Lux Thinking Aloud Blessings 9:47 AM Finding blessings when you're carrying a heavy burden is like searching for a grain of white rice in the white sand. It's HARD. Looking for things to be thankful for during this crisis could be difficult too. When you got furloughed and you don't have enough saved away, you don't have time to sit still and find blessings. You can only panic and worry about where you'll get your next meal. Blessings Every day, we are surrounded by blessings. From the moment we wake up---hey, that is a blessing in itself. Not everyone got that chance. As of this writing, there are 3.5 million C OVID-19 cases around the world and 248,245 deaths. Looking for blessings may be hard because we're in this dark time. So we need a flashlight for that. We need our eyes of faith. Yesterday I watched The Feast online. One of the assignments is to list down 100 blessings to thank for. From the smallest blessing to the major ones. The more specific the better. Kind of hard so I'll give it a try. But I'll start with 50 first. God's generous provision. God's steadfast love. God's mercy that's new every morning. Jesus laying down His life so we can live an abundant life. God's beautiful promises. God's faithfulness. Being protected from harm. A strong immune system. Being able to wake up today. Being able to breathe normally. My husband who tirelessly serves me and loves me unconditionally It finally rained! I get to sleep a lot longer than expected because of the cooler weather. My breakouts are healing. The internet. My laptop. My phone. Movies we're able to stream online. New videos from vlogs I follow. My nephew's cute, round, chubby face that always makes me smile. My nephew's recovery. Getting inspired to clean my husband's closet. That good, satisfying feeling looking at my husband's now organized closet. You have no idea! Inspirational podcasts I got to listen to while organizing. The Feast. Food on the table. Roof over my head. Clothes on my back. Therapeutic writing. Dogs. Pollution is clearing out. Nature is finally able to breathe. My tribe's support. Knowing that my family and friends are well and safe. Frontliners especially the health workers risking their lives to help stop the virus. Some people in the government doing their jobs with integrity and selflessness. People finally realizing they voted for the wrong people. Stay woke! 😎 A lot of animals have been spared as festivals have been cancelled. The sales increase in the vegan industry. People realizing the damage we've done to the planet and changing their ways. This time to relax and not think about stressful stuff. Being able to laugh. A beautiful and prosperous future. Chocolate bars. Tea. Food delivery services. A good shoulder rub from my husband. A relaxing shower. Clean sheets. Relaxing music. Speaking of which, I discovered something that helps calm me down. I love Ghibli films and it's great to hear piano and slow versions of their music. Your turn List the things you're thankful for and see how many you can come up with.
Faith Balance 8:31 AM Anything in excess is not good. For example, too little or too much sleep can be harmful to your health. Balance is key. Balance I always try to keep an optimistic disposition. But the older I get, I realized it's better to also be a little pessimistic. The sweet spot between optimism and pessimism is where we should be. I've learned that those who did not survive the holocaust were mostly the optimists in the group.Because when what they expected did not happen, it hit them really hard. They lost their hope. And I've shared this quote by Hal Lindsay before but I'll share it again: Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air...but only for one second without hope. From experience, I know optimism has an ugly down side. Indeed when you keep your hopes up, it hurts terribly when what you hoped for did not come to pass. The higher the expectation, the bigger the disappointment. So, I like to keep a balance between being optimistic and pessimistic. We need to be realistic. We need to keep our balance. Dream big but also keep your feet planted firmly on the ground. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Love others but also give yourself the right amount of self-love. Work hard but rest well. Keep yourself in check. I believe keeping a balance between positive thinking and negative thinking is better for our mental health. That way when things don't go our way, we don't get too beaten down. When things turn out better than we expected, we celebrate. I love the verse about the balance of everything in life. There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace. -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 I hope we learn to find this healthy balance in our lives. Your turn Are you an optimistic or pessimistic person? What do you do when things don't go as expected?
Lux Thinking Aloud Beginning 7:29 AM It's a brand new month! Another beginning. Are we ready? Beginning The beginning is usually the hardest. When you're starting to learn how to write when you were in kindergarten. When it was your first day in your new job and you have no idea how things work. When you begin your life after a hard and messy break up. It was tough, yeah? But beginnings can also be exciting and promising. That is why people get hyped up on New Year. Beginnings can be beautiful. I love the early mornings when it's cool, peaceful and quiet. I miss waking up early. Since the outbreak happened, I've been sleeping late. I love starting a new book. It's like stepping into another world and seeing things with fresh eyes. I love visiting places for the first time. It's giving me a new perspective. It makes me realize that there is more to explore. When you see how big the world is, your problems seem insignificant. Don't you love the getting to know each other stage when you meet someone? When you begin to realize you're in the right track, when you finally see what you're worth, when you're starting to experience your breakthrough---oh, it is priceless! New relationships. New chance in life. New chapter. They make life more thrilling, don't they? New beginnings are full of hope and possibilities. It's like a blank page that is waiting to be filled with magical words. Like a blank canvass about to be turned into a work of art. I hope this brand new month is better than the previous ones. I hope this is the start of the new normal that is best for all of us. I hope that finally, this is the beginning of the end of the crisis. Am I asking for too much? Your turn What have you began to do during this p andemic?
Lux Thinking Aloud Eager 7:11 AM Are you eager for this month to end and find out what next month has in store for us? Yeah, me too. More than that, I am eager to finally hear the words: "The world is now C OVID-19 free!" Eager I am eager to learn all that you want me to do; help me to understand more and more. -Psalm 119:32 With my human wisdom alone, I know I will not be able to understand the purpose behind of all the hardships we face. Especially this p andemic. This virus has revealed to us many things. This p andemic has unmasked a lot of people. Especially those in the government. We are learning a lot about the those we live with and even about ourselves. I've realized that with this l ockdown, I am more eager: to hear God's voice to see the glorious ending to all this to visit my family and dogs soon to care for nature more to travel again to see a brand new tomorrow I am eager to learn what God is teaching me.I'm eager to know what's in the next chapter because this one sucks! So far, this quarantine has taught me: that I still need to strengthen my faith (I can still get shaken) to do what I can and entrust to God what I can't to appreciate everything I have to be wiser and learn from the ants that whatever we give nature, nature will give back to us a hundredfold that people will always find a way to defend what they believe in even when it's wrong I'm learning that there are still a lot more for me to learn. I can relate to what the genius Albert Einstein said: "The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." We humans could get arrogant sometimes. We think we are superior because we are the "smarter species". We build bridges, we invent devices, we made progress people in the past could only dream of. We make weapons and think we are invincible. Yet a microscopic organism toppled our economy and drove us all into hiding. Even the strongest, smartest, proudest among us was taken by surprise by this invisible enemy and for a time, felt defenseless. I hope we learn that animals and nature in general is here with us and not for us. We are carers. We are stewards. It's time to treat other creatures with respect and kindness. It's time to appreciate nature and not take it for granted. It's time to go back to basic. It's time to humble ourselves. It's time to learn. It's time to heal. Let's not wait for another p andemic to hit us before we finally learn what we need to do. Your turn What are you eager to happen after this crisis? What have you learned so far during this l ockdown?
Faith Waiting 12:32 AM If there's a level in the waiting game, I'd say I'm at Expert by now. I've waited for God's answers to my prayers for a long time. He's tested my patience, increased my faith and pruned me during that long waiting period. And now I find myself waiting again. Waiting I think we are always waiting for something at certain times. We wait for our water to boil so we can enjoy our tea or cereal. We wait for our flights. (Oh, traveling! I forgot how that feels. 😅) We wait for a client's reply if a project is a go or a no. We wait for a movie to premier after watching several trailers online. We wait for our food delivery to arrive and hope it comes before we turn into a hangry (hungry + angry) monster. We wait for this p andemic to be finally over. I don't know about you but sometimes I feel sick and tired of hearing about the news. Bad news after bad news after bad news. Every. Single. Day.2020 is really kicking all our asses. What have you been waiting for lately? Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home! -Proverbs 8:34 The waiting period is not exactly a joyful phase. Especially when you're not sure if the answer you've been waiting for is what you're going to receive. Aristotle said: Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. When I was discerning if marriage was for me, I stayed single for a long time. I kissed dating goodbye. That's a title of a book I haven't read it. I heard it's good.[Click here if you want to order I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris.] I enjoyed every me-time I have. Oh, I had ample back then. Yes, I was happy. But there were long, lonely, cold nights too. Gfycat When I was waiting for my life after graduation to start, I was reviewing for the board exam. There were a lot of terms and formulas to memorize. I have no idea how I passed it. I'd say only by God's grace. 🤣 But the waiting period between after the exam until it was announced was filled with tension. It wasn't particularly joyful. This q uarantine period is fine. Because I'm working from home for years now, quarantine is not new to me. All these things going on around the world though are getting to me as the days go by. It's different knowing you're staying home because you want to and staying home because you're forced to. We humans love our freedom, don't we? Pinterest So this l ockdown has somehow messed up my mental health. There was a time when I had to disconnect from the world. As much as I wanted to be in the know of what's happening, I needed to step back.I had to take refuge in God's presence like never before. I had to desperately search for things to keep my mind off the crisis. I felt like a fish out of water hopelessly trying to breathe. Thankfully, distancing from the news and social media helped. See the simple therapies I found on my previous entries. Day 20: Unproductive Day 16: Lover Day 14: Self-growth Day 9: Hustle Day 7: Simple Life Day 6: Friends and Chosen Day 5: Disconnect Day 2: Gratitude List The whole world is waiting with bated breath for when we can all finally step out of the house, hug each other again and enjoy our freedom. When will that be? I don't know. It's not easy waiting alone. But knowing we're in this together makes it a little better. Your turn How long do you think this quarantine will last? What do you do while waiting for something? May contain affiliate link.
Lux Thinking Aloud Refuge 11:49 PM Imagine this. You're half-asleep and half-awake. You feel an eerie presence in the room. You want to open your eyes or move but you can't....You're body froze. You can't breathe. You want to scream but no voice is coming out. Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? I lost count of the times I've had encounters during my sleep. And every time, I take refuge in the presence of God. Refuge I can't explain why it always happens to me. Do I pray before going to bed? Yes. So why do I still experience this? I don't know. I can assume that it's guilt. When this happens, it's usually when I know I sinned and I feel guilty about it. Or when I feel emotionally distant from God. Sin keeps us away from God. When I know I did something wrong, I feel shame. I feel unworthy to be in God's presence. I think this is an opportunity for the enemy to step in and take advantage of my weakness. But that's just me. I know God is merciful. I know I'm saved. The enemy is deceitful. It makes us believe we are doomed. Thankfully, I don't get this anymore. At least not as often. Now that we're more aware of what could give the bad spirits an entry way into our home, my husband and I are more careful about choosing the media we consume. I want to share this chapter in the Bible which I would read with my prayers before bedtime when I was getting these attacks. Psalm 91 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust him. For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. Just open your eyes and see how the wicked are punished. If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. For He will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet! The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation." Your turn What's your favorite Bible verse? Have you experienced sleep paralysis? Share it.
Faith Possible 10:31 PM Is it possible that this crisis will end soon? Is there something good that will come out of this p andemic? Will we ever survive this challenge? Is everything going to be okay? Possible If you're an over-thinker like me, you may have also suffered from anxiety attack during this quarantine. So many questions. I continue to believe that no matter how difficult the situation we are in right now, we will survive. We will even thrive. Not with our own strength, but with the help of God. Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” -Matthew 19:26 All things are possible. The good kind of possible. Because our God is good. When I feel like we're trapped in this situation and fear starts rearing its ugly head, I think about the times God made what's impossible for men possible. It's impossible for women of old age to conceive a baby. But God made it possible. He blessed Sarah and Abraham with a son. Elizabeth was at least 60 years old when she gave birth to John the Baptist. It's impossible to divide water. But God parted the Red Sea and made it possible for His people to escape their enemy. It's impossible to walk on water or to turn water into wine. But Jesus did so. God is unchanging. He is just as merciful, powerful and infinite now as He was before. For that, I will always be grateful. Grateful for my husband's love and service health and safety of loved ones the ability to work despite the crisis more opportunities coming my way nature healing; lesser pollution, animals are more free little luxuries like being able to watch shows and movies online Citron tea---oh, how comforting the taste! my blog which has always been my favorite therapy healing songs Speaking of songs and all things being possible with God, here's an old song I like. Maybe not too old but it's been a while since I've heard it. All Things are Possible Hillsong Worship Almighty God my Redeemer My hiding place, my safe refuge No other name like Jesus No power can stand against You My feet are planted on this rock And I will not be shaken My hope it comes from You alone My Lord and my salvation Your praise is always on my lips Your word is living in my heart And I will praise You with a new song My soul will bless You Lord You fill my life with greater joy Yes I delight myself in You And I will praise You with a new song My soul will bless You Lord When I am weak, You make me strong When I'm poor, I know I'm rich For in the power of Your name All things are possible Feels good to be reminded that we worship an awesome God with whom all things are possible. Your turn What uplifting song is on your playlist? List down 3 old songs that you still love to listen to.
