Even Trees Bear Fruit in Season

Three of my small group members just participated Gencounter last Saturday.

It is an activity in our Congregation that marks the beginning of the new chapter in the lives of believers of God who are ready to be used in ministries.

After years of learning about discipleship, I realize that we cannot force anyone to grow. All we could do is do our best in our little role in our disciple's growth. One's spiritual growth is not from her spiritual mentor. It's not even from herself. A person's growth ultimately comes from God.
And so it's something that would softly come in His time.
Even trees bear fruit in season!
With lots of prayers, Claudine, CL and Hannah participated that activity.

Claudine

"A nice encounter with God :-)

I learned a lot :))

Lord thank you for your unfailing love you :D 

to your blood and flesh you shed in the CROSS

Everyday i thank you for your grace you given to us :D 

I surrender all my life :-)

Let your will be done :))

AMEN"

Hannah

"I'm blessed to have encountered God today! But it's not the last time I'll be encountering him, it's just the start. I'm looking forward on encountering God each day of my life. So excited for what He has in store for me! Don't miss out on God's wonderful plan for your life :D

Live out your faith and SHARE it."

CL

"Things happen for a reason whether it's good or not, my past experiences is really a nightmare, indeed! i thought it was the end, "giving up" to follow God is next to my mind, but know what? God is Good! cause He never stop loving me, He never stop calling me and He never give up on me. He is my healer. All the brokenness inside, all the wounds, he heals me. And today, i had a great ENCOUNTER with Him again. I'll praise God for giving me this opportunity. He brought me this far, and now, i want to follow God and brings all the glory and praises to Him. My Lord and Savior..He takes me out of the dark :)) ♥"

I do not see being these girls' spiritual momma as a strenuous duty.

It was a great privilege, an undeserved opportunity, a beautiful encounter with God.

There were times when I almost gave up as I saw how weak I was. It scared me. I was worried that my weaknesses would affect these girls negatively, and that my lapses would cause them to stumble. For almost 2 years and more, God taught me a lot of things in being a small group leader.

Being a small group leader is never about me!

It is ultimately about God.  

They are just three of the girls I love most! 

I know my face looks like it's about to burst in this picture, but I don't care.. It's that one picture I had with the three of them during Gencounter so I'm posting it! Hahahahaha

Best to keep distraction away. FOCUS to encountering God.

Saying good bye to distractions to wholly absorb everything.

Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaacks!

With some of our friends, Michelle, Je Ann and Schae. 

I am so so so blessed to witness your journey with the Lord!

You have taught me a lot of things about humility, servanthood, and op cors, love.

There are a lot more to learn for all of us. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to do it with you!

You know how much of an open book my life is for you. Haha I'm willing to bare all of me, to make every part of  me available to you. My goal is to impart to you every little lesson I learned (and am still learning) from my personal journey with the King. With these parcels of wisdom, along with the lessons you learn from your own personal journey with God, grow deeper in your faith.

I love you! Now that God has led you this far, offer Him your best. I know He has great plans for your lives, He has ministries prepared for you to do.

Just keep fighting, lady warriors! 

P. S. If God touches your heart to pray for them, please do so. Let raising up Christ-like leaders be ever in our hearts.

So Much, I Can't Contain It

This is a guest post from one of my small group members, Hannah Valdeabella.

          Have you ever felt like having thoughts pop out into your mind and then have another completely different thought come one after another? That's what I have been experiencing ever since this week started! So much thoughts have filled my mind and they still keep coming in and to be honest I don't think I can handle anymore thoughts so I'm gonna pour some of them down here instead!
          It's really amazing how God reveals a lot of things to you. Each single day, God has been revealing a lot of things to me and I come to understand and learn a lot of things with each experience. From the moment I open my eyes in the morning to the moment I lay my head in bed at night, God continuously shows me many wonderful things about life. Each experiences then becomes an encounter with God and with each encounter with Him, I come to know about Him more and more. I find myself excited of what new things He'll show me and happy to know that He loves me more than I could.
          I remember when I was a child, I often hear the leaders in my church and even my parents say things like "I heard God told me..." or "God showed me..." and to be honest, I didn't understand them! I thought "How did they know that it was God?" and wondered how I wasn't able to hear God's voice. I thought they were weird since they kept saying things that seemed impossible. But now that I experienced it myself, I say that it wasn't at all impossible. All things becomes possible when it comes to God ☺
          So, how do you know God reveal things to you?First of all, we must be able to encounter God. He won't be able to reveal things to you until you get to know about Him! Like every stranger outside, you won't really pay much attention to what they do or what they say simply because you don't know them. But once you knew who they were, a simple gesture would make you notice them even at a distance. And even if you try to ignore them, you would still know that it was them.
          And by knowing God, you'll understand how He works in you. And believe me or not, God works in a very simple way actually. He doesn't order you around or control you. The choice is entirely up to you, if you're willing enough to be used by Him to do greater things! When God works in you: you'll be able to see things differently, you'll be able to do unimaginable things, and you'll be able to experience wonders and miracles. All it just takes is a lot of faith!
          But admit it, it's not that often we see what God wants us to see and do what He wants us to do. God isn't at fault. It's just human nature to complicate things to the point that we miss every chance to do so! We tend to look at figures and facts which gets in the way. For example, when you see a beggar at the streets, one could simply think "He's begging for money because he doesn't have any job to earn his own money.". While we cannot deny this fact, we also cannot ignore this! A person who lives close to God would think of the beggar as a recipient of God's love. He wouldn't just think, he'll also act to show him God's love!
          Because you love God, He'll let you see the beggar in a way which most people don't. And it's unusual for someone to spend time with a beggar you know! People may throw some glances at you, but that won't matter. What matters most is you do the will of God. And I believe, that's how God reveal things to you. It just comes naturally. All we need to do is just fix our eyes on Jesus, and you'll be able to see things which you haven't seen before. Isn't that exciting?          
That doesn't stop there. This week, I had a lot of encounters with God. And like I said, I've been overwhelmed! Each things that I learned with each encounters piled up, filling my mind with thoughts about different things. It's kind of hard to organize them all actually. My mind is now already full and new thoughts still keep coming in. I realized that if I keep them all to myself, the new things God reveals to me spills out and I miss the chance to experience them wholly! Like how a cup of tea would overflow if you keep pouring tea in it, the tea would be wasted. You need to empty your cup to receive. And that's why I decided to write them down here. It's so much, I can't contain them all and that's why I need to share them! I don't want to waste any encounters I had with God. I need to share them to empty my cup! And I hope by doing so, I help a lot of people become more closer to God. It may be selfish of me to say it like that, but I love God and that's why I do these things. 

I am so overwhelmed at what God is doing in her life. She was my first small group member! Haha. Yes, pioneer. And today, here she is, blooming, growing.. as she encounter God deeper and deeper every time.
I am so blessed to witness all that! 

Hannah made this! Check out some of her other works in DeviantART.

Always Respond with Love

 Miriam Quiambao, Paula Salvosa a.k.a. Amalayer, Janine Tugonon.

How are they similar?

They all stirred controversies.

One expressed opinions on homosexuality and stirred the LGBT community.

One had an encounter with the lady guard and had her outburst caught on cam.

One had her decisions on love and friendship exposed for all the world to know.

How else are these three similar?

They are Christians. They are fellow believers. (Welcome to the family, Paula! ♡)

This saddens me every time a new controversy arises about a brother or a sister in Christ.

Not because of having the "religion" humiliated, but because I see how unloving this world is becoming. ☹

What pains me more is how some Christians actually do some of the bashing, all for the wrong reasons.. ☹ 

To exhibit your knowledge about the law?

To showcase your "admirably sound" judgment?

To show people how much wisdom you have in your opinions?

Most of the time, this is done unmindfully.

We become a little too forgetful of what the message of Christianity really is.

Our role in this world is not to judge.

That is not our job. Judgment belongs only to God.

Our role is to show the world how much Jesus loves everyone - including these people with such controversies.
It is our job to show the world the much broader (and wiser) perspective only God could enable us to see.

Because of the worlds-apart distance between us and these much-celebrated figures, we forget that they are actual people, like any of us.

Like us, they have their own share of mistakes.

Look back at those moments in your life when you said something you regret, or did something that was even worse than what some of them did. If everything you do, 24/7, is televised, would it create as much controversy? How would the people who know you react?
It would indeed be controversial.
We all have our share of failures and mistakes. We all share shameful acts and embarassing decisions.

That's why we have no right to judge what they do.
Especially that...

Like us, they are misunderstood. 

We don't have any license to say anything bad about anyone, because our knowledge of their situation is very limited to what the media tells us... We should not talk bad about them, even though everyone already does it. We don't even know them personally, and we just assume with the very few details presented to us by fellow gossipers.

Pano mo nalamang di siya marunong magmahal? Tropa mo?! Hahaha

When we hear other people judging us without even knowing us personally, we are enraged.
We want to punch the person in the face with our facts that would prove them wrong.

But when it comes to these popular people, we easily overlook our unfair and harsh judgment.
That's how selfish we are: When it's you who is hastily judged, you get angry. But when it's you who gives hasty judgments, you don't think twice at all.

We cannot even define who they are through the very few details we know about them.
Do you want to be defined by perverted information about you? Of course not!
You don't even want your failures to define who you are.
That's not the way we want to be looked at.
That's not the way Jesus looks at them.

I know how we could get over-reacting, especially when it is a fellow believer who is the center of the controversy. We also get over-judging when the issue challenges our beliefs!
I know, because I reacted unlovingly when I first heard about the Amalayer incident (with Paula Salvosa).
I laughed at what happened, watched all the parodies, and barely thought of her as an person who is cyberbullied. I forgot that she is someone whom God loves. ☹
It was until I watched her testimony, where she shared how one outburst at the LRT Station almost ruined her life, that my perspective about such issues was rebuked by God.

I was surprised when I realized how a simple tweet of 140 characters, but filled with God's love, changed her life.

A little prayer. An encouragement. An effort to put an end to the waves of discouragement and bashing.
What these real people need is a reminder of God's love.
Not our "righteous" opinions.

Not satiric parodies of their mistakes.

Not even in-your-face tweets or statuses.

In the end, what everyone needs is love.

In the thoughts you drown your mind with, and in the things you say..
In everything you do, have your ❤ checked by your Master.

How do you respond when you hear about issues about other people?

Much♡, Faye

Cheap dreams are for cheap dreamers!

Have you ever had something you bought at a bargain price?

You knew it was cheap, that's why you do not take care of it so much.

Cheap clothes? These are the stuff you would easily do a DIY with.
Cheap book? You let anyone borrow it knowing it can get lost.

Cheap phone?  With this one, you don't mind a lil scratch.
Cheap notebook? This you offer to kids to sabotage.

Ever thought you were not meant to do great things in your life?
"Err.. Those great things are only for great people. Not for me. I'm a nobody and I lead a very simple life. Great stuff? Uh-uh. Not for me."

Sometimes, our insecurities bring us into thinking that we are not as valuable as what God sees is in us.

That's why we do not value our lives too much, much less our spiritual lives.
We become too contented doing so-so stuff for God and not dreaming big.
All because we think we're little and big stuff is for pastors, or whoever else.
"Not me. I'm already contented with what I do for God."
"I go to church.. Teach kids at Sunday school.. blerbler."

And you stop there. You forget that you could actually dream and pray for something big.
You forget that you serve a big God who can do just anything.
You forget that you serve the most amazing God who deserves your best.

This is one manifestation of our insecurities
These insecurities do not come from God.
These come from the world that always tries to say that we're not good enough.
Sometimes, just so we'd buy their products, companies repeatedly tell us that we are not white enough, not flawless enough, not wise enough, not healthy enough.. We are bombarded by these all our lives.
Little insecurities from having pimples, to big ones like not being able to talk as good as <insert name her>, they overwhelm us.
We had mistakes. When we failed, people around us think we are big walking failures (or at least that's what we think).
These pile up to give us an unhealthy perspective saying that we are not good enough for anything.
So we settle oh-so-easily to doing things with mediocrity.
We think we are nobodies who lead cheap lives. Like cheap clothes, cheap phone, cheap stuff, we don't care what happens with our "cheap" lives, when we see ourselves invaluable.

Fret not. Though you may indeed have some parts of you which you could actually be insecure about, you have a limitless God where you can find your security! The great things that are ahead of you, aren't there because of your own greatness, but because of your great God. Greatness is not all about you, it's just fitting for the greatness of your God.
Yes, you might not be good enough to do great things, but your God is so great that He enables the "not-good-enough" servants to do great things!

Now that God is in the picture.. The great God whose hands made the universe, I'll ask you..
You think teaching kids at Sunday school is your best? Nah I don't think so.
Dream big and pray that your passion for kids extends, and that time would come that more kids would hear of God's love through you!
You think encouraging a few girls is you best? Nah I don't think so.
Dream big and pray that more women would hear the testimony you have, and that more who underwent the same challenges would learn from what God has done in your life!
There are many things we do today that are good enough.
But we know that these are not yet our best. We still have something to give, we still have something to offer to God!
(I'm not saying that the little things we do aren't good, they're actually admirable because we should serve God in the littlest things.. But we have to understand that God knows we can do more)
If it's God's will, the great things you would dream of would certainly come your way, just shake off the great hindrances - insecurities.
Who knows, God might have even greater things in mind for your life, so you would have an even greater encounter with Him. ☺

It's about time for you to break free from these insecurities that hinder you to
dream big for your ministry!
Maglilingkod ka na rin lang, sagarin mo na!

Photo grabbed here.

How are you dreaming for your ministry? How are insecurities hindering you to give God your very best?

Much♡, Faye

You call it love?

Photo grabbed here

It started when David sinned because of his admiration (of the body) of Bathsheba. (which he "accidentally" saw while she was taking a bath)

It caused him to do things that did not only displease God, but also did harm to him and his family.

When Nathan, the prophet, rebuked David, he also told the king that his family will absolutely be affected by this. Shortly after that, his son Amnon, raped his daughter (from a different mother) Tamar.

His family was not affected through tragic natural events.

His family was affected by the venom of lust.

As David's encounter with Bathsheba was retold by 2 Samuel's writer,
not once was love mentioned. On the whole chapter was the shadow of lust and what it can do to a man's prudence.

In the retelling of Amnon's story, love was mentioned ... by the violator himself.

"I'm in love with Tamar..." (2 Samuel 13:4)

This could have been a very sweet line, if he uttered the word love and meant the wondrous truth of that big word.

However, reading the next verses, we would see how he carefully planned his assault on the helpless virgin. ☹ He heeded the counsel of a wicked friend. He did not think of any of the possible consequences, and only thought of the immediate pleasure he'd get. He was willing to deceive his own father. He did not respect the one he "loved" (he called it love, but it was clearly not). He did not care if it would make a fool out of him. He knew he could actually get her as his wife, but did not have the patience for the process. (2 Samuel 13:13) He did not want to wait.

What happened right after he took advantage of her?

He was filled with "intense" hatred towards her!

"In fact, he hated her more than he loved her."

(2 Samuel 13:15)

Could hate really co-exist with love? Not the love that Jesus teaches us. No, it cannot co-exist with hate.

Because of Amnon's selfish decisions, many were affected. Tamar was disgraced. Absalom was filled with hatred and killed Amnon. Their other brothers had stained their hands with helping Absalom in the murder. King David became furious, and lost a son soon after.

We might think that those stuff were too much.

But hey, that's what "pirated" love, or mere infatuation, could do.

This is still very relevant in our generation.

How many times did you, or a friend of yours, proclaimed "love" for someone you barely know?

How many times did "love" make you do crazy things that compromised a lot of things?

How many times did this kind of "love" negatively affect people around you and inflicted hurt to so many people? (e.g. your parents, your friends, your ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend)

How do we know we are only infatuated and not in love? (Based on 2 Samuel 13)

1. You seek and follow advice from those who'd approve of your selfishness.

You know how much your friends get giddy over your feelings for that girl. But no, you would not want to talk about it with your parents. Talking about it with your spiritual mentor is just out of the question - you know he would not approve. Seeking advice from them would also mean putting out the flame of the kilig in liking someone this "perfect".

2. You are willing to break the rules, even of God Himself.

You know how much it affects your spiritual life, as well as your enthusiasm in your ministry in your school, in your church. You know how much God disapproves. You know it. Every time you hear the sermon, you suddenly think of your feelings for that girl as if God is telling you to do something about it. You are uneasy talking about it in a more truthful perspective. You are just not comfortable putting side by side your girl's name and the condition of your walk with God. That... could mean you're breaking His rules.

2. You are willing to do things that will inflict hurt on others.

Based on my experience, I was willing to hurt my family because of how much I liked that boy. And I think that's one of the most common "sacrifices" of young girls.. "I'm willing to disobey my father, and lie about it, I like you that much." "I'm willing to spend less time with my friends and spend all of my time on you, I like you that much." "I'm willing to forget my morals and just indulge in our love.. It's you, me, against the world."

We become this blinded, while the people who truly love us, stand at a distance, grieving as they see how much our unhealthy feelings devour us and keep us from being the best that we can be.

Sometimes, we also deliberately hurt other people as we try to pave a way to satisfy our own desires.

3. You only consider your own happiness.

You think you love him until you learn you love yourself more; the real you would be willing to have her joy compromised just to serve you your "well-deserved" joy. You think you love the guy but you demand too much time from him, because your greedy self has emotional needs you want him to satisfy. You pull the girl's hand to a dark cave, away from other people who also love her, just so you could get all that you need from her, emotional needs, physical needs, etc.

4. You are not willing to wait.

We somehow have to wait for God's perfect time, where God gives the go signal. God has a reason why we have to wait for the best things in life. He does not want us to merely wait for the perfect circumstance for what we want to happen.

It is about what happens "while we wait". You'd encounter God deeper as He cleanses your heart and prepares it for the time He would give that thing you are waiting for. (which apparently would be better than how you imagine it to be while waiting) He wants everything to be perfect so that we would experience the joy to the fullest! If we grab the gift too soon, the joy that comes with it would not be as rich as the joy He really intends to give ya.

But fret not, God knows how distorted our ideas on love would be. He does not want us to be hurt no more. He does not want us to hurt his other children.. That's why He offers free lessons on true love! We would not learn about it from other people. A relationship with Him would be the best classroom in learning how to truly love! ♡

Do not be a modern-day Amnon and settle with infatuation.

(which our immature selves could call love)

True love has a waaay better offer.

Have you had past experiences where you've mistaken infatuation for love? 

Much♡, Faye

Summer Heat

Do you feel the intense summer heat in the Philippines?

I do.

Every. Single. Waking. Hour. Of. Everyday.

It just gets hotter and hotter everyday. I hate you, climate change. ☹ The hotter summer brought by climate change makes me more environmentally concerned. It makes me hate plastic, illegal mining, CFCs etc...... Oh well, I cannot help it. It's just hard to endure the heat this summer.

Photo grabbed here

The Philippine heat has a strong influence on our culture.

Dr. Jose Rizal admitted in his essay, "The Indolence of the Filipinos", that Filipinos are lazy. He wrote what could have made the Filipinos this lazy. He gave strong and witty reasons, which seem valid to me.

The first root of the Pinoy's laziness he mentioned?

THE HOT CLIMATE.

Oo nga naman. Why not? Heat does lots of things to people.

And I know you know what I'm talking about...

Heat sucks all our energy.

Handkerchiefs are ignored nowadays. Because we all know that handkerchiefs are too pacute to absorb all the amount of perspiration a Pinoy could lose in a few hours. Bimpo, twalya, whatever you'd like to call it. That will do. Or maybe you need more than one of those thingies.. The heat is insane! It sucks all of our body water like a really thirsty cow! Less body water, less strength. Less strength, less enthusiasm to do stuff. Less enthusiasm to do stuff, less productivity.

In other cases, heat makes Pinoys its slave.

Heat would show us what it can do and we respond trying to avoid the heat.

We try to calm ourselves down and do minimal work - less work, less body heat.

We try to fix ourselves in the cooler places - like right in front of the electric fan.

Literally trying to do nothing and trying to stay in one place cooler is the story of our summer days.

If you think about it, this response to heat is the same as throwing your whole summer in the garbage can.

For young Christians, summer is a great time to do things we cannot do because of school.

It is a great time to be more active in ministries more than ever, to participate in more church activities, and most importantly, to have a looooot more time for our personal devotions and Bible study.

You don't have requirements to worry about, or deadlines to meet.

Summer break is quite a gift.

Why waste it by being lazy?

You certainly won't have a blast this summer if all you could remember were the movies you watched while trying all the different positions on your sofa (with a few out-of-towns and swimming.. ya know, vacay stuff).

Your ministries this summer wouldn't have so much impact if you go there and hardly do your best in serving people as you serve God. Laziness could easily urge you to just stand there, observe, rest "a little"... And boom! You forget to actually "serve". An opportunity to encounter God in serving others would pass by you unnoticed.

Actually doing something does not necessarily mean you're not a lazy Christian. A lazy Christian may still do some stuff - the thing is that he could be too lazy to live every minute for God. He might stand up, go out of their house and do something, but he could still be too lazy to offer every minute of his summer to God.

Summertime, "more" time to do non-academic stuff, that time you were waiting for all semester to be revived, would go wasted if you succumbed to your laziness. The big chance to let God rekindle the fire through your personal meet-ups with Him would not be maximized if you let laziness reign over your summer.

We all want to hear in the end, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
But if our Master would look at you today, would He say this instead?
"You wicked, lazy servant!"
(Matthew 25:26)

Do not let the summer heat eat you up.

Instead, let the heat of your burning desire to serve God be hotter than the heat of the sun!

It's not yet too late. How do you want to change the course of your 2013 summer to make it God-centered?☺

Much♡, Faye