H-E-L-P!!!

Friends, I need your help. Do any of you know anyone from Maryland USA? If you do, could you email me please. I have a huge favor to ask. This is regarding a very dear friend of mine.

Thank you very much! God bless.

Fearless Friday

I had lunch with my very pregnant friend, Melo (Yey!), and Marvin. Both were my former office mates. Of course there's the usual question --- "How are you?" And my usual answer --- "I'm perfect (then laughs)! All is well." I'm so happy to see them again.

Anyway, it's Friday once again. This is a day we come together to pray for each other.

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Hebrew 10:35-36

Please pray for :

• My friend Melo --- safe and healthy pregnancy. She's on her 5th month.

• My friend Sylvia --- she hasn't been logging on to YM and hasn't answered my email. I'm really worried about her. Her phone line isn't working. We just communicate through email or YM. Please pray for her safety.
  

• Acel --- she's 24. Her parents have warned her not to attend Sunday service anymore or else they're going to kick her out of their house. They're blaming her for all the tragedies in her family because she started following Jesus.

• Corry & KC --- restoration of their relationship with their daughter April.

• Physical healing for --- my mom, Denise & Eddie, Mel and Sheila.

• Financial breakthrough for my friends Sylvia, Angie & Randy, Mel, Sheila.

• Wisdom and revelation with regards to my business plans.

• My heart's desires.

"...According to your faith will it be done to you" Matthew 9:29

"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27

If you have prayer requests and you need somebody to stand in the gap for you, please leave a comment here and I will pray.

Visit Angie at Free Spirit Haven for more Fearless Friday entries.

Thankful Thursday

This week I thank the Lord for continuously speaking to me through His Word about my heart's desires and assuring me of His wonderful plans for my life. I thank the Lord also for giving me opportunities to share His goodness and pray for others.

I thank the Lord for my good health; His love and patience; His peace and joy; His blessings and favors; His direction and guidance upon my life and His shield of protection on me against the wolves.

I continue to praise and honor the Lord for everything.

"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts." 1 Chronicles 16:8-9

What are you thankful for this week?

For more Thankful Thursday, visit Iris over at Grace Alone.

WFW - Isaiah 49:26

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

A Humbling Experience

"Hey! What's the big idea? I did everything you told me to and this is what I get?! It's so unfair! Where are you? Can you hear me?" Does that sound familiar?

We talked about the life of Joseph at church and I took note of these verses because I found comfort and assurance in them. His story is just one of the many stories in the Bible where God showed His sovereignty.

"Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh (Forget), saying, 'God made me forget all my hardships and my parental home.' He named his second son Ephraim (Double Prosperity), saying, 'God has prospered me in the land of my sorrow.'" Genesis 41:51-52 (The Message)

All of us go through sufferings in this life, but though many are our troubles, God has promised to be there with us. I never realized and appreciated the depth of this truth until I've gone through valleys in my life. You see, if you don't humble yourself, God will humble you and

mind you He will, really.

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 14:11

Joseph, like us, went through the humbling process as well. Imagine receiving a dream when he was still a teenager and arrogantly telling his parents and siblings that they will bow down to him (Genesis 37:5-10). After that we know that he was sold by his own brothers, then landed in the house of Potiphar. God did prosper him there. But that's not the end of his sufferings.

"With me in charge, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am..." Genesis 39:8-9 (Emphasis mine)

See that bit of arrogance there? Well, yes he feared the Lord that's why he didn't give in to temptation. But again for standing for what is right, he was thrown to prison. What was that all about? I think it is just right to say that God wasn't done with him yet. But in spite of this set back, God was still right there with him.

"The LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden." Genesis 39:21

For showing kindness to his fellow men, in return, he was forgotten.

"The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him." Genesis 40:23

Can you imagine the frustrations he might have felt that time? If I were in his shoes I would probably be kicking and screaming already. But God has a plan.

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Hebrew 10:35-36

He knows what He is doing. He has everything figured out already. God spoke to Pharaoh in his dreams, but didn't know how to interpret it. (See, God does speak even to unbelievers and backsliders so let's not lose hope in praying for our loved ones) Now this time the cup bearer remembered Joseph (Genesis 41:9-13). God has already set up people ahead of us to do something good for us, yes, even people we don't know. How's that possible? It's God's favor upon us.

After all the pains and sufferings Joseph went through all those years, God's promise to him came to pass even when it already looked impossible and hopeless in the natural. His dreams when he was just a teenager...

"We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it." Genesis 37:7

"I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." Genesis 37:9

... finally came to pass.

"Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground." Genesis 42:6

Are you going through valleys in your life too? If we surrender everything to God, if we would put our trust in Him, He will also make us forget our troubles and hardships; and prosper us in the land of our sorrow. He makes everything beautiful in his time.

Be patient. The best is yet to come.