Days 69-73

I think that the past few days have mostly been a blessing, but at the same time, God has been teaching me some things as well. I think this is the first time I'm mentioning it here, but for a little less than a month, the Youth Worship Team rehearsed for a Christmas presentation held last Saturday. 

Day 69: Thursday's Technical Rehearsal

In my last post, I mentioned how I was feeling emotionally terrible last week. I also mentioned the most possible reason for that - which came true on Wednesday. Anyway, I was actually prepping myself to have more bad days, but God gave me a break by showing me the joy in baking. And so I spent most of the day making oatmeal raisin cookies - which I brought to rehearsals that day too.

Jess and I met up before rehearsals for some much needed AP date. It wasn't like our usual conversations, this one was very light - just talking about baking, and family, and what it's like being Chinese. Haha. Before heading back to church though, we decided to go to Watson's first and (I would like to think that this was God's bonus for me) lo and behold, Up Dharma Down was performing at the same mall that we were at and I finally, finally got to see and hear them live. (I was just a few meters away from them!) I took a couple of videos of them - I'd post them here but I just took them with my phone and they're of really bad quality. But it doesn't matter, because at least now, I have the memory of watching them perform live - and I could not stop thanking God for it. As shallow as it seems, this was one of the reasons why my day went infinitely better. 

I won't go into the full details of how rehearsal went. All I'll say is that it was both a blessing and a challenge to serve God with all those who were there that night. It was a long night, everyone was tired and getting caught up in the technicalities of things, but somehow, we still managed to get some work done, and I just thank God that He's the one working in the production. I'm also grateful for Him teaching me to be a bit more patient and not get so worked up by the smallest things - although, I guess I learned the lesson but I just failed to apply it.

Day 70: Prayer Time

There are no words to explain how it feels to just take the time to talk to God and to pray for other people. Mark gave us a time limit of 30 minutes to take the time to pray for at most 5 of us who were there at the prayer meeting. We went over time though, and I think that was okay - because none of us minded that we finished late and I think all of us appreciated the day that we allotted to just commit the presentation to God, and surrender all our worries and anxieties to Him. 

I thank God because He never fails to teach us that prayer - though it is about Him - is for us too. I mean, He is the One who understands us the best; when we're feeling all sorts of things and we don't know how to encapsulate it in a word or a sentence, He already knows it. We've been told that prayer is our way of communicating to God, and it's true. Communication is always the best way to get close to a person - and I think that that's really all what God wants for us.

Day 71: The Sound: A GCF Youth L.I.V.E. Christmas Celebration

If I were to sum this day up in one sentence, it would be that: This day was well worth all the trouble and headache that the people spent on because in the end, it was a day just celebrating God and His greatest gift for all of us. It was a long day - yes, I will be lying if I said that it wasn't. But for the most part, it was just an honor to be serving God, to give back what He's given us, and it was just a pleasure to know that somehow, He was glorified and that people were drawn closer to Him and have committed their lives to Him. 

Though there may have been some difficulties getting there and during the performance, I don't think anyone of us minded them. I think that for the most part, all of us were just joyous at being able to serve Him and enjoyed worshiping Him. All of us had a role to play, and though some things were a far cry from being perfect, we did the best that we could at the time, and I know - well, I hope - that God was pleased with what we had offered Him that night. 

I thank God because He proved to all of us, time and time again, why we do the things that we do. He reminded us of just how great, awesome, sovereign, and amazing He truly is - that though while practically all of us were anxious about at least one aspect of the presentation, God proved that He's got us covered.

Day 72: YGroups Christmas Party/Discipleship with Ate Rhods

Okay, so I don't think I was able to enjoy the Christmas party that day because I was still pretty much tired and sleepy from the day before. My parents and I arrived at Church at around 11am, and I literally just woke up an hour ago, took a shower, dressed and left the house in 30 minutes. Usually, I'd be frantic - for waking up late and rushing to finish everything in a short amount of time but I think that time, I was mostly tired to do or complain about anything. Haha.

I think the Youth sort of went all out for this year's Christmas party. I mean, we had concessionary stands of nachos and siomai, street ice cream, and a photo booth station. :)) And although there was a program and games, I don't think a lot of people were paying attention and participating though - but I doubt the ygroup leaders minded very much. I think everyone was just happy to be there and to have fellowship with each other. 

After the party, I had discipleship with Ate Rhods whom I haven't seen in almost 2 months. 

Here's the both of us , posing and doing dorky faces :D I love my discipler ♥

We had lunch at Hainanese Delights, and sometimes, I think we're not meant to stay at a public place just because we're so loud and we laugh a lot. Like, disturbingly a lot. :)) But we never fail to have deep and meaningful conversations while we're having fun. Come to think of it, I think it was one of the best conversations that we've had this year. She was mostly asking questions that caused me to reflect on the past year, especially of how God has been to me this year. And I guess, despite the things that I went through this year, it made me see just how God was working in my life every single day of the year. He was a real teacher and a true protector. 

The talk that we had made me realize just how awesome God is, and how precious I am to Him (of course, we're all precious to Him). I know that this year, He taught me a lot of things - like depending on Him more, knowing for a fact that He only wants the best for me, being certain that my God is everything that I will ever need.

All the while, You hear each spoken need. Your love is way too much to give us lesser things. (Blessings, Laura Story)

I think, I learned that lesson the hard way, but I'm still grateful anyway. I'm grateful that though I was far from being faithful, my God has always been faithful to me.

Something else to be grateful for, was when Ate Rhods gave me the go signal to be a discipler myself. I'm really excited for this one, because it's one of the things that I truly look forward to. It's one of the main reasons why I wanted to in the discipleship program in the first place. Ate Rhods asked me to pray to God about who I would want to disciple some day, and I'm excited as to who this person that God will reveal to me will be.

Day 73: Destiny's Promise Orphanage

Just this Monday, the Youth's Missions Team went on an outreach as a final activity for the year. It was an orphanage in Taytay, Rizal called Destiny's Promise. It's only been up for a year, so it's not the huge orphanages we see on TV. 

Photo by Oliver Pagulayan

The Missions Team and other volunteers with the social workers and the kids :)

Now, I know I haven't mentioned it before. But the days leading to the 19th have been a little tough for me, emotionally. I was getting a lot distracted during the rehearsals for the worship celebration because I couldn't help but notice that it was getting closer to what would have been the first anniversary. The past few days, I was distracted, and I wasn't really dealing with it. I was also worried about how I would be like - emotionally - on the 19th. 

But once again, God had me covered and that there really wasn't anything I needed to be worried about.

I could not have spent this day any better. It was such a blessing, to play with these children and to, somehow, be able to minister to the social workers as well. It certainly makes me see things in a different perspective, and I've just been blessed that they found joy with each other. And I'm certain that they already consider each other as family.

Thank You, Lord. Thank You for adopting us into Your family and making us co-heirs with Your son. You are just amazing.