My Day: April Fool's Day

I planned to post a blog here today because last year, I posted a topic about women who are considered fools by this world. I am about to have a part II of that post; however, God has planned another topic - an unusual way of showing me that today should be really my day...it is because April 1 is considered a Fool's Day, this is then my day... How can I say so? Here is the story....

Thursday night, I had a talk with my mother and I learned that the financial crises we have is more than I expected. But instead of feeling the problem, I thanked God for that conversation because He let me see the other side of my mother which I, most of the time, misunderstood.

That night my prayer is very different. Whenever a problem is there, I always cry before the Lord and seeing things as if everything is really hopeless. This night is very different. There is a work from the Divine, a work I couldn’t explain but I know that His comfort and His love enveloped my heart. My prayers were not about our problems but about His sovereignty. My heart was very at peace infront of Him. I prayed that He knows my needs, He knows where and how those needs will be met.

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
and to take him at his word;
just to rest upon his promise,
and to know, "Thus saith the Lord." (Louisa M. R. Stead)

What happened today is very unusual. I went to school to finish my clearance. After doing so, I was told to go to the Human Resource Department of our school. I was handed a memo stating that my contract will not be renewed this coming June. I was somehow shocked and all that I could asked was, “On what reason?” I was told that it has been four years that I am in the school and yet I have not finished my Masteral Degree yet. Ma’am Zeny was teary eyed as she was telling me that. She kept on telling me that she knows I am a Christian and that I am strong enough to face this trial. She said more things to encourage me but there is something more that shouts louder within me. This is the answer for my prayer, Lord, isn’t it?

I managed to go to our Department Head who told me more words of encouragement. I told one of my close co-instructor Jawe and she cried and cried. Many thought I have the poise to control my emotions; some told me I am so strong facing that news. They don’t know what happened last night.

I don’t know where – the place of my new work, the source of our income. Yet, one thing I know, this time it will not be from CdD. God knows it is not through CdD. I don’t know what awaits my future but I am not afraid; the One who created the heavens and the earth never fails to uphold me. In the past He never left me; in my present, He is always there and so in my future, I know He is there.

This may be foolishness but His grace increases all the more whenever things are so blurry and yet I confidently say and even sing:

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!
How I've proved him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust him more! (Louisa M. R. Stead)

The Response to A Note IN Authentic Beauty

Nard handed me the book Authentic Beauty by Leslie Ludy with a note which you can read here. He started with poetry and through poetry I will also express my heart:

Yes on My 29th on March 9

You gave me nine reasons for yes, hesitations also amount to nine

Let me put first the eleven years of friendship from the Divine

If things won't work out what will happen to that

Fear to lose this friendship envelopes my heart

Next reason is just my foolishness plus a pride

Thinking of my own words that affirm my friends there's no feeling inside

Will a nod silence their question if we are tied

Or will this bring further questions beyond my mind

I am not into a perfect family; you know our struggles too

My obligation holds me; you know that's true

You have been with me through it all

Too much shoulder you have offered; will I ask for more

In addition to that I have given you lots of cares

For financial stability is always my prayer

Again, you have bear them all with me

Can I, again, involve you into a greater degree

Let us add to the list this frail body I have

For you know my health is not in good tide

This puts me to another worry

Can I then be the perfect complementary

I know you since we are about five or six

If familiarity is one of the criteria that would fix

Yet this area of courtship is very unfamiliar to me

Though many think I know a lot about this LCM bee

I am not a perfect person; still sinner inside

I fear the whole of me especially if self is not denied

If that happens I am pushed to this last hesitation

Could I be an effective partner in your Single Passion

Lots of what ifs and why's fill my mind

I could have nine reasons to say "No" to thine

But when you assured that God's grace will suffice

Then my heart with you in His hands I entrust

In any way I can serve Him more, there I'll be

If that means with you then I won't flee

May God be gracious as He always is

In this new path I take as I told you "Yes"

An Extraordinary Birthday Celebration

It is always a tradition as well as a challenge to save the best for our (Nard and I) birthdays. We want our gifts and even preparations be surprised and this is the most surprising gift I received. He handed me the book I long to have though actually the book itself is not a surprise for he already informed me not to buy that book for he would do it for me. What surprised me is the note which you can read below:

March 9, Year 29, Reason 9

Farcical was I by the age of fourteen

When proposal I made to a girl from Palaming

I know the shame being under that chico tree

Don't laugh when now, to you, it's through poetry

My antecedents here are generally childish

Like a boy losing against Yuri's Skirmish

But please endure and persevere to the end

I am just setting the stage for my message to send

First, you know that we both are already tired

Of students and friends asking if we're tied

Instead of stepping through miles of NOT

At least it will already suffice with a nod

Besides, Finals is near and fast approaching

I need someone who will assist in the checking

I don't want Mel, Anj, and Stan making a grin

When my class records to them appear clean

Allow me to state that I need a potential refuge

From a skinny guy who maybe needs the dude Freud

Don't want him to think of an imaginary reason

That her beloved Jean Grey is my obsession

For this next item, I fear to be misunderstood

For I envy those whose kids are so good

Christine Joy already has two nice Añonuevos

While our bellies to pageants will surely lose

I am perplexed how they change their status much

Considering mine is the same since Game and Watch

I am curious and to this river I want a sip

And see in my Facebook, "...in a relationship"

"Why on my birthday?" is a question you may raise

But it's known that dates on my head can't place

For one brain cubicle, March 9 will save me

Less I forget and make you upset or even angry

Moreover, March 9 is a perfect pocket asylum

For anniversaries' expenses not being premium

It will be nine days after we receive our last pay

And we need to be thrifty until the sixth day

I guess you now find it hard to follow through

That reason eight states my pity for you

Because today, you are just a step down 30

Drawing nearer to the words of Carolyn McCulley

Your bestfriend you know even before second grade

You know there is no grim in these rhymes I made

Enough of making these tiring stanzas silly

For my mood changes, now I am drafting sincerely

The Lord taught me how to see Authentic Beauty

Eventhough, not like you, I don't read Ludy

I fully rest on the Bible's infallibility

Exciting me to see your charm even at fifty

In you, united are orthodoxy and domesticity

And even apologetics and catholicity

I can't help but appreciate you to be pretty

For the GOD of glory defines you as lovely

You may doubt, as an abstract noun, it's not superb

But I promise my love will be an active verb

Times will be testing but there is a GOD of grace

So won't you affirm and to courtship with me say Yes?

==================

my answer is here

While True Love is Waiting

This was part of my lecture delivered last February 11, 2007 to the young people. Almost everybody is celebrating this day so in order to grab this time and yet not to spoil my (unfinished yet) lecture for the young people on Friday, I wanna share this first.

This was titled while true love is waiting because many young people are asking what they are supposed to do if they are not to pursue romantic relationship early. But before we answer that question, let us clarify first why we need to wait.

Why true love waits?

Waiting until I’m ready for commitment before pursuing romance is just one example of letting Christ’s love control my relationship with the opposite sex. (Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, p.20)

In Song of Songs, Solomon defines love as strong as death (8:6). The power of love is beyond human comprehension and comparing it to death is the proof of its power.

The wisest man on earth is the same man who acknowledged that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven (Eccl.3:1). And there is even a proper time to love (Eccl.3:8a).

1. Waiting is obedience.

Waiting for the right time to love the right person is not a violation of man’s freedom to love. But treating/seeing your brothers/sisters as potential “partner” or spending time to seek for the right man/woman is a violation. It is disobedience towards God for not loving one another as Christ and it is sinning against our brothers/sisters for not portraying the love of Christ for them.

2. Waiting is trusting God.

Rushing is not trusting God at all. Our primary concern should be to seek first the kingdom of God (Mt.6:33a), not to seek who is he/she that God has prepared for us. Because if the latter is our concern, we don not trust God that all these things shall be added unto you (Mt.6:33b). We don’t trust God He knows we need and long for someone to love us. We forget to see that God knows the inmost part of us, we neglect to remember that Adam didn’t ask for Eve, God knew it is not good for him to be alone (Gen.2:18).

3. Waiting teaches us to be patient as we learn to acknowledge God’s sovereignty.

In the book of Ecclesiastes it says, there is a proper time and procedure for every matter (8:6a). And our Sovereign God is the Author of that perfect time and procedure.

4. Waiting is submission to God as you allow Him to mold you until the proper time.

Joshua Harris says that the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing.

5. Waiting is an opportunity to enjoy singleness as a gift from God.

This is the moment for every believer to grow in Christ and serve Him with an undivided devotion (I Cor.7:32, 34).

How to know the right time?

And the wise heart will know its proper time and procedure for each matter. (Eccl.5:5b)

The Bible doesn’t tell us to weigh our emotions and feelings to know if he/she is the right man/woman. It tells us that a wise heart will discern it. That is why, we need to pray and seek for the wisdom, not to seek him/her.

We need to guard our hearts (Prov.4:23a) especially that the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure (Jer.17:9). Let us pray for God’s guidance and blessing of a wise heart. A wise heart is a patient heart. A wise heart is an obedient heart. A wise heart is a heart that loves like Christ.

“Waiting for God’s timing requires trusting in His goodness and wisdom. We develop patience as we trust that God denies us what we think is good only because He has something better for us- both now and in the future.” (Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, p.81)

And While True Love is Waiting…

Waiting for the day, ‘til I hear You say, “Here’s the one I have created just for you.”

(Jaci Velasquez, I Promise)

I will celebrate in its due season, and wait for the one who’s waiting for me.

(This Promise I Made)

While waiting for the proper man and the proper time, what are we supposed to do?

Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. (Eph.5:15-17)

In Genesis 24:10-66, it is not the sign prayed by the servant that has made Rebekah the chosen girl for Isaac. God has already made Rebekah to be for Isaac even before they were born. What made Rebekah perfect for the perfect timing of God is that she was just doing her daily tasks without knowing that God was already arranging every scenario of her love life.

Greg Harris said that Rebekah was able to meet God’s divine appointment for her life because she was faithfully carrying out her current obligations.

What are our current obligations?

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matt.22:37)

It’s easy to say that we love God and we trust Him. The following are just some questions that will help us evaluate our relationship with God now:

1. How intimate or deep do we know our God?
2. How much time do we spend in a day with God?
3. Is God our first thought in the morning and the last thought before we sleep?
4. Do we enjoy reading God’s Word and do we meditate on them?
5. Do we enjoy our prayer time and do we have our quiet times?

The evil in desire typically does not lie in what we want, but in that we want it too much. (John Calvin)

It is not a sin to desire for a future partner. It becomes a sin when it already strips our focus on God’s glory and sovereignty. When longings and imaginations fill our hearts, when discontentment enters our hearts and that we long for someone and fails to see God.

A relationship with God through faith in Christ is the answer to the insecurity of our earthly life. (Jim Elliff)

Let us pray for satisfaction in God, the contentment for His love in us, and the assurance for the hope we have in Him is secured in His hands. Be a godly man, a man after God’s own heart.

A deep and an intimate relationship with the Lord will make us secure even if the people around us pressure us to be like them, even if they all have partners and we don’t have.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. (John Piper)

If we are committing ourselves in service to God, in devotion to prayer, and in meditation of His Word, we are sure that we are on His will. And God is most glorified if we are contented and satisfied in His love.

• Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt.22:39)

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. (Rom.12:10-11)

Next to God, our current obligation is our duty towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul reminded the Romans to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. God gives us godly people not for us to pinpoint who, among them, is our future partner. God wants us to grow with them, enjoy the fellowship as we glorify God in loving each other as Christ loved us.

We need to develop pure and genuine friendship with others. C.S. Lewis defines friendship as two people walking side by side toward a common goal. For Christians, this common goal is the growth in Christ’s likeness as they glorify God.

Treating others as friends, as brothers and sisters in Christ, will help us demonstrate Christ’s love. It is greatly encouraged to develop deeper friendship with the same sex to avoid any romantic intimacy. Yet, opposite-sex friendship is not discourage, for there are some things that you may learn from them also. However, this friendship requires greater accountability and responsibility for both sides of men and ladies.

The Responsibility

Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters with absolute purity. (I Tim.5:1b-2)

Men’s responsibility

It is the nature of a man to be protective and gentleman, especially to a person so dear to him. Yet, men should take an extra care to consider the vulnerability of a woman’s heart. It is your responsibility to be very careful with what you do or say with a woman. You need to guard the heart of a woman against any arousal of unwanted feeling and expectations. You have the accountability with your sisters to share with their burdens but take a lot of care for them (us) not to be dependent on you, lead them back to the cross always.

Do not treat any of your sisters as potential girlfriend. Any special treatment you show to a girl might distract her from her focus on the Lord. Her focus will not be the service you are doing for her, it will be you.

Girls’ responsibility

The responsibility doesn’t lie on men alone. Girls, we need to guard our feelings against any romantic attraction or much emotional dependence. We should not misunderstand nor give extra romantic reasons for every action our brothers do to us.

Any single idea of seeing a brother as a partner will lead us away from the will of God. And being intimate with someone, especially in the opposite sex, is quite dangerous. It is our responsibility to draw a line between friendship and intimacy. We are more emotional and fragile to affections.

It is our weakness to desire for the excitement of romance and we love the comfort and the feeling of being liked and loved by someone. Infatuation may focus us away from God.

Let us take seriously this warning from Joshua Harris:

Instead of making God the object of our longing, we wrongly direct these feelings toward another human. We became idolaters, bowing to someone other than God, hoping that this person will meet our needs and bring us fulfillment.