J is for Joy

Two weeks ago I had the joy of watching Nick Vujicic speak to the congregation at the new church building of Christ Commission Fellowship. I attend the satellite church, a 5 minute walk from my home, where his message was streamed through video.

I think God likes to play jokes on me just to show me he has a sense of humor and to remind me that I need to keep mine on at all times…I had heard of Nick a few years ago and wanted to see him in person and listen to him speak. He was here in the country for some seminars in mid-May and we were offered discounted tickets to listen to him. However, the cheaper tickets were for the overflow rooms where we can see him only through video. The pricier tickets had been sold out months before he arrived. I lost interest and decided not to go.

Imagine my surprise when we got to watch him from our own pulpit, albeit via video, about 4 hours after he preached at the main church. I didn’t have to spend a dime, or sentimo in my case, to be inspired by his story. Told you God can be funny at times…

The message Nick shared to the congregation is in the video below. It’s quite long, about an hour, so you may need to grab a cup of coffee and settle yourself in your favorite chair before watching it. It’s also not in the usual HD quality that our church produces but you can clearly see Nick and hear him, and that’s basically all that matters.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Nick Vujicic, he’s a thirty-something man who was born without arms and legs. He grew up with the taunting, hurt and rejection that being differently-abled brings. He became depressed and wanted to commit suicide when he was younger. He also doubted God for some time but eventually returned to the God who had made him and loved him before time began.

His faith story is similar to mine, except for the missing appendages, the fact that he’s a man and much much richer than I am… His journey is probably similar to that of some of you as well. But now God is using him to inspire other folk around the world to have the kind of JOY that can only be found in Jesus whatever their circumstances.

Be ready to be inspired…please listen to Nick’s story:

This post is my contribution to the weekly Blogging Through The Alphabet link-up hosted by Marcy Crabtree at www.benandme.com. This week’s letter is J and my post is titled J for Joy. 

Share Your World 2013 – Week 19

This week’s questions are:

On a vacation what you would require in any place that you would stay?  Question came from Wanderings of an Elusive Mind

 A fully functioning clean and complete bathroom…you won’t believe the places I’ve been to, and they call themselves 5 star hotels…

If you were or are a writer do you prefer writing short stories, poems or novels?

If I were a writer I wish I could write poetry…

What’s your favorite song of the moment?

The Well by Casting Crowns….

If you were to buy a new house/apartment what is the top items on your wish list?

It would have to be located by the beach or somewhere high up a hill near the beach. I don’t want a big house (I struggle enough with cleaning our medium-sized home), just the basic appliances and furniture and stuff. It may or may not have an Internet connection. It might be nice to live off-the-grid for a while.

Join the fun at Cee’s Share Your World! Don’t be shy, it’s fun!!

At the Cross

I did say that my blog is about my faith also

…and today I want to share a song that I have been listening to the past few days. I was needing a reminder, forgetful human that I am…

This song needs no explanation. Well, maybe it does, but the backstory is in the Gospels and practically the entire Old Testament. I’m not a preacher or Bible scholar. I’ve never claimed to be an expert on these matters, so I won’t go into that backstory. All I know is my life and how Jesus has changed it. That’s all I can confidently speak of.

And my life was/is something like this:

Where there was fear and anguish

Loneliness, extreme sadness and self-hatred

Jesus took all of that upon himself

At the cross and all the way to the grave

Where its binding chains were broken and left behind forever

Now, there are moments still

When I experience fear, pain and loneliness

When I still ask my many “whys” of God

Jesus never said following him will be easy

He said “in this world you will have trouble…”

Yet He also promised to those who believe,

“But take heart!

I have overcome the world.”

So if you’re looking for me

That’s where you’ll find me most times

Sitting at the foot of the cross…

I don’t know if I’ll ever find out why I was the given the set of life circumstances I had – my “backstory”. I know some of my past and present choices, when I could do what adults call “thinking”, have been foolish most times, and selfish. Anything I have done that has the appearance of being “brilliant” in the slightest way in this world is only because of God’s amazing grace.

I’m starting to ramble. So I’ll stop now. I will end with this quote, which sounds much better than anything I can come up with on my own:

“I have now reigned above 50 years in victory or peace, beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to 14! O man, place not thy confidence in this present world!” (emphasis mine)

Abd al-rahman, quoted in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 

And now the song…

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33 NIV

Related articles

• Joy, the Answer to Despair! (psalmsofpraisewomensministries.wordpress.com)
• Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross (austinbhebe.wordpress.com)
• Not A Fan – Week 4 (theintentionallifeofworship.wordpress.com)

This is Pinoy: People Power Day

It’s a holiday today (February 25).

My DD asked why. I told her it’s People Power Day. And that was followed by a short talk (homeschoolspeak for unit study) on People Power and the first EDSA Revolution that happened 27 years ago. I looked for a video that would explain it to them better but I couldn’t find any that were suitable. We watched the TV coverage instead. They got bored and didn’t understand it all. I guess they’re just too young.

I was out of the country when the revolution happened, too young to understand as well. But the older local kids (I was the expat kid then) were getting it on the news and were going around school with the “L for Laban” sign. They were rooting for Cory Aquino and the end to martial law in my home country.

I am a Martial Law baby (born in 1976), I told my children. I told them it was important to remember this day and what it meant. If martial law had not ended, where would we be? No homeschooling, that’s for sure. We would all be living a censored life.

They asked what that meant. It meant we couldn’t say or do what we wanted anytime and had to be very careful of the military. Don’t get me wrong, I have high respect for the military, have a few relatives who were/are in it. But martial law and civilian law are two very different things.

I just told them that we lived in a free country because a lot of people chose to be brave and got together to put an end to military oppression in our homeland 27 years ago.

That was good enough for them.

Whenever I drive along EDSA, it’s hard to imagine how it looked like with more than 2 million people standing there between February 22 to 25 in 1986. I found these pictures of how it looked like back then:

Photo Credit: http://pinasnapinas.blogspot.com

Photo Credit: http://minnesotagal.wordpress.com/ and http://www.novakistan.com/

 

Awesome, ain’t it? The other “revolutions” that followed paled in comparison. These were people who had had enough and were willing to die for it.

I was curious about Ninoy Aquino. It was his death that triggered the chain of events culminating in this gathering. Everyone knows he was shot in the head when he came home to remove the “threat” he represented. It always amazes me how fear can make people do all kinds of things. I am far more amazed when I see people doing the right thing even in the face of their fears. I think Ninoy Aquino was one of those who walked his talk about courage and sacrifice for others.

I found a video that revealed something of his mindset before his death. I thought I would put it here. At the end of the video is a disclaimer. I’m not an expert on the things the disclaimer mentions but I thought the video looked genuine enough.

 

Ninoy Aquino was definitely a dreamer. But he didn’t sit around and let it float in his head. He moved to make it happen. And it did.

To my Filipino readers out there: Mabuhay ang Pilipinas at ang ating lahi! Magandang araw po sa inyong lahat.

When Words Fail Me

I’m flying solo this week, on parenting that is, as the Beloved is away on business. To add to that set-up I’ve caught a nasty bug.

So I missed posting yesterday; had it all typed up while waiting for the kids to finish their Mandarin class and then forgot all about it when we got home. That will be the second day I missed posting since I started this year. If you will recall I set myself a goal to post a day for 2013. I think I’m doing okay in that department, despite the 2 misses…

Today my mind is a bit of a blank. I didn’t feel like posting what I had written yesterday. This video was slated for another day. But I thought I would share it today.

So, when words fail me, I share and sing a song instead…

A blessed and peaceful day to you all.

Love,

Mary

PS -This song is dedicated to the wonderful bloggers I follow, who have committed to follow Christ no matter what, and who have inspired me to keep following Him also, no matter what. Thanks for being a blessing to the world and to me.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT