SG Feast

God gives an answer to all our prayers, big or small He will grant it all; particularly my prayer of traveling the world with a purpose. His promise in Zechariah 10:12 “By my power I will make my people strong, and by my authority they will go wherever they wish. I, the LORD, have spoken!” God has spoken and granted that desire when last weekend the HLM-Cebu worship team flew to Singapore FOR FREE and attended the Feast of Glory Worship Conference. According to Sir Frank the one who sponsored our trip, “Don’t thank me, but thank God for blessing you. I am a nobody, I’m just His instrument to bless you for doing the work of His kingdom!” WOW! I am flabbergasted by the man’s humility and for God’s faithfulness in his life. I know that in our own little way we can really be a blessing to everyone when God uses us.

It’s my 2nd time to visit Singapore (all for free, thank you Lord!), 1st international trip together with the team and my 1st international trip with hubby and still counting. I can’t help but smile while writing this blog as I remember our moments there, the bonding time, bloopers, and getting lost in that beautiful city with nothing but a map and 7 very courageous souls! lol I know that was one unforgettable trip, full of God’s blessing, favor and revelation.

September 14, 2012: SG bound (Departure Time: 12:50pm, Arrival Time 4:00pm)

Our first day in Singapore was spent at Chinatown feasting with our oh so hungry tummies from the long flight, looking around and shopping for ‘pasalubong’ to bring home. And though we were quite tired from the travel that didn’t stop us from going to Clark Quay, toured for a bit and tried the original ice cream sandwich and headed back to our hostel before midnight strikes.

Second day was none other than the worship conference! It was a grace-filled day, a day of feasting spiritually and physically, a moment to receive, listen and bless the name of the Lord. It was an awesome worship time just being ourselves before God, not spectators but as participants. I have learned that every Sunday for them is like that, banners raised, clapping, singing, shouting, dancing, tambourines and instruments resound, it was like a heaven on earth experience that will blow away your sleeping spirit. It was a beautiful time to come to God and hear His rhema word, like He was telling me face to face: “Be bold, step out in faith, always align yourself with my word and hold on to my promises, remember Psalm 91, do not limit yourself, delight in Me and I will give your hearts desire!” and so much more! The word delivered by David Swan and his daughter, Mischelle Swan was a reminder as well from God that we are to spend time with our Abba in our quiet times (Psalm 63:3) and to allow ourselves to go through the process of beautification just like Esther did so that we will come out a beautiful and attractive person for the King! (I want that God!)

And if you think we’ll call it a day, then you’re wrong! The 8am-10pm conference didn’t made us stop from hitting the road for more sight-seeing! haha! We walked and walked around holding the map and trustingly held on to it with our lives. We passed by the Hong Lim Park, got lost in the middle of nowhere, went on walking again and finally reached our goal destination, the Merlion!!! So picture taking it is until we got tired and decided to eat at Burger King (expensive if you convert it to Philippine peso), but we had no choice! Went home and finally called it a day after past 1am.

Our 3rd and last day, please bear with me as we made all our time for this day very much worth it. Attending church on a Sunday is never left out, it’s the first thing we do on the first day of the week regardless of where we are. We joined Cornerstone in their worship celebration near Katong Shopping Center; I must say excellence is a clear-cut example in their church in the way they serve people, the set-up and all others. The word of God shared by Ptr. Tony Young was tremendously made alive in us too! God is glorified! After church, the team had lunch together with Sir Frank at a nearby Hawker’s Station (feast again!) Burpp! More sight-seeing that day so we went to the Helix Bridge overlooking the Merlion, the building with a boat on top (haha, I’m not sure what do they call it, is it NBC Building or Skypark?), ArtsScience Museum and Marina Bay Sands. After 500 picture takings (lol!), we went shopping at Bugis! (where all the cheap stuff are!) and thankfully, we succeeded in buying cheap goodies to take home as ‘pasalubong’. We were so tired but having fun at the same time squeezing in our 24 hours schedule the places we still want to go to. So many things to do in Singapore, so little time! Rarr! Still, thank you Lord! haha

2nd part of our Sunday was a feast! Early dinner at Kalang Bak Kut Teh where delish chicken soup is served and Sir Frank ordered just enough (just enough still means a FEAST!) for us to last our night tour. The evening was young and young people (like us, lol) don’t give up easily. We made the most of what was left of our time in Singapore! Sir Frank took us at the Resorts World (famous places to go to are Sentosa and Universal Studios). We were just looking around since we didn’t have much time to try the rides and they were almost closing as it was getting late. We were having so much fun that we didn’t notice the time. One of the moments I will never forget was the wedding proposal of the loveteam JaDetz at the Universal Studios (so romantic!) Yey! I have the video but couldn’t locate the link. tsktsk But it will forever be a part of our memoirs from SG.

I am proud to say that we’re able to go to places we wanted to go to in the span of 2 days! The question is how did we manage to get all that done?! First, we have a Singaporean friend who can tour us around. Second, we have a car to take us. Lastly, God’s super duper grace is backing us up! yey!

September 17, 2012: Home bound (Departure Time: 8:00am, Arrival Time 11:45am)

God, may you bring us to more places around the world with the whole family! =)

Rest In Jesus

“My Peace I give you…”

It’s true that life’s greatest lessons are learned the hard way. In my last blog, I shared about the lessons I learned from motherhood and true enough it has never been easy since then. We all have our fair share of disappointments and more often than not, it is hard for us to accept defeat. It’s not all the time we’re on top, sometimes we have to go through the bottom to experience what it’s like and learn from it valuable lessons we can apply in the future, should this happen again.

Mine happened 2 weeks after giving birth, I received an email from my US employer telling me she needs to let me go and my other colleague due to business changes. What’s worse is we really need money to sustain four of us in the family. It’s hard not to cry considering I was still having my post partum blues. I reached a point when I was so broken before the Lord and all I could think of was the hurt I am feeling inside. I admit, my whole world came crumbling down and I was trying so hard to beat my emotions but nothing happened. I cried before the Lord and in my anguish I poured my heart and soul to Him to save me from my distress. We hit rock bottom and it was such a humbling moment for me and Rocky that we began to let go of whatever that’s holding us back from trusting the Lord.

For weeks, it was a cycle of emotions that I felt—happy to have our son, lonely being a first time mom, sad for not being able to go out and the list goes on. It was during those times when I all I wanted to do was to do NOTHING. I didn’t want to work, but not to work means I won’t have money and to not have money means I can’t get what I want. I was so accustomed with getting things that I want and my wallet being empty hurts my ego so bad. You see, this is the first time in years that I wasn’t earning and I am not used to it. My job search online went on and on, my restless mind didn’t took a time off.

When finally there was a knock in my heart’s door telling me to REST. From there I took my cue, I RESTED my heart in Jesus and the week after that I got hired by my Australian employer now. She is so similar with my previous boss, the job was even the same but the best thing was that my salary rate was a bit higher this time. PRAISE GOD!

To wrestle with God’s plan is a pain, but to rest in Him means investing for eternal gain.

I could go on telling you about how God has taught me to put my trust in Him in every area of my life, but then each person has different stories to tell. This is my story and for me, to win God’s heart is to seek, delight and rest in Him.