WFW - Psalm 130:5

Hop on to Lori's for more WFW entries. God bless!!!

Totally Random

I finally got the results of my APE (Annual Physical Exam)this afternoon and praise God, everything's okay except for one test. I'd  be going back to the clinic on Thursday to consult a doctor.  This is just a minor thing, but I wanted to make sure that I do everything right. Besides, consultation is free. 

Anyway, my friends and I watched Hunger Games last Saturday.  I saw the trailer weeks before I watched the movie and I wasn't too fascinated with it.  But I did get curious with all the buzz and its comparison to the Twilight saga.  So yeah, I watched.

Well, sorry to all the fans of Hunger Games, but I guess this is just not my cup of tea. =(

Please pray for my dad.  He had his CT Scan and X-ray today and results will be released after three days I think.  I hope and pray that the results will be favorable.

Run Pia!

I went running with my church friends early tonight.  My first time to run actually.  When I finally got into my stride, it helped me finished 5k.  Not bad for a first timer like me.  I never thought I'd be interested in a rigorous exercise like this, in fact I've never run on treadmills at the gym before.  By the way, thanks to Cecille, Jacq, Annie and Lalien for the very fun run tonight.

Running has been on my mind for three weeks now.  I was drawn more into it when I attended the 5th Annual Philippine Life Insurance Congress at the SMX Convention Center last March 5 where Coach Rio Dela Cruz, the man behind RUNRIO, was one of the speakers. 

 

Coach Rio

Some of the benefits of running are:

• Improves cardiovascular health
• Improves bone health
• Improves mood
• Better coordination
• Lowers blood pressure
• Slows down aging process
• Weight loss

Well, got to get a new pair of running shoes.    

We Are Called Victorious

Went back to Salon de Matt earlier to have my hair treatment. The hair cut I had two months ago was just perfect now that it grew longer.  I just wish I could fix my hair everyday like I just stepped out of a salon.  Wishful thinking...

Anyway, I wanted to share with you a very encouraging message we had at church this afternoon.  It was about Gideon.  See how similar our responses are sometimes to Gideon's.

12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”  Judges 6:12-13

The Lord called Gideon a mighty warrior in verse 13.  In verse 15 Gideon responded by asking how he can save Israel when his clan's the weakest and he's the least in his family.  But God knows the future.  Notice how God didn't mind Gideon's social standing.  In the end we knew that Gideon was able to defeat the Midianites.  

In the same way, we are called victorious.  You ask, "But God, how can I be called victorious when everything in my life is a huge mess?"   Or maybe you ask, "If the Lord is with me, why did all these terrible things happen to me?" "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

We have to understand that God sees the end from the beginning.  He already knew what our future holds.  He isn't surprised  with the things we are going through now.  He has a clear picture of what's going on. He knows and He has a plan! And there's only one thing we need to do - OBEY.

Do you sometimes feel  like God abandoned you and allowed you to be defeated by your circumstances?  I guess we all felt that way one way or the other.  The good news is, those were just feelings and not facts. For as long as God is with us, we can be assured of victory no matter how bad and ugly our current situation is.  

Wherever we are in life, it is where we're suppose to be. It's not a mistake that we are where we are.  Each of us is given a unique assignment and we have to respond by obeying.  Like in verse 14, God is turning to us and saying, "Am I not sending you?"  And in verse 16, God is telling us, "I will be with you..."

"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

Thankful Thursday

 

We all heard of the saying Health is Wealth.  I believe it is.  Do you?

I am grateful that I got a recommendation already by my health card provider to get an annual physical exam.  I'm planning to have it done next week.  

While I was in the grocery yesterday buying some fruits and veggies, I saw an Anlene booth which gave free bone health check. Well, it's free so I went ahead and had myself checked.

Bone Ultrasonometer

High risk for Osteoporosis = -2.5 and below

Medium risk for Osteoporosis = -2.4 to -1.0

Low risk for Osteoporosis = -0.9 and above

My result was -1.2. So that put me under the medium risk category.  Hey, I'm still thankful because now that I know, I'd be able to do something about it.  Besides, the consultant said I'm fine.  I just need to take more calcium and repeat the test after six months.  I can do that.  No biggie.  

Anyway, I got a gift from my boss from Etude House Korea.  It's a sweet smelling body mist.  I like the bottle a lot.  Isn't it cute?

I thank God for all His blessings to me this week, big and small.

What are you thankful for this week?


For more Thankful Thursday, visit Laurie over at Women Taking a Stand.

It's Time to Experience Sun Life

This is to all my fellow Filipinos here and abroad.  

How do we like to live our retirement years?  Do we like to live it in comfort and dignity?  If so, prompt and proper actions are very critical.

How often do we say Saka na (next time)?  How often do we procrastinate? 

Did you ever say when...

• You're in your 20s - "I still have 40 years.  I will enjoy my money first, besides, I just graduated from college. I'm very young to even be thinking of those things."

• You're in your 30s - "I have a house and a car to pay."  Or maybe, "I have a family to feed. Saka na yan." 

• You're in your 40s - "My kids are in college. I have so many expenses to take care of."Or maybe, "I have credit cards to pay. Saka na yan."

• You're in your 50s - "I have to take care of my aging parents."  Or maybe, "I'd like to help my kids set up their business. Maybe next time."

• And then you hit 65 and you wished you started 40 years ago.

IT’S TIME! is Sun Life’s advocacy to empower Filipinos to achieve financial freedom.

Think about it... No one wants to be poor in old age, but many just don't make plans not to be.

Be responsible. Be brave. Be an advocate.

IT'S TIME!

For more information about Sun Life and financial planning, please leave me a comment or send me a private message by clicking here.

Real Vs. Counterfeit

Hi standers! It's Monday once again. Here's another devotional written by David from North Carolina. Read on and stay encouraged!

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One of the great tricks of the enemy is his ability to offer a counterfeit version of many things that God offers us. Satan offers adulterous and sexually immoral relationships as counterfeits of God’s design of a one-flesh marriage for life. Satan gets others focused on their self-righteous moral lives as a counterfeit way to be right with God. Satan offers counterfeit solutions to addiction and bondage that don’t require us to confess sin or repent. Let the message we hear today be loud and clear: Satan’s counterfeits do not please God, and God will stand up for the holiness of His Name. We never know when (for some it is sooner rather than later), but make no mistake that God will expose counterfeits and sin.

Jonah disobeyed God and ran away from God’s calling, and yet he apparently could find rest sleeping in the ship he was on (sailing away from Ninevah, where God told him to go).

"Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep." Jonah 1:4-5

It is amazing that Jonah was able to find rest in his rebellion. To many of us, it may appear that our prodigals are comfortable and "at rest" in their rebellion, but read the remainder of Jonah if you do not know how God dealt with his sin (Jonah is 4 short chapters). The counterfeit rest our prodigal may be experiencing right now will end. Continue to pray for your prodigal and all prodigals that God would move in their lives to wake them from their sinful slumber. For Jonah, it took a mighty storm and even that was not enough, for Jonah simply asked to be tossed into the sea rather than repent. God had to get his attention the hard way. On the other hand, Jesus offers rest that is free for the taking.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

"Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, 'Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!'" Matthew 8:23-25

Notice, Jesus sleeping on the boat during the storm was nothing like Jonah sleeping on the boat during the storm. The storm for Jonah was caused by the LORD to bring Jonah to repentance. The storm while Jesus was sleeping was allowed to increase the faith of the disciples. Jesus rebuked the wind and waves, it was calm, and the disciples learned an important lesson: even with storms raging in our lives, we are safe if we are in Jesus’ boat. If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, please do not wait in giving your life to Him and getting in "His boat."

"...Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43:1b-2

It is so comforting to me to know that though Satan may try to counterfeit what God does, but God decides where the limit is. If we go back in Exodus, we see that many of the miraculous signs that God performed through Moses and Aaron in the presence of Pharaoh were able to be counterfeited by Pharaoh’s magicians (i.e., counterfeited by Satan). But after a few plagues, God decided to end the counterfeits (starting with the plague of gnats in Exodus 8).

"...All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not..." Exodus 8:17-18

Even when brokenness finally hits home as it does at some point for all believers (and it will for our prodigals, so don’t stop praying!), Satan offers a counterfeit version of brokenness, called "worldly sorrow" in the Bible, which does not produce the repentance that God demands.

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."  2 Corinthians 7:10

Please pray for your prodigal, and pray for prodigals around the world, that he/she would have a life-changing touch by the Holy Spirit this very day. Repentance will surely follow when the Lord touches the heart.

My Nephew, Andre

Andre, my eight year old nephew, was here since Thursday for three days.  Their summer vacation started a bit early.  From their house we went straight to Robinson's Galleria for our prayer and worship night.  It's his first time to attend one.  I was quite surprised when I saw him raising his hand while worshiping.  I'm so proud of him.  To see him worshiping the Lord with us... simply priceless!

The next day, he woke up early in the morning, had breakfast then went straight to the pool to go swimming.  Oh, how he loved the water!  I remembered four years ago, my mom scolded him because he wouldn't go down the pool.   He was afraid of the water. I kept laughing while looking at these old photos.  Andre was so scared of my mom. Just look at him.  

Poor Andre... Haha!

Yesterday, he was even bargaining his way so I'd let him stay in the water longer.  He can't seem to get enough of it.

Towards the end of the day he met a new friend, Tomy, Jenn's son. She's one of my church mates.  Aren't they cute?

This evening, before I brought him home, Andre enjoyed Kid's Church at the back while I was at the main hall for the service. 

I'm so proud of my nephew.  I pray to God that he will grow up to be a man of God.  

By the way, I have a total of four nephews and one beautiful niece.  I love them all to pieces!

WFW - Psalm 34:15-16

Hop on to Lori's for more WFW entries. God bless!!!

I'm A Happy Girl

I cooked!  Yey!

Well, I do a little for myself, but I don't usually invite friends over and cook.  This time I did.  I just prepared a very simple, no brainer local dish - Sinigang for my guests. Definitely one of my favorites! Thank God it turned out okay.  This inspired me to take out our old recipe notebook and start cooking again.  Nothing complicated, just simple dishes.  I was thinking of preparing Dad's Italian Spaghetti with meatballs next. I love Dad's recipe!

Anyway,  this week has been pretty busy for me.  But I still had some fun time with friends.  Well, these weren't really planned.  We were just at the right place, at the right time.

Last Thursday, after our prayer and worship night, my friends and I watched This Means War starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy and Til Schweiger.  We all had a good laugh watching this movie.

The following day, Friday, I went to the grocery to get the ingredients I needed for today's lunch with friends then I went straight to our Bible Study night which I was assigned to lead this week.  We discussed Psalm 34.  What a beautiful, beautiful chapter it was.

Guess what happened next.

We party crashed!  Lol!

My friend's friend's sister (Uh, do you follow?) celebrated her 18th birthday and we were all invited to come to her place and eat.  Talk about perfect timing!  We were starving!  Haha!

L-R: Rose, Christine, Jenn, me & Ellaine

The party crashers

I just took a shot of an existing photo and cropped it that's why these photos are blurry.  Sorry for that.

Anyway,  my week went pretty well.  I'm a happy girl. Thank you, Lord!