A Wounded Disciple

A contradictory feelings, ranging from liberty to shame. That’s how you’ll feel realizing that your past wounds still have its impact in your today’s actions and choices.


To begin this article....

Once, there was this man who tried to love as Christ wants us to love. He made me understand these things by heart.




Your Experience Is Not Your Identity


If you experienced attraction to this and to that, or the other thing, you did this and did that, maybe you have been abused, hurt, or ignored, or maybe committed this sin and that sin, all of that experiences that left you wounded, keep in mind, that's your experience, not your identity.

You are not the sum of your weakness, your wounds, your failures or your sins. You are the sum of the Father's love for you and your capacity to be image of Jesus Christ to the world. - Pope John Paul II.

28 lessons learned at 28

I will say that as we get older, we get wiser. We experience new things both good and bad. We make mistakes, we learn, we grow. Through all my experiences, I’ve changed. I evolved like a pokemon as my friends used to say. Nyahaha!

Here’s the 28 things I’ve learned in my 28 years so far:

1. Stop too much selfies and emo post.
Yeah right. I’m guilty of it. Been there, done that. Not everyone has to know what you are going through.


2. Attitude has to change.
Diversify, do not stay with the same group forever, meeting new people means new perspective; means wider horizon; means better attitude.


3. Handling finances.
I have learned not to incur credit card debt, religiously save, and have personal insurance policies and stock positions. I will not be able to do it if I am not able to learn the next point which is..

"Princess of God" : Not Simple As It Is

"We are God's princesses; men should treat us with love and respect. We should not lower our standard for them. The right man will come for us."

A statement I heard from a woman.

I think some ladies are getting it wrong. I once was and am still learning from it.

Here are my initial reaction whenever I hear those:
1. Are we actually behaving like a princess?
2. Are we the right person for the right person that we are praying for?





Those phrases were true. I have nothing against it, but we have to put it in the right perspective.

Being a princess of God comes with so much more. Princess like thinking without backing it up with character is an issue that we have to deal with.

Yes, we are the Father's princess but we must think, behave and develop a character like one.

Physically.

It must be seen on how you dress. Ladies should always dress well and decent. You can be sexy without being revealing. To be seen as someone simple yet beautiful is far better than sexy. Respect is something we gain not something we impose. That is equally true if we want men to respect us. Learn to dress properly!


Mind and Soul.

It must be our goal to be a beautiful woman with beautiful heart.

We need to have an open mind and a teachable heart for this matter. We should learn and value the wisdom that our parents and elders are providing us. We will learn a lot from them.

Read your bible, God's wisdom is superb!
You can also read books, listen to podcast and other stuff to widen your horizon. Never stop learning! Be a woman of substance!

Why is It Important to Get Out of Our Comfort Zone?

Getting out of our comfort zone is very Important. Simply because we have to. We need to adopt to the constant changes that are happening around us.

Our mindset has to evolve and mature. Our brain can hold so much thoughts that must be put to focus.

Imagine the universe, imagine how big our galaxy is. That's how big our brain I think.

Human brain is not proportional to human body size. Our brain is a huge thing. We do sometimes feel like we know nothing, while other feels that they know a lot.

There is so much space for us to belittle ourselves and feel like we are nothing. The truth is, we knew a lot and have learn a lot as we spend this lifetime, it's just that, our thoughts were scattered. We do not know what we really want, we got confused and somehow lost as if there are these dark big spaces that's still unoccupied.

Can we fill-in those spaces? The answer is, IT DEPENDS.

Simply because once we learn something, we get used to it, then, boom! that's it! It becomes a routine and somehow boring.

What we have to understand here is that, we, as human being, are wired to change and to grow.

We just can't stay in one zone forever. We must continue learning.

There is so much to life, so much to experience. Don't focused on what was lost and what's not there. Create new boxes to fill in. Focused on those boxes so you won't notice the vast in your thoughts and get lost.

Give yourself a favor. Learn new skills, new knowledge, new environment.

Get out of your comfort zone. Travel. Read books. Study the bible. Know your creator. Meet new people, Cherish the old. Live life to the fullest! :)

WHEN HE CHOSE RELIGION OVER YOU.

What will you do if someone you love can't love you fully because of your religion?

You are reading this most likely because you have this agony of whether to fight or to just let it go.

Let me say these words to you. This is just an opinion but it might help.  :)

Let us put ourselves in this scenario.

You are in a relationship with someone whose religion is different from you. Let us say, He is a catholic while you are a christian born-again.

He valued his religion more than you-- him being a Catholic. He broke up with you or probably treated you badly because he is in doubt.

Your faith being a born-again Christian is what at stake. It is your source of strength. You are at peace with it.

You even did not ask him to give up his faith for you, as it is also his source of strength, he is at peace with it. You respect it.

But still, he gave you this reason to end the relationship.

You are wondering why it has to be a reason. Why you can't be together because of it?

Let me tell you this...

ACCEPTING SOMEONE'S PAST

In my early 20’s, as conventional as it may sound, I wanted my partner to have never had a girlfriend before. I wanted to be his first and last. And whomever I choose to be my boyfriend, I wanted him to be my husband.

The Reason Behind.

As much as possible, I don't want a partner who invested so much emotion with someone else.
I don't like the thought of him already had both emotional and physical intimacy. I believe that those things should be reserve for marriage.


So I have lived that standard and had a boyfriend who never really had a girlfriend before. Despite of that fact, things did not work well for us. He loved a woman before me and he still loves her while being in relationship with me. Epic failed.


The Lord is Sovereign.

The Lord changed me after that season of my life. He opened my eyes to the truth that sometimes things will not work out the way we wanted it to be. Sometimes because of our stubbornness or may be that needs to happen for us to grow. He is sovereign.

STOP RUSHING LOVE: FIND SOMEONE WHO SEES YOU

Way back in 90's, we have to wait for days or weeks before receiving a letter from our loved ones. I can still remember, we even have to record voice tape messages to be sent to my Auntie in Japan and Saudi Arabia. It take so much time and effort that we really have to mean what we say in every paragraph.

While in this internet generation, everything became instant, from noodles to relationships.
People can send message real time and get to know a person much quicker because we can talk to them anytime of the day. So, it seems that the relationship will progress faster. But the frequency of us talking to each other does not change our emotional capacity to develop first so it can grow.




Older generations get to know each other first, specially us Filipinos. Our way of courtship is so beautiful. From visiting the lady in her place. Picking her up during dates and bringing her home safely on time. Paying the bills and going extra mile to win her heart. Getting to know her together with her family and friends. A process that builds fire and stoking it to last. Our generation now seems to create a fireworks display; spectacular and beautiful at first but ends quickly as it began.

Do not awaken love until it so desires. - Song of songs 2:7

We are not allowing ourselves to create foundation. We are influenced by the "instant-gratification" mindset of our society. We change our status from 'single' into 'in a relationship' back to 'single' again. Leaving us frustrated and empty. Sadly, some of this relationships could have worked if only we give it time to develop, instead of putting so much pressure to bond too soon.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. - Ecclesiastes 3:11

LOVE AND OBSESSION

Differentiate Love from Obsession..

Love - It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment. It can also be a virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection—"the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another".


Obsession -It is a hypothetical state in which one person feels an overwhelming obsessive desire to possess another person toward whom they feel a strong attraction, with an inability to accept failure or rejection.


A certain friend once told me, "You should know the difference of love from obsession." Something that doesn't make sense to me; I do not know what she is trying to say -- Until the day that I had clarity with my relationship. It took me sometime before I was able to figure it out.


I stepped back a little bit to see the whole picture. Seeing things from a distant will make you realized your actual stand; it will help you think what's best for you and your partner. As the questions and doubts fade away. Letting go is easier. You will understand where he/she is coming from and what's really going on to both of you. Your heart will start to process the truth that you already knew long time ago and as result; a decision with clarity will be served.

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, think about such things. - Philippians 4:8

Choosing love may sometimes mean you have to move on without that person you used to cherish.

Keep this in mind: Life is a choice. Whatever has to be done, it is always your choice.
CHOOSE LOVE.

2014: DO NOT DESPISE SMALL BEGINNINGS

I can still remember last year’s phrase “Do not despise small beginnings.” Indeed 2014 was a wonderful year. I am grateful to Him who paid the price that I could not pay, the perfect love that cast out my fears.

Here are some of the things that I am thankful for this year:

1. Having a bicycle that takes me to nice places while pumping my heart out. It’s a fun adventure, healthy and wanderlust satisfying.


2. Restoration of my relationship with God.


3. The bondage that’s strangles me spiritually for the longest time was finally loose.


4. Enjoying my Victory Group. God is using them to teach me a lot of things.


5. Being able to attend Victory Weekend and got baptized. A deeper understanding of His love and grace that is available for all.


6. A broken heart. God is making a better version of me and is preparing me to be the right person for someone.


7. Started a business as PRULIFE UK financial consultant.


8. Learning to smile and communicate better with people.


9. Got promoted.


10. A fun and life changing outreach in Boys’ town.


11. My sister entered a married life.



There are a lot of things that I am thankful and these are just the highlights of my year, something that will remind me of the blessings that our faithful God gave me.

4 THINGS TO AVOID REGRET

This blog was written with one thing in mind; that other people might learn from these things and avoid doing the same.






1. Do not hurry getting a job just to please people or just to say that you are not job less after graduating. THINK CAREFULLY. Your first job most likely dictate the future of your career. It will affect your career growth, your growth as a person, your intellect, your financial freedom and your self-esteem. In most cases, career shifting is very tedious.

2. Do not fall in love with someone who is already in love with someone else. It is like banging your self on a wall. It will drain all your energy and happiness. It will change you as a person; bitter or better, your choice.

3. Do not force yourself to be in sync with your friends/colleagues lifestyle if your income cannot sustain it yet. This will only leave you broke and struggling with your finances.

4. Do not force yourself to maturity because time and circumstances will bring you there whether you like it or not. If given the chance, maximize your youth but NOT in expense of your health... :). Enjoy as much as you can. Because when quarter life crisis sink-in to your soul that's the time you will search for deeper meaning about everything.

It is true that regrets are inevitable but what important is that we enjoy the experience we had and learned from it.


Word of God that we can fonder in times of regret:


"...I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead" - Phil 3:13