For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
Psalm 139:13 ESV
For He knows
God already wrote His plans and purpose in our hearts and souls. In our mother's womb, He already knew us. He imprinted a blue print of His plans and purpose in our lives. He meticulously engraved every detail in our DNA. Long before we even realize it, we abide in Him as He abides in us, and it is such a liberating moment to finally carry the burdens willingly or on most occassions surrender them all to the Lord and let His amazing awesomeness be magnified and glorified.
Sometimes His plans and purpose in our lives are difficult to accept or even to comprehend. It is humane not to submit since we want control over things that relate to us. We freak out if things get out of control, and again it is humane. Surrendering is connotated as a weak word and most of us do not want to be seen as weak as if it is a taboo. We prefer to portray a strong, brave, and iridescent character. Who does not want a strong, brave, and iridescent character?
I believe that the true esscense of strength, courage, and iridescence comes from Him. The wisdom we get whenever we pray, read, and meditate His words gives us the access to genuine and gentlest form of strength, courage, and iridescence. Therefore, it is a must that we seek wisdom from Him.
Look what I found on the website of Acronym Finder, HOLY BIBLE stands for He Only Left You Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, which really makes sense since a lot of self-help books that contain instructions on how to deal with life occupy spaces of physical and online bookstore. There is high demand on self-help books as if everyone is so clueless on how to go on with life and I cannot deny the truth in the idea that we are really, most of the time clueless if we do seek true wisdom.
That I have come to know
Along with this journey called life, sometimes or most of the time we all get to have our own dreams and plans crafted from or motivated by the fallen world we all live in. We own them like we were the source of the creation. We own them disregarding the real Creator. But the Lord always has the final say. If they are aligned to His plan and purpose there is a big chance, a miracle even, that He will redirect and repurpose our "own" plans. He has his ways, greater than ours.
I have dreams. Or should I say I had dreams? Some of them, the lesser ones I was able to realize and some of the big ones I decided to forget and not to pursue.
Perhaps for the big dreams that I considered, I did not have the courage to pursue them. Yet. Perhaps, the time was not right. Yet. I was afraid of failure. I did not want to accept that I lacked in many things: finances, talent and skills. Like it was not really for me, yet I forced it instead of actually pursuing it.
The decision to stop pursuing dreams was a bruise on my pride, and it was never an immediate acceptance. It was a long process of struggle whether I stop or put them on hold. And I did stop and put them on hold. I was hurt, pained, and humiliated by my own doings. I felt victimized of my own self-assault. I was hard on myself, unforgiving. Like if I did not get to have or be it, then there was no sense of living. I was on track of proving my worth to the world. The same world that would continue to exist without me in it.
Right now, I am just amazed by how God is putting me back on track of pursuing the old dreams and plans I have, and that I have come to know that my plans and dreams abide to His purpose. Every good thing takes time. I could only pray and seek His wisdom. Everything has its season and when it is time to let go and move on to the next season, I could only pray that I have yet give up because there are countless times that I wanted to give up. It is all thanks to God that I am here.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
A Year Older
Last April I turned a year older. That is a belated happy birthday to me! Yey! I was not able to post anything on my blog last month. Sigh. I tried to, but it was never posted. I started and was not able to finish those supposed to be blogpost on the month of April. A little disappointing but manageable.
So, May started. We are now in the beginning of this year's second quarter. Life is hard and never easy, yet we are able to be living and breathing up to this point. I am happy for you and me. We are alive and trying are best to stay grounded and continue thriving.
I am a year older, but I do not feel old. This must be what 33 is. I feel young, maybe one of the reasons is my daily encounter with my students. They are playful, and sometimes naughty or difficult to deal with, but that is what youngsters do. They are who they are, it is part of growing up. They do what they are supposed to do. It is a phase where adults need to be patient and understanding towards them, to build relationship through communication towards mutual respect.
Now, I feel like getting older from all the things I have said. I never thought I would have that kind of realization. I had this thought that I am selfish and uncaring towards others. As I grow older, I have come to realize that I can also be selfless and caring to others in my own ways, and there maybe times that my act of selflessness and caring will be misinterpreted by some. I have to improve on that I think, but I no longer burden myself with unnecessary worry or doubt.
A Year Wiser
Am I a year wiser? I do wonder, yet I feel like I am and I know that I am. There is an improvement that is for sure. With the decisions I made and I am making, I think I am a year wiser. I wise up in terms of my financial and social skills. My spiritual health is improving. My relationship with God has been better, and trusting Him that it will get even more better as I grow wiser. I have come to love teaching and learning with my students. It has been a long journey, twelve (12) years in teaching, thirty three (33) years of sojourning in this life. All I can say is thank You, Lord, in good times and bad times. I still have a long way to go.
I do not have too much, but I have enough. God is so gracious in providing my needs, my family's, and the people close to me.
I do not feel good all the time, but I know that my future is in His hands. He takes care of me.
I maybe doubting sometimes, but He is my assurance. Life can get hard as it is, yet His grace and provisions are here to stay.
I am expectant and hopeful for the plans He has for my life. I pray to serve my purpose in this life according to His will and I know it is not easy sometimes, and again life can be difficult as it already is.
Life still has its beauty, even though there are more down times, rather than high time.
Life can be enjoyed, despite the trials and tribulations.
Life is not a race, so do not be in a hurry.
A life with Him is a life of joy, peace, love, trials, and tribulations! It is a not a strom free life, but a storm proof life. Storm proof at 33!
P.S. For those who are curious, yes, I am 200% girl, female, from the lineage of Eve, and other names or labels you can think of. I am a queen and a princess.
Does love
really? Does love choose? Does love stay?
What if
people leave, does it mean there is no more love?
What if people stay, does it mean there is still love?
Well, how
can I know if there is love in the first place? How do I know what I have is
love? How do I know what I feel is love? Is there a structured step-by-step process
to know if love exist? Is there any clue that will lead to the right and
perfect answers to all these queries inside my head?
Questions after questions only lead to more questions.
Sometimes love can be the most confusing abstract idea we can ever deal with, but there are also times when love, and its power, is the only thing that can provide clarity.
ChooseLiving is making choices. We are constantly choosing and choosing, either we are doing it consciously or not. Life is a choice. Cliché as it may sound, it is a fact. Making choices is one of the building blocks of one’s human life. We experience domino effect every time we choose. Consequences are the results of our choices. Good choices may lead to good consequences and bad choices may lead to bad consequences.
Logically speaking, having the right wisdom is an advantage in making good choices. We made wrong choices and suffered bad consequences. I made ones and I welcomed regret along with the pain attached to it. We made right choices and enjoyed good consequences. I made good ones I guess and I was at ease with joy or sometimes I doubted if I deserve the joy from those good consequences.
Is there any love among the choices we have made in our lives so far? Are we motivated by love every single time we make a choice?
Know love and choose love, always, and I am aware how hard to choose it always.
StayWe have no choice over consequences, but we have control over our choices. Consequences are about to befall upon us even if we try to avoid them or put a barricade around us. They are the results of our choices. Whether we prefer to run away or face the consequence, the end game is that it will only run after us. It will never stop chasing after us. So face and deal with it. Stay, never leave. Once we know the true meaning of love, stay, and stay in love.
Stay. Stay, and accept the consequences of our own choices. Stay, and learn from the consequences of our own choices. Stay, and believe that the wrong choices we made are not that hopeless.
There is hope, so stay. Please stay. Do not leave.
Are we to stay or leave?
You should stay. We should stay. Never leave. Please.
Everything is unclear if we do not have the knowledge of the certainties. Life itself is full of ambiguity, full of questions. No one can be certain of the future if we put our belief into something that is as temporal as this world that we live in. We make choices every day, and sometimes I think it makes more sense to choose to leave this world, rather than to stay. Sometimes, there is that strong desire within us that engulfs our whole being to no longer want to stay, to choose to leave and never to stay.
Sounds like running someone wants to badly run away. Do we? Do I? Do I badly want to run away? To choose leaving, rather than staying. But I should stay, we should stay, and never forget that we are chosen. He stays with us in love. Love chooses, love stays. He chooses and He definitely stays.
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Ephesians 1:4 ESV
Congratulations Lacey Williams! Thank you for joining the giveaway. I will send a message to your email about how to claim your prize, please look forward to it. Thank you again.
I have nothing concrete to share on this blog as of this moment, I am going
with the flow of my thoughts right now, though, I have a concrete title for
this blogpost and that is Love Listens, Love Obeys. I keep on talking about love and love on this season of love in the month
of February. Love Scars, Love Heals is my first entry and Love Hurts, Love Waits is the second one.
I ask myself: Do I have the slightest authority or even the right to write a post about something under the context of Love Listens, Love Obeys?
I do listen. I do obey. But to what extent? Am I doing enough for love? Love in all its forms: Agape, Storge, Philia, and (never mind) Eros.
Love listens
Geb.tv
explains these four (4) types of love found in the Bible as:
- Eros (never mind) is romantic love.
- Storge is love between family members.
- Philia is brotherly or sisterly love, or love in friendship.
- Agape is the unconditional love or the love that God has for us.
- First, Eros is not the only kind of love to be pursued in this world. It is never the end goal of life’s purpose. Romantic love is good but it should never pressure anyone to be in a romantic relationship that supposed to lead the involved persons into marriage.
- Second, Storge and Philia are related and shared the same context to the second commandment: to love your neighbor as yourself, and it is succeeded by the first and greatest commandment: to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
- Lastly, God’s love for us or Agape serves as a reminder of the greatest blessing He has given to mankind and that is grace, the gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
Love obeys
Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
It is easy to describe love, but the hard part is manifesting the fruit of
love, the byproduct of love. Saying I love you Lord is as easy as A-B-C or
1-2-3. Not listening and obeying sometimes or most of the times makes me
feel like I am not enough to love or be loved at all.
I wonder if I am listening and obeying enough to prove my love. Am I enough or am I putting too much pressure on myself and doubting my worth? I am caught up with the idea of not being and not doing enough for love: my love for God, for my family, my friends, and my work.
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
To love is to listen and to obey. Love is not deaf, it listens. Love is not
passive, it obeys.
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