Wordsmith for God

I dream of walking down the aisle inside the church on my wedding day, but God isn’t turning that dream into a reality. It was a rainy afternoon of August 3, 2020, when I received a message via Messenger that turned my dreams upside down. One of JR’s colleague and Ate Joy, his cousin, informed me that he was rushed to the nearest hospital from school due to unbearable stomach ache. It was two days after the diagnosis revealed the cause – he has kidney stones. His nephrologist told us that he has to undergo a Shock Wave Lithotripsy (SWL), a nonsurgical technique for treating stones in the kidney using high-energy shock waves, which costs 56,000 pesos and is available at one of the hospitals in Cagayan de Oro City.  His family is hesitant on allowing him to undergo the said medical procedure; and although we would both opt to follow the doctor’s recommendation, we are financially unable to do so. He has decided to take the doctor’s prescribed medicines along with suggested herbal me...

If the Master comes in the midst of this pandemic, will you be found obeying or complaining? The Enhanced Community Quarantine observed in various cities and municipalities might be extended together with the ongoing lockdown of Luzon to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There are 3,660 confirmed cases, 73 recorded recoveries and 163 documented deaths in our country as of April 6, 2020 according to Worldometer. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said on his National Address last April 5, 2020 that the 100 billion for one month or the 270 billion for two months is not enough. He himself does not know until when we will have to stay inside our homes. It’s easy for us to get discouraged about the unpleasant circumstance we are facing today. We might find ourselves complaining due to the discomfort we are experiencing – draining savings, running out food supplies, boring quarantine days and tiring quarantine routine. We all want our normal li...

“Maayo pa ang among panghugas sa plato kay may JOY. Ako kay wala na gyud. Kasamok aning quarantine oy!” The Enhanced Community Quarantine due to COVID-19 might be extended up to April 30 as stated by the president on his national address last night, April 6, 2020. But what if instead of being quarantined, we are imprisoned? “Ada oy, mura naman gihapon ta ug piniriso ani atong kahimtang,” you might say. But let’s differentiate quarantine and imprisonment. If you are quarantined, looking at the experience we are having right now, we still have the privilege to go out the street to at least give our eyes a quick refreshing view. We have the privilege to go and buy some essential items we need at home. We are able to communicate freely through various means of communication being offered by today’s technology. We spend each passing day with our family in the comfort of our homes. But if you are imprisoned, you can’t do all of those you could do if you are quarantined. Yo...

How can you be happy when your source of happiness has been quarantined? Everyone wants to be happy; we make this elusive ideal a lifelong pursuit: succeeding in our careers, marrying our “ideal” partner, traveling around the globe, obtaining material possessions, spending money, and making memories with family and friends. But if our happiness depends on circumstances, what will happen if we do not get the promotion we’ve been working on for years, face a love that will not  be able to walk down the aisle, become financially incapable of traveling or spending, lose our material possessions, loved one dies, and the party is over? Often happiness flees and despair sets in. Joy stands in contrast to happiness. Joy is the quiet, confident assurance of God’s love and work in our lives – that he will be there no matter what! It runs deeper and stronger. Happiness depends on happenings, but joy depends on Christ. Joy is a dominant theme in the letter sent by Paul...

I never knew I could hate this much until she came. How would you feel when the man you love sets His eye on another woman? How will you respond to the people who teased them towards each other? What will you do with the pain that they have caused you? These questions haunted me for months. I’ve been speaking and teaching about forgiveness for years. I thought I knew what forgiveness is after wrestling with it for years after the devastating havoc I faced when my parents parted ways. But no, I haven’t learned that much about forgiveness until my own relationship started to fall apart. The man whom I loved fell on a blinding trap placed by an enemy as we went through the renovation of our hearts. Yes, he got himself involved with another woman. I prayed for him in those days I was chasing God because I was hungry and thirsty for Him. In the midst of my obedience was his battle towards obedience. The woman whom he got himself involved with was teased to him by people ...

“When I grow up, I don’t want to be a teacher!” Public school teachers in the Philippines consider themselves less compensated despite the five-digit basic salary they are receiving every month, five-digit thirteenth-month pay, four-digit clothing allowance, four-digit chalk allowance and all other benefits they are receiving. I know for sure how much a public school teacher is earning monthly and annually because I am one. If asked if my salary is enough, I will be a hypocrite to say it is. No matter how high my salary could be, it will never be enough if I’ll use it to meet my wants more than my needs. The higher the income, the higher my wants will be. That for sure is a fact for someone whose life is geared on living only for this world. We wake up every day and report to our individual offices for a purpose. We apply for jobs that offer financial security and stability. We work hard in order to have ourselves promoted and earn more. We look for investment and business...

When I am discouraged, when my heart is sad, I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again – my Savior and my God! I do lose my optimism sometimes and lose sight of the hope Christ has been giving me. There are days when I feel like everything lies in my hand – both successes and failures. I forget that I can do all things through Christ which gives me strength (Philippians 4:13) and I end up depending on my own understanding instead. I try to resolve every discouragement and trials in my own way, my own terms, and my own wisdom. And when things become totally messed up or out of my control, I would then whine up just like the Israelites in the wilderness. When we see ourselves as the masters of our fate and the captain of our souls, we are actually bringing ourselves into our self-made doom. We can’t make it on our own. No matter how hard we try to, we will only end up broken, tired, and lost. True wisdom and power are found in God; counsel and understandin...

A chance does not always come easy. Some chances come roughly. And one thing I learned just now is that, sometimes, the root cause of our depression is our expectation. No relationship is perfect. Every relationship has its own share of struggles which can reveal the real condition of our hearts. Our response can be filled with thorns but, to those who have tasted that one true love demonstrated on the cross, it can lead us into asking ourselves as to who God is in the midst  of the rising heat. Each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes , nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush (Luke 6:44). We ought not to stay on our thorny response. Instead, by God’s grace, we are to move into the fruit - biblical response to our present situation. You might be single now and is feeling that paralyzing self-condemnation where you drown yourself on the thought that your singleness is a curse. You might be in that complicated relationship wh...

I woke up today saying to myself, “I had it all wrong”. I appear ordinary – no high aspirations, no big steps taken, and no investment. Only a few people know that I am working on so much more behind my simplistic alter ego. I am involved in collaborative researches, joint literary book writing, and team application for law studies. I love the idea of people seeing me as a simpleton and be surprised one day that I am no ordinary gal. I have been so immersed with these worldly investments that I forgot for quite some time my real citizenship and what I was called for. “We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it,” says David in Psalm 39:6. I have spent so much time researching for facts and analyzing data, but less on ransacking the Word and delighting it. I spent so much time writing poems and articles for local and national papers, but less time on my quiet time with the Lord in order to bui...

Obedience. That was the word I wrote on the board when our senior pastor asked us to write a word which we would like to pursue this year, 2019. I’ve been struggling with obedience since I was child. I could come up with an array of reasons, excuses, and dramas just so I could make my way or get what I want.  This year isn’t a stellar year for me. As a matter of fact, I was not able to have a perfect obedience to the Lord. I’ve struggled with walking in the Spirit so that I will not gratify the desires of my flesh (Gal. 5:16). I, like Paul, could feel that pain of his sentiment, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Rom. 7:15).” Whenever I fall short, I could hear Jesus say, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Mark 14:38).” Countless days have passed when I wake up asking, “God, why is it so hard to obey?”  There was sufferin...

“What will I write on the bucket list page of my new planner?” I asked myself earlier today after jotting down some notes. I have a lot of plans for myself this year. I was supposed to finish my prerequisite subjects in my masters so that I could already begin with my thesis by first semester of 2020. But God led me to quit school so that I could send my younger brother to college instead. I thought I will be marching down the aisle this year and find myself becoming a wife to my first (and I dream of being the last) boyfriend. But God caused us to undergo a renovation of the heart for us to love Him more than we love each other. I was about to proceed to law after finding out that my scholarship has long been waiting for me. But God granted me repentance and I found God’s justification to be of more value to me than justifying people on court in the years to come. I’ve had so many plans for myself. I’ve had goals. I was supposed to be living the life I planned to have years ago. B...