Fellow Pledgers!

Last Sunday was the first Sunday of the 2013..

I was so ecstatic to see my fellow Modesty Pledgers really committed into modesty. :">
It's my first time taking pictures with other women who are brave enough to take this radical challenge! :P

Here's Ate Grace, a singer of our Church's Worship Team :)

With Ate Joyce :) It was indeed a pleasant morning! Look at happy Mr. Sun! :P

Here's Ate Faith, Pastor Sam Tamayo's wife. :)
Looks like floral maxi skirts would be a favorite of modesty pledgers! :)

 We should not only shine our lights outside the church.. We could also be salty inside our church.

Sometimes, to learn new things from us.

And sometimes, just to be encouraged by seeing from us, their churchmates, how God is working in the whole church! :)

Of course, we should not act inside our church like we are already perfect.

It's the church who should always love you beyond your imperfections, so you shouldn't really fake perfection..

To be a salt and light in our church, we should just let them see what God has transformed in us, which weaknesses He turned into strength, and what new lessons He personally taught us.

That's why, if you are a Modesty Pledger, you should share the blessings of pursuing modesty to other men and women of your church! :)

How did you spend your first Sunday of 2013 with the Lord? :)

❤❤Faye

Fashion Police = Modesty Consultant ;)

I would have never known that I was dressing immodestly if no concerned brothers/sisters in Christ rebuked me.

Looking back, I begin to realize how much help a personal fashion police can give one who tries to pursue modesty for God. I was so hard-headed. I knew that there were times when I would dress immodestly and God somehow whispered to me that I'm not helping anyone with what I was wearing. I did not know that all I was waiting for was a shameful rebuke from a trusted Christian brother/sister.

The first time someone rebuked me was during my first year in our church.. A spiritually mature woman (whom I admire so much) talked to me for the pictures we posted in Facebook. I shared that story here. :)

The second time was when I became part of our church's worship ministry. I played the piano.. In the morning services, we were required to wear Sunday dresses. Not necessarily the glamorous stuff, but one has to look presentable and respectable when he's/she's on stage. I was told that as much as possible, I should not wear jeans. I did not have dresses or skirts back then.. So my involvement in ministry was the reason why I started buying dresses and skirts. Haha.

I was not so accustomed to shopping for these - I did not know what to look for in a good skirt/dress. I literally drowned in the sea of mini skirts and mini dresses in shops! So I had skirts and dresses usually mid-thigh to knee-length.. What happened when I wore them in church? Our youth pastor, who was also our musical director, told me to wear longer dresses! As much as how I felt his concern, I also felt embarrassed because I actually took a lot of time thinking of what to wear.. But today, I appreciate how he went out of his way and took the risk of telling me that I shouldn't wear those short skirts no more..
Even until today, I lived to the principles I learned from his rebuke.

The last but not the least, my guy friends, specifically Allen and Jopel, are the ones whom I had meaningful conversations about this. Jopel, being a guy himself, was really a good Christian friend to me. He took the time and effort to answer all my questions about modesty and made me realize how I should look at modesty.

I wanna thank you all! :)

Now, I wanna talk about how important a personal fashion/modesty police is.

1. Pride could cloud your judgment. 

        It is really hard to judge yourself because we know how biased we could be. We could ask ourselves over and over again about an attire and approve of it, only because we always answer ourselves with justification. 

2. We need a wider perspective on this.

        We do not know what goes on inside a man's mind. During the first weeks of my modesty challenge, I only assumed what guys think. When I actually talked to a lot of people and did a lot of online reading, my perspective radically changed. I realized how naive I was! Haha! 

3. We need a prayer warrior.

        Who said modesty was easy especially in this kind of culture we are immersed in? We need God's strength. We need a lot of prayers! :) 

4. We could share the heartbreaks and triumphs of pursuing modesty with them!

        Because they know how hard and humbling pursuing modesty is, they would be the shoulders we cry on when we realize at the end of the day that our attire is immodest and got uninvited stares.. They would also be the ones we could share our joys with when we overcome vanity or gain new wisdom. 

 The necklace was a gift from my sister-in-law, Ate Aimee :)

What is haggard? :P

It's nice to go back to basics once in a while. Denim pants! ;) Although, I want to try to stay away from fitted shirts. Napakinabangan yung crop top. :D

Necklace: Gift || Black Cardigan: G200 || Crop top: Eastwood Mall (shopping bonding with Ate Kamyl & Ate Ann)

Having my very own fashion police-slash-modesty consultant helps me a lot until today.

Actually, I appreciate it even more when my FP is a little less tolerant and a little more harsh! Haha! That way I learn to be humbler and open-minded in order to receive the fuller meaning of modesty.

"Let a righteous man strike me - it is a kindness; let him rebuke me - it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it."
- Psalm 141:5

Who are the godly men and women in your life you think would be your fashion police/modesty consultant? :)

❤❤Faye

Love Potion

Have you ever been almost suffocated by the air pollution in the streets, when a woman smelling so good and fresh pass by you and made you feel a little better? You almost followed her steps as your head turned her way, almost instinctively. After a few seconds, you still remember her scent. It gave you a slight relief from the thick pollution..

The next day, you sprayed your favorite perfume as you were reminded of how that woman smelled. You want to give others the kind of relief that woman gave you..

True love works in the same principle as this.

It's like your expensive perfume that stays on your skin or clothes or even in others' noses.

When you wear perfume, everyone smells it. No exception! (well okay, those with colds could be an exception, haha) Everyone who sits beside you, who stands across you, who passes by you. Everyone should able to enjoy the refreshing love you wear and freely give out! 

What kind of love is it that would be most fragrant for the people around us?

Of course, it is the love taught to us by Jesus's example.

Imagine how busy Jesus was when He was on Earth. He had many things to do in his waking hours! Even at  the times when he wanted to be alone to pray, He sometimes got interrupted. One time, He got interrupted by the crowd who followed Him when He wanted to privately mourn for John the Baptist's death, (Matthew 14:13-14) another time was when Jesus got up early to pray and Peter found Him to tell Him that "Everyone is looking for you!" (Mark 1:35-37). These moments were so important! But Jesus did not get irritated at all when He was interrupted. Instead, all He exuded was love.

When the Pharisees threatened His life, many followed Him when He withdrew.. What He did with the crowd? He healed them all. (Matthew 12:14-15)

He was never too busy, never too occupied, to express His love to an individual.

Everything He did when He was here on Earth was very important. But when someone interrupts Him, no matter how incomparably little that guy's reason was compared to Jesus's task such as organizing the universe, saving the world from sin, and the like, He always took the time to listen and give that person His full attention. 

That was how He looked at EVERY individual with soo much love.

No one was less important than the others.. He was very busy but was never too busy to neglect anyone at all.

From the morning 'til night, Jesus encountered all kinds of people. For the whole day, He got to talk to the people close to Him, His apostles, and to people whom He physically interacted for the first time.

But I cannot imagine Him waking up and greeting His disciples with a grunt.. "Don't talk to me unless you already have our breakfast ready!" From the morning 'til dawn, He would've greeted and connected with every person He meets with love and compassion.

Jesus always seemed to find time to connect with people in rich, strong, personal ways.

That's the fragrance of love that would make the world smell a lot better!

How many people do you encounter in one day? As soon as you wake up, you might have your family at the breakfast table, or maybe your dormmates. The moment you go outside of your house, you pass by strangers and mere acquaintances. You get to meet with your friends. Your boss or your teacher sees you. You have an encounter with a jeepney driver, even. In one whole day, what do all the people you bump into smell from you?

Do they smell love?

Do they smell indifference?

Do they smell disgust?

Every person we meet wants a breath of fresh air from the pollution of evil and wickedness in the world.

No exception.

He could be the blind man on the LRT Footbridge. She could be the old woman who has a hard time crossing the street. He could be the Recto kid thief who wants to change his ways and just wants someone who believes he could. She could be the Badjao who experiences all forms of discrimination and seeks to find real sisterly love in the streets. He could be the little kid who cannot find his mom in the mall. She could be your friend who just needs someone to listen to how hurt she was. He could be your dad who just wants to have a better relationship with his family.

Everyone needs to smell the fragrance of God's love.

My challenge to all of us is to live each day saturated with love.

Like how Pastor Rudy Rasmus puts it in His book Touch,

"Love before leaving someone's presence."

You'd never know. This could be the real love potion that creates in someone unconditional love towards all the people around him/her! A simple gesture of love can turn an angry person into the most loving one in the world! :)

When people walk out of your presence, do they feel blessed or hated? 

What are you doing to let people know that real unconditional love still exists?

What "smell" do others remember from you?

❤❤Faye

Young lady, dream big!

If you try to find the verses in the New Testament that talk about women, you could be as surprised as I was before..

I was puzzled about them the first time I read those New Testament verses about women.
I read them as I went through a chapter in the letters in the New Testament.
Among these verses are 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12.
I thought, "Really? I cannot believe what I just read! Is this one really written in the Bible?" I read the verses over and over again just to be sure that I get what it tried to say to me..

It troubled me, really. That was until I learned that when you read the Bible, you should know the context. :)
These verses weren't stepping down at women! If you have questions about what I think about these verse, you could send me a message. ;)

Why did I bring this up?

It's because I see how passive women in church are today. I ask myself, is that because of what we read in the New Testament about women? Or are we just contented to sit and be comfortable at wherever we are at today?

Not that I'm saying that less women are involved in church. In fact, I admire many women who are active in the ministries of the church. They are present in outreach programs, in teaching kids, in preparing for church events, in decorations, in beautifying the church, etc. These are quite lovely!

But how are we, women, supposed to take our faith and our servanthood to the next level?

I had my quiet time earlier and I want to share with you what God has told me.

I read about Deborah and Jael in Judges 4. They were indeed mighty women of God. :) In their stories, their husbands Lappidoth and Heber takes a backseat.

1. Deborah

        She was leading Israel after the judge Ehud. "The Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided." (v.5) (Consider her being a woman leader.. Imagine how many Israelites there were! Plus, they were not exactly the most behave people. Hahaha)

        She was a prophetess; she sent for Barak to tell him God's command of conquering Jabin's army (the army who took captive of Israelites that made them cry to the Lord for help).

        I did not know what went on in Barak's mind, but he said, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go." I have questions, why would Barak say this in verse 8? If you would be fighting someone, you would want to stick to the fiercest among your troop! You might want to look for Manny Pacquiao. Deborah, being a woman, I assume was not the one with the best skill with the sword. So maybe Barak said this from looking up to Deborah as the army's spiritual leader. (Very important because they depended on God for their victory.. Although, it wasn't so gentleman of him to want to bring a woman to battle!)

        Deborah said in verse 9, "Very well, I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this (Barak was not supposed to depend on a woman especially on battles like this), the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman."

        She encouraged the army and gave them the go signal in verse 14.. And they won! Although.. The army's commander, Sisera, "fled on foot" and tried to hide from the army.. 

2. Jael

        This woman was a part of Moses's family tree. (verse 11) Most likely, she has heard many many things about the God of Jacob.

        Sisera tried to hide in her house. She was welcomed warmly by Jael, she even "put a covering over him." (verse 18) and gave him milk to drink. But when Sisera told her that "If someone comes by and asks you, 'Is anyone here?' say 'No.' ", she plotted to kill him in his sleep. When Barak came and asked her about Sisera, she showed him Sisera's dead body. Now that's fierce.. Hehe.

        Indeed, the Lord handed Sisera over to a woman. He handed him to Jael.

I expressed my appreciation of how women help out inside the church.. Although, if we talk about ministries outside the church, how many women actually spearhead ministries?

If you, who's reading this post, are a woman, have you ever really tried to dream big for how you serve God?

Did you try to discover what your passion is and offered it to Him and let just let Him use it powerfully?

One of our church's youth pastors, Ptr. Sam Tamayo, uses his gift and passion for motocross to share God to a bigger crowd. Witnessing how he acts on his love for God by using his greatest passion to be able to share the good news to more people, I am greatly encouraged and inspired to do great things for my King.
Also, I am inspired by Yeng Constantino and Acel van Ommen when I went to victory's Hello to Heaven concert. There they expressed their passion for kids with the foundation they established to help give kids the Right Start. (That's why they called it Right Start Foundation)

Generation Congregation, the Christian youth group God used to help me grow, is now preparing itself to soar high with God! Ministries would be reborn, as new ministries sprout.

This challenges me to find how I could further maximize myself for my King.

I try to look at our youth and the existing ministries in it. We had ballers for Christ, School of R.O.C.K (for musicians),  BMX (what the ramps at MMF were for), etc. I can't help but ask.. Where are the outreach ministries purposely made to share God to women?

Who would be spearheading ministries as such? Of course, no other than women.
I am very much challenged to seek every corner of my being and my passions, so that I would see what part of me I could contribute in helping women. My prayers about women become more and more passionate only because of what God teaches me through my modesty pledge.

Then it struck me. Maybe that was the reason why God spoke to my heart in July '12 about taking modesty seriously.
He knew that I liked dressing up. I used to visit websites such as lookbook, chictopia, etc. I also used to buy vogue, glamour, and other magazines about fashion in BookSale near our school. My summer days weren't boring because I watched all the episodes of America's Next Top Model and Project Runway.
God did not change that about me. What He did was He showed me how I could use it for His glory.
(I like dressing up. although, I'm not a fan of the expensive brands you'd see in other fashionistas. a Christian fashionista would never spend more money on clothes than on her ministries!)

Today, that is what I see myself doing for God.
I am going to use my passion for clothes, everything God revealed to me about modesty, and use it all to start God-centered relationships with women of different kinds and of different worlds! :)

I know that God is indeed up to something big. He's the center of everything I do - from the way I dress to the blogs I post. I pray that His hands would always be mine and His voice would always be my guide :">
All I gotta do is earnestly submit to my King and consult everything that I would do for my Majesty. After all, that's what a servant should do, right? ;)

What are the big things you are willing to do for God? What are your passions and how do you think could they be used for His glory?

❤❤Faye