God as a Partner

Now, this does not have anything to do with "single-blessedness." I am actually not comfortable with that term because, really, even marriage is a blessing on its own. And that's a separate blog I will write soon, if given an inspiration to do so. Haha.

I write because with all the things that I have been doing lately, the truth about God as a partner all the more holds true to me.

This week saw me being stretched to my limits. I was beating deadlines after the other, dealing with demanding clients at the office, researching and reviewing songs, singing at after-office events (which are mostly Valentine Day-related, causing additional stress I think), attending to my need of restoring my equilibrium by writing a blog, and preparing for our church's annual national convention and general assembly.

It's been a while since I had squeezed every second and risked every ounce of my strength. I think the last time I was this busy was in high school. And I missed it. But I think my body didn't.

Last Friday, I was invited to sing at a couple's night of a church in Marikina. I went straight to the venue after a difficult day at the office. I knew I was tired yet I still have to belt (not sing!) two songs. I was yawning and yawning before my turn to sing came. When it's finally my turn, there was a problem with the sound system. The microphone's grounded and it was not amplifying my voice the way it should and needed to be. I was tired and the last thing I needed was an uncooperative sound system.

I'm thankful that fellow Papuri and DZAS artists, Ate Haydee Bernardo-Sampang and Ate Gloria Manriza-Cambra, were cheering me up. So in an abandoned attitude, I smiled, cracked some one-liners, and sang.

Miraculously, it was one of my most relaxed, open, and smooth renditions of the songs "Healing" and "Ako'y Binago Niya."

The next day, a friend sent me a message asking me what happened to me last night because the Lord had led him to pray for me then.We haven't gotten in touch for a while (almost a year now) and yet, here is a person whom the Lord tasked to pray for me that night. And to think it was not even a "desperate" situation then!

Jesus said in John 15:15:
"I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now, you are my friends since I have told you everything the Father told me."


On April 24, 2010, Jesus gave me a personal message through that verse:
Arla, I have so long wanted to show you these things so we can work together. I want us to work together and make glorious things happen for the pride and honor of our Father! 

Like a good friend, Jesus is a sensible partner. He knows what is in our hearts and what we need at the moment. He is also a reliable partner. When He called me in this task of communicating His love through singing, He has never put me to shame. (With the exemption, of course, of times when I did not carry out my side of the deal like when I eat high-risk foods such as sweets, fibrous fruits, and nuts. Or I did not practice or rested well.)

And it's just unfortunate that a lot of us would rather do things on our own. Yet if only we allow Him, He will not just open vocal cords or have someone pray for us. He will open doors, run the extra mile, and make all things possible so together you will bring glory to the Father - as every life in this planet should.

Maturity Beyond Our Wildest Dreams

I was browsing through my "timeline" and previous blog posts in my old "site" to take my mind off from a number of things I have yet to do. When times like these strike, I knew I am low on inspiration. Well, looking back on old notes and photos can be both encouraging and frustrating. It can be encouraging when you see how far and better you have become. On the other hand, it can be frustrating when things do not change.

Change. God has been inviting me to a lot of changes lately; changes that I have painfully and tearfully accepted  because, even if it was totally against my will, I believe my decisions would lead me closer to Him. I initially dreamed of becoming a "brilliant broadcast journalist and a contemporary Christian singer roaming around the world preaching about Jesus" (taken verbatim from our high school yearbook published in 2002) when I was 16. Now, ten years after, I am a full-time writer at a government agency, wherein part of my job is to produce and co-anchor a one-hour radio program for the war veterans twice a week. Meanwhile, the closest to becoming a contemporary Christian singer was through Shine for Jesus 2005, a nationwide search for a new generation of Gospel artists. And the farthest I have ever been to northerly is Hongkong and southerly, Palawan.

Lala Nostalgia: the 5-year old me and the 26-year old me

This evening, I can hear God clearly echoing to me that line from Paul's letter to the Corinthians:

"When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. 

But when I grew up, I put away childish things." 

I guess it's time to give up childish dreams - dreams that are products of my infinitesimal brain and limited vision of what is ahead. Not that these are insignificant to God. But that He had bigger and better things in mind. And the only thing that's keeping most of us from experiencing the grand things He has set for us is when we hold on to the past and keep on dragging with us the things that should be left behind.

 For Paul adds:

"Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, 

but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. 

All that I know now is partial and incomplete, 

but then I will know everything completely, 

just as God knows me completely."

Completely. I delight in the truth that our God - no matter how imperfect, frustrated, twisted our ways could be in our attempt to follow Him - had already laid out everything for us even before this world began. I believe it was not presented to us in full because we would not have something to look forward to when we already know what's in the future. And this would invalidate faith, which is having hope for things yet unseen.

Besides, there could be no more bitter state than having nothing new to wake up to everyday, or learn or improve about yourself. This is why our God challenges us to new things, shaking even our longstanding foundations and beliefs about ourselves just so we will not be complacent.

For this is true faith: that we are transformed and renewed by Him and His Word every day. And the challenge here is that we never give up on Him. For God will keep on changing us until we are able to reach maturity beyond our wildest dreams.


P.S. Special thanks to Ate Joy Cruz, for sharing her 28-year old self to the world. It made me realize a LOT of things. (read here)

Cooking Unto Yourself

This carbonara has been perfected
for five years. Why didn't I stop trying?
My family's eating it for New Year.

I still cannot get over the extremely salty dish my younger sister cooked last night.

Not that I am rubbing in the fact that I am the only one, from among us three girls, who inherited that tradition of yummy cooking in the family. But I just couldn't understand why someone else's cooking could be so bad, no one - not  even the person who cooked it - can eat.

This brings to mind (and stomach) the importance of empathy. Yes, that quality of a person that is vicariously aware of and sensitive to the feelings of other people.

I used to tell those who ask me why I'm good at cooking that it could have been an innate talent or interest that I unconsciously developed from my mother - reasons that will forever erase their dreams of becoming better cook. Now, I know what to answer: cook something that you yourself will eat.

That tip will not require any special skill or taste-sensitive genes. It just simply asks that you do something because you yourself want it and that you want it so intensely, it overflows from your heart and you want others to share in it.

Who is a good cook anyway? Is he the one who graduated from expensive culinary schools and use techniques or ingredients that you can't even pronounced? Or is she the one whose food does not only satisfy your hungry stomach but your starving heart?

I'm fixing myself a left-over rice and sardines from the fridge this morning. I sautéd (that's a culinary term!) it and served it with omelet. Simple, yet done with consideration for one's self and for others (particularly Nanay who is always keen on budget). This is what every cooking should be.

Jesus said: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I say: "Cook unto others as you would have them cook unto you."

Happy Saturday cooking everyone!

P.S. So, did my youngest sister eat what she cooked? No. She didn't.

New Home

I've been writing since I was 7 or 8, a time when the only correspondence that this world had were letters and phone calls. Yes - no emails, chat, video calls.

Phone calls then were expensive. So, my father (who was an overseas Filipino worker, a seaman specifically) wrote to us. That's the only way he could get "in touch" with his three daughters, who looked forward to receiving letters from a man whom we only knew through his writings then.

Looking back, I am forever grateful that he painstakingly took the time to write each of us. I learned the value of words memorialized, of emotions and feelings seen through the flow and blots of ink, and of hearts sealed in envelopes.

I used to have a home in cyberspace but it has slowly turned into a "marketplace" (if you're into social networking sites, you know what site I'm referring to - hee). So I'm transferring to a new home, where I can share my love in words the way my Tatay did it.

And this first blog is, of course, dedicated to my first writing teacher: my Tatay.

Letter-writers, journalists, diary-keepers, lexicologists, etymologists, you wordsmith - come on, come all. :)