*Jaw just dropped*

My dad is finally out of the hospital! He was discharged 2 weeks ago and we couldn't be happier because he has been praying and praising God since. It's a picture that I couldn't describe apart from it is only by God's grace that THAT happened. We have been praying for the assurance of my dad's salvation for years and this was the year that I just knew it would happen. I remember telling friends and prayer partners, "feeling ko talaga this year na yun." And God really does make the impossible possible and His ways will always be higher than our ways.

The pastor yesterday asked us when was the last time we were caught by the magnificence of God that with jaw-dropping awe, we were just amazed by Him. His example was when he and his wife went to El Nido, and so I backtracked to my last trips because the beauty of nature never fails to arrest me. I love traveling and so naturally my mind wandered to star-lit nights and the beaches I've been to (Boracay still tops this list btw, but I haven't been to El Nido... so hmm... :P) In the end though, my mind landed with my father knowing Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, after being diagnosed with cancer. I mean his reactions could've gone to the opposite side of the spectrum-- to anger, bitterness, resentment. But instead, he ended up praising God and thanking Him. Paano nangyari yun diba. Only God could've done that.

I am amazed on how God turns the ugly into the beautiful, on how He can turn scars and wounds to teachable, life-changing moments. :)

Isaiah 55:8-9
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Acts 16:29-34
And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 

31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.