Not how the world operates..

"If you get something, you get it because God gave it to you not because someone else gave it to you or because you deserve it or not."

Lianne Mendoza

The Good Stuff

Blessed Christmas everyone! :)

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift, Jesus Christ :)

It's been more than a year since I started working as a nurse in a mental institution. Tomorrow will be our deliberation day where the theme is "Who will stay?"
My contract will come to an end in less than a week and the outcome of tomorrow's deliberation will finalize whether I will stay and be a regular employee or I will bid the mental institution goodbye.
I still don't know whether I'm for this and I haven't heard from God about it or I just "refuse" to listen.
I don't know but I'm not very anxious about tomorrow. I know that whatever the result may be, it is willed and permitted by God. Nothing I can do to stop what He planned for my life.

In my devotion tonight in Luke 1, it's about Zechariah seeing an angel of the Lord on his duty as a priest in the temple. Zechariah was chosen by lot to go into the Temple to burn incense. A quick background: Zechariah was a priest and Elizabeth was his wife. They were both upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years. When the angel appeared before Zechariah's eyes, the emotion he first felt was fear for the angel may bring good news or bad news. Then the angel assured him to not be afraid for his prayer has been answered. His wife Elizabeth will bear a son who "will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:14-17). What a great promise that is! It's a sure deal because an angel of the Lord delivered the news. 

But Zechariah doubted and asked "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." In reply, the angel said "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time."

A promise was told, the recipient doubted, he was silenced, the promise was fulfilled. 

Our doubts cannot change what God has planned. When God gives us a promise, it is not to give Him permission to fulfill it or not but to change our heart. It is a privilege to be a witness of God's good promises but when we start to doubt them and God, the joy in being involved in that promise is lost. Yes, the promise will happen but our hearts will remain unchanged.

In the case of Zechariah, he was silenced. for 9 months he couldn't proclaim or share his joy in words with people. The privilege to shout God's goodness to people was taken away from him because he doubted. Let us not waste the opportunity to take part in God's promise. 

I doubted God's good promises most of the time because I fear disappointment but it's God we're talking about here. Just who am I to doubt God? Who am I to demand things from God? Who is God?

Never doubt what God has told you even when the promise seems impossible because we serve the God of impossibilities. 

Who is God to you?

Let God be God. Not just a Sunday God, a Genie, a Busy Father, or an Old Gramp. He is God and He is bigger than what we can imagine, He is immeasurable and indescribable., the Alpha and Omega, the Creator.
 
To be honest, I don't know if God has already given an answer whether I stay or not in my present job but one thing's for sure, He is God. 

Never doubt God's love for you. If the Cross isn't enough to convince you of His love, what would?
Christmas is not just about happy carolers and giving gifts. We have Christmas because Jesus, the Son of God, was born into this world to redeem us.
Jesus gave up His life to save you, what else would He withhold from you? God desires what's best for you. The best may not be what we initially want but it's the best. And if you have Jesus in your life, what else do you lack? Nothing.
 

Please wait....

I've been waiting a lot lately.

Last week, I waited for my friend to arrive for half an hour (not sure haha). I woke up and traveled early. I didn't have a decent sleep and I waited. I started waiting at dawn until the sun was up greeting me a warm day ahead. 

The other day, I waited for my mom for an hour. She joined the christmas party at work and was seated at the front row. She asked me to sit with her but I didn't want to because of reasons I am too lazy to enumerate here. So I waited for her with a cup of hot chocolate, alone. I was hoping to immerse myself with good music but my Ipod ran out of battery. So there was me at the middle of the festive night, sitting alone, sipping her hot chocolate. It was tiring and melancholic.

Yesterday, I waited again for my mom at the grocery store and street corner. It was tiring and irritating. My eyebrows almost crossed each other and the corners of my lips nearly touched my chin. People were afraid to be near me thinking I would explode anytime.I think I really would.

I don't like waiting. Sometimes, I loathe it. It's boring and a waste of my time.
I don't like waiting in line. I'd rather hunger and thirst than to wait in line at the nearest food store.

I'd rather not get what I want than wait.

Yeah, that's pride welling up. I realized I have this self-entitlement that I should not wait.
I am impatient. I want to get things now and if I don't, I'd whine and give up.
I see how proud I am, how little I give, how lazy I am to love just because it's inconvenient for me.

Love is patient.

Love waits and perseveres. It stays. It forgives. It understands.
  
I hate it when people make me wait but God waits on me and stays even when I ran a hundred times, even when I'm too lazy to talk to Him, even when I just simply don't want to love people. He waits, stays, and never gave up on me even when I did.

Stuttering tutor episode 1

I've tutored four students tonight and it was really fun. I enjoyed having free conversations to older students and giving exercises and checking their essays. I spent 2hours and 30 minutes tutoring and talking. Facing the small screen of my netbook strained my eyes and I realized it's not easy to teach.

You have to keep the conversation going and I am NOT a conversationalist! I used to have a lot of dead air moments. 

I've been thinking lately that being a nurse and a teacher are two difficult professions because it involves life.You get to have a closer and bigger view of a person's life, be it a patient or a student. It is very personal thus needing a heart and passion for it.

This part-time job is more than earning extra bucks.