Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
In this time of the pandemic, have you ever wonder what God has been up to? Where is He in this uncertainty that we are all facing now? What is He doing when people are dying due to CoViD-19? Is there hope from all of these? Will there be a better tomorrow for all of us? These are only a few of the questions, we may be wondering and pondering since this pandemic took off and blatantly destroyed all our planned trips, promotions, career move, business endeavor not only in the year 2020, but as well as the years to come. Maybe, this pandemic changed our priorities and plans and turned our lives upside down.
There is no telling when this effect of the pandemic will end, some say it may take about two to three years for us to return to normal or get used to the 'new normal'. Some are skeptics if we can ever return to the normal set up we are so used to. And again, you can't help but wonder where is God behind all these uncertainties? No one knows, no one is certain, but one thing is for sure God is at work, that despite this global pandemic, He is still in control. He is the Sovereign God.
In David Allan Hubbard's book, What's God been doing all this time?, he ran us through God's business and that is His divine plan of saving humanity from all our iniquities. He is in the business of saving us from our enslavement to sin. He devised a plan, a perfect plan, just to save us from our very own destruction without compromising His disgust to sin. He knows that sin is not good for us and of how sin can harm and pull us farther away from Him. We are created in His image, thus we are required to be holy in His sight and presence, but because of the mortal sin committed by our ancestors Adam and Eve, their disobedience to God and distrust of His love for humanity led us to our death and separation from our Creator.
It was a tragic episode in human history, but God had a plan and would not let us rot in our own demise. He intervened and made salvation available through His only Son, Jesus Christ, for those who believe in him. It is The Great Rescue and His mission is to redeem humanity.
Hubbard's book will help you get a picture and perspective of what the Bible is all about from the beginning to end. It may give some answers to your questions about salvation and the redemptive power in Jesus, and we can rest assured that God is at work of saving people spiritually, physically, and emotionally in this time of the pandemic. May we always experience the true peace that can only be found through Jesus, our solid rock.
At first, I could not relate to what I was reading, I almost put down the book and proceeded to the next one. I thought this book was just about a boy-girl romantic relationship and I was getting sick of that topic. But it would be a waste if I let this book pass, so I decided to give it a second chance. I stopped reading this book and let some times passed by. Giving it the rest both of us needed.
Love and Light by Zara Louise is a book full of hope, forgiveness, and of course love and light. Every page took me back to the time I was nothing when I thought I was so full of something, where in fact I was just a fool pretending I got it all together, but deep inside I was broken. I was glad I gave the book a second chance and a time to redeem itself to me.
This book also reminds me that everyone still has a chance in life, that it is never too late to start over again, especially if it is with God this time around. Nothing is more wonderful than living a life surrendered to God, to Your Creator, the Designer of this vast universe. It is not easy to surrender, the process is hard and difficult, but you and I are never alone in that journey. He is with you every step of the way to thrive in life with courage knowing that you are good enough. That you don't have to please people or meet their expectations so you can feel and find happiness or satisfaction in doing so. And that life is not all about people pleasing and giving away your own happiness while others take advantage of you. You can serve others and be kind to yourself all at the same time. Don't beat yourself up just to do the hustle-bustle in this busy world of temporal things. Be brave and take courage in God's love, kindness, and provisions for you. You are well equipped of the blessings, gifts, and grace God has bestowed upon you to live a life of purpose, meaning, and happiness. You are not lacking in any way. He created you just for the right purpose. So continue to thrive and grow where you are planted and let the only true light shine upon you.
August 5, 2020, was the day when this book arrived in an LBC branch near our area. This was shipped with the other 21 books. Most of them were preloved and old copies, mostly had tanned pages already, there at least 5 new books out of those 21 books. I was so excited about opening the package in my office/bookstore, I felt satisfied at first knowing I got the best deal for 500 pesos from the purchase I did through one of my personal social media accounts, but gradually as I looked at books I realized that these were not books I saw posted on that social media account of the seller. I began to feel disappointed and dissatisfied with my purchase. My mind was clouded with negative thoughts and I felt cheated. Without confirming and rationalizing my thoughts and conclusions, I sent a message of complaint to the seller and accused him of sending me the wrong bundle of books. Our conversation went on as I continued to lash out my concerns in a manner that was not very nice, yet on the other end, the seller appeared to be calm as he tried to explain and resolve my issues. I was turned off toward myself with the way I dealt with him in those circumstances, I was ashamed of myself for jumping to a negative conclusion. I thought to myself that was not so Jesus-like. As we went on with our conversation, it turned out that I received the correct books we both agreed upon. The original bundle of books I wanted to buy was sold out and he informed me in advance, so I decided to buy a different bundle of books he offered to me. I forgot that part of the deal and was not mindful enough not to jump into wrong accusations. I was so ashamed of myself, I was rude and wrong. All I could think of and do during that time was to apologize and he accepted it.
Because of that incident, I was reminded again of WWJD which stands for What Would Jesus Do. Before jumping to any conclusion, I should ask this question to myself, if not always, at least most of the time. I was impulsive during that time, I thought I had overcome that stronghold. I know that overcoming strongholds needs moment by moment surrendering to Jesus. Every day, we battle with forces unseen. There is a spiritual war that is happening around us, thus we have to be on guard with God's Word.
The Jesus Movement by Edward E. Plowman is a record of accounts of how people in some parts of America got to know Jesus as the solution to all the problems that the human race faces right now. I would like to see a world where we love like Jesus did, care for others how Jesus did, all the things He did while He was here on earth to set an example for all of us, for our sake. I am aware that it is not that simple, I myself have a lot of struggles and have this uncertainty sometimes if I can be Jesus-like. Yet, I have this assurance that in Him everything is possible. That through Him, it is possible to finish this race if I continue to seek His kingdom first. I try to consistently meditate on the Scriptures day and night and do my journal. These are the little things I do so I can stay on the track and run the race He has set for me. I am trying to live a Spirit-filled life because without it continuing the race will be impossible for me. Only through Jesus, I will be able to go on and finish the race. My prayer always is that I will depend on and trust Him in everything, and obey everything He has commanded me. May I always have a heart that seeks only Him. My LORD and Saviour. The Source of my strength.
Satan may be louder, but Jesus is much, much stronger. Jesus lives and has defeated the enemy.
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Ever since I got a glimpse of this book at one of the branches of PCBS here in our place, that was maybe 5 years ago when I had the desire to grab that book and walk straight to the cashier to pay for it, and hid it in my bag until I made it to the seclusion of my room at home. That was my plan. A perfect plan to avoid skeptics in noticing the kind of book I just decided to buy. In conclusion, I was ashamed to be seen buying the book, when a good God allows rape by Joy Tan-Chi Mendoza.
'I was not rape, why would I buy that kind of book,' these were exactly my thoughts. I didn't experience that grave offense from my violator. I was fine. I am still a virgin. There was no penetration that occurred, so I was really fine to compare to what Joy experience from her offenders. I believed I was on the gentler side of the crime. I believed I should just brush it off and move on with my life as if nothing happened when I was just a child when he touched me. We were family after all. I didn't want to cause an uproar, chaos, or anarchy in our family even though we were not on good terms with some of them, still, I didn't want to make an issue about it. The fact that it happened more than two decades ago and that I didn't have any evidence of the incident left fear in me that no one would believe that it happened to me. I was in denial all those years of my inner struggles.
Years had passed and I grew up with a lot of issues within me, all of them unresolved and unjustified. I never opened to my parents or even to my friends in high school and college, I was ashamed and felt dirty though I continued to thrive. Our family struggled with poverty as they pursued our education, and I didn't want to burden my parents by telling them all my unresolved and unjustified issues within me.
I thought I was still pure. Penetration never occurred. If my memory served me right, it didn't happen. Yet he touched me, and that left an unfamiliar sensation. I desired it, to the point of starving and thirsting for that sensation. Yet I never wanted to let anyone touch me that way, ever again. I felt disgusted just thinking about it, a man touching me. I felt gross, dirty, and frightened. Yet I still desire for that sensation. That thirst continued to grow until my adolescent years all the way to my adulthood. The adolescent years let me discovered that God hated what I was doing to myself during one of the many Bible studies I attended, and I was no longer pure, I was a sinner, I was doomed. God would never forgive me.
I was seeking that One true God in my adolescence, but I kept on sinning. There were times that I felt victorious over that sin yet I always went back to square one every time I gave in to my desire. Yet. Yet, most of the time I gave in and thought that I was a hopeless case, there was no hope for me. I gave up seeking God knowing that I could never win against my earthly desire.
In my adulthood, I felt a little wiser and confident. I had acquired a stable job with a reasonable salary and began to explore the world with a little bit of courage. I had this idea in mind that everything is possible now that I am an adult. I dreamed big and came up with making it big as an author, a writer. I'd like to write stories from my wild imagination. From this writing journey, I discovered that sex is okay from a worldly perspective, but I strongly believed in marriage-before-sex. I kept my chastity and never had a boyfriend.
I was tormented all those years of dealing with my sin and guilt. There were days I was doing fine and there were also days I was a mess. I had episodes of suicidal thoughts every now and then. I was living a double life now that I looked back at it. I was trying so hard pleasing God in my own way, yet I could not even surrender my earthly desire.
At this point in time, I still have struggles but I am no longer alone. I am fighting a good fight with my Savior and Redeemer, the perfecter of my faith, Jesus Christ. He has saved me and forgave all of my sins from the past, present, and future. I no longer running the race on my own strength, but with the strength that is found only in Jesus. He brought me out of the darkness, and shed light on my life.
When a good God allows rape reaffirms that my God is faithful to those who love Him. That my struggles and the pain it caused me are nothing compared to what He has in store for me. He is a faithful and purposeful God.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who[a] have been called according to his purpose.
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
By the River Piedra, I sat down and wept. It is a fascinating fact that this same phrase is based on a chapter from the book of Psalm. I still find it interesting that Paulo Coelho entangled his books with the writings in the Bible. All the books I read from him offer a lot of possibilities and wonders in the physical and spiritual world. Though his books are fiction philosophical in nature, it is a delight to devour and be devoured in his fascination with spiritual forces in the physical world. I am both entertained and educated every time I read and finished his books.
By the River Piedra, I sat down and wept. Pilar is me: a girl who had her first love in her childhood days or must I say crushes in my elementary days and a woman who is in denial of the love she still has for the same guy she fell in love with when she was just a child. Well as for me I am a woman who waits for her God's best as of now, after all my conscious effort of doing my way to find the one, I let Him take over and do His way. It was not easy surrendering this desire, I still struggle with letting Him take over this aspect of my life. Yet, I believe He knows better than me, and what's best for me.
By the River Piedra, I sat down and wept. The road to acceptance is never easy same as surrendering. To accept that you cannot do it on your own strength is a sign of weakness in this world and that surrendering is a result of that weakness. Yet, I beg to disagree. Surrendering takes a lot of strength and bravery, again I say, it is never ever easy. But with love everything is possible. That kind of love that surpasses all understanding. That kind of love that brings you peace amidst trouble. The love that can only be found in Him. Pilar accepted and surrendered and fought for her love.
By the River Piedra, I sat down and wept.
I don't like this. I feel so naked reading this book. It's like a reflection of a life I have never ever lived if He was never been there for me, because of Him, someone so much greater than me who guides and directs me to where I should go. If He was not there I would have been like Maria, a girl with dreams, so eager to embark to any adventure life in store for her and marry the prince charming she always yearned for, be married with the man she was destined to be with for the rest of her life.
I was Maria, I think, some part of me is Maria. She represents us, women, some tiny bit parts of her life in this story, Eleven Minutes, is without a doubt a representation of what we aspire and experience in our lives. When she met Ralf Hart, it made all the difference. The tragedy that was about to fall to Maria vanished upon his existence in her life. He saved her. Just like how she saved him. They compliment each other. In his weakness, she was his strength. In her darkness, he was her light.
This book has mature contents, not to be recommended to young minds who aren't yet ready to face one of the many realities in life, specifically the harsh ones. There is something redemptive in this story, and that is for you to discover once you read and finish this book. This is a love story, the kind of love you can discover in all facets of life.
When Will You Choose Me? is my third book by Neil Jed Castro. His style of poetry does not have rhyming per se, and his works are poetic in their own way. I also posted a little about his two other books that I already read here.
I was thinking how should I say it, but this recent work of his is somewhat not that appealing to me compared to the first two books I read from him. The contents are quite shorter than the other two: Maybe You'll Love Me When I'm Gone and What If It's Too Late. I feel bitin after reading When Will You Choose Me? I was expecting more since the first two set a standard of my expectations.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this book. It reminded me of the mistakes and good things I made and still doing in the present. I got to reminisce the time when I did not choose myself. Sometimes there is beauty in choosing and not choosing yourself, and we have to be reminded that everything is a double-edged sword just like that in choosing ourselves, there will always be consequences. I hope you make the right choice of choosing yourself, and that it makes you happy.
This is my first book from Joena San Diego. She was recommended to me through a comment on my Youtube channel. I got interested, yet months have already passed before I got this book from a sale on an online shop.
I was expecting something poetic like the ones I read from Lang Leav and Dawn Lanuza. Though my expectation was not met, Letters of Solana did not fail to invoke feelings, the good ones, in me. It is poetic in its own way. It's inspiring and refreshing at the same time. It talks about forgiveness and redemption. It's spiritual and realistic. I am blessed to have read this book. Every letter in this book hits the right spot, a gentle reminder to anyone who struggles in this race called life. I highly recommend this book if you are seeking something spiritual and realistic that may bring some realization in your troubled mind, this is the one.
Fun. Intriguing. Exciting. Good. And evil.
Chantal Prym is a young woman who lives in the small town of Viscos. He met the stranger who brought along with a devil.
The cruelty and injustice in the world occur in everyone's life every now and then like it is a normal thing to happen in our everyday life. The good and evil dwell in us fights to see who wins and takes the ground of petty humans like me. This eternal battle between good and evil has been taking so long and sometimes I ask God when is this going to end. When are we going to be freed from traps set by the devil so we can fall to sin again and again? And that makes him happy. Taking us with him to his fall and condemnation, he wants us, the humans so loved by God, to befall on the same horrible fate he is destined to end with because of his greed and jealousy.
...for it wasn't a temptation, it was a trap.
The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho is a retelling of the story of Elijah. His story is written in the Old Testament of the Bible. He is a prophet of the One God of Israel and has performed miracles permitted by the One True God.
Before I continued on reading this retelling by Paulo Coelho, I read first the account of Elijah in the book of Kings of the Old Testament. I know Elijah by name and as the prophet of One God who performed miracles, but I have not yet fully read his account on the Bible not until I picked this book from the Deluxe Collection of Paulo Coelho's book set. And I am glad I read it first.
The Fifth Mountain is the best read I have so far from Paulo Coelho's works. Best of the bests.
It took me a while to finish reading the next book on the spot on my blog since I got swamp with paperwork and other stuff from my teaching job. The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho is such a mystical and heartwarming journey. Like any other books that I read from Coelho, the topics and ideas dwell on reality and the spiritual realm. The journey to find what truly matters with the life that we have in this world. I like how Coelho incorporates Bible teaching into his works. There are some beliefs that I agree with and some that I disagree with when it comes to practicing one's faith.
Knowing someone's or something's purpose is what this book thought me at the end of my reading journey with The Pilgrimage. That before we realize our purpose, sometimes we have to go through difficulties and others are consequences of the wrong decisions we have made in life. We tend to be elusive in seeking answers to our questions and reasons for our sufferings, and we also have the tendency to complicate things more than they should be. We sometimes reject the simple answers and reasons in front of us, thinking these answers and reasons seem to be so easy and most of the time we are not used to them. We think there is something more.
God is more than willing to give us all the enlightenment we need if only we are willing to listen to Him and obey His command.
Petrus, as a guide and teacher, his character in the book reminded me that "Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself."
Paulo, as the main character, reminded me that we are all pilgrims in this journey called life. We have to be attentive and humble to receive what God wants to tell us or what He wants us to do.
As I read through this book, I could not help but dream of walking on that same road the main character did.
You should not read this.
But everything is up to you.
You have your own will.
You are not a robot to be controlled by anyone, in any way.
But discern wisely on how you use the free gift of your own will.
The narration is good. The writing style is superb. The different point of view of accounts talking about one certain is an odd thing for me to get a unifying story out of it, but it works. Everything is interconnected. I didn't miss a single thing about Athena, who is also the main topic of every narration of different people in this book.
I was hesitant to read this book because of how it was written, it was a first for me to encounter or to read a book written this way. I was afraid I would get bored and drop the book half-way, yet just like any other book of Paulo Coelho that I read, The Witch of Portobello did not disappoint me. I was hooked and eager to see how the story would end, what would happen to Athena, and how the author would wrap up the story in a way that it would not end up in tragedy.
It is a story about faith and I will not recommend this book for people who yet to have deep and rooted faith in the One and Only True God, and also a personal intimate relationship with Him.
It is so natural for Paulo Coelho to touch on the most controversial and sensitive issues in our society through his books. I thought maybe this book is some kind of analogy of what is happening truly in our society. Once you read this, you decide, but please consider my fair warning from the paragraph before this one.
Right now, I do wonder if I should still read his books. Should I finish the entire book set? Is it still worth it?
I'm saying yes.
But what do you think?
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