Happy 2013!

It's the first day of the new year! I hope everyone had an awesome Holiday season as we did! Tomorrow it's back to the grind...

A brand new year, a brand new attitude! Hoping to get back to more regular blogging this year!

Just want to share this with all of you (albeit the Christmas one is belated)...

Of Prayers, Acceptance, and Patience...

I had a very reflective experience at Church this morning. I can sooo relate to the Gospel. It was Luke's "Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you."  In his homily Father Jim shared about a woman with cancer he visited yesterday. She prayed to him, "I neither pray to live or die. I just pray that the Lord's Will be done," and he said that she cried afterward.
 
I wonder why she cried... Is it because in as much as she knows it is God's Will that will prevail in the end, it is still heartbreaking for her to know that her human life may be over?  A lot of people may have trouble accepting God's Will for us. I do.

I pray and pray that God may hear the prayers in my heart. I am hoping that if I pray enough, my heart's desires will come true since they are not selfish desires. But if that's the case, Mr. Fronda, our beloved Math teacher in high school, would have been healed and may be living until now. I fervently prayed for his healing from his kidney problems but the Lord had other plans. I wondered for a long time why God "did not" answer my prayer then. If praying and praying are the key, my Lola would have lived a longer life and waited until I was able to go home and be with her again before she passed. If praying fervently is the key, they my Papa wouldn't have been sick for more than a year now and unable to recover fully yet to be able to work again. If praying is all it takes, then my papers should have cleared by now and I am already back to work.

But that is not the case. God has something else up His sleeve. God has something else planned. And the believer and follower that I am must accept that. Faith is belief in the things that are uncertain, right? It is belief that all will be alright and God will see you through no matter what. Things may not work out according to what I plan but that is alright because GOD HAS THE BETTER PLAN. Now I pray that the Will of God may unravel and that I accept it without sadness and disappointment. I guess that requires patience. I pray for acceptance and patience, O Lord. I know you will not forsake me. For the more You challenge me, the more I will cling to You...

St. Francis of Assisi

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. He is special to us because he is the patron saint of the school where my husband, A, and I went for our elementary and high school education. We also got to know most of our dearest friends there so there are really lots of fond memories. The school was also founded on the year we were born so it is also celebrating it's 30th Founding Anniversary (or Foundation Day as what we called it then). That is how dear St. Francis is to us so when we moved and had the opportunity to go to a Franciscan church, we felt that we were going back to where we were before. "God seems to be taking us full circle," I thought. When you begin to think like that how can you question if you made the wrong choice in moving. But then, choices are what we make of it, right?

St. Mary of the Angels Chapel is where the weekday masses are held.

Above and below photos are banners around the church and school community in celebration of St. Francis' Feast Day.

Side Story: When we attended the Church's Welcome Event for new parishioners, we were asked to introduce ourselves and where we came from. I spoke for our household because A has the tendency to be shy to speak in front of a lot of people. I told the group who we are, where we came from, and that it was A's birthday that day. I did not tell them the story of why we chose the church even though there are other churches near our new place. A said I should have told them because that makes for a good story... Sorry, sana kasi ikaw na lang ang nagsalita... :)

 

Sunday Thoughts...

It's a beautiful, crisp Fall morning here... I can feel God's love as I stepped out the door in the beautiful sunshine and felt the cool wind on my face. It made me remember that God make all things bright and beautiful...
Have a blessed Sunday!

First Post

I didn't really think I can do this... That of creating my own blog... But I guess this is it! One foot is out the door now!

P.S. I am greatly inspired by topazhorizon.com and daphne.ph. :)