The Eye of the Beholder

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

- Isaiah 60:1

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

- 2 Corinthians 4:7

Today was my friend Pat's 60th birthday.

Pat is a missionary to this country under the ministry of Youth With a Mission (YWAM). She is from Hawaii, USA.

Pat first came to the Philippines in 1985, twenty-six years ago, as part of a YWAM outreach team from the USA. She returned to join YWAM the following year, 1986.

In 1992, it was discovered that Pat had a brain tumor. Needing medical attention, she went back home to the States. After a series of medical procedures, and ample time to recuperate, she was released to come back seven years later.

She arrived in Bacolod City in December 1999 to join the YWAM base in this city.

That was when Pat and I first met... twelve years ago.

When Anna Marie, the YWAM base leader, introduced me to Pat just a few days after she arrived, something in my heart knew we would become good friends.

Because of my close involvement with YWAM during those years, and because Anna Marie had become a close friend of mine, there were many opportunities for Pat and me to get to know one another better. We worked on many ministry opportunities together. The YWAM base offered many modular schools which my friends and I attended. To this day, I give much credit to the YWAM ministries for contributing to my spiritual growth and understanding in a huge way.

Pat was a big help to me teaching small group devotional classes for the children in the age 8 to 10 category when I was still the principal and ministry head of our church school.

After her classes, Pat and I would meet often at my office to talk a bit, and pray for one another's concerns. My husband and I loved inviting the YWAM team over to our home for special meals. Pat and I also went regularly on coffee get togethers.

Pat, on her 60th year.
Taken this morning, together with a mini cake Buddy bought for her.
Buddy and I prepared a birthday breakfast for her,
and the three of us had a beautiful prayer and Bible study time together!

Over the years, I saw Pat struggling with her health and many other physical issues. And because we are all beings in the process of being transformed, both Pat and I were aware of the unresolved areas of our inner lives.

In all these, Pat has kept her heart soft and ever teachable.

Her eyes would light up whenever she feels I have helped unearth some answers to her longings to be made whole.

She is a woman broken by many years of pain.

It is obvious that this has done something to her spirit. What strikes me the most about Pat is her kindness, her thoughtfulness, her humility, and her vulnerability.

Pat has a heart for intercession and for the urban poor.

I am touched by Pat's availability.

Seated in front: Pat, a friend, and me
Seated at the back: Other YWAMers from the Bacolod City base
Taken in 2002 (date on photo is incorrect)

To be honest, I did not want another foreigner for a friend.

Through the years, I have had many close friendships with non-Filipinos... Americans, British, Dutch, South Africans, Swiss, Canadians, Germans. Eventually the inevitable in this kind of relationships always happens: the day comes when they pack up their bags and leave.


Around my heart I had put up a shield. There were good reasons: I was busy with family; ministry involvement ate up a huge chunk of my life. "Anyway, I knew that eventually, Pat would also pack up and go."

But... despite my misgivings, my friendship with Pat became deeper and grew stronger. When we were far from each other we communicated regularly by text or brief email notes. I found myself praying often for her.


After many years of a vibrant and fruitful ministry, the winds of change began blowing over YWAM Bacolod. Pat saw her colleagues at the Bacolod City base begin to leave one after the other, in response to a new calling. Towards the end of 2009, Pat was left with the difficult and painful task of cleaning up, packing up, and closing the doors of the YWAM Bacolod City base.

The final act of closing down the base could have been a team effort, and Pat could have been spared from carrying by herself the burden of such an overwhelming responsibility.

Had that been prayerfully considered, it would have truly been an act of grace and kindness.

Pat had many questions but no answers. Many crucial decisions were made, but it seemed like Pat was always the last one to know.

But life does not always turn out according to our expectations.

Life rarely happens according to our carefully laid out plans.

Sometimes, we end up tying the loose ends of other people's lives...

Sometimes, we are called upon to clean up the messes thrown in our path before we can move on.

Surely God knew what was best. Nevertheless it was a difficult season for Pat, and I cried many tears with her during that time. It was then I realized that she had become a special part of my life.

I made an important decision: I was going to be Pat's friend... all the way. No holds barred.

God was working in a special way in Pat's life; I knew God wanted me to be there for her.

Not as a prop. Not as a crutch.

But as a true friend.


Being the only one left of the original YWAM-Bacolod team, Pat organized a beautiful thanksgiving and farewell ceremony for YWAM Bacolod. That was in February 2010.

The remaining ten months of 2010 was a period of transition for Pat. She left the Philippines, needing time to heal, to recover, and seek God's direction for her future.

One thing was clear. She was to return to Bacolod City, even without a YWAM base to go home to.

Special arrangements were made for her to continue on as a YWAM missionary but attached to our ministry, Family Foundations International (FFI).

In January this year, Pat returned to Bacolod City.

Our FFI national coordinators William and Ruby, and all of us in the team, welcomed Pat with open hearts and arms.

What a blessing Pat has been to me and to the rest of us! Her coming in as a new staff in our national office and as part of our ministry team has infused fresh blood into us.

She has a beautiful heart.

What a gift Pat is to me, and to all of us, in this new season of her life. I know that the best years of her life are still to come!

Tonight, on her 60th birthday, we all gathered at the FFI multi-purpose room to celebrate Pat's birthday. We wanted to bless her and make her feel that she is special and she is loved.

I cannot begin to describe how meaningful this evening was for us all. It was as if God parted the heavens, and gave us all a glimpse into Pat's heart. There was so much love in the atmosphere. Even now as I write, my tears are flowing.

Indeed, God graced us with His presence.

Pat knows that she already has a special place in my heart. And I've always believed in God's purposes for her. But tonight, I saw something that I never saw before.

I began to see Pat's obedience in a different light. I saw her tenacity, the audacity of her faith that refuses to buckle under adversity, her willingness to discover more of what God has in store for her.

Despite her physical limitations, Pat's loveliness shone through... and we all beheld it with our own eyes!

What a rare privilege it is when God unveils our eyes that we may see something extraordinary -- a masterpiece in the making... a diamond in the rough... a base metal in the process of being transmuted to precious gold!

I was humbled to have been chosen to be a part of what He was doing in Pat's life.

Indeed, we all sensed the presence of God in our midst.


Each of us took time to present our birthday gifts, to impart words of blessing and affirmation, and to speak whatever it was that God had placed on our heart for Pat.

Pat did two dance numbers as an act of worship to our heavenly King. One was The Father's Song and the other one was Eagles' Wings.

During the last dance, Eagle's Wings, the anointing for worship was heavy. Many of us could not hold back the tears. We knew God the Father was right there in the room with all of us, rejoicing, filling our hearts with love for one another, and especially for Pat.

It was an eternal moment.


My birthday blessing for Pat:

Dear friend,

The rest of the world may see you as weak, and of little value... they don't know what they're missing.

When God gave you to me as a friend, I have realized He was giving me a treasure, a rare find.

We have not talked about our friendship much... because a deep friendship is never planned, and does not happen overnight. It happens drop by drop. A drop of love, an ounce of care, another drop of thoughtfulness, a friendly gesture...

What I love about our friendship is that it is so unforced... it just seems to naturally flow.

And you are never demanding, Pat. Not at all. You always gently ask if I have time.

You never hide your weaknesses. You have allowed your tears to freely fall, in the middle of a conversation, in the mall, while we are walking in the street, in a coffee shop.

But I have loved the way your eyes light up when you realize that Truth has spoken... your sweet smile... and the way you try to be cheerful, even when I know you feel weighed down deep inside.

I love your honesty in sharing about the way you feel.

The new season you are in was somewhat scary for you. Being alone, being in very different circumstances, being in the midst of new friends.

But God has spoken, you will not be overwhelmed by it all.

These past weeks I have seen incredible changes in your outlook. I have seen you more secure, and more determined. There are places inside your heart that are beginning to heal.

I am encouraged by your determination, dear friend.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay
to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Yes, dear Pat... you are a treasure in a jar of clay.

We all are!

But you have been an example to me. In your weakness, I have seen tremendous strength!

You are a woman of wisdom. You have a discerning spirit.

You are careful about the choices you make.

You are never boastful. Your gentleness draws people to you.

God is truly honored in your life.

And what a privilege it is today to celebrate your 60th birthday with you, a milestone, a testimony to the grace of God at work in your life!

You are loved, Pat. You are a precious gift to me.

Much love,
Lidj

Pat in her special Hawaiian muumuu

Cristy, Tata, Ruby, and Pat

Dinner table photo: Tata, Cristy, and Pat

Dinner table photo: Buddy, me, William and Ruby

Pat looking so elegant under the chuppah, waiting to receive her birthday blessings

Tata, embracing Pat after presenting her with a special dance number

Juan and Helen, Regional Coordinators for Intercessors for the Philippines, giving Pat some words of blessing

William, Ruby and the "birthday girl"

"I'm so glad God gave you to me for a friend."

Nikki with Pat

Pat with Bjorn and his wife Nikki


Buddy, Pat, and Raffi

Cristy traveled a long way to be with Pat on her birthday

Pat is such a graceful dancer. Worship dancing became Pat's way of waging war with the enemy, after her physical struggles. Here Pat is shown dancing to Eagle's Wings by Hillsong.

Eagle's Wings by Hillsong

This passage was placed by God on my heart for Pat early this morning:

The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the LORD,
The excellency of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,
And make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are fearful-hearted,

“ Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
With the recompense of God;
He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.

For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.
The parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water;
In the habitation of jackals, where each lay,
There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.

No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
It shall not be found there.

But the redeemed shall walk there,
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

- Isaiah 35

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There are certain blog posts that need to be written, knowing that most readers who drop by will not really show interest in it. Nevertheless I have taken time to write such a post for three reasons:

first, that God may be given the glory,

second, that a dear friend may be honored, and

third, that the story of this special friendship may be put in writing.