The World didn't End Today

Long time, no post!

I recently bumped into another blog and remembered that I also have a blog that needs some TLC. After reading through my old entries and realizing how much I have changed all throughout these years, I wondered, why did I stop blogging? I've always loved to write, and in here, I didn't have to do some boring stuff like technical writing or contract writing.

And so I'm back. I think.

These days, the best way to get updates is through Twitter and Facebook. A few Sundays ago when my dear husband Pol was waiting for the Pacquiao fight on tv (we didn't get PPV), and from the looks of it, the twitter world was actively giving a blow-by-blow update of what was happening in Las Vegas. I wanted to watch but was also too bored that I just read thru the tweets. And of course someone tweeted that Manny was KO'd by Marquez. I looked for any streaming sites where I can see what's happening, silently, so Pol won't know what was happening, and I saw the KO online. I cannot help but gasp and say, "Oh, no!!".

Naturally he knew I was watching it on the laptop. I said, "Do you really wanna know what happened?" And he outright said "No" -- but I can see his emotional battle thru his curious eyes. Very funny look. His EQ got over him and he took a peek. He didn't believe what he was seeing. So he still watched the fight on tv, to his dismay.

Anyway, I'm out of topic. Haha.

People didn't admit it, but they were obviously afraid of 12.21.2012. The hype of this, is overwhelming --if they only know how very pagan this belief is. Isn't it, the Bible said:

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." -Matthew 24:36

God loves us very much and He has no intention of scaring us, making us afraid of what the future brings, or be afraid of Him. It is, actually the opposite: He wants us to accept, love and trust Him fully. Our God is far, far more greater than these silly predictions. Do you know that?

That's why the world didn't end today. He wants us all to realize that there are more days ahead, full of second chances - a chance to love and trust The Lord again.

<3

Dead for 23 Hours

This is a testimony of an Ecuadorian girl named Angelika, who died for 23 hours  -- Jesus showed heaven and hell. In hell, she saw the Pope, Selena, Michael Jackson.

Hope you find the time to read this:

http://dcicons.org/forum/topics/angelica-zambrano-dead-for

~Yan

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

The Book of Days

"All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:16b (NIV)         

Devotion:
They say that smell is the sense most linked to memory. And I know this to be true. The earthy aroma of geraniums transports me to a porch in west Texas where my grandmother tended flowers with the hands that had worked the land her entire life. I see her, water hose dangling from her fingers, spraying the heat and dust from the cobblestone patio. Washing away the residue of a hot afternoon.

The memories of my childhood are bound up in a woman whose name, Ellen, means "shining light." Yet most of those memories are now forgotten to her. Stolen by an illness that I once called "Old Timers Disease." And she laughed at that, back then, when I was all elbows and knees and teeth. Back when she told me that her father suffered from Alzheimer's. The thief of memory. 

The diagnosis came early last fall, just as her flower garden began to die, the red petals of her geraniums crisping around the edges, falling away. I now live the great sadness of seeing her slip into the haze of Alzheimer's, that shining light in her eyes replaced by confusion. And I wonder where her memories go.  

Shelling peas with her grandchildren on the back porch. 
Cracking open a watermelon and teaching me to spit the seeds across the yard. 
Burying her second child, a little girl named Kathy, at the age of three. 
Her wrinkled hand tracing the lines of Amazing Grace as we stand and sing the benediction. 
Weddings and funerals and the births of grandchildren. 
Her own husband of forty-plus years, gone on before her.
 
All these precious moments of a life falling away, like petals in an autumn frost. Is God catching them as they escape her mind? Holding them in His palm? Does He record them with a tender hand, each memory pressed between the pages of time? Will they one day be restored to her? Do our memories belong to us alone, or are they so special to God that He takes pains to keep track of each and every one?
 
In Psalm 139:16 we read the startling truth that every moment of our lives has been recorded by a knowing God. "Your eyes saw my unformed body; in Your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being."
 
God has already written down every moment of my grandmother's life in His book. He's done the same for me and for you as well. Our moments are precious to Him. The times we've knelt in prayer and shouted in praise. Tears and laughter. Celebration and sorrow. None will be lost forever. Not by us and certainly not by the God who ordered each moment before we were even born.
 
This spring I will fill my back patio with geraniums and I will inhale the scent of my grandmother. I will remember for her, until the day she sits beside her Lord and He opens His book to read the story of Ellen, a woman whose light shines brightly.

Dear Lord, thank You that my days are not forgotten to You. Each one is so important that You wrote it down, with Your own hand. My name is in Your book and Your love is written across every page of my life. For all the days that I have left, may I remember Your with the same passion that You remember me.

Power Verses:

1Chronicles 16:15, "He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations." (NIV)

Psalm 25:6, "Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old." (NIV)

Psalm 42:4, "These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng." (NIV) 

There's no reason to be afraid :)

Psalm 91:14-16: "The Lord says, 'I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.'" (NLT)

Boracay in November

Just went there over the weekend. First time to go there at this time of the year - kind of weird because it was windy. It isn't the same like before. Too many people - a mix of different kinds of people. It felt like like there's no "exclusivity" anymore. Of course we had to enjoy the time since we're already there. It's still life in the beach,the Bora way -- party, food and lots of relaxation time. It's time to look for a great beach. Any suggestions? :)

YOU know what I Need :)

Dear Lord, I believe that You are the giver of life and Lord over all things. Thank You for providing me with exactly what I need, even though it isn't always what I may want. I trust that You have my best interest in mind today. I desire to have an authentic connection with You right now. I need You Lord. Show me the way. In Jesus' Name, Amen.