No, it wasn’t my wedding day, life-changing as it had been. Today I’m thinking of a day that’s quite similar to a wedding, because it also involves a life-long covenant, a bold decision, and a leap of faith.

June 11, 1994. I was 11 years old. I went with my Mom to their office, which also happens to be our church. My Mom works in the church, have I ever mentioned that? My Dad was a Pastor and my Mom partnered with him in that ministry for 33 years. Until now, even after Dad passed away, my Mom still works in SBCC. So I grew up there, attending (later on, teaching) Sunday schools, youth camps, Bible studies, fellowship groups, and tagging along wherever my parents went.

But it was in June 11, 1994 when it all became clear to me that being a Christian is not exactly inheritable. When your parents are Christians, that doesn’t make you one by default. Sure, parents can raise you up in a Christian environment, but their belief does not automatically become your belief. It’s a decision only YOU can make for yourself. And it’s a decision that God will call you to do.

And so I surrendered my life to Jesus that day in 1994. I remember praying with my Mom and shedding lots of tears. I remember understanding for the first time that Jesus Christ suffered and died in the cross because it’s the only way to save us from our sins.

“He loves us that much?”, I remember my 11-year-old self asking my Mom, wiping my tears away. Even until now, whenever I think about God’s goodness, I would find myself saying variations of that very sentence: Really, Lord? You love me that much?

What does an 11 year old girl know about making decisions anyway, you ask. I’m not sure how to answer that question either, being 11 felt too long ago. All I know is, I remember June 11, 1994 vividly, and that day was the start of this amazing ride. And although at times I find myself falling or bruising myself along the way, it’s God’s love for me that kept me going and moving forward in this journey of faith.

My faith story is not like Rica Paralejo‘s or Manny Pacquiao‘s (Go ahead, click those links, watch their stories and be blessed!). Theirs was a drastic decision to turn away from their old lives, while I grew up in church and didn’t have to adjust so much. But the Spirit that changed them is the same that worked in my life, and is continuously working in our lives. Truly, Jesus’ act of love 2,000 years ago, His death on the cross, has the power to redeem us from our self-destructive, sinful nature and give us eternal life.

If only we would let Him.

How? Just believe.

Believe that you need a Saviour, that you need Jesus Christ in your life. Believe that no amount of good works is enough to earn you eternal life, after all, heaven does not have a point system. All sins fall in the same category, and sin comes with a price. As it’s been said in Romans 6:23:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Not by works, just Jesus.

Believe. Surrender. Accept His gift of eternal life. That’s all it takes.

Is there one day in your life when you made a decision that changed your life forever?

This could be that day.

That’s how it felt like last Sunday. Like Christmas morning and the dawn of New Year all in one day.

The worship tent was overflowing with both familiar faces and strangers. Seeing new faces in church is a real joy; to me that means our church is growing, and God’s Word is being widely spread in the community. I looked around the church I grew up in, thankful that God kept me here at such a time as this and grateful for the opportunity to witness such growth, such revival.

Listening to the sermon, I wrote on my journal profusely—notes about seeing each situation with eyes of faith; of giving your all and not holding back; of rejoicing about things that are still unseen. It still blows my mind how God knows exactly what I need to hear when I need to hear it. Do you feel that too?

And now, as I read the notes I wrote on my journal last Sunday, this sentence zoomed in on me:

Sometimes, God operates in ways that don’t make sense.

I read it once, twice, thrice. I read it many times over. I thought of the things in my life that don’t make sense to me, enumerating them like a mental checklist—frustrating things, impossible things, unfair things. It’s easy to feel dejected thinking about things that don’t make sense, no? Humans that we are, we long to understand what’s happening, to get a glimpse of what’s going to happen next or when the torture is going to end, to find answers to questions quick.

But it seems that these are God’s best working conditions. He operates in the realm of the impossible, that’s why when life finally reveals what He’s been up to, we often find ourselves surprised, in awe, amazed.

Sampaloc Bible Christian Community is a testament to that.

My life is a testament to that. Last year, most especially.

So if you’re going through something that seems impossible and does not make sense, I say, instead of feeling frustrated, be crazy excited! It only means that God is silently at work, getting you ready for something truly amazing.

This is how I know that 2012 will be even more. mind. blowing. ;)

i.e. (1) Last year, on my husband’s birthday, we were saying good bye; this year, we woke up next to each other and ate pancakes for breakfast. (2) Last year, on New Year’s Eve, we were shouting our greetings to each other over long distance phone calls, twice, because of the time difference; this year, we’re in Manila Hotel with David’s extended family, we watched the last sunset of the year together, and we welcomed the new year in the same continent and timezone. And then we had a beautiful quality time, just the two of us, at home, before work and classes resumed.

Behold the last sunset of 2011.

I had quite a number of milestones in 2011.

I encountered God like I never did before, after which, answered prayers and miracles happened one after the other I can never stop praising and thanking God.

And then LifeXtreme happened in this life of mine. It’s a humbling experience to be part of the committee that frontlines our church’s Youth Worship. This coming March marks LifeXtreme’s anniversary and I’m so blessed to have witnessed God’s work in our church’s youth ministry up front and center.

I turned 28, and celebrated what turned out to be my last birthday as a single person.

I let go of  a comfortable work-from-home set-up to make room for a more stable, more organized office job in Makati. I never thought I’d go back to the work force again after 2 years of being an SEO nomad, but stability is more important to me now than adventure, and I love how I can separate work from home and home from work this time around. Someone’s getting old.

I got married, which opened up a floodgate of big changes, like the change of address, and a hyphenated name, among many others.

It’s heartwarming, looking back and seeing what God has done and how far He has brought us in such a short period of time. Before 2011 started, our game plan was quite different. As the year ended, God proved once again that He’s a God of sweet surprises, and that we can never out-plan Him.

Which brings me back to our game. Try it. What were you doing exactly this time last year? How much has changed since? Are you doing something you planned and worked hard for, or something totally unexpected?

A warning, be careful to not dwell too much on the past. It’s one thing to look back and be stuck in what-ifs and what-should-have-beens, another thing to look back for the purpose of moving forward and being thankful for what you have now.

New Years are for clean slates and new beginnings. I pray that you find yourself counting blessings this 2012. :)

It’s our first Christmas as husband and wife, and I love that we get to start our own Christmas traditions. Last year, I had some instax photographs up on my Christmas tree, and this year, we thought we’d do the same. We picked some of our favorite photographs from the wedding and the honeymoon and printed them out with our Polaroid Pogo. It’s a cute little project, something we hope we can keep on doing for years to come.

On another note, I know it has been a challenge for our country to celebrate Christmas this year when Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City are still under the state of calamity. We don’t have a television at home, and quite honestly, my husband and I have only seen and heard so much. I know we’ll never really have a clear picture of what’s happening out there, but our family feels somehow involved. My eldest brother is there since last week; as part of his job, he’s with the ABS-CBN Engineering Crew which covers the relief operations there. It’s our first Christmas Day without him, probably even New Year too. Ergo, we had to let go of certain Christmas traditions this year to make way for my brother to be where he’s needed more.

I look at Ate Imy (my sister-in-law) and Isaac and I imagine how difficult it must be for them to celebrate Christmas without Kuya. But then I think about the thousands of families in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan who lost their loved ones and friends over the flash flood, and how devastating Christmas and New Year must be like for them. As I stare at our Christmas tree here at home, my heart goes out to the victims of Sendong who lost their homes and didn’t get the chance to put up their trees this year. At the time of this writing, the death toll has reached about 1,500. This is even more tragic than Ondoy.

Suddenly, no personal issues or problems are too big.

It’s easy to question the goodness of God at a time like this, but words from the Bible pop up like bright stars in the dark sky: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9) God sees everything in a bigger perspective, and as far as His grand scheme of things is concerned, everything happens for a reason and for our own good. His ways are higher, we only have to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10)—and believe that with all our hearts.

For the rest of us who are not in the center of this tragedy and are watching this from a distance, it’s our chance to help and make a difference. I’m not directly connected with any relief efforts for Sendong, but I think the surest way for our donations to reach Cagayan de Oro and Iligan is through Red Cross. We have 2 more days left before 2011 ends, let’s make it count.

That’s how we spent his 27th birthday.

This year was a perfect contrast. :)

This year, we were not in a rush. We waited for the clock to strike 12 (same timezone, yes!), spent the first minutes on Skype with my father-in-law, and he opened his gifts like he couldn’t wait. We had a long uninterrupted sleep, we woke up next to each other, and I cooked breakfast like I never did before. (Well, we never eat breakfast.) And then we spent the day doing whatever the birthday boy thought of doing.

We’ve had parties here and there the whole month of December, we even hosted some at home; so for his birthday, he specially requested to have the day just to ourselves. We played some sets of bowling, watched a movie, had a full-body massage and spa, and a late night Taco party with the Velardos.

It was a beautiful, serene, quality time together, accentuated by lots of laughter, hugs and kisses, tears of joy, and moments we would stop in our tracks and marvel at God’s grand scheme of things. Oh how things didn’t seem to make sense before! And oh how He unraveled His great master plan and brought us where we are in His own sweet time.

I’ve been blogging relentlessly about our story, mostly because the daily dose of inspiration is too overwhelming to contain and I need a place to share them all; partly because I have a feeling that someone somewhere is going through similar valleys and roads, and I thought, if only I could encourage at least one person to keep the faith and never tire on chasing his/her dreams, then this blog has served beyond its purpose. Although it’s not really a self-help blog with how-tos and 101s to long distance relationships and chasing dreams (well, not yet), I’m happy to be sharing my life here as a case study. Lest you need to pick up a lesson or two.

God has made many of my dreams come true, and replaced the good ones with the best; and while the journey is not a walk in the park and we have to hurdle through difficult situations and people along the way, God is faithful, and well, we’re living our lives together now aren’t we? :)

So to you who’s going through your own roller-coaster ride of a life and wondering when the chase will end, take it from us: God has your best interest in mind, always. He will see you through. Just as He did with us.

As his birthday was about to end, my husband and I reflected upon the past year and how much has happened in such a short period of time. It wasn’t long ago when we would celebrate birthdays and monthsaries in front of Skype, opening our Fedex-ed gifts and finding creative ways to bridge the distance. Don’t get me wrong, we treasure those good ol’ days, we learned so much from them. But we cannot deny the fact that deep within our hearts we incessantly prayed for the day we would get to spend these special occasions together.

And now we’re here.

We had quite a lengthy prayer to cap the night, thanking God for blessing my husband 28 awesome years, most especially for the past year which was exceptionally beautiful. You bet there were tears of joy all over the place.

Chuck Swindoll wrote something that pretty much describes how it feels like, being in the center of God’s grand scheme of things:

Life is not based on blind fate or random chance. Everything that happens, including the things you cannot explain or justify, is being woven together like an enormous, beautiful piece of tapestry. From this earthly side it seems blurred and knotted, strange and twisted. But from heaven’s perspective it forms an incredible picture. Best of all, it is for His greater glory. Right now, it seems so confusing, but someday the details will come together and make good sense.

There it is—part of God’s perfect plan unfolding.

Those years spent apart were difficult, and there were a gazillion things we couldn’t understand (even until now). But as we witness God’s master plan unfold, it becomes clearer each day why God allows things to happen the way they do.

It’s not my birthday today, but it’s like I’m the one who was given such a beautiful gift.

It was awesome listening to her, I can just imagine how much more mind-blowing it would be if I get to experience it myself! I’m stealing some photographs off her Facebook wall, praying that I’ll get to take truckloads of photos and see Israel through my own lens someday.

1) View of the Dome of the Rock (what used to be Solomon’s temple) from the Mount of Olives; 2 & 3) The Sea of Galilee; 4) The Western Wall and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; 5) Ate Vilma pinning a paper to the Western Wall with our names in it! 6) And that’s her, Ate Vi, sitting by the Sea of Galilee

I’m still a bit stoked at the thought that MY name (and my husband’s) is listed somewhere on the Western Wall of Jerusalem. Thanks to our dear Ate/Ninang Vi, whose passion never fails to inspire, to give hope, and to encourage.

I’m officially adding a new item in my bucket list!

Also, blogging this now so when the time comes, I get to trackback on this post. ;)

Israel, I shall see you someday.

*All photos taken from Ate Vi’s Facebook wall, post-processed by Riz.

That morning, unlike any other mornings, my husband and I walked to the beach, found a spot, sat on our sarong (picnic blanket), opened our Bible, reflected on Psalm 92 & 93, and prayed together. We don’t always get to walk to a nearby beach anytime we want, so even though we’re not exactly morning people, we woke up beyond our usual that day, making sure we didn’t miss the sunrise. It was definitely worth the pain of getting up at 5:30am! Now, whether we’re in the beach, or in bed, or in church, or in our dining table, whether in the morning or at night, I love that we can freely clasp our hands together to talk to God 3-way. It’s amazing how I was just praying for moments like this a year ago, and how beautifully God answered that prayer.

2. I love answered prayers, whatever they may be—yes, no, wait. In my life I had an abundance of them—including ones that were answered with a resounding “no” (which ultimately led to one “yes” after another.) Lately I’m beginning to appreciate how everyday is an answered prayer in and of itself. We have roof above our heads, food on our table, warm bed at night. God knows exactly what we need, what to say, what to take away.. every single time! Never fails.

3. And then there are random strangers who leave messages on twitter with 140 characters worth of love and encouragement. It’s a great feeling to be prayed for by a stranger, it inspires me to be a blessing by praying for others too.

What can I pray for you today? (:

He ordered the Zink sheets from ebay, the package was shipped to the Philippines from California, and just like that, my love for instant photography is back. Mind reels that there’s a separate blog about this sometime soon. You bet. (:

2. Habakkuk 3:17-19. Last Sunday, David preached in church for the first time and the experience was awesome. I know, that last sentence was pretty biased, coming from his wife and #1 fan by default. But what’s truly awesome to me is how God prepared him for this. Sure, he didn’t have a degree in Theology, but his message felt so real to me because I’ve seen Habakkuk 3:17-19 happen in his life more times than my fingers can count and my mind can recall. I sat there front and center, listening to him preach God’s Word, feeling like I was getting to know him a little bit more, and feeling blessed and inspired of the message that God placed in his heart. So okay, I may be biased, but come to think of it, if there’s anyone who sees this man for who he really is now—ups and downs, good days and bad days—it’s got to be me. And I’m soo thankful to be a witness to how God is continuously working in his life, and our life together. (:

3. Link love. And now I send some link love to these people whose blogs/videos inspired me this week. After the jump.

+ Can you believe this music video? It’s a video made of Kinna Grannis, 288,000 real jelly beans, and 22 hours of hard work! Go see for yourself.

+ Do you know Pentatonix? We are crazy about them! I remember getting hooked to The Sing Off last year when I was in the US. Sadly, the show is not being aired in Philippine television, so my husband and I had to wait around Youtube and wherever Sing Off videos are being uploaded. We manage to follow the season alright, albeit delayed telecast, and we’re rooting for Pentatonix all the way! Here’s a Pentatonix playlist I made, mostly because we like playing the videos on loop at home, and partly so I can share them here.

+ My heart goes out for Jennie, especially this Thanksgiving, as she and her daughters celebrate their first Thanksgiving without Mikey. I feel attached to her, for some reason. Jennie encourages her readers to always be thankful, and to help The Liz Logelin Foundation, established to help people struggling with the loss of a husband or wife. So I’m sending some link love over there too, for whatever help this may serve.

+ Normi is moving in THIS DOMAIN with me! Yay! Chasingdreams.net’s first ever sub-domain, her blog is now residing at normi.chasingdreams.net. She thanks me for the space, but I said I should be the one thanking her for hopping on board. I have a vision for this domain, and I’m happy to announce that Normi is the first dreamer joining this chase with me. So hover over to her space, and read her take on Divorce. (Way to go for a first post, Mrs!)

+ Matthew Snyder’s take on sin and the message of the cross came at a time I needed to be reminded. It’s easy to be hard on yourself or other people, pointing out the things that you’ve done wrong, or criticizing others for what they’ve done wrong, sometimes sulking about them even. But Matt reminds us that the real message of the cross is not just in Jesus dying for our sins, but also in the empty tomb–it is finished. Done. He rose above death and we shouldn’t dwell so much on sin anymore. He said it better than I ever could, so go ahead and read it there.

I should make this a weekly thing, sharing awesome reads and websites I find here and there. Maybe I will. :)

I’m having some sort of writer’s block right now, staring at this blank space for the past hour without any progress. I feel like I’ve said so much the past days, there’s nothing much for me to say now. So while I try to put my thoughts in one place, allow me to copy-paste Chuck Swindoll‘s words..

God is God, and He will have His way when He pleases and for His glory. What could be better than that? In all the mystery of His waiting and working, and in the wrong of our doing and undoing, He can still be trusted. The main thing is that you and I remain sensitive to those moments when He finally breaks the silence and suddenly intervenes on our behalf. At least to us it seems sudden. To Him, it happened exactly as He had planned it all along.

just ’cause I thought, perhaps, you need it too. (:

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