2016: YEAR IN REVIEW

After hours…days and months of being “busy” and not able to blog, hey I’m back!! 

Since it’s Christmas break, I took time to open my almost-tornout-2016-small-black-Starbucks-planner and browse through the pages. For 5 years now, I practiced the discipline of journaling - with the mixed use of words, doodles, partial song lyrics, and sketches. My planner has been a place where my prayers are “spoken” - there are times when it is very hard to focus and verbalize my prayers. I find “journalling” very helpful! I can write my prayers to God in a form of "letter-writing", in this way, I can easily organize my prayer points, my answered prayers and my highlights of my day.

Let me share with you my #HighlightsoftheMonth:

• JANUARY

• I identified my “LifeGoals for 2016”. Guess what? 1 out of 12 was not accomplished! (secret) haha!! But one of my accomplished goal was being employed! tadaaaah! I am now a kindergarten teacher at UCCP - Baguio Educational Center Inc.

• FEBRUARY 

• The GCI Baguio Youth conducted the “PITSTOP: Journey to the Cross” (a.k.a. Stations of the Cross) in commemoration of the Passion Week/Holy Week.

• Attended the “Jesus Festival”. I received an impartation (laying of hands) and experienced the Holy Spirit in a new/different way!

• MARCH

• Had an opportunity to share the gospel to 4 classes of Ma'am Flor at BSU. Praise God!

• Accomplished the level 2 class of Transforming Prayer with Dr. Rey Taniajura.

• Went to MLQES for my demo teaching and interview! - had a chance to pray for the teachers/supervising instructors who interviewed me! whoa.

• Bea’s 18th Birthday.

• APRIL

• Attended the #UsapangWorship conference with Ptrs. Rommel & Susan Guevara.

• OIC Trainings with Dr. Larry Hinkle. (I can’t believe that I was able to go to Tagaytay 2 times this month again!)

• Visited the “Most Beautiful Starbucks in the Philippines” at Batangas with my aunt Auey. Yey!

• MAY

• Mama and papa surprised Jana and I with an Iphone 5s.

• I wasn’t able to make it in the ranking of Deped with the total score of 68.38. 

• 1st fun run of the year with Jana and Bea. It was a colorful run!

• Received a phone call from UCCP - Baguio Educational Center Inc. that I was taken as their teacher and should report to their school the following week.

• JUNE

• Our Church’s 42nd Anniversary celebration at Palm Groove Resort. My nephew Edrem and ading Ardel were baptized. Hallelujah!!

• My first month of work - the school gave me 4 children (Paul,Dave,Aljur and Carl) for their summer tutorials in phonetics.

• Received my 1st ever pay!! Whoot!

• JULY

• Honestly, wasn’t able to journal this month! 

• Jana’s pre-debut shoot with tito Rex and tita Sheila.

• One of the most challenging times this year. My mama got Dengue. - A time to see how faithful God is and stand on His promises. We also experienced God’s love thru our family and friends who prayed with us, visited and helped us.

• Jana’s 18th Birthday celebration at Forest House Bistro.

• AUGUST

• Decorated my “Kingdom” - themed classroom for my Nursery/Prekinder Class.

• Met and gave an orientation to the parents of my kinder class *butterflies* just kept flying on my belly the whole day! whew!

• Wonderful time of fellowship,learning and sharing of insights during the Northern Luzon Pastors’ Conference.

• My papa delivered his sermon at church with the title “FAITH”. Praise God for using you as His mouthpiece papa! You ministered to me.

• I was not feeling well but by God’s grace I was able to do prayer & counseling in Baguio Day’s Medical and Dental Mission.

• ***MANY BLANK PAGES***

• SEPTEMBER

• I preached my first-ever sermon in our local church on “Christians Be Like…”

• Had our “fishball-tuhog-your-own” youth fellowship.

• I was spiritually refreshed with our church annual Worship Festival with the theme - “Spread His Love,Share Your Life”. Ptr. Anthony and wife Elizabeth Mullins being our guest speakers. 

• OCTOBER

• Such a blessing to be given the chance to have a leave from school and attend the “Journey With The Master” Retreat facilitated by Ptr. Anthony Mullins. It was attended by difference youth leaders from GCI Phillipines.

• Uncle Ben went to be with the Lord. (2nd death in our family this year)

• NOVEMBER

• The start of our family’s christmas traditions:

• Set-up our christmas tree and Nativity set.

• attended the annual Starbucks Christmas Party.

• Went shopping at Brent School’s Christmas bazaar.

• Attended “Jesus-Reigns” Benguet for the prayer rally.

• Spent my 13th month pay! hahaha.

• Co-facilitated the Bible Emphasis Month Celebration here in school.

• DECEMBER

• Decorated our first-ever Christmas tree at home. Thanks mama and papa!

• My 22nd Birthday celebration at home with a sumptuous lunch by my aunt Auey. I invited family and friends here at home.

• more Christmas bazaars!!

• We had our Christmas service a day earlier since service at church was cancelled.

• Travelled to Victoria,Tarlac for the Christmas eve dinner and party! It was fun! Uncle-Santa-Willie organized a unique “exchage gift giving” game!

• Decided to go swimmin’ at San Fabian with Team Baguio on the 26th.

• Took down our Christmas decors on the 27th…yeah, that soon!

• Fixed and cleaned my chaotic room!

• Accomplished my activity plan for January! whoot!!

• Year-end getaway with fambam to Bolinao, Pangasinan.

Thank you God for a one-of-a-kind trip around the sun. Goodbye 2016!

This new year, our family had a “prophetic” theme/declaration for 2017 - “YEAR OF GREAT JOY!”. This is taken from Luke 2:10:

But the angel said to them,

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people.”

We believe that Jesus is the “Great Joy” and will continue to reveal Himself as the “Great Joy” in our everything - family, finances, health, plans, work, ministry, etc. especially this year of 2017. May Jesus’ presence and Him being the center of our lives bring an overflow of the true and everlasting “Great Joy” to everyone.

Spread the joy, joy, joy, joy, great joy in the name of the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit!

*Three-fold Amen!*

MACOPA TREE

For the past two weeks, I had the opportunity to attend the intensive trainings of Dr. Larry Hinkle, the Director of Odyssey In Christ Inc. (OIC). I am part of the core group team of OIC Philippines. It was held in the Christian Development Centre, Tagaytay City - I now call this place as one of my personal sanctuaries. In fairness, I’ve been going back and forth to CDC for about 5 times already? This is a special place for me because it is where God met me through a retreat called the “Experiencing The Trinity”. I can sense my personal “burning bush” there at CDC.

The trainings I attended are on the specialized retreats that we, as the core team can do/share for the Body of Christ in the future. Aside from our training lectures, I enjoyed the memorable fellowship times during meals, room chats and even the unplanned coffee date at Starbucks Tagaytay. But more than all of these, I, along with the team, experienced God in a lot of ways especially in the practice of the Spiritual Disciplines/Spiritual Formation/Rhythms of Life which is actually the heart of OIC ministry. Our Triune God continues to minister to us uniquely as a group and individually. I received fresh revelations from Him during times of Solitude and Silence, Lectio Divina, Body Prayer, Centering Prayer, Breath Prayer and in the worship singing.

There was this specific Spiritual Discipline that stands out for me during the training. This was when Dr. Larry asked us to go for a 30-minute prayer walk outside the CDC to enjoy the creation/environment that God has created and pay attention to God’s voice/inspiration/word/prompting during the walk.

What caught my attention was this Macopa tree bearing so much fruit, to the point that some of the branches cannot hold its fruits. Some of the fruits even fell to the ground. This tree stood in the frontage of a house, I think no one resides in it. The fruits were “very pleasing to the eyes” (hehe)! I wasn’t able to control myself and took a piece and eat it! It was juicy and sweet. (well, I whispered “Thanks” to the owner).

I paused…in silence just to “hear” what God’s impressions for me at that moment. The verse in John 15:5,8 (Jesus speaking):

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

In reflection, I used the “Notice, Acquire and Wonder” as my prayer guide. Here is what I got from the Lord:

NOTICE: (He led me to see and “notice” this Macopa tree bearing so much fruit.)

Just like this Macopa tree, that bears so much fruit, we, as Christians are also called to bear much fruit that causes us to be “noticed” by others.

ATTEND: (I went near the tree and even ate.)

As the Lord brings people in our lives, whether in our family, at church, school office or wherever we go, we are to share these “fruits” in them. The fruits that we bear may be symbolized by the gifting,talents,skills and talents that God has given us. It is be used, shared and “eaten”.

WONDER: (I tasted the Macopa fruit and it was sweet and juicy.)

We are to appreciate and enjoy the wonderful gifts that God blessed us with, as we continue to bear so much fruit. Let us all use our “fruits” for the advancement of His Kingdom and that they may see that we are His disciples.

Yes and Amen!

WAITING TIME

It’s been three months now since I’m in the attitude of "waiting", waiting for God’s "go" signal for a lot things…Those people close to me, have known me to be a person who worries a lot, lacks patience and hates waiting. I am amenable of that - that’s my weakness. It is my daily prayer is that God will meet me in this "weakness" for His grace to increase in me...Yes Lord!

In one of my times of reflection after I did my daily routine of feeding our dogs, I just got this impression of writing a blog on "waiting" and even discovering on what His Word teaches about this hard subject. So, this blog you're reading right now is in response to that still-small-voice. But to tell you, it took me three days after that impression before I started writing this blog. Hmmm...sometimes I realize that I let God "wait" on me also! HAHA! nahhh. joking.

In searching for a key verse for this blog, I came across Psalm 27:14 (emphasis mine) that says:  

"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." 

Such emphasis on the phrase "wait for the LORD" that it was mentioned twice in this verse.

Just a little bit of the context of Psalm 27, This psalm is written by King David in his deliverance he had from the sword of the giant, when Abishai succoured him. (2 Samuel 21:16-17). I will not get into the details of this particular Psalm/song. But basically this is a song of deliverance written and sang by King David. I can just imagine his feelings in praying this song on the context of war...those times when the reality of facing your opponents who tend to have better armors, thousands of men in the battalion, and as King David defeated a "giant". In life, we face our different "realities", it can symbolize our doubts, fears and impatience that hinder us from "waiting for the LORD".

One of the things that make "waiting for the LORD" so hard and stressful is that we sometimes want our own timeline...we dictate, we impose, we want things and circumstances to come right away in front of us instead on really waiting for the LORD in full trust and surrender. It is not easy...

I do believe that in my journey of "waiting for the LORD" especially during this chapter of my life...looking for a job, a teaching job. I never imagined how hard it is to look for a job!!! Feelings of pressure that my colleagues are already employed and are earning. When this random thoughts come into my mind...I slowly let God's presence minister to me and let Him remind me of those times when I worry a lot and grow impatient but then in the end...I realized that He did not allow and give things right away for a lot of purposes - those purposes that I did not see during those times of worrying. Ohhhhh...those times!!

Believe it or not, I encounter a lot of "testings" of waiting and exercising my patience E V E R Y D A Y, may it be in waiting for a cab, in the resto waiting for your meal to arrive...and many more! So. help. me. God.

No matter how shot or long the waiting time that God is giving us...let us always ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to wait in trust and surrender. I want to end this blog with the Amplified Bible version of Psalm 27:14:

"Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord."

Let's praise God while we're waiting!

MIYERKULES TI KURKUROS

I decided to wake up early today and attend a mass at Baguio Cathedral. As most of us, especially Roman Catholics know that today marks the start of Lenten Season - 40 days and 6 Sundays leading to Easter (Resurrection) Sunday. One of the indicators that it is Lent is when you see people having ash marks of cross in their foreheads. 

By the way, I am not a Roman Catholic but as I realize the beauty of some (though I don't agree in everything they do) of the "symbolisms" that they use and practice, I start to appreciate them especially that one of my spiritual temperament is "traditionalist" this classification is for people who connects to God the most in symbols, liturgy, and sacraments. It is important to acknowledge that not everyone have this particular spiritual temperament (some are contemplative,enthusiast,naturalist,activists,caregiver, ascetic, sensate and intellectual).To discover your spiritual temperament, click this link (http://www.thrivingfamily.com/Features/Magazine/2011/nine-spiritual-temperaments.aspx).

Why use ashes on Ash Wednesday? Ashes is an outward sign/symbolism of our sorrow,human morality and repentance for sins. It is a reminder that "...for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:9 NIV). These ashes are traditionally from the burned palm leaves from last year's Palm Sunday celebration. Let us remember that this practice is no magical, this is done for the purpose of symbolism.

As the priest placed his thumb to place an ash mark of cross on my forehead, I started to reflect on the  fact that we have a Creator, who created us from dust, breathed in us His Holy Spirit of life, and loved us even to the point that he gave His Son, Jesus for us. In our brokenness, He chose to take our brokenness for us to be made whole. How beautiful reading the writings of Apostle Paul when he said “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” (Galatians 3:13). 

Today, Ash Wednesday is celebrated in masses and services by churches. Whether it is letting the ministers put ash marks of cross in their foreheads or in other churches, they prefer it in their palms. Still, with or without ash mark of crosses, more than this "physical" symbols, let us see the "spiritual" relevance of this practice.

Lent is all about Jesus who became one of us and include us in His life,death and resurrection. He did all of these because of His unconditional love for all humanity. Hallelujah! 

This Lenten Season, let us take this opportunity to pause, reflect, pray, devote, retreat, rest and fast as we commemorate the beauty of this Life that we have in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

"Miyerkules Ti Kurkuros" - is the Ilocano translation for Ash Wednesday.

RHYTHMS OF GRACE

During this cold, 11 degrees celsius, evening that I decided to rename my blogsite with "Rhythms of Grace". I just got strucked with The Message bible translation of Eugene H. Peterson of Matthew 11:28-30. Oh, I just can hear Jesus words speaking to me...

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (The Message - emphasis mine)

How beautiful those words are! Penetrates to the deepest of my spirit...I just need this right now!

May may life continue to make melodies,harmonies,songs, hymns and music of unforced rhythms of grace...as I continue to journey with Abba, Jesus and Holy Spirit. Walking step-by-step. Remaining in His love. Enjoying the Present Moment. Being led. Eyes opened to see more. Lifting my hands to the heavens. Being the hands and feet of Jesus. Doing everything in love...

H E A D - what I am thinking right now.

Job-searching.

H E A R T - what I feel.

I'm feeling' moody.

H A N D S - what I find doing.

Working and doing the things that a teacher does.

Hey! Live the abundant life we have in Jesus!!! 

SAPSAPU

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!!!

WHOA!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." -Philippians 4:6

I just wanna share a brief testimony of God's goodness. So here it is...(be ready to say "whoaaa!" with me)

Honestly, It's been almost three months of waiting for the result of the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) that I took last September 27,2015. Most of the time, I pray. I unceasingly pray to God: "Lord, You know the desires of my heart...I wanna pass the LET." Whenever I wake up,before I sleep...in the middle of the day or night,every minute, every second...even as I wash the dishes or whatever I do, I offer a prayer - spoken and unspoken. I am a worrier...impatient. anxious. I get so stressed with a lot of "ifs" and thoughts of "How if I fail the board exam?". That is my weakness.But I know that my God is very personal that He even lives inside of me, He knows our everything! And He loves to be with us in times of doubt,fear and disbelief. How awesome it is that God,despite of my lack of trust in Him...remains to be gracious,loving,faithful and so on.Whoa!

He has given me a lot of encouragements and affirmations to always remind me to wait and TO HOLD ON TO HIM. He has used people,scripture, signages/posters and even songs to minister/speak to me. God is indeed moving!!

As the day of releasing the results drew closer, my heart literally beats faster and faster to the point that whenever the fan page of PRC posts something, I feel like having a minor heart attack! Hahaha! It was actually postponed many times. So, I got bored...but yesterday, Instead of being worried (to the maximum level),I decided to attend Jesus Reigns Celebration (a simultaneous worship gathering of 82 provinces here in the Philippines) in Melvin Jones grounds. I never expected to meet my high school friend Narie there. As the worship went by, leading to the holy communion...My phone vibrated with messages of "congratulations", "you passed" and other greetings! I don't know how to express my feelings that time. I was literally speechless!! But I immediately called my mom to verify my name in the website (since I have no internet connection) and tadaaaaah! My name was really there! Whew!

Since, at that moment...we are about to partake of the holy communion, I set aside my phone...Enjoying the "present moment" to just remember and thank my Savior and Lord for His great blessing. What a memorable time to be at His Table. Whoooooa.

My mom called and resquested me to come home right away to celebrate my success with my family. I bought ice cream and they ordered pizza. (*insert the adrenaline rush of looking for a cab here*) When I got home, we lifted our unending thanksgivingin prayer. Hallelu Yah!!

I ended the day last night by lighting a candle in my room and just offering a silent thanksgiving and adoration to Abba,Jesus and Holy Spirit. Amen!

Thanks to my family,my prayer partners,encouragers and those who sent some greetings! Blessings to you all as well! - you are all my inspiration!

H E A D - what I am thinking right now.

Birthday. Oathtaking. Testimonial Dinner. Holiday trips. Christmas parties. Starbucks cheer party. Christmas bazzars. Advent. Job hunting/work opportunities.

H E A R T - what I feel.

I'm feelin' happy. thankful. amazed. I AM FEELING THE MOMENT!

H A N D S - what I find doing. 

I am starting to finish this Christmas Party program for our church this year. I so love doing this!

JUSTINE PAOLO G, PARCASIO
Professional Teacher

To God be all the praise,honor and glory! Amen!