From Curse to Blessing

photo credit: Martin Libermann


"Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls."

Jeremiah 6:16

Trudi had set her alarm for 2:30 a.m. but I was awake before that.

Our flight back to Bacolod City was at 5:00 a.m. and we had to leave for the airport by 3: 00 o'clock. It was time to once more say good-bye to the comfortable guest room in Ut Rafael's lovely home in Ayala Alabang Village. Ut and her husband were our hosts during our five day stay in this part of Metro Manila where we conducted two Ancient Paths seminars for the past four days.

The last time I was in this room was when Ruby and I were in Manila for Craig Hill's visit in November, just a few months ago. It was in this very room that God spoke to me so clearly, gently preparing my heart for my husband's death just one day after I got back to Bacolod. (Read about it here.)

It has been a wonderful four days of ministry: we did the Ancient Paths 1 seminar on Tuesday and Wednesday, then on Thursday and Friday, we did another seminar, the Ancient Paths 2, also called the Transforming Hearts seminar.


Craig Hill is the founder and senior leader of Family Foundations International, based in Colorado, USA. He first came to the Philippines in November 2000 to speak at the National Prayer Gathering of the Intercessors for the Philippines in Cebu City.

My pastor and I happened to be at this prayer gathering where Craig spoke. His words were so powerful and there was such an anointing as he explained the importance of walking and living in our true identity and destiny.


Craig also gave two Ancient Paths Level 1 seminar after that: one for the students of the Crossroads Discipleship Training School (C-DTS) of Youth With A Mission in Cebu City, and another for the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) base in Bacolod City. With him was an international team composed of facilitators from Spain, Australia, and the United States.

My friends Ruby, Buddy and I had enrolled for this seminar a couple of months before it was to take place. From time to time, we would sign up for certain teaching modules offered by YWAM in our city. This particular seminar, entitled Identity and Destiny, caught our attention and we had been looking forward to take part in it.

During this Ancient Paths seminar, I rediscovered who I was in Christ. It's not possible to share in great detail how all this came about, nor am I saying that I did not know who I was in Christ before this.

But through Craig's teaching and the small group ministry time led by Rob Spence, a facilitator from Australia, I understood that I had a God-given identity, and that everything God had deposited in me was intended to work together and contribute to His kingdom purposes within my sphere of authority and influence.

I also began to see how the enemy loves to wound us, and how he, during these wounding events, imparts lies that we somehow end up believing. These lies become a kind of false plumbline, creating a faulty foundation on which we build our lopsided perceptions of who God is and who we are. We go through life not realizing that the boundary lines of our lives are actually skewed and off center.

Sadly, there are many Christians who never find out who they really are because they have been so badly wounded, and lied to...their beautiful and original identities stolen and replaced by a distorted image of how Satan wants them to see themselves.

Jesus has come to set the captives free...from wrong doctrines, wrong beliefs, wrong mindsets and wrong worldviews.

And that is why I will be forever grateful to the ministry of Family Foundations International (FFI).

When I first went through these seminars, I knew I wasn't a baby Christian anymore. Nevertheless, there were still many areas in my belief system that needed to be enlightened and corrected. Although I was already maturing as a believer in Christ, I realized that there were unhealed emotional wounds inside of me that I was not aware of.

My heavenly Father allowed me and my family to go through a time of healing and receive a re-impartation of our true identity and destiny in Christ Jesus.

It was actually just the beginning.

I found myself on the pathway of blessing. I want to call it my divine re-positioning, where God helped me to understand that indeed the healing had already been done at the cross, and my redemption already purchased by the precious blood of Jesus. But I still needed to appropriate the healing for myself. Yes, I had to walk in the promises.

A mere intellectual understanding was not enough. A heart transformation was something that I needed to go through.

It was like someone had opened a bank account for me and deposited a billion dollars in my name, but I needed to begin withdrawing that money and use it, before I could appreciate the fact that it was truly mine!

In these seminars God impressed upon my heart how He saw me, and what He thought of me. God saw me as a shining light, a woman of faith, a worshiper. I learned that my name carried my job description, and something resonated deep within me.

My heart was saying "Yes!" to all this!

The names my parents had given me weren't just a matter of coincidence; they had an anointing that could help me fulfill the purpose God had for my life! I embraced my name Lidia, and began to own it in a way I never did before, after realizing that its spiritual connotation is "Worshiper of God."

It was truly a life-changing experience.


A group of us also went through the ministry training under the supervision of Marsha Brozovich and Elsie Hall who returned to our country several times to give us many hours of valuable "hands on" training to equip us to do the seminars and the small group ministry on our own.

And in September 2001, the Family Foundations International-Philippines was born. The Philippine flag was the fifteenth national flag to be displayed at the seminar hall of the Family Foundations Equipping Center in Littleton, Colorado, USA.


Together with the rest of our team, it is my ongoing desire to be a channel of blessing in the lives of others, especially my fellow Filipinos. I believe that through this ministry, we are partnering with God for the healing of our nation.

I know that we will reach them one Filipino at a time, one family at a time, with us faithfully conducting one seminar at a time in the places where God sends us.

But the seminars are, of course, for anyone who wants to move up to the next level of their lives. In these seminars, we want to give all participants the opportunity to receive an impartation of their true identity and destiny.

God is raising up men and women of peace who are willing to be His partners in recovering the territory that has been taken over and in ministering healing to the devastation that the enemy has done, restoring God's ancient paths and releasing hope to the areas of their identities that have been cursed and never blessed.

Just like me, these men and women have an individual beautiful story to tell, of how God continues to re-create each one of them in His image, speaking life, healing and truth to the broken places of their hearts.

And just like me, they cannot, and will not, keep silent.

The past seven years or so, we have been working to build up teams of committed and faithful people who will serve as ministry volunteers, as well as people who willingly share their expertise and financial resources to help make this possible.

We believe that everything we have received, whether it be intellectual resources and abilities, ministry skills, spiritual insight and revelation, or financial provision, is to be used for the building up and the furtherance of God's kingdom, never for one's own.

During these past four days in Manila, we saw God's hand at work once again, in the lives of both the ministry team who helped out during the seminars, and the participants who attended.

One important responsibility that has truly brought joy to my heart as the coordinator of these seminars is the time that I devote to do an "on the job" training to those who have volunteered to be part of the ministry team, teaching them lessons I have personally learned, and imparting to them heart attitudes that I consider as the "non-negotiables" in doing this kind of kingdom work.

It is during these in-between times that the ministry team gets to bond, and to grow together, sharing many moments of laughter and tears, and learning to relate to each other as a true family.

Here are a few photos that I took of the light moments we had during the breaks in the seminar teaching and the small group ministry time:

Ministry Team for Ancient Paths 1
front row: Gina, Trudi, me, Rosini, Nette and Tina
second row: Gigi, Ut, and Buddy
back row: Howard

Gina sharing an insight during ministry training

Ministry Team for Ancient Paths 1 -- this time we're all here!
front row: Macky, Rosini and Gina
second row: Ut, Nette, Pearlie, Trudi, Gigi
third row: Buddy, me, Tina, Marlon
back row: Howard

Macky and his laptop

During snack break at Transforming Hearts seminar
with some participants
front row: Angel and Pearlie
second row: Grace, Buddy, Gina, Trudi, me, and Albert (man in white)
thrid row: Carlos (standing)

Marlon celebrated his 46th birthday after the seminar on Thursday
This is a picture of Marlon and Gigi and their children

Marlon brought all his media and sound equipment over for the seminar.
Thank you Marlon for such generosity and servant spirit. What a blessing!

Macky and his guitar
Macky led the worship for the four days of the seminars.
We were all truly blessed as he sang all original compositions,
oh, thank you Lord for such an anointed young man!

More pictures of Transforming Hearts participants and ministry team
during the snack break.
Tess, the lady in pink on the back row, owns the lovely house where
the seminar was held. Praise God for you, Tess!

Angie, Gina and Grace

Group picture of the Transforming Hearts ministry team
front row: Nette, Gina, me, and Gigi
back row: Macky, Rebbie, Trudi, Buddy and Marlon

Trudi, Buddy and me while waiting to board our flight back to Bacolod
Enjoying brewed coffee and croissant at Cafe Delifrance at 4 a.m.!

Back home in Bacolod!
This is a shot of our plane on the Bacolod National Airport