From a 4-Hour Commute to Less Than a Minute

Once upon a time, one of my favorite past times was daydreaming. I would daydream when I'm happy. I would daydream when I'm bored.

I would daydream in school when I think that my teacher is taking too long at a topic that I have already learned or mastered.

I used to daydream a lot after lunch, when my younger brother and I were supposed to be taking our naps. I found it hard to shut my wild imagination during those times. So, I would often indulge myself with daydreaming instead. Sometimes, I daydream with my eyes shut (so I won't get scolded). Sometimes, I would daydream with my eyes open (when my grandmother is no longer looking or when she has already fallen asleep).

When I was already working, I would usually daydream during my commute -- either on my way to work or on my way home.

Do you know what was one of my favorite scenes in my daydreams then?

Being an employer or business owner who had multiple income streams and had plenty of money for travel and shopping for the things that I like!

Today, I'm living out my daydreams in a small scale. I'm not yet a business tycoon but I have started my own businesses. My mentor Bo Sanchez calls them microbusinesses. I don't mind. They are businesses just the same.

I'm also happy to enjoy some freedom to go to places I want to visit without having to ask permission from a boss for a leave or a vacation or without having to wait until weekend or my day off.

During our family vacation in Baguio after Christmas.

I may not have A LOT of money YET like what I have imagined in my daydreams; but I have more than enough for my family's needs and some of our wants. And all these without having to wake up very early every.single.day. to drag myself to endure a long commute to my workplace.

I used to have at least 2 LONG HOURS of commute to my workplace. I was living with my parents then in San Mateo, Rizal. I would first ride a UV Express or FX to Cubao. From Cubao, I would take the MRT to Ayala. If I miss our office shuttle from Makati to Sucat (which usually happened to me), I would take a cab to our head office in Sucat. It was a long, tiring and costly commute! I had to endure long lines to get a ride and after that endure the long ride to my destination.

That was just one way. Those 2 HOURS could stretch to 3 HOURS in the evening or at night because of traffic and difficulty to catch a ride home.

Now, you know why I had so much time to daydream then!

That's why I worked hard also on making my dream come true of one day leaving the rat race and having my own business, working my desired hours and doing the things that I love.

I loved my job then. But I didn't love everything about it and I didn't love that I had to endure those long commutes to and from work. That is also partly the reason why I would rather have an exhausting schedule of out-of-town or out-of-the-country training programs or workshops. When I need to run a workshop, I don't need to report to our main office unless the venue of the workshop is our head office. I would hire a cab from my residence and go straight to the airport. From there, I fly to my destination, take a cab or wait for the hotel service to bring me to my hotel. Sometimes, the travel time to the hotel or to another province by plane is shorter than my daily commute. I also liked that all my travel expenses were shouldered by my employer. But it was still tiring because there were a lot of training programs and workshops I needed to conduct nationwide. Losing my voice due to sore throat was one of my frequent ailments then.

These days, I can go to my work station in less than a minute! Why? Because I work from home and my home office is just a few steps away from my bedroom. I can even work in my bedroom if I want to. I don't do it anymore though. I have decided that my bedroom is mainly for rest.

Do you also want to work from the comforts of your own home office?

Are you currently an employee who also dreams of becoming an employer one day? Do you also suffer from long commute or travel time? Do you daydream too?

I have good news for you!

I'm holding a Mastermind Session on January 30 from 8:30 am to 10:30 am. We'll have breakfast together. My treat! I will be sharing ways on How You Can Skyrocket Your Transition From Employee to Employer. Would that interest you?

This Mastermind Session is worth at least P5,000. This is limited to a maximum of 10 participants only to ensure optimum interaction with me. You can ask me as many questions as our time together would permit. You can ask me to continue my story and learn from my experiences. The great news is you can attend it for FREE. 

Find out the details on how you can secure a FREE SEAT to this transformational Mastermind Session here.

I look forward to swapping stories with you! See you on January 30!

ABUNDANCE: One Word for the Year 2015 (#OneWord)

It was the first day of the New Year. I was checking my Facebook Account when a post from a friend (actually my husband's cousin) caught my eye. He shared a photo with the Bible verse Jeremiah 29:11. I felt at that moment that God has given me confirmation for my One Word for the Year.

 

I have thought of my One Word for the year days before 2014 ended but I was waiting for God to confirm with me that this was indeed the WORD  that He wanted me to embrace and live out more fully this new year. I was waiting for God to lead me to a Bible verse that would resonate within my soul and affirm me that I have chosen the right word for me this 2015.

 

I knew that I could just Google the word abundance and search for Bible verses related to it and that would easily give me a Bible verse that would support my choice for my One Word this year. But that's not how I want to do it. I wanted God to give me the confirmation that I wanted. That way, I know that it wasn't just me who chose that WORD, but that God wanted me to choose it as well.

 

That's why on January 1, I felt my heart leap for joy when I read these words from my friend's Facebook status.

 

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

 

That very moment I knew that I already have my One Word for the Year 2015. And not only that. With the confirmation I was waiting and asking for, I got my Bible verse for the year as well! What a wonderful gift from God on the first day of the New Year! I am one blessed child of God!

 

Jeremiah 29:11 is a familiar verse for me. It has been one of my favorite Bible verses since I was in college. It thrilled me that God has given me this verse as my Bible Verse for the Year.

Days after this happened, I saw another post in my Facebook feed that confirmed again my choice for my One Word. This time it was a photo shared by Joel Osteen.

I couldn't help but smile. I knew that it was God again speaking to me through that photo.

So, the other day, I made a new cover photo for my Facebook account. It's my way of reminding myself of my One Word and my Bible verse for the year every time I check my Facebook account .

I also felt that God has given me my song for the year through this song. I've decided that I will sing this song at least once a day to claim in faith the ABUNDANCE that God will rain down on me this year.

Yesterday, I bought a copy of one of the devotionals based on Joel Osteen's books. The title of this devotional is Daily Readings from Break Out! I started reading it as soon as I laid hands on it in the bookstore. I read the reading for yesterday and I felt that I found a devotional that God would use to remind and enable me to live out my One Word for the Year.

Last year, my One Word was SHINE. True enough, God enabled me live out my One Word in many ways, but most especially through the fulfillment of my God-sized dreams. Thus, I am all the more excited for 2015. I claim as early as now that this will be a year of ABUNDANCE for me! This will be another breakthrough year because this is God's Will for me.

The reading today in my new devotional affirmed this through another Bible verse:

The Lord answered, "I will be with you." Judges 6:16

My current circumstances do not perfectly manifest my One Word yet. But I believe that it will happen this year as I have envisioned it because God is with me. I know in my heart that God was the One who gave me that vision and who led me to this Word and this verse. One of the verses from the First Reading today supports my belief. It says, "so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it."

What's your One Word and Verse for the Year? I would love to know also.

Mommy TG's Top 12: 2014's Biggest Blessings

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to take this time to write this post because I believe that it's very timely to share about the times in my life last year when I saw and felt God's loving and powerful presence in my life.

 

My husband and I did our yearly exercise/tradition of listing our blessings for the year on January 1 before we had a time of worship with our kids. They were so many! We had a long list and that list only included usually the big or highly noticeable things that happened last year as well as those that happened recently. Don't worry, I will not list all of them here. I've been pondering on what I consider my biggest blessings in the past year since the last few days of 2014 and I have decided to choose the Top 12 Biggest Blessings that I will share here in my blog.  

 

Here they are:

 

1. The gift of Faith to keep on keeping on even when there were big trials and obstacles in my path - I consider this my biggest blessing in the past year. I noticed that 2014 was a year of big impact blessings for me. But behind those big blessings were also big challenges. I cannot thank God enough for sustaining me in faith to keep on putting one more foot in front of the other so I can continue in this walk of faith. I praise and thank God that He granted me the gift of Faith to not give up and to keep on hoping in Him. I'm so glad I did; for God did not disappoint me. I consider 2014 a year of breakthroughs for me because of the things I experienced  for the first time this year. I know that putting my faith in God activated all the other graces that I needed to make my God-sized dreams come true last year and that it paved the way for the many blessings that came my way. I pray that this 2015, God would help me grow even more in faith so I would be able to witness and experience more of His miracles in my life.

 2. The gift of life and being an instrument of God in giving life to another child of God - There are many women who die giving birth. I thank God that He did not let this happen to me when I gave birth recently. I thank God that I lived to see my third child, that I was able to spend Christmas with my family last year, I was able to witness my eldest son sing in the midnight Mass with a choir, and I was able to welcome the New Year with my family. Also, I thank God for planting new life in my womb, allowing me to carry my child to full term, letting my child live (some babies are born as stillbirths or some live only for a few minutes, hours or days), and allowing me to continuously give him life through my breastmilk. We sometimes take our lives or the life of others for granted. We forget that every moment of our lives is a gift from God and that we don't know when that gift would be taken back by the Giver.

 3. Being able to spend a lot of time with my children, spending quality time with them and witnessing their milestones and achievements - These to me are God's precious gifts. Not every parent is given these gifts. I am truly blessed to have spent plenty of time with my two older kids last year. I praise and thank God that God provided for our family through my husband's job; thus, I was still not required to work outside the home. I praise and thank God for the grace also to be an intentional parent to my kids, for inspiring me through the blogs and other parents I have met online and offline and for the example of my own mom to be involved in her children's lives. I feel privileged to have witnessed their many firsts and milestones throughout the year that I was able to take photos or videos of or wrote about in this blog. I also thank God for the many bonding moments I was not able to capture in photos or videos but I was able to ponder and keep in my heart. I will forever treasure these wonderful times together with my kids. Calling them to mind gives me a warm and good feeling knowing that I have filled or at the very least contributed happy memories to my kids' childhood. 

 4. Being able to homeschool my children even while having a difficult pregnancy - I had a difficult time during the first two trimesters of my pregnancy for all our three children. I am the type who would vomit all day and all night (sometimes, even just before going to bed). This made me feel so drained of energy. There were also times when I felt depressed already while experiencing this. I lost my appetite and I was just in bed most of the time. I was weak physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. But praise and thanks be to God who is truly amazing because His power was made manifest in my weakness and eventually I got over my depression and I felt better in the months that followed. God helped me to stand on my feet again (figuratively and literally) and enabled me to homeschool my kids even before I felt really much better. I was amazed as well with the amount of material that my sons and I were able to cover and finish, especially with my eldest son. I thought I could no longer continue homeschooling them given my condition but God proved once more that if we ask Him to be our strength, He will surely answer our prayer. That's what He did to me! He inspired, encouraged and enabled me to do what I thought was impossible! I even think that last year was one of our most productive years in our homeschool if not the most productive so far. This is a miracle indeed!

 5. Being able to achieve my God-sized dreams of holding a book launch with book signing for the print book version of BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking, another book signing event for it, converting it into an e-book and becoming an Amazon Bestselling Author through this book - I have written various blog posts about these blessings and fulfilled God-sized dreams already. You may read these in detail here, here, and here. I am in awe of God for making these dreams come true all in one year! What makes this even more amazing is that the conversion of my print book into e-book and the virtual launch of the e-book happened while I was still pregnant. I'm thankful that God made these possible with the help of event partners and sponsors, my virtual assistants, bloggers and many new people in my network.

6. Finding an institution that administered a comprehensive testing on giftedness for our eldest son - I'm so thankful that we were able to discover that Headway School for Giftedness does this and that God provided for us the means to pay for that test. The test result was a big help for us in understanding our son more, knowing his grade levels (levels because we discovered that he was in 3 levels as of the test date), and in customizing a curriculum for his pace and interests. Moreover, we're grateful to find a school that has a homeschool program for the gifted that we can consider in case we decide not to make our own curriculums anymore.

7. Having a birth experience that I prayed for - I had an unmedicated birth (as planned) in a Lamaze room, my birth plan wishes were fulfilled, and my husband was available to bring me to the hospital when I started to have bloody show on my undies and he was my birth coach again during my delivery. Also, my husband was able to cut our son's umbilical cord just like in my past deliveries. We also had photos and videos of our sons birth. On top of that, we were able to pay for my hospital bills.

8. Finding two maids who are still with us until now that more than a month has passed since my delivery - It seems that God arranged for our maids to find us just in time for my third pregnancy. We hired them just before the first month of my pregnancy. Since most of the maids we hired come and go after a short time, I'm very grateful to God that we were able to convince them to stay with us at least until the end of my maternity leave.

9. Organizing my 2nd son's 3rd birthday before giving birth - This was really important to me because he will be an older brother shortly after his birthday. I praise and thank God that He gave me enough inspiration and strength to do all the necessary preparations and arrangements to make this party happen and to make it a happy and memorable one for my son. You can read in detail how I prepared for my son's construction-themed birthday party while I was heavily-pregnant in one of my previous posts here .

10. Idea for online program and being able to work on it while pregnant - I initially wanted to finish and launch this program last year but I got pregnant and it was a difficult one during the first two trimesters so my plan didn't push through. But I'm grateful still because I was able to finish half of what is needed for my materials before I gave birth. Through this online program, God gives me hope to achieve one of my life goals this year. 

11. New e-book ideas - One of the first new book ideas I had was planted in my mind and heart by God in the first quarter of 2014. Then, I had another book idea around the third quarter of 2014. I wanted to finish writing these e-books last year but God had other plans for me. I'm still grateful because I have already written the outlines for these book ideas and I started writing some of the chapters of the books. More importantly, God taught me humility and surrender once more to His Will through this God-sized dreams of mine that needed to be postponed for later.

12. Learning many new things on blogging, managing a website and an online business, internet marketing, branding, entrepreneurship and publishing an e-book through Amazon - I'm very grateful that I had a lot of opportunities to learn. I was not able to attend a lot of seminars, workshops and conferences during the year but I was able to attend a few. From these, I gained a ton of new knowledge which spurred me to research and find other means to learn new skills. As usual, the universe conspired to send me the materials that I needed to learn. I thank God both for my successes and my failed attempts in executing what I learned. I'm grateful to find online mentors and articles that were very relevant and useful to my business. 

As you might have noticed, the blessings I enumerated above are more than 12. I bundled some of my blessings because I wanted so much to include them in this list. hahaha I received so many big blessings, it's so hard to choose only 12!

Anyway, let me end this post by sharing with you my insights after my husband and I listed our blessings and after much thought on what my biggest blessings are 2014.

"I had big challenges last year but I had a Bigger God who helped me overcome those challenges, which paved the way for me to receive Big Blessings."

"God has been faithful to me even when I had not been faithful to Him."

"Faith and Courage open many doors." 

How about you? Have you paused, pondered and savored your blessings in the past year? What were your biggest blessings? What are your insights? I would love to read other people's blessings in the comments section!

Celebrations on the 4th Day of Christmas

The fourth day of Christmas gave me and my family more than one gift to be thankful for.

 

First, our baby Georg Daniel (Geordan for short) celebrated his first month of life. I was amazed to realize that he's already one month old. I still feel like it was just yesterday when I gave birth to him. Time flies so fast indeed!

 

 

 

Second, our baby has been gaining weight steadily. We had been weighing him every week and so far he has gained weight every week. His biggest weight gain so far was last weekend! He gained 1.6 pounds! Hurray! This was surely an encouraging development for me as I strive to give him the best milk to nourish him.

 

Third, I was able to breastfeed our baby exclusively in the past month! Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of milk! I thank God for helping me endure the early challenges I experienced. Just like in my previous breastfeeding journeys, I had sore nipples again during the early days. I thank God for the grace and strength to persevere and endure the pain. I survived the crucial first month! Things are better now and I'm happy to see my baby growing bigger as I nourish him with my milk.

 

 

I have mentioned previously in one of my blog entries here that Georg Daniel's birth (he was born on November 28) inspired me to move our traditional family outreach to street children from Christmas Day to December 28, which is also the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The brown bags that we make will be like his and Jesus' loot bags and the street kids who will receive them will represent the poor children who were massacred on that same day more than 2,000 years ago.

 

 

 

I involved our two older kids in preparing our loot bags. I asked my husband to look for a photo of the Nativity scene in the internet and to print it in pink paper. I cut the photos and asked our older kids to glue them in front of the brown bags.

I also asked our 3-year-old to help sort/group the food that we will put inside the brown bags. When my eldest child finished sticking the photos in our brown bags, he helped his younger brother in adding the juice to the food that he has grouped/sorted.

I asked our maids to prepare the sandwiches and wrap them in napkins. I punched holes on our brown bags and cut the yarn which will be used to close our brown bags. My husband and older kids placed the food and juice inside the brown bags while one of our maids placed the sandwiches inside after they have finished preparing them. We also added some chocolates and candies inside them. Then, I tied our brown bags with pink and blue yarn.

 

Then, we all rode our vehicle and drove around the city to look for street kids. On our way out of our village, I prayed in my heart that God would lead us to the street kids who need these brown bags the most. It took us around an hour to distribute our brown bags.

 

I thank God for this fourth gift: the gift of family bonding over doing an outreach or work of mercy/act of charity towards our homeless, hungry and thirsty brothers and sisters. 

 

After that, we had some snack before going to Mass in our parish. Incidentally, it was also the Feast of the Holy Family. I thank God that we were able to go to Mass as a family. What perfect way to celebrate this wonderful day!

 

Our parish priest blessed our family after the Mass then we went to the Nativity Scene in our church and had our family picture taken there.

 

 

 

How is your Christmas celebration coming along? Hope you'd find time to savor the gift of Christmas.  

A child has been born to us, a son has been given to us! (Again!)

He was not part of my plan this year.

 

But he was part of God's plan for me and my family. 

 

"For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us." Isaiah 9:6 (NET Bible)

This Word of God first became flesh and blood to me and my husband when I gave birth to our firstborn son more than six years ago. It was an answered prayer, a miracle from God, a promise fulfilled! It came to life for the second time when our second son was born. Another miracle from God! A bonus treat! Then, I got pregnant again! And we found out that we're having another son... Honestly, I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping that God would give us a baby girl this time. But, my disappointment did not last long. Thank God for the grace to remember that this child, this son, is no less a miracle compared to my two older children.

 

 

Being the thinker that I am, I asked God why He gave me and my husband another son and why he had to come close to Christmas.

 

One of God's answers to me was this: so that I would be reminded of His coming during the first Christmas.

 

Since I gave birth close to Christmas or just a few days before the start of the season of Advent, I could not help but turn my thoughts to Mama Mary's experience when she became pregnant unexpectedly and gave birth in a stable.

 

I wondered if she was also disappointed that her original plans did not push through, that she had to experience inconveniences (to say the least) because of this unexpected pregnancy ,and that she had to give birth in a stable of all places!

 

I admit that one of my weaknesses is my need for control on the things that will happen in my life. I love it when things fall into place as I imagined and planned them to happen. And I hate it when things do not turn out as I wanted.

 

I guess this third pregnancy and the birth of our third child is "very timely" indeed! I say this because I believe that God is giving me more opportunities where I can practice how to let go and let Him be in control.

 

I wanted to finish two more books this year. I wanted to finish at least one an online training program. I was thinking of going on tour to promote my book on breastfeeding. I wanted to cover as much material as we possibly can in our homeschool. I was excited to plan and prepare for Christmas activities with my family this year since my husband is in the Philippines this year, unlike last year when he was abroad. I was looking forward to attending Simbang Gabi Masses with my husband and kids now that we live in a house near a church. All these plans didn't materialize this year because I had another challenging/difficult pregnancy and I gave birth just before Advent.

 

God reminded me of this Bible verse through these unfulfilled plans.

 

"You can make many plans, but the LORD's purpose will prevail." Proverbs 19:21 (NLT)

 

I am thankful to God for His abounding grace that helped me overcome my disappointment over the many plans that I had to postpone. I thank God for teaching me to be humble enough not to insist on what I want to achieve or happen this year. I thank God for the grace to trust in God's perfect timing.

 

As the year quickly draws to a close, I lifted my dreams and plans once more to the Lord this morning. I asked Him to help me fulfill the dreams that He planted in my heart. I asked Him to bless my plans for next year. I claim in faith that "all things work together for the good of all those who love the Lord and those whom He has called to His purpose. " I know in my heart that even though I was not able to work on these dreams this year, they can still be fulfilled if God wills them to be fulfilled. Even with another child to take care of, I know that God can still enable me accomplish these God-sized dreams. It might be more difficult because I would be busier but this could be the testimony that God wants me to share: that nothing is impossible with Him. That when God plants a dream in our hearts, even when our circumstances are not encouraging, God can bring it to pass. We only need to believe and allow Him to supply us with all that we need to accomplish the good that He has called us to do.

 

Thus, I thank God that a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us again at this time in my life!

 

Do you also have plans that did not materialize this year? What is God telling you through them? Feel free to share in the comments.
 

Blog in a Blink: Best 13 of '13

I got this idea from Equipping Catholic Families. I didn't confirm right away that I will join the Link Up because I wasn't sure if I'll have the time to do it. But I soon discovered that it was a wonderful exercise at the end of the year. Going back to my previous blog posts enabled me to review the memorable or important life events I wrote about in my blog in the past year. My husband and I had been reviewing and listing our blessings for the year as one of our family traditions and it never fails to fill my heart with so much gratitude. I think I'm going to make this blog review one of my yearly traditions or exercises as well.

 

I also discovered something that I didn't expect while reviewing my blog posts for 2013. One popular saying goes, "The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach." If I am to apply this in my findings on the most popular blog posts I had in 2013, I would say, "The best way to a reader's heart is through his/her stomach!" I say this because I discovered that my Recipes for Meatless Fridays Series last Lent was a hit! They were among those which had the most page views in the past year! I really found it amusing considering that this is not really a food blog. Anyway, I'm thankful that readers loved that series.

 

 

So, here are the 13 Most Popular Posts of Mommy Bares All for 2013:

 

13. Mom First Before WAHM

 

12. My Letter to the Old Man in the Church who Assumed that We Don't Discipline Our Son

 

11. Almost 5 and Breastfeeding Again

 

10. Giving Up and Making Space for Love this Lent

 

9. Why Celebrate Christmas Even After #YolandaPH

 

8. Recipes for Meatless Fridays: Baked Mussels (Baked Tahong)

 

7. Rejoicing with Mary

 

6. Homeschooling and Amusing Moments with my Gifted Child

 

5. Recipes for Meatless Fridays: Paksiw na Bangus

 

4. Stealth Schooling: One of the Reasons I Love to Homeschool My Kids

 

3. Sharing My Recent Breakthrough as a Parent

 

2. Recipes for Meatless Fridays: Seafood Kare-Kare

 

1. Recipes for Meatless Fridays: Spanish Sardines Pasta

 

 Would you like to join me and my blogger friends in this activity? 

Kerygma Magazine October 2013 Feature

If you have been following my blog for around a year now, you probably know our new home's story. We have been blessed to occupy our new house since July. This month, we have been given the opportunity to share about this miracle from God through Kerygma Magazine of Shepherd's Voice Publications, Inc. I'm so thankful for this opportunity! I know that this miracle that we received from God is meant to be shared to many. God paved the way for this to happen by opening this door to me. The last time I shared by story in Kerygma was when I got pregnant with my eldest son, another miracle from God. :)

 

It has been one great and awesome adventure with God just to be able to move to our new house. Our adventure continues as we live here. You may read about it here in one of my previous posts.

 

I encourage you to buy a copy of Kerygma Magazine this October to read our story and be inspired by it and the other stories in the magazine.

 

 

When Choosing to Have a Low Profile Means False Humility

We have often been told that we should maintain a low profile if we are to be truly humble leaders or individuals. But is that really the path that all leaders or persons should take? Is that what Jesus did while He was on earth and led His disciples? Did He really try to be invisible as He carried out the Father’s Will?

What if God is calling you to preach and proclaim the Gospel by using your gift of gab? What if God is calling you to lead people to worship Him? What if God has placed a burden in your heart to champion a cause or advocacy? Do you maintain a low profile? Is it still humility to hide behind the scenes when God is calling you out to take center stage? Is it still humility to refuse God’s call to you to step out boldly as His anointed? Is it humility to shy away from all kinds of service or roles which make you visible and known because you want to maintain a low profile even though you know that you can help in those areas?

 

I strongly believe that being visible or being behind the scenes should not be used to gauge a leader or a person’s humility.

1 Corinthians 12 tells us that we are one body in Christ. But just as God created our body to have many parts with different functions, He also created us unique from each other. God has a unique purpose for each one of us and because of that He has bestowed us with different gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:18-19 says, “God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as He intended… But as it is, there are many parts but one body.” Some of us were called to be preachers, teachers and apostles. Others are called to do administrative work, the leg work or behind the scene work. Does that make any one of us better than others? Does that make us more humble than others? No! We all have a role to play and we are gifted with abilities and talents based on God’s purpose or plan for our lives.

God designed our bodies in such a way that there are exposed parts, not often visible parts, and hidden or private parts. Imagine if suddenly our faces decided to maintain a low profile. Our faces decided that it’s best that they are hidden and covered.  How about if our butts decided that they should be exposed and visible? What would you think of that? Is it humility to choose to be hidden when your call or purpose is to be visible? Is it humility to serve behind the scenes when you’re called and gifted to lead?  Imagine if Moses or Joseph the Dreamer decided that they simply want to maintain low profiles. Would you consider them humble if they have chosen to refuse God’s call to lead His people at a time of need?

 

For me, humility is recognizing who we are in the sight of God, accepting His truth in our lives and living by it. Humility is recognizing where God has called us to serve in His Church and accepting our role in His plan for salvation with fervor – whether it means we serve behind the scenes or we serve visibly. Humility is choosing to let God use us in whatever way He wishes, not choosing how we’ll serve but submitting ourselves to His Divine Will.

I remember a time when I simply wanted to serve in obscurity. I was telling God that I will continue to serve Him even without a title. Prior to that, I was serving Him and His people very visibly as a leader of single men and women in another community. Then, I joined the Light of Jesus (LOJ) Community. I was set to be a regular member serving without any title. I was happy to do all kinds of service without being called a leader or anything. But God had other plans and through my leader then, God invited me to serve as part of LOJ’s Singles Service Team. 

Around a year ago, I told God again that I’m ready to serve without any title and in obscurity. That was after I served as leader in our Prayer Group under the authority of our Parish Priest. I thought that after my service in our parish that it was God’s purpose for me to serve my family alone and a limited number of people only.  I was willing and ready to serve Him and His Church behind the scenes through my gift of writing. But God had other plans. I suddenly found myself serving the bigger Church and the archdiocese. I found myself writing not just in my little blog but for a big number of people including those abroad. I was amazed to realize that God expanded my territory and widened my influence and reach. 

Then as if on cue, we started this Follow Me Series. I felt God telling me to stop paying attention to those voices telling me to maintain a low profile. I felt God asking me through the recent developments in my life and through the previous roles God has given me to stop resisting His Will and plan for my life. Clearly, He was telling me to embrace my destiny and step out boldly as His anointed into the services/roles where He has called me to use my giftedness. He wants me to shine His light. He reminded me that I should not hide my light under a bushel. That the light in my life is not for me alone or mine to keep. The light that God gave me is for me to share so that others would find Jesus and be drawn closer to Him. That He did not give me the gift of words to simply keep them in my journals like what I used to do. But that He asked me to write my thoughts and reflections so I can inspire and encourage and lead people to Him. That He did not give me the gift of gab for me to be silent. Instead He gave me the gift of words so I can speak comfort, hope, encouragement and wisdom to those who need it the most.

 

2 Timothy 1:7 says that God did not give us a spirit of cowardice or timidity; but of boldness, of power, of love and wisdom. 

As I look back at my life, I noticed how God thrust me repeatedly into positions of influence I didn’t even ask or imagine for myself. I thank the Lord for His confidence and for those opportunities. So, in true humility I choose to embrace again my destiny and God’s unique call to me. I choose to say yes to all that He asks me to do even if these entail that I’d be very visible and more people would get to know me. I choose to serve not according to other people’s agenda or my agenda. I choose to serve God based on His agenda.

 

Inspired by the words of our Mother Mary, I say: “I am the Lord’s servant. Be it done to me according to His word.”