Test of faith

1 Corinthians 10:13 The Message (MSG) 

"No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it".

 ~*~*~*

 Asking for your prayers my dear readers, my father is still very sick and needs to be confined in the hospital (according to his last check-up with the doctor) he's weak and has lost his appetite. Hopefully, when we all see him this week, he'll be more stronger.  

My father was a chain smoker and started smoking when he was only 10 years old, can you imagine that? I hope people who smokes realize that really it is not good for the health. See, my father stopped smoking (and looking into cigars magazine) years ago but it is already too late. Now, we all suffer from it.

Please pray for our family as we weather this testing of our faith once again, please pray for provision also.

Thank you very much and God bless!
 

Be still

That's what I'm gonna do. I'm not gonna worry, I'm not gonna fret.
I will trust my Lord because I know HE knows what's BEST for me.

image source : Ten For The Road

Blessed musicians

Those pictures were from our recent worship night in Laguna, days after that, there are people who commented in the band's page in Facebook saying they are so blessed with the Selah band, we are humbled. They didn't know that we are also blessed by them. Seeing them coming to the Lord in worship is more than a blessing for us already. 

My husband's group are all blessed musicians, all of them with no formal music lesson, and most of them only finished secondary education, one didn't even finish grade school. But despite that they are being use mightily by God to minister to people specially the youth. 

 God sees their hearts, their desires and their faith. 

We don't even extra money for thir musical instruments but God provided everything, they may not have the most expensive instrument but they have they carry with them the best instrument ever- a worshiping heart. 

We are still praying for more instrument though such as guitar stands mf, a projector, and gig bags but we know that even without these, we can still be effective in the ministry. 

And we are excited for our next ministry soon. Davao and Palawan.

Where Strength and Joy are Found

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“Honor and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [found] in His sanctuary.”

(1 Chronicles 16:27, AMP)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Do you need more strength and joy in your life? The Bible tells us that in God’s presence there is fullness of joy — the most abundant and complete! And when you have His joy, you have His supernatural strength. There’s nothing that can come against you when you are filled with the strength and joy of the Lord. Notice this verse says that strength and joy are found in His sanctuary. One translation says they are found “where He is.” And do you know “where He is?” His Spirit is alive in every believer, but in His Word He promises that He inhabits, or manifests, in the praises of His people. That means when you begin to praise and worship God, either corporately in a church setting or privately in your personal time, God is there. You are in His sanctuary. Anytime you feel depleted or overwhelmed, just begin to sing a song of praise to Him. Declare His goodness and faithfulness. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you. He’ll fill you with His joy and strength so that you can live as an overcomer all the days of your life!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I bless You today. I thank You for Your goodness in my life. Thank You for filling me with Your strength and joy. I praise and worship You today in Jesus’ name. Amen.

— Joel & Victoria Osteen

Worship Night this Friday

Expecting great from our great God this coming Friday. Lead us Lord. You are our most awaited audience in this event. Without you, this will just become a noise. We need your presence Lord. We need you.

Trusting HIM

46 days to go before the mission camp.

We now have plane tickets going to Davao but we don't have a return ticket yet and the airline promo of low fare is now gone. Sometimes I worry of all the expenses we will incur for this local mission trip even though I know that God will provide for us like He always did in all our mission trips.

I have to remind myself everyday that God is going to take care of everything.

He is in control and He is in-charge of the whole mission camp. Even the funds for the school supplies that we are going to give to kids in calamity affected areas, I'm sure He will provide for that.

I just have to TRUST HIM completely. Like how I trusted HIM in everything in our lives.

I remember this very feeling when we are about to get married but God took care of every details during the wedding, the caterer, wedding ring sets, the venue, as in God provided for everything.

I also remember our month long mission trip in Sabah, Malaysia. Our needs are met while in the mission trip.

What we did is just trust HIM completely and not doubt. And that is what I am going to do for this mission camp. TRUST the LORD and I will feel fine.

Lending to God

“I promise that I’ll bless you with everything I have – bless and bless and bless!”
Hebrews 6:14 (MSG)

As I heard the sound of a handful of coins being emptied onto a table, I couldn’t help but glance at the person next to me. She was an old lady in tattered clothes who timidly ordered three pieces of pan de sal.   As I saw that she was barefoot, I quickly got my pair of extra slippers in the car and gave it to her.

A few days after, our mission team went to the mountains and distributed gifts to the less privileged members of our outreach. On our way home, we had a quick stopover near outlet stores.  I checked out some rubber shoes in a prestigious sports store.  I needed a new pair then but didn’t have the budget for it yet.  I was pleasantly surprised when a member of our team saw me and asked me if I like the shoes.  He quickly bought it for me and in no time, I was running back to our bus wearing a new pair of rubber shoes!

Proverbs 19:17 (NLT) says, “If you help the poor you are lending to the Lord – and He will repay you.”  God is faithful to His promises and more than wants to bless His people in every way. -   Tapê of The Living Water.

What a privilege, O Lord, to be able to lend to You.
Help me to be compassionate to the poor.
Amen.

WISE WORDS “The greatest feats of love are performed by those who have had much practice in performing daily acts of kindness.”  -  Anonymous

When Life isn't fair

devotional from joelosteen.com
 ~*~

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28, NLT) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Everyone goes through things that don’t seem to make sense. It’s easy to get discouraged and wonder, “Why did this happen to me?” “Why did this person treat me wrong?” “Why did I get laid off?” But we have to understand, even though life is not always fair, God is fair. And, He promises to work all things together for good for those who love Him. I believe the key word is this verse is “together.” In other words, you can’t just isolate one part of your life and say, “Well, this is not good.” “It’s not good that I got laid off.” “It’s not good that my relationship didn’t work out.” Yes, that’s true, but that’s just one part of your life. God can see the big picture. That disappointment is not the end. Remember, when one door closes, God has another door for you to walk through — a better door. Those difficulties and challenges are merely stepping stones toward your brighter future. Be encouraged today because God has a plan for you to rise higher. He has a plan for you to come out stronger. He has a plan to work all things together for your good so that you can move forward in the victory He has prepared for you! A PRAYER FOR TODAY Heavenly Father, thank You for working all things together for my good. I choose to release any doubt, any frustration, any confusion over my past, and I choose to trust in You in Jesus’ name. Amen. — Joel & Victoria Osteen

Summer mission trips

As of this writing, we have two confirmed local mission trip this summer, the first one is the "Youth Mission camp" to which I am one of the organizer. It's gonna be in Davao ( Mindanao part of the Philippines) and it's a one week trip. Highlight of this will be the ministry we will be doing with the kids who were greatly affected by recent calamities that hit Mindanao. We will have feeding and we will give them some school supplies also.

This will be on APRIL 22-27, 2013, but me and my husband are going there earlier than that, probably the 20th of April which means we will be celebrating our 7th year wedding anniversary in Davao, (wish we could sneak in some leisure time to celebrate but that's quite impossible because of the enormous task assigned to me-but it's okay, who knows God might gift us a seventh or eight honeymoon in paris france wow! I would love that :) 

Our second local mission trip is in Palawan and this will be on May 21-25. This a youth congress with more or less 500 young people expected in attendance. The band (SELAH) will be the main worship team and we are just so glad that God has given us the privilege to serve Him through music. My husband is so excited with this trip.

Now, we are faced with two major problems, financial because these mission trips are quite far and both needed plane tickets, aside from financial challenges, next thing I'm worried about is "the leave for work" we both have to do as we are both working and currently my boss is not in  the mood to allow my absences. (please help me pray for that area)

I'm a believer of the slogan "when God sends you to mission, He will also send provision"  and I'm sure he will meet our needs for that.

So there, 2 misison trips for this summer and we are excited. If you want to help (specially with the school supplies giving) just please let me know :) and as always your prayers are appreciated very much!

Salaray or Reward?

~sharing what I got from my e-mail this morning~  
  
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them;
for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 6:1


I have a monthly salary that compensates my work.   It is a fixed amount.  From this amount taxes are withheld, tithes and offerings are given, bills are paid, basic necessities are bought, assistance is given to those in need and whatever is left goes to a savings account.

Way above my salary are heavenly blessings.  It is a non-fixed amount . These include fullness of life, health, an incredibly loving family, deep peace, boundless joy, fulfillment, a thrilling vocation, an eternal inheritance and so on. It is infinitely more valuable than my salary.

The Gospel today offers us a choice: human compensation or heavenly reward.  If you give alms, pray or fast for public approval, then the applause is your compensation.  If you give alms, pray or fast in secret, a heavenly reward awaits. Do the math: which would you prefer?  This Lent, give alms secretly.  Pray more in secret.  Fast secretly.  As you do so, prepare yourself for immeasurable rewards from heaven! -   Moses of The Living Water.

Lord, I want to know You, love You and serve You more this Lent.  Help me to give more alms, pray more and fast more – secretly – in the coming weeks.
Amen.

WISE WORDS:  “Success lies, not in achieving what you aim at, but in aiming at what  you ought to achieve, and pressing forward, sure of achievement here,
                        or of not here, hereafter.”  -   Robert Forman Horton