God's Will

The lecture during the Bible study I attended last Thursday enlightened me about God’s will which focuses more on developing a person’s character. The path that a person takes, though decided through a choice made by that person, involves circumstances that develop that person, and those circumstances are God’s will.

The reasons why it was God’s will for my husband and me to adopt a special child, blind and multi-handicapped at that, are now very clear. Caring for the special child from birth, it was God’s will for us to be more patient, persevering, caring, selfless, and to be closer to God-- to constantly ask for God’s mercy, which He always heeded with unexpected graces and we couldn’t help but praise Him and recognize that all these are for His glory!

It was God’s will for us to learn the different ways to care for our special child, limiting the medications to the ones that will address her seizures, to protect her liver and kidneys from more medicines. That led me to learn some of the methods of Traditional Chinese Medicine involving the meridians of the body that may be stimulated through acupuncture or acupressure to alleviate or prevent common illnesses, for example, reducing the heat of the large intestine meridian to bring down high fever. And it was God’s will for me to learn the knowledge of TCM through a giant Chinese company, TIENS, that manufactures gadgets that will make the traditional methods easier. Please click the title of this post, "God's Will" to watch our video about the TCM gadget, after reading this post.

My husband and I are continuously challenged by the changes our now teenage special child is undergoing, and also challenged by learning the gadgets that are now more modernized, but more effective even with a shorter time of use. It is God’s will therefore that as my husband and I get older and our teenage child becoming more aware of the things she like and expressing that through tantrums, we can be helped by tools that also change to make caring more convenient.

Most of all, it was God’s will that we learn more about His character so we can be totally dependent on Him, about Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead to intercede for us, and the Holy Spirit to guide us as we transform and renew our minds to be more pleasing to God.

These Bible verses that were the basis of this post and the lecture that added to my enlightenment need to be learned by everyone:

Romans 12:1-2 New International Version (NIV): Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The Opportunity

This morning while we were eating at McDonald’s, a teenager carrying a big bag went to our table. He politely said, “Good morning, I’m a self-supporting student...”. He was not able to continue what he wanted to say because I frowned and immediately responded with “We just have an exact amount of money now”. I assumed he was going to sell us products priced double their regular prices. The lad apologized for bothering us then went away.

The lad’s story might not be true, saying he is a self-supporting student might be made-up and that might just be his racket, but anyway, I felt I did not treat him right. Less than an hour ago before arriving at Mc Donald’s, I was reading these passages in the Bible:

Colossians 4:5-6 “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

I even repeatedly read those passages, so what have I just done? I could have said, “I’m sorry but our money is just enough. Maybe next time when you see us again.” And maybe if I allowed him to finish what he was about to say, I could have thought of other things to say. At least I was not lying, because the 500-peso bill that I had before going to Mc Donald’s was missing the night before. It was a big sum to lose, I’ve thought, and I was thankful I found it on the floor of the car this morning.

I am now wondering if all that happened was just a test. Just the other day, I read another passage from Matthew 6:24, coming from Jesus Christ:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

I even told myself that would be good to share, so I shared that to a group in Facebook. Why then did the 500-peso bill became so important?

Perhaps there are a lot like me who couldn’t get over such earthly situations. The “opportunity” mentioned in that passage from the Colossians was talking about our opportunity to be transformed, but we are too wary of people who are “opportunists”. If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells in us and will guide us when opportunists are in front of us. Or will the Holy Spirit even allow opportunists to come near us?

God's Good News

After hibernating as a blogger for more than one year, I am back for another mission, this time a greater one. This is to share the “Gospel” which means “good news”.

How about “God’s Message” through the 143 stones which I easily interpreted as “I love you” and the reason why this blog was created almost 10 years ago? It is now clear to me that what I perceived as a conversation with God and His message through the stones was a sign for me to search deeper for the real meaning of that message. God’s love for mankind is the main reason of His “good news” or Gospel. It was for all nations, regardless of the race and the God a race believed in. The “good news” is the best proof of God’s love, as shown through this verse in the “New Testament” of the Bible:

“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

I know that some readers who have read my blog post about “God’s Message” knew what it meant, more than me who wrote about it. Perhaps that shows that the most unlikely person can share the Gospel or part of it, through the most unexpected way, at the most unexpected time and place. Because God loves us, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the atonement of our sins. God has established peace with us, and imputed in us the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Not all nations recognize Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world. That is why sharing the Gospel to the very ends of the earth is very important. God’s graciousness makes the Gospel simple enough for anyone to believe in and confess it to others. Not everyone knew that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was the culmination of the law because Christ was triumphant in His battle for man’s sins. The law of any religion will make the followers conscious of sins, but the basis of man’s salvation is not by following the law. Man’s salvation is obtained by each person confessing that “Jesus is Lord”, and believing in one’s heart that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, to live in the believers’ hearts and completely save them.

The “Gospel” is so simple, I was able to make a one-page diagram about it. Those who will understand and believe the Gospel should read the Bible because Jesus Christ speaks to us to guide us and follow His path, through the New Testament.

I am encouraging everyone to share the Gospel, even to the children if possible. Sharing the Gospel will plant the seeds of salvation to the people, then God will do the rest.