City Girl, Country Home: hope

Showing posts with label hope. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Dreaming God-Sized Dreams

I'm joining the link-up on Holley Gerth's site. Read more
on God-sized dreams at
http://holleygerth.com/category/god-sized-dreams/

I recently came across Holley Gerth’s site and she talked about God-sized dreams during the New Year. Her definition goes:

God-sized Dream = A desire in your heart for more of what God has for you.

Before delving into the God-sized dream, let me just say that last year was a super blessed one for me! It was the year I turned 40, and the year when the Lord began to restore many of my passions and dreams! These were somehow set aside as “life happened” — my commuter lifestyle, that is. But last year brought a newness with it. Somehow, the Lord allowed me to come across books and other material that talked about calling, gifting, dreaming (without me even searching for them). I’ve been pondering on these for sometime now, and have written down several dreams and goals for the year. I will not share them all here, but one of the desires that I believe the Lord has put in my heart for over a year now is this:

To reach out to women who may be undergoing situations that I’ve gone through or am going through, stuff like:

1. Having a commuter lifestyle — living in two different places, having to shuttle back and forth every so often

2. Having to be apart from my husband many times

3. Having to deal with so many changes on a regular basis

4. Relocating, traveling

5. Marriage, pregnancy and motherhood

6. Being a working mom and a work-at-home mom

7. Loneliness and fears

8. And more!!!

There is this desire in my heart to encourage and inspire women, to be in solidarity with them, to show them that there is hope in Jesus. I think somehow this blog is one way of doing that, as I simply share how the Lord has worked and continues to work in my life, as well as the lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Can you relate to any of the above situations I mentioned? Well then, know that you’re not alone. Feel free to share you story in the comments! Or if you just need someone to pray with you, post your prayer request in the comments, or feel free to send me an email at michnicolas(at)gmail(dot)com. God bless you!

Monday, December 31, 2012

How God’s Word Can Shape Your 2013

It’s the last day of 2012 and I can’t help but thank the Lord for all the wonderful blessings that came with this year, and all the lessons I’ve learned. Looking back, I realize that this year has been greatly shaped by God’s message for me this year. Let me explain.

Just about the strike of midnight every New Year (or thereabouts), we — my family and I, extended family, and members of our Catholic community, Elim — have our annual tradition of asking the Lord for His message for us for the coming year. Whether we are with other families, just our own family or by ourselves, we put ourselves before God’s presence. With our personal Bibles in hand, we say a simple, heartfelt prayer, asking the Lord to speak to us through His Word. We pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead our hands to open our Bibles to where His personal message is for us. We also pray for the Holy Spirit to guide our eyes to read the certain passage or passages where He wants to speak to us. We then open our Bibles prayerfully and start to read, seeking insight as we do so. As a certain passage touches us, we take this to heart and continue to ponder and respond to God’s Word — whether it is something we need to apply, something we need to put faith in or something to wait on. It’s a Word that we hold on to for the entire year.

As for me, the message I got for 2012 was from Zephaniah 3:14-20. This already got me excited at the get-go, since the first lines talk about joy.

Shout for joy, daughter Zion!

sing joyfully, Israel!

Be glad and exult with all your heart,

daughter Jerusalem!

True enough, my 2012 was largely filled with joy. Also, through this passage in Zephaniah, the Lord somehow revealed to me throughout the months who I was in Christ — that I was His divine daughter. This happened in so many ways: through prayer, His Word, other people, walks outdoors, events, books, films, circumstances, etc.

Flowers on my office desk that my officemates
gave me on my birthday :)

This year, I turned 40, and it’s as if new life surged through me! Whereas some of my dreams and passions were either relegated to the wayside or I was confused as to what my dreams and passions were in the first place (there was a time when I nearly got jaded! Or maybe I already was at some point…), this year saw the restoration of these passions and dreams. Some of these are writing, singing and traveling abroad. I never stopped writing (that’s part of my work, actually), but I had a new passion for it, specifically sharing my experiences with others (evidence is this blog which I only began last October; plus my articles were featured in Good Housekeeping Magazine Philippines in April and HomeLife Magazine in October).

Article in Good Housekeeping

Article in HomeLife

For the singing part, well, I never stopped singing either (as I am part of our community’s music ministry), but I began to have a new fervor for music, found myself songwriting (haven’t done that in a while) and even learned how to record the song on my laptop. J

For the traveling abroad part, I got to go to Singapore! (Read about it here.)

And guess what? God had already promised all these at the start of the year, as Zephaniah 3:20c states: “When I bring about your restoration before your very eyes, says the LORD.”

This is just a summary of how my 2012 went — all packed with God’s goodness and grace. For the record, I did have my share of trials, problems and not-so-good times (we all do, don’t we?), but God has been faithful to see me through all of these, as I’d always go back to His Word for me for the year, and claim His promises.

And now, I look forward to 2013 with so much eagerness and hope. Am gearing up for more dreams and goals. And of course — am excited yet again for whatever God’s message will be for me for the coming year.

I encourage you to do the same — to seek God’s specific Word for you for the coming year. If you can do it with your family, great! If not, then find a quiet place where you can be alone with the Lord. Expect Him to speak to your heart through His Word. Let His Word shape your 2013. And see what surprises await you in the coming year!

Have a Blessed and Hope-filled New Year!

Feel free to post your comments!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Finding Jesus in the Flurry

"I’m participating in the Keeping Christ in Christmas Blog Carnival, hosted by Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints, Truly Rich Mom and Arma Dei: Equipping Catholic Families. We'll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Jesus as the Reason for the Christmas season. Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries.”

Just came home from dinner with my Bible cell group, and we shared about our Christmas reflections. In the midst of cute stuffed Santas hovering over the lamps and the aroma of Japanese food in the air, I shared how important it is to deliberately find Jesus in all the busyness and distractions of this season. Especially at this time when the darkness seems to be magnified due to current events (read: death toll rising due to Typhoon Pablo here in the Philippines; the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting incident in the US), all the more reason for us to shine the light of Jesus to bring hope to this world.

O holy night

The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth...

A thrill of hope

The weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks

A new and glorious morn

— from the song “O Holy Night”

We can’t just fall victim to our circumstances, I shared, with layers of distractions and burdens covering the true meaning of Christmas. We can’t allow the evil one to steal our joy and we can’t simply resign ourselves to grapple through these few days leading to Christmas. If we think we’ve somehow already missed the Christmas spirit, we can ask the Lord to redeem the time that we think was messed up. But we must celebrate now, at this moment, for it’s Jesus’ birthday. It’s all about Him. We need to look for that quiet place within us, even in the chaos surrounding us. And even in all that we see, we can find Jesus.

We walked out of the restaurant and one among us mentioned how beautiful the decorations of the mall were. I looked up to see floor upon floor adorned with red ornaments and Christmas lights. Such a festive sight! This just reminded me again of the Light of the World — He it is who brings us hope.

There is still time to find Jesus in the flurry. But maybe it only takes a few minutes of quiet in your heart and a sincere desire to seek the Christ of Christmas.

Jesus, everything is so busy around me. I quiet my heart right now. Please let me know You are near. And grant me Your peace. Amen.

For more inspiration regarding Christmas, check out these other posts:

Don't Miss a Thing this Christmas!

What Christmas Rush?

Wide-eyed Wonder

The "Frugirl's" Guide to Christmas Decorating

Here are the links to the other blog carnival participants. I hope you'll take the time to visit them and leave a comment on their posts! :) The list will be updated throughout the day, so please do come back and check on them. God bless us all!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Wide-eyed Wonder

I recently came across a beautiful quote from a book authored by Bishop Fulton J Sheen: “God walks into your soul with silent step. God comes to you more than you go to Him. Never will His coming be what you expect, and yet never will it disappoint. The more you respond to His gentle pressure, the greater will be your freedom.”

I especially love the part that says, “Never will His coming be what you expect, and yet never will it disappoint.” I love how God surprises His people, especially during this season. Consider how He surprised Mary with the news that she would be the mother of the Savior. Or how He surprised Joseph with that kind of news (OK, that was totally major!). Or how He surprised the shepherds and the Three Wise Men that the Messiah was born. But doesn’t it also surprise us that they saw in this little Baby the promise of hope? They saw.

Do we see? Do we notice? Do we pay attention? If our eyes are truly open, then we shall see.

If you watched “Rise of the Guardians,” you know that North (the Russian Santa character) is one whose core is filled with wonder. I can relate with him, as I’ve been praying that I not miss a thing this Christmas season. True enough, I’ve been encountering God’s surprises recently in so many ways. Here are a few:

• Through the heartfelt and inspiring messages spoken during our office Christmas party

• Through the students who came Christmas caroling at the office

• Through a friend who came to share some delicious chocolate cupcakes (still at the office)

• Through the song that my sister and I sang during our community Christmas party the following day (we sang “Grown-up Christmas List,” which talks about not being jaded but still being able to dream. )

Just a side note: my sister and I have been singing
together since we were kids :)

• Through an encouraging word from someone

• Through an answered prayer

Seemingly normal occurrences can very well be God’s gifts to us. But only when we unwrap them with our sense of wonder and spiritual inquisitiveness will we be able to see and appreciate them for all that they’re worth. Perhaps they are indeed filled with joy, with hope, with love.

God, please gives us that wide-eyed wonder. Give us eyes to see. Amen.

Passage

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Dreaming God-Sized Dreams

Monday, December 31, 2012

How God’s Word Can Shape Your 2013

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Finding Jesus in the Flurry

Monday, December 17, 2012

Wide-eyed Wonder