The Lord Has Made Me Malleable!

It was another great start for the New Year with our return to our second family, the Makati Feast Legaspi which we haven't been to for so many months, even before the Christmas break.

Marti and I tagged along my nephew Asti whom the Feasters last saw when he was just a few months old and when they saw him already walking and in jeans, Asti's favorite Feasters Bro. Ed and Bro. Monty rushed to hug him. This is why I love coming here, you're always warmly welcomed, even warmer than attending a family reunion. Well, at least for me it feels that way. 

Tita Eva was there, with her bright smile and cozy hugs I always look forward to. Saw my Care Group (CG) mates Jen and Gail whom I haven't seen for awhile. Talked to Bro. Monty about the new CG of Separated Brothers and promised to compare notes later on how we could serve more brothers and sisters in our respective CGs.

Brother Randy's talk on "Solutions" was, as always, phenomenal. Let me share with you the notes of the talk I took down:

         

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight."  

~Proverbs 3:5-6

God's solution is slow but sure


3 kinds of solutions:
1. Passivity
- not doing anything, waiting for the problem to be solved
- God wants you to be part of the solution
2. Pride-
- 99% of the time God is never in a hurry
- if you try to solve your problems with pride, a lot of people might get hurt
3. Purpose
- Don't focus on your problem, focus on your purpose! Because when you do, you'll find the solution!
- Make your problems irrelevant!

Make your prayer like this: "Open my eyes so I could see the solution to the problems." Because it's easy to miss something that we're not looking for.

Why are there unanswered prayers? Why God seems silent? He leaves room so our faith would grow. Problems are there to change our mindset on God as a punisher instead of a Loving Father who provides.

During the worship, I heard the question, "What is God's message for you?" And the answer instantly popped in my head: 

The Lord has made me malleable!

Wow, malleable? Images of being stretched out and toughened like a dough crossed my mind but looking it up in the dictionary, malleable meant "Able to be hammered and or pressed permanently out of shape without breaking or cracking." It was a way of the Lord telling me of how much work He has done on me. Oh and how much work He had truly done! Before becoming a Feaster and reconnecting with God, I was like stone: hard, cold, embittered and stubborn. And when the rains came into my life: falling out with my Dad, financial difficulties, depression, despair, I crumbled like stone breaking with the mere steady trickle of water. But the Lord plucked me out of my rock bottom; hammering, chiseling, sanding, melting into so many different forms and shapes I thought I'd break! Now I feel like He has dipped me in water and everything else seems to calming down in my life: I have reconciled with my Dad and opened my life to his new family, realized that I could take care of my own finances, accepted the loss of family---both literally and emotionally---and gain more friends who are like family, learned to be more forgiving and be open to all the possibilities God has planned for me no matter how rough the path. And when He said He had made me malleable, I looked and saw that I wasn't stone anymore but iron that He had plucked from ore. Iron that is now steel that forms a foundation for the greater plans He has ahead. It feels great to know that God really is there, working on you in silence. It even feels greater that He made me see that "When He was all I had, I realized that He was all I need." (I'm plagiarizing facebook here hehehe)!

Near the end of the worship, Brother Randy added a story that he thought someone in the audience needed to hear. I heard him talk about his friend whose wife was critically ill yet both continued to praise God amid their trial at the first Feast of the year in Glorietta. He told us last night that the wife passed away almost 2 weeks ago and that his friend wrote about his coping and the comforting of their 5-year old son after his wife died. It was really heart-wrenching listening to the son asking why his Mom had to die so soon, refreshing my feelings of loss when my Mom passed away when I was 25. I used to tell myself that no matter what age you are, when you lose your Mom, you're the most pitiful person in the world. But then Randy said that the husband was his close friend Ardy Roberto whom I had the privilege to know at the Project Author 1.2 workshop I attended last year, and the tears started to flow. Ardy shared his and Tingting's story particularly their battle with her sickness and the miracle baby they have prayed for so long. I cried because this 5-year old boy's courage to accept the loss of his Mom was such an inspiration. I'm glad Randy shared the story and I guess it was another way of God telling me that my Mom is with Him watching over all of us from way up there in heaven and that they are both proud and smiling.

So, I'm looking forward to another blessed year with my 2nd family and especially starting the MaSiPag CG cycle for this year and I'm only too grateful to the Lord for the gift of abundance, service and love. All for His Greater Glory!

P.S.
Here's a link to the webcast of yesterday's talk. Check it out and get a dose of where I and hundreds of others get spiritually recharged every week:

Watch live video from The Feast on Justin.tv