Blog Anniversary and a Friend Named Melanie

Crown of Beauty blog is one year old today!

A year ago, Ernie and I were still living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. So in a sense it is true, this "baby" was born in Chiang Mai!

Well, as I always say, I believe that there are no accidents in this life--only divine appointments, open doors of opportunity, or God-ordained moments.... allowed by the Almighty to put us back on track, or in sync, to phrase it in today's jargon.

Years ago I came to realize that each one of us on planet earth is created with a destiny.

The word "destiny" comes from the same root word as "destination"; this alone makes it clear that one's destiny if lived out correctly, will lead to the destination God intended for us.

It makes sense: there can only be one final destination for us when our journey here on earth is over.

God invites us all, and has made provisions for us, to spend eternity in heaven. But He gives us the freedom to choose.

And that is what this blog Crown of Beauty is all about. It is the story of my journey to that fair homeland. My heart beats faster even as I am typing out these words: Heaven is my final destination.

But even while here on earth, living as a foreigner, a citizen from another kingdom, I have seen the sights and the smells of my heavenly home.

It can't be adequately explained, or put into words, but God does show us glimpses of heaven here on earth!

We see it in our deepest desires and longings.

We are touched by a beautiful work of art, or a melody.

We react against injustice; inhumanity, or pollution, stirs up a righteous anger inside our hearts.


I can best express it this way: heaven is bursting with life and creativity. And wherever I come face to face with life, I feel a creative force at work...the touch of the Supreme Life-Giver, God Himself.

It is but inevitable that at many points on this journey, I have felt the touch of heaven.

Nothing in my life is accidental, I am not a product of mere chance. Someone out there, My Creator, is watching out for me. He has planned for me. My God, my heavenly Father has my best interests in mind.

And so, on this my blog anniversary, I want to thank all of you my dear friends and loved ones, who have come to make this world a better place, the journey more worthwhile.

In one way or another, you have touched me with the very life of heaven. Your words have encouraged me, your love has motivated me to take another step, your comfort during my time of loss has brought healing to my pain.

We did not just happen to "bump" into each other, that is clear to me. For a deeper reason, our paths have intersected, whether face to face, or in cyberspace. We are all fellow travelers as we journey toward our final destination.

Thank you for being interested enough in me and my message to keep reading what I have to say on this blog.

Through this medium I want to be faithful to my calling to be an end-time messenger for the body of Christ, a redemptive agent, and a voice to speak healing and hope to the nations.

May this blog be as a shining light to help keep us on the right path, and to draw others in who are looking for the road that leads to our eternal home!

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A Friend Named Melanie

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Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort -
of feeling safe with a person -
having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,
but pouring them all right out, just as they are,
chaff and grain together;
certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
keep what is worth keeping,
and then with the breath of kindness
blow the rest away.

- Dinak Craik, A Life for a Life, 1859


Some people come into our lives and quickly go.
Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts,
and we are never, ever the same.

~Flavia Weedn, Forever, © Flavia.com

And speaking of friends, there are still many stories inside my heart, waiting to be written.

Today I want to share a story about my friend Melanie. The friendship poem written by Dinah Craik best describes what I feel for her.

It was in the early 1980's that we first met each other. She was a young mother with two sons, I was older by a few years, and I also had two young sons, plus a daughter.

The details of those early years are no longer so clear to me. She worked in a shipping firm, I was the principal of our church school.

Our children began schooling at the same time -- her first son Danjo was the same age as my son Worshiper, her second son Jericho was in same class as my daughter Obedient One.

We found ourselves in the same Bible classes and church activities. She worked as a top executive in a shipping company; I was the principal of our church school.

Melanie has an eye for detail, and she does all things well, including her friendships.

Our friendship was a gradual process, and I guess we discovered that we had many things in common.

I think one of the best things about our relationship was that it was so free. There were no demands, not too many expectations, and above all, it was always a delight for us to get together.

We were both busy with our own lives, but whenever we could, we would meet for coffee and cake at our favorite pastry shop, Calea, just beside the L. Fisher Hotel on Lacson Street. It would always be a treat, something to look forward to.

We both belonged to a small group called "Moms in Touch" during which six of us would meet once a week to lift up our children to the Lord in prayer.

When Melanie was 39 years old, her husband died.

Since the early years that I have been getting to know her better, she has been struggling in her marriage. She would do her part, work hard at it, be faithful in praying for her husband, trust the Lord for the answers... but somehow the answers always seemed short-lived.

She would begin all over again: believe in him, forgive him, bail him out... always hoping for the best. But the joy never really lasted long enough.

A few years after the death of her husband, the shipping firm that she worked for began experiencing problems, and eventually, she had to give up a career that she never expected to end that way.

The loss of a husband, the end of a promising career. If Melanie was going through pain, one would not have known it. She exuded strength under pressure, grace in the midst of the storm. She is a beautiful person inside out.

And I know this for a fact: it was her faith in the Lord that kept her from giving up. She would wake up in the wee hours of the morning, kneel by her bed, and cry out her heart to God.

In the early 2000, we began praying for God to give her another husband, for as Melanie herself put it, "There is still so much love inside of me, I am asking God to help me find the right man."

In a specific answer to prayer, God gave her the desires of her heart. In 2002, she met a man named Edward, and in August 2003, they were married!

Edward and Melanie on their wedding day

It was a sad day for me when Melanie had to say good-bye to her family, her friends, and her country...and move to the United States, for the man she had married is an American.

Well, there are no chance events in life. Not only has God given her a kind Christian man for a husband, Edward also received a godly woman for a wife. They were meant for each other.

For a while, it was difficult to get used to not having her around. Melanie loves me like her own sister. She is fiercely loyal to me. She will fight for me, she will defend me to high heavens. She doesn't say things about me behind my back.

The best friend one can ever have is someone who believes in you, and knows all your weaknesses, but will never take it against you. She still loves you anyway.

God knows just how much comfort Melanie can bring to my heart. And I know it was God who told Melanie to come home to the Philippines for a vacation at the exact time that I needed her last November.

She arrived in Bacolod City on November 22, my husband Ernie died the following day.

At around 4:30 a.m., as Ernie's lifeless body was still warm, Melanie and two other friends of ours, walked into the Emergency Room of the Doctors' Hospital. She put her arms around me and wept with me.

I also have other close friends whom I love and who love me in their own special way. But I will not hide the fact that Melanie and I have gone through a lot together, and this has forged a very special bond between us.

I did not even know she was arriving on that day. God sent her at a time that I needed a very special friend by my side.



Melanie went back to the US just a few days ago. I will miss her, but I know she is never far away.

Distance does not separate us, neither does time.

Melanie and I are "friends forever."








Below are some pictures of Melanie and me taken during her recent visit.

Melanie and me at home, after praying for Israel on January 2, 2009

Melanie, me and Miriam at Bascon Cafe

Melanie, me and Miriam again, this time at Bob's Cafe

"Moms in Touch" Christmas get-together at Bar 21:
Miriam, me, Melanie, Eileen, and Jing

New Year lunch with Max and Grace Hughes
front row: Worshiper, me and baby Matt, Obedient One, First Born, God-Given, Melanie and Grace
back row: Danjo (Melanie's son), Max (Grace's husband)

Melanie and me at Sweet Greens Cafe on January 28,
just two days before her birthday.

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.

"Pooh!" he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw.

"I just wanted to be sure of you."

~A.A. Milne

With Melanie, I am always sure.

A Glimpse Into My Garden

This is a portion of my garden. I took this snapshot yesterday at around noon.

My garden is U-shaped: it comes in four parts, the left front, the right front, and going round the left and right sides of our house. Shown here is the left front portion, as viewed from the steps leading to the front door.

The sun was out yesterday after almost a week of rain, and we enjoyed being out in the sunshine for a change.

I'm not complaining at all. In our country, we only have two kinds of weather: rainy or sunny, and on most days, somewhere in between.

In Canada, where my blogger friend Saija lives, everything right now is under a thick blanket of snow. I copied this picture from her entry dated February 3, 2009.

Can't help but be filled with awe, just looking at contrast between the two pictures. We have a God who can keep us and see us through all the seasons.


And I don't have to go through a literal winter to know what winter is like.

I've been through the autumn seasons, where everything precious is being stripped away, and through cold and dreary winters, where pain was my constant companion and adversity was embraced as a friend.

Part of my maturing process has been to look at my life in terms of seasons.

Doing this really makes a lot of sense to me, for I am a gardener at heart.

Tending my little garden is one of the things that draws out a lot of creativity hiding within. There is something that shouts for joy in my heart on a sunny day when I decide to put on my straw hat, take out my garden tools, and get ready to spend a day just working on my garden.

But even this waits for the right time and season. There are weeks, even months, when my garden cries out for attention.

Then, there are days when I have no other agenda on my list, just me and my garden.


After days of re-planting, re-potting, pruning, re-arranging, weeding... I go through a period of waiting. Waiting for my plants to respond to their gardener's touch.

Then comes the day that I've been waiting for: the season of enjoying the results of my efforts. The buds are forming, the new leaves are out; it seems like the whole garden is singing, bursting with joy.

Yesterday, when I took that picture, I just had another sense of good things happening.

Lo, the winter is past... the rain is over and gone... the time of singing has come.

Total Praise

photo credit


Psalm 121

I will lift up my eyes to the hills--
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber,
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper,
The Lord is your shade at your right hand,
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
The Lord shall preserve
your going out and your coming in
From this time forth,
and even forevermore.

Today I want to write about this uplifting song of praise, Total Praise, written by Richard Smallwood.

The inspiration for this hymn must surely have come from the famous Psalm 121, quoted above.

This song will forever remind me of the overwhelming peace, strength, and comfort that filled my heart at the time of my husband's death last November.

Many who find themselves in a similar time of deep loss, of danger, or uncertainty, will surely find great meaning in it.

A CD of this song, performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, was given me by dear friends Max and Grace Hughes when they visited me on November 24, a day after Ernie died. We then played it during the memorial service in honor of my husband given by my FFI (Family Foundations International) family.

I had never heard this hymn before. As it was being played during that service, there was a sacred hush that came into the hall, tears quietly flowed from our eyes, and God's anointing of comfort was so strong. There can be no doubt: His presence came and ministered to us all.

The song was another of God's special gifts to me. It speaks of my total trust in a loving God, my complete abandonment to His perfect timing in my life.

Indeed He is the sovereign God, He holds the seasons of our lives in His hands!


Listen to Total Praise as rendered by the Oslo Gospel Choir.

May God's comfort and peace accompany you today.

Blessed Aroma

This blog received an award on Sunday, February 1.

It was called the Blessed Aroma award and given to 100 Christian women blog writers for the year 2008. My blog was in the category called

Cup Overfloweth Blog: "This is a woman who is following hard after Him. Her words, her heart and her passion for her Savior is evident with every click of the mouse. She inspires you to have a closer relationship with Him."

It came as another pleasant surprise.

I never even knew there was such a thing. And this award speaks such a depth of encouragement to my heart.


There was a time in my life when I would literally feel an evil grip around my neck.

That was the season when God my heavenly Father revealed Himself to me as the Lord of the Breakthrough. He spoke to me through a series of what I call "divine incidents" and gently led me out of the valley of shadow of death. After a fire broke out at the school where I was the principal at the time, I heard Him say to me, "I will give you brand new power lines in your life."

God broke the grip of fear that was trying to pin me down, lie to me about my future, and wanting to remove me from the path of my God given destiny.

He led me through a journey I never thought possible, a journey toward a higher level, closer and closer to His heart.

He did begin giving me new powerlines, a new kind of spiritual authority over my life.

One thing that becomes clearer to me as I walk on this journey is that God will not impose Himself, His standards on anyone. We have to desire it, have a hunger for it, and actively search for it.

As Craig Hill says, "We have to pursue Him with intensity."

It was in this journey that I began to really experience the sense of good things coming my way. The enemy wants to fill our hearts with a sense of dread and foreboding, worry about the future, anxiety over the circumstances of our lives.

But God is not only the Creator, He is also the Re-creator. Nothing is beyond His reach.

And when God revealed Himself to me as the Lord of the Breakthrough, I experienced a tremendous sense of freedom.

This powerful verse, one of my all-time favorites, sums it up:

...God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did..." Romans 4:17

This year is another such year for me. I do sense many new opportunities, new beginnings, being led to a higher calling, a wider sphere of freedom.

I have often written about my husband's death in my recent posts. I do so with a sense of life arising out of the cruelty and violence of an enemy called Death ...

Jesus conquered the grave... and rose in power... and ascended to heaven in victory!

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The blog award is just another indicator of many more good things coming my way this year!

To all my blogging friends who made this award possible, and to all my readers, I want to say, "Thank You." As you will read in my profile, it's not about me, it's about my God and King. I humbly accept the award, but to God alone be the glory, for the things He has done in my life.

May my words continue to give off that pleasing aroma, a fragrance that will touch many other lives and lead them to the throne of King Jesus.

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I want to dedicate this award to a blogging friend named Beautiful Grace. She was one friend who kept me company during my last few months in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She has a special place in my heart. She is one woman who truly exudes grace and humility. She doesn't care for the praises of men. We have never met, but I have come to truly feel a deep love for her.

Beautiful Grace, you have touched my heart, more than you'll ever know.

A Pleasant Surprise

"An Open Door"
At Jing's farmhouse, taken on January 30, 2009

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil,
to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

A few weeks before Ernie and I left Chiang Mai, Thailand, last September, I asked God to reveal the specific assignments that He had for me once I was back in the Philippines.

In a post entitled Homestretch, written when there were only two months left before our departure, I shared that I had some apprehensions about re-entering life back in my homeland.

When we finally arrived back in our country, I had mixed feelings. In a blog entry, Home Again, or New Wineskins, that I did a day after, I wrote these lines:

But at this point, I don't exactly know what awaits me. Honestly, I feel like I'm always being poured off from one container to another. Barely have I settled down before it's time to pour me off again into another vessel.

I went on to describe the process in wine-making called decanting, where wine has to be poured off into another container after it has been allowed to settle for a while. This process helps remove the wine from its dregs, and if done properly, allows the fermentation to result in a smooth and pleasant tasting wine.

I have long understood that as a Christian, I am called to be ready in season, and out of season. That foremost on my mind is the thought that I must be about my Father's business. And having to go through the unsettling process is inevitable. Oswald Chambers says "we are to be as broken bread and poured out wine...."

Those lines are so beautiful... and so true for anyone who wants to truly follow Jesus. And if I am after the end goal of Christlikeness in my life, becoming as a smooth, mellow, and sweet-tasting wine, then there is no other way.

Nevertheless, it's not easy. And there are no shortcuts.

Not only is the wine being aged and sweetened. The old wineskin also needs to be reconditioned for the new wine.

Whether I see myself as the wine, or as the wineskin...either way, there is a painful process involved.

One has to die daily.

One year of living in Thailand has helped Ernie and me to let go of even more of ourselves. It taught us to be less demanding, and to look at many unpleasant circumstances around us without negative judgments.

This is probably what enabled me to quietly go through the pain of losing Ernie... accepting it, embracing this season although I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen. There was so much peace and comfort to just treasure it all in my heart. I did not have to explain how I really felt to anyone, and that made me feel good.

Whenever anyone asked me, "How are you?" I would just sweetly smile and say, "I'm doing fine, and I'm moving on." It was an honest answer, but of course there was more to me than simply moving on.

God knows. That was the most comforting part. With God, no words are needed. He understands perfectly.

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As I kept seeking God for the answer to my question, one thing became increasingly clear to me during our last few weeks in Thailand.

I knew that I would not simply pick up from where I left off once I got back. Sure, there were the things waiting to be sorted out, and portions of our house that we had begun to repair and renovate but which had to be put on hold, the M.A. courses taken that I had to set aside for the time being. But I also knew there were new assignments in store.

God had begun impressing on my heart that I was to devote more time to my church, specifically to be a life-giver, to be a mentor, to be a redemptive agent. Those words were quite specific.

I had only been back a few days when I received several calls from beloved friends and care group members asking if I would be available to teach and "mentor" them in the weeks to come.

This was a confirmation of what God had been putting on my heart.

For the longest time, I've nursed ambivalent feelings about our church. I don't really want to go into the details of what happened. We all go through these things and I guess there were still some raw areas in the process of getting the relationships healed and restored. All I can say is that for many years, I felt that Ernie and I were not really wanted, or needed; our presence was merely being tolerated.

We have our own reasons for feeling this way. Nevertheless, we held on, and we stayed on, learning how to forgive and overlook a hurt, learning to withhold judgments, serving wherever and whenever we felt we could...but to be honest, my heart hadn't really found its way back home yet.

Although things were never openly discussed, through the years my husband and I knew we had to keep holding on to God. And God helped us, made us willing to adjust, look within, change gears, back off, move forward, try again... and we learned many valuable lessons the hard way.

I believe our efforts at keeping our hearts open, instead of closing them, have paid off, by God's grace.

When Ernie and I got back, we felt accepted, loved, welcomed in our church. This time, it really felt like a home-coming for us.

Less than two months after, Ernie was dead.

It was all part of God's design for me and my husband. A week before he died, Ernie preached his "farewell" message in church.

Did anyone know that Ernie was about to say good-bye? No one, absolutely no one knew. Only God did.

As the casket bearing Ernie's body was rolled into the Ikthus main hall of our church, and our beloved friends, around 300 of them, gathered that first night for the nightly services, my heart was grieving, yet rejoicing at the same time.

This was such a beautiful closure to Ernie's earthly life, to say goodbye to him in the context of our church family. It was truly a healing moment for me.

Read Saying Goodbye, the blog post I wrote about Ernie's funeral.
To visit our church blog with posts, pictures, and videos about Ernie click here.

Again, I can only thank God for having made it all possible for me.

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The Women of Purpose ladies group is one of the groups in our church that I have begun to be involved with when I got back.

On this post I will share some of the pictures of our "Women of Purpose" overnight retreat at Dan and Jing's farmhouse in Abuanan on January 29-30. Dan and Jing are dear friends of mine. They have a huge mango orchard with a beautiful farmhouse. Although only six of us were available for this overnight retreat, we all felt that it was meant to be that way. God was able to speak powerfully to us as a group, and individually. Somehow, each one of us got answers to what we were asking God.

This retreat lasted only twenty four hours, and yet it had a quiet impact on me. That's why I entitled this post, "A Pleasant Surprise." I had been seeking further guidance regarding important decisions I needed to make in the near future. My heavenly Father has once again been faithful. He was true to His promises:

"Call out to me and I will show you great and mighty things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)

'Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks, finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

"Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21)

"You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)

"He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him..." (Psalm 91:15)

Me, ready to hear from God

A mug of steaming hot coffee on a cold January morning

At the dinner table on Thursday evening
From L-R: Jing, Indang, me, Mayang, Rose, Divs

Mango trees at Dan and Jing's mango orchard

Tea for six just before we left the farm on Friday afternoon

I Love the Philippines - 4

Sunset: Return of the Fishermen
painting by Fernando Amorsolo

1939. Oil on canvas. 18 x 26. Signed and dated, lower right
Original hand-carved frame made in the Philippines.

On this post, I want to introduce one of the best painters we have in our country, Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (May 30, 1892 - April 26, 1972).

The painting shown above was done in 1939, at the height of Amorsolo’s career. The scene is Manila Bay, famous for its beautiful sunsets. Mount Samat on Bataan is the island in the background. A coconut palm shelters the incoming banca (boat). Nipa huts and bancas are on the right. Two boats, to the right, have already finished work for the day. The incoming banca appears to be the last one to come home. The three figures beach the boat and prepare to bring in the day’s catch.

The figures are not the focal part of the composition. The glowing sunset and the misty mountain are the prime elements in the composition. Amorsolo’s sunset scenes characteristically have this tonal, transparent glow. Like the subject, they embody a landscape filled with peace and serenity. The broad perspective encompasses the beach, bancas, nipa huts, and of course, Mount Samat. All are interrelated and harmonious. (Source of painting interpretation: allinson gallery)

Fernando Amorsolo is one of the most important artists in the history of painting in the Philippines. He was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. He is popularly known for his craftsmanship and mastery in the use of light. Read more about Fernando Amorsolo here.

I came across this beautiful video, a compilation of the paintings of Fernando Amorsolo. It is a tribute to the classic art of Fernando Amorsolo, the powerful Filipino song, Bayan Ko, and the timeless artist, Kuh Ledesma.

The song is taken from Kuh's newest album, K. It is a precious collection of Filipino songs given a neo-ethnic sound through the expertise of Bob Aves. This album is The Philippines' proud contribution to World Music.

Watch Video of Fernando Amorsolo's collection of paintings on You Tube here.

Listen to the song Could You Be Messiah, an original composition written and sung by Gary Valenciano, a Christian Filipino singer here.

Pray for the Philippines

Thank You, KayMac

The books from KayMac arrived today. It was such a heartwarming gesture, considering that we have never met face to face.

I came across her blog many months ago, when my husband and I were still living in Thailand.

KayMac and I started emailing each other, in addition to reading each other's blogs regularly.

To KayMac belongs the honor of being my very first friend from Bloggerville.

Thank you for these books!

Thank you, too, for the beautiful card with its timely message of comfort and hope!

For you, KayMac!

I Love the Philippines-3

This is just one of the 124 islands found in
The Hundred Islands, Alaminos City, Pangasinan Province

photo credit

The Hundred Islands is a cluster of 124 islets located in Alaminos City, in the northern Philippines province of Pangasinan. The islands are scattered along Lingayen Gulf and cover an area of 18.44 square kilometers (4,557 acres). Only three of the islands have been developed for tourists.

Because of its special characteristics, scientific importance, uniqueness, and high scenic value, the islands have been declared by the National Committee on Geographical Sciences as a national geological monument in September 2001.

The Hundred Islands is Pangasinan's best-known attraction. Some of these eroded rocky outcrops have sandy beaches that can get crowded on holidays. Read more about these islands here.


Click on these links:

A Hundred Enchanting Isles to Choose From

Tourism Hundred Islands National Park

Philippines: Travel Guide

Philippine Tourism Authority: Hundred Islands

Hundred Islands Professional Photos

Blog Post: Independence Day Prayer

Listen to Ciara Sotto sing "Dakilang Lahi" (A Noble Race)

Pray for the Philippines

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