Beyond the Storm: Joy in the Morning

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Weeping may tarry for the night, But joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5 ASV)

I'm counting the days when I get to meet our new baby daughter. In fact, I have been here at the medical facility for a few days now, where mothers are given quality pre-natal care, give birth, and are cared for together with the baby after the birth. Makes one feel like a queen. And it's all for free! I have done nothing (that means no cooking and cleaning), but get all checked, rested and fed. 

Oh, how this pregnancy journey has been different from all previous ones that I had (well, I already had three aside from this). That's why I can totally agree with Patsy Clairmont's  book title "Normal is just a Setting on Your Dryer". We want to make sense out of the things that we don't understand and try to sum them up as normal. But when things don't go as we expect, we experience lots of anxiety and get all hung up that things are not normal, that we are not normal. But if we look at all these as God's special and creative way to brighten up our world and our lives, then we get to accept 'the different' more readily and enthusiastically.

Getting a Sense of Direction

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I have been wandering in this world for a long time (makes me sound ancient, complete with a long, gray beard and a distinct 'old age' odor. Haha!). This week has seen me celebrate my 37th year, with a cake and some ice cream. I know I will continue to journey on wherever God leads. But as of now, I have been given respite from my wandering until year 2016. It is because, finally, after so much uncertainties, setbacks, packing and unpacking, midnight flights, and scurrying from one important office to another, I have been granted residency in Russia for a few years. Isn't that great? I will be with my family! It all came about the day before my birthday. What a gift, huh?

We didn't celebrate my birthday grandly but having the whole family with me and the knowledge that I have been given the privilege to stay with my family was a great, grand celebration in my heart. Nothing can top that as a present, as a reason for rejoicing on my 37th year of existence. God has fulfilled His promises to me and I can see that we have more celebrating to do in this journey of life that we are doing together.

Thus, when God woke me on my birthday early enough to have time to listen and learn from Him, I only had one prayer to say to Him. I didn't tell Him about my wishes for a house that we can turn into a home, for a happy united family, for the new baby and her soon coming birth, for opportunities to work for Him, for a loving heart to love as He does, though I so wish I have all that. But foremost in my heart and mind was a prayer for His leading, His direction in my life. For you see, I have had problems with direction.

Practical Tips From the Bible to Have the Time to Teach

Deutoronomy 11:19 "Teach them to your children. Talking about them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

Nothing beats being with ALL three of my children. While being with Angelika, my Haiyan storm girl-survivor, spending time with her and finding time to teach her, I couldn't help but send a prayer that my two other children, Misha and Ella, also had their learning moments. Now that I am with all of them, I have plenty of making up to do. The time away from them has made the importance of teaching my children more profound.

Any time around the clock can be teaching moments, but as I have mentioned in my last post A Time to Teach, we need to be intentional, especially in our times when anything and everything can distract us from our goal of teaching our children.

Nothing is Impossible with God

Angelika in the Philippines,
so delighted to be starting school there.

Today of last year, Angelika, with me and her little sister, Ella, left for the Philippines, never knowing that it would take a year for her to come back. We didn't know then that she would go to school there, spend some considerable time without a mother, be left in the care of her doting grandparents, spend a birthday without even one of her immediate family, see the home and the school she  had come to love destroyed and broken, witness both her grandparents being taken away by a destructive storm, be left on her own in the water with no one to help, and being rescued by an unlikely hero, a ten-year old boy, and a little later, a total stranger with a brave, soft heart. And all the while, she was hoping and waiting for her mother to come and take her home.

While At The Waiting Area

A cock crows. Another answers back. It doesn't take long before another crow is heard. The crowing goes on and on, like music to my thoughts, to my prayers.

Waiting is a test. It is a test of patience, of endurance, of trust, of perseverance, of faith. By waiting and enduring, many have been victorious and have seen their promises fulfilled. The Bible is full of those men and women. By waiting, many have grown impatient, doubted and added trouble to their years. We've seen it with Sarah, the mother of all nations. She and Abraham thought they could help God fulfill His promise to them, instead of trusting Him and being still.

The morning prayer of our Muslim countrymen have now started as the roosters' chorus have gone quiet. The wails and the chant-like music carries through the whole area.

Hanging Tough and Still

My daughter has done some hanging on.
Tough. Still.

The airplane drones above. The birds tweet and chatter around. A friend snores beside. Silence is elusive. 

Somebody's TV is blaring somewhere among the neighboring houses. A motorcycle roars out there. Dogs bark. Silence dims.

In contrast, my heart wants to be silent. It doesn't want to speak out loud what it doesn't want to hear. Where is the invitation? Where is the signal to push up? Until when do I have to wait? To hang around?

I have strained. Fought. Clamored. Pushed. Now there seemed to be no pushing. Just a hanging somewhere. Nowhere.

7 Things I Must Teach My Children

There are so many teaching propaganda going on around us whether we fail to teach or do teach our children. And whether we teach them or not, our children learn or catch them.

Recently, I was surprised to hear my little Angelika talk to me in Filipino when I called her for lunch.   She said, "Kain tayo!" Having been in Manila for almost a couple of weeks now, I thought she caught that line from her playmates, my friend's daughter and her little cousins. Later I found out that there is a TV commercial playing  everyday with that same line.