This is my first step forward.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
Psalms 34:19 KJV

We do good things, away from the wrongs, yet a lot of challenges come our way. Problems arise as we journey in this life. And they are inevitable. We don't understand most of the time on why these things happen. Some people get stuck in their problems and ended up being miserable. They might say "Ginawa ko naman lahat ng makakabuti sa kanila. Bakit sinisisi pa nila ako?" or can be "Lahat na binigay ko, eto pa mangyayari sa'kin? Ano bang nagawa kong mali?"

Before we say those things, believe that God recognizes all the good and excellent deeds you made. Look at how we are loved by God and let us understand things happen for a reason. Don't listen to the people who mocks us on what we are doing. Please God not the people.

Soon we will be out of that situation without even noticing because God has already saved us and won the battle for us.

But wait there's more! After overcoming these problems, we have become better, we learned something and we improved.

God teaches how to be righteous. God prevents us to get harmed. God molds character.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21 KJV

Did you ever say to yourself, "I don't want to do it! If I do it it will just waste my time!"?

Just today, I was to go somewhere He wanted me to go to. But I keep telling myself, "I don't want to go there! I want to go home early so I could have more 'me' time."

But then I just prayed and asked Him for what good is it to go. I decided to still go though I am feeling unsure.

And there I was, having that joy for a simple goodness of giving my time for the work of the Lord.

So if you feel like you are getting a lot of lies, temptations, wrong ideas inside your head, telling you things, fight them! Fight them by obeying God! What good is it to feed the evil inside your head, making it happy? It's never comparable to do the work of the Lord because serving Him is really rewarding!

And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
2 Samuel 23:4 KJV

This is part of David's prayer in which He recognize our Lord to be his source of hope and solution during his days of trouble.

Desperate... Hopeless... Nowhere to run... Nothing to do... Everything doesn't seem right... Everything seems wrong...

Unending expenses, debts, wrong relationships, broken families, failed examinations, brokenness, emptiness and a whole lot of this world's issues are keeping us down everyday!

But there is hope in Him! He will bring mornings to our evenings, light to our darkness, rainbows to our rains, and solutions to our problems. For He is our God and He will not let us stay in whatever difficult situation we are facing.

Believe in Him! Believe in His power! He will lift us up because He loves us and He delights in us!

2 Samuel 17-18

In these 2 chapters, all the attempts to the life of David was not succesful. And God took away Ahitophel and Absalom - his own son, to save the king and continue his purpose.

We are so fond of the people who come into our lives. They bring happiness to us and make us feel good about ourselves. We don't even notice that their influences can change us.

Yes some people bring goodness and adds value to our character but some leads us to someone we should not be. And in the end they break us, wound us, hurt us or even destroy us.

The good news is, our God doesn't want us to be broken anymore! He will remove anyone in our paths that will hinder us to be happy fully, to have that joy that we truly deserve. He will not let us be swayed by these people and help us get back on our feet, to get back to our purpose!

We may not understand at first because it could be painful that the ones He'll remove has already been part of us, but sooner or later we will realize that it is for our own good.

So be open to whatever comes and let God!

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5 KJV

Decisions are really hard to make especially if the outcome will affect our future or our loved ones.

Sometimes when we decide from our own basis, knowledge and understanding, we end up failing. We often get hurt. That's why we don't want to experience unwanted results again and tend to pressure or exhaust ourselves into thinking if the decision we make will result to a good outcome.

Let us surrender this things to Him and recognize that He is a big help to our situation. Because his understanding is more than ours and his plans for us is not to harm us, He will guide us to the good outcome that we need and deserve.

Don't rush! Trust even in His own right timing!

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
Exodus 33:14 KJV

Sometimes the hustle and bustle of our lives becomes more and more challenging and tiring that we want to give up.

We forgot we already have someone who can lift up our burdens just by His majestic presence. The one who gives joy, peace, strength, comfort and rest -our God!

Seek His presence! Feel His embrace! By then you will find all the rest and comfort you need to replenish and strengthen you as you move forward with your life.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...
Genesis 1:26 KJV


"Ang hirap maging mabait... Haha!" I remembered a friend saying this as she strives to do her best at work, moving away from her normal routine.

But being "mabait" is how we ought to be. It is our design. We are created in God's likeness.

The ways of the world have been changing who we truly are. We feel that it is our normal function - to get angry when someone provokes us, to take revenge when someone hurts us, to cheat, to get even, to take advantage, etc.

But we are not created to do those things. We are made to be kind, wise, excellent, forgiving, faithful, fair, just, good, gentle, loving and righteous like our creator.

So it's not so hard to be kind, because it is who we really are. We may find it difficult to do at first because we got so used to do those as the world had influenced us but always go back to your original design, the original you.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 10:10 KJV

Depression awareness month is over but it's still not over for most of those who are suffering from it. Depression like other diseases can also cause death. They say that it doesn't have a cure or is hard to cure because it keeps in coming back.

There are many reasons why people experience depression. It can be caused by trauma or bad experiences, self pity, feeling unworthy, identity crisis, family problems and a whole lot more. But the root of these reasons is the plan of our enemy. As much as God knows our weaknesses, so as the enemy. The enemy uses these weaknesses to penetrate our lives, little by little, step by step, entering our soul, aiming to destroy us, our spirit. The enemy's goal is for us to die with his deceiving tactics for us not to recognizing what our Lord offers.

Depression is difficult but we can overcome it. It can be cured. Let us be open to others and seek help. Don't let yourself rot just keeping it inside. Because when you are alone the enemy will attack you hard, stealing your true self, killing your soul and spirit, and destroying your life that you may want to end it.  Our Lord had given us this life and from Him we can take as much strength, courage, love and all that we need to cure this disease. Pray. Talk to Him. The Lord is patiently waiting for you to take back that life that the enemy is taking away from you. After all, He is our healer!