It's Not What We Get But What We Give In Life That Counts

                        IT'S NOT WHAT WE GET BUT WHAT WE GIVE IN LIFE THAT COUNTS

Before, I was like anyone else in life, trying to get as much as I could. I struggled to get ahead of everyone else. It did not matter if I lost my scruples in the process so long as I got what I could. Until the Lord brought me down in abject abasement. He took everything away from me- my family (now living in the US), my health (I am down to my last ounce of strength), my friends (the only friends I have are online friends), my happiness (my two youngest kids who were the apples of my eyes went to the US) even my dreams (I now look at the future where I will die a forlorn death). But in the process, God showed me an existential lesson in life. It is not what we get but what we give in life that counts. Just recently I made a post about how lonely and miserable was my Christmas eve. God taught me not to look inward but outward. As I did, I just realized that God wants me to follow His example. I have to pray for everybody else and He will take care of all my needs. Suddenly I realized the meaning of Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." I no longer pray for my health (God will take care of that). I was constantly praying for the health of my daughter who is presently fighting her battles of multi cysts in her body. That condition conjures such frightful scenes of cysts spreading in her organs. I could only pray for God's mercy for her.

God came to earth to give wholly of Himself. He healed the sick, brought to repentance abject sinners, fed the multitudes, preached the Good News of the Gospel of Salvation. He died the most horrible and miserable death ever imagined by man. He gave everything, even His life, and asked for nothing in return.
His most cherished dream is for everyone to be saved and that none should perish. So He wants each and everyone of us to be channels of His blessings and salvation. Could we do no less?

START THE YEAR RIGHT

                                     START THE YEAR RIGHT

We must start right for the New Year. In order to do this, we must start with a clean slate. We must abandon everything that hinders us from attaining God's purpose for our lives. We must throw out all negativeness in our lives including illicit relationships, all illegal sources of income and livelihood, negative and self possessed people, negative thoughts and feelings, negative pastimes that hinders us from getting closer to God. In fact we must get away from everything that makes us sin and does not give glory to God. Remember, we were created by God to please Him and give glory to His name. No more, no less. Anything that will hinder us from doing this is an abomination in the sight of God. We must make a definite stand right here and now. Are we for God or for Satan and the world. Our decision on this will determine what we will be for the rest of our lives.   

Boredom

BOREDOM
Bored, depressed, lonely, feeling unwanted, feeling so alone with no one to care for you? These are feelings and emotions that come and go in our temporary lives and the enemy is using them to trap us into our own prison cells of inactivity and escapism. The enemy will push us to the edge until we lose all forms of sanity and contact with the real world. Sometimes the enemy will goad us to end it all and enter a world of oblivion and nothingness. But is that where we are bound to go after ending everything in the here and now? No, he is leading us to the everlasting world of suffering and deprivation, far, far worse than what we may be feeling today.
The antidote for these? PRAY MORE AND HOLD ON TO GOD'S PROMISES. Read God's divine promises in the Bible and use them to thwart all the attempts of the enemy to steal your joy and exuberance for living.
1. "And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).
2. "But my God will provide for all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).
3. "For I know the plans I have for you, said the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11).
4. "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen" (2 Timothy 4:18).
5. "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to its completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).
6. "Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21).
7. "Submit then to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you" (James 4:7-8a).
Never worry, God has covered all aspects of your life. And Jesus has already conquered the enemy in Calvary. Just claim your own victory for the taking. TO GOD BE THE GLORY.

The Secret Of Being Happy And Contented In Life

THE SECRETS OF BEING HAPPY AND CONTENTED IN LIFE
1. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS. Instead of ranting and raving, why not count your blessings. If we put every man's conditions in life in a vertical position reaching out to heaven, we will find out that we are not badly situated after all. Yes, we may not be at the topmost position in the ladder but we are not in the bottom most position either. There will always be others who are higher or lower than us. There will be millions who will love to trade places with us. So instead of ranting and raving, start to count your blessings now.
2. BE AT PEACE WITH GOD. God is the starting point of life. He created us and is sustaining us in our every need in life. We are perfectly in the situation and place where God intended us to be, no more no less. So instead of grumbling and complaining, learn to trust God with all your heart and acknowledge Him in all you do and He will surely direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
3. LEARN TO LIVE A SIMPLE LIFE AND ALWAYS BE HUMBLE. "God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). God will bless you if you remain humble in life and acknowledge His greatness over all creation. Learn to live a simple life devoid of any expectations from others. Learn to appreciate what God has given you. He knows what is best for you.
4. LEARN THE SECRET OF EQUANIMITY. Be tranquil and serene in life no matter what comes your way. God is no respecter of person. He gives us what is best for us in any given situation. All things pass, even the most trying events in life.
5. LIVE WITHOUT EXPECTATIONS IN LIFE. Disappointments and frustrations in life are the results of expectations, especially from people. Only God can give us the truest joy and contentment in life.
6. GO WITH THE FLOW OF LIFE. Most disappointments and frustrations in life are the results of swimming against the currents of life. As I said, we are perfectly where God wants us to be. That means He is directing all the events in our life. Do everything for the glory of God and live in order to please Him and He will lead us to our own Promise Land.
7. ACCEPT CRITICISMS ESPECIALLY CONSTRUCTIVE ONES. Be not onion skinned. Criticisms, especially constructive ones, are good for us. We all have blind spots in our lives and only honest revelations from true friends will reveal them to us.
8. PRACTICE DISCERNMENT TO KNOW WHO YOUR TRUE AND REAL FRIENDS ARE. Be not susceptible to flattery and praise. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. Some people use praise and flattery for their own ulterior motives.
9. BE GENEROUS WITH PRAISE AND STINGY WITH CRITICISMS.
When I was still working, one of the main motto of our company was, GIVE PRAISE IN PUBLIC AND CRITICIZE IN PRIVATE. Be sensitive with the sensibilities of others. We don't want to be humiliated in public so let us avoid it altogether in reprimanding others.
10. HOLD YOUR TONGUE. If you have nothing good to say to others better hold your tongue. You may feel good giving others a piece of your mind but you leave them totally devastated and humiliated and will surely remember your hurting words for the rest of their lives.
11. DO EVERYTHING FOR THE GLORY OF GOD. You will never go wrong if you practice this in your life .
12,. LIVE IN ORDER TO PLEASE GOD. That is the main purpose of our life. We were created by God to please Him by doing His will in our lives. In so doing, we glorify His name in everything we do.
I am not a hypocrite to say that I have already attained all that I have written. But I am striving to attain them with all my heart. After all, we are all works in progress. TO GOD BE THE GLORY.

Voices

There are so many voices that compete for our attention. Which voice we will heed will determine the path that we will take on our journey through life. The earliest voices that we heard were those of our parents. Theirs were the voices that nurtured us in our formative years. Then, there were voices of tiny angels like us who dreamed and wondered with us when we were groping for answers for the unending questions of life. We have encountered the different voices of our teachers and mentors as they instilled in us the disciplines and idealism that helped shaped our formative years. Yes, theirs were the voices of our heroes of the past, the ones we placed in our pedestals. Then, there were the cacophonous voices that proliferated our world when we competed with other wannabes as we climbed the stairway of the corporate world. Those were the voices of intense rivalries, of backstabbing and rumor mongering, of idle talks and gossips, of dressing downs and praises for jobs well done. There were even sinister voices that led us astray, who promised pleasures galore, but led us to the decadence of our souls.

But there is one particular voice that we must heed and take to heart. That is the still small voice that whispers so softly in the stillness of the night when everything is so quiet. We can only hear it when we are at peace with ourselves and not agitated. It is the voice of God coursed through our consciences. Continuous disregard of that small soft voice will result in the hardening of our hearts and losing the ability to hear that still small voice. Which voice we follow will determine our destiny for eternity. SHALL WE HEARKEN TO LISTEN TO THAT STILL SMALL VOICE?
Tags: God. Jesus Christ, Conscience, Still Small Voice, Voices

Posted byMel Avila Alarilla

It's A Wondertful Life

Have you not consider how wonderful it is to be alive? How thoroughly rewarding it is that we are loved by people that mattered most to us? Have we not appreciated that the sun shines after a stormy day or the light dawns after the darkness of the night? There are so many things we ought to be thankful for. Surely, we thrive in the fresh air we breathe. We hear the singing of the birds in the morning and the swaying of the leaves and grasses as the wind passes by. We are thrilled by the surging of the waves in the picturesque seashore. And have we not gotten the thrill of our lives by journeying to the imperial mountains that stand majestically amidst the clouds. The tiny creatures of the day and night show how wonderful it is to be alive. Have you seen the flying eagle as it soared ecstatically among the clouds, impervious of all the din down below? How we love to stroll by our favorite baywalk as seagulls come flying by? How we marvel at the majestic sun as it sets in its golden halo as the night slowly creeps in? And how we savor our favorite ice cream bar as we exchange pleasant stories in the moonlit night?

Ah, the earth is so peaceful as the light of the moon encompasses us all. And yes, have we not felt the presence of an Unknown Being who have made all of these things possible? How wonderful it is to be alive and cared for by an Almighty God who is so gracious in providing all of our needs. ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE.

Tags: It's A Wonderful Life, It's Wonderful To Be Alive, Life, Love, Cherished Memories, God, Divine Providence, Divine Grace

Posted by: Mel Avila Alarilla
Philippines
Inspirational/Motivational

The Last Curtain Call (A short story- fiction)

Your most productive years may have been behind you now and you spend your time in utter loneliness and isolation, reliving your glorious past. Before, you were used to the praise and adulation of your millions of fans, but now you are left alone, staring on a blank wall where the sound of silence seems so deafening. Ah yes, you could still hear the applauses, the laughter, the celebration every time your name was called during curtain calls. Your name was on everyone's lips and dashing gentlemen made a beeline to hand you their bouquet of flowers. You have them all, boxes of chocolates, endless greeting cards, love notes- everything that reminded you of the tumultuous glory days of your life. People swooned when they heard your voice, and each end of your production numbers were greeted with thunderous applauses and endless calls for an encore.

Ah, you remember your past loves, the endless queues of men in your life. The fabulous places you have reached, the how do you do's with the high and mighty in your heyday. You have been around the world living in the adulation of your legions of fans. You savored each inebriating moment of your existence. You transferred from arms to arms, intoxicated by the love abundantly poured on your lap by your countless lovers. But you had your final curtain call. You are no longer famous. You are no longer beautiful. The voice that has so captivated millions of souls have now been reduced to a croaking and melancholy voice.

And as you look at the empty wall on a cramped room you are renting, you felt the hot tears of loneliness and grief falling from your eyes, gliding down your face. You closed your eyes and relived once more in your mind the glory days of your youth, when the world adored the beautiful and marvelous you. That was your very last curtain call. Early next morning, the porter of the hotel found a lifeless corpse of an old and emaciated woman still clutching in her hand her favorite photograph.

Tags: Vaudeville Superstar, Rich and Famous, Last Curtain Call
Posted by: Mel Avila Alarilla