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Monday, October 06, 2014

You are the GateKeeper!

"Who is my neighbor?' Luke 10:29

I don't know how many times I have read 
or heard the story of the Good Samaritan, 
and even seen it re-enacted in a play. 
When it comes up as a reading,
I tend to gloss over it as I know the details so well.
But today, I decided to listen to it on 
the One Touch Digital App while I painted, 
to see if I could get anything new out of it.

I found that the story is applicable 
to every day life in so many ways.
It doesn't have to be a man lying on the road 
on our way to work or school or the mall. 
 I'm thinking it can be our office mate 
burdened with so many problems, 
a sick friend in need of some company, 
a brother or sister from church fighting his own demons.
The Samaritan traveler was "moved with compassion"
 and approached the "victim", 
poured "oil and wine" over his wounds. 
OIL and WINE. 

Oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, 
and we usually apply oil when we pray for healing. 
How wonderful that this man had oil with him! 
He was like the wise virgins in the story in Matthew 25! 
He was always prepared, always ready! 
This time it was to offer aid and comfort. 
But other times he would be ready with his oil 
to do what God wanted him to do. 
He can say like Jesus, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
because He has ANOINTED me to preach the gospel, 
to HEAL the brokenhearted..."

Wine in the Bible is a necessity 
because of the scarcity of water, 
so it symbolizes sustenance and life and God's blessings. 
How wonderful that this Samaritan was 
 willing to share out of his need, not his excess.

 Lord, I know I fall short in so many ways. 
But I pray that like the Samaritan traveler, 
I will be ever ready to help those in need 
with the oil and wine You have blessed me with in my life! 

 "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, 
that I may learn Your statutes." Psalm 119:71

Many people have left the faith because 
of the mystery of suffering and pain. 
We ask how can an all powerful, all loving God allow it? 
How can the God I know to be kind and merciful 
allow the persecution around the world, the hunger, 
the wars, cancer, depression that leads to suicide 
and the hundred million irritations 
and challenges we can never avoid?

It is one of the questions that made Alex Templeton,
 a charismatic preacher in the 40s, 
who rose to fame with Billy Graham, 
leave Christianity and become an atheist 
until he died in 2001 at the age of 86. 
When we decide to follow Jesus, 
we decide NOT because ALL our questions are answered. 
Sometimes when we believe 
there are more questions than answers. 

In relation to pain, I remember the story of a young woman 
with a strange disease where she was 
congenitally insensitive to any physical pain. 
Even if she was hit by a car, she would not feel anything! 
Is that a good thing? 
Then why did her mother pray every day she would be healed?
That she would be able to feel pain?
Because her mother or someone else had to watch her constantly. 
There could be a fire behind her and she could be 
half burning before she knew it! 
 She could hurt herself on a rusty nail 
and she wouldn't realize it until perhaps 
her leg was changing size and color. 


Is it not perhaps that God uses pain and suffering 
to teach us things we would never learn otherwise? 
 Like Job in Chapter 22, let us profess: 
"I know You can do all things, 
 and that no purpose of Yours can be hindered. 
I have dealt with great things I do not understand; 
things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know."

"Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, 
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 
make your requests known to God, 
then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding 
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." 
Philippians 4:6-7

This is one of my favorite Bible verses, 
and the following passage from St. Augustine's Confessions, 
seems to be its partner: 
"You have made us for Yourself, 
O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee."

I remember when I had no peace at all, 
little things made me cry, 
and it seemed as if everything I had done in my life was worthless. 
I would argue with everyone and 
fought with my poor mother who could not understand 
what was happening. 
It was in such a contrast to my usual state of mind 
 where I was content, thankful for everything, 
and rarely in contention with anyone. 
My mother called it my MIDNIGHT CRISIS, and so it was! 
I found out eventually there was something wrong 
with my thyroids that caused all the havoc 
with my emotions and physical well being.

Through it all, and it lasted for more than a year, 
I held on to Philippians 4:6-7. 
I would confess it, pray it, claim it, 
repeat it, and I knew that one day, 'this too shall pass'. 
And thank God, it did!

Peace is not the absence of 
problems, conflict, storms, anger...
It is the surety we belong to Someone 
who loves us and wants the best for us. 
It is the confidence that everything 
will turn out right, even in spite of ourselves.

Thank You Lord that even in a 
world full of tension and strife, 
You are the gatekeeper, 
and we can enter into Your peace!

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Friday, October 03, 2014

Paint Party Friday: Angels Watching Over Me!!

 Angels are usually depicted as pretty, cute, harmless even. 
But I think angels are pretty scary. 
They're warriors, messengers of the Almighty God, 
sent out to do His bidding. 
They open prison doors, gather His elect, 
bring the dead to heaven, fight against demons, 
shut lions' mouths, etc.
My favorite story happened when Mark, 
the son of my sister Meldy was a toddler. 
They were in Mark's bedroom, and Mark asked her, "Who is that, mommy?" 
Meldy noticed he was looking towards the bathroom door, 
and he looked shy, as if facing a stranger. 
There was no one and Meldy asked, "Who? Where?" 
Mark pointed and said, "There. Big man." 
Meldy's hair stood up, but she believes it was Mark's angel. 
In Matthew 18, Jesus says to the disciples 
we should never despise little children because their angels 
are looking upon the face of God all the time.
 In Psalm 91:11, it says that God has given the angels 
the command to guard over us in all our ways. 
Once when my husband Luigi and I were on our way home 
along busy Commonwealth Avenue, 
I heard a bad scrunching sound, 
really loud on my near right. 
I did not want to look because I knew 
something really bad happened. 
But Luigi, looking through the mirror, 
had seen it coming and thought we would be hit. 
As traffic was tight, he could not get out of the way to prevent it. 
A van was coming fast, as if with no breaks, 
and slammed right into the car next to us at an angle. 
Praise God, the car did not hit us! 
Things like this happen all the time, 
everywhere, and we usually don't think of angels. 
Seems silly sometimes. 
But believing as I do in God's words, 
I know there are angels protecting and guarding us! 

Thank God for every ordinary day, 
when nothing bad happens! 
Our angels are following God's bidding!

 I was 38 years old when Joshua was in my womb. 
I was so anxious, I just kept praying and praying.
 God in His mercy and love, spoke into my heart, 
and said, “You will know how much I love you, 
when you hold your child in your arms.” 
This reassured me immensely. 
True to His Word, when I held Josh in my arms 
for the first time, I knew His perfect love.
The whole Bible is about God’s love for us. 
It’s all about how He calls an imperfect people 
to have a relationship with Him- 
an intimate loving relationship with a God 
who gave His all to save us and claim us for His very own. 
Our destiny is to love Him and to allow Him to love us!

Ravi Zacharias, one of my favorite Christian apologists, 
said that to love is to treat a person with intrinsic worth, 
not only when they serve your purpose. 
I can’t imagine God needing me to do anything for Him. 
I am sure there are other people who could do a better job for Him! 
But He fashioned me, He “formed my inmost being; 
He knit me in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13)

He is the One who gives me my worth. 
He is the One who gives each of us our worth, by loving us!
Ravi Zacharias also said, “Only in Christian theism is 
love pre-existent within the Trinity, which means 
love precedes human life…”
Thank you Lord for Your love which is simply amazing!!!!

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Patsy
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Wednesday, October 01, 2014

WOYWW: Don't Look back!

 I just got back from more than a week in Seoul,
and since I got a bad cough there,
I have been resting in bed.
So I painted this on my bed using the same box I brought
with me to Seoul, filled with paints, brushes, pencils, etc.
I haven't had the chance to unpack yet!!!

 I have been reading from Luke 9, verse 62.
Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
I couldn't understand this at first 
until I read about plows or ploughs.

I suppose there are still plows being used in the province. 
A farmer tills his land using a plow or plough 
to prepare it for planting seeds. 
The thing is to keep it straight, 
he has to keep his sight straight ahead. 
If he looks back, the furrow will be crooked.
Being a disciple of Jesus also requires 
that we not look back. 
Past mistakes, relationships gone bad, 
what people think of us because of our past, 
can keep us from being confident 
to do the work God wants us to do. 
Every one makes mistakes we regret, 
but we should not let it define us. 
We should learn from it, yes, 
but it should not keep us from growing and being fruitful.
Lord, help me to keep my sight on You!

 Here is my favorite picture from our visit
to Seoul. We had this picture taken in
Gwanghamun Square near the City Hall.
Aren't these costumes beautiful?
And we were able to put them on for free!!!
There was a huge flea market and lots of happenings
that Sunday.

Now this is a picture of little vignettes
outside this store, 
"Too Cool for School".
They were encased in glass cases
and placed on top of chairs.
Very curious!

My sister Tina is crazy about cats,
and for her birthday,
we visited a Cat Cafe in Gangnam.
We don't have Cat Cafes here in the Philippines,
as far as I know,
so this was another curiosity for me! 



Blessings!
Patsy
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