Heaven is Real Because God is Real

Have I ever doubted that heaven is real?

 

I don't remember doubting this...

 

But I do remember that there were many times when I doubted God's love for me... I doubted that He wanted to give me what is best... I doubted that He wanted me to be happy. Those were dark nights in my soul.

 

I'm very grateful though that in even in my darkest night, not once did God ever leave my side.

 

He was always there... ever-present.

 

Even when I didn't talk to Him. Even when I didn't even want to remember Him. Even when I was very mad at Him.

 

He listened to me patiently, lovingly... He waited for me to be ready to see things as they really are.

 

When our eyes are filled with tears, we can't see clearly. We see a vague reflection of what's around us. But even when we are weeping, I discovered during those dark nights of my soul, that's it's possible to see God clearly and to experience His loving presence powerfully, vividly.

 

I just watched the movie Heaven is For Real with my husband. This moved me to ask myself if I ever doubted that heaven is real. That got me to write this post.

 

I discovered interesting things as I watched the movie... like a painting of a girl with visions of heaven and what Jesus looks like.

 

Then, I thought, "Does it really matter to me what Jesus looked like in heaven?"

 

My answer is NO.

 

I don't care how he looks... if he has blue or green eyes or dark eyes. I don't care if he has blonde hair or dark hair.

 

To me, what is most important is I know that He loves me immensely... 

 

I know this to be true not only because it is written in the Bible that He died for me on the cross. But most importantly because He lets me experience His love in a very real and personal way. 

 

Yes, there were times when I doubted His love and His plans for my life. I'm glad that during those times when I went through a dark night or dark nights He never left me on my own. He never gave up on convincing me of His love. He never turned His back on me (although there were times I thought He did).

 

Heaven is real to me... because Jesus is real to me. God's love is real to me...

 

I think it's hard to convince people what is real and what is not because God gave all of us free will to choose what our reality would be.

 

But if we just open our hearts and minds even just a bit to God, to Jesus, I know that we will never be the same again. If we allow God to transform our lives and allow Him to be an integral part of it, we will certainly say that God, Jesus, His Holy Spirit, are real.

 

Do you believe that heaven is real? Do you believe that God is real? Why? What makes you say so?

 

 

I'm linking this post to the Catholic Bloggers Monthly Linkup Blitz for August.

What God Gave Me After I Gave My All

I wanted so much to write a blog post right after the 3-day promotion of my book ended yesterday afternoon (Philippine time) but I was too tired already. I also had so many insights. I could not decide what to focus on as I reflected on the wonderful results of my eBook's virtual launch.

 

Today, as I was asking God for direction, He led me to pick up a book that I read long ago. I was moved to reread the conclusion of the book. I couldn't help but smile as I read these lines.

When you give, you create a vacuum.

That vacuum — that empty space — attracts blessings! What blessings? The stuff that you gave away will be returned to you, only of far better quality and greater quantity.

The more you give, the bigger the vacuum you create. The bigger the vacuum, the stronger the magnet — and the more blessings you'll attract into your life.

That's why giving your all is the secret of big returns.

There's magic when you give your all.

Because you also attract all that God wants to give to you.  

I read these lines from the book Take Charge, Give All by my favorite Bestselling Author Bo Sanchez.

 

Two more lines in the book's conclusion struck me.

And don't look down on how small your all is.
Nothing is too small for God.

Wow!

 

I think those lines sum up what had just happened to me as I worked on the release  and virtual launch of BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking's Kindle Edition. I gave my all in the entire process. Many times, I felt that my all wasn't enough to give me my desired results. But at some point, God assured me that giving my all was enough. He would supply the rest. I need not do everything that other people or experts say I should do to make my endeavor a success. (You may read more about my struggles and reflections while working on this project here , here and here.)

 

True to His Word, God responded overwhelmingly to my humble offering of my all.

 

The Gospel last Sunday spoke volumes to me. I felt like I was the little boy with the five loaves of bread and two fish. I felt that my meager contribution isn't enough for the overwhelming need of the people around me.

 

Yet as the priest shared in his homily that evening, "Share the little that you have and let God multiply it to bless many!"

 

That's what God did with my five loaves and two fish. He happily accepted my contribution in spreading the benefits of breastfeeding to families and introducing Him to families, beginning with mothers who embark on this worthwhile journey. Then, He blessed and transformed it! He multiplied my efforts and He used my eBook to bring His message of love and hope to mothers and families all over the world.

 

I thought I was just carrying out God's Will as a dutiful servant and daughter. I forgot that when we obey God, our loving Father, we also open ourselves to His many blessings. And like what Brother Bo said in his book, when we choose to give our all in loving God and in loving the people around us, we attract God's blessings into our lives.

 

Truly, God cannot be outdone in generosity! He surprised me big time with the results of my breastfeeding book's virtual launch. When I gave my all to God in this project, God gave me back blessings beyond my expectations! My book BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking hit the #1 spot on Amazon's Best Sellers List, Top 100 Free in two subcategories — Motherhood and Child Care! It stayed on the #1 spot for most of the 3 days that my eBook was on promotion. Thus, I got #1 Amazon Bestselling Author ranking for August 1 and 2 — those were the first two days of the promotion. (I didn't see the ranking report on the third day of the promotion because there was an error in the report on the third day.) Aside from that, my book's ranking went up to #3 in two bigger categories — Family Relationships and Parenting. (Read the details of this wonderful news here.) 

 

 

I'm so grateful to God for the courage and grace He gave me to give my all to Him. If I have not given Him my all, I would not receive this hundredfold blessing from Him.

 

Is God moving you to give your all to Him at this time? What makes you hesitate? What scares you? Ask God to help you grow in faith and to give you courage to face your fears. Open your life to God's miracles! Give your all to Him and wait with expectant faith that God will give you bigger and better blessings in return.

   

 

 

I'm linking tis post to the Catholic Bloggers Monthly Link up Blitz for August.



BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking (Kindle Edition) is Now an Amazon Best Seller

It's now time to celebrate after all the hard work and challenges I went through in making BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking available in Kindle edition on Amazon. (You may read about some of the challenges I experienced here in one of my previous posts.) My breastfeeding book's Kindle edition was listed in Amazon's Best Seller List! Hurray! I also got a bonus from God. I got Number 1 Author Ranking because of this on August 1 and 2!!! Amazing!!! Wow! This is one BIG surprise indeed from Him! (Read my previous post about my decision to let God surprise me here.)

 

I will praise the name of God in song,

and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:31



My author ranking as of August 1





I've been monitoring Amazon closely, hours before the start of my 3-day Free Book Promotion. I even got tensed around past 3 PM (Manila, Philippines time) when I did not see the regular price of my book change to $0.00. It was already August 1 Pacific time which is the time when the first day of the promotion should go live. I kept hitting the refresh button to see if the price would be updated. Almost an hour has passed, the price has not changed still. I was already very stressed. I sent an email to ask Amazon's help line why the price hasn't changed. I kept looking at my Amazon KDP account and wondered why the status of the Free Book Promotion was reflected there to be ongoing but the price of my book on the different Amazon marketplaces continued to reflect the regular price. There were already people inquiring in my book's Facebook Page if they can already download the eBook for free. So, I posted a few lines from Amazon KDP's website where they mentioned that due to system latencies and differences in time zones, there could be some delays in the price update.

 

After around two LONG hours of waiting, the price of the book became $0.00! I posted an announcement right away on my book's Facebook Page as well as on my personal Facebook account. I was so relieved!!! 

 

Click here to go to my book's Amazon page and to download it for free.

 

What followed was a continuous monitoring of my breastfeeding book's performance in the different categories and subcategories where it was classified. My husband, my virtual assistant (Clarice) and myself worked together to monitor the developments (book ranking, number of units downloaded, posts or articles written about the eBook and the Free Book Promotion, mentions of the book and the promotion on social media sites, etc.) and to promote the eBook Promotion as widely as we can. It was quite challenging to monitor the performance of the book and the effectiveness of the promotion because of the difference in time zones. The Free Book Promotion started around 5 PM already in the Philippines. I stayed up until around past 12 MN to check and document the developments. The result so far of the virtual eBook launch was worth the sacrifice! The many late nights that I worked on this project these past weeks were overshadowed by the outcome! 

 

This was my breastfeeding book's ranking on August 1 before MN in Manila, Philippines and on August 2 until around after lunch (same time zone).

 

One of my goals when I decided to work on this project of making my breastfeeding book available in Amazon is to see its title included in Amazon's Best Sellers List. I know that there are tens of thousands of books being sold on Amazon. I did not dare dream to be on number one spot in any of the natural categories where my book would be placed. I simply dreamed and desired to be included in the Best Sellers List. But my God had greater plans... as usual. :) He surprised me once more by giving me more than what I prayed for. 

 

BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking became Number 1 in the subcategory Motherhood!!!

 

When I was still studying the categories and subcategories on Amazon, I did not plan to put my book in a big category like motherhood because there were too many books competing in that category. (I got this advice from many authors whose posts I read online.) I was thinking of putting it in smaller subcategories like breastfeeding and family health which had over 200 titles and less than a hundred titles respectively. But when I finally uploaded my book on Amazon, I could not find those subcategories in the choices. The only categories I could find which closely matched my book's topic were motherhood and family relationships. I added some keywords hoping that these would help my book get classified in those subcategories. I added breastfeeding, child care, pregnancy, family health, nutrition, parenting and nursing. I was not very optimistic that I would top the subcategories I have chosen even though I'm running a Free Book Promotion for 3 consecutive days. There simply are too many free books competing.     

 

My breastfeeding book landed on this spot on the night of August 1 
and continued to be in that spot as of this writing. 

 

God reminded me however that He can work wonders and miracles! The task of monitoring the performance of my book during this 3-day promotion became more exciting when it started showing in Amazon's Best Sellers List, Top 100 Free. Then, I became more excited as I saw its ranking go up until it hit the Number 1 spot for the subcategory Motherhood. It was surreal!

 

On top of that, it also went up in ranking in another subcategory -- Child Care. It hit the Number 2 spot!

 

 

 

I thought these were already awesome news but my AWESOME GOD also made it possible for my breastfeeding book to hit the Number 3 spot in the bigger category Family Relationships, Number 4 on Parenting and Number 6 in the much bigger category Parenting & Relationships! I believe that only God can make this possible. Looking back, I realized that God really made it happen that way that I could not find the smaller subcategories in the choices as I uploaded my book on Amazon so that He can demonstrate once more His power and glory in my life as an author. I feel so grateful and honored. I thank God for fulfilling my dream, for helping me achieve and even surpass my goal.

 

 

I'm so happy I was able to document these milestones! The first time a book that I authored landed on the Best Seller List, I was not able to take pictures. It happened to my first published title, When My Bridegroom Comes. I wrote it when I was still single and it was in National Bookstores Best Seller List when I first launched it. It also became Number 1 for its category. Sadly, I do not have pictures of that milestone. I was still working full time then as Training Manager in a multinational company. I just learned the news from my mom who was the one checking the displays of my books in the bookstores. One of National Bookstore's staff at SM MOA shared that good news to her while she was going through the bookstores to check my book's performance. At least now, even though I do not have a camera on hand, I was able to take screen shots of my latest book's milestones and document all these here in my blog. :)

 

 

 

There are over 300 downloads already of BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking as of this time. You can still avail of the FREE eBOOK PROMOTION since it will run until tomorrow, August 3. Click here to download your copy.

 

I still have so much to share but I'm feeling tired and sleepy already from all the monitoring and work that I have done in the past days. I promise to share with you more insights, learnings and tips in my upcoming posts. So, make sure you come back or better yet subscribe to my blog.

 

I need to sleep early tonight because tomorrow is the last day in my 3-day book promotion. It will be another busy and exciting day for me.

 

Good night and sweet dreams! May your dreams come true as well! Remember, dreams do come true when you choose to pursue them with God by your side.