Thoughts on TRUST and FAITH
THOUGHTS ON TRUST AND FAITH
(Things I’ve Learned and Continue to Re-Learn When Things Don’t Work According To My Plans)
Today, our daughter Drian turned one year and 11 months old. In a month, she’ll be turning two years old, and my hubby and I will also be turning two—we’ll be celebrating our 2nd year as parents to our precious little child.
A sad and unfortunate incident happened in Manila yesterday that made us change our mind about some of our big travel plans for the next few months. But I prayed about our decisions and made necessary adjustments so that we’d still enjoy some quality time as a family, only in a different setting.
At one point during the night, I remember posting this: “Some deferred plans (whether it was a longed-for trip or a new opportunity to try) have ways of working out for the best. I call it God’s perfect timing, how all things happen for a greater purpose that is always, always better than what you ever dreamed or hoped for.”
All of us can lay claim to colorful lives because all of us each have a set of multi-colored memories. They’re pebbles in our memory glass jars, as I love to say. I’ve had my share of pricks and pains in my younger years, but I am thankful I’ve never had to live with regret. Call me an eternal optimist, but I have clung to an awesome God, who knows what’s inside my heart, who knows what I need, and who knows exactly how to comfort me when things get a little haywire.
Here are a few things I learned, and I pray this message could be a blessing to you:
- It’s all about trust. – Are you leaning on God, or are you depending on yourself for every little thing? The Lord blesses us with all we need, but He also wants us to run to Him and lean on Him. What a privilege that we don’t have to worry about anything. When things get skewed in a certain way that is totally off-tangent for me, I try my best to resist getting upset. I don’t always succeed, but when I do see how God makes things fall into place in another way I never expected, I feel that I should’ve just leaned on Him and trusted Him earlier. So why wait? Let’s TRUST His plans for us NOW.
- It’s all about faith. – My husband and I were talking about “mountain-moving faith.” When we can’t make that mountain of a problem move, perhaps God wants us to climb it. I remember a pastor sharing about the complete trust and expectation we have when we switch on the lights in our rooms. We expect it to illuminate the room, we just wait for a few seconds for the light to come on, don’t we? Barring all circumstances of electricity failure and knocked-up bulbs, we are almost always certain that when we switch on the lamps/lights, they’ll come on, don’t they? The light of the Lord never dims, never experiences failure. It is always available, whether we decide to touch our fingers to the switch or not. There’s a lightness that comes with believing in what the Lord has in store, in His powerful love for us. Let’s be reminded that He loves us, and He will never want us to be put to shame. If things don’t seem to be going your way, have faith! The Lord knows the cornerstones of your heart.
I now recall a series of events last year that illustrate my point, about how things may not go according to our plans, but how they do work out for the best:
- I remember planning our daughter Drian’s 1st birthday party and christening nearly 7 months before the party. Some friends were telling me I was way too excited for planning that early, but I wanted everything to be just perfect for our little girl’s party. It wasn’t just that we were celebrating her first year, we were also celebrating our first year as parents! We scheduled Drian’s first birthday party and christening on the Saturday of Drian’s birthday week.
It was a Winnie The Pooh themed-party. My Drian loves Winnie, and as her first favorite character, Winnie the Pooh was to be everywhere. Hahaha! I commissioned a seasoned party coordinator (one friend of mine who has a party planning business) to aid me in the execution of all my ideas…I had an old-school mocha-flavored cake with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger figurines on top, a personalized cupcake tower (with icing looking like the lush foliage of the Hundred Acre Wood, complete with tiny bees, a huge honey pot, and chocolate cookies on top of each cupcake, with my daughter’s smiling face edibly printed on each of the cookies. I hired a videographer to help compile Drian’s photos—documenting from the very day we found out I was pregnant, complete with ultrasound photos, the audio of her crying voice, videos of her giggling, family pictures, studio shots…I even had the good fortune of having two of Drian’s godparents, my good friends Pickles and Lance do the voice-over narration for the video slideshow! It was a story-based script I’d written especially for the video, complete with songs I picked especially for the segments. Winnie the Pooh and Friends were printed in coloring sheets for the adult and kiddie guests to doodle and color while waiting for the fun to start. I commissioned a photographer-friend Tye Ongpauco to take photos of Drian, ones that we blew up into a 9×12 foot tarp (yes, it looked like a huge billboard as a backdrop for the party!), and ones we used for her thank-you cards. I even used Winnie the Pooh and friends’ images for every little food stub (for corn dogs, ice cream, cheesesticks, etc.). You get the picture. Preparing for the party, with my hardworking and supportive husband, plus our loving families by my side, was a labor of love.
Then, on the very day of the party, TYPHOON ONDOY decided to rudely interrupt our much-awaited celebration. It was not at all difficult for us to make a decision to reschedule the party, since the whole nation was in a state of calamity. I made sure I contacted our suppliers (some had already left early to head for our venue, excited to execute the preparations for our party), telling them to head back home, worried that they’d get themselves stuck in flood water that was rising just about everywhere. But I have to say, it wasn’t easy for me to deal with the disappointment of how things didn’t go according to how I hoped they would. The typhoon messed up our plans.
A part of my heart was crushed, being the OC-mom I was, trying to do everything to make everything work out perfectly. A storm is obviously something beyond anyone’s control, and it took a storm like Ondoy to make me also doublecheck how I was handling the storm of disappointment threatening to crumble my insides, at the very possibility that things would not work out despite all the effort I’d put in to make things happen. The typhoon did mess things up.
But it gave us a chance to look beyond ourselves and see what we could do to help others. Drian’s huge birthday cake was divided and packed into containers, distributed to the kids who were stricken by the flood. It was a joy to know that it cheered them up, and also cheered up the volunteers who were working in the relief efforts.
But like I said, God works for the good of those who love Him. In a matter of days, when the sun starting shining, and the rest of Manila was picking up itself from the daze of the enormous flood and havoc ONDOY wreaked, we (me, my hubby, family, party team) were able to reconstruct our party plans and reschedule our daughter’s first birthday party. God made sure that we didn’t lose that much money in the expenses…Our suppliers made it easy for us by giving us minimal charges for the damage caused by the reschedule.
God threw open doors when we allowed trust and faith to envelope us.
The day we finally had Drian’s first birthday and christening was bright, sunny, with a perfect breeze. The venue we ended up choosing was more beautiful than the previous one. And the turnout was pretty amazing, considering that we picked a Friday not too far from Drian’s actual birthdate. Everyone had an amazing time, and more importantly, our daughter collected new pebbles for her memory glass jar.
Some people say that a child doesn’t really remember the details of his first birthday. Maybe so. But my Drian is turning two in a month’s time, and to this day she rattles off details she remembers, memories she recalls from that memorable first-ever Winnie the Pooh party thrown for her. Her giggles and smiles were more than enough thanks.
And it was a blessed day that only the Lord could have made possible. My Heavenly Party-Planner made things smooth, He calmed the storm, and He made us appreciate the things we had, and made us understand how we could be of help to others in our own time of abundance and blessing.
On Drian’s actual birthday (a few days before our messed-up birthday celebration since Ondoy struck), I remember serving a simple fare to my immediate family…Still keeping in theme, I ordered specially-made chocolate cupcakes with Winnie the Pooh and Friends toppers, and served some pancit and Zesto juice drinks. A simple fare for our immediate family, but a celebration we cherished since we were all together that windy night (it was so windy, but we had no idea that a major storm was brewing and would hit a day or two later).
That’s me and my Drian. We were looking out the window that night and I was explaining to her how the wind was howling, that indicated heavy rains. My little birthday girl was feeling under the weather that day.
My husband and I, celebrating our first year as parents
Unlike the candle that sat burning on one of Drian’s birthday cupcakes, the light of trust and faith in our God is one that continues to burn bright, that always stays alight despite the winds and storms that threaten to sweep us away. Let trust and faith illuminate your day when you’re starting to feel the urge to get disappointed about how things aren’t turning out that way you expect. Allow our faithful God to surprise you. His ways are ALWAYS best!
For a glimpse into our own preparations for Drian’s first birthday party (last year), feel free to check out this link:
http://www.proudtobeawifeandmama.com/ideas-for-planning-your-childs-first-birthday/
There are a lot of party ideas in that link, I’ve also taken the liberty of including supplier names, contact information, and photos to enjoy!
2 Responses to “Thoughts on TRUST and FAITH”
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Thank you for this very inspiring blog! Reading something like this is what I really need now. I’ve had my share of deferred plans last year and early this year which really broke my heart. But it was also during those heartbreaking moments that I had learned to lean more on God and to entrust everything to Him. I’m presently waiting for some news that could make or break some plans I have for the next few months. Though I’m tempted to plead and insist again on what I want, I now understand that God will always work out the best for me. I need not worry when there’s a loving and awesome God who’s always looking after my needs.
Thank you for your comment, it’s much appreciated. It’s always a blessing to be able to refresh others, because I feel refreshed as well (as it’s mentioned in the Book of Proverbs). May the Lord bless you and continue to remind you of His mighty and soothing presence always! Take Care, Che!