Grateful

That's written in 1 Thessalonians 5:18. "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus". It's pretty clear that we should not only be grateful when we are in bliss but also during rough times. Why? because that's God's will. I am still learning though because admittedly when you are hurting the least you think of is to give thanks di ba? but if we give thanks even in not so good situation somehow it makes the burden lighter.

So today, I am grateful for all that is happening in our life (yes even with the bumps in the road-that are sometimes painful. For sure it will make me stronger. And of course, I am even more grateful for all the blessings the Lord is showering us everyday.

-food in the table
-electricity
-protection
-our job
-friends

and for that hope that someday soon we will be having our own house, we are grateful that we can dream of the house we like, the furniture, even the comfortable cushion for chair, the kitchen, lanai and all.

Thank you for being able to dream and hope.

Indeed. I am grateful to you Lord.

Thankful Thursday

 

It's been a while since my last Thankful Thursday post. Glad I'm able to participate today. So..what am I thankful for this week? well, life has been hard for the past months since my father passed away but I am so thankful that we are moving on. It is still painful remembering him and the times when he was still with us but then again I am reminded that it is not really goodbye for us but someday soon we'll see each other again.

I also want to thank God for my mother's health-she's been through a lot since my father got sick last year, now we are able to focus on her. We went to an eye doctor and have her eyes checked because she's been complaining about her irritated eyes, thankful that God provided again for her medicines and all.

I am also thankful for our new TV- I only prayed for atleast  a working TV where I can watch news but God gave us more than that. Big. Brand new. LCD. Thank you Lord!!

What are you thankful for this week? share it with us at Laurie's blog and I'm sure someone out there might be encouraged by your thankful post.

Blessings everyone!!!

Thankful

Yesterday, my Tatay (father) turned 76 years old and my heart is so grateful because he was given another year. And we are all thankful because of the result of his biopsy (which I blogged here). We have yet to see this new doctor but I know and I believe in my heart that indeed it is not cancer.

He received lots of gifts yesterday to his delight. I love that he loved the shirt I gave him (bought it from Bicol where I had a four day trip with  prior to his birthday)

I thank God that we can still give him hugs, kisses and that he is still with us despite being so sick last year. Though his activities are now limited due to his shortness of breath he still tries to at least be active for us. This year he has completely gave up on his normal activities (his locking hex nuts and other tools totally forgotten)but still we are thankful that he can walk on his own with his cane of course.

Last night, I can see that his very happy, with all of us siblings being together for his birthday. He joined me and my husband in dinner and he said he ate much :) And speaking of eating, we had loads of foods yesterday,"lechon" (roasted pig) being the most special and the star in the table.

Thank you Lord for hearing our prayers, thank you for giving my Tatay another year. We are all grateful.

Thankful Thursday

It's been a while since I last participated in Thankful Thursday :)  I know I have lot's to be thankful for everyday. I'm counting my blessings and focusing on what we have rather than what we don't have. Learning to be content on everything that God has given us, so here's my list;

1. Thankful for the job of my husband-I'm beginning to feel less stress in terms of our finances, his regular salary is such a big help and I know in no time will be more able to save  :) and hopefully buy some stuff like platinum rings perhaps to replace our cheap wedding rings or treat the whole family in a vacation. I really hope so someday.

2. I am so much thankful  for the health of my parents, my father is still seeing his doctor and still need a lot of test but we're seeing a very good improvement in his health, he is now walking daily and he looks better than before. Praise God!

3. My husband and I are also grateful for the opportunity to serve HIM in several ministries even if we have our regular day jobs. We are thankful that the band (SELAH) are being given more opportunities to lead the people in worship in different places here in the Philippines. I am thankful also for the people who supports the Fishnets ministry specially our scholarship program.

That's it for now :D If you are thankful, join us at "grace alone" blog.

Thankful Thursday-Family

It's been a while since the last time I participated in Thankful Thursday. Hopefully I'll be able to do it again every week, truly we are never out of something to be thankful for.

This week I am grateful for my family - my parents are here with us in the city and will be staying with my sister's family for a while. Thank you that finally they gave in to our request. It is hard for us to visit them so often in the province and we are worried most of the times as they were both old and living alone in our old home. Now  I can see them as often as I want to.

I am also very thankful about their health, my father stopped smoking years ago ( so no need to buy him  cigar humidors ) and I'm glad he did that. It helped him a lot, he's on medicines but for his age I consider him still healthy.  My mother is also doing good, strong and still very much willing to help her children and adores her grandkids to the max. She's also taking meds for sugar maintenance but other than that she's healthy. They're now both on their 70's but still fine. Thank God for that. 

Today, we also celebrate a niece birthday. She's my first niece and she's a joy to both her parents and to the whole family.  Thankful that she's been given to us :) 

That's me and her:

Happy 10th birthday Rachel!

Thank you Lord that I have a strong family relationship and that in tough times (like now) I can just be with them and be reminded that life is good :)

Hop on to Laurie's blog for more Thankful entries.

Thankful Thursday- Sushi and others

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

This is the day when I think of all the recent blessings the Father has bestowed upon me and write it in a post :) Thank you Lord for Thankful Thursday.

So here's my list for this week;

* Thank God for the gastronomic Sunday afternoon with friends. Thank you for the discount voucher. If not with that we could have not afford this Japanese restaurant that offers Sushi all you can!

* Thank you Lord for my Father's good health, he was able to travel alone and is now back home safe and sound.

* Again, thank you dear God for your GRACE- I am living day by day under your endless grace and mercy.

* Thank you Lord for all the provisions, for providing for our every need. You are such a great God!!

Join us over Iris blog for more Thankful entries.

Thankful Thursday - Parents

This week I have so much to thank for,

1. Seeing my parents and seeing them happy- priceless.

2. Being together, all of us siblings, my parents and nephews and nieces. Oh how I missed them all so much!

(see how they're all trying to squeeze themselves in one bed?plus us )

3. Enjoying the food prepared by my mother. She is a great cook and I love how she painstakingly prepare our favorite meal when we are with them.

4. Family- this week I kept thanking God how blessed am I that I have a close family and that we might not be as rich as others but our family is still intact and love each other.

5. I am also thankful for my nails done :) I do get pedicure and manicure very very seldom so I'm thankful i had it this week :)

God is good indeed and my heart is overflowing because of His goodness!!!

This week, Iris is hosting the Thankful Thursday meme, please join us there.

Thankful Thursday-Grace

Today on Thankful Thursday, Laurie of Women Taking A Stand talked about God's grace and love. And I can not agree more. I am so thankful that we  have a gracious God and that His grace is beyond human understanding.

He can love me even when most of the time I am not lovable at all.I walk each day and I sin and I stumble and fall but at the end of the day, He's there, waiting for me and welcoming me with His two big hands. Even now as I write this, I can feel him and hear him say, "it's alright my child"...

Without HIS grace, I am nothing. Thank you so much Lord!!!

And with that, I'm sharing one of my all time favorite song " GRACE ALONE"

Grace Alone
by Scott Wesley Brown, Jeff Nelson

Every promise we can make
Every prayer and step of faith
Every difference we can make
Is only by His grace.

Every mountain we will climb
Every ray of hope we shine
Every blessing left behind
Is only by His grace

Strength unknown He will provide
Christ in us, our cornerstone
We will go forth
in grace alone.

Every soul we long to reach
Every heart we hope to teach
Everywhere we share His peace
Is only by His grace.

Every loving word we say
Every tear we wipe away
Every sorrow turned to praise
Is only by His grace.

Have a blessed Thankful Thursday everyone!!

Thankful Thursday

Today, Dineen is taking over in place of Lynn who is on vacation. She talks about turning point in your life, you know those times that you had it planned and then God had another and a much better plan for bigger purpose.

My turning point would be when I left my home province and moved here in Manila. (Philippines'Capital City. I was broken hearted,on my late twenties, no job and depressed. My first weeks were spent sleeping the whole day and staying awake the whole night ( I lived in my sister's house then)just so I won't be able to talk to anyone. I did not want to leave province because all my good friends were there but God has planned something better for me.


Eventually, God laid out His plan and I found a job, found a church to which I was restored into God's hand and found God's best for me. Had I not leave my job in the province and decided to stay there, I'd probably be forever a backslider and married to an irresponsible man. Thank you so much Lord for orchestrating events in my life.

My other thankful list for the week would be;

1. I was sick Monday & Tuesday- Thanks so much for the healing and rest
2. My brother's problem has been settled and me and my family were relieved.
3. My brother in law is going home from the hospital today, his hernia operation went smooth and well.

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share it with us at Lynn's site.

And just before I go, let me share you also RoyalImaging.com document imaging, document scanning and document management solution is what they offer, they can scan all kinds of documents from A to E size paper.

Hope you all have a good day!! and Happy weekend everyone :) God is good ALL THE TIME!

Thankful Thursday

Gratitude….Recognizing the treasure in the simple-a child’s hug, fertile soil, a golden sunset. Relishing the comfort of the common-a warm bed, a hot meal, a clean shirt. – Max Lucado


It was what I read when I opened my devotional book this morning. And while we are ( I am) going through a lot of testings this time, I am gently reminded by our sweet Lord that I am blessed and that there are many reasons to be thankful for.

It has been quite sometime since I last joined this meme and I also thought that God reminded me to come and join ladies with thankful hearts again as He has made me read about being thankful exactly Thursday morning :)

So here’s my list for this week;

1. Food in the table – God has always been faithful and provided every food for each meal.

2. Electricity – we tend to not see how blessed we are if we have electricity at home until someone you know tells you they doesn’t have and that their home is dark and gloomy and. So today, I take time to thank the Lord that we have that and we have lights and fan to cool us during the night  shallow but I am very much thankful for that.

3. Friends that make you laugh – I don’t categorized friends but I am thankful I have these set of friends that always makes me laugh which I find very helpful during tough times. You know when all you need is a good laugh.

How about you? What are you thankful for this week? Let us know, please join us at Spiritually Unequal Marriage blog.

Thankful that I am employed

I have considered resigning from my job many times, If I remember it right I told my boss thrice that I am resigning already but God do have different plans because I'm still with my boss and few weeks from now, it will be seven years since I accepted the job.

And at this point in time, I am thankful that I have a job and a stable one. Seeing the many graduates and unemployed..really I am grateful. This job has helped me more than I expected and though we do not have payday advance program in our company, they were never late in giving our salary and is helping employees during emergencies.

So right now the last thing I do not want to happen is to lose this job because of our house project. I'll stay few more years and unless the Lord brings me/us to another land I think I'll hang on here.

Waking up early in the morning to come to office is a struggle..
Serving a boss that is demanding and strict is hard
But in spite of all that..I am blessed. I work hard for what I spend.

Thankful Thursday-Thanksgiving.Parents

Laurie of Women Taking a Stand is still hosting this week and next month we will all meet at Iris site.

It's Thanksgiving day today in America and maybe some part of the world I think is also celebrating this day. Facebook is flooded with many thankful post. Grateful hearts are overflowing and I am sure the Lord is happy. I just wish we all learn to practice gratefulness through out the year. And for the Thankful Thursday ladies..let's keep on thanking HIM..everyday!!

Today I take time to thank the Lord for the long life He has given my parents. I have just been into a funeral service and I can't imagine my parents being gone so I am super thankful that up to now they are still with us and they are still healthy. We still have time to let them know how much we love and appreciate them. Thank you Lord.

Have a happy thanksgiving everyone! It is also a long weekend here and I hope you all spend great time with your family.

Thankful Thursday

I miss Thankful Thursday posts!! This month, Laurie of Woman Taking A Stand is hosting so if you want to join us, visit her site and link there.

I know most of Thankful Ladies will be talking about Thanksgiving which is happening next week, how I wish we have that here too.

But this week I am so thankful for a lot of things. The past three weeks that I have not been joining this meme was one of the toughest weeks I had this year.

* I had severe ear infection in both ears, fortunately one after the other. Praise God my ears are doing fine now.

* I also had tough days in work ( toughest was the day when I cried in our office bathroom) - I was there sitting in was crying out to God. Praise God for the ever present comfort we can have in our Father.

* Our finances was down also- bills have to be paid (all of them has given us for disconnection notice) but I am thankful and praising Him because none was disconnected -He is providing for our every need.

* On happy thoughts- I am thankful for the kids event we will be having this Saturday- a mini carnival for 135 SPECIAL Children. Thanking HIM for the provision for all the needs for this ministry.Thanking Him for a dedicated team that is willing to serve and is giving their best effort.

Sorry for my long list. How about you? what are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday-Vacation

Thankful Thursday is very interesting today because you'll  know something you do not know yet about all the ladies participating! Head on to Lynn's site and join us.

But before I do mine. I just want to thank God for being so GOOD!!!!! The 5 days vacation we spent with my husband's relatives is such a a wonderful time. I rested and was rejuvenated.

see the reflection of the couds and the blue sky in the clear water?..Beautiful!!

The place is very laid back and I love it, they have no Television, no Internet, not even a radio so we were completely shut off from the world for 5 days and we all loved it!. We had shrimps and crabs everyday (no wonder I gained weight again and thinking of trying tonalin cla to lose some) we swam our hearts out to beautiful river just besides their home and we went boating for two days!! And what's even better is that we were able to share God's love to the kids and to the people as we did one teaching/feeding day for the children :)

And for my list of ten things you do not know about me, here it goes.

1. I find it hard to sleep without a pillow in my feet.
2. I was once a recipient of the highest award in class (first grade)
3. And I didn't get any on the 2nd grade (I really do not know why)
4. I always have ballpen/s in my bag (I feel like incomplete if I have my bag and I do not have a pen on it.
5. I love working behind weddings, parties and events!
6. But I do not love partying :(
7. I do not like sweet foods such as cake, ice cream, jams but I do crave for chocolates once in a blue moon.
8. I am a night person as in I can stay awake the whole night and sleep the whole day.
9. My day always start with a breakfast even if I wake up in the afternoon:) (during weekends)
10. I Do not have a beautiful voic ebut I sing in the church :)

Thankful Thursday-Vacation

Irish of Grace Alone had that in her title and I smiled upon seeing it. Why? because we're going to have a 5 day vacation too next week! And I can't wait. I know I deserve it because I've been working double time lately. And I am so thankful God has arranged this trip for us.

We are going home to my husband's home town for the first time since we got married and you can tell I am excited to bits! But the husband is more excited than I am, he's so excited to show me where he grew up, where he spend his childhood. It is one hour flight from where we live. A very nice province, very historical, very rich in culture. I know I'll enjoy sight seeing, the beauty of the landscape and the beach. The old homes with rustic furniture and the food. I'll take a lot of pictures and will share it to you promise.

I am thankful that God will provide for this trip. We got the airfare months ago and it was on sale, for the two of us we only paid 318.00 or $8.00 equivalent which is so cheap. Thank God for seat sales!!!

God is so good! he knows when we need a break..I so love HIM!!

What are you thankful for this week? Share it with us and be blessed to!!

Thankful Thursday-Books

Life is hard but God is good.. (from a friend’s FB status) and I couldn’t agree more.

And so it is just fitting to give thanks to God for He is good. Iris of Grace Alone is hosting this month so if you want to be inspired, go visit her blog.

This week I am particularly thankful for these devotional books I got from book fair. Each book only cost $2.30 or 99.00 pesos in our currency. They were on sale and I am so thankful I was able to avail them.

Books help me a lot in my spiritual walk, especially the devotional type which leads me to God’s word daily. I so love to read personal testimonies. I get inspired and blessed by the works of God in their lives.

How about you? what are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday

It's Thankful Thursday and yes I am early for the post today :) It is only 1:57 AM Thursday here. here's my thankful list for this week :)

1. I am thankful for the husband's birthday last Tuesday. We celebrated 29 years of God's goodness in his life. I am thankful that I've got to spend the whole day with him, we watch a movie then had dinner at Shakey's :) Just the two of us. I am so thankful for my God's best.

 (goofing around on his b-day)

2. Our friends/housemate (Carmel & Andrew) are leaving this morning for Canada and we are praising God with them for all the provisions, for the visa, for the tickets and for everything that God has bestowed to them. We indeed serve a faithful God!

3. I am thanking God that He keeps on inspiring us, to dream new dreams and to reach for it. You know when you hear good stories that inspires you, you're motivated and encouraged. Like when I hear good weight-loss stories, faith challenging stories, it refuels your drive.

4. Life may not always be good but I am super thankful that God is always good.He never change.

Iris of Grace Alone is hosting this month, head on to her site and visit more thankful posts.

Thankful Thursday

I know we will never run out of things to be grateful for if we will only count our blessings.

*~*
Last Saturday was my youngest nephew's 1st birthday celebration and I want to thank God for giving him to our family. He is such a cute  and indeed a source of joy. We are thankful that he is healthy and that he can now walk on his own!!

*~*
It's my hubby's birthday next week!- and I can't tell how much grateful I am for my husband even if it is not his birthday.I can not imagine my life without him. I'll post more about him next week :)

*~*
Thanking God for his GRACE- as Iris have shared on her blog today. GRACE is unmerited favor from the Lord and who couldn't be thankful?

Have a nice day everyone!

Thankful Thursday- Random

Today is Thankful Thursday so let us all give thanks to the LORD, well not only on Thursday but everyday :) Head on to Laurie's blog if you want  to join us.

Here's my random thankful list for this week.

1. Good health for me and hubby ( a lot of people around us are getting sick but Praise God we are spared)

2. For the opportunity to serve Him through the hospital visitation ( it is very depressing and hubby ended up consoling me, I just hope they've felt God's love through our visit and gift giving)

3. For God's word - Job 38 -It's like He was talking to me in a very personal way, telling me, "how can you doubt the things I can do for you Raquel? didn't you see I command each and every morning you have ?"

Thank you Lord for everything!!!

Thankful Thursday : Phil 4:19

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. "Philippians 4:19

I was looking for another verse to share on my FB status last Tuesday night but the Lord has given me this verse instead. For the reason that He knows I am worrying about our finances and HE wants me to trust Him fully with what we need for this week.

I meditated on that verse day and night since then.

Last night, just after we prayed, my husband received a text message, a repeat order of printed t-shirts we made last month!. I really love how the Lord surprises us!! And I didn’t worry a bit even if we don’t have the money to produce that order because I know God will make a way. And guess what? He did!! We will deliver tomorrow morning and that means more that enough money for us this week. That also means we got to share some blessing for my husband’s father!!

To say that I serve an amazing God is an understatement. HE is more than AMAZING!!

Please visit Laurie's blog for more inspiring stories!!