the story of erasable pen

Day 23 of review for the board exam, I am using a ball pen which is erasable. The characteristic of a ball pointed pen that is not its usual purpose. The purpose of using a ball pen is to write things permanently in a sheet of paper. I use this erasable pen so that everytime I have corrections, I can still erase it without messing the paper.  Ironically, whenever I use the pen, I do not experience any corrections. The opposite situation when I am using a permanent ball pen.

There is a lesson in this simple story that can be your life’s turning point. I paint a rainbow in this way: I do not experience corrections because I do not care with errors, for I am thinking what I need to write and when I am using the permanent one, I focused not to make errors so I fail to avoid it. When we know our goals and focus our eyes in what we are doing and believing, we can avoid erasures in our life. And when we are focusing on the gloomy side of life, we cannot see clearly so we cannot avoid erasures.

Fixed your eyes to your dreams and disregard the destructions and failures. Always believe that God guides our every action. We do not need to focus in not committing errors because God never fails providing the best path for His children. Instead of focusing in the possibility of your failures, focus in the certainty of your goals and dreams through God. Use a pen of faith and great dreams will be written.

rainbow painter: Colton Dixon

Colton Dixon was the 7th eliminated contestant in American Idol Season 11. His message in the Curtain Call: Colton Dixon video from americanidol.com made him a rainbow painter. This is his inspiring message:

“I’m humbled and thankful… It has been an amazing journey. It really, really has… and I’m so glad that I got to proclaim His name one last time on the stage in front of twenty million people. We’re all messengers. We’re all called by God to share stories and to inspire one another. So don’t be afraid to step out… step of your comfort zone… step out of your box. It’s been so amazing.. to see how God has used me to lift you out of the dark place and to inspire you to do the exact same thing that I’m doing. It’s just amazing and I just wanna thank you so much”

the answer is a difficult hill

“A difficult hill” is the title of the passage that somehow encouraged me to start the review for the board exam with a smile and no worries. The board exam for an electronics engineering graduate like me, is the same in climbing on a steep hill, where you need to have a backpack of knowledge, one liter of hard work, and compass of faith to get over it. These days, I really don’t know how to prepare for the review, until the passage I read yesterday.

March 23, 2012, A Difficult Hill, from Our Daily Bread by RBC Ministries. I read this little book not by date but every time I’m in the mood of reading God’s word so that reading will be more effective. I consider it as God’s way of answering my prayers.  Yesterday, I felt to read it again since I’m worrying about the review, and this time, God provided me this great painting of rainbow. The passage changed my view in starting the review on April 23, 2012. It stated that God will always give us strength for the next step. I realized that our views in difficulties of life are different in the way God sees it. Sometimes, due to the way we sees situations in our life, even small burdens can seem too big to handle. This is probably the reason why I’m frightened to start the review. I’m looking in the situation surrounding it and not focusing my eyes in the real goal, which is to pass the October 2012 ECE Board Exam.

Whenever worries are knocking on your door, try to paint a rainbow through prayers. I can assure you that in different ways, God will strengthen you in your journey. Just remember that if you encounter the steepest hill on your chosen path, wear the eyeglass from God and try to look at it again. 

last part of chapter 28

Part of every school-minded person’s life is the last part of pencil and paper chapter, one of the chapters in my life that I have been waiting for. I am talking about collegiate graduation day, the day to give thanks to the Painter of my life. I am really waiting for this day since my story in choosing my course is different. It is not as easy as the yes or no questions. Nursing is my choice, but unfortunately, I woke up one day in the direction God has painted for me. I took the direction with doubt. I am in doubt taking engineering course. But as the day goes by, I am realizing that I am on the right track.

Last March 27, 2012, at 4:00 in the afternoon, it happened, the day to be grateful to God, to give the biggest thanks that I can. I spent 3 semesters for Nursing, 1 semester for Computer Engineering, and the rest of the days for Electronics Engineering, but God spent every seconds of His holy time for my wisdom, health, relationships, and blessings beyond the sky. I am being foolish when I doubted God’s plan. I realized the reason why God made a U-turn in my decision. I am not saying that Engineering is better to Nursing but it is what God wants me to do. Probably, He let me took Nursing to meet great friends, which adds color to my life and lead me to Electronics Engineering to complete the scene. I am confident that God is at my back, to tell me where I must go and give me the choice to take it, freely.

To the students who are also waiting in the last part of pencil and paper chapter, just keep the faith and God will lead the way. Make this chapter worth remembering by letting God write this chapter for you.

struggling to fly

Few weeks ago, I’m in the library studying for my quiz in Broadcast Engineering and Acoustics subject. As I’m looking outside the window, the freezing air from the air conditioning unit was comforting my eyes to close. Out of this sleepy scene, a little bird catches my attention. This bird was flying the same way that other birds did, but when I looked at it for several times, I somehow realized how this bird painted a rainbow. It forced its little wings down, then up, repeats it, struggles, tries it again, and struggles, maintaining altitude, and then fly. See? Do you see what the little bird did? It doesn’t care whether hindrances blocked its way. To this little bird, what is more important is how it can fly.

Life is full of struggles. Everyone experiences hindrances along the way but how a person respond in the situation creates the difference. We must focus our eyes in the direction we are going and disregard the things that cause the delay in our flight. God does not promise a smooth journey but a magnificent landing. We will encounter struggles in reaching our dreams, but perseverance in keeping the altitude of our dreams will get us there, just in time.

in His ways

It’s been 1 month that I didn’t get a chance to attend our church’s Sunday service due to my in-house review. Honestly, I didn’t feel guilty about not attending church service every Sunday. It is because I assure myself and God that I will not waste my time during those days. I also read my RBC ministries’ Daily Bread every morning to somehow remind me that I need to give part of my time to God. And then guilt knocked on my heart this morning, I thought of going to church today.

I don’t read my Daily Bread based on its date. I read it whenever I want it and I feel that I need to. This morning, the passage I read was entitled, The Most Important Days. It says, “The time spent with God is a time well spent”. This last line of the passage opened the door of guilt to my heart. I thought that God is giving me sign that He wants me to attend the Sunday service today. I disregarded my guilt and continue to what I’m doing, until I received a text from my classmates saying that our review for today is cancelled.

I smiled and said to myself, “God texted me”. It’s like God make a decision for me today. He painted a rainbow for me. He really did! He cares for me!

These are the times that I really proved that God cares for all His children. I don’t know how but faith knows how. When there are times in our life that we can’t decide for ourselves, take a time reading bible or anything that would remind you of God, I’m confident that He will make a decision for us. A far better decision than what we can imagine. If you can’t make right decisions, ask God to do it for you.

seek the small light in the dark

Have you ever doubt God’s goodness? Have you pray for blessings and until now you can’t see God’s answer? Everybody does and those are the times that we didn’t seek the small light in the dark. Painting a rainbow at those times will be helpful. To start a rainbow, try to listen to Laura Story’s song entitled Blessings. This song can let us see beyond what our naked eyes can see.

In our daily living, we pray for blessings and wait for God’s answer. Most of times we are overwhelmed in what we receive and few times the answer is delay. But actually, there is no delay in God’s time. We are just being blinded by the darkness around us. We must not doubt God’s goodness. What we need is to change the way we look in His ways. Instead of looking in raindrops as trials, paint it as billions of blessings. Instead of being sad in crying, paint it as a way of healing. Instead of being tired for the sleepless nights, paint it as God’s way to be closer with us. It is because through faith, trials in our lives are all blessings in a different form. Without using our hearts painting these scenarios, we will stumble and fall. It is not hard to paint these little things using our huge faith to God.

God gave us rough journey, but we can expect to have smooth landing. Nothing worth having comes easy. We may receive blessings in different forms like pain, sadness, and trials but in the end, we’ll realize God’s reasons are far better on what our mind can perceive.

Darkness is part of our lives, we just have to seek the small light and make the best of it. Through faith, that darkness is actually part of the small light. In a different view, we’ll realize that God is giving us more blessings than what we ask.