045: Finding peace in the midst of this political uncertainty.

Tomorrow I will get the chance to vote. I found peace in my decision who to vote for, as God guided me, and impressed upon me four important things:

 

1. First, that He is in control whoever would be elected as our next president. 
2. Second, that He is more concern of how I discern who to vote for, and how I respond to political issues, may it or not involve the individuals I want to vote for.
3. Third, is that He desires for me to show Jesus’ love to others, rather than to show my love to my presidential bet.
4. And Last, is that Jesus is the only one who we can anchor our hope in, which include our desire and hope for a better Philippines. He should always be our source of hope.

 

Anchor our hope to Jesus for He is rich in wisdom and knowledge (Romans 11:33); He doesn’t need to be a Wharton graduate to improve our economy.

Anchor our hope to Jesus for He is our prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6); He doesn’t need to commit extra judicial killing to stop the drug abused and crimes.

Anchor our hope to Jesus for He is our king of kings (Revelation 19:16). His experience is proven, and His residency is unquestionable.

 Anchor our hope to Jesus for He is our Jehovah Jireh (Philippians 4:19). He would not steal from us, but rather provide for us.

 Anchor our hope to Jesus for He has conquered the grave (Hebrews 2:14). No sickness, nor death can limit His greatness.

 

I am not sharing this to be self-righteous, after all these are God’s impressions to me, and not my own. 

I am sharing this because I wanted to share the peace that Jesus wants us to experience. 

 Amid all of what’s transpiring in the campaign period, and up coming election, we can vote with assurance that He, Jesus, the god we worship is in control.

 

043: As She Celebrate Birthday

To you my special someone, here are some of the birthday messages your love ones have prepared for you; starting of with the

Convenant group:

Happy happy birthday RB! お誕生日おめでとうございます！(o tanjoubi omedetou gozaimasu!) May God continue to bless your life!
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven”- Matthew 5:16
Enjoy your day! Cheers for many more years to come!

Ex

Happy Birthday RB! Have a good one! It is such a blessing to see how excited you are to our small group… May you continue to grow Inlove with the Lord, continue to be faithful in Him and be the person He wants you to be! Continue to be blessed as you bless us with your life! Welcome to club 30ish! Hahahahaha God bless you!

Kee Koh

Dear RB, I praise God for causing us to meet here in SG. Sandali palang man tayo magkakilala, your positivity and friendliness has blessed me in many ways already.🙂 Keep shining for Jesus! Happy birthday!😀

xx, Karryl

Next to our list is your PG and NXTGen group:

“Rb dear, another year older, yet looking younger!🙂 enjoy the surprises from us thru your labidabs!🙂 have an awesome birthday! God bless you and your future plans with Van Ryan. See you really soon!”

Valerie

“Hello ka-double date🙂 thank u for always putting a smile On my face everytime I remember you and van. You are such a pleasure and joy to be around. Hindi ko alam ang wish mo pero alam ko ata ang wish ni van na malamang NASA wish list mo din so yun na Lang din iwwish ko para wishiwishiwish come true na🙂 best wishes, este happy birthday pala hehe🙂 hugs higpit :)”

Bullet

“Welcome to the big 3-0. Dahil paalis na ako, sa iyo ko na pinuputong ang korona at ang sash na nagsasabing “Thirty and Flirty”. Nawa’s maging masaya ang iyong reign bago ka humantong sa katapusan ng kalendaryo. Happy Birthday, RB! Ikain mo nalang ako ng Hokkien Mee for long life. Miss you!”
♥
Boombeelina

Hi RB,
Happy happy birthday! Thank you for our friendships. Stay cool and thoughtful. May God bless you more! Love you and miss you..

Joyce:)

“Happy happy birthday Rb!!! Once again, thank you for hospitality in Singapore and I thank God for our friendship! I pray that God will continue to bless you and Van and your careers and the future! God bless always and take care. See you!”

Love,
Feiyie

“Hi RB,
Happy Birthday! I miss ko na kayo ni van haha long time no see.. miss na namin kayong kalamunan at kakulitan. My prayer lang for your birthday is you continue to be inlove with God kesa kay van hahaha seriously haha and you continue to walk thru obedience and love. Dont give up sa mga pagsubok and always pray and walk faithfully🙂 can’t wait to see you both sa dec 27. Happy Birthday ulit. God bless! #Phil.1:6”

Joel

Happy happy birthday RB!!! 😄 2nd bday party mo na pala jan sa SG and God has sustained you both ni Van tlg jan… I’m so happy na magkikita kita ulit tau sa 27 and we all missed  both of you tlg… can’t wait to hear your stories and to see the changes din sayo… hihi dapat magset ng isang araw for dgroup kc kulang ang chikahan nun for sure.. haha sobrang namiss ka namin at ang nga words of wisdom mo.. 😄
Love you RB and always praying kmi for you and your family… see you!!! Picture tau madami… haha tatamad pa din kc namin magpicture… hehe mwaaahhh..

Abitot

Happy birthday, RB! Wishing you all the best in your career. Though magkalayo man ngayon, salamat sa facebook at nauupdate ako sa latest happenings. I hope to see you and Van, soon… miss ko na kayo. God bless you always. =)

Riel

Jairus

Happy birthday sexy! May you continue to run with endurance the race that God sets before you.

JoaMi

“Hellooo RB!!!! Happy happy birthday!!! It’a been a while.. sobrang miss kita! I always thank God for blessing me with a super sweet, pretty, and thoughtful friend/dgroup/sister in you. Im sooo excited to see you this December🙂 You are always in my prayers. I love you RB!!! 😍”

Rachelle

Then your family:

Happy happy birthday RB!
May God give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed(Ps20:4)
Enjoy your day! Love you!

tito van & tita jean

I hope their messages encourage you to be more of a person that you are right now. I know God has a lot of great things stored for You may Your every day be step closer to fulfilling His plans for Your life, may I also be there to see it come through.

I have nothing else to say, for they have said it all, but one thing I have to tell you, I love you today than your last birthday… Ahahaha… Grow more in love with Christ rather than me… I love you and Happy Birthday!

042: Unearth His Love.

To the 147 strong who voted and helped me in this INEXHIBIT competition, thank you!

Taken during the Unearthed exhibition at Singapore Art Museum.

I praise God for this experience; going to the different museums of Singapore looking for that “perfect shot”; asking my friends, and family to support my entry; and just being excited throughout the competition, it was an experience worth taking.

By God’s grace, we were included in the Final top 10 (see here), and the top 2 in the ranking, having 17 points behind the competition’s winner. Despite not winning it, I am still grateful for this opportunity that God allowed me to have.

Top 2!

I won’t tell you I never wanted to win, it would have defeat the purpose of joining the competition if I don’t want to win. But when I was gunning for 1^st during the voting period, and the lead was striking distance, I was really praying hard, and reaching to a lot of people to vote for me. But God ensured me through Philippians 4:19 that His blessings, and provision are far greater than the amount I would have won through this contest.

 

Philippians 4:19 (NLT)

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”

 

God is all-sufficient, we can always count on Him to provide all our needs. When we ask God for something, and sometimes God says no to those prayer requests, we have to understand the nature of God. God is not genie where you just ask Him of things you want, and expect to have it instantly. God is a compassionate god, a loving god. This may sound ironic, that a loving God, cannot give His children what they want. But the truth is God’s love is so great, that He will exceed every plans that our limited mind have already imagined.

Just like what happened to me in this competition, to tell you the truth, I have already a lot in mind just in case I won that included cash price. But I know God has special plans for me than this. Plans that goes beyond huge amount of money.

So when you feel that God is not giving what you have asked for, remember to trust in the Lord, to have faith in Him, and not on your own understanding.

 

Seek God with all your heart and you will Unearth His love.

041: A Safe Place.

“The safest place you can be is where God wants you to be”, shared by the teenage girl who recently attended a short mission trip conducted by CEFC.

Those words hit me so hard that I can’t seem to shake it off me, even after the service. It was a brief and honest talk with God that allowed me to understand why those words impacted me.

It is God’s reminder for me that I need not to worry, feel insecure, or panic when things get out of hand while working here in Singapore. It is God telling me that as long as I am under His wings, He will surely cover me with peace, calmness, and assurance above anything that the World will throw at me (John 16:33).

Now, I realized that God’s plans for me goes beyond financial provision, that I need not to worry about my work if I tend to do mistakes, and that I might eventually be fired of those mistakes. Because I know that if He still wants me here, He would make things work together for me to stay.

This might not be my comfort or safe place, but if God wants me here, then for Him this is my safe place.

040: Lost in Translation, Found in Grace.

“This bottle is bringing me down, no comfort for me in this town”, these lines taken from the song “frailty” of Philippines’ rock band; Urbandub, pops to mind when I need of a way to express how I felt to what seemed to be a 2-month long of hopelessness and discomfort in this foreign land.

I, and RB decided leave the country to find a better source for career growth, and financial savings, and the only country we could think of that caters to our very needs is Singapore. Prior to leaving, we already prepared ourselves for disappointments, and struggles. To our amazement, our expectations are well… underrated.

Disappointment, and hardships came about so fast that we can’t even remember when did it all started. All I remember is how we used to run from one interview to another, just to let our potential bosses, hear our pitch of “Why should you hire me”; the balancing act we do with our financial responsibilities seemed like a circus act wherein we found ourselves crossing at a rope trying to reach the other end; and waiting for calls and waiting for forever was almost interchangeable in use because of the seldom calls we are receiving.

Experiences of hardship, disappointment, and pain is very common, and typical to every human being. At some parts of our lives, we will experience such intense situations, that may seem so hard to deal, and be victorious with. A businessman trying to keep his business running, to a young professional struggling to cope with the world’s standards, to that needy person looking for a way to satisfy his stomach. Situations like this is equally given to every individual, and each and every one of us will have to decide on how to overcome. The initial and convenient way is to let ourselves resolve those situations using our own limited capabilities, and not to forget resources. The other decision, which is radically, and inconvenient is to, allow God to work and orchestrate our lives.

Yes, letting go and letting God is easy to say, but harder to follow. But let us not forget that God is good, He’s plans for us are always the best (Jer. 29:11).

As I hold on to His promises, I saw Him working His way to us to experience Him all the more in Singapore. I suddenly got an interview with a well-known and big interior company, which hired me after a 2 week training. RB on the other hand was hired by an up and coming interior firm which allows her to design according to her preference. My family also visited Singapore, as my parents celebrated their 29th anniversary. We meet with friends on a monthly basis just to catch up with stuffs, not to forget friends who visit Singpore are also excited to meet with us. And we finally found a welcoming and loving cell group which meets every Friday just after work.

My family in Singapore. Now where am I?

Where I am now I can never had imagined. Simply because that’s the nature of God, He will always give you beyond any of your limited imagination. It is by faith not by works that I am where I am now.  This time no more interviews, the only interview we had was with the Ministry of Man Power; now, balancing finances is like crossing a sturdy bridge; and the only calls we received is from our bosses.

Monthly Affair.

To God be all the glory!

I am glad today,

I am found in Grace.