1.30.2010
Allow me to start this entry by sharing a conversation I overheard from two college guys as I was in a jeepney ride going to a certain seminar that I had to attend. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but their voices were loud enough to have caught my attention.
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Here’s how it went…
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BOY 1: Akala ko ba magsi-shift ka na? (I thought you’re shifting to a new course?)
BOY 2: Hindi na eh. Mahirap daw. May kaklase kasi ako na ang sabi first year pa lang daw, apat na yung math. Ang hirap nun! (I changed my mind. A classmate of mine told me that there are 4 math subjects in first year. That’s tough!)
BOY 1: Aaaaahhhh… Ganun ba? (Is that so?)
BOY 2: Oo. Ikaw? Itutuloy mo na ba yan? (Yup. How about you? Are you to pursue your course?)
BOY 1: (Nodded his head confidently and smiled.)
BOY 2: Buti ka pa… Ako? Hindi ko alam eh! Sana… (Good for you… As for me… I still don’t know… Hoping, though…)
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Those were the dialogues that were stuck up in my head as BOY 1 eventually dropped off somewhere, leaving BOY 2 (and me) in the jeep. I looked at BOY 2 and noticed that his gaze was focused afar. Perhaps the conversation he shared with his friend played in his mind and wondered if he should still pursue his current college course or not.
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I had my fair share of thoughts and somehow had a flashback of my pre-college years. I am blessed that my parents supported me with what I wanted to pursue years back. They often encouraged me to take whatever course I want and often told that it’s my life that I’m going to make, it’s my future that I’m going to establish. The wisdom that God gave them helped me decide about the course that I eventually took. And as I reflect on it now, I believe that it was the Lord who led me to study in the institution that I graduated from.
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Along my way, I have made many wrong decisions. I have relied on what my emotions often told. And just after the consequences of my choices popped one after another, that’s the only time I learned. I admit that I was one hard-headed young lady. Sadly, I mostly learned the harder way.
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Consequences come and when it does, one must live with it no matter how unbearable they may appear because it is the fruit of his/her actions. Consequences will not go. They will not leave. They are there to stay until the lessons that come together with them are learned.
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When we have done something without giving it much thought, then realized later that what we preferred was not the best, regrets arise. Sometimes, the cost of our decisions majorly affects not only ourselves but also the people around us who really cared about us most. Though we do not want others to be involved and be hurt, it happens because of the unwise choices that we make. However, though we can never turn back the hands of time, these things can be avoided in our next endeavors.
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Dr. Jonathan David, a renowned preacher once said, “Desiring experience just to learn in the end that the thing is bad is stupidity. Learning from your mistakes makes you smart. But learning from the mistakes of others makes you smarter.” (Paraphrased)
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Why do lots of people, young and old alike, do not know where they are headed? Why do people try different things all at the same time, disregarding whatever consequences these may bring? Why do they encounter a moment in their lives wherein they are unsure of the next step to take? Relationships get broken. Families fall apart. Countless lives go to waste…
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Why?
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It’s because they only live for themselves. They think that their lives are for them to squander away, in however they desire to, in whatever way their emotions prompted them to do. They do not realize that their breaths are but borrowed. Their breaths are only being lent by the Author of their life stories whom they really know not of!
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God is the Author and the Maker of everything. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Before everything came to be, He was, He is and is to come! He sees our lives in one frame. He knows about when we took our first breath and when we will breathe our last. His moments can never be confined under the timeframe of this universe because He is a “momentless” God!
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The Lord desires to give His children the best of everything. But there are times when GOOD things and opportunities get our attention. We indulge ourselves in these; we give so much time and energy for the GOOD things that when it is time for God’s BEST to come, we frequently miss out!
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Our emotions, feelings, thoughts and plans are not sturdy things in which we can rely on. In fact, the Word of God teaches that we must, at all cost, and above all else “guard our hearts for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) Our hearts are biblically referred to as the center of our intellect, the center of our emotions, and the center of our human will. Left unguarded, we may be swept away easily by the harsh waves that crash down on us.
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Our emotions and everything in us will fade away. But God? He never will. That’s why “it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” (Psalm 118:8) It is better, or should I say, best to trust and rely on God than on anything else in the world.
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Is there a chance that we could possibly know God’s will for our lives in the clearest way?
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Of course!
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God is living. He is not dead. He is not mute. He speaks. He is a God who loves to communicate with His people. The problem is that it is His people who do not love to communicate with Him.
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How heart-wrenching could that be for a Father who long so much for His child to speak to Him, not only when the child wants his whims to be attended? God is a Father who is fascinated when His child shares a loving conversation with Him.
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How long do we spend talking with God? One minute? Five minutes? Fifteen minutes? Would it be sufficient for Someone who stays up all night to cradle us in His arms as we sleep, and stays awake in the day just to make sure that we won’t get hurt by any mishap? Do we reckon ourselves as generous for speaking “breath prayers” compared to the One who chose to give His life unselfishly so that we can be with Him eternally?
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We will always fall short. Our efforts will never be enough. But even if that is so, God is still interested in pursuing a love relationship with us.
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Clearly knowing the will of God for our lives rely on the stability of our relationship with Him, and how much we intently listen to His voice and forget our own will in exchange of His, and go on with life in proper obedience.
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God said in His Word that He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. They recognize His voice and are very familiar with it. They obey Him because they trust that their Shepherd will lay His life to save them from peril. (John 10:14)
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It is not a very flattering thing to be compared to a sheep for the reason that they are not the smartest creatures in the animal kingdom. But a trait that I totally admire about them is how they are very much willing to hand over their lives to their Shepherd because the only thing that they know is that they know nothing.
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Children of God, and I mean the TRUE children of God, heed to their Master’s command. Even if the instructions look downright illogical to do, they still carry it out because they want to give Him the glory by accomplishing His will.
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If it is His will, then it is His will! No one can change it. When God has spoken, His Words will not return to Him empty. Remember that if we are not for God, we are going AGAINST Him.
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Rebellion is not the wisest solution. It is never a solution; not a noble thing to do. It is a direct fighting of God’s will. It is sin against the Lord. Just as a half-truth is a lie, then half obedience is disobedience.
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When God tells us to go, WE MUST GO! When He tells us to stop, WE SHOULD STOP! “Let your yes be a yes, and your no a no.” (James 5:12) We may hold the steering wheels of our lives but let us allow God to hold the remote control.
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Sometimes, God will instruct us to do things which others would think as stupid. Just follow the instructions very well and we will not fail. Let it be stupid in the eyes of other people, but in the eyes of God it is righteous.
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“Stupid” things occurred in the Bible: People marching around Jericho, making a noise barrage; Moses lifting His rod in front of a great sea with a bunch of skeptics at his back, highly raising their eyebrows; David picking up stones by the riverbanks to be used in fighting a nine foot giant. Did they turn and run away? No! They carefully followed the Lord’s instructions and what happened next? Victory was theirs!
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In the same manner, victory could be ours when we critically do what God has told us to do. Be faithful to Him and He will be faithful in return. We are often afraid of what other people might say against us, but are we not concerned at what God might speak to us?
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Let’s do things not out of obligation but out of love—genuine love for God and His will for our lives.
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Time to wake up from your slumber, people! It’s high time that we step out of the boat and step on the waters. Be assured that the Lord will be there, loving us enough to see us through.
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Now, when someone asks you if you know what God’s will for you is and adds, “Itutuloy mo na ba ‘yan? Gagawin mo ba talaga?(Are you going to pursue it?)” I hope your answer will be a very confident nod, a yes and a smile, and not, “Ako? Hindi ko alam eh! Sana…(Me? I don’t know… Hoping, though…)”
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Press on! 
ghayliethoughts 