My life's purpose

I was in my deep slumber last night when out of nowhere I got awake at 4 am with the fearful thought that I might lose Reuel in my life.  I cuddled him tightly and I told him in between my tears how much I love him.  And that I am very thankful that he is in my life.  I put on him a blanket to keep him warm and I checked if he was ok (because it seems that he will be having an asthma attack after we got home from last Sunday’s evening service).  I checked the kids too in their room and I was relieved that they’re sleeping soundly.   Then I returned into bed and with tears, I say a little prayer to the Lord to spare Reuel and my kids from my iniquities and shortcomings as a Christian.
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As I am praying, the preaching from last Sunday night’s service flashed back.  It maybe because I was greatly moved by what the missionary preacher from Vietnam had said that many Christians do not believe that hell does exists.  According to him, if we really believe in hell’s existence, we might have the compassion to share the gospel with our loved ones instead of lingering on our comfort zone.  As he was saying this, I remember my family and friends that I haven’t shared the gospel with.  I also recalled the video from YouTube.com about the reenacted events of a tormented person in hell blaming his friend, who is a Christian, because the latter did not share the gospel.  Here is the video of that:

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Yes, my dear friend, Hell does EXIST!  Hell is a place wherein, every soul is experiencing intense pain especially mental pain because the memory which they rejected the gospel retains.  The place called “HELL” was described by Jesus Christ in the book of Mark, which is:
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Mark 9:47-48 KJV:
"And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
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It was also described by Jesus Christ through the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Let us read the whole story which is in the book of Luke.
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Luke 16:19-31 KJV:
“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
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This is the reason Jesus Christ died for us, to redeem us from the eternal damnation in hell.  When the first people, Adam and Eve, commits the first sin which is disobedience, every man comes short of the glory of God.  This is written in the Bible.
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Romans 3:23 KJV:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
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So God the father sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and the only way to His kingdom in heaven.  And whoever faithfully believes in Him shall not perish.
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John 14:6 KJV:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
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John 3:16 KJV:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
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Contrary to what the world teaches us that good works can save us.  The Bible has something written about this. 
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Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
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I hope that through this writing, I have imparted the good news which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.---

Good morning everyone! J

Instant noodles

As I’m organizing the labels of my blogs here, I noticed that I haven’t written a single entry about foods from different regions/country that we have tried and becomes our favorite. So, I’m posting this entry, in which at first, I really don’t have the intention to do so.

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Instant noodles are usual stuffs in our grocery list. It is very convenient to have that in the pantry most especially during the times when either I’m too lazy to cook a soup which complements fried dishes we have, or we do not have something to pair up with rice. Or even when the weather is cold and we want something that would keep us warm without the hassle of cooking a real soup (which of course, tastes better and healthier to consider). Instant noodles are very cheap commodities too that everybody else could afford. So, we love instant noodles!

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The first time we experienced the Taiwan instant noodles is when Reuel had a business trip to Taipei. He immediately fell in love with it because of the generous amount of meat chunks that came with it. So, he brought some when he got home. And since it comes with the chunks of real meat (plus a mixed flavor in it), it is advisable to store it in the refrigerator.

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Those noodles shown above were not brought in by Reuel as he hasn’t been to Taiwan for more than a year now. Those lovely and yummy noodles are from Ken, Reuel’s Taiwan-based boss. Yes, he was here in the Philippines. He brought the noodles as “pasalubong” to his team as he always used to do. Thank you Ken!

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Please take note that the smaller pack does not have meat chunks. It’s just an ordinary noodle we usually find here but they’re tastier compared to our local ones.

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So, if you happened to be in Taiwan and you love instant noodles, this is a must-try for your food trip to put noodles into a higher level.

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Bon appetit!

Who says life is easy?!

Every day is full of challenges. And every people have their own difficulties to deal with. In short, no one is exempted from that life’s quest. Some may have financial issue and some may have relationship issue. The financial issue is very common and it’s the easiest problem one can have. The relationship issues are those issues by which your mutual relations or your emotional association with other people is at stake or could be lacking. Relationship issue for me is the most difficult problem because you cannot easily resolve it and it involves emotional distress.

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I remember, Reuel and I had a small talk and he asked me if I have to choose what could be our next problem if money would not be a problem for us after all. He enumerated the possible problems that we are about to face in the future which includes our relationship as husband and wife, our relationship towards our children which is a common problem among parents most especially when our children reach the teenage years or another wave of financial problems. Then I answered, that I would rather choose to have money problem.

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So, who says life is easy? Our challenges may not be the same with other people but there is one common among all of us and that is each and every one of us will experience hardships in life no matter what. King Solomon, who was the wisest man who ever lived on earth, writes in the book of Ecclesiastes that:

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Ecclesiastes 1:8 KJV:
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“All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”

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Ecclesiastes 1:14 KJV:
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“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

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Therefore, all things we do here is useless if we do not do the sole duty of our existence in this earth which is:

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Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 KJV:
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“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

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Thus, I and Reuel never have a single fight over money matters since we got married because we know that it doesn’t bring any good to our relationship. It is just vanity (useless) to fight over material things. We look at money as a consumable thing that might bring some sort of satisfaction to ourselves but it is a worthless cause of contention. And yes, we’re one of the millions of people who have financial difficulties and we sometimes feel sad because we cannot buy what we want, do what we want, nor go wherever we want to. But I think it’s a matter of setting your mind to look into another angle of your life in which you are blessed. In that, you become contented for whatever you have. In our part, we truly love each other and we’re building a wonderful family. To think of that, makes us grateful unto the Lord.

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One time, my parents commented that we look so happy and contented in the midst of our financial crisis. According to them, it seems that we’ve been somewhat brain-washed by our Pastor (they’re opposing to our tithes giving and offering) that money is not important. If we would only read the Word of God, it says giving is the way to God’s blessings. And only in giving that God asks us to prove Him. It is in the book of Malachi 3:10, which says:

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“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

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And in the book of Luke 6:38, which says:

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“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

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I still remember, what my mom have said, that money is what makes one happy. You can do all the things you want when you have money. I just smile at them and pray that they would understand and experience the happiness and contentment that we have and, that they would have the same eternal security that we have through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us look what was written in the book of Matthew 6: 19-21:

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“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

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When you have learned not to worry over the things that you don’t have, you will start enjoying your life. We do not have to worry for what we need because God knows all our needs. It is written in the book of Matthew 6:25-26, that says:

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“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”

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It is true that worrying about the future does not help us. We only need to trust God for everything. And trusting God is difficult to exercise but once we’re into it, we’ll have a better disposition in life because we know that everything happens to us has a purpose and it is according to God’s plan.

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I would like to include here one of my favorite song that I usually play:

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What I've been through

I am blessed with a good and loving husband. And he’s a good provider too… We started our marriage life with a good start. We have bought almost everything that we need to start a family. Then there comes the time that we have our first born. Oh yes, we still have that good start. We are able to give all the needs of our first baby. Then our second baby came. At first, it’s so hard for us because it brought us financial challenges and on my part emotional difficulties. But we never fight over financial issues. I and Reuel value our relationship more than anything. We always thought that all people have money problem even for rich people. So, it’s common to all. However, GOD is so good because that phase in our married life had easily come to pass because Reuel got an increase in his salary twice on that year, which is very rare to happen.
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So, financial challenges were settled but not the emotional part within me. I cannot say that I’m not happy with my life. I have a very supportive husband and two wonderful sons then. And almost every weekend, Reuel stroll us to the mall and we dine to our restaurant of choice. I’m always happy during the weekend but whenever Monday comes, there’s something in me that I cannot put into words or I don’t even know what exactly it is. But I’m always crying most of the day most especially in the morning when Reuel has gone to office to work and the children are still sleeping. I feel like I’m exhausted with my life and I’m praying to God to just take my life to end the heaviness that I always feel whenever I’m left alone. I love my two sons and I always spend time playing with them. I feel that emotional sickness when I’m alone or in the midst of doing my daily house chores routine.  But Reuel is always there for me love me more, to understand me and to give his moral support to what I've been going through.  He prays for me everyday that God would help me.

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Then, we commit ourselves to God’s work. I started to enjoy fellowshipping with our church mates especially to mommies like me. And I realized then that I’m so blessed with my life because I found that some may have more difficult challenges than what I have. That was the start when I really enjoy my life. And I start putting all my worries and trust unto the Lord. My very first life verse that I’ve found in the Bible is in the book of John 14:1 which says:

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“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
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Everything was ok, and we’re active doing Christ’s great work until I gave birth to our third child. My faith got shaken and becomes weak. I didn’t have time to pray and do my personal devotion. Then I met (in the net) again my former colleague, Diana. I read her blog and relate easily to what she’s been through. Then we instantly have that kind of connection that only mommies at home have. She’s the reason I start blogging again and she brings back the confidence in myself.

Oh how I’ve missed working again BUT I am happy being a SAHM…

I will be celebrating my 5th year as a house mom on March 2011, which is only 5 months away. Well, overall, it has not been easy for me to become a full time mom to two kids then and now to three kids. It’s a very challenging work and everyday your patience is being tested.

When I got pregnant to Gabee, Yuan was 5 months old. I decided to resign from my work and embraced full-time motherhood. Besides, I love to have kids and being around with my kids. I want to take care of Yuan by myself and see his milestones every day which I was not able to do then when I was still working (because he was staying at my parent’s house in Cavite). And our setup then was, to visit him on weekends which were very tedious to do because of the long travel that I and Reuel have to take after a 5-day tiring work.

At first, I was so excited to think that I’m not going to office anymore and that I could have more time to sleep making my sleeping habit becomes normal again (I used to work in a Call Center on a graveyard shift as a technical support agent). And that I will have more time to spend with Yuan. What I did not know was becoming a full-time mom is far more difficult than being a career woman. This is because when you are working, you are free from doing the house chores, which means you have more time to take care of yourself physically. You have an excuse not to go to work when you’re not feeling well. Or plainly, you just not want to work at all. And best of all, you earn money. For being a full-time mom, you have to work 24/7 non-stop. No sick leave or vacation leave and you cannot quit whenever you want to.

There even a time that I asked Reuel if I could be able to work again when the time comes that all of our children will go to school. Fear comes to me when I think what would be my life at home without my kids. Surely, it sucks. And I always ask myself, how can I be able to go back to work again thinking at my age? Who will hire me? And I shall be stagnant for 7 years by the time my kids are all going to school. I don’t even have a copy of my CV (curriculum vitae) with me because Reuel’s hard drive where I saved my CV has crashed. And honestly, I don’t really remember how to have social life with other people aside from Reuel and my kids. However, Reuel, always console me that I could have my time for myself when all our kids are gone to school and he tells me that I could continue investing in the stock market just to keep me busy.

So, when Diana (a friend and a former colleague) offers me a part-time job online, I instantly grab the opportunity. It’s not about the money that I will earn but the opportunity to work again. God knows, how happy I really am when some amount was credited to my PayPal account because the fact that I worked for it, is incomparable. And I thought that it’s a good start for me to have my career back even at home.

Happy weekend everyone!!!