UNDERSTANDING MIND (James 1:3)
Our faith to God is always tested. And this testing is done to work for us, not against us. These trials are rightly used to help us mature.

A SURRENDERED WILL (James 1:4, 9-12)
God cannot build our character without our cooperation. We must submit ourselves to Him so that He can shower us His blessings and the promises He has made for us. God’s goal for our lives is maturity.

Are you treating trials and the challenges in life as pain or as a joy?

Lord, please help me see that the trials, all the problems, the stress, lack of money and other challenges You have given to me is Your way of building me to better person fitted for You and Your kingdom, Amen.



After the fellowship, I was invited by my fellow Christian and a friend of mine Ate Sol to their place and eat lunch with them. Wow, that’s another blessing, a FREE LUNCH. Hehehe…

It was set in a meeting last week that there will be having a bonding time or small gathering for the youths in the church. And I was chosen to take charge for the group’s snacks. The given budget was only (drum roll) 280.00 for 14 person. Yeah, 280 PESOS FOR 14 PERSON?!? Ok, thanks God I am with Ate Sol in this assignment. So, how are we going to fit the budget 280 pesos for 14 person? Is it enough? I doubt so. But Ate Sol was so confident that this budget is enough for our group’s snacks. Remember the time when Jesus fed the big crowd with only 2 fishes and single bread available? Now, in this assignment will going to see His power. So we started budgeting as follows:
Egg Sandwich (good for 14 pax)
Eggs 6.00 x 4 = 24.00
Cellophane 7.00 x 1 = 7.00
Sliced bread 28.00 x 2 = 56.00
There is already mayonnaise and milk in the refrigerator but it was Ate Terry’s. She allowed us to use some of it and pay for the part that we had used afterwards.
Mayo and milk used about ¼ part
from each item 50.00
SUBTOTAL: 137.00
Chichirya
Richee(small) 4.75 x 2 = 9.50
Moby(small) 4.72 x 2 = 9.50
Rinbee(small) 4.72 x 2 = 9.50
Clover chips(big) 16.75 x 2 = 33.50
SUBTOTAL: 62.00

Softdrinks 1.5 ml
Coke 35.00 x 1 = 35.00
Sprite 35.00 x 1 = 35.00
SUBTOTAL: 70.00

CASH-ON-HAND: 280.00
TOTAL: 269.00
CHANGE: 11.00

Based on the computation above, can you see how great and powerful God is? My doubt was totally gone. How amazing!!! And there’s more! When we are buying those items at E-mall, we are lucky to join a promo from Nestle. All we did was just answer some questions they provided in a questionnaire and if we got it right, we have prize. The questions are about the contents from the label of Nestle product, thus promoting the habit of checking the product’s label. Surprisingly, we have a perfect score and won a prize. Ate Sol got a facial towel while I got a small notebook.

Now we are about to head to IT Park, the group’s agreed place. Upon going to the mall’s exit, Ate Sol got a phone call from a friend. Her friend is asking if they can have a talk. I can sense that it is very important so I agreed to wait for her at the Goldilocks. Ate Sol confirmed my instinct that her friend has a problem and wanted to share it with her. So, I understood the situation and patiently waited for her. When her friend arrived, I was surprise because she is so damned beautiful – another blessing for this day. I can’t explain why I can say it is a blessing when I saw her but I just treat it as a blessing. So, we are heading to IT Park, it was a long journey since 30 minutes is quite long time to wait.

Then we arrived at IT Park and enjoyed the bonding moments with the youths in the ministry. We had a lot of games and some other activities to get along with each other. It is also a blessing for me because we became closer than before. Like a barkada as they call it.

With this, I can conclude that this February 7, 2010 Sunday is indeed a blessed Sunday.

Hope you have a blessed day, too.

Sick days

It started on Friday (Jan. 29, 2010) when I feel a bit uncomfortable. I was feeling dizzy and cold inside. In spite of this, I still went to work and continue doing my tasks, though I wasn’t performed it well because of the temperature inside the office. It makes me feel worse. When the clock strikes 6:00 in the afternoon (I arrived minutes before 9:00 in the morning), I immediately fix myself and go home. I didn’t send an email update to my mentor in Atlanta. Well, that’s okay because my activity here is track through a project monitoring tool and my team leader already knows about my status in the project. It usually took me two jeepney rides before it reaches me home. And within this ride, I feel asleep. Good thing I was able to stop at my destination.

Saturday morning when I feel better, so I started cleaning my room and took care of my nephew MJ. I even go to mall and withdrew some cash, and do a little shopping for some groceries. Saturday night when I feel dizzy again and I can’t breathe through my nose because it is clogged. I haven’t a good sleep that night because I feel really cold. My mother woke up because of the noise I made and was worried about me. She took care of me all night, or maybe dawn, till morning. After that, I feel comfy in my sleep and I even woke up around 8:00am. I still feeling cold but better than what I felt last night and then I prepared myself for my usual Sunday fellowship. My mother scolded me for attending the said fellowship when I am not okay. But I responded that God is my strength and will guide me to the fellowship till I go home. So, I still went on to my fellowship. My brothers and sisters in the ministry as well as my BS leader noticed my pale face when I arrived at the fellowship place. They took good care of me until the fellowship is over. It was a half-paying attention to the speaker; by the way the speaker that day was my BS leader, but I managed to keep myself awake as I was praising God to the most high of my energies.

After the fellowship, there was a meeting for the young professionals of God and I attended to it without paying much attention. They even asked me if it’s okay I will be the group’s treasurer and then I nodded to say yes. Then later I realized what I was nodded to: I’m the group’s TREASURER?!? Oh well, that’s the prize of not paying attention to a meeting. That was understood then because I was not okay, but still I am the treasurer, so be it. After the meeting, I packed myself ready to go home and sleep. My mother called a ‘manghihilot’ neighbor and gave me a relaxing full body massage. Wow! Then after that I fall asleep. It was a good soundless sleep. I woke up when it was time to eat dinner. YEPEE!!! I was feeling better that time but my mother demanded me not to go to work tomorrow (Monday). But I insisted because I still have some tasks to do. But I was scolded. It was a long blah blah blah from her that it was my fault that I am sick today. I did not care for my body, etc. So I ended up texting my team leader that I cannot go to work the next day morning. Then, I sleep the whole day till afternoon. Then I made sure my body is ready to work for tomorrow Tuesday for I still have a lot of tasks to do.

And now February 2, 2010 here in front of my desktop, I am writing this blog after reading 100 emails from my outlook, usually coming from my friends in CIT from our mailing list cit@charoot.com. Bye for now, I am now busy with my tasks.

It was a long weekend, though.