Author: Queenie Basilio

Call to me and I will answer you. I will tell to you things great beyond reach of your knowledge. – Jeremiah 33:3

During our previous RYC last March, in the course of the first session, we were asked to write in a card the questions that we would like to ask the Lord. One of the questions that I wrote was “Why do You keep calling me despite all my brokenness, my flaws, and my imperfections?”

Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you…” I called and He answered.

I just came from the recently concluded Eastern MV SHouT. It was truly such a blessed SHouT. One particular messaged that kept hitting me all throughout the SHouT is taken from John 14:6, Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

I am THE WAY.

What I saw during the worship on Wednesday evening is an image of a glowing arrow pointing upward. An arrow is normally used to point into a direction or to guide. Jesus is the way, the only way to the Lord. And I believe this is our call, to be the way, with our lives pointing to God. We are called to point people to Christ, as Christ pointed us to the Father.

Lead me Lord, lead me by the hand
And help me face the rising sun
Comfort me through all the pain
That life may bring
There’s no other hope
That I can lean upon
Lead me Lord
Lead me all my life

I am THE TRUTH.

Eyes. A lot of people say that our eyes are the mirror of our souls. Our eyes speak the truth, and like our eyes and Jesus Christ, we are called to be the truth. We are called to be His eyes in this world. We are called to be His living testimonies in this world; to be the truth to the world.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I want to see You

Let us not be interested in people seeing us and desire far more than people will see Him in us.

I am THE LIFE.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and game himself to me. – Galatians 2:20

God is calling us to live the life that Jesus lived, to live according to His plan. It may seem hard and impossible, but He wants us to be not afraid, for He is with us. Christ lives in us.

 

Our lives are just like heart rates. In order for us to be alive, we need to experience those ups and downs. We can’t just be stagnant (or in a pulse case, a straight line) because when that happens, we really are not living. Our victories and struggles our necessary for us to live fully; necessary for us to fulfill our mission. We get inspired by our victories, and we learn from our struggles. No one in this world is abstained from sufferings. In fact, even Christ suffered. He was condemned, scourged, beaten, and crucified. But He endured it, because He knows that after all that, He can live again, not the life that He wants, but the life the God wants Him to have. As Philippians 1:21 says, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Our mission is never easy, but it is in difficulties that the joy comes real, the life of joy.

Jesus is the life. We are called to live a life according to His. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. – John 14:3

——–

God is calling us to a greater mission. He is calling us to be living testimonies of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He wants us to be the same: to be the way, the truth and the life. He wants us to be that arrow to others. He wants us to show the truth to the world by living like the truth Himself, Jesus Christ. He wants us to be the life to others; to be part of victories and brokenness, to be part of hope, to be the heartbeat of the mission.

Why does He kept calling me? Kept calling us? The answer is exactly this.

Despite all our brokenness, failures, struggles, and flaws, we are called by name into this mission. Our personal missions started the moment we were born. Let us be the way, the truth, and the life of the world. He wants us to take on and fully live out this mission, the mission that Christ started.

Be not afraid, I go before you always. Come follow Me and I’ll give you rest.

He answered our call; let us answer His.

However, consider my life worth nothing to me, my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus Christ has given me; the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. – Acts 20:24

Lord, let Your words be my words, and Your will be my will. Allow me to live the life that Christ lived. Amen.

Most people that I know are aware of my love (okay, maybe a bit of obsession) for minions (from the movie: Despicable Me). I don’t know why, but the first time I saw the movie, I really started liking minions. They are just so cute (they really are! ^_^). Then little did I know I started reflecting on why I love them.

Oh and a minion looks like this….

Why do I love minions?

Minions are similar in size and shape, but have unique features to tell them apart.

Minions are just like us. We are all just human beings but we have specific characteristics that make us different from one another. I remembered a book that I read a couple of months ago. There was a line there, it said, “God created each role with one person in mind to fill it.” We are where we are for a reason. We are who we are for a reason. If we are achieving victories in life right now, praise the Lord! If we are experiencing difficulties in life right now, praise the Lord still! God has always a reason why we are experiencing these things. We have to remember that we are created for a reason. We have our own individual missions to fulfill. We are unique and we have individual purposes. We just have to discover His plan for us. The joy in our journey rests, in part, on the discovery process – unveiling the layers of God’s unique plan.  

Minions are a bunch of simple-minded homunculi.

Because I am such an over-thinker, I tend to admire minions for being so simple-minded. I am a person who would think too much about very simple things. I tend to go over-board and think too much about things that are about to happen, or things that I planned. Sometimes, I tend to be too controlling about things. I have the tendency to make things difficult for me, even though I know that I can work on it on a simple way. Minions remind me that simplicity is beauty. Sometimes, we need to stop thinking or worrying too much and just see the beauty in the simplest things. Because when we worry too much, we tend to miss God’s message through those simple things. Like yesterday, I was heading out with my family to celebrate Mother’s Day, and on our way to the restaurant, I saw this in the sky:

Simple beauty. I think this is what I tend to forget most of the time, to just take things in a very simple way; to just pause for a bit and look how beautiful God’s blessings are, no matter how big or small it is. Life is not complicated, we just over complicate things. Simplicity is beauty.

Minions are fiercely loyal.

Like how minions are very loyal to Gru, we should too be loyal to our God. Their loyalty always reminds me of the verse from Matthew 5:37 “Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no.” We cannot serve two masters. If we are saying yes to God, let it be our yes, a firm and resounding yes. We cannot be saying yes to God today and no to Him tomorrow. This is such a great reminder of our mission and vision as CFC-Youth: Young people being and bringing Christ wherever we are. If we are saying yes to Him, let it be a true yes, not a no, not a sometimes yes, but a firm and strong yes.

Minions are extremely easy to please.

God just wants us to be happy. We are His children. If our own parents only wish for us to be happy, what more our Father in heaven wishes us to do so. He loves us so much that He would provide everything that we need. He is always pleasing us, it’s just we fail to see this most of the time. We tend to get overwhelmed, blinded, and distracted by all our problems in life. We fail to see God’s grace. Minions remind me of how beautiful it is to be happy with what God has been, is being, and will be blessing us, no matter how big or small it is. As what Matthew 7:7 proclaims, “Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened.” God wants us to be happy; it’s just, sometimes we choose not to. Let us be thankful for every single thing God provides us. Let us be like minions who see joy in the littlest things.

Minions are always willing to help out (especially with Gru).

I was at Level Up last Saturday, and as I was packing up instruments, a sister approached and she mention something about “helping hands.” Since then, it has been stuck on my hand. Lately, I’ve been having this vision of hands. I didn’t really know what it meant until last Saturday, when a sister of mine approached me, said something about it, and affirmed me. What does it mean to be the helping hands of the Lord? God is calling us to be His helping hands. It is very fitting that one of the topics discuss last Saturday was reaching beyond. To be God’s helping hands, we need to reach beyond our boundaries, beyond our limits. Yes, the mission starts within us, but it doesn’t end there. A mission will not be a mission until we reach out beyond our own little bubbles. Like what Kuya Kevin said last Level Up, our mission should go beyond borders. In the heart of this mission is love. This love makes us limitless because God is love and God is limitless.

Minions are always happy.

Minions are always happy, and so do we. We need to be joyful! We are young, Christian, happy. Let us be keep smiling for the Lord. A smile can mean so much to another person. A simple smile can in fact change the world. Let us be joyful in proclaiming God’s love to the world.

So…Why do I love minions?

I still honestly don’t know exactly why, but we have a special connection. (LOL)… But maybe it’s because sometimes, I see myself in them, and sometimes, I just want to be like them.

“Jesus, Jesus. All I want is to be like You.” Amen.

Praise God!

Matthew 5:37 “Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no.”

This was the passage that caught my attention when we had our lectio divina at our previous household last Friday. This was actually not a part of the passage that we talked about, but for some reason, I randomly opened my Bible to this gospel and saw this verse. As I was reflecting on it, I asked myself a question,

What does it really mean to say yes?

Last night, I was talking to my counterpart. We were talking about some song promotions and the conversation went to songs that he has covered and posted on-line. He then shared a link to me of the song he covered a long time ago called “Absolutely” by Starfield. The chorus goes something like this…

Jesus, You have me completely
Every breath that I breathe
I am absolutely in love

Jesus, I am Yours forever
All of me surrenders
I am absolutely in love with You

As I was listening to the song… the line “All of me surrenders” caught my attention. Then I remembered the question that I asked myself.

What does it mean to say yes?

A yes is not just an answer, but a commitment.

At Almighty 2012 Conference, God revealed to me something that I would never forget. Let’s just say that that conference set my heart on fire. After that Conference, I decided to just keep saying YES to the Lord. It’s almost about two years now, and looking back, I realized something, that with every yes comes a bigger responsibility (I know….Spiderman-ish..LOL), but it’s true.

Since Almighty 2012 Conference, my life has been very different. When you say yes, it doesn’t mean that everything’s going to be okay and it’s going to be easy; in fact, it gets harder every single time. But the funny thing is, when you start saying yes to the Lord, it feels like you don’t want to ever stop anymore because of how beautiful each yes has been. It is through our YESs that we witness God’s love, and there’s nothing more beautiful than witnessing this and being a witness of this to other people as well.

A couple of hours ago, I was asking a brother about a service for an upcoming event. It was a very short conversation but he shared something beautiful to me. He said…

“You know what, we just had a camp last weekend, and heading to the camp, I was really hoping to be part of Music Ministry, but instead, I was asked to be a facilitator. I didn’t mind it and I said yes. Then now, I am hearing this from you, and I am so amazed by how great our God works, that He indeed has better plans for us, we just have to keep saying yes to Him.”

This is such a great reminder and affirmation from God that if we say yes to Him, He will reveal something greater to us. His desires for us are far greater than our desires for ourselves. I know it’s scary to just keep saying yes to Him, but it’s all worth it.

A YES means a lot more than a YES. A YES is FALLING ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE with Him. A YES is a FULL SURRENDER to Him. A YES is seeing and accepting that He has a plan for you, a GREATER PLAN for you. A YES is putting your FULL TRUST in HIM. A YES is a WORK IN PROGRESS.

Jesus, You have me completely
Every breath that I breathe
I am absolutely in love

Jesus, I am Yours forever
All of me surrenders
I am absolutely in love with You

All I am is Yours, only Yours.

Let my yes mean yes. Amen.

Praise the Lord!

These past couple of weeks, I felt like I’ve been so busy with everything (thus, posting this really really late), especially because it is exam season for me. Earlier today, I finished writing my fifth exam. It’s not my last exam, but for some reason, I felt a little relief. I honestly felt like the days went by so fast that I couldn’t even remember what happened. Few hours ago, as I was…

“Making my way downtown, walking fast,
Faces pass and I’m home bound”

(LOL, I had to insert it……)

…and for some reason, I saw myself just “creepily” (LOL) staring at people and observing how they moved as I was walking towards the train station platform. Of course, when you’re in Downtown Toronto, everyone is moving so fast; as if they are always running after or away from something. It’s such as fast-paced environment. Then all of a sudden, I decided to stop moving and just completely observe everyone. Little did I know, beyond this haste is a whole new big picture. Yeah, most people are in a hurry going home, but some are not. Some people are just casually sitting around, chilling and enjoying the sun. Some people are meeting up with their friends. Some people are trying to figure out where to go. Some people are just “still.” Then I realized, this is what I forgot to do these past few weeks, to slow down; to just be still, even for just a moment.

John 11:9 “Aren’t there 12 hours in a day?”

These past few weeks literally felt like there was just 12 hours in a day. It was so hectic that I was not able to see the stillness beyond this rush. I saw myself complaining a lot about being so tired and busy, but little did I know, it’s also my fault, ‘cause I never had time to just pause. If only I paused for a while, I would be seeing the stillness that God provided, the peace within this haste. Yes, I did feel like I accomplished a lot of things, but I forgot to finish the more important ones. I missed the fact that it is really spring already (YEY! Praise the Lord for such a warm perfect weather!). I failed to realize that I am almost done my exams (ONE more to go!). I failed to thank Him for all the blessings that He has showered me these past few weeks. I forgot that our family just got bigger, with the birth of my niece last week! I had lesser “dates” with the Lord, because I felt like I didn’t have that much time. I simply forgot to

“Be still and know that He is God” Psalm 46:10

I forgot the more important ones. I missed a lot of His messages, and little did I know, I wasn’t able to accomplish His plans, because I was too busy finishing my own plans. In reality, at the end of the day, His plans are all the matter. Most of the time, we think that there is not enough time, but actually there is. There is a reason why God just made it 24 hours a day, not 23; not 25. He knows that 24 hours is all we need. He knows that 24 hours is more than enough, if we just use it wisely and for His greater glory. There is stillness within this chaos. We just fail to see it because we forget to slow down and see the bigger picture that God has in-stored for us.

It’s okay to just pause for a moment and see what He has planned for us. His plans are so beautiful, we just need to slowly and carefully look at it and embrace it.

Be still. Slow down: Such a beautiful reminder from Him.

“And I’m restless, I’m restless
‘Til I rest in You, ’til I rest in You
I’m restless, I’m restless
‘Til I rest in You, ’til I rest in You
Oh God, I wanna rest in You”

Amen.

This past Holy week, it is very evident that Christ’s death and suffering is being remembered. Earlier this week, as I was reflecting about this, I felt like I was too focused on the pain and struggles that Christ experienced that I was not able to see what God wanted to show me. This morning, as I was heading to school for my exam, I remembered the movie “The Last Samurai.” One of the lines from the movie was:

Emperor Meiji: Tell me how he (Katsumoto) died.

Aldren: I will tell you how he lived.

I think, we too should have the same attitude as we approach Easter Sunday. Yes, we are commemorating Christ’s suffering and death, but God wants us to remember how Christ lived as well. In fact, this week and for the rest of our lives, we are remembering and should be remembering Christ’s life and death. God did not only show us why and how Christ died, but also why and how He lived.

John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”

God wants His Words to be alive, so He made it alive through Christ. Christ is the Word made flesh. He is the fulfillment of God’s Word and the Saviour of God’s people. Christ lived His life according to God’s will, and God’s will alone. A recently listened to the song “To Be Like You” by Hillsong Live, the first verse goes something like this:

Humble King
Holy One
Friend of sinners
God’s own Son
God in flesh
Among men
You walked my road
You understand

This Holy week, God is not just inviting us to reflect on how Christ saved us from our sins and how we need to carry our crosses, but also, He is inviting us to live like how Christ lived. Jesus is the perfect example of love and humility. He is the one who accepted and forgave sinners. He did not only carry our crosses, but also walked our path. In fact, He came down to show us how we should walk our path; focused on God and moving towards God.

He died on the cross to save us, but He did not stop there. This Easter Sunday, He is inviting us to resurrect with Him, to follow His footsteps, to be one with Him; for if we do, we too become God’s Word made flesh. By resurrecting with Him, we a re-living His life and journey; we are taking the path that He took.

God wants His Words to be ALIVE. To make GOD’S WORD not only written in the scriptures, but WRITTEN IN OUR HEARTS and PROCLAIMED TO THE WORLD.

We, too, are HIS WORD MADE FLESH, LIVING FLESH, so we should LIVE LIKE HOW CHRIST LIVED for GOD’S WORDS ARE ALIVE IN US, WITH US, and THROUGH US.

All I want
All I need
More of You
Less of me
Take this life
Lord it’s Yours
Have my heart
Have it all

AMEN.

I was on my way home from CLP yesterday, and the song “Sinking Deep” by Hillsong Young and Free was playing in the car. It was the first time I’ve ever heard this song, but I felt like something’s very unique about it. At first, I thought it was just because of the song structure, but, actually, it was more than about that. So as soon as I got home, I decided to look up the lyrics to the song.

The second verse of the song goes something like this…

When I’m lost You pursue me
Lift my head to see Your glory
Lord of all
So beautiful

Here in You I find shelter
Captivated by the splendour
Of Your face
My secret place

Not a lot of people know about my, let’s just say “life story”. I was born in the Philippines and raised by my aunt because my parents were working in Saudi Arabia. I lived with my aunt in the Philippines for 16 years. Throughout those years, I saw my aunt as “my parents”, basically my second mom and dad. Last year, 2013, I was faced with a really tough obstacle. On June 2 of that year, I went back to the Philippines because my aunt was diagnosed with cancer. I arrived in the Philippines on June 4, and on the same day, I lost her. It was very hard. I was so hurt. At that time, I felt like I’ve fallen so hard; that, there’s no way for me to get back up. I felt so lost. I felt like I have nowhere to go, no one to lean on. But I was wrong. Definitely wrong.

When I’m lost You pursue me. Lift my head to see Your glory. During the funeral, I felt like I was mad towards everyone around me. I felt like it was so unfair that she had to experience it. I felt like she didn’t deserve it. I was so scared. I feared everything. I was hurt. I was in so much pain, that I was quite literally walking in darkness. But when I thought I was lost, He found me. He showed me that everything’s going to be okay. On the burial, a verse on her grave hit me so hard. It’s from Psalm 23:4

“But even though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I fear no evil for You are with me.”

Yes, maybe I was lost, but He was with me all along. I found shelter in Him. I’ve fallen so hard, but He was there to lift me back up again. Up to this day, I am still hurt. I still feel lost. It’s never easy to just forget what happened, especially losing someone so dear to me, someone who basically meant “the world to me.” One of the last words my aunt told me was, “Masaya na akong makita ka. Tama na iyon.” (I’m happy to see you. That’s enough for me.) My presence was enough for her. Despite everything that she was feeling, my presence was enough. Even though she felt so lost and hurt, my presence was enough for her. If my presence was enough, His presence should be more than enough. This made me realize that even though I walk through darkness, His presence should be enough; for His presence is all that matters.

I felt lost, but He revealed to me that He is with me, His presence is enough. It may be hard, but I know I have to keep going. I know everything’s going to be eventually alright. I just have to put my whole trust in Him. He never promised us for our lives to be easy, but He did promise to be with us every step of the way. There are so many times when we feel this way. Often times, we will feel so lost, so alone, so scared, and so hurt. We tend to forget His promise, to be with us every step of the way. He was with us. He is with us. He will be with us.

This song just reminded me of how great His love is; how great His grace is; and that He is there all along. No matter how good or bad the past has been, He was there, with me; with us. No matter how much we are struggling in life at this very moment, He is with us. And no matter how uncertain the future may look like, He will be there for us. He loves us so much that He would always be there, may it be during struggles or victories. He is greater than anything else that we encounter. He is greater than our fears, struggles, and pains. He is always there for us, we just need to realize that. And when we do, everything will change. We will be able to overcome the things that we thought we can’t. With Him, nothing is impossible; and impossible is nothing.

He was with us. He is with us. He will be with us. Let us just trust in Him; everything’s gonna be okay.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before You as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, You have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.” – Isaiah 9:1-4

Praise be to God!

I went to mass at noon yesterday and the responsorial psalm caught my attention. The psalm was taken from Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for You are with me.” As I reflect on this verse, I was reminded by God’s light and I asked myself three questions: What is light? What is our light? Who is our light?

What is light?

If a child asks me what light is, I would probably say that light is something we use to make things visible. It seems right, but is this really what the definition of light? It is quite challenging to define light. It’s one of those things that you know what it is, but it’s very difficult to explain. According to the book of Genesis, the universe was covered in darkness until God created light. Darkness is the absence of light, but light is not simply just the absence of darkness; it is a symbol of God’s grace.

What is our light?

God created us in His own image and likeness. If light is a symbol of God’s grace, and we are products of His grace, then we ourselves should be symbols of light; symbols of His light. If I were to compare human beings with something, it would be stars. Stars, which are usually visible at night, have their own shines. Despite the amount of stars in the universe, they are still unable to provide enough light to rule out darkness. These stars just become dots of light in the night sky.

Our life is like the journey of a star through night and day. We should be symbols of His light, but most of the time, we tend to just show our own personal light especially when we are faced with struggles, like a star depending on its own shine to light up the night sky. Sometimes, it feels so hopeless, but we should remember that there’s always a morning to come. There are times when we may feel so tired, scared, and lost whenever we are in darkness, but when day comes, night goes away. When we allow His light to lead us, everything changes.

Who is our Light?

The sun is like the light of God, the light that can rule out darkness; the light that enables us to see the true beauty of life; the light that warms up the whole world. Without God’s light, we can never rule out darkness with our own personal lights. Same goes with life, we can never overcome an obstacle without the light of God, without the presence of God, without God’s grace.  It is through His light that we feel His warm love. It is through Him that we can make things possible. It is through Him that we can walk out of darkness.

My life lately is quite literally like a journey of a star. There are various times where I tend to depend on my light, tiring myself out, burning myself out. There are so many times when I tend to just depend on my own strength, and not His strength. There are times when I would try to radiate my own light as if it’s going help me at all, but in reality, it’s just burning me out. This passage made me realize that it is not me, but Him. In fact, it was never about me. It was never about my own personal light, but His light.

The morning comes as the sun lights up the whole world. Just like in our lives, no matter how long our time in darkness is, God will always be there to help us and be our light. We will be able to rule out darkness when we allow His light to radiate to the whole world instead of our own personal lights. We are created to be symbols of His light, so we should be radiating His light, not ours.

“You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light.” – 2 Samuel 22:29