Praise be to you, O Lord my God
For you are a God who takes delight to bless my heart’s desires
You have provided my life with small and great things
You have kept me resilient in times of difficulty
Whenever I forget you, you disturb me and leave me without peace until I return to you
You have blessed me physically and I believe that I am pleasing to Your sight
I am never desolated because You are the fount of my joy
You give me a simple family to take care of me, a community to teach me how to live according to Your will and friends who love me inspite of me
Ho w can I not praise You for Your great love that's ever present even in my childhood days
And as I wait on my future, Your words are light that guide me to where You want me to be
The joy in my heart is overflowing because of Your steadfast love, dear Lord.
And for all these, I will be forever grateful.
Amen!
Come! Walk through life with eyes fixed on Jesus (Reflections on Matthew 14:22-36)
Matthew 14:22-36 - Jesus walks on the water
In Psychology, water is tantamount to life. The way you look at the water or a body of water speaks of how you see life. Say for example, how would you feel if you're alone in a boat at the middle of the sea? Do you feel fearful or tranquil? Whatever your perception is, according to Psychology, that is how you see life. Thus, we can look at Jesus walking on the water as Jesus being above life.
Hence, this entire account personally tells me that God is truly in control of my life. It is some sort of a reminder that when I get frightened, doubtful, sad, happy or blessed even, I can always look at Jesus and find Him to be better than life itself.
Come! Walk through life with Me (Matthew 14:28-32)
Peter asked the Lord to invite him to step out of the boat so he too can walk on the water. When Jesus did invite him, he walked towards Jesus then suddenly, the wind blew and so frightened was Peter that he begun to sink. "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" were Jesus' words to him and immediately, He grabbed Peter by His hand to rescue him.
For me, it was not the wind or the water that caused Peter to sink, it was actually his fear, his lack of faith to the One who called him that pulled him down. Peter lost his faith because he allowed himself to be distracted by the wind.
Most of the times, we are like Peter. We find it so difficult to sustain that faith in God after we stepped out to respond to His call. It is so easy to lose sight of the Lord when things are getting more difficult and a bit uneasy for us to bear.
The good news is that, no matter how often we fail to put our trust and hope in God, Jesus is ever ready to grab us by His hand to save us and bring us back to the boat where safety and comfort await us. What is certain to me is this--that God is able to keep us back on track whenever we lose hope until His plans and promises are finally accomplished in our lives.
I believe that Jesus invites us all to fix our eyes on Him as we walk through life. The wind will always distract us. Circumstances and people will lead us to doubt His promises to us but Jesus will never let us get drowned. He will not let difficult situations or people destroy us and separate us from Him. He will rescue us and He will do it without delay.
...and still walking on the water, my eyes fixed on Jesus
Two years ago, I decided to take up my master's degree. It has always been my dream to pursue a further study in Economics. I prayed about this decision and clearly, I heard the Lord gave me a go signal to proceed. But with His approval came a warning that this endeavor is not going to be easy and that I should be able to embrace the cross that goes with my decision no matter what.
I once believed that graduate studies are far too easy to complete than college degrees but experiencing it first hand, I realized that it is equally demanding and challenging. During my first term in school, I already failed one subject and failed another one come 2nd term. I even lost my scholarship because I failed to maintain the grade requirement (gosh...this is really embarrassing). The succeeding terms got more challenging because I had to personally finance for my tuition fees. I thought at that time I had enough reasons to quit; the failures and difficulties sort of like entitled me to give up. But whenever I would attempt to leave school, I would be reminded of God's call to pursue my dream. And I must say that He has been really faithful in terms of helping me deal with difficult subjects (and difficult professors!) and providing when there is lack.
Two months from now (assuming everything goes well in school this term), I will be taking the comprehensive exam (the last hurdle to get the master's diploma). Looking back, I saw many instances during the past two years when I was like Peter-when putting my confidence in God and surrendering my dreams to the Lord were such a struggle. Indeed, my experience in graduate school is my own journey of faith. I am happy and fulfilled knowing that I gained more than the knowledge I obtained in my classes. I gained what was essential and truly significant--a deeper conviction of that love God has for me.
Note: Photo was obtained from the World Wide Web
