FOLLOW GOD'S DESIGN FOR YOU

It's has been awhile that I have not updated this blog. I have full of days recently, yes, not just busy but full of days. Yes, I have fullest of blessings. What I have declared, believed and claimed from God have already started. I have stepped up to what God has designed me for.

 I have full of days since I was started not just one, but four businesses recently. Indeed, the promise I claimed from God for 2011 was double blessings, and God has been doubling my blessings all the way. Instead of just one, He blessed me to start four - one was apparel business, another was my own creative designs studio, one is designs for churches, and the other was book publication. Isn't God great?

I am also starting my own advocacy and community project which will help impoverished youth to discover and harness their potentials in arts and creative designs. Indeed, it is not just "the best is yet to come" but "the best is already right now."

Contemplating of all I have gone through in life and the present blessings He has paved for me, I realized the following things -


About Potential
This is what I realized -

God will not give you a gift, a talent or a potential which He will not intend to use you to bless you and to bless others. God has given you this potential with a purpose. You need to believe God, harness your potential and unleash it in due time as paved by God.

Don't allow anyone to determine your potential. Don't allow anything to restrict your potential. Many people will try to design life for you but they are not the designer of your life. It is only God. You don't have to follow God's design for someone because you are uniquely different. Don't even let religion design your life because for sure it is just based on the preference of the leaders or the uniformity they want in life, but it is not God's design for you. Be the person God has designed you to be.

 Discover your purpose, calling, gifts, talents and experiences. Those will not intertwine without a purpose. For sure you have them because it is God's design for you. Be thankful for the potential God has given you. You were designed by God as a winner, as the head not the tail, as a victor and as a very blessed person. Follow that design.

About Preparation
This is what I realized -

All of your experiences are but preparations for greater things. Yes, even your past failures were preparations in molding you the person God wants you to be. There is no accident in God's sight. Don't call it "failure", it is just a molding point for our lives. I have realized that even irritations are but preparations for promotions. God always prepare us for blessings. I fully believed I was prepared for blessings and greater things. All the stories, the ideas, the people, the concepts, the improvement of skills and development are all but preparation for the breakthroughs God is preparing for you. You were designed by God not to be failure but to be a success. God designed you to overcome and win any challenges in life.

About Purpose
This is what I realized -

The purpose of my potential is not just for me but for others. The gift that I have are meant to be shared. I always believe that art is not art unless shared. So I can also say, "life is not life unless shared." This is why I am so excited for the advocacy which I will soon start. This is the new thing which I will do. It is an awesome experience when you fully understand your potential, your purpose and your life story blend into one. This is equivalent when dream and reality becomes one. This is enlightenment. I have realized that life is to be lived with joy, purpose, fullness and happiness. There is no need to be cynical about life for life can be enjoyed to the fullest. God has designed us to live life abundantly.

And just like the process of art- from concept, to actual painting, to revisions, to displaying to gallery and to the delight of the audience, our life is like that. But joy is not reserved at the start or at the end of the process. Joy is in the process. Joy is in the journey not in the destination. This is why I am enjoying every step of the way as I go along establishing the businesses, helping the community and being passionate in sharing the love of God to the world- in the way He designed me to be. Yes, I don't have to be completely like just the rest. Everybody has their own calling and design of God. This is how God designed me to be, then I will be how God designed me to be.

"When you follow God's design for you, God as the artist and you, as the artwork will be both happy and fulfilled."


So go. Discover God's design for you. Be inspired but you don't have to copy me. You are uniquely different. Follow God's design for you.

WHAT YOU ARE DOING TODAY IS NOT CALLED "A ROUTINE," BUT " A JOURNEY

Office work?

Homework?

School days?

House chores?

A job?

A project?

Well, believe it or not, whatever you are doing right now has a significance. It is not just a mere routine but rather a part of your journey where you can choose to be happy, exciting and fulfilling.

We must not reserve our happiness just for the milestones of our lives. Life is not all getting some awards. Life is not all graduation, celebration, party and vacation. The thing you are calling as "routine" could be the place where happiness is just lurking around. All you got to do is appreciate and be happy. We hate routine, and we are all on the look-out for something extra-ordinary to happen. But if we reserve our happiness just for the extra-ordinary moments, we will be missing the most important part of our lives. God did not give you a milestone, but what is called "A day" and He said, "This is the day which the Lord has made."  When you are happy for the ordinary days, extra-ordinary days will just be the bonus.

This "ordinary" or this "routine" is called the "journey of your life." You must look at it in an eye of appreciation. The thing you are calling "routine" is actually the thing building you to reach your dreams. However,  you are missing its happiness because you are postponing your happiness to your destination, and hence you are not enjoying the journey.

We must not reserve our happiness to the time when our dreams come true. The practical reason for this is - dreams never stop as long as we live. When we achieve one dream, another dream will come. So if we confine our happiness just in the achieving of our dreams, we will be missing the happy journey we are in.

When we look life just as a goal, this is the reason why you look on what you are doing right now as just a mere routine - boring, insignificant and stressful.

Office workers have postpone their happiness only to the time when there is a vacation, or maybe every 15th day- the payday, or maybe there is a hang-out with friends. What you are doing is you are postponing your happiness to "someday" and not "today." You are reserving your happiness to the destination and not in your journey. Sadly, this is also the reason why some will go for their dreams at all cost though it may cause them their health, or their relationship. They are blinded that their happiness is only be received when their dreams are achieved, only to find out that it cannot make them fully happy at all.

The students are postponing their happiness only if there is no classes, or maybe when they graduate, or in time of vacation. They don't realize that everyday of their class is part of their journey. They thought if they just graduate, then everything will be happy, but you will be surprised that arriving there will be another phase of the journey. And ironically, they will look back someday wishing they could have been happier in the past.

For example, this is funny but true, family members prepare for one big family occasion in expense of true happiness with each other. How many family members became irritable to each other in the preparation for the party? Why they became irritable? It is because they have postponed their happiness only when the party is all set. They cannot see that even in preparations for the party is a time of bonding and happiness. Why? It is because they treat the preparations and the work as just routines, and not a journey toward their destination.

The moment you look at life as just a mere routine, you will miss lots of important things actually happening in your life. You cannot just post in Facebook only the milestones of your life. You cannot base alone your significance in it. Life is not all about your "milestones" and successes. You can still post the "common" days with a positive and happy outlook. It is because it is the small things that counts- your time with the one you love, your time with your family, the good thing you learned today, the food you ate, the blessing of being alive, the privilege of work. Again, it is because it is the journey that counts.

What you are doing right now is significant. It is not called "routine" but "a journey." It is a part of your life, a part of the fulfillment of your purpose here on earth, a part of God's wonderful plan for you. When you start looking at your work as a journey, you will start appreciating life one step at a time. You will appreciate the people you are with, your friends, your family, and yourself.

I have written this post with love. I can never call writing in my blog as just part of my "routine." Never. This is my passion. I enjoy doing this. This is but the result of a happy, positive, full of love, wonderful journey in life.

Your day is not called "a routine" but a blessed Day.

It is called "a journey of life."

Live it to the fullest.

"This is the day which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

PLEASE BEAR FOR AWHILE; YOU ARE BEING LOADED WITH BLESSINGS

PLEASE BEAR FOR AWHILE;

YOU ARE BEING LOADED WITH BLESSINGS

You open a site, a file, a video or an image.
This symbol appears, giving you a message that you have to wait.
You became impatient in waiting. You demand that the loading should be faster and instant.

You prayed. You expected something from God.
Seemingly, this symbol appears in your career telling you to wait.
This symbol appears in your work telling you to wait.
This symbol appears in your relationship telling you to wait.
You became impatient in waiting. You demand that the blessings ought to be given faster and as much as possible, instant.

God is saying -

"Please bear for awhile; you are being loaded with blessings."

Don't focus on the waiting; focus on the upcoming blessings.
Yes, you are being loaded with blessings everyday.

The Psalmist said in praise,

"Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with blessings."

But many times, we want the answers to our prayers to be given right now, right away and right at this moment, but God said -

"Please bear for awhile; you are being loaded with blessings."

Yes, bear for awhile.
Bear some tests.
Bear some criticisms.
Bear some hard works.
Bear some time.
But don't hit the "escape" button in life or else you will cancel the blessings.
Bear in mind that it will be sooner than you think, the blessings will fully load to you.

One day, I am in the living room and I tried to connect to the Wifi in our house through my laptop. But with many attempts, it failed to connect to the Wifi. I was already impatient and in the brink of getting frustrated and angry, until I discovered that the Wifi has no problem. The problem is in the setting of my laptop. The wifi connection in my laptop is in disabled mode. Silly me! No wonder the Wifi cannot connect to me.

Isn't this true also in our lives? God has always been ready to bless us everyday. He promised that His favor is even new every morning. But the question is - are we connecting to Him? Do we allow that He connects with us or we just go on independently with our own lives?

I became wise since then. Every time I try to connect to the wifi through my laptop, I make sure that my laptop is open for connection. And when I see the symbol or icon just like above which tells me to wait, I always reflect that this is same with life. Blessings are guaranteed by God. Everyday I am loaded with blessings. but I got to wait. I got to be patient. I got to trust God.

I must bear for awhile; anyway, I am being loaded with blessings.

And by the way, when you wait like this, it doesn't mean the blessings hung, it just means that something bigger and greater is about to appear to surprise you.

So, if you have to wait, please bear for awhile; you are being loaded with blessings.

- A r t  R o y  R e m y

When God Carves His Truth In Your Heart

Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Write them upon the tables of your heart. - Proverbs 3:3

The tables mentioned here are made of stones. They are tablet stone. One can imagine that heavy tablet of stone being carried by Moses in the film “Moses” or those stones on the cartoon “Flintstones.” In order to write on a stone, you need to carve on it. 

So looking at the truth, it means mercy and truth must be carved on our hearts.

Principles to consider-

In carving, something is chipped away from us.

When mercy is carved in our heart, pride is being chipped away from us. When truth is carved in our heart, dishonesty is being chipped away from us. Yes, those chipped stones carved from us represents things that are not good in our hearts.

Oftentimes, the process of something being chipped away from us is –

….painful.

But when something was chipped away, something was carved on your heart that will be forever embedded in your soul.

"Write them upon the tables of your heart."

It means you must be very sure that mercy and truth are the ones carved in your heart. You know why?

It is because there are times someone will try to erase them away.

It is because there are events and circumstances that will really test you and will try to erase it all away. It will test your decision. It will test your patience. Will you lose it? No one and nothing should erase God’s work in your heart.

It has been said “Watch out for critics, they are people with erasers on their hands.” But for me, I really don’t worry. Why? Because their eraser cannot erase the radical truths carved in my heart. The truths in my heart were carved in a stone.

If that mercy and truth can be erased in your heart, it only shows that was written in your heart was just written on a sand or on a paper. It only shows mercy and truth were not carved in your heart.

You will know it is carved when you still cannot forsake to be merciful and kind,  or when you can still stand true no matter how painful the circumstances are.

When you know you can stay on your ground no matter how hard the test of life was –

then and only then, it shows mercy and truth were really carved on your heart.


Are you merciful? Can you forgive the offenses of other people?
Are you living the truth? 
If you can, then it means the truths of God were already carved in your heart. If not, then this means that what you heard were just written on your notebook, or stored in your computer, but not carved in your heart.

As you read this, I can feel something was chipped away in your heart.

Welcome it, God is carving in your heart. This is His masterpiece, His work in your life.

“Don't be so busy thinking

about your past performances

that you become incapable

of facing your

future opportunities.”

- S t e v e n  F u r t i c k

“The smallest things 

done consistently  

have the potential

to change

everything dramatically.”

- S t e v e  M u l l e r

How To Open Up Your Breakthroughs

[As featured in IBN Magazine August Issue 2010]

Do you know what will open up the breakthrough of your life?

Do you know what will unleash your potentials?

Do you know what will make the whole events conspire to fulfill the dreams of your life?

It’s this –

A THANKFUL HEART.

Doubt will close your breakthroughs because when you doubt, you will have no motivation to move. Fear will close your breakthrough because when you fear, you are driving away the good things you supposed to attract.

Complaining will close your breakthrough because when you complain, you become blind to all opportunities right before you.

Do you know the attitude that triggered why Adam and Eve fell into sin?

It is their unthankful heart.

Just imagine, they have everything and yet of all the things that bothered them is the thing they don’t have. Same until now, right? We fell into depression because we are so bothered of what we don’t have when we supposed to be thankful of what we already have. No wonder a simple and single fruit made Eve to sin when she have all the fruits in her possession! Due to their downfall, the Garden of Eden was closed against them.

Same principle until now, practically speaking, it is your unthankful heart that will close resources, opportunities, abundance and breakthroughs against you.

But a thankful heart will open all the gateways of resources, opportunities, abundance and breakthrough! Blessings come only to those who are already ready to be thankful. 

Being thankful means you are working out of inspiration and not out of desperation.

You can work out of inspiration or out of desperation. For me, I want to work out of inspiration. It is hard when you work out of desperation. Let me ask you, are you really enjoying what you are doing right now? If not, then you are working out of desperation. It is a sign of an unthankful heart and that is the reason why no matter how you work, you have no progress and you have no fulfillment. Why not work out of inspiration? Inspiration invites all joys, blessings and abundance for you. It will also makes you happy in your work.

I have observed many who stayed mediocre are those people who work out of desperation and those who really thrive and became successful are those who work out of inspiration.

So be thankful. When you become thankful, fear disappears and abundance appears.

Being thankful means also you fully believe in your breakthroughs.

You attract what you believe. When you are thankful, you are full of positivism. It is not by sight but by faith. For by faith, you can already see what will happen. You fully believe and that is why you can thank God now in advance, and because you believe, breakthroughs magnets into you.

Be thankful.

Being thankful means also that you will accept any challenges –

It is knowing that you are just going through it. Challenges for you are not hindrances but stepping stones. You accept oppositions, hindrances and challenges as part of the ingredients of your breakthroughs. This is what I do in my prayer life, the first time I prayed for a specific thing, I come to ask. But the second time I mentioned it to God, I come already in thanksgiving.

Simple three words to say full-heartedly everyday that will open up your breakthroughs –

“Thank you Lord.”

I just said it, felt it and meant it and right now I believe another breakthrough has opened up for me.

How about you? Will you keep on closing your breakthroughs in life because of your doubts and fears? Or will you open the reservoir of all blessings that has long been waiting for you?