Contentment

Our culture has been producing spoiled brats! Children as young as 7 years old have ipods. Even babies rooms are stuffed with unnecessary collections of toys. Christmas and Birthday wish lists are all about toys and clothes! Mothers stuff their kitchen with so many different kinds of small appliances. Master bedrooms must have walk-in closets to accommodate the owners' wardrobe accumulation. Morning newspapers must have catalogs of just about anything you could buy to add to your already full house! But hey, summer is coming and it's time for garage sales! You can sell what you have that you don't want and buy your neighbor's pair of shoes or electric beater.

So much discontentment in this world! It's sickening!

With the demise of manners in our current culture has also gone the loss of gratitude and contentment. I desire to teach my daughter to be grateful for what the Lord has given her, to be content for what she has and to understand that happiness is in living in simplicity. I think the creative and quickest way for her to learn the value of gratefulness and contentment is to let her experience a life away from a place where she could have anything she wants and see how the children across the world could smile and laugh and be happy with so little or nothing at all.

Run from Oprah, Run for your Life!

I first heard of Oprah Winfrey, as the most well-paid lady TV host in the world, when I was in college. I was pretty intrigued about her that I even started watching her shows once in a while. She didn't appear to be special. She didn't even appear to me as worth watching. So, really, I wasn't hooked on her shows. It's true that she has helped so many people's lives by giving away money, but so what? There are so many philanthropy figures in the world. She is no different than those who are giving away a little portion of their fortune to those who are living in dire straits. In other words, I've never admired her. But very sadly, so many of the women in America really admire her and made her an important icon in their lives. I even know of some professing Christians who are watching her shows regularly. But God is a good God all the time. He exposes her evil deeds and influence on people. If you are one of them who admire her, watch this video and know what kind of a person you are letting yourself to be influenced by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA&eurl=http://www.ericbarger.com/

Clearly, she denies Jesus as the only way. And by her ignorance of the Word, she said that God is jealous of her. Jealous of her???!!! Is she kidding me??? Well, that's what happen when people don't read and study the Bible! Let us pray for her salvation! But let's run from her influence! Let us not allow the garbage of the New Age religion that she is promoting and teaching to have a place in our lives and in our children's lives.

Special Women

God places women in our lives for a significant purpose. He uses some of them to mentor us; others, for us to mentor; and still others, to share fun and adventures in life with.


Lisa, my maid of honor and my daughter's godmother!

I met LISA DEVOT a few years ago in my hometown in the Philippines. I had the opportunity to work as her interpreter. I've always admired her strong and yet sweet personality and I've also admired her excellent speaking skills and her beautiful heart and mind. We don't talk often but we know that we are always there for each other.


I met Tricia Vogelsang at our new church a few months ago. She's the first lady who I've had the opportunity to be close to at church. She is a mother of 3 and has just graduated from college with a degree in Family Psychology. She is a very godly woman and has shown so much spiritual maturity. It's been great having her as a friend. She is the first person I think and go to when I just want to talk and listen to a woman of godly wisdom and contagious joy. Her sense of humor is refreshing!


From left to right: Lorelei, Maricris, Me and Mitchelle

These are three of the Pinays (Filipino ladies) who the Lord has placed in my life to love and inspire at present. All four of us are married to handsome American men. Being that I am the "Ate" in this group, I feel like God has given me a mission to build their faith and trust in Him and to be a channel of His care to them. In my journey with them, so far, I've learned the true meaning of loving unconditionally and unselfishly. I've learned that when you are out there building other people's lives, you need to be stripped off of your right to be offended. Otherwise, you would give up building them up and start tearing them down. I've started to be concern about them and stopped expecting that they would be concern of me. Pure love. That's what it's called. When I pray for them, I find myself praying earnestly.


I met Maricris when my husband and I went to a Birthing and Parenting Preparation class. Both of us were 8 months pregnant. She caught my attention because she was the only Asian-looking lady in our class besides me. I thought she was from Singapore. But I took a chance to ask her and found out that she was also Filipino. Cris is one of the smartest Pinays I've met. Her life story is phenomenal. I've been praying for her since the time I first met her. Something drew me to her. I didn't realize it was a God-thing. For a year, I always felt like she was hiding burdens behind her laughter. There were times that I thought that we would never pass through superficial friendship and that we would always have shallow conversations. Until one day... She was excitedly announcing to me that her son would have his one-year-old son would have his first Halloween costume. Immediately, I felt like I was being pushed to say that I would never allow my one-year-old baby to partake in any activities organized by the witches. And I went on preaching and confronting sins around us in this culture we are in. Then we got really personal to point of digging in of the issues in her life that she has been battling with and has been trying to win. I became bolder and bolder with love and by the grace of God. She ended up pouring out her burdens away. That was the beginning of our journey together as I help her grow in the Lord.

Anne K., a veteran missionary, is one of the women who God has blessed my life with. I would never forget how she inspired my life to cultivate a passion to love and serve the Lord. She showed me how to totally abandon my life into the hands of the Father. She told me that she was sent to Mongolia just to make my life in a foreign country stress-free and "the time of my life". She mentored me how to start a house church and evangelize and disciple the Mongolians. She showed me how to live a life of generosity and to truly have a heart for the poor. She was my best Bible teacher. Anne K. will always be a great inspiration to me.


Ganaa was one of my employers back in Mongolia. She taught me how to live like a Mongolian lady. She never treated me like I was just one of her employees. She showed me a motherly love- Mongolian-style. She wasn't a perfect lady I've known being that she only believed in Jesus Christ after I shared my faith with her, but she left an important mark in my heart by loving me sincerely and helping provide for my needs.

Catherine Basnig, Tiyeen as I fondly called her, was loved and is loved and never forgotten! I was a fresh graduate from College when God had a special tag in my heart to pray for her. I got to know her through my sister and later was formally introduced to me by my brother, who was courting her that time. She was one with a strong personality. Somehow, I felt drawn to her. I started investigating about her and gathered quite a bit of information enough for me know her. She was smart but really was not in a hurry to finish college so to speak. She hung around bad company. I was so intrigued by her life and decided to fast and pray for her salvation. After three days of fasting and praying, I went to see her at the college campus. I told her I wanted to talk to her privately. She was a little surprised. We went to the east side of the sports grandstand, sat and talked. The sunset was dramatic. When I started to ask about her family, she started crying and pouring her heart out. To comfort her, I said that earthly fathers fail but we have a perfect Father in heaven who never fails us. The times we spent after that evening were times of deepening our knowledge of this Father who never leaves us nor forsake us. Her life and desires were never the same. My life was never the same- I got the closest friend ever. A friend I grew up loving and serving God together!

More Than a Pretty Face

A woman's countenance, most of the time, mirrors the condition of her heart. Our actions and attitudes are an indication where our roots are planted. When our hearts are rooted in the love, peace and joy of Christ, our outward countenance radiates strength, joy, love and deep sense of well-being. Along these beautiful attitudes, our facial features also tend to soften and skin lines become tempered. No amount of make-up, perfume, professional styling, high fashion, or personal fitness program can create this kind of beauty. And no beautification regimen or stylish clothes or social graces training can mask an unattractive heart- a heart that is full of envy and jealousy, discontentment in life, controlling spirit, worldliness, materialism, selfishness, bitterness and all kinds of negative spirits.

For a godly woman a simple routine of good hygiene, healthy skin care and appropriate attire, gracious manners is enough. Most importantly, having our hearts filled with the Holy Spirit empowers us with vitality and enthusiasm, making us a magnet to other people. Our only goal is to attract others to our lives and ultimately have an opportunity to share our testimony of the Christ who dwells within us.

My favorite speaker

Here is the link to the website of one of my favorite speakers, Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I listen to her everyday. She really is an exemplary speaker. I also read her books. They are excellent!

http://www.reviveourhearts.com

Terrible song!

Have you ever hated a particular song? You hated it so much that it itches your skin! I have. Here is the first stanza...

I am woman, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore And I know too much to go back an' pretend 'Cause I've heard it all before And I've been down there on the floor No one's ever gonna keep me down again.

Roaring woman! What a terrible description of a woman. There are so many women today who have a lifestyle of roaring. They cry their "own way" out loud. They want everybody to tiptoe around them and grant whatever they want. Some ladies don't roar loud. But it doesn't mean they aren't roaring! Roaring women get depressed a lot. Why? The answer is simple, the more we desire to control the more frustrated we will get. It is not about us. It is not about what we want. But it is all about God and what He wants to accomplish in and through our lives.

Here is a song that every woman must love to hear and sing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD-ZdMOx_HY&feature=related

The Fear of the Lord

Our pastor preached about the fear of the Lord yesterday. He talked about how Aaron's sons were consumed by the fire of the Lord causing their deaths when they acted irreverently toward Him. This morning, I was reading the first 10 chapters of 1 Chronicles. I came across the verses that mention about how Uzza was struck by God to death when he acted in a way that did not show reverence of His presence. This makes me think about one of God's characters, being a JUST GOD. I was wondering why so many people today show no reverence of God's presence. Obviously, they do not have the Fear of the Lord. I've been noticing that the subject on fearing the Lord has been intentionally left out. Preachers do not even want to preach about it in their churches, saying that they do not want people to be walking a Christian life in fear. But if Jesus Himself preached about hell and the coming judgment more than a hundred times, why can't we talk about it? We all need to know and remember that God is a JUST God. He is a righteous Judge! A righteous judge would never let the guilty go unpunished. This truth should create in us "the fear of the Lord". This kind of fear helps us to get rid of every unholy activity we are engaging in our lives by the help of the Holy Spirit. This kind of fear ushers us to love the Lord our God with everything we are and everything we have. This kind of fear is the defining character that places a woman in an honor that surpasses the attractive reputation of other noble women.