The Most Prized Possession

Hello! I'm Davinah. It's okay if you can't pronounce it. Sometimes I can't either.

I'm here to share something encouraging for someone. It may just be me, which is totally fine. But I woke up this morning with something on my heart, and I hope it speaks to you.

Long story short, I was raised in a single parent home with a mother anyone would kill (maybe not kill) to have. My mom is incredibly strong, selfless, and nurturing. Church was not something we did on a regular basis. It was mostly on holidays and when a family member would pass away. I was raised a Christian, though-- if that makes sense. I believed in God, and I believed in Jesus. I knew in my heart that there was a higher power, but making a personal connection was never something I really desired until I was in college.

I'll save that story for another day, because I really, really, really want to share what is on my heart this morning.

I just finished an intensive 2 year graduate program that took me out of my church community for 9 long months. I felt dry, isolated, cut off, separated, and most of all I felt forgotten. At the same time, my mom was battling the fight of her life-- stage 2 breast cancer. Between my school papers, her chemotherapy and surgery, reading textbooks, working, and trying to keep my head above water this last year has been an absolute blur. I was barely able to function at the end of my program, let alone understand what God was doing in my life.

  ___________________________________________

Now, imagine this-- you buy a nice gift for yourself and when you get home and open the box, it's in pieces. You have to put all of the pieces together just right, so that it will function correctly. You put this gift together and here comes the moment you've been waiting for. You get to press the on switch.

As you turn on your new shiny, prized possession it begins to do exactly what you want it to do. It's functioning correctly. Let's fast forward 5 years. Your prized possession is a bit blemished, sometimes it works and other times it barely moves. You really, really, really love this prized possession so you have no choice but to take it to a repair shop. The technician tells you that he can fix it, no problem. He'll even do it for free because he sees the prized possession and it's purpose.

That prized possession my friend, is us. God created us to serve a purpose.To love each other. To connect with one another. To serve in community together.

As time goes on, life happens. Let's be honest! Things happen that sometimes darken our hearts, damper our spirits, and suffocate our hope. The off switch gets pressed, and sometimes we just don't want to turn ourselves back on.

But there's someone who fixes that. For free, because He sees our purpose.

He doesn't charge you when you cry out to be renewed, refreshed, or restored. He does it because He knows exactly what you were designed to do, and He will see to it that every fiber of your being recognizes His intentions for your life.

So two weeks ago, after 8 months of feeling absolutely desolate-- God met me. He met me in an encounter that I will never forget because I felt my heart open up again. Do you know why He met me? Because I cried out, and I trusted that God would do something in my heart to heal the hurt that I had felt, but I also trusted that He was not done with me yet.

So whoever you are, reading this... I hope that it speaks to your heart. If it didn't, well that's okay.

I love you.


Davinah
(http://www.daybysnap.blogspot.com/)

A Story for HIS Glory

As a “church kid”, I’ve heard my share of testimonies and stories.  I’ve heard how God delivered people from the lowest of the low, breaking the chains of drug addiction, disease, everything imaginable.  And for a while, those stories made me feel inferior.  Silly as it is, I felt like my testimony wasn’t good enough. 

My testimony begins really at the beginning of my life.  My parents brought me to church and told me about Jesus.   I knew that we were sinners in need of a Savior, and even though I was a little kid, I knew that I needed to accept the gift of salvation.  Some people would say I was too young to know what I was doing, but I know without a doubt that God saved me.  Of course, being a little kid, there wasn’t a whole lot of transformation in my life…not yet.

Then when I was 12, I realized what it meant to live like Christ.  I noticed that even though I wasn’t a bad kid doing bad things, there wasn’t much about me to set me apart as a follower of Jesus.  At that point, I rededicated my life to Christ.  I began really pursuing a daily relationship with God, reading my Bible, and spending time in prayer.  Since then, I have begun to understand how truly amazing God is.  He has shown me many things and answered a lot of prayers.  I know now that every testimony matters, not just extreme ones.

But sometimes I forget.  Even as I write this, part of me wonders what good can come of a story so simple, so seemingly easy.  Then I remember something I heard a preacher say once.  He was sharing his testimony, one a lot like mine, and admitted that at one point he thought he needed a “great” testimony.  The thing he realized is that every testimony is great.  Nothing we do makes it that way; it’s great because by His power God has saved us. 

That’s why I was so excited when Aly asked me to write a post for Revelations of a Daughter.  I want the world to know how great my God is.  My testimony isn’t about me at all—if it was, it wouldn’t be a testimony.  God has given me this story for his glory.

Much Love in Christ!!

 Alexa

Blog: Forever and Today 

 

Life So Aware

Hi my name is Jonathan Rouse, I am 28 years old and married. I grew up as a pastor's kid. My parent's were such a good example to me on how to be a lover of Jesus and a lover of his word. They taught me to always keep his word first in my life and close to my heart. I have to say I am so thankful for that. I haven't always been a perfect little boy, like I am right now haha jk.

 Like a lot of preacher's kids, I did have my rebellious stage. From the time I was 16 through the age of about 21/22 I really just did in life what I wanted to do. A lot of drugs, and alcohol were part of my daily life. Don't get me wrong all the while I still loved God, I still felt bad and convicted for the things that I was doing, I just wanted to run and live life the way I wanted to.

I thank God that my parents brought me up in God's word, because if they didn't I wouldn't know any better, I wouldn't know that God was calling me to something more in life, I wouldn't know that God is calling me to a holy life and that he wants to work through me and in my life for the Glory of God and to reach people that maybe others couldn't. I just want you to know how thankful I am for a God who has new mercy every morning, for a God who is so graceful and forgiving for every sin we have ever committed. I promise you that surrendering your life to God rather than running from him is so much better.

I won't say that every day isn't a battle, that everyday is a perfect day full of happiness and joy, but what I will say is that God gives you strength when you are weak, God never leaves you or gives up on you. I am an example of that. All the time I was running doing my own thing, the Holy Spirit was there telling me it was wrong and that God loved me! It almost brings me to tears right now just thinking about how he never gave up on my and always was reaching out to me, I could always hear that voice inside of me trying to teach me, reach me and love me.

So if you are a Christian and you aren't living for God, listen to that voice inside of you that is telling you "I love you, I will never give up on you, I have a plan for you", know that God is reaching out for you right now and is full of mercy. And if you have never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Let me tell you that His love is never failing, he will never give up on you either. He wants to take you, hold you, heal your broken heart, and just be there for you in whatever area you need him. All you have to do is believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and let him know that you want to have him in your life and he will! Like I said, not everyday will be a perfect one. You will fall and fail, but just pick yourself back up again and let God pick you up, because he is full of love, mercy, grace and forgiveness for you. God has a plan for you, just seek after him and you will find him. Hope this helps you with your walk.   


-Jon Rouse  www.lifesoaware.com

Conflict Zone VS Comfort Zone

This is just something that has been on my heart for quite a while... pretty much my entire life... lol but for some reason today... it has just been in the forefront of my mind... so I'll share.

Countless times I've seen, heard or learned of some type of injustice going on around the world, a need that needs to be met, people or causes that need to be helped. Whether its: feed the children commercials, homeless people on the streets, abortion, human sex trafficking, people needing to vent, a pet dying, financial issues, health issues... (seriously, I could go on forever). You get my point, right? There are a lot of things that go wrong on a daily basis. Can you agree with me that there are certain issues that just really pull on your heart strings? So much so that you're moved... it does something emotionally to you? Maybe its because you can relate... you were at that point before, you know someone that has been there, or you just have a soft spot in your heart for the people or area going through that. There are many different reasons... but regardless... there is a trigger and it has an effect. How often do we actually RESPOND and ACT on this heart string tugging?

sym·pa·thy/ˈsimpəTHē/

Noun:

Feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune. Formal expression of such feelings; condolence

In a nutshell... as humans if we see, hear, or learn of something unfortunate happening... we are sympathetic towards them. Correct? But... Do we just leave it at that? Far too many of us... (especially in the Body of Christ) feel that being sympathetic towards somebody is enough. Is it really?

 If you were going through a tough time, lets just say that you're mourning; would you prefer for someone to tell you that they feel bad about whats going on with you? Or would you prefer for them to cry with you--to share your burden with you? Let's flip the script a bit... If you were celebrating a great accomplishment... what would you value most? A "good job." or a friend that is excited and celebrates with you? I love how The Message puts it:

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

Romans 12:14-16 MSG (Emphasis added)

These verses are not describing sympathy... they are illustrating what it is to be EMPATHETIC.

em·pa·thy

noun \ˈem-pə-thē\

1: the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it 

2: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this

To be empathetic is basically to feel with someone... whereas to be sympathetic is to feel for someone. Sympathy is like the first step towards empathy... but why do we stop there and not take the extra steps to actually experience with whomever or whatever it is that is triggering us to feel??? This is where the Conflict VS Comfort Zone comes in to play... 

Have you ever noticed that, most of the time--  The people that put themselves "out there" to help... the people that are always there for you... that go out of their way to help... that are your shoulder to cry on... etc... are the people that have been through a lot? They've lived through the dark times... and have come out survivors!.. they shine the brightness of their light in whatever part of your life that you need them to? How about the people that have nothing really going wrong in their lives... they're... comfortable? How many comfortable people do you see putting themselves out there to help? From personal experience... when I'm comfortable... I don't want to move one bit... because then I will become UN-comfortable. But did you notice how self centered my previous statement was; who does that help? 

  I actually got this concept from Father of Lights... and I'm paraphrasing, 

'...there are 2 zones in the world: a conflict zone and a comfort zone. The church that is in the conflict zone is united... The church that is in the comfort zone, doesn't care.'

Can I get an "AMEN!" over here?! Some of the strongest bonds that I have with people or causes have come from troubling times. Its in these times of turbulence that you discover who and what is true and what matters and you don't let go. Why do you think that most often, people seek and cling most to God during their dark seasons? Jesus has been through it ALL... He knows what we're going through because He experienced it and prevailed... as a human!

Being in the comfort zone is such a dangerous place to be in. You don't do anything. There is not change, no growth--that means that you have NO AFFECT on anybody. You still have feelings and opinions... but what good are those if there is no action coming from them? 

 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

James 2:14-17 NIV

I've written all of this to say, STEP UP... if you feel these injustices... do something about it! Take that extra step... don't just have an opinion... have an action to back it up! Take a moment to ponder what the world could be like if we each stood up for what is right... is it worth the discomfort? I think so.

May God bless you. I ask in faith right now, that the Holy Spirit stir your heart... that you become uncomfortable and remain uncomfortable until all of the wrongs are righted. I pray that you are filled with strength & boldness that is not your own, but your Heavenly Father's. I declare a revolution in your life that affects many and changes the world! All of this in Jesus' mighty and holy name, Amen.

This photo was taken on an ordinary winter day. My grandparents and I were in our front yard when we saw this homeless man limping with no shoes or pants on. He was only wearing long johns. We gave him clothes, shoes, a blanket, food, water, and called the ambulance because he was injured. Did this interrupt our ordinary day? Yes. I wouldn't have it any other way. Go the extra mile, folks. Not so that you look good, but because it's the right thing to do.

Much love,

Alyssa Ponce

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD

Okay, so first thing’s first: I’m a guy. “Wait, what?” Yep, you read that right – I’m a dude. No, this isn’t a misplaced post. No, I’m not lying. No, this ain’t a joke either.

My name is Eric. I’m an 18-year-old Filipino living in Bangkok, Thailand. Yes, I’m a guy (I believe I can’t stress that enough), so you may be wondering what in the world am I doing posting on a blog that’s entitled “Revelations of a Daughter”? Well, I was honored and privileged to have been asked to make a post for this awesome blog, so here I am.

I was asked to write a testimonial post and well, if you’re looking for a guy that was in a ditch at one point of his life with drugs and alcohol helping him to get there, let me tell you right now: that’s not my testimony. But that doesn’t mean God hasn't worked wonderfully and powerfully in my life.

I was blessed to have been born into a Christian family and raised with strong Christian values. I grew up a Sunday School kid and going to bible camps every summer, and looking back I really thank God for that because that was what solidified my faith. It was what really set my foundation in Christ. However, my family was just your typical Sunday Christian. Basically, we went to church on Sunday then left for a family day. Sure, we prayed and read the Bible, but that was as far as we went. We didn’t know that there was so much more to be had in life with God.

When I was around six or seven years old, my dad came home with the news that the factory he was working in would be shut down and that many people were getting laid off. We were very thankful to God because we found out that my dad wasn’t one of them. Instead he would be transferred to another country. There were four choices: Japan, China, US, and Thailand. My parents aimed to go the US because… well, it’s the US! Ironically, the last on their list was Thailand, but it was for obvious reasons: Thailand wasn’t a Christian nation and my parents were afraid we’d go spiritually dry and it was basically just “across the street” from the Philippines with very little differences in culture and people and all that.

But God had a different plan. A few months later, my family and I moved to Thailand.

My parents had a hard time adjusting. We lived in a house back in the Philippines. Now we lived in a studio type apartment. We only had a handful of friends. The company also didn’t pay for our rent or my school fees, unlike other employees, meaning we had to shoulder it all on our own. When we went around looking at schools, we found that international schools basically had the same fee as students in the Philippines taking a doctorate degree in a course. On top of that, we weren’t sure where we’d find a church.

For a few months, my mom seriously contemplated going back home to the Philippines. However, we soon found a church that took us in as family. Little did we know that it was in that church and in this country that God would raise me and my family in the ministry.

Little by little, we found that there’s more to Christian life than just attending church every Sunday. My parents got involved in ministries. Soon they were leading their own Bible Study. As for me, it was here that I truly began my relationship with the Lord, and soon I also joined my own ministries: I joined the usher team then went on to the worship team and eventually was groomed to be a worship leader.

In the area of finance, my parents learned to tithe faithfully and trust God with their money. Soon, I also joined them in tithing. Even until today, my dad’s company doesn’t pay for our rent or my school tuition. However, my family is financially blessed. My parents were able to pay for my schooling from elementary to high school. Now, I’m enrolled in the top university in Thailand by God’s amazing grace and favor (that’s another testimony I gotta share!). As for that studio-type room, we only actually lived there for a year then we moved to a condominium. Now, however, God has blessed us and we’re living in an actual house with three floors (and I basically have the second floor all to myself). I dunno about you, but three floors is definitely an improvement from a studio-type room!

As for those who got transferred to different countries, we found that God really did have the best plan for us and secured us. Those who were transferred back to the US were sent back to the Philippines because it didn’t work out. Those transferred in China requested transfers because they didn’t like it there. Those who were sent to Japan said the work was too hectic and wanted to transfer to – guess where? – Thailand. It turned out that Thailand was actually the best and stable choice!

Me and my family have been here in Thailand for eleven years. Over the course of that time, another member was added to our group, so now I have a six year old brother (another testimony since I’ve been praying for a sibling for almost thirteen years). Over the course of that time also God has grown my family individually and together, and I am so blessed to have a family that is serving God altogether. My mom is the head of the intercessory group in our church. My dad is one of the church elders or main leaders. I am a worship leader and the youth leader in the church. All of us are in the church leadership team too.

None of us ever though that it would be here in Thailand where God would grow us, that it would be here where He would raise us to be leaders and that He would use us and maximize us. My family and I are still serving here and I look forward for what God has in store for us. I’ve seen his hand move in my family countless times, and I cannot wait to see Him do more amazing things in the coming years.

-Eric

 Editor's Note: Eric has his own blog (http://therealerice.tumblr.com) and you can also follow him on Twitter @TheRealEricE! Check it out!

A New Beginning

(Image: Google Images)

Hello Readers!
If you're reading this, you probably learned about Revelations of a Daughter by either Facebook or Instagram. I thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart for checking out this blog. Your time and attention is incredibly appreciated!

Let me give you a little back story to why I, Alyssa Ponce, even started this blog:

I've always liked to write... whether its a letter, email, fb post, fictional story, essay, journaling, anything... the list goes on. Well, I was searching for another way of glorifying Poppa. At that time, I found myself learning a lot in a quick time and wanted to pour into someone else's life... one of the problems is that, I didn't really know who or where to start with. Then it hit me, (thank You, Holy Spirit)... what if i blogged about what I learned? Somebody out there should/could/would be able to relate, right? Well, that's what I hoped and prayed for! However, my posts seemed to be all over the place... from community service to rants... it felt like something just wasn't clicking... but what was I doing wrong? Haha. That brings me to now :)

Now, more than ever I've had the opportunity to notice and appreciate how everybody that I come into contact with is different. How we all go through different trials and tribulations... How we deal and cope with our circumstances... How we speak, act, think... Our backgrounds... Our strengths and weaknesses..

ALL DIFFERENT.

It's beautiful, really. I'm reminded of a sisterhood... brotherhood... better yet... of family. We all come together to support each other... to be a part of something bigger than our individual selves... to bring out the best in each other. Like a beautiful, vibrant, fragrant bouquet of flowers. One flower on its own may be pretty, but when you put various types of flowers and arrange them just right... WOW! Each one "shines" on its own while still highlighting the beauty of the others around.

(Image: Google Images)

So what's your point, Alyssa??? Well... my point is that I have come to the realization that in order for this blog to thrive and really serve its purpose to glorify God, 

I can't do this on my own. 

 Yes, of course I can continue posting blogs just about my life and my experiences... but my life and experiences are all existent for a purpose that is not my own. I would hate to hinder the impact that this site can have by limiting it to one perspective. That is why I have asked an ELITE group of women... and men (differing in age, stages in their walk with Christ, personality, culture, background, interests, circumstances) if they would be willing to pour out into this blog forum, this ministry... because in reality... that's what we all will be doing, ministering to complete strangers. 

Each of the individuals that I have asked, loves the LORD wholeheartedly and expresses it in totally different ways. I believe that they have accepted to join me because of their love for our Abba... and their passion to spread that love to YOU (the reader), in hopes that you may spread that to others that we may not be able to reach. I pray that Holy Spirit touches your heart and stirs something inside of you so that you truly are impacted by this and in turn are driven to impact others.

Please stay tuned for the first post which will be up soon! I invite you to participate. Lets bring this thing to LIFE!!! Feel free to comment, either to ask, add, or just co-sign what the author said (remember... a little encouragement goes a long way). If you feel that you would like to submit a post, please, please, PLEASE do not hesitate... you can message it to the Revelations of a Daughter Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RevelationsOfADaughter). Feel free to post prayer requests or anything that you feel led to. You are loved!!!

Be blessed,

A Daughter.