If my goal is to love Jesus perfectly then I need to look to Mother Mary who loved Him more than anyone that has walked this earth. No wonder why I need her help? She loved Jesus the most perfectly and she helps us all love Him the same. It’s also amazing to know that she loves me just as much as she loves her Son. Such tender mercy she has for all of us.
Thank You, God, for giving me a Mother who, with the Holy Spirit, nurtures my growth in Christ. Amen.
I have been away from home the last 3 weekends, starting with the CFC-Youth North American Summit in Vancouver BC, MER3 in Canmore, AB the week after and then the SFC National Summit just this last weekend. There is no doubt at all that the future of CFC is so bright as long as we continue to support our youth and our young adults.
The mission has become so personal to me. At the SFC Summit, I was given a glimpse of the brightest future ever, our hope and prayer that our children will continue to stay on this path that we had started for them. I asked my son Jak-jak to worship with us at the opening worship. During the slow song, I heard sniffles coming from him and I thought he just had a cold. But when I had another look, he was closing his eyes, his hands clasped together in prayer and he was crying. What an amazing sight. Later, we asked him why he was crying, he told us that he missed God.
Yes, I am here in this community to serve God but it has become personal for me, seeing my kids grow up in the community, I am truly convicted, that CFC can change the world, and CFC can win the world for Christ.
Lord, thank you for never giving up on us and for drawing us closer to you through this beautiful community. I pray for our children that the community will not only be a stage in their life but it will be their way of life. In you mighty name I pray, AMEN!
As an educator, I wish to create an environment of respect, love, and inclusivity. It is my personal mission to make every student feel valued. I’m not there to instruct but to support.
This statement has always been my go-to answer in every school-related interview. Looking back, I’ve always compartmentalized my goals and visions, depending on what area of my life I was experiencing. When I think of my life in the community and my life as an educator, I’ve always felt that both lifestyles were so different.
Recently, a few of us sisters came together to share our “crazy dreams” for the community. Everyone had great ideas and I remember just sweating from nervousness because I had no idea what my own crazy dream was. In all eleven years of being in this community, I don’t think I’ve ever had a crazy dream. Out of desperation, I thought of my own aspirations as an educator and how I could easily apply it to my service in the community. In the end, I shared my go-to “teacher answer” (see above lol), and soon after, I felt that I was very disingenuous in how I had answered the question. However, when I think of recent events, I realized that this experience was really just another way for God to expose my heart and place it in front of me.
At the recent NALS, I was given a glimpse of the “bigger picture” and what it was like to be one in the mission. In coming together as North America, I saw a true community; I saw a community that supported one another; I saw a community that truly valued one another in the mission, and I saw a community that was united through the love of the Lord. I hadn’t realized it, but my crazy dream was painted right before my eyes. I witnessed the loving, inclusive, and supportive community that I had always envisioned as an educator and saw it manifest in the mission.
In seeing this, I realized that there are still so many desires in my heart that the Lord is waiting to unveil. I thank the Lord for instilling me with the heart of an educator and revealing desires within my missionary heart – desires that were waiting to be discovered.
Be it as an educator or a missionary, I want nothing more than to spread the love of the Lord and to make every single person feel loved and valued <3
“There will come a time, you will need to learn how to pastor yourself.” These were the words I remember from one of my FTPW leaders when I was still in my first years of full time mission. It came more real to me when I was assigned in different areas, alone. Some YFCs would ask me if where I am and I would reply that I am in the bus on the way to another province. * They would then ask if who I am with, and I would reply, “I, my backpack and my bible.” And, I would laugh at it at times remembering how I was actually enjoying the mission. Yes, there were times that it was difficult, because I need a partner in mission and I need some guidance from at least someone near. However, such things never happen all the time.
The reality of fulltime mission is that there will be times that we will just be alone, (Though we are with Christ). It is in these times, when no one is there to affirm me that the bible in my backpack becomes my best affirmation, mass and adoration becomes my greatest consolation and the rosary in my pocket becomes the best thing to hold on to when no one else is there.
Missionaries can never be spoiled brats, always in need of one on ones, and constant affirmation from mentors and other missionaries. Yes, we need those things, but we need to stand alone in Christ. We should be able to stand up, live up to our faith even without others pastoring us all the time. We need to work out, read spiritual books, watch, learn and pray.
*I was assigned as region head and island head in different areas in the Philippines. There was only one region head, no mission partner.
Sometimes I get caught in this feeling that I am a very sinful person and that I am unworthy to be in the presence of the Lord. I think even a few times I’ve ended up holding my confession because I was too scared to go and also thought that the Lord is mad at me. Oh my childish ways.
After receiving confession and attending mass, I was reminded in today’s gospel (Luke 15:1-10) especially in Luke 10 “Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
@itsmetimmm
Saints , Mystics, and Missionaries. I think all these Individuals have at least two things in common. First, they knew of many consolations in their life, but recognized only God as the ultimate one. Second, they believed and lived this reality-in extraordinary ways.
Waking up at the “Mission House”, and still feeling at Home somehow. Being able to develop, and rest in true friendships in my mission area over just two years #GodAboveTime. Being called to serve full days with my spiritual tank sometimes leaking or burning the wrong gas #metaphorWIN? These are some experiences that challenge me to rely on extraordinary trust in the Lord:
A life of surrender. Lord, wherever I go, may I seek and rely Only on You.
Several weeks ago.. I was blessed enough to attend the North American Leaders Summit in Vancouver (yayy! hehe)
it was a blessed event (fo sho!)
got to meet and be inspired by fellow missionaries who are on fire and set on loving the Lord more uuyy
definitely NALS has pumped us up for what the Lord has in store for us individually and as a community.. as we roll into 2014 chea chea!
But out of all the events and things that happened during NALS week..
the most memorable part is.. the fog po haha
For real! since the day we landed till the day we left.. it hovered over us and encapsulated us like a cloud (legit haha)
Reflecting on the fog.. few things came to mind..
1. Walking dead #ded
2. Zombies!!
3. ..”I guess He didn’t want us to fall in love with BC through nature” haha 😛
but one of the things I got out of the Zombie apocalypse experience was that..
our human powers are not that great po haha
we’ll definitely die if it were to happen po..
There was this one moment during the trip..
after a lovely sushi dinner with beautiful bros and siss, we drove back to our host’s house in zero visibility condition (because of the fog)
and we got lost..
we were on a highway/road and the GPS kept telling us to turn left but there was no road to turn left into..
and next thing we knew.. we were on the highway to Vancouver (which is an hour away) and there was no exit in sight.
All of our GPS just kept saying to turn into streets that did not exist.
but thank God we found a way out of that highway
but unfortunately.. we would end up in the same ramp/bridge..haaaaaa
I felt like some one was playing and making us go in circles because all of our GPS kept saying the same thing (“turn left”) and it felt like we were not getting anywhere close to our destination..
We were all getting scared (who would not be po right? hehe)..
A. There was only 3 of us
B. we were not from that area
C. We could not see anything
We went into prayer mode and decided to go “home” (the house of the driver)
I think even if we kept trying and even if we called for help.. no one could have really helped us at that moment..
because we were scared, worried and flustered.. our human capacity reached a limit and we just wanted to feel safe..
“Home”
I don’t know if I will make sense here but here it goes..
Home- it was somewhere familiar (at least to one of us in the car, it’s her house)
and I think that’s what the Lord is.. Home.
though we don’t fully understand Him..but we are familiar with Him.
There is a sense of relief and comfort in finding Him..
Like “home”, it’s a safe haven that waits for us..
I remember as we approached the area that looked familiar to the sister.. the worry and sense of unsafeness was relieved..
When we are flustered, scared and lost.. we find the familiarity and safe haven to ease the emotion.. and most of the time it is only in the Lord we can find that.
There are times in my day where I find myself flustered, annoyed and just filled with negativity.. but in those times I find myself refocusing through prayer or going to mass or going to the chapel or sleep..
the Lord becomes our focal point to re-route us and bring a sense of calm and relief in our human-ness.
Forgive me for my poor English po..
I don’t know if that made sense po but at the end of the day..
even though the fog was a pain in the bum and hindered at lot of things..
praise the Lord for it 🙂
it’s all from Him anyways right?
F-O-G —From Our God
hahahahah ayyyy lame joke po hehe
“blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John20:29)
Lord, continue to strengthen us in faith and guide our hearts to find “home” in the midst of zero visibility. Amen.