God Hears Our Calls

I wasn't going to post anything until tomorrow but my heart feels so heavy today Oh Lord, hurting for those who are in pain and suffering at this moment. Lord, please hear our afflictions.

I am lifting up my own family, friends and friends I had met in blogosphere Lord, that whatever trial each of them is going through, You are comforting them and covering them with Your love and grace. Lord, we need Your protection so I ask that You send Your angels to protect us all from the works of the evil one.

Lord, I choose to thank You and rejoice despite myself knowing how many of them are in great trials and tribulations. I rejoice knowing that You give the "deliverance", no matter what circumstances we are facing. Please forgive me for all of my sins Oh God and remove anything that hinders my walk with You.

Thank You Father that we can come to You boldly because of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remind us Lord that when You answer our petitions, it is in Your timeline, not of ours. Help us remember that "a day can be like a thousand years to You or a thousand years be like a day." But everything happens in Your perfect time.

Thank You for loving us unconditionally. Thank You for not forsaking us. Thank You Lord for always being with us as we go through all of these trials. Thank You Lord that in our weakness, You are truly our strength. Thank You Lord that we can do everything through Christ's strength. I love You Lord. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Holding the inmate’s forearm, I applied a firm pressure to control the bleeding on a 5 inch superficial laceration. He tried cutting his arm and stated his plan to hurt himself.

As I was cleaning the wound so I can cover it with a dressing, that was when he started talking more:

“You gotta’ believe me you guys! I just did it because those guys want to kill me! I don’t want to be threatened anymore! The other day, one of them hit me!,” he softly cried.

“Who are they?”, asked the Deputy.

“Those “Skin Heads”. I don’t know why they want to hurt me!”

“Please deputy! Do something!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” answered the deputy.

Hearing his urgent cry for help, I did my part, too by putting him on Suicide Watch even though he didn’t really have an underlying mental problem. But I wanted him to be cleared by the Mental Health Doctor anyway, just to make sure that he truly didn’t have an intention to commit suicide. I wanted to separate him from those men he mentioned if his claims were true. I was thinking while the custody staff investigated, at least this man would be away from harm.

He thanked me, still tearful, now with a clean, newly-dressed arm. The bleeding had stopped. Despite the tears, I could tell, he felt some hope and a sense of relief that he wouldn’t go back to his unit.

[Source: Life Application Bible]:

Regular communication helps any friendship and is certainly necessary for a strong relationship with God. Through prayers, we do so. He remains close to those who call on Him. He hears our cries and rescues us. If you are bending under a burden and feel that you are about to fall, turn to God for help! He is ready to lift you up and bear your burden.

How many times in my life I have no other one to help me out but the Lord? And yes, He answered my prayers! Sometimes, it might not be right away. Sometimes, it was not the answer that I wanted. But every time I was in distress, He would swiftly make His presence known, lessening my fears and worries, even taking them away by replacing it with His love, mercy, forgiveness, and grace.

So, if you have “spiritual emergencies”, don’t forget to dial the Lord’s 9-1-1. It’s open 24/7.

“Oh Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I will never pray to anyone but You. Listen to my voice in the morning, Oh Lord. Each morning, I bring my requests to You and wait expectantly.” –Psalm 5:1-3

“Trust Me in your times of troubles and I will rescue you, and you will give Me glory.” –Psalm 50:15

“The Lord is close to all who call on Him, yes, to all who call on Him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cries for help and rescues them. The Lord protects all those who love Him but He destroys the wicked.” –Psalm 145:18-20

“I will answer them before they even call to Me. While they are still talking to Me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers.” –Isaiah 65:24

[Please click to pause or mute "my playlist" on the bottom of the page if you want to listen to this video]. God bless.

Bring Out The Best

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.” –Matthew 5:13 [Source:Life Application Bible].

I was cleaning the pantry and started sorting out the bottles of spices in the spice rack. I had noticed that some of them had been there so long, so I knew their flavor must have been gone. I started tossing out the bottles that were more than a year old. It would just be worthless to keep them as they wouldn’t do anything to make the food’s flavor more tasty. Even the bottle of salt looked old with the moisture that had collected inside so I tossed that one out, too.

Salt is known as a preservative that keeps stuff from going bad and as a flavoring for food. As Christians, we are like the salt. If we don’t make an effort to affect the world around us, we would be of little value to God. If we are like the world, we are just plain worthless.

As a preservative, we must be deeply concerned with society's well-being. We preserve cultural values and moral principles. We add taste and flavor to common life. By showing our quality of life with Jesus in the center of our lives, we give meaning to those without meaning or hope to one without hope.

Jesus said, "You are" the salt. It didn't sound like an option but more of a command as we choose to become His followers.

"So, are you the salt of the earth that brings out the best in upholding the Christian values in life ?"

This is a song I had composed on January 30, 2005, before visiting my ailing father, dying of cancer. Knowing that there were still many who didn’t know Christ’s love from back home, I asked the Lord to make my visit fruitful, not only to have time with my precious father, but also to have an opportunity to be used by the Lord with others who would come across my path, during that visit.

To You Lord

I want to be used by You
No matter where I go
All of my dreams and my plans
They’re all in Your loving hands

Chorus:

[And/Yes] I will worship You Lord, forever
To You, my life I surrender
Let Your will in my life be done
Take away all my fears with Your love

May I share with others what I know
About a special gift from You
That when a heart accepts Jesus, Your Son
Will live forever in Your Holy Land

[repeat Chorus]

Oh, Lord….forever…
Oh, Lord…I surrender…
To You, Lord….To You Lord…

Let's Focus on Jesus

My co-worker came back from having a break in our dining area at 3:00a.m. He told the charge nurse that he was approached by one of the inmate workers who served food to staff. He vented out about his frustrations regarding his physical problems that he felt was getting more severe.

I glanced at the name on the chart and realized I saw him earlier this month. I volunteered to see him so that way, I would know if he was truly weaker somewhere.

Coming through the Clinic’s door, he walked with the usual slight limp on the right leg [He had been claiming he had a stroke when he was 28 yrs. Old. But the last CT scan was negative]. Otherwise, I didn’t see any weakness or any signs of distress. When I was asking him some questions, he started getting teary-eyed and some tears finally flowed during my interrogation.

“How have you been? I had put you to be seen by the doctor after I saw you the last time. What happened then?”

“Nothing. He just checked this, checked that [as he motioned his hand in front of his face, so I felt his neurologic status was checked by the doctor] and still, nothing was done.”

“Sir, remember what I had told you, anytime that you feel that there is something getting worse, put a sick call slip so nurses can see you during sick calls.”

“But nothing is happening. I feel that the doctor is not doing anything. I think I am weaker on my right side. Can I have a job change or maybe not even work in the kitchen?” [as tears started falling this time].

“Honestly speaking, I didn’t notice any difference from the last time I saw you. However, that was my concern was if it was okay for you to work in kitchen. That was the main reason why I wanted the doctor to evaluate you. Your vital signs are okay, which is a good thing. I did notice something though, you seem to be more emotional.”

“Yes, I don’t know why.” [eyes turned more red and more tears fell].

“Are you frustrated because of this? And not knowing what steps the medical doctor is doing to help you with your condition?”

“Yup. You’re right. I feel like they’re not listening to me. So, that’s why I don’t want to put any other requests to be seen by you because they [doctor] won’t do anything anyway.”

“Sir, I can truly understand where you’re coming from. But let me tell you one thing. It’s not like the doctor is not doing anything. I had reviewed your chart before you came down here. I noticed that they did order a CT Scan. I can’t let you know when it’s gonna’ be. But not until the result is obtained, then, they can’t do anything further at this time. The doctor will base his treatment option depending on that result.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know, Ma’am.”

“But would you like to be seen by mental health services if you feel like you’re more emotional. Are you depressed? Do you feel like hurting yourself?”

“Yes, I feel more sad but no! I don’t want to hurt myself [tears stopped at this time].”

“I prefer for you to still see the doctor today. I’m really concerned if you need to be working in kitchen because of the slight weakness in your right side. I’m also going to give you a 2-days off-work status. That way, you’re not working until the doctor has evaluated you. I will also put a request for a Mental Health Clinician to talk with you in your unit. I want to ask you to learn how to be more patient and have more faith in our doctor, okay? There are so many of you he’s seeing and following and yes, he is doing something to help you out. Sometimes, it just doesn’t happen in your time frame because the hospital is tied up, too with the appointments for CT scans or other tests that the doctor is requesting to better diagnose your condition.”

“Ma’am, thank you so much! Okay, I believe he’ll do something.”

“No! Not he will..” “He is…”





Aren’t we all like him? We tend to focus on our problems, needs, worries, fears and anxieties, instead of focusing on Jesus, ONLY on Jesus.

Sometimes, we think God doesn’t care for us when our prayers are not answered. We think He’s too busy to listen to our pleas. He is not interested with our requests. Have we forgotten that if God created this complex universe, won’t He be able to be involved with the many, many lives He created in the first place?

When we focus on Jesus, we will not be distracted with the cares of this world. Our faith will keep on growing. Our trusts will be stronger knowing that His promises made to us are worth-remembering. God doesn’t change. [“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” –Hebrews 13:8].

When we focus on Jesus, we believe that everything is under His control. It’s not enough that we just believe that He can handle our problems, but we must also believe that He knows what’s best for us, even if the answers do not seem to go with what we are hoping for.

“It’s not He will do something with what we go through….He is….”

So, let us “focus on Jesus”.

Persecution

The deputy escorted one inmate to be evaluated for an injury he sustained to his left eye. He was housed with another mate who has a different race than his.

There was some contusion on that area, marked by swelling and ecchymosis and a small superficial laceration was visible on the upper lid.

“What happened, Sir?”

“I don’t know, Ma’am. I guess I fell with my face flat on the floor.”

“Hmmm. Were you sleeping then woke up or was dizzy?”

“No, Ma’am.”

“If you fell flat on your face, Sir, just wondering why there was no injury to your nose which is more prominent than your eye areas? Are you sure that no one had hit you because if you let me know, I can ask for an appropriate help from the deputy.”

“I don’t know, Ma’am. ...I fell. That’s all.”

Despite the sign of trauma that someone had assaulted him, this inmate was scared to tell the truth. Most of the time, even after altercations, no one wants to say anything against the aggressor, for fear of more assault and a threat to their lives. They would rather stick to playing “dumb” and denials than confront that fear. They would rather take the torment inflicted on them.

After cleaning his wounds, the deputy ended up bringing him back to his cell with that particular cell mate. I prayed that there would be no further assault on him as he was returned to that confined space with the one who hit him. It was sad that maybe it was a “race issue”, that was why the “cellie” [cell mate] had socked his eye. I prayed he wouldn’t face any more torments from the other man, just because they differed with their race.

Jesus had warned His disciples, too of persecution as they lived a life following Him. [Life Application Bible, Matthew 10:16-23]. I think whatever applied to the disciples still holds true for us who choose to follow Jesus this day. When we share the Good News, not every one will welcome what we share.

Conflicts and disagreements sometimes arise between us who follow Him and those who don’t. Our faith might separate us even from friends and loved ones. Our faith will set us apart from them and others. We don’t have to neglect them or fight with them, but our commitment to the Lord is much more important. He should be our first priority. Jesus calls us to a higher mission than to find comfort in this life. Like that inmate, we may face hostility, but we must not be afraid for we have God on our side.

To follow Jesus means not being afraid when we face persecutions, to be identified with Him and to face suffering, even death for His sake.

He challenges us for a higher mission. So, what is He calling you for?

Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 –“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, Who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Matthew 10:32 –“If anyone acknowledges Me publicly here on earth, I will openly acknowledge that person before My Father in heaven.”

Matthew 10:33 –“But if anyone denies Me here on earth, I will deny that person before My Father in heaven.”

Matthew 10:38, 39 –“If you refuse to take up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for Me, you will find it.”

Please pray for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ being persecuted!