2015 has been another year of abundant blessings for me and my family. Everything that I prayed for, desired and believed was fulfilled.With this, I want to post my very first blog for 2016 by counting the blessings that I have received the past year. May this be a form of thanksgiving for God's faithfulness and goodness:
- Graduated from my degree.
- Awarded as the "Pre school Best Student Teacher of the Year"
- Graduated as Cum Laude.
- Participated in the ministry events of Odyssey in Christ.
- Passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET).
- Attended various events in our church including our annual Worship Festival.
- Enjoyed some of the christian concerts that I attended with my mom and dad (Planetshakers and Hillsong Worship).
- Learned how to drive!
- Traveled to a lot of beautiful places - will post a separate blog for this soon.
- And to receive the best and memorable gift for my 21st birthday.**I am sharing it with you below**
These are just some of the highlights of my 2015. Bullets are not enough to enumerate them all, but these are just the highlights. Well, you can borrow my journal and read through the pages for a moredetailed, day-to-day record of God's blessings! hehe.
What about you...have you taken some time to
"count your blessings and name them one by one...count your many blessings and see what God has done..."? If you haven't done it yet, it's not yet too late to take this very moment to just remember, reflect and, take a rewind of the things that God has blessed you with last year.
Close your eyes and don't forget to end it with a simple prayer of thanksgiving! Let us start the year with thanksgiving in our hearts!!!
You might be wondering with the title of this blog -
"SAPSAPU". Actually this has something to do with the best and memorable gift that I've received for my 21st birthday. It's not a treat, a gadget, not even a money...nahhhh! It is about a special prayer of blessing (with the laying of hands) of my lola Saling. Early in the morning of my birthday, since we were in Tarlac that time, my lola(grandmother) greeted me a happy birthday but immediately I felt like asking her to speak blessings on me. Immediately, she held my hands and started to bless me using our dialect(ilocano). She blessed me with good health and for all of my success in life especially in finding a job.
Still, I have not mentioned about the title -
"SAPSAPU"! hehe! Here it is, last Christmas we went to visit lola again in Victoria, Tarlac. This time, I presented to apply
"SAPSAPU" (it is an ilocano term for "massaging oil") and massage lola Saling as an act of me saying "thank you" to her for blessing me on my birthday. Now, as long as I have the opportunity to apply
"SAPSAPU" and give lola a massage, I will.
I am reminded of the story in Mark 14:1-11 where a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard, broke the jar and started to anoint Jesus. This is a beautiful picture of service and offering someone with such adoration and high appreciation.
What do you think can you do to show your deep love and high appreciation for someone this year?
Have a year with a heightened sense of God's presence and fullness in our journey this 2016!!!
