Lessons in 2018

Can't remember the last time I've posted here. (Just checked and it was back in 2013!). Not into blogging and I can't sustain writing but finally decided to share my learnings  here! Also because I want to look back on these lessons and remember. 😊

• Just because it is good, it doesn’t mean it is good FOR ME. Not every open door and not every opportunity is from the Lord. Discernment is what sets leaders apart.  (Discernment is from the Lord! Pray and ask for wisdom).

• With regards to the matters of the heart (or my non-existent love life 😂), if it is God’s will, then God truly will. There is no need for me to “help” God or manipulate to make things happen. He allows everything to happen according to His plan and purpose.

• God doesn't give us everything that we want or look for in a man because God knows our hearts are idolatrous. The person will become our god more than God being our God. 

• God cares about the little details of my life such as the friendships, the people He sends in for me to look up to and learn from, the leaders and Godly counsel in my life... If He cares about these things what more with the big ones? such as ... my future life-partner 🤣 

• The enemy of GOD’s BEST is my own definition or standard of “GOD’s Best” or what’s good. I can easily discern what is right or wrong, good or bad. But it takes God’s grace for me to discern what is Good vs. Best. When I hold on to anything or anyone that is not bad but good. When my thoughts are there. When it clouds me from trusting that He knows the WHAT, WHEN, WHO is Best for me! Let go and let God be God! 

• Process every emotion with God! Don’t conceal! Come to God as RAW as you are. A woman’s weakness is her emotions. But the good news is that when I process and give my emotions to the Him, I experience Him more in a very personal way as my Father and as the Lover of my soul  

• As I grow in my Christian walk, I realized that God values my emotion and it is part of my worship. Don’t be so quick to brush it off just because it is the easier way. Acknowledge your emotion, be real with God but don’t submit to your emotion. Acknowledge your emotion, surrender then SUBMIT to GOD. 

• There is a difference between learning by head or heart. God doesn’t want me to be “robotic” nor self-sufficient. God allows me to be in places or situations wherein I will be at or be confronted by my weakness so that I will learn to turn this weakness into His strength. 

• God is so INTENTIONAL in everything! He knows the condition of my heart and where I really am not physically but spiritually. He knows EXACTLY where to get my full attention (the heart area). He tests me in unknown and undiscovered places so He can override my weakness and let me experience the fullness of His amazing grace. 

• Broken things become BLESSED things in the hands of the Lord! Never be afraid to share your brokenness. There is a kind of broken that is beautiful, one that is with God! 

• God did most of His marvelous work and miracles in the seemingly impossible situations in my life (heart, family business, family's health, finances, etc...) during my brokenness and in my weakness. So that when I look back, I one-hundred percent know it was God and for me to never take the credit. But to really experience G R A C E in weakness.  It is easy or casual to say "glory to God" when you're a Christian but it's another thing to experience Him in your weakness. Glory to God becomes so authentic and real.

• GOD HEALS and RESTORES! I will not always understand why I will go through pain. But one of the things God has revealed to me is that sometimes He allows it so that I will grow in my EMPATHY for others. This is how I can shine His light in their lives! When I learn to listen not with the intent to reply but to understand. 

• Stewardship is important. Everything I own and everything I have is from the Lord! WE GIVE SO WE CAN GIVE MORE - a financial principle I have learned from a book I’ve read this year. I should give not because I want more blessing but because I acknowledge that God is the Ultimate Blesser and Source! I give so I can give to others more knowing that the giver of everything good is God!

• Always go back to the WHY. It is not the how or what that sustains. A much more important question and  firm foundation is the WHY. When we know the WHY (why do we do things that we do), the WHY sustains everything including our walk with Him!  The what and how will just follow! (Not about what I can do but what He has already done for me! )

• Family is my greatest ministry next to God. Grateful that this season has really allowed me to spend more time with my family. Family can be challenging and messy in many ways but they are what’s permanent in this life. We can choose our friends but we can never choose our family. Be faithful in this area because God chose your family. You are not a good leader if you miss out on this area! Spend time, be available and value the gift of family.

• Saved by grace means not only being saved on the day I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior but saved from myself each and every single day, moment by moment. I realized that even if I am already a Christian, there are areas in my life that I am still struggling. Unspirit-filled responses, distracted mind, worldliness, etc... These areas SAVE and PROTECT me from spiritual pride if I use them to POINT ME back to God- I believe this is God’s saving grace for me! For me never to be self-sufficient but to always be dependent on Him! God knows we are prone to rely on our own strength when everything is okay! So if you have trials today, it's God grace for you and me. 

• The more I serve God, the more I should have an attitude of seeing my sinfulness so I can see His Holiness. We can never see His Holiness if we are so full of ourselves or full of the ''good'' things we do for Him. 

• I handle and lead our family business, I lead a group of women in church, I lead our employees and other areas that need my attention. To be honest, there were a few times that I would come to God in vulnerability and admit that the more I lead, the more I realize how I want to be led. I desire to be led by a man because of my life's responsibilities and be affirmed by someone. Someone to comfort and encourage me at the end of the day after pouring so much of me to other people. But the LORD never fails. When I surrendered this desire late this year (in B1G Catch), He spoke to me in a very personal way "EV, why do you want to be led by someone else when I am the one leading you? Why do you want to be affirmed when I see everything that you do. I love you and I have already chosen you and in spite of who you are,  I choose you. There is no greater affirmation than my love for you every single day."  

and a lot more lessons from the Greatest Teacher but closing this post with the verse I read during my quiet time on December 25 in the mountain.  This proverb really spoke to me from Proverbs 25:2. 

“It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.” 

How this spoke to me is that looking back in the past few years especially when I followed and obeyed God to be outside of my comfort zone, being in the family business and being not in Cebu majority of the time...I NEVER knew everything and I WILL NOT KNOW EVERYTHING.

Our minds are finite compared to an infinite God! 

But you know what the greatest blessing is? Next to His presence, is the PRIVILEGE to discover WHO God is in different seasons! To DISCOVER His attributes and character not by head but by heart. Because how will I know that He is a Healer when there is no need for healing? How will I know that He is a Restorer when there is nothing to be restored? How will I know that He is Sovereign if I had everything in control? How will I know that He is a Giver and Rewarder when there is no need for me to receive. How will I know that He is the Lover of my Soul if there is no need to be loved? How will I know that I am never alone if I have never felt lonely?

Thank you Lord for making me experience all these attributes of you this year! 

What a joy and privilege to discover more of WHO YOU in this journey, to see and experience as you unfold your plans and will for me step by step. 

To God be the Greatest Glory! My heart is filled with Your gladness! Thank you Jesus for 2018!