All, All Is Well...

photo credit

Barlow Road Toll Gate

Mt. Hood, Oregon

November 2015 ends in just a few hours.

This has been a truly amazing month. Jam-packed with events, memories, emotions. Again, words are not adequate to describe how the past 30 days were.

I often think that in heaven there must surely be a way to re-live all the times and seasons of our earthly lives. Everything goes by so quickly. Time literally marches on. Even if I wanted to hold on to the moments, it is humanly impossible.

November is a month of memories for me. The very first day of this month is the day we honor the memory of our beloved family members who have passed away. We go to the memorial park to reminisce, to tell stories, to feel the warm embrace of family love. It is a time to appreciate the sense of belonging to one another.

How important it is, this collective remembering. I so look forward to these times when we just sit under a tarpaulin tent over the graves of our loved ones, eating, chatting, laughing, taking photos... 

Doing nothing significant it seems, yet that in itself is the significant thing.

I appreciate Ernie's sister Sue for always, always initiating these family gatherings. She makes it an important part of our family calendar - to be together, to spend time, to bond, to grow in love with one another. 

And the point is to get this family tradition passed down to the next generation. 

In these days of shifting values, this makes so much sense.

The next day, November 2, we celebrated Ernie's birthday. I have no doubt that he is celebrating each day in heaven, and I have reason to believe that birthdays are somehow also celebrated in heaven... As David has said in Psalm 139:16, All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

On the fifth of the month, we gathered once more to celebrate my second son's birthday.

And on the thirteenth, my grandson Full of Hope celebrated his fifth birthday,

Another important event we celebrated was the day Ernie passed away, the 23rd of the month. It doesn't feel like it's been seven years. But once more, this was an opportunity we took to spend time together as a family remembering the gift that Ernie has been to all of us. What even made it more special was the arrival of my daughter Obedient One from Manila to be with us for a few days.

On November 26, the last Thursday of this month, we gathered once more as a family to celebrate Thanksgiving, "giving thanks" to God for the many blessings He has poured into our lives.

In between these events, we've been feeling the dry heat of the drought now affecting many parts of our country. I go out to the garden at 4 a.m. each day to water my plants while the water pressure is still strong. By five a.m. the water coming out of the faucet is a mere trickle. In the early evening, I water the plants again.

Watering my garden is a prophetic gesture for me. As I spray precious life-giving water on the soil, the leaves, the trunks and stems, the grass, my inner posture is one of prayer. At sundown and before sunset, there is no direct heat to dry up the water, so it is the best time to go to the garden and speak words of life over the many areas of my life, and my nation.


So thankful am I for water, though of course I try my best not to over-water so as not to waste this precious commodity. And the plants have shown their gratitude by blooming...

I want my life to be as a well-watered garden. May my garden be an external picture of my own heart.

But tending the gardens of our hearts require consistent, regular care.

And the enemy of our souls waits for an opportune time to strike.

We need to be on guard.

On the first Sunday of this month, my daughter in law was awakened at two in the morning by an unusual tinkling sound coming from their front room window. She realized that an intruder was trying to break into their home. The intruder ran away when my son turned on all the house lights and went to the front room. Sure enough, four pieces of the glass jalousie window near the front door had been removed. It was a good thing the break-in attempt was intercepted.

A couple very dear to me are undergoing difficult times in relation to one of their children. We have spent much time praying for the situation, asking God to intervene and bring healing and restoration to broken relationships.

Yesterday, at my friend R.'s invitation, I accompanied her and her daughter to Manila for an important meeting. 

It was not an easy time for my dear friend, and even though I hope my presence had been of some comfort to her, I am keenly aware that only our Abba Father can give the full measure of comfort and understanding that we need.

The most I could do was to be a listening ear, and to intercede to God about the painful things confronting them as a family these days.

I returned to Bacolod this morning. I woke up at 4 a.m. to give me enough time to travel to the airport and board my 6:35 a.m. flight, but upon checking in, I found out my flight was delayed for three hours. The waiting was long, but pleasant and comfortable. I finally reached Bacolod City at 10:30 a.m.

My son and his wife, together with their two small children, were waiting for me when I got out of the terminal exit. They had planned for us to have lunch at a nearby seafront eatery.

I was in high spirits when I got into the car. But within just a few minutes the conversation between me and my son developed into a nasty disagreement; I felt a blanket of negativity enveloping me. It was so frustrating, and I could sense the anger rising within my heart.

By the time we reached the eatery, all the good and beautiful feelings I had in my heart had all flown away.  I really felt angry... maybe "victimized" is the correct word.

And worse, I was totally unprepared for it. 

The anger lifted eventually, and we did enjoy our meal together. But as far as I am concerned, the damage had been done, and I had to run to my Savior to once again redeem what the enemy had stolen and to cleanse me, and my son, and everyone else who had somehow been defiled by the spirit of negativity.

I put the blame for what happened on no one else but myself. 

What happened was that the enemy had trapped me in a web of negativity, and I unknowingly walked into it even with my eyes wide open. I was sucked into an environment when I could have avoided it, taken a more proactive part, and prevented it from happening.

Life is a journey, and life is a road, a series of precious moments to celebrate, a garden to tend...

Life is an ongoing battle... a composite of ups and downs, good times and bad times, a mixture of joy and sorrow, victory and defeat.


No matter how others look at it, I have often said that I choose to look at my life from the standpoint of victory. Victories, after all, are permanent, the defeats we encounter are temporary setbacks.


On the very last day of the month, just when I thought everything was going well, the enemy finds a weak spot in my armor, and takes advantage.

Yet I choose to rejoice in the truth that the enemy has already been defeated. And as this month comes to an end, I have a ready name for it, All Is Well.

This name was chosen because once again I realize the importance of the words that come out of our mouths.

A beautiful saying that has come to be one of my favorites goes this way:

   

This is so true.

We create our reality with our words. Yet, these words are not born in our mouths, they originate from deep within... from the heart.

Jesus Himself said it:

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart

brings forth good thing,

and an evil man out of the evil treasure

brings forth evil things.

But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak,

they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

For by your words you will be justified,

and by your words you will be condemned.

- Matthew 12:32-27

It all boils down to filtering my thoughts and keeping watch over my heart... that sweet, not bitter water, may flow out of my heart.

This month is ending, and the title I give it is that of a lesson I need to keep on learning... and carry into the month of December, the last one for this year.

I purpose to speak only words of life, truth, healing, encouragement, affirmation, hope, and thanksgiving, that my mouth my impart grace to those who hear.

With the help of God, my mouth will be an instrument for His glory as I look forward to the remaining days of the year 2015.

I want to give birth to life through my mouth.

Many do not realize it, but the mouth is an instrument of birth each time we open it.

What are we able to give birth to?

It is not so much what we dream or aspire to be. We may have hopes, goals, plans deep inside our hearts. But for as long as they remain within our hearts, they may only serve to inspire,  motivate, and goad us to action.

Until they are given words, thoughts remain as seeds. The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. (Romans 10:8)

Once expressed verbally, these thoughts are given life, and the growing begins.

We give birth to the seed thoughts inside of us by what we are able to eventually declare with our lips.

Whatever we say, whatever we declare... these are like seeds sown into the ground... and over time, we eventually harvest what we have spoken.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue;

And those who love it will eat its fruit. - Proverbs 18:21

Words have so much power because as human beings, you and I are made in the image of God.

Just as God created the universe through the words He spoke, so we create our own universe, our own ambiance, our own environment, through the words that we speak.

The Bible has many metaphors for the mouth.

It is a doorway... through which things in our lives are given entry.

It is a rudder, setting the direction for our life.

We are always given a choice - to be a channel of blessing or a pathway of cursing.

In a real sense, our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being is defined and shaped by the words that we speak.

As this month ends and another one begins... I speak health, provision, restoration, redemption, peace, joy, kindness, faith, protection... to my own life and to my whole family.

All, all is well... by the grace and love of God.

This hymn is one of my favorites...  an appropriate song to go with this end-of-month post. 

Through the love of God our Savior

(words by Mary B. Peters)

Through the love of God our Savior

All will be well

Free and changeless is His favor

All, all is well

Precious is the blood that healed us

Perfect is the grace that sealed us

Strong the hand stretched out to shield us

All must be well

Though we pass through tribulation

All will be well

Ours is such a full salvation

All, all is well

Happy still in God confiding

Fruitful if in Christ abiding

Holy through the Spirit's guiding

All must be well

We expect a bright tomorrow

All will be well

Faith can sing through days of sorrow

All, all is well

On our Father's love relying

Jesus every need supplying

Or in living, or in dying

All must be well