Crossroads

We face crossroads in our lives. And how we take the different turns in life, determines what we become. I have made so many wrong turns in my life, turns that will haunt me till the day I die. When we are alone and we turn our gaze backwards, we see that many things happened to us because of the wrong turns we made at crucial intersections of our lives. They made us what we are now. But whatever mistakes and blunders we committed along life's perilous paths, they have become our stern teacher and corrector in life. We pity the person who does not know how to mend his ways after so many bumps and pitfalls in life. He will finish life's race limping home, bruised, battered and unbowed.


Do You Know Where You Are Going To - Diana Ross

The Problem Of Pain

 THE PROBLEM OF PAIN
There will always be pain in our bodies, pain in our hearts, pain in our minds. In fact, pain is an integral part of our lives. It is how we react to pain that determines our standing with the Lord. If we blame Him for all the pains that we go through, then we miss the whole point. Pain is the instrument of God to make us closer to Him. If we cannot endure the temporary pain that we are experiencing right now, think of how much we can endure the pain of losing God and heaven for all eternity. Or think of how much we can endure the scorching flames of hell that will sear our very souls forevermore. Think about that! "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matthew 25: 46).

But God is so good and merciful. He will not give us any pain, any trial, nor any sorrow that we cannot overcome. Because together with the pain, trial or sorrow, He will give us His amazing grace (a tremendous spiritual force of comfort and deliverance) to overcome all these. As we emerge triumphant over the pains, trials or sorrows, then we become stronger, more patient and more compassionate towards those who are undergoing similar experiences in life. As we have been comforted by the Holy Spirit, so shall we become conduits of God's graces and blessings to those who are in distress. NOW YOU UNDERSTAND WHY YOU HAVE TO ENDURE YOUR PAIN. CHEER UP! THERE IS ALWAYS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. SMILE. GOD LOVES YOU NO MATTER WHAT!

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12: 9a)

Intimacy With God

INTIMACY WITH GOD
Our relation with God need not be centered on prayers and petitions alone. To have an intimate relationship with God, we have to know Him intimately. He said in Jeremiah 29:13-14, "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all of your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord." Yes He can be found in praise and worship, in prayers and petitions and in regular reading and meditation on the word of God. We speak to God through prayers. We can unload our troubles to Him, crying our hearts out because of the burdens on our soul. And He speaks to us and answers us through the word of God in the Bible. Before we read God's words in the Bible, let us seek first the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit to give us divine wisdom to fathom His will in our lives. As we daily share our burdens, trials and emotions to Him, we can feel the intimacy growing between God and us as though we are talking to our own earthly father. For that is who God is to us. He is our heavenly Father who only wants the best for all of us. Even before we utter our prayers and petitions to Him, He is already answering our prayers by flooding our hearts with heavenly peace that soothes all the pains and frustrations that we have. Suddenly we feel in our hearts that indeed God hears our prayers and will give us everything we need in our lives. Those who trust in the Lord will never be put to shame and they will walk with the Lord in paths of righteousness leading to His kingdom.


Tags: God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Intimacy With God, Prayers and Petitions, Praise and Worship, Reading and Meditation on The Word of God, Burdens of Our Soul, Divine Wisdom, Gospel, Word of God, Holy Bible

Posted by: Mel Avila Alarilla
Philippines
Spiritual/Inspirational/Motivational

This Is Too Much, Simply Too Much!

Enough is enough. This is simply too much. We have been brutally ostracized as a nation because of the crime of one demented police officer and the incompetence of the police assault team of Manila. We have offered apologies and have bowed down our heads. But the people of Hong Kong and China want more. They disparaged our President and our country as a whole and even insulted our people. This is just too much. Our leaders must stop acting as if we are a vassal of China. When Pinoys became victims of unwarranted acid attacks in Hong Kong did we protest? When tons and tons of illegal drugs are unloaded in our shores from China and when those who were arrested maintaining shabu laboratories came from China, did we protest? And when Chinese illegal poachers raided our Philippine seas taking with them endangered species and when they are peremptorily released by local authorities due to pressures from China, did we protests? When China unilaterally occupied part of The Spratly islands and made incursions as deep as Palawan whom PGMA almost gave to China and Vietnam (presumably for oil exploration) did we protest? When Chinese businessmen regularly engaged in smuggling of all sorts of goods to the detriment of our local industry, did we protest? Let us stop behaving like we are a slave to China and Hong Kong. We have given all apologies and ask for their forgiveness and that is enough. Let us not let them bash our country and our people to the ground.

Trust

Trust is something so elusive in this world. It seems that we cannot fully trust everybody including ourselves. How many times have we been hurt because those we trusted with all our heart betrayed us? How we cried and spent sleepless nights because of the cruel betrayal of our trust? And how many times we were so disappointed with ourselves because we were not able to keep our promises? Why? Because we are finite beings, unable to be faithful in every way and in every circumstances. Because we have been swayed by the machinations of the evil one. And when we succumb to his temptations, we hurt ourselves and our loved ones as well. The only Being we can trust wholeheartedly, and who will never ever break our trust, is God. He is faithful and true to the very end and He never lies. He is always patient with us and understand our weaknesses and our proclivity to sin. That was why He sent His only begotten Son to save us from ourselves and from the corruption of this world. We must understand the weaknesses of man and must not expect 100% trust and confidence in him and in ourselves as well. Only God is truly trustworthy and is faithful to the very end.

Shame! Shame! Shame! Nine Killed In Philippines Hostage Crisis

Last night, nine people died in a drama laden hostage taking crisis in Manila, Philippines that was seen all over the world via the major news networks. A disgruntled Manila police officer- Rolando Mendoza, who was axed from his post as chief of Manila Police's Mobile Patrol Unit in 2008 after he was charged with robbery and extortion or the so called hulidap practice of some policemen of planting evidence and seeking pay off from the victims. The hostages were all children from Hong Kong accompanied by elderlies and parents for their overseas field trip. The hostage taker demanded that he be reinstated to his former job. The negotiations lasted from 10 in the morning to 8 in the evening when elements of the SWAT team stormed the parked tourist bus. After the smoke of gun fire cleared, the hostage taker plus 8 hostages were proclaimed dead. The survivors of the carnage are being treated at nearby hospitals. Hong Kong immediately issued a total travel ban advisory to its citizens against going to the Philippines. Just a couple of days ago, a Korean missionary was shot dead for refusing to open his car window during another robbery hold up. Oh shame on us. We are again at the forefront of negative news around the world. Let us all pray for the Philippines and the Filipinos.

Sourced at: GMA News.TV
ABS-CBN News
YouTube


Manila Hostage Crisis Video

The Scourge Of Dengue Fever

There is widespread outbreak of dengue fever in the Philippines right now. It cuts across all provinces and all sectors of society with death rising above the average cases last year. Dengue fever is transmitted through the bite of the aedes aegypti mosquitoes which bite in the morning and before dusk. The symptoms are sudden onset of high fever which may last 2 to 7 days. Joint and muscle pains and pain behind the eyes. Skin rashes or red tiny spots on the skin. Nose bleeding when fever starts to subside. Abdominal pains and vomiting coffee colored matter, as well as dark colored stools. There is no known cure nor vaccine for dengue fever but folks in the provinces subscribe to the efficacy of the tawa tawa herb or gatas gatas. The tawa tawa herbs are boiled and drank by patients every four hours. Others say that papaya leaves pounded into elixir and given to the patients to drink every four hours help build up blood platelets like tawa tawa. Of course the best remedy is prevention.

Sourced From The Deparment of Health