50 Days of Amazing Grace 2014 Archives

50 Days of Amazing Grace: Days 47 to 50 — Come, Holy Spirit!!!

June 8, 2014 by Tina 5 Comments

50 Days of Amazing Grace is an annual series {of short, to-the-point posts} that aims to inspire and empower you to live as an ‘Easter person,’ i.e. one who is joyful and ‘sent forth’ to proclaim the wonder of Jesus’ Resurrection. It is inspired by the Easter Season, which, for us Catholics, lasts for 50 days. (You can find the first and second series of posts here and here respectively. For this year’s series of posts, click here.)

It’s finally over — the Easter season, that is! And while we are a bit sad that this official season of rejoicing in Jesus’ Resurrection is over, we continue to be joyful because we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus’ Apostles and Mama Mary at Pentecost!

As a family, we’ve been trying our best to live liturgically, and even if we didn’t get to do a lot of the ideas that I myself suggested in my previous post, I praise God that we were able to celebrate Pentecost in our own way. Last night, we were able to attend , which started with the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist — anticipated Mass for Pentecost.

Photo from the Live Loud FB page

I was in tears during the Consecration — to my surprise, my son knelt on the floor of the venue (we were at Ultra in Pasig) even without being told. He even looked like he was really praying fervently! It may not seem like a big deal to other people but it is to me, for many, many reasons which I shall not bore you with.

Anyway, praise God for that! The Live Loud concert was also very inspiring — all of the songs used were originally composed by CFC Youth for Christ or Singles for Christ members. The testimonies of the different sharers were also quite moving, especially that of Ellish Maigue, who bravely shared about how she had an abortion — how her life changed because of it, and how she found forgiveness, healing and grace in Jesus’ embrace.

Praise God for His redeeming love and saving grace!

I’m so glad we went to Live Loud! 🙂 Thank God indeed for the gift of His love, our faith and our Church!

Today, Pentecost Sunday, we just celebrated in a simple way — by spending time together as a family, de-cluttering our home a bit, donating the toys, clothes and shoes we gathered to our parish, and having a simple ‘Pentecost Party’ at my parents’ house.

We had dinner, prayed together, sang the ‘Happy Birthday’ song for our Church before eating our Pentecost cake (a store-bought one because we don’t have an oven), and then prayed a decade of the Rosary together (The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, of course!).

It was a simple but sweet way to celebrate one of the most significant days in our lives as Catholics. 🙂 Praise God for His amazing grace! Come, Holy Spirit, come!

Source: CatholicCompany.com

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful,

grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise

and ever enjoy His consolations,

Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

God bless, everyone! 🙂

50 Days of Amazing Grace: Days 44 to 46 — Of Mission and Ministry {Plus Links for Celebrating Pentecost}

June 4, 2014 by Tina 1 Comment

You may (or may not) know that I’ve been having a lot of ‘bad’ days lately, especially as a mom. People who see my Facebook posts or read this blog may think that I’ve got it ‘all together’ — some have even called me ‘Wonder Woman’ or ‘Supermom.’ Please. Don’t.

I’m no supermom. I’m no Wonder Woman. I fail my God, my husband, my kids (especially my kids!) every day. I tend to let my emotions (and frustrations!) get the best of me, and when I do, I end up saying and doing things that I regret wholeheartedly.

It’s times like these then, that I am grateful to God for always (as in ALWAYS!) reminding me of my mission and my ministry. At least, what they are supposed to be. Usually, He does this through my own reflections and writing.

Just like yesterday. I wrote my reflections for Didache (a daily devotional published by Shepherd’s Voice Publications) last year, and I don’t even remember what I said in each reflection anymore. So when I received my daily email from KerygmaFamily, I was surprised to see that the reflection for the day was mine. It was perfect timing — God’s perfect timing — because I was feeling overwhelmed again by all the things that I feel I need to do as a wife and mom.

You can read the whole reflection here, but let me share with you the part that struck me the most when I read it yesterday:

Ouch! I feel like I haven’t been being true to my ministry — especially to be the Proverbs 31:10 wife. It’s also been really challenging to raise my kids to be people after God’s own heart — especially since I myself struggle to be a woman after His heart!

Still, I am glad that God reminds me that every day is another opportunity to do the mission He’s called me to, and minister to others, especially my family. Despite my brokenness, failures, faults and weaknesses.

It’s the same for YOU, my friend. God has a ministry and mission for you. He has a plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11). I pray that you’ll be able to discover what it is so you can live a truly rich and full life! 🙂 And, if you already have discovered it, I pray that you’ll find the strength and grace to keep doing your mission and ministry!

Reflection: You are God’s creation and He has a wonderful plan and purpose for your life. Believe it, claim it and live it!

Prayer: Dear Jesus, may my life speak only of Your love and grace every single day. Amen.

P.S. Since Pentecost is coming up real soon, I’d like to share a few links to sites that can help give you ideas on how to celebrate the birthday of the Church in a more meaningful way. You don’t have to feel pressured to do something BIG for Pentecost, but I encourage all of us to do more than ‘just going to Mass’ — although Holy Mass is already a grand celebration in itself, of course! 🙂

If you have younger kids:
On : http://www.catholicinspired.com/2014/06/pentecost-activities.html
On :
On :

If you have kids who are tweens, teens and up:

http://www.rethinkingyouthministry.com/2010/05/pentecost-ideas-for-youth-ministry.html

(Photo credit: HolySpiritInteractive.net)

50 Days of Amazing Grace: Days 32 to 43 — O Sacred Heart! O Love Divine!

June 1, 2014 by Tina 4 Comments

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I’ve been here. I don’t know if you’ve missed me (ahem! ahem!) and/or my posts but I have certainly missed blogging, although not as much as I thought I would. I find it ‘freeing’ actually — to not feel ‘pressured’ to update this blog so often. I know that others may consider that ‘blogging suicide’ — not posting at least 2-3 times a week.

Still, like I said in my last post, I believe that this blog and my life in general are meant for so much more. I’m still figuring out what that is for sure, but I’ve started jotting down notes about what I think HE wants for this online space.

In the meantime, I continue to be grateful for His calling me to this life, this work, this ‘mission’ if you like — of inspiring, or at least trying to inspire, at least one person to grow closer to Him.

To be perfectly and painfully honest with you, the past days have found me in a rather sorry state at times. I’ve been a ‘monster mom’ again too often — which is one of the reasons why I didn’t feel like blogging. I mean, what could be less inspiring than being a mean mother to your kids, right? (And, a mean wife to your husband too!)

But today, the first day of the month of June, which is traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I’m ‘back’ here to tell you (and remind myself), that God always, always, always gives us second chances. Thank goodness He does!

Image from SacredHeartDevotion.com

So, if you’ve been feeling like a failure lately, or if you’ve been thinking hopeless thoughts, call on Him. Trust in His Sacred Heart. Open your heart to His Love Divine. And together, let us see His miracles in our lives!

Reflection: Dear Lord, help me to trust in You and in Your Sacred Heart, wounded for me, only for me. Thank You for Your Divine Love.

Prayer:

Do keep us near to Thee;
And make our love so like to Thine
That we may holy be.

Heart of Jesus hear!
O heart of Love Divine!
Listen to our Prayer;
Make us alway Thine.

O Temple pure! O House of gold!
Our heaven here below
What sweet delight, what wealth untold,
From Thee do ever flow.

Heart of Jesus hear!
O heart of Love Divine!
Listen to our Prayer;
Make us alway Thine.

O Wounded Heart, O Font of tears!
O Throne of grief and pain!
Whereon for the eternal years,
Thy love for man does reign.

Heart of Jesus hear!
O heart of Love Divine!
Listen to our Prayer;
Make us alway Thine.

Ungrateful hearts, forgetful hearts,
The hearts of man have been,
To wound Thy side with cruel darts
Which they have made by sin.

Heart of Jesus hear!
O heart of Love Divine!
Listen to our Prayer;
Make us alway Thine.

50 Days of Amazing Grace: Days 30 to 31 — We Were Created for So Much More!

May 20, 2014 by Tina 13 Comments

Yesterday, articles I wrote for two different websites went live online — the first was for Make It Blissful, about my take on meaningful living, while the second was for Catholic Mom, where I shared 5 simple ways to honor Mama Mary (since May is her month and all).

I’d like to believe that both articles are connected somehow — that they both reflect what intentional blogging means to me.

You see, when I started blogging over five years ago, my main purpose was to earn money. Someone had mentioned to me that you could earn money by blogging, and since we were living on a lay missionary’s budget that time, I figured, “Why not try it and see if I can really make some moolah?”

Little did I know though that it wasn’t (and still isn’t!) as easy as some people make it appear to be. Yes, you can earn income through blogging but it takes a lot of work to do so.

Photo c/o stockimages | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When I first started blogging, I thought I wanted to do what other ‘mommy bloggers’ do — you know, attend events (and blog about them), do product reviews, etc. BUT at the same time, write about my faith and family, and use my blog as a platform for my ‘mission’ in life.

Fast forward to the present day.

I still attend events, but very rarely now.

I still do product reviews, but more for other sites than on this blog (though that still depends on whether or not the product/brand/place is aligned to my blog).

I blog more about my faith and family now (and homeschooling!) so, in a way, I do hope I’ve been using this place as a platform for my life’s ‘mission.’

You see, I’ve learned along the way that while we are still living here on Earth, and yes, even in blogging, we are meant for SO much more. We were made for so much more.

Colossians 3:17 says:

“…whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

This is what I hope to do — to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.” To write, to blog, to parent, to breathe… in the name of Jesus! 🙂

Image c/o Sira Anamwong | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’ve been praying about a new direction for this little online home of mine, and I feel more and more that God is leading me to it. The question now is: When will it come to fruition?

To be honest with you, part of me is a bit ‘scared’ of losing readers. But then I go back to the verse above. It doesn’t matter what other people think — what matters most is that “whatever I do, in word or in deed” is for Him.

Reflection: We are made for so much more. This blog is made for so much more. YOU are made for so much more, dear friend. It’s time to discover what that ‘so much more’ is!

How? Just open your heart to Him today. You’ll be surprised at what He’s got in store for you! 🙂

Prayer: Dear Lord, please lead me to the ‘so much more’ that You have prepared for me. I trust in Your perfect plan for my life. Amen.

50 Days of Amazing Grace: Days 21 to 29 — Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled, Beloved.

May 18, 2014 by Tina 2 Comments

As I mentioned in a previous post, it seems ‘slow blogging’ is becoming my default attitude when it comes to writing on this blog.

It’s always in the back of my mind though, as I go through my day and attempt to check off as many items as I can on my list of to-do’s — “I should really update TrulyRichMom (TRM),” I say to myself. Or, “This would be something nice to blog about on TRM!” Or, “I wonder if my TRM readers miss me?!” 🙂 (Ha, ha! Just kidding about that last one!)

When I decided to do this series again — for the third time — I set out to write a post every day. I said that I would do it for God and for YOU, my readers, in the hope of inspiring others to have a more meaningful Easter season.

Alas, the season is halfway over, and I have ‘failed’ in achieving my goals so far.

Or, have I?

I don’t really know but I do know this… I have been trying to set my priorities right lately. I have been trying to live more and do less. It has been very, very difficult, and most days, I’ve found myself failing miserably! (Sorry, Honey! Sorry, kids!)

Which is why I take comfort in today’s Gospel reading (John 14:1-12):

And in the Second Reading too, especially in the highlighted words below:

1 Peter 2:4-9

Beloved: Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it says in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.” Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “a stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall.” They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny. But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Reading the above brought tears to my eyes — because I remember again how blessed I am that He “called” me “out of darkness into his wonderful light.” I am not a perfect person, and I’ve committed many dumb mistakes in my past. I still do now, actually. (Sorry again, Honey and the kids!)

Isn’t it wonderful then that Easter is all about second chances, and God’s victory over the darkness of sin and death? Let’s continue to celebrate it daily, even beyond the liturgical season of 50 Days!

Reflection: In the days to come, I will not let my heart be troubled. I will trust in God and in His plans for me, His beloved.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for always assuring me of Your great love for me. Jesus, I trust in You!

P.S.

I wrote a post on Philstar.com this week about “blogging intentionally and parenting purposefully.” I’d love for you to read it and come back here to share your comments! 🙂