July is here!

I woke up today and the verse “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” has once again become real to me. I don’t live a perfect life and being in the flesh means I wake up with 100 % probability of failure. Yet, the Lord give that chance to me every single day.

Today, is the first day of July. Another month, another journey! A lot has happened the months since the last update in this blog. In April, I went to Thailand to visit some missionary friends who have been serving there for many years already. It was an experience that, while it threatened my life, it all the more fortified my courage to go to the ends of the earth for Christ. 

School has started again last month and I am looking forward to many things this Academic year. I started attending Master in Ministries classes and this has been my plan since. The Lord has granted me favor.

I lost my maternal Grandfather two weeks ago. The family is still mourning for is loss but holding on to the hope of that great reunion someday. Meanwhile, we enjoyed the reunion we had when everyone came home to celebrate his life. 

I pray for joy and strength as we continue the year. It is only by His grace that we are sustained. 

Where God's Stories Take Me

I had the privilege of spending three days at the Faith Hope and Love Kid’s Ranch in Sariaya, Quezon. I joined  FaithBaptist Church – South Metro’s team who conducted the DVBS at the ranch. I must say that the group of young people I was with was awesome. I’m talking about young boys and girls in their teens who were passionately giving their best to the Lord. They could have chosen to stay at home, or take a needful summer break. Instead, they went all-out for God. Inspiring!

The young people teaching the kids at DVBS.

The FBC-South Metro Team with the FHL Family

FHL Kid’s Ranch is an orphanage God entrusted to Celing and Lorraine Lamar. The Lamars are missionaries who opened their home and family to children who are robbed of it. I came to know them a little more than 10 years ago when I worked with them in the first orphanage they built. When God expanded their territory, they built FHL. God’s miracles unfold to them by the hundreds. Their testimony is powerful!

For 10 years now, FBC-SM handles the DVBS in the orphanage. The kids in the ranch enjoy the time out of their regular school. The kids from the neighborhood come and enjoy the time of learning God’s word too. This year, we had 181 kids! The theme was “Knowing God”.

God is gracious to me for making me a part of this year’s DVBS. They flew me in to be the story teller for  3 days! Appointments like this affirm my gift. There is a certain kind of peace and joy when one operates in the area of his or her gifting. My joy welled up and my peace was overflowing. Praise God!!!

I love this Job!

with the awesome young people of FBC-SM. Me in a jacket because I was sick.  :(

Though short, the time with the kids are worthwhile. DVBS time is an investment of great returns. After all, the scripture says “ My words will not return to me empty. It will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11.

I will be flying back to Bacolod on Monday to start another journey. That, will be another ‘grace-full’ story.  Thank you for upholding me in your prayers and for celebrating with me the joys of serving God!  








Note: All photos are from my friend CeeJay

Peace, and the Sound of the Sea

The sound of the sea was the first sound I heard today, the first of 2011.

We live about 150 meters from the shoreline. I grew up liking the sea but I never polished my swimming strokes. I thought, I naturally float so why bother. *insertlaugh*

Our community is interesting. We pay a premium for the land our house stands on so technically, we are not squatters. BUT, all around us, its almost like that. Houses are all over you couldn’t sketch a decent map. Streets are not named (which usually causes delays when waiting for some delivery) Some houses are wall-to-wall close, open sewer, animal dung sunbathe on the pavement. It’s a melting pot of people from different walks of life, with different cultures. Some houses have tall fences and iron gates with elaborate details. Some don’t have fences. People spend more time talking on the nameless streets than inside their houses. It has been known too as the refuge of wanted criminals. It cannot be described as anything else but VILLA BARBAS.

On normal days, we would hear the neighbor’s TV, radio and their amplified blabber. It is also ordinary to hear motor engines, hammer sounds and well, occasionally, gunshots ( as with the case of our neighbour committing suicide).  But today, it was not a normal day. The moment I was conscious, I ONLY heard the humming of the sea.Yes, ONLY the humming of the sea.

I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving. It is not everyday that it gets to be this silent.

Silence is golden. It doesn’t imply peace. But I believe silence highlights the presence or the absence of it.And today, in that solitary moment, I am glad I found PEACE:

I don’t have a bank account that would last me for the next ten years, and I’m fine with that.

I don’t have a job that would guarantee that I’d get a paycheck twice a month, and I’m fine with that.

I don’t have a car nor the mileage that would take me places, and I’m fine with that.

I don’t have a jaw-dropping resume that I could flash at anyone to get a job, and I’m fine with that.

And here’s why.

I knew what it was like to have money (that would make me last for about a few years.hehehe)  but it didn’t make me feel worry-free.

I knew what it was like to get paychecks every 15 days but it did not give me any guarantee of the next bite on my plate.

I knew what it was like to go places (no, I don’t know yet how it feels to drive my own car. Hehe!) but it only made me feel like a stranger.

I knew what it was like to get a fine job without having the need to apply for it, but it did not make me feel like I was at my best.

Peace is knowing that Someone feeds you, even if He has to send it through a raven.

Peace is knowing that Someone has already given you what you need, even if its not exactly what you want.

Peace is knowing that Someone will bring you to the right destination, even if you don’t see where you are headed.

Peace is knowing that Someone wants you to DO what He had created you to for, even if it means quitting what you think you are best at.

Peace is knowing that Someone has a perfect plan for everything, even if means ruining yours.

In 2010, there were days when ‘ravens’ fed me.  I didn’t get the ‘things’ I wanted. I boarded buses and planes to some unheard places. I lessened my ‘stage’ time and ‘parked my pen’ for some needful service. I saw precious people walk away. I watched my dreams dissolve into thin air.

But, unlike the chaos of my environment that has now gone back to normal as I write, the chaos of 2010 is never to return. Peace is knowing that 2010 didn’t go well as I wanted it, BUT being fine with it.

I have a fascination with the sea. Some say the sea divides the islands. As I listened to it hum today, I’m reminded of what I believe about the sea: It connects them.

There are days I want the sea water to turn to glass so people don’t have to live very far apart. But, in Genesis, God said 

“Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.”

 And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.” 


So, I'm totally fine with that. :D

May you all have a PEACEFUL 2011!!!!

What I Know Now

"Recently, I have this inner tugging to be somewhere. Where? I dont know. I just know some hungry land is calling me. A land where my footprints are pre-etched. It may be the next town, or the neighboring island, or continents afar - I don't know. I just know I am called somewhere." - July 1, 2009, Venus Speaks

I know NOW that that 'land' is Burkina Faso. Or at least, the first of those lands if God has other plans for me. It was not an easy process. Finding it out entailed a lot of thinking over, of praying and well, wrestling with God. But hey, whoever wins a fight with God? So I let God be God and said "I'll go". In the future blogging days, I'll be adding more to that story of "how and when I said yes".

I know NOW that believing you're doing God a favor by saying 'yes' to missions is a misunderstanding. I used to touch my 'halo' whenever I tell people I committed to be a missionary. But thank God, I didn't continue misinformed. Haha! God revealed to me through His word and through many humbling experiences that really, THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME...that I can never do it without Him, and that He is the one doing me a  favor. You see, God could bless a 'nation' without my help or anyone's. But when He called me into this, He chose to bless people through me. That's the same promise He made to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 "...and people will be blessed through you."

The preserved magazine cut-out notebook cover

I know NOW that a tiny tugging could be a signal of something big. Your desires mean something. You have to check which side of the pendulum your desires swing you to. Your education, life experiences, the people you meet - they all make up the complete plan God has for you. In college, I cut-out a magazine picture of an African woman in colorful clothing. I don't know why I never forget that it fascinated me. I also have a cut-out picture of an African herdsman carrying a stringed instrument and a staff. I used it to cover my college notebook (back then when covering notebooks with some photos were cool..hehe). Then I met some African friends online through my poetry blog. Something about them draws me. I know NOW that it is part of THE Plan.

I know NOW that just when you think God makes your life beautiful, He starts to make it even more beautiful. And it is not because He gives you things or people (*wink*). It is because He ushers you into His secret places where He reveals Himself. And you get to see Him up close...and personal. And then you want to cry and dance and tell the whole world what you know about Him but then... your mouth opens dry...because words fall short. And you ponder in silence the God you saw and quietly pray that the world may see Him too.

What I know NOW, I didn't know before.

What do you know NOW? Are you excited about what you DON'T know yet?

*Note: Venus Speaks is my poetry blog.