Life Metaphor

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Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

- Psalm 139:16

Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.

- Song of Songs 8:6, 7




“At that time,” declares the LORD,
“I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

This is what the LORD says:

“The people who survive the sword
will find favor in the wilderness;
I will come to give rest to Israel.”

The LORD appeared to us in the past,saying:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
I will build you up again,
and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.
Again you will take up your timbrels
and go out to dance with the joyful.
Again you will plant vineyards
on the hills of Samaria;
the farmers will plant them
and enjoy their fruit.
There will be a day when watchmen cry out
on the hills of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God.’”

- Jeremiah 31:1-6




Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

- Isaiah 40:28-31



Then Moses went up to God,
and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said,
“This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob
and what you are to tell the people of Israel:

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt,
and how I carried you on eagles’ wings
and brought you to Myself.

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,
then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
Although the whole earth is mine,
you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

- Exodus 19:3-6

Tomorrow is my 59th birthday.

The 27th of March has always been a very special day, and March, a very special month for me.

I believe it is because ever since I was a little girl, this date has always been celebrated.

Yes, from the time I was born, my life has been celebrated.

I have seen pictures on my baby album... my mother and father beaming with pride over me their first born daughter. When I turned one year old, there was a huge birthday party, with over fifty guests present. There is even a handwritten list in my father's handwriting of all the gifts I received.

Then, every year thereafter, up to the time I turned 18, my birthday has been celebrated with a party.

I look back at all those years today... those years when I have been celebrated as a person. And I am humbled, and deeply touched.

Looking back, I can only feel my heart overflowing with thanksgiving for the kind of upbringing that God has provided for me.

As a child, just growing up and learning to find myself, I remember that I was a bit self-centered. Growing up, there were times when I felt I was merely being tolerated, not really fully loved, and often misunderstood. I remember that deep inside I had certain demands that life turn out for me as I wanted it to.

Well, I believe those feelings are normal of any young person.

My perspective began to change when God gradually revealed His plans for my life, revealed to me that He was my God and Creator... Redeemer and King.

In 1953, I was born into this world... but I know that God had conceived the idea of me and carried me in His heart for millenniums.

And so today, on the eve of my 59th year, my heart is brimming over with thanksgiving to God... for celebrating me.

He sent me parents, a sister, and aunts, uncles and cousins, dear friends... who celebrated and valued me as a person.

Then when the time was right, in 1978, He gave me a dear husband who celebrated me as well.

And today, on this my 59th birthday... I can say that I am surrounded by family members who love me and appreciate me: my two sons First Born and Worshiper, my daughter Obedient One, my daughters in love God-given and Chosen One, and my two grandsons Forerunner and Full of Hope/Mighty Warrior... and numerous friends who truly care.

I cannot ask for more, really.

My life may not be perfect in the eyes of some - but for me, the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places!

O Lord You are the portion of my inheritance
and my cup,
You maintain my lot,
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes I have a good inheritance.

This is the cry of praise that is on my heart this early morning as I write this post...





And today I will do something very special: I will put into writing my life metaphor. This is the first time I will ever do it, because I haven't really thought much about what my life metaphor is.

I didn't even know there was such a thing as a life metaphor. But a month or two ago, during one Sunday morning, the words of my pastor, Joe Ascalon, struck my heart deeply. As he was giving the message, he asked this question: "What is your life metaphor?"

Off and on, during the quiet moments in the midst of the busyness of these past two months, I have found myself contemplating this question.

I couldn't figure out what my life metaphor was.

Because, really... we don't start out in life with our life goals clearly spelled out for us. These things just somehow begin falling into place, not really intentionally, but more as a consequence of our life choices.

I realize now that we all have a life metaphor that may not be clearly spelled out, but it is there as a motivating, guiding force that leads us.

Without our knowing it, there is an underlying life metaphor that begins to define us... who we are, what goals we reach for.

I returned to my home city of Bacolod last Friday after having been in Manila for 35 days - more than a month. Really, I felt like staying longer in Manila... but there were a number of important things for me to do here at the end of this month.

Now I realize that above all my reasons for coming back on Friday God had an important line for me to hear on Sunday morning. Yesterday, at church, Pastor Joe during his sermon, mentioned one line that caught my attention.

He said, "Establish a life statement and live it out."

Wham! It hit my heart again. Yes Lord, I hear You.

So, last night, I spent time in God's presence... listening to worship music, and thinking of some of my favorite verses.

And suddenly, I saw my life metaphor before me... not written in black and white, but in a picture - a picture of a long road... covered with clouds at some points, shrouded in mist at some points, many rocky places... a few rivers to cross over... meadows of beautiful flowers bathed with sunlight at some points... through valleys, through mountains... and at the end of it, so far away, was a place that filled my heart with such joyous anticipation.

It was my life metaphor... as clear as daylight to me.

My life is a journey to the heart of the One Who loves me.
My life is a response of love to that love.

Wow! I couldn't believe it. All I did was ask the Father to show me what my life metaphor was, and He showed me.

I woke up early this morning to write this post. I played my favorite worship songs...

And He is speaking to me now, not in audible words, but more as a truth realization, and as he "speaks" I am typing the words.

These are the impressions I am receiving:

Your whole life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage that takes you nearer and closer to the heart of the One who loves you with an everlasting love... My heart!

Your life is a lifetime of drawing near to Me, longing for more of Me, hungering to know Me more, and seeking to obey Me.

And as you are seeking, you are receiving.

What you want, what you long for the most, is what you receive... in full measure, and way beyond what you ask or imagine.

For I am the God who sees your heart. I am the God of the multiplication... who rewards the one who seeks Me beyond what your eyes can see, or what your mind can comprehend.

Your life is a fragrant offering of worship to me. Imperfect as you think the circumstances of your life have been, I am the God who holds the imperfect pieces of your life in My eternal hands.

Your life is not a struggle or a striving... Your life is a river flowing... Your life is a dance... your life is a song.

I have created you not for striving... but for rest.

And indeed you are loved by others... because out of your heart flows My love and My compassion for them! In your eyes are reflected the love of My heart for this dying world. And yet it is never a burden for you... never too heavy for you to carry.

I want you to continue living and abiding in My love as you journey closer to your heavenly eternal home. You impart My peace... you impart My rest... you impart a sense of shalom... you create an atmosphere of worship... in the lives of people to whom I send you.

Amen and amen. So be it, dear Father. So be it, my Lord.

As I journey down this road, I want to be a voice of hope, a ray of light, a word of encouragement, a helping hand, a messenger of faith, a speaker of truth...

I want to be a reflection of the Father's heart...


At this very moment, out of my heart flows a response of love to His invitation for me to keep drawing near to Him!

His words are so clear, and minister deeply to my heart. Heaven is a topic so dear to my heart, it really is a place I am longing to see!

Below are three of my favorite songs for this season, in response to what God has spoken to me.

I pray that you will take time to listen to the songs, and that as you do so, your time spent today on this blog will be a time of personal encounter with the Living God, the One who loves you with an everlasting love.

Oceans Will Part
by Hillsong

If my heart has grown cold
There Your love will unfold
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand
When I'm blind to my way
There Your Spirit will pray
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand

Oceans will part nations come
At the whisper of Your call
Hope will rise glory shown
In my life Your will be done

Present suffering may pass
Lord Your mercy will last
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand
And my heart will find praise
I'll delight in Your way
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand

Oceans Will Part

Eagle's Wings
Hillsong

Here I am waiting
Abide in me I pray
Here I am longing for You
Hide me in Your love
Bring me to my knees
May I know Jesus more and more

Come live in me
All my life take over
Come breathe in me
And I will rise
On eagles wings

Here In Your Presence
New Life Worship


Found in Your hands, fullness of joy
Every fear suddenly wiped away here in Your presence
All of my gains now fade away
Every crown no longer on display, here in Your presence
Heaven is trembling in awe of Your wonders
The kings and their kingdom arestanding amazed

Here in Your presence, we are undone
Here in Your presence, Heaven and Earth become one
Here in Your presence, all things are new
Here in Your presence, everything bows before You

Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way

Here In Your Presence


Watch New Life Worship sing this awesome song of worship (YouTube)

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

- Jeremiah 29:11

This post is lovingly dedicated to my pastor, Joe Ascalon.
Today, I want to say that I love you, and I honor you, and I respect the kingdom assignment that God has called you to do.

Taking Time to Remember

Chiang Mai, Thailand
September 2008

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits...

- Psalm 103:2





...there is a deeper need yet, I think, and that is the need—not all the time, surely, but from time to time—to enter that still room within us all where the past lives on as a part of the present, where the dead are alive again, where we are most alive ourselves to turnings and to where our journeys have brought us. The name of the room is Remember—the room where with patience, with charity, with quietness of heart, we remember consciously to remember the lives we have lived.

- Frederick Buechner
from A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces

Thirty four years ago today, Ernie and I were married.

Our earthly covenant of marriage ended on the day my dear husband went home to heaven a little over three years ago.

We celebrated our thirtieth and last wedding anniversary together in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2008.

Unknown to both of us, that last year together was orchestrated by God to be the most beautiful, and most meaningful year of our life together.

I still cannot fathom the goodness of God in providing me with all those memories to keep me warm in the cold and lonely days ahead, helping me deal with my loss.

As I have always written, when Ernie passed away, the grief I experienced did not cripple or devastate me. I was carried by a sense of hope that everything was happening according to an eternal purpose; God knew what was going on. And I knew that Jesus by His own death and resurrection has already conquered death as an enemy.

Nevertheless the pain was deep...gut-wrenching... and can never be put into words.

Honestly, no matter what others say, there is still a little corner in my heart where the grief quietly sits.

But hope is a powerful healer, and here I am today, taking time to remember Ernie on this special day.

The remembering is not with sadness or pain, although I write these words with tears in my eyes.

As I remember my husband, thanksgiving overflows from my heart of hearts, for it's not often that a woman is gifted with a husband the way this man had been a husband to me.

Again, words are never good enough.

All I can say is that it's a great honor for me to have been Ernie's wife. I am truly grateful for having shared his life for thirty plus years. In God's wisdom, my husband was taken home to heaven because his earthly purpose has already been fulfilled. However, there are still many things left for me to do.

March 2012 begins a new and important season in my life; I do not want to miss any of the opportunities God is giving me to walk with Him, and join Him in the kingdom work that still needs to be done.

Today is a good day to pause, and to remember... to reconnect with a point in my past, and to see, as Buechner aptly puts it, where my journeys have taken me.


A month has already gone by, and I am still here in Manila.

On the last Sunday of February I was asked to deliver the message at my friend Alberto's church. It was impressed upon my heart to speak on the topic of becoming an overcomer bride in these last days.

That really is the message I carry in my heart as I have entered this new season.

My intercessor friends and I have met several nights each week to listen to prophetic messages, and to have extended times of worship and intercession for our nation, and for Israel.

God's been showing me that extreme care is needed in dealing with the prophetic... to stay close to His word, to let the prophetic function in my life in a pure way.

As citizens of heaven, we really can live in the realm of glory where God reveals kingdom secrets to those whose hearts are ready.

But He will not entrust His secrets to blabber mouths. We have to know how to handle prophecies and divine revelation. It is easy to always be opening our mouths, spilling out words, dreams, and visions, that God only intended to be kept in our hearts, to simmer, to brew, and to be released through a divine filter of Godly understanding and discernment.

He also will not entrust His secrets to anyone who is not willing to pay the price... of putting God first, of seeking Him above all. Other earthly matters are important, but they fade in comparison to the things of God's kingdom.

Will I be as an end time servant whose lamp is always burning and whose waist is always girded in anticipation of the Master's return?

Or am I distracted, driven by earthly goals, pursuing my own agenda, while the King waits to be heard and obeyed?


Two weeks ago, my daughter Obedient One fell ill, and I realized that it was an attack of the evil one on her because she had chosen to believe many lies about her identity and destiny.

She had just recently come out of a relationship that left her weak and vulnerable to enemy schemes.

My authority as a priest over my family had to be exercised as God ministered emotional healing to my daughter through me, enabling her to break agreement with the enemy, dethrone false gods, and to dis-empower word curses that have been released to her.

God opened the way for her freedom, to be released from a subtle spirit of manipulation and control.

God led us to a throat specialist who took laser images of the affected area and gave a correct diagnosis of what had been ailing her the past weeks. After a daily dose of praise and worship and speaking faith declarations over her life, together with the medications prescribed by her doctor, Obedient One has now fully recovered.

Her joy has returned. And a fresh determination to walk in the purposes of God for her life has also been imparted to her as well.

This is my season of reclaiming land from the enemy.

Today as I remember my wedding day, it is with a renewed passion to advance God's kingdom that I move on.

God's words to me today are also His words of encouragement for this special season:

My beloved spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”

- Song of Songs 2:10-13

Ernie at 61
November 2, 2007
Khum Khantoke, Chiang Mai, Thailand

At Maeo University entrance
Chiang Mai, November 2007

With Obedient One who visited us in Chiang Mai in 2007 for Ernie's 61st birthday

At Maesa Elephant Camp, Chiang Mai, Thailand, November 2007
This is the Ernie I will never forget - that huge smile and those sparkling eyes!

Walking Street, Thapae Gate, Old City,
Chiang Mai, Thailand
December 2007

With Worshiper who visited Chiang Mai in 2007 to be with his dad on his 61st birthday

Still at the Maesa Elephant Camp

With eldest son First Born and first grandson, Forerunner
Three generations - grandfather, son, and grandson
Back in Bacolod City, taken when our first grandson was only a week old
October 27, 2008

Ernie at 62
Ernie's last birthday, November 2, 2008

Maejo University welcome arch

There is joy in remembering...

Remember, by Harry Nilsson

Heaven Unveiled

On the road to Subic

March 1, 2012

And He said to them,

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel

to every creature.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved;

but he who does not believe will be condemned.

And these signs will follow those who believe:

in My name they will cast out demons;

they will speak with new tongues;

they will take up serpents;

and if they drink anything deadly,

it will by no means hurt them;

they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

So then, after the Lord had spoken to them,

He was received up into heaven,

and sat down at the right hand of God.

And they went out and preached everywhere,

the Lord working with them

and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.

Amen.

- Mark 16:15-19

February was clearly an end of a season for me.

This was confirmed when the cloud began to move in my life, signifying that it was time for me to pull up my tent pegs, fold the canvas, and follow.

It takes a certain amount of willingness... to be on the lookout for what God is doing. And then to obey.

It's not always easy, but the obedience part will always have its rewards.

For one thing, life gets less complicated.

And God's always bringing us to the place where we let go of encumbrances, the weights that hold us down... because the less structured life becomes, the easier it is to follow His cloud when it begins to move.

Get out of your country,
from your family,
and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.
- Genesis 12:1

This was the clear word of God to Abram, and it was a rhema word for me as well. First spoken to me years ago, it was being spoken to me again... a fresh reminder that I am to move out of my places of comfort, and follow Him to a much better place that He was preparing for me.

It sounds like a literal place, but I know that my comfort zone does not only refer to the physical and the natural.

I often get the feeling that God never wants us to become too comfortable.

As long as we are on this earth, there will be no sense of permanence. Everything is in transition...

And as another season of renewal and restoration is upon me, I realize that there are certain places that I need to return to, that God may have freedom to do a clean closure in those areas of my life.

In this season, my heavenly Father is giving me opportunity to break old cycles.

I welcome the change.

On the very first day of March, my friend Rosemarie and I, together with two other friends, were on our way to Subic to attend a three-day prophetic conference entitled, Gazing Into Glory.

How awesome is that?

And when the keynote speaker said these words, "You're here because you want more," I knew I was in the right place.

Because I was at a point in my life where I really wanted more.

I'd been feeling the need to receive a fresh understanding of what faith is all about, for this stage of my sacred pilgrimage.

Many of us hold on to a twisted understanding of faith, but God wants to simplify matters for us.

Faith isn't really about quantity, but often, that's what we've been taught and made to believe.

When Jesus talked about mustard seed faith, He was talking about a kind of plant that started very small, but eventually took over the whole garden. A mustard seedling is a fast growing plant that chokes everything out.

In this season I am asking God to pour that kind of high quality faith into my heart... a faith that takes over all areas of my life.

Not measured, not contrived... but a faith that trusts completely in God.



Many fresh truths were downloaded into my spirit during the conference and I came away feeling ten feet taller!

As a child of the King, heaven is my birthright. As a citizen of that eternal kingdom, I am living right now in the realm of glory.

The enemy deceives, and the things of earth distract.

In our heart of hearts we crave for spiritual realities. But I need not contend for or chase after something that is already mine... All I need do is to enforce it!

And God is opening our eyes to behold these realities in greater measure. He is maturing the quality of our faith, training us to discern the true from the false, all in preparation for His glorious return.

After an extended time of pure worship, we opened our eyes and found gemstone crystals on the carpet.

One of the speakers mentioned that the river banks of heaven are filled with gemstones and precious crystals.

Heaven resonates with pure worship!

In these last days, God is bringing heaven to earth to give us a tiny foretaste of what His kingdom is like.

And He is ushering in a season of the miraculous... signs and wonders to counteract the tide of doubt and unbelief.

The supernatural is part and parcel of who our God is.

To those who believe, heaven is being unveiled before our very eyes.

I took this picture of a portion of Subic Bay during an early morning stroll in front of our hotel.

A gemstone crystal, a souvenir from heaven.

Main speaker, Bruce Allen, and his wife Reshma.

Subic Bay Yatch Club, at dusk

A group picture with some of the conference speakers

John and Ruth Filler from The Gateway Church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

More about Subic Bay area here