“Of course I know him!” answered ate Tess.

 I was just on my second week of my job as a boarding teacher and I am sharing a room with ate Tess, a helper. One night I asked her if she knows Jesus and she said “of course I know him! How could I not know Him, I always go to church every Sunday.” Upon hearing this, I felt a little bit disappointed. “How can I explain to this woman that it is not just about knowing Jesus?.” “How will I show her that it's not just about going to church every Sunday?.”

After she said those words, I diverted the topic and asked her a bout her life. I then saw a spark on her face. She started telling stories about her life. After a while, I asked her if she ever felt the tangible presence of the Lord in her life.

“I know that He is always there and will never leave me but I never felt his presence.”

“It's true God is always here and is always looking after us and it is also true that He wants us to feel the closeness His presence.” I answered back and looked at her face and I can see the unbelief on her face. The reaction on her face is enough to tell me that she thinks I am crazy. I fought my fear and pressed on asking if someone ever prayed for her.

“The only time I was prayed for by someone is when I was still a child.”

upon hearing this I asked her if I could pray for her then and she said yes. I then laid my hand on her shoulder and started asking for the Holy Spirit to come. I began asking God to fill her with His presence and that she will have an encounter with a loving Father. An encounter that will change her life. An encounter that will heal all the brokenness in her. An encounter that will change her relationship to God.

 After praying I asked her how she feels.

“I never had this encounter before, I felt that something had come into me but I can't explain what it is.”

That night I slept so happy and full of excitement! What a privilege to see this woman smile genuinely for the first time.!.

After that night, everyday if given the chance I would always asked her about her life and how she is. Then finally I got the chance one night to asked her if she ever accepted Jesus to come into her life.

“Since childhood I always go to church every Sunday but I never asked Him to come into my life.”

I then led her to a simple prayer and that night she gave her life to Jesus. After that encounter, I'm seeing joy coming into the life of this woman. I decided to write something about her:

She is the fourth child of 7 children. At the age 14 years old she went to Olongapo City from Pillar, Sorsogon to find a job. At a young age and with no relatives with her. Full of uncertainties, doubt, and fear she had to be brave and try to overcome homesickness. She had been supporting her family. 

The pressure of responsibilities to her family went higher when her mother died at the age of 21. After 27 years of baby sitting. She visited her sister in Baguio City. And decided to look for a job here thinking she is with her relatives. With her small salary she supported the education of her niece who just graduated this year. And at the same time still supporting her sister who has hypertension and diabetes.

Her never ending love for her family make her decide not to marry anymore. She is 51 years old now.

“I always asked God to give me more strength, and I also knew that if it's time for me to go I can't do anything because it's His will.”

This is always her response every time I asked what is she thinking, and what is she always asking God for.

This is a story of a simple woman. She might not be noticed by the society. A woman who had not done any remarkable thing to make famous. A woman sometimes being scorned for inadequacy. An outcast.

But She is the apple of God's eyes. A treasure. A Royalty. She is loved.

What a privilege to watch how this beautiful woman of God turning into who she really is.

Love Encounter with My Papa God

Right now I am sitting beside my mama’s hospital bed. It’s already 1:11 in the morning. She’s been here seven nights and eight days today. It has been a long and exhausting days. Looking at her right now, I can see how her health has improved comparing to the first few days. For those long days and nights I wasn’t able to talk to her doctors because their schedule of visiting isn’t predictable..

Everyday and every night visitors come and go, relatives from my mama and daddy’s side.  And though hospitals aren’t so comfortable to mingle with people, this place has served as a lounge for me, my family and relatives who visited. It had been a great opportunity to catch up with most of them. Amazing how a sick person be a way for us to get closer to each other..

Looking back to the day when she was first paralyzed, I was really scared since that day.. There was never a time that when I remember my mom’s health condition that I feel this fear of losing her and how will I be able to stand after that,..  And now, I am just really amazed at how God has been preparing my heart, my mind, my emotions, my Faith, my trust, everything that if I will list them it will take ages to get to the end of the list.. 

My mama was very strong, and is a fighter and I didn’t realize that. I was busy of self-pitying. Busy thinking of how will I be able to live without her. Will I go back to depression if she gets stroke again? What will happen to my future? What will happen to my family?  How will I get over this when I’m not yet over with depression? I’m not yet over with many mistakes I made in the ministry I am with?  I was buried with fear and so many unanswered questions.

And here comes the moment I have feared. Sunday night, when someone called telling me they rushed my mama to the hospital. (She was brought a week before that because of a fall). I went and for long hours we have been waiting in the emergency room until the doctor said we can bring her home. Afternoon of the next day, my father and my sister brought her to the doctor for a check – up (different hospital) and they immediately refer her for admission apparently of second stroke!.  She was in the ICU already when I went there. She stayed there for one night and one day then they transferred her to the ward.

I was expecting what my reactions would be when this moment come. I was expecting myself to be crying all the time just by seeing my mama suffering. Get angry to others. Blame people. Bury myself to depression.

But the shocking thing is what I felt that moment was the very opposite of all these things. I felt this calmness. My heart is filled with peace. It is very serene. I never felt like this in my entire life. My heart was filled with this thing that I felt so strong in my trust and faith in God alone.

I am a church intern for almost two years now. And for those years I have been trying to work and strive hard thinking I could earn God’s love.. But it’s not His love that I have been seeking for all those time. I have been working hard to earn title for myself, to get myself a position..

In these times of challenges, times when I thought I couldn’t be able to stand up anymore. Times when I thought I couldn’t climb up all the piles of mistakes and trials on me, he made me realized that His love is so deep and could never be earned. He just love me without conditions..

He made me realize that He is with me all the time. That He was trying to run so He could catch up with me.  

This time, where I had my most fearful moment, He made me stop and just love Him back. Just feel His love. He made me go back to the first time I fell in love with Him.

This encounter with my Father God was very powerful that made me just to trust my mama unto His palm.

To believe in the impossible and that no matter what happens to my mama, I knew God is greater. He is holding me and my mama with such loving arms. I believe in His promises.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 

Isaiah 40:29-31

He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

Romans 8:37-39

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My mama loves Jesus.. Now it’s 2:33 in the morning. And my mama is peacefully asleep..

Street Church Testimony

A lady from our street church shared this:
She was at home one day when she and her husband's friend named choy came and told her that he is having bruises on his whole body every time he took a bathe...
She then told him, "you pray and ask God to heal you"...


Then yesterday Choy sent her a message saying: "My bruises are gone now God healed me, thank you so much ate." 

House Church Leader

One of our House Church leaders fell down while going down the mountain after  house church... The right hand which was affected due to stroke months ago got damaged..
After many tests and hours of waiting, the doctor finally said she can go home.

Please pray for her fast recovery..

Behind the stage

The feeding woman!!...
This woman in this picture has been helping to serve the food at the feeding...
She didn't need big words to say.....
She just helps,... What a great woman,....  


More feeding scenes!!,...

A Father never gives illness to His child to punish....

Five months ago this woman suffered an ischemic stroke. Her right arm and Right leg affected... Though she got ill, she still leads house church every Sunday. She is still active on church activities... She never shows us any weakness.. But one thing i notice is that she's never the same again.. She's not as expressive as before anymore when it comes to her opinion...                         
I see pain in her eyes even though she never speak about it...


During Love Baguio (Bible Study every Tuesday), Ate Lony shared about God's goodness.. This woman was touched so deeply that she was able to share what was in her heart....


For such a long time people has been telling her she got her illness because she did something wrong, because she was a sinner....


Upon hearing ate Lony's message, this woman after carrying the thought that she was sick because of sin was able to release it, release what's in her heart...
The pain i keep seeing in her eyes for so long... has been released....

Joy restored, hope restored thank you Jesus.... 
Praying that she be healed emotionally and psychically..  

May we see the smile again in these pictures taken months before she got ill...
Restoration and healing in Jesus name... 

May we hear your wholehearted laugh.. And may we hear again how you talk about me and my life story mama,..                 I believe.. Jesus..

 

My Blog Tittle's real meaning

It has been raining for days now. And here at our Church center where i live and  which we call yellow building usually if there's typhoon people would come and ask for food..

Three ladies came for food and i didn't question them because i know them so well..                   

Then a while later two ladies came, one is a mother of one of our youth group member, the other i just recognize because she lives near the place where i came from but she is not a church member.. So i begun asking them, "do you really need food?" And of course they said yes.. So i gave them but in my mind was, "why do people who we don't even know come when they need something????"

After few hours, here comes an old lady whom i don't know but accompanying her are children i knew. So i asked them, "do you know her?'' They said, yes. I asked the old lady "where are you from?" She didn't answer obviously she doesn't want to tell me where she is from. So i just gave her food and thought, "She might be a friend of the children's mother."

With all the thoughts i had, one more thing came up..
Why am i here for?
What is your purpose?
Are you here to judge people's behavior?
Are you here to criticize them?

People from different places, different situations, different motives, different experiences come. They are broken inside and out. Some desperate, some not, some lie to cover their motives.
But they come because they are needing something, they are seeking answers they don't know only God can give..
And what am i doing thinking about all these negative things.

I'm here to guide them to where they could find the real answer and not to lead them away.. That's real meaning of my blog's tittle Keep Loving..
Don't focus on people's motives what drives them but think of it as an opportunity to lead them to Jesus,...

Loving the children

This School year we started a feeding in a new School. We started with twenty five children but after few weeks we went up to thirty five kids.,.. These children come from families who are not able to eat three times a day..

One kid shared that her mama collects recyclable materials from trash for a living and her father just sleeps at home most of the time.. But she said she knows Jesus and is thankful to Him because He loves her,.. :)

Some scenes at the feeding :) :)

Tower and Castle for Jesus! :)

 1. Jesus' Tower.,, :) :) What you see in this picture are cups!!! Well, the yellow ones we used during After School Kids Church,.. And the rainbow colors are used during feeding at school..,..

2. Here comes the Jesus' Castle!!!
Hahaha,.. These are bowls used for the feeding sponsored by our Church.,,

More than enough!!!

Well here's a story about asking and getting more than what you need :) :) :)

Looking at this picture, it just look normal and weird.!!
But actually it's not!!!

When i was about to have shower, there was no water!!! and it's almost 10:00 in the  morning i had to go somewhere!! So i ask Papa God for water...

Then went to the office to talk with becs but i forgot to close the faucet!! and water came!!


And it is more than enough that my slippers are floating!!! hahaha
my bathroom is flooded!!

Dulag, Leyte

 Dulag, Leyte,..

Went there for a month school of missions. Beautiful people..
Beautiful beach.. Beautiful place..

Mission Shoes

 Wew!! It's rainy season!! This Sunday i didn't realize that, and i forgot that we have to walk on the mud!! So heres what happened to my shoes, hahaha,.. I cleaned it a little bit though,..

So reminder 101 when it's rainy season and you have to walk on the mountains, you need to buy rainy boot!! Which i haven't done yet!! :) :)
 

School of Missions

If you go to a mission school you should prepare yourself for these things:

1. Big dead fish  on the beach! 

 

2. Pig you will be encountering when you go to the outreaches in the villages where you had to walk an hour or more.

3. A turtle!!

4. They call this tuk-ku but i don't know the english term. It looks just like a lizard but no. It's skin is harder and rougher than it looks.  It also bites so we had to hold it's mouth.

 5. Carabao! before you can reach the beach which is just 5 minutes walk from the school, you have to walk pass this carabao. They named her Georgia :) Good if she is lying like this but a little bit scary if she is just standing and looking at you.. :) :)

6. Gian butterfly! Wew, we were eating our lunch outside because it is too hot. When we saw this we chased it for minute :) :) It is strong you have to hold it firmly. 

7. Three times a day you. Every eating time be prepare for dogs waiting under, beside your table. haha..