Have you got your testimony...?

Prayer meeting was awesome today. I never felt so edified and encouraged before in my life. God is so real. Aunty Judy led the prayer today. She led us to pray through the Psalms. It was a night of giving of our thanks and praises to God for His love and faithfulness. Many came up and shared how God has come through for them, being faithful despite their unfaithfulness.

It's so easy to give thanks to God when everything is smooth-sailing and going fine. When I went for the prayer, I was not exactly in a thankful mood. Life was just not going the way I wanted it to go. However, when I heard the numerous testimonies, I was so encouraged and uplifted in my spirit. It gave me the strength and the faith to go on trusting in God that He will come through for me.

As I reflect on all these things, I am reminded of a verse in the Bible from Revelations 12:10-11. This is what it says:
"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser[the devil] of our brothers, who accuses them[the saints] before our God day and night has been hurled down. They[the saints] overcame him[the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."

How did the saints overcome the devil? It was by the word of their testimony! This is the formula to overcome the devil: the blood of the Lamb + our testimony. This formula has proven to be true in the prayer meeting just now. The doubts and fears in my life was being overcome by the testimonies that has been shared. Praise God!

Lastly, I would like to pose a question to myself and to YOU: have you got your testimony? It's a power tool for combat against the enemy!

Christmas...

Christmas is absolutely my favorite time of the year!! I love the decorations, the "Christmas atmosphere", etc. I especially love the family gatherings that we have!! I just got back from celebrating Christmas with my relatives from my dad's side. Unfortunately, not all the family members could be present but we still had fun! We also celebrated my cousin's birthday. Here are some pictures.

Angeline, slaughtering her birthday cake.
It was so hard because her mom stuffed it in the freezer.

This is the four of us: Angie, Paul Mae, Paul Lyn and me.
So blessed to have them as my cousins.

Among the cousins, Paul Lyn is the closest to me.
She's almost like a sister to me. We are able to talk and share.
She has seen the good, the bad and the ugly sides of me!
Thank God for her!

In The Process of... Changing..

Just finished reading "Piercing The Darkness" by Frank E. Peretti. Many thanks to dearest Soph for introducing Frank Peretti books to me!! I was quite reluctant to read his books at first because thrillers are just not my cup of tea. However, when I started with "This Present Darkness" and then later “Prophet”, I became hooked!! Frank Peretti is an amazing writer. I believe God has placed this talent within him for a higher purpose. For those of you who have read his books, you'll understand. This book awakened me to the reality of the spiritual realm. Growing up in a Christian family, I am very well aware that prayer is important. But I don't often stop to think about how prayer is so ESSENTIAL. It’s like breathing. You know you breathe. But you don’t often stop and realize how ESSENTIAL breathing is. Anyway, let me get to the point. “Piercing the Darkness” follows the story of Sally Roe and the battle between the evil forces and the angelic hosts for her life. The strength of the angelic hosts always lies in the prayers of the saints. The devil knows this so he tries to distract the saints from praying by sending them all kinds of demons: Despair, Gossip, Discontentment, Media, Internet, etc.

Reading these books causes me to reflect on my own life. How many demons have I allowed to distract me and have a hold on me? How many demons have I allowed in to my life that always takes the time I spend with God? The answer to these questions frightens me. I am so grateful that God has awakened me to the “demons” of my life. It’s so not easy to change! I constantly need to rely on the Holy Spirit to give me strength to change.

I guess there’s more that He wants to reveal to me. I’ll just have to take it one step at a time and trust in Him. Oh well, I consider this part and puzzle of the metamorphosis process that God is bringing me through. I actually welcome it.

Surprise surprise!

I'm not exactly the blogging or writing type. I'm much too lazy to write down what I feel or think. For me, writing doesn't come naturally and requires a HUGE effort on my part. My numerous attempts at journaling have always failed. After a few entries of journaling, the novelty of it soon wears off.

But today, out of incredible boredom, I have decided to create a blog. It'll be interesting to see how long this lasts. Oh well, at least writing is good practice. Mom will approve. I have nothing to lose anyway. So, let the blogging days begin!!