Oops, Our Computer Is Out Of Order

Oops, our computer is out of order. I think it's a major one since it is the hardware that is out of order. Because of this, I declare a semi blog holiday for this blog. I ask my wonderful readers to bear with me since I'm just using an internet cafe and it's not very comfortable here. I will be hardly visiting your blog and if I could not post comments, please forgive me. I will still continue blogging but on a very limited scale only. Please bear with me in this temporary situation. I love you all with the love of the Lord. God bless you all with your loved ones.

Yours in Christ,
Mel Avila Alarilla

Humility - A Trait Of A True Child Of God

HUMILITY- A TRAIT OF A TRUE CHILD OF GOD
Of all the traits that God so admires in man, humility tops them all. This is in accordance to what God said in Isaiah 66:2b, "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." In fact, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6b)

Why? Because God is Himself meek and humble in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus loved children and He admonished men to be like little children if they desire to enter the kingdom of God.

The almost super human strength, the tall stature and the muscular physique of the proud and arrogant Goliath, who taunted God and the whole army of Israel in the Book of 1st Samuel, were no match for the humble and Spirit indwelt David. He defeated and killed Goliath by a single stone fired in his puny slingshot.

David's reign in Israel was characterized by his humility, honesty and faithfulness in the face of God. When confronted by the prophet Nathan about his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, he readily admitted his grievous sin and immediately sought forgiveness from the Lord.

Another example of forgiveness and restitution of rights given back to a returning and humble sinner is the case of the Prodigal Son in the Book of Luke. After getting his entire inheritance from his father, and after squandering it all in profligate and wanton living, he became so destitute and hungry as he sought a job feeding pigs.

Realizing his grievous sin and humbling himself, he decided to return to the house of his father to seek employment as a mere hired man. He was yet a long way off from their house when his father saw him and ran after him and embraced him. Seeing that the prodigal son was repentant and humble, he fully restored to him all his lost privileges as a son.

So it is with us. No matter how sinful we may have become, no matter how wretched our conditions maybe, if we humble ourselves before God, and seek His divine forgiveness by believing in Jesus Christ, divine forgiveness and complete spiritual restitution will immediately be given to us.

This is the grace of God and it is not contingent on our own worthiness before Him or what accomplishments we may have achieved. It is solely contingent upon the amazing grace of God as we humble ourselves before Him and ask forgiveness by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Those who were proud, stood on their own two feet in complete defiance of God and who rebelled against His authority, were severely punished and brought down humiliatingly on their knees.

But those who were humble of heart, and sought the Lord's guidance and protection after forgiveness were granted to them, were assured by God to enjoy a blissful life with Him in Paradise.

Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla
Philippines
Spiritual/Inspirational

Be Like Christ

 BE LIKE CHRIST
If you are a Christian, then why are you not following Jesus Christ? Christians mean followers of Jesus Christ. If so, are we not supposed to be like Christ so that people will see our good works (our sweet fruits) and glorify our Father in heaven?

We can not be Christians and still immersed ourselves in the licentiousness and rapacity of the world. "What has God have in fellowship with Belial." We can live in this world but but not of this world.

We can not use other people as standards of spirituality. We will become vain or bitter because of that. If we have to compare ourselves, we have to compare ourselves with Christ. In any situation that we may face, especially if we are in doubt, let us ask ourselves this question. "If Christ were here, what would He have done in this situation?" Then we can be assured that our decision will be right and in accordance with His will.

Before He ascended to heaven, Jesus Christ promised His disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit and He indeed came and changed their lives forever. If we believe in Jesus Christ and are in filled by the Holy Spirit, we have been promised that we will be transformed from glory to glory until we reach the whole measure of the fullness of Jesus Christ.

How can we do this? The answer lies in Romans 12:2 which says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will."

The will of God is for us to be holy like Him and to dissociate ourselves from the sinfulness and carnality of the world. We can not have our cake and eat it too. The verse above said that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. That means, our minds must think only godly and sublime thoughts, thoughts that edify, thoughts of loving unconditionally, thoughts of selflessness, thoughts of hope and joy, and thoughts of peace.

Let us not run our races to win worldly prizes, they are like steel weights that chain our souls. Instead, let us run our races to win the heavenly prize- to be with the Lord forevermore.

You want to be a good Christian? Be like Christ and follow Him.

Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla
Philippines
Spiritual/Inspirational

Helen Keller - The Miracle Worker

Helen Keller

• •

Helen Adams Keller
Deafblind American author, activist, and lecturer.
Born	June 27, 1880(1880-06-27) Tuscumbia, Alabama, USA
Died	June 1, 1968 (aged 87) Easton, Connecticut, USA

Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, activist and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to graduate from college. The story of how a remarkable teacher broke through the isolation the lack of language had imposed on the child, who blossomed as she learned to communicate, are staples of American folklore. What is less well known is how Keller's life developed after she completed her education: she became a radical campaigner for workers' rights and an advocate for many other progressive causes.

Early childhood and illness

Helen Keller, age 7

Helen Keller was born at an estate called Ivy Green^[1] in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880, to Captain Arthur H. Keller, a former officer of the Confederate Army, and Kate Adams Keller, a cousin of Robert E. Lee. The Keller family originates from Germany, and at least one source claims her father was of Swiss descent.^[2] She was not born blind and deaf; it was not until nineteen months of age that she came down with an illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain," which could have possibly been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind. At that time her only communication partner was Martha Washington, the six-year-old daughter of the family cook, who was able to create a sign language with her; by age seven, she had over 60 home signs to communicate with her family.

In his doctoral dissertation, "Deaf-blind Children (psychological development in a process of education)" (1971, Moscow Defectology Institute), Soviet blind-deaf psychologist Meshcheryakov asserted that Washington's friendship and teaching was crucial for Keller's later developments. ^[3]

Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan

In 1886, her mother was inspired by an account in Charles Dickens's American Notes of the successful education of another deafblind child, Laura Bridgman, and traveled to a specialist doctor in Baltimore for advice. He put her in touch with Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time. Bell advised the couple to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind, the school where Bridgman had been educated, which was then located in South Boston. The school delegated teacher and former student Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and then only 20 years old, to become Keller's instructor. It was the beginning of a 49-year-long relationship, eventually evolving into governess and companion.

Sullivan got permission from Keller's father to isolate the girl from the rest of the family in a little house in their garden. Her first task was to instill discipline in the spoiled girl. Keller's big breakthrough in communication came one day when she realized that the motions her teacher was making on her palm, while running cool water over her hand, symbolized the idea of "water;" she then nearly exhausted Sullivan demanding the names of all the other familiar objects in her world (including her prized doll). In 1890, ten-year-old Helen Keller was introduced to the story of Ragnhild Kåta, a deafblind Norwegian girl who had learned to speak. Kåta's success inspired Keller to want to learn to speak as well. Sullivan taught her charge to speak using the Tadoma method of touching the lips and throat of others as they speak, combined with fingerspelling letters on the palm of the child's hand. Later Keller learned Braille, and used it to read not only English but also French, German, Greek, and Latin .

Formal education

In 1888, Keller attended the Perkins School for the Blind. In 1894, Keller and Sullivan moved to New York City to attend the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf and Horace Mann School for the Deaf. In 1896, they returned to Massachusetts and Helen entered The Cambridge School for Young Ladies before gaining admittance, in 1900, to Radcliffe College. Her admirer Mark Twain had introduced her to Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleton Rogers, who, with his wife, paid for her education. In 1904, at the age of 24, Keller graduated from Radcliffe magna cum laude, becoming the first deafblind person to graduate from a college.

Companions

Anne Sullivan stayed as a companion to Helen Keller long after she taught her. Anne married John Macy in 1905, and her health started failing around 1914. Polly Thompson was hired to keep house. She was a young woman from Scotland who didn't have experience with deaf or blind people. She progressed to working as a secretary as well, and eventually became a constant companion to Helen.^[6]

After Anne died in 1936, Helen and Polly moved to Connecticut. They travelled worldwide raising funding for the blind. Polly had a stroke in 1957 from which she never fully recovered, and died in 1960.^[5]

Winnie Corbally was Helen's companion for the rest of her life.^[5]

Miracle Worker - Final Scene (1962)



Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla
Philippines
Brief Biography/Wikipedia/YouTube

Prayer - The Key That Unlocks The Portals Of Heaven

When was the last time we were in a desperate situation, when our backs were against the wall, and we have no where else to go?

When was the last time when everyone seemed to have deserted us and we were left alone to face an almost insurmountable trial in our lives?

When was the last time we felt terrible pains in our bodies because of lingering illnesses?

And when was the last time we suffered a broken heart because someone so dear to us has abandoned and betrayed us?

In situations like these, we are left alone to lick our own wounds and to seek consolation from beyond lest, we fall into the temptation of ending our own lives.

Our lives may be shrouded in darkness and we may not see any light to guide us,
but there is Someone who is always willing to listen to us. We can pour out all the pains, the sorrows, the bitterness, the shame, the guilt, everything to Him who is faithful and true, and who patiently waits for us to open the doors of our hearts, so that He can come in and stay with us.

When we were yet little children, we were taught by our parents to always pray so that our lives may have divine guidance and protection. But as we grew older and became educated, we depended more and more on our own abilities and the advices and help of other people.

We only remember God when we are faced with impossible situations, where we
are exposed as so vulnerable and weak as to really help ourselves. It is then that we should humble ourselves, fall down on our knees, and pray.

Prayer is an admission of our total dependence on God who created us in the first place. Like little children once more, we seek our heavenly Father who is more than willing to give us all that our hearts desire if only we will delight in Him and His presence in our lives.

"Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)

Prayer is the key that unlocks the very portals of heaven, where we seek once again our heavenly Father who graciously showers us with the abundance of His blessings and grace from His great storehouse of blessings.

Pray. It works.

My Prayer - The Platters (1950s) USA



Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla
Philippines
Spiritual/Inspirational

Hope Springs Eternal

 HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
Are you suffering from excruciating pain because of a lingering illness? Are you broken hearted and feel that there is no more reason for you to live? Do you have mountains of problems that you feel you have already reached the end of the line? Is your situation so desperate that you feel you are already at the very edge of a cliff, ready to fall into a deep ravine? Are you suffering from sleepless nights, worrying and fearful of what tomorrow will bring? Do you feel so alone and lonely as if everybody has left and deserted you?

If so, then you must be desperate and hopeless already and could not see any light at the dark tunnel you are in. But wait, isn't it that hope springs eternal? As long as we're still alive, there is still hope for a better and joyful tomorrow. As they say, there is always light at the end of a tunnel.

And so, we hold on to that hope that after all the trials we are encountering, we will find peace, light and deliverance at the end of that dark tunnel.

We must only cling to that hope. Hope of what? Hope is not dreaming nor wishful thinking. We cannot just dream that our fairy godmother will pop out of thin air and give us everything that our hearts desire. Nor do we dream that we will win the high stakes lotto and wipe all our troubles away. No, it will never work that way.

Hope is anchored on a divine promise. Let us just take one divine promise of hope. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Now we know that God's plan for us is to prosper us and to give us hope and a future. So we hold on to this divine promise no matter what situation we may be in right now.

But wait a minute. There is a price for this. Nothing is free in the economy of God. We have to work for everything. Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you."
The price is just that. We must seek God's kingdom and His righteousness first.
In other words, we have to walk in His ways and follow His divine will and not our own. Then and only then can we really hope to achieve everything that our hearts desire.


Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla
Philippines
Spiritual/Inspirational

Rediscovery- The Reawakening Of Our Soul

As we walk in the threshold of a new beginning in our lives, it's timely to reawaken the long dormant dreams and joys in our hearts and rediscover the things that can change our lives forevermore.

Let us rediscover the joy of communing with God in our hearts, of cleansing ourselves of all the dirt and stains of worldly living and walk with faith with Him once more.

Let us rediscover the beauty of nature as we wonder in awe at the majestic mountains rising above everything else in our view.

Let us rediscover the beauty of the sunset in our favorite bay walk as peace and harmony settle down to our boisterous environment.

Let us rediscover the unfolding sunrise in our favorite beach by the seashore as we watch flocks of sea birds flying ecstatically in the skies.

Let us rediscover the joy and thrill of watching in awe the first cry of a new born infant as she struggles to make a resounding impact to a new beginning.

Let us rediscover the joy of expressing our artistic talents once more. They have lain dormant in our creative attic for so long because of our frenzied struggles to eke out a decent living.

Whatever it is that will bring us joy to rediscover that we are still wonderfully alive, let us do it with the exuberance and enthusiasm of youth.

Let us rediscover the joy of actively living and make each moment of our lives truly a magical one. LET US REDISCOVER OURSELVES ONCE MORE.

Top Of The World - The Carpenters