Truly Rich and Blessed

Amazing Grace for Moms: Thriving by the Grace of God

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I have a confession to make — this post has been loooong overdue! I know I said I’d continue the Amazing Grace for Moms series throughout June, but before I knew it, June had snuck up on me and flashed by at the speed of lightning, and now it’s already July! 🙁 My sincerest apologies to you all, and especially to those who submitted posts for this series. 🙂

Anyway, I’ll try harder to be regular with this starting this month, OK? (The operative word being “try.” LOL!)

To start off, here’s a guest post from Mommy TG, i.e. Teresa Gumap-as Dumadag, who, like me, is a Catholic homeschool mama, writer and blogger — among other things, too! (Check out her complete profile here.) May you be inspired by her story and be amazed by His grace! 😉

Thriving by the Grace of God

Thrive is defined by Merriam-Webster.com as:
1.    to grow vigorously: flourish

2.    to gain in wealth or possessions: prosper

3.    to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances. 


In The Free Dictionary, it is defined as to make steady progress; prosper.

I feel so blessed already just by reading these definitions of the word thrive.  The word kept coming into my mind as I was thinking of what to share when Tina invited me to write a guest post for her blog’s 50 Days of Amazing Grace.  

Let me share how the different definitions of thrive has been applicable to me.

 I won’t be able to share the details of my story in this post but I will do my best to give you a glimpse of my adventure with God as manifested in my professional life and the choices that I made over the years.
I graduated from the University of the Philippines in Diliman with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Administration.  I was already offered a job even before I officially graduated.  I started as a Management Trainee in a fast food restaurant, got promoted and given bigger responsibilities, and became Officer-in-Charge of a branch in just two years.  Then, I resigned from my job and turned my back on a promising career in the restaurant business. 

Many people did not understand why I made that decision.  Many people are either unemployed or underemployed, or are dreaming of being able to apply what they studied in their jobs.  There I was living the dream of many and yet I chose to let go of something very good.

Why did I resign?  I resigned because I had an “aha” experience.  I realized what my true passion was.  I realized that though I liked the restaurant business and I was good at it, there was something else that made my heart race faster and my mind ever so active.  It was helping people develop to their full potential by inspiring them and training them.  I discovered this as I was handling the training and development of our staff in the restaurants where I was assigned.  I experienced a different kind of fulfillment and joy.

So armed with that discovery and faith in God whom I believe was the one who planted that desire in my heart to make a career shift, I left my stable and promising job and looked for a job in training.  

Another compelling reason for me to leave my job then was that it hindered me from attending regular prayer meetings in a Catholic Charismatic Community of single professionals.  Moreover, my shifting work schedule in my job made it very challenging for me to enjoy the presence of God daily in the Eucharist.  There were times when I would doze off during Mass while kneeling and praying with my eyes closed.

Shortly after I resigned, I was hired by a training company mainly for my potential.  I had little experience but the owner of the company believed in me so much that he hired me as Training Officer.  I felt God’s assurance through him.  I learned many things in that company including how to use Power Point and how to make training manuals.  

That was just the start of a wonderful adventure with God in my career or professional life.  The things that happened next to me in the years that followed were all miracles from God and a result of His grace.

It all started with a dream to have a job in the training department of the fast food restaurant where I first worked.  But God was not content in simply fulfilling that small dream that I had for myself.  He pushed me out of the first company I joined so I could grow and be fit for the much bigger dreams that He had for me.  

I was eventually hired as Training Officer of bigger companies, including a multinational company where I grew exponentially in many aspects.  It was during my employment in this company that my dream of being able to travel to different places was fulfilled.  I conducted trainings locally and abroad.  I developed training modules which were used in our branches in the Philippines and in the Asian region.  

From Training Officer, I was promoted to Training Manager.  I was very happy already with what I had achieved by the grace of God.  But God had bigger plans for me. 

I was hired by another company to be their HR Manager again, mainly because of my potential and my value system.  After that, I was hired in another big company where my dreams of having my own vehicle and being paid a specific amount as compensation were realized. 

I couldn’t help but feel so blessed as I look back at my growth as a professional.  There are still a lot of times when I just stand in awe of God as I thank Him for making all these things possible in my life.  I know deep in my heart that I would not have all these achievements if not for His grace and His help; especially since my educational background was not related to human resources management, but hotel and restaurant administration.

What amazes me even more now is that I have already realized my dream of becoming a freelance Management and HR Consultant.  The timing is also perfect for me to finally live out my dream.  I stopped working full time shortly after I got married and at the beginning of my first pregnancy.   From someone who simply dreamed of having a job in training, now I get to choose the HR projects I work on.  

I praise and thank God for helping me to keep on moving forward and achieving my goals.  I praise and thank Him for prospering me and my family through the work of my hands over the years.  I praise and thank Him for the grace to believe in Him, in His Word and in my god-given gifts.  I praise and thank Him for the grace to step out with courage and hope every time He pushed me out of my comfort zone and asked me to stretch beyond my perceived limits.  I praise and thank Him for all the doors of opportunities He has opened for me through the years until now that I’m not only a freelance Consultant but also an author and freelance writer.

I did not achieve my dream or my goals without challenges or difficulties.  The truth is I had plenty of them.  I think those were the reasons that made every achievement and victory much sweeter.  I can’t help but point to God every time I’m asked to tell my story because I would not be where I am now if not for His amazing grace.

So let me end my sharing by encouraging you, dear reader, not to be afraid to listen to God’s voice in your heart.  Do not be afraid to follow His lead.  His grace will be enough for you as He calls you to do new and bigger things.  I can say this with conviction and know this to be true because I have experienced this truth in my life repeatedly.  I pray that you, too, would find yourself to be in one amazing adventure with God.  God bless!


Teresa Gumap-as Dumadag is the author of the book, When My Bridegroom Comes. She is also a writer and contributor to several publications. However, she says her primary titles these days are WIFE, MOM and GOD’S SERVANT. You can find her blogging over at Mommy Bares All.

Amazing Grace for Moms: On Patience, Obedience and Dependence

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This week’s Amazing Grace for Moms post is from Mandi of Catholic Newlywed. I am so inspired by her story, especially how she and her husband met through a Catholic online dating site.

Mandi is not the only Catholic single woman I know who met her husband online. A few of my “sisters” in Singles for Christ also met their hubbies online. 🙂 To be perfectly honest, I used to be a bit judgmental about couples who got together online.

But reading Mandi’s story below just affirms me that sometimes, God can work even in unusual ways or circumstances. Have a blessed Sunday and week ahead, folks! 🙂 Happy Feast of the Ascension of our Lord!

ON PATIENCE, OBEDIENCE AND DEPENDENCE

Although I know that God has always had plans for me, now that I am a mother, His plans are more visible than ever.  And in fact, motherhood in itself is part of God’s great plan and the surprise answer to so many of my prayers.  My daughter is the obvious answer to my husband’s and my prayers for a child.  The role of motherhood, however, has answered my prayers for increased patience, obedience, and dependence on the Lord. 

Patience.  Ask my husband, I’m perhaps one of the most impatient people you’ll meet.  Or at least I was when we first met and married.  I’ve prayed for patience for years, and these prayers increased in number and intensity after our wedding when I realized the detrimental effect my impatience has had on our relationship. 

With my husband’s help (and his patience), I was able to improve a bit in this aspect, but it wasn’t until the grace of motherhood entered my life that I truly learned to put the needs of another above the fulfillment of my immediate desires.  There is nothing like a crying baby to make a woman realize that everything else can wait. 

Obedience.  I like to make decisions, I like to be in charge.  Not just because I have an inflated confidence in my own abilities, but because I have difficulty trusting in the abilities of others.  Needless to say, this negatively impacts my ability to trust God and conform to his will.  

Again, motherhood is the method in which God has humbled me and taught me obedience. By suppressing my own will and desires in order to first meet the needs of my daughter, I am discovering the joy of obedience.  

Obedience does not mean that I ignore my desires in order to submit to the whims of another, but that I change my desires to be in line with the good of others, to be synonymous with love not self.  Serving my daughter first and myself second, I am not left feeling neglected; instead, my happiness is multiplied and I feel fulfilled in being part of something greater than myself.

Dependence.  My daughter, who is completely dependent upon the love and care of others, is an example of how I should approach my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  

If I am able to care for one so helpless and small despite my struggles with patience and obedience, how much more able is God to care for me if I only allow Him, if I don’t let my own desire for control get in the way. As an infant, my daughter is my role model for my relationship with God.  So innocent and trusting, I strive to be more like her in my every action.

Motherhood has shown me not only the depth of God’s goodness and love in His creation and nourishment of life, but also the profundity of His grace.  Along with my marriage, motherhood is the manner in which the Lord has called me to holiness.  I knew that as a wife and mother, it’s my job to help my husband and children to heaven, I just didn’t realize that in doing so, I would be helping myself along that route as well!


Mandi is a young Catholic wife and mother living in North Carolina.  In addition to motherhood and her sweet 5-month-old, Lucia Rose, she blogs about marriage, increasingly “natural” living, saving money, her Catholic faith & more at Catholic Newlywed. 

Amazing Grace for Moms: Songs that Speak of God’s Amazing Grace

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This Amazing Grace for Moms post was written by fellow mom blogger Em of Touring Kitty. We first “met” online because of the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival, hosted by Jenny and Mec. Since then, we’ve been friends on FB and I’ve been privileged to have been part of her journey as a mom (somehow, LOL!). 🙂
Since Em used to be a musical artist by profession and passion (she used to be with the Philippine Madrigal Singers — something I aspired to be prior to entering UP! Ha, ha!), it’s no wonder then that her post is titled so: songs that speak of God’s grace. 🙂 Enjoy reading and advanced Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! 🙂


Songs that Speak of God’s Amazing Grace

The singer in me wants to share God’s amazing grace through the thing I know best —music. So many wonderful songs have been written about His amazing love and here’s a few that have now become my all-time favorites. 

Jesus loves me, this I know
For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to Him belong

They are weak but He is strong.
(From Jesus Loves Me, a Christian hymn with lyrics by Anna Bartlett Warner)



Source
I grew up with this song, have known it by heart since I was about seven years old, and now I’m using this to lull my daughter to sleep. I learned this during Vacation Bible School, which was given by our Adventist neighbors. 

During summer, all the kids in my neighborhood would wake up from our afternoon nap with our chairs at hand, and together, we’d learn about the Bible through songs, activities and Bible verses. 

Although the people in the whole neighborhood grew up as Catholics, we owe a lot to the Adventist siblings who tirelessly shared God’s wonder with us by being our summer school teachers for about seven summers (I even got a loyalty award for completing all their modules!). Different churches, one God.
Sa Iyong mga Yapak, ako ay tatahak
Kahit tigib ng luha ang nilakaran Mong landas

Pasakit man at dusa dulot ng mundo’y kamtan

Bawat bakas ng Iyong mga yapak, bawat hakbang Mo’y aking susundan.

(From Sa Iyong Mga Yapak, by Samuel Guerrero)

I was a singing minstrel. I was blessed to see God’s wonderful creation in three continents and 16 countries, and to share God’s gift of music to different audiences during my stint as a member of the Philippine Madrigal Singers. 

During this time my husband (who was my boyfriend back then) and I founded our first baby – the Shrine of Jesus Children’s Choir, and this group has gone a long way, singing in church activities, choral festivals, concerts (at no less than the Cultural Center of the Philippines and accompanied with an orchestra!), weddings, even on television! 

After finishing my music degree, I became a speech writer for the military. Pretty far from my forte, I know. Then I got married, went into freelance teaching and singing, and just when I was picking up the pace, I got pregnant and gave birth to a very beautiful girl who is now the most rambunctious and smartest toddler I have ever known. 

The singing career I’d long been wanting for was once again put on hold but becoming a mother is just so overwhelming and fulfilling that my world simply revolved around learning how to be the best mom I can be to my daughter. And I just keep on following God’s path, no matter what the obstacles are, for I believe nothing will ever go wrong with Him by your side.

Ikaw ang siyang pag-ibig ko
Asahan mo ang katapatan ko

Kahit ang puso ko’y nalulumbay

Mananatiling ikaw pa rin.

(From Panunumpa by Fr. Jboy Gonzales)

People used to tell me, “matatapang lang ang nagpapakasal” (only the brave get married), and I like to think I am. Marriage is a lifetime commitment. I sang my way to the altar with this song, and to the amazement of everyone. 

Only a handful of people knew about this “surprise” – our dear Shrine Rector who officiated our wedding, my mom and sister, the violinist at my wedding, who is a very good friend and the conductor of my grand choir of 30 friends. 

My violinist-friend started with his solo, then I sang the verse above, with my mom and grandfather taking me down the aisle, then the choir answered grandioso as I was meeting my groom and his parents in front. I made this “Panunumpa” not only to my husband but also to my Lord. I made the same to my daughter when she was still in my womb.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found

Was blind but now I see.

(From Amazing Grace by John Newton)
God is indeed an amazing God. Motherhood is a whole new thing for me and I accept the fact that every day is different from yesterday. My pregnancy came with a couple of threats like subchorionic hemorrhage (gone after two weeks of bed rest), two-vessel cord syndrome (which was caused by a poor reading of the ultrasound), and the baby’s heart was monitored (which, again was caused by a misread of the ultrasound). 

Then I gave birth naturally and unmedicated. I breastfed from the very beginning and never regretted it (and still going at 20 months). Now I counsel friends who need help (I’m no lactation counselor, but I try to help in the best I can). I attempted cloth diapering and succeeded for about a month, after which, I succumbed to disposables. I tried babywearing but started it too late – when my daughter wanted to practice walking already! 

I prepared her first foods (nothing processed , bottled and canned). I went gaga over mom bloggers — so much that I started my own blog, in honor of my little magic wand named Touringkitty, that travels with me to any place of the world. 

There, I write all about otherhood, breastfeeding (which is sort of an advocacy), recipes, travels, and music. What’s also amazing is that after several attempts in going back to the workforce, God led me to my current job which is so convenient for me in most ways — near my home, a four-day workweek and I get to promote music, culture, and arts!


I have so many more songs in mind, but I do hope these songs will also inspire you the way they did me.

Mary Louise Macanaya-Alcantara works full-time as a Senior Culture and Arts Officer at the Artist Training Division, Arts Education Department of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. She is the conductor and founder of the the Shrine of Jesus Children’s Choir which gathers young children from all around Metro Manila and Cavite to serve at the Shrine of Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life in Pasay City and maintains an active performance calendar outside the Shrine. As a music and arts advocate, she is a musician and workshop facilitator. 

On top of all these, Em is a daughter and big sister, wife and full-time mom to a toddler named Ariadne, and an advocate of extended breastfeeding and babywearing. She maintains her blog at www.touringkitty.wordpress.comwhich contains posts about parenting, music, and food, three things she loves talking about the most.

Amazing Grace for Moms: Thankful for His Grace and Mercy

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I first encountered Jen’s blog, Forever, For Always No Matter What, when she made a comment on one of my blog entries on adoption and how it can change people’s lives. I hopped over to her blog and was immediately inspired and amazed at how she and her husband adopted and are now raising and homeschooling not just one, but SIX kids, from three different countries! 🙂 
Now, I have only two kids, of my own flesh and blood, and it’s already a challenge for me to be their homeschool mom most days! I can only imagine then that it is really God’s amazing grace that drives Jen every day! 🙂 Read on and be inspired! 🙂 Perfect inspiration for Mother’s Day this week! 🙂

P.S. Watch out for our special Mother’s Day giveaway c/o , to be launched on May 12, the eve of Mother’s Day! 🙂

Thankful for His Grace and Mercy

I was very honored when Tina asked me to contribute to her Amazing Grace for Moms series. I think it’s difficult for me to pinpoint a moment in my life when God’s grace hasn’t played a significant role in my life.  Starting with my after high school years, the most significant moment was when I began to date a certain guy who is now my husband. After we got engaged, I made the decision to become Catholic.  Looking back, I’m thankful it was such an easy decision for me.  Not that I didn’t take it seriously, I certainly did.  But I grew up Lutheran , so it really felt like a natural progression to me.  Plus, I felt it was extremely important for my husband and I to be on the same page spiritually, particularly when we had children.

It wasn’t long after we were married that we discovered we had some fertility issues.  While dealing with infertility was very stressful, through God’s grace, it never affected our marriage.  In fact, the fertility struggles made our marriage stronger and we always felt like we were in this difficult walk together.

The decision to adopt was an easy decision.  God’s grace again.  Thankfully, we were on the same page right from the beginning.  We knew we wanted a family and weren’t too concerned about how that child would join our family.  All of the lengthy, complicated, fertility treatments just weren’t for us.  But the lengthy, complicated, adoption road?  Well, that was the road we felt called to pursue.
Once again God’s grace smoothed the path for us.  We have had the good fortune to be blessed with six children through international adoption.  Six adoptions that were relatively smooth sailing, each taking less than a year.  We have six interesting, fun, challenging, and fantastic children.
Jen’s six angels 🙂
No, every day is not perfect.  This little overview makes things seem much rosier than they really were.  We’ve had our share of disappointments, tears, and frustrations, but through it all I’ve always tried to see the challenges as opportunities to grow closer to God.  We know that God has formed our particular little family for a reason and we strive everyday to listen to His call and be ever so thankful for His grace and mercy.

Jen is a wife to one amazing husband and mom to six energetic kids.  Visit Forever, For Always, No Matter What where she blogs about their Catholic faith, homeschooling and adoption.

Amazing Grace for Moms: God Truly Works in Our Lives

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This is the second post in the Amazing Grace for Moms series. It is a true testimony to how God has a bright, beautiful and blessed plan for each and every one of us and how He works in our lives. Thanks to Chris of The Mommy Journey for sharing her story with us!

By the way, in case you missed it, you can read the first post in this series, “The Gift of Simple Living,” by Toni here. Watch out for more stories from real moms in the series, coming soon!

I have witnessed God’s amazing grace first hand. I come from a Chinese family and didn’t have any religious background at all. I am just grateful that God touched the heart of my sister and this allowed me to come to know the Lord Jesus as my Lord and Saviour at the age of 14.

I didn’t have any discipleship groups and I didn’t get involved with any church ministries when I was in high school and college but I saw how God protected and preserved me through the years. He didn’t allow me to stray away from the faith. Even when I made wrong decisions, He allowed me to go through pain and challenges in life to grow and learn from my mistakes.

When I got married, I knew that it was God at work in my life.  My parents didn’t approve of me getting married to a non-Chinese, but before we got married, God moved the hearts of my parents and they gave us their blessings. God has blessed me with a God-centered marriage for the past 11 years. My parents and my hubby are also on very good terms.

We have been homeschooling our kids for the past two years and I have seen how my kids have grown in wisdom and in stature. I know that if it had been up to me all along, the kids wouldn’t have learned anything at all. I have also grown in my own character and spiritual life because of the challenge of our homeschooling.

Through the years, I can’t help but be amazed by how God is working in our lives as a family.  I can definitely say that everything happened only by the grace of God. It is through His grace and His faithfulness that we are able to pursue and fulfill God’s plans for our lives as individuals and as a family. 

Christine Yao-Amador is the loving wife of Erwin and devoted homeschool mom to Kyla and Toby. She writes about intentional parenting and purposeful living on her blog, The Mommy Journey. You can get to know her more here. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter .

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