Convoy of Hope and Our Saviour’s Foundation Inc. Disaster Response Team 2nd day of the distribution of relief goods in Ilocos Norte! Thank you so much for blessing our place! The Lord will continue to blessed you more and more! To God be the glory!
Convoy of Hope and Our Saviour’s Foundation Inc. Disaster Response Team 2nd day of the distribution of relief goods in Ilocos Norte! Thank you for blessing our place! The Lord will bless you more and more! To God be the glory!
The more you focus on your difficulty, your hardship, or your pain during a time of suffering makes those things bigger.
When you do that, you will be thinking, “I’ve been going through this, and I’ve been going through that,” and if you tell your friends about your troubles, and they say, “Oh I’m sorry, I feel so sorry for you!” this will aggravate the pain.
The more that they say they pity you, the more your difficulty looks bigger and the bigger it seems, the more you’ll doubt God. The issue here is F-O-C-U-S, not the size of your difficulty.
When I think of focus, I think of many instances in the Bible, but, one of my favourites is the story of Daniel in the lions’ den.
The Bible says Daniel slept with the lions all night, yet, he did not focus on the lions. He wouldn’t have slept if he did. If he focused on the lions, he’d have been over at the corner crouching down, hoping that they wouldn’t see him.
When God did something for me during one of the most difficult times in my life, I saw a painting of Daniel in the lions’ den.
In that painting, I saw bones and all these lions and Daniel had his hands behind his back while looking at a ray of light.
What I want you to see is that Daniel didn’t have his sight on the lions, but he was focusing his gaze on God.
It was like God hugged me that day when I saw that significant painting because from that moment on, all of my fears disappeared. All of my uncertainties and a lot of other things disappeared because I got my focus right.
When you focus on the trouble, the burden, heartache, and pain, these just get bigger, and we feel less confident, less significant, and overwhelmed.
Remember, Daniel looked at the omnipotence of God who created the lions. By doing so, he shut the mouths of the lions and rendered them powerless.
God just let the lions hang around while Daniel went to sleep that night, and when he woke up and looked up, he was reminded of God’s faithfulness.
He realized he was where he was because he had obeyed God, and God delivered him.
God always operates on the basis of principles, not on the basis of feelings or how we feel. I’m referring to principles such as this simple one: we reap what we sow.
Another principle is: obey God and leave all the consequences to Him. That means I should do what He tells me to do and I will allow Him to take care of the consequences.
Still another of those principles is: God acts on behalf of those who wait on Him. So if I’m going to act on that principle, then I know I’m going to be heading in the right direction, knowing fully well that I’m doing the right thing because God operates on principles.
That’s the reason you and I can learn how to relate to Him, because if I don’t understand His ways then I’m going to say, “God, what are you up to?” It’s like He’s just up to doing and being who He says He is.
But, if you obey His principles, watch what happens because God wants us to obey Him and leave the consequences to Him.
Let me ask you a question: Is there any consequence of your obedience that God can’t handle? He can handle every one of them.
If I obey God and leave the consequences to Him, I’m going to be able to have peace, joy, confidence, and assurance because I know that He’s in control no matter what.
He takes care of everything because the only things that can happen in your life are those that He allows.
If you’re a child of God, whatever He allows, He allows it for a reason. I may not like what’s happening—and there have been lots of times I told Him I didn’t like what’s going on—but He said nothing.
Just let God hammer away your circumstances.
When you’re living with guilt in your life, in other words, living with sin in your life, you’re going to have a very difficult time trusting God because sin short-circuits His power in a person’s life.
Obey Him, focus on Him and watch Him deliver you from your circumstances.
“Change is coming!” We saw this in a lot of places during the campaign period for the recent elections in Laoag City. It was adopted by one of the candidates for a key position as his rallying motto, which was proven effective because he won.
The prospect of change brings a certain degree of excitement, maybe because it carries with it hope for something better. The month of June marks the ending of a season and the beginning of a new one. It is the end of summer and the beginning of the rainy season. It is also the beginning of a new school year for most students. This June will be the end of the reign of many politicians and the next month of July will be the beginning of service of the winners in the last election. In the city of Laoag and at the provincial level, we hope to see big changes, better economy, better lives for us Ilocanos. This is the season of change.
It’s midyear and we’re halfway done with the year. Mistakes and shortcomings will be a part of the journey but we can rectify them now that it’s not yet too late or we have not strayed too far yet.
I have a patient who had a 360 degrees turn in his lifestyle because of a metabolic syndrome. He gave up his smoking and drinking habits with so much difficulty. It became a slow process of change but it was done because of his discipline. He got into mindful eating, healthier diet instead of diet fabs and unhealthy snacking and started an exercise regimen that became a habit. He took his medications religiously and looks forward to every physician’s visit. And voila! A big change in his weight, his strides became lighter in going about his activities, a more cheerful disposition in life and tries to infect and influence his friends and family members with his changed lifestyle. Most of us dread the idea of having a laboratory check up because from there we can be able to discover what’s wrong with our system.
My weight loss and fitness program doesn’t fit into what I have planned in the first place. Erratic schedule, unhealthy food choices and fast food diet, dampened willpower and curtailed discipline took a backseat and that has caused a big setback. I just hate to admit that I don’t practice what I sometimes advise to my patients. Changes could be drastic, but armed with a positive outlook, we don’t really have to measure outcomes and results instantly. At the other end of the line, taking consistent small steps at a time could bring about good and favorable results.
Throughout all these years, we’ve seen our fair share of changes, whether it be physical, emotional, political, social and spiritual. And that is to be expected because change is inevitable.. All things change in one way or another. However, there is one thing that will never change no matter what: God’s WORD. Even when things change so much for better or for worse, we can count on God’s unchanging promises and His unchanging love to see us through. In a world where things are constantly changing, we can anchor ourselves on God and His steadfast and unchanging promises. So that even if things change so much, we no longer feel uncertain about our future, His WORD will sustain and give us peace.
As of June 21, a total of 239 students are already enrolled in the High School Department for this coming school year; 187 for Junior High and 52 for Senior High. The school expects an enrolment hike, from 297 students last school year to approximately 314 students this year.
In preparation for the opening of classes on July 8, the school has worked on physical improvements of the school facilities. Aside from the annual repainting of walls from classrooms to corridors, the school has also made sure that all air-conditioning units in the classrooms are functioning well. For this year, a refurbishment of the school library was made. This will not just cater to students who will study their lessons during their vacant periods but will also be used as a training venue for press conferences. Teachers-in-charge of the High School Department are assigned to periodically manage it. Moreover, the former room of Grade 11-HUMSS is already converted as a Music Room where musical instruments will be made available for practice sessions of the members of the OSFI Chorale and Band.
Additionally, the following electives will be offered this school year: for Grade 7, Campus Journalism; Grade 8, Statistics; Grade 9, Trigonometry and Grade 10, Research Methods. All year levels of the Junior High will also have their Computer Education. On the other hand, for the Grade 12, the applied subject entitled Inquiries, Investigations and Immersions (III) will also be offered, while Work Immersion will be replaced by the alternative subjects per strand: Research Capstone for STEM, Business Enterprise Simulation for ABM, and Culminating Activity for HUMSS.
The parents or guardians of the students are invited to join the Orientation Program on July 6, 2019, where Prof. Cristeta A. Pedro, the principal of the department will explain the general rules and regulations along with some alterations made in the School Handbook.
In preparation for the opening of classes on July 8, the school has worked on physical improvements of the school facilities. Aside from the annual repainting of walls from classrooms to corridors, the school has also made sure that all air-conditioning units in the classrooms are functioning well. For this year, a refurbishment of the school library was made. This will not just cater to students who will study their lessons during their vacant periods but will also be used as a training venue for press conferences. Teachers-in-charge of the High School Department are assigned to periodically manage it. Moreover, the former room of Grade 11-HUMSS is already converted as a Music Room where musical instruments will be made available for practice sessions of the members of the OSFI Chorale and Band.
Additionally, the following electives will be offered this school year: for Grade 7, Campus Journalism; Grade 8, Statistics; Grade 9, Trigonometry and Grade 10, Research Methods. All year levels of the Junior High will also have their Computer Education. On the other hand, for the Grade 12, the applied subject entitled Inquiries, Investigations and Immersions (III) will also be offered, while Work Immersion will be replaced by the alternative subjects per strand: Research Capstone for STEM, Business Enterprise Simulation for ABM, and Culminating Activity for HUMSS.
The parents or guardians of the students are invited to join the Orientation Program on July 6, 2019, where Prof. Cristeta A. Pedro, the principal of the department will explain the general rules and regulations along with some alterations made in the School Handbook.
