In middle of 2014, I was given the opportunity to participate in an art exhibit where the theme was about “faith”. That was before I started to paint where the theme of my paintings, four in all, should be relevant to the theme “Dance of Faith” . At that time, faith as a subject reminded me about our trip to the Underground River of Palawan in 2013, where my faith was strengthened after the trip. For the longest time, I was very amazed with God’s creations, which were stone formations that looked like artworks inside the cave, so my photographs during the trip became my references.
I had a favorite which looked like an abstract painting, so I painted it first, but while my painting was in progress, my son was in pain because of acid reflux so I was praying hard while painting and later titled the painting “The Prayer” for the exhibit.
Another painting was based on the photograph where we were about to go out the cave and titled it “A New Beginning”, because I knew that after I was amazed with God’s artworks inside the cave, my life will change because of my strengthened faith. But in reality, I was still struggling after that. I didn’t know what was missing or what I did wrong. My faith in God was my main armor, with the support of many other gods I thought God designed to assist Him.
In 2016, I was continuously inspired by my paintings of the Underground River and became interested in calligraphy, but still in the middle of struggles so I added verses on the paintings. I looked for relevant verses from a Jerusalem Bible that I found inside the ancestral home of my in-laws. On the painting titled “The Prayer”, I integrated “The Lord’s Prayer”, and then on the painting where we were about to go out of the cave, I wrote a Psalm of David, Psalm 108. Since it was just plainly written on the painting, I always read the psalm on the painting, the words instilled in my heart every time, until the end of the year 2016, again amidst struggles.
In January of 2017, I had wanted to join the sales force of a friend selling house and lots. I was invited to join their post Christmas party and received “Our Daily Bread”, one of their give-aways. I learned to look for verses from the Bible as instructed in the “Our Daily Bread” book.
Before the school year 2017 started, we were looking for a place to transfer, big enough for my husband and I with our adopted special child. When I unexpectedly saw a peaceful place in Pasig City and felt it was the right place for the three of us, we closed the deal with the landlady who at that very moment invited me to the Bible Study Fellowship International's upcoming lessons on the Book of Romans, to start on August 24. “That will be on my birthday!”, I told the landlady and “We will be in Palawan!”, the place where I always wanted to celebrate my birthday because of my unforgettable experience while inside the Underground River, and which I considered a birthday gift from God, since the changed schedule of our trip there fell on my birthday. One night before we were looking for the best place to move in, I dreamed about a baby, and then another baby appeared who is younger than the first one, probably a newborn, and I told my biological children about that dream.
While studying “Romans” which I started in September, I realized my past mistakes, my countless sins and ignorance, and what was missing, which was the written Word of God that I should have started to apply in my life a long time ago. I accepted and declared Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, with a witness, on September 28, 2017. On November 3 of that year, I wrote my biological children who were living with their own families, reminding them about my dream about the two babies, that I already knew what it meant, the older baby symbolized a new place, and the newborn was me because the Bible study will make me born again.
On this third year of my studying more books of the Bible, I thank our Lord God in the name of Jesus Christ, because even in the midst of struggles, I have peace now, in my renewed mind and in my cleansed heart! To God be all the glory!
