DARFUR needs YOUR HELP

	April 1, 2009

DARFUR NEEDS YOU Sudan has expelled 13 relief and humanitarian agencies that previously met 60% of the needs of displaced people in Darfur. Over one million people in Darfur could go without food within two months if new aid agencies cannot assist. An ITeams worker just returned from a four-day trip to northern Darfur. He reports: “People are suffering in the desert and have nothing to eat or drink. They are searching for food, water, and shelter. They eat what few leaves they can find in the merciless desert. One of the displaced people told us: ‘I would rather die than see my wife and children starving and crying out for food and water’. In the midst of the difficult situation, God is at work, drawing people to Him. We met many believers during our visit. The people study the Bible, pray, and worship in their own languages." The Sudanese government is allowing Sudanese churches to help people in Darfur. We need to do everything we can to resource these churches for this purpose. Our friends in Khartoum have a strong history of serving the people in Darfur. They are well-connected to churches in Sudan, through which they can serve the suffering people of Darfur. They are trying to raise $28,000 to cover the costs of an emergency relief trip to bring wheat, dry milk, beans and sugar to the people of Darfur. As soon as the funds are raised, these supplies can be taken to Darfur. You can help! Give a gift to our DARFUR EMERGENCY RELIEF fund Pray for the people of Darfur and for those trying to help them Spread the word about this opportunity to help

Refuel your love tank

I thank God for sending me devotionals when I need them. This morning as I open my email, saw this Purpose Driven devotional which was sent a by a friend. And as I am reading I kept on thanking and praising God because this is exactly what I need now. I thought of sharing this to you guys, you might be blessed and refueled too.

Have a wonderful day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Developing a Persistent Love
by Rick Warren

In our Devotionals series, Pastor Rick Warren discusses the Bible passages that inspire him the most. Today's Devotional is based on this passage:

"Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance" (1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT).

Love can be absolutely exhausting. Don't let anyone fool you. The kind of love that really makes a difference in this world will zap everything out of you.

Sometimes you just don't feel like you have any more love to give. Maybe you're in a people-intensive job—such as teacher, salesman, or waitress—and you come home and think, "I just can't face another need, another problem, or another heartache." So you just shut down.

Or you need to show love to a particular person who is demanding, selfish, and never returns your love. And you just think to yourself, "I'm done. No more."

While that's perfectly natural and perfectly human, it's not the high standard of love that God calls us to in the Bible. The Bible says, in 1 Corinthians 13:7, "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance" (NLT). Love never gives up.

How can you have that kind of persistent love for another person? You get refueled.

When my kids were young, I remember taking the family to a nearby air show. It was so impressive to see how they would hook up a tanker to a jet in flight to refuel. I'll never forget that. Can you imagine a jet saying, "I don't need to refuel"? That would be silly! The jet would crash and burn. In a long distance flight, a jet has to refuel.

So do you. To show the kind of persistent love that God wants you to show, you have to refuel your love tank. Look around at society, and you'll see it's littered with debris from relationships that have crashed and burned because they didn't refuel their love.

How do you refuel your love tank? You start by letting God love you. "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19 NIV). When you're worn out, tired, and can't imagine showing love to anyone else, remember that God loved you so much he sent his Son to die for you.

Now that's real fuel. That's what keeps you going when you want to quit.

Fishnets-Bituing Bulilit

I'm excited!

On saturday (April 4) we will officially start the "Bituing Bulilit" (Little stars) feeding and literacy program.

For now, we will start with one area which is in Lapaz, Makati City and we initially listed 25 kids from urban foor families of this area.

Why only 25? because we want to really be an agent of change in their lives and we know we can only do that if we will give them enough time. Enough time for each individual to teach them how to read, enough time to share God's love through bible stories, enough time to teach them good habits, and enough time to be able to reach each kids family.

And because this is only an initial project right now, we are foreseeing more urban poor areas to bring this program.

I volunteered for the food we are going to give them on Saturday as we still don't have enough funds. But I tell you we are not driven by funds, we are driven with compassion for these less fortunate kids. I'm sure God will give us more than what we need for this ministry.

I'm asking for you guys to please pray for us and partner with us in this endeavour.

Below are pictures from "teachers training" which was held for 2 Saturdays in our church. Teachers were trained for the literacy program and basic classroom management.

Thankful Thursday

Hi! Welcome to Thankful Thursday once again :) Lynn of spiritually unequal marriage is hosting this for the last time and next week we'll all head to Laurie's place.These ladies are all inspirations. God bless their good hearts.

For my list this week :

* I am thankful for the weather specifically today. It's been so hot and humid the past few weeks and Praise God for the relief. Last night it rained and I soo love the cool air coming out of the window.

* I praise God for the prayer time of the music ministry last night. I know it;s very seldom that we gather to pray so I praise God for that opportunity He has given us last night.

* I'm very grateful for the huge love my husband is showering me. We will be celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary soon and I know the love just keeps on growing. I think I love him even more now.

* I thank God for the ladies of Thankful Thursday- you are all inspirations and encouragement to me. I am so glad to be part of this community.

Non stop SINGING!!

See you there!
Click the poster to enlarge

I support Earth Hour

This is my second year, last year I encouraged our church to participate and we did. We turned off the lights for one hour. One hour of discomfort, one hour with no electricity around the house, one hour of expressing love for the earth. I know it's worth it.

I hope you'll join too. Wherever you are in this part of the world you can also organize or join this earth hour. In the Philippines, this will happen on March 28.

Visit the earth hour site for more information.

Passionate Blogger

Rita of Following 31 gave me this award, though I think she deserved it better than me. Because she writes with passion. I found her blog thru entrecard and has been a follower since then.

Thank you dear for this award.

Now, the rules said I should pass this to fellow bloggers who i think deserve it too and to follow such rules I'm gonna give this to :

Pia - I love reading her journey and now she has a new journal. I know you'll enjoy it too.
Denise - her blog is an inspiration, always an encouragement.
Carmel- though she seldom do updates now because of the internet connection, I'm quite sure you'll have fun reading her blog.

Have anice Sunday everyone!

Thankful Thursday

Today’s thankful Thursday theme is FREEDOM. And I want to share with you my list for this week;

1. I am thankful I am Free to worship and praise my God anytime and anywhere I want. I had a missionary friend in China and I know how hard it is for them because they cannot worship aloud. They cannot sing their praises to the Lord in the public.

2. I am grateful that I am free to LOVE. We live in the mission’s house that we call “Center” and there are several missionaries living there too. Sometimes things get tough with us and relationships are affected. I am thankful God has showed us the real meaning of love and gives us the freedom to love everyone.

FOR OTHER STUFF I AM THANKFUL FOR:

1. Thank God for the new found joy in serving Him.

2. I am thankful for my oldest nephew who’s graduating from elementary school tomorrow. I remember how he and his mom nearly died when he was about to come to this world and now he’s so big and he loves to serve the Lord too. I am so proud of him.

3. Last week was a tough week for me and hubby. This week is a lighter one and I praise God for that.

4. Praise God I have my voice back now. Lost it last Sunday, I was forced to take a rest and glad it is back to normal now.

Want to read more thankful post? Come and visit Lynn’s site. Share yours too.

Green pastures

I am excited for the greener pastures the Lord will give unto us. He will lead us beside quiet waters and He will restores our souls and our cup will overflow.

I know goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever as long as we obey Him.

And my prayer is that we learn to obey whatever it is that He asked us to do.
God bless everyone!

Got the image here.

Romans 8:28

All the trials, all the pains, all the headaches, all the hardships.
All the happiness, all the victories, all the joys.
ALL THINGS.
FOR HIS PURPOSE.

Glory to GOD!

Photo credits : One year bible blog