Celebrate joy!

Recently, I have been stumbling across posts that emphasize one thing: dying to self everyday. It not only sounds difficult but it truly is difficult. Wai Jia (I wrote about her before) in one of her blog posts , talked about how we cannot be anything we want to be no matter how great and seemingly harmless that sound. Dreams are not supposed to be as big as we want them to be but should be how God wanted it to be, at His perfect timing, exactly how He wants it. Rica Bonifacio, on the other hand, talked about the single qualification for a future spouse: he should be able to be willing to die to himself every day. This podcast by Oscar Muriu during the Every Nation World Conference held in South Africa, reiterated what Paul has been talking about in his letters to the churches those days: every follower of Christ must know and understand in her heart that her life is not hers anymore, but it is Christ's. After reading Rica's article, I asked myself: Can I really do

For the past few weeks, Gia and I have been going home with aching shoulders and bruised legs because we have been attending -- get this -- Muay Thai classes.  Whoa! Yes, I know. The girly-girl in me is totally bewildered by the idea. But that's why I have decided to do it all the more. The idea of being completely helpless when the bad guys (bad guys talaga, sige na nga, guys with bad intentions) choose to steal my purse or hold me at gunpoint scares me more. I mean yes, you got to choose your battles and one's life is more important than her purse or her cellphone... but I want to know that I can at least defend myself when such unfortunate circumstances arise. 

Here's the last part of our experience in Hanoi! If only I could do this at least once a year, hoping that God would blessed me with more opportunities to go out to the nations :) This is definitely one of the most memorable moments in my life! Clingy-ness and sepanx mode on! Oct 4 2016 We landed in  Manila  last night and after zoning out at past  12am  this morning, I woke up at  11am  giving me almost 11 hours of sleep today! Yahoooo!!! Days were long in  Hanoi . Our team is usually up by  7am  for our morning devotion then we would call it a day by  11pm  or  12am   (pag sobrang kulit namin) after the day’s debriefing. Packed between those hours are spent meeting up with students, engaging them, doing the trainings and events that the church has scheduled. Days are long but the days came by so fast. Is that ironic? I was feeling sad the day before we left. Being in a different nation is like being plucked out from your old world and life, then plunging in

Here's the part 2 of the Hanoi series! Hoping you will be blessed! Sept 28 Wed 12:52PM So many things have been happening here… a couple of days ago, the team had their Victory Weekend. There were 5 participants which was a stark contrast from the usual 80+ people we used to have in  Manila , and yet it was not so much about the number  that made it a different kind of experience but the heart and hunger of these 5 people for God! We teared up more than once as we pray and minister to them…there was even one point when we cried first before the participants!  Nauna pa tlga kaming umiyak! Haha!  But we were so touched because we felt God’s heart for the people here… It reminds you of that first encounter you had with Jesus! There is no such thing as language barrier when the Spirit of God moves… When God reveals Himself to His people, He penetrates and goes straight to their hearts and minds. There are more than a few times when we are amazed on just how the le