A Divine Repositioning

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The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”
- Ezekiel 37:1-3

Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

and bring her into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

And there I will give her her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

- Hosea 2:14-15

"... For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but My steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and My covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
-Isaiah 54:10




Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
- Zechariah 9:12




You will also declare a thing,
And it will be established for you;
So light will shine on your ways.
- Job 22:28

The year 2016 was a landmark year for me. In many ways, it was also a defining year. The year began with me feeling so hopeful, so certain was I that it was going to be a beautiful year.

As 2016 began, this was the declaration I wrote in my journal:

This is the year of my redemption... my healing... my upgrade... my new sources of provision... a fresh awareness of God's glory in my life... cancellation of my debts... my restoration... my recompense.

Three weeks into the new year, something happened that just turned my world upside down.

The rest of the year is the story of how God grabbed a hold of me and changed my heart. From one of fear, and doubt... to one of trust and hope.

It did turn out to be a different kind of beautiful... not falling into the usual well-defined and picture-perfect categories.

But a rugged type of beauty.

It was God's living Word that helped me make the needed adjustment in my perspective.

Somewhere towards the last quarter of 2016, on the feast of Rosh Hashanah, the Hebrew year 5776 came to an end, and we welcomed the year 5777.

The year 5776 is called Ayin Vav. Ayin, the sixteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, has the numerical value of seventy. It stands for right seeing, right choices, right perspective.

Vav, the sixth letter, literally means tent peg, or hook. It stands for a connection between earthly and heavenly realities.

Looking back at the past year, I can clearly see how Ayin Vav did operate in the circumstances of my life. Father was changing my perspective, re-connecting and re-aligning my heart to His heart.

In 2016, the hand of the Lord took hold of me, brought me out of my comfort zone (again!), and set me down in the midst of a valley of dry bones.

And in that valley, that wilderness, God asked me, Can these bones live?

At that time, like Ezekiel, all I could answer was, O Lord God, You know.

The 2016 chapter of my life story is all about how God led me to the wilderness where He spoke tenderly of many specific promises.

My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and My covenant of peace shall not be removed.

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.

What I thought was the Valley of Achor was actually a door of hope. What I thought was a hopeless valley of dry bones was an exceedingly great army of dead bodies raised back to life.

"Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord. - Ezekiel 37:13, 14

The year 2017 corresponds to the Hebrew year 5777, or Ayin Zayin. Zayin, is a picture of a sword or scepter with a crown.

The crowned scepter, zayin speaks of power, authority, and kingly anointing.

The crowned sword is a weapon for warfare, and can also be seen as a scythe, a harvest implement.


The year 5777 promises to be a year of harvest and breakthrough. Prophets are saying that it is the beginning of a seven-year period of great favor, provision, and victory, very much like the conquest of Canaan during the days of Joshua and Caleb.


Seven is the number of God, it stands for perfection. Triple seven stands for triple perfection!

As the year 2016 ended and we have entered the new year 2017, God gave me a new perspective from which to view my life.

There is a sense of His healing work being accelerated. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are working double time to bring restoration and transformation to the bride of Christ. In the numerous ministry opportunities I have been given the past months, as the year drew to a close I realized God was bringing me to a season of complete dependence on Him, not on my own efforts, skills, or abilities. Everything was about simply being willing and obedient.

Father was teaching me how to minister from a sense of inner rest. Of sitting at His feet, gazing at His face, listening to His voice, and waiting. Especially waiting. Though it linger, wait for it is the word of the Lord in Habakkuk 2:3.

God was also sifting my relationships. Close friends that I had looked up to and depended on in the past are somehow being removed from that position in my life. But Father assures me that it's part of His plan.

Peter Scazzero in his book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality speaks of enlarging our soul through grief and loss... and of gaining more spiritual freedom through a greater detachment from people and things and worldly acclaim.

He writes:

Detachment is the great secret of interior peace. Along the way, in this journey with Christ, we get attached to (literally "nailed to") behaviors, habits, things, and people in an unhealthy way.

Then God allows us to go through the dark night of the soul... that we are left with no choice but to cut off our attachments to who we think we ought to be, or who we falsely think we are.

Along those lines, Father is also teaching me to honor our earthly leaders mostly for the position of authority that they hold, because unity is important to Him, and humility is the only way by which this comes about. This principle is true in the home, in the church, in the workplace, in the nation.



Many beautiful lessons to be thankful for.

But I think 2016 said good-bye much too soon.

When my daughter Obedient One returned to Manila on January 8, I felt a sense of sadness.

We had so much fun as a family during the celebration of Hanukkah, Christmas, and the New Year, but time moves fast.

It's but natural to feel that way, of course, especially because as a mother, I want my children within reach, even if they are already adults. But change is inevitable. The only way to make good use of time is to redeem it, that is, to use it wisely.


I took one long look at the Christmas tree before taking it down. There's nothing magical or spiritual about the tree... but to me, as I had mentioned in my previous post, it has become a historical symbol of my beautiful family.

But yes, I have been thinking of how nothing on this earth really lasts long enough to give us lasting joy. God means it that way. 

I joyfully detach from certain behaviors, traditions, even relationships, for a more meaningful attachment to God. 

I agree with Peter Scazzero when he says that we are to appreciate nature, people, and all God's gifts... without being enamored by them.

And of course, ministry is one of them, no matter how successful, or rewarding, it may seem.

And now I am ready for 2017.

An excerpt from my January 1, 2017 journal entry:

I name this month A Divine Repositioning.

In 2016 fear and doubt took hold of my heart... but God met me at my point of need... let me go through a crisis of belief... and enabled me to re-align my perspective to that of His. 

In the valley of dry bones, I am seeing the dead come back to life, through the breath of Ruach HaKadosh.

Here's a beautiful song by Lauren Daigle, Come Alive, Dry Bones.