It Always Brings Me To Tears

This song always brings me to tears. As I do so right now that I am typing my thoughts and worship Him this morning. Lately, the Lord has bringing to mind to "always look up to Him as He was nailed on that cross". Going through trials or not, I know He is reminding me of His faithful and unconditional love. Day after day. Like what He is doing now to me. He is reminding me that He gave His life for me [us] because He loved me [us]first. This morning, I felt like taking a blog break. And seek Him first in everything and surrender everything. I don't know at this time. I know where He wants me to go first. To be at the foot of the cross and "look up" to Him. Let His blood drip over me. Be cleansed. Be healed.

Friends, there is nothing more or less that we can do that will make our Lord love us more. He loves us. Period. We have received His gift of forgiveness. But it doesn't stop there. He wants us to look up to Him and be cleansed. Day after day. We need daily repentance. And submit everything to His Lordship.

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." - Philippians 4:8

Who is true? Honorable? Righteous? Pure? Lovely? Admirable? Excellent? Worthy of praise?

None but Jesus!!! Let us put Jesus into our minds.

O Lord, thank You for reminding me to look up to You on that cross. Like what that song said, You thought of us above all...Help us do the same. To focus our minds and hearts on You. Above all...Thank You for loving us first. Your cross...A plus [+] sign. That's what we get when we start living our lives with You. Everything is a plus. Thank You Lord for Your wisdom. Thank You Lord for Your guidance. Thank You Lord for Your healing. Thank You Lord for all Your provisions. Thank You Lord for Your love and mercy. I love You Lord.

Lord, I want nothing or no one else but You. Use me Lord and let Your will be done for the rest of my life's journey. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Cancer Had Been Cured

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning,and a garment of praise instead a spirit of despair.”
- Isaiah 61:1-3 [NIV]

Cancer…Who doesn’t know cancer? It affects anyone. Anywhere. An awful disease that claimed my loving father’s life back in December 2007. Diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005, it slowly spread and progressed toward devastation. It hurt him. It hurt us. His children. And many others who knew and loved my father.

Grimacing in pain at times, he kept silent. He wanted to show he was strong. He showed he was at peace at the same time. Marked by quiet rests as he laid on his bed, unable to get up anymore. For a little over 2 weeks. As my brothers and I constantly surrounded him. Buying more time to tell him how much we loved him. Feeling a hole growing inside our hearts. The size of our father.

I treasured his hugs and kisses the more. Knowing how much strength it took him to wrap his arm around me. The way he told me he loved me with every precious breath. The way he kissed me on my forehead or cheeks, lifting his weary body just to be able to do so. Same with my grown-up brothers, nestled in his arms, as we each took turn. One softly caressing the wrinkled forehead, as I applied lotion on his weary feet that used to sail many oceans when he was younger.

Laughter filled his house as many teardrops fell. Laughter that echoed in that tiny room filled with his family and friends. They were mostly tears of happiness. As my father loved to joke around. People came in crying. But they left smiling or laughing. Neighbors were often wondering why we all looked happy. Despite the imminent arrival of “Death” at my father’s house.

He said, “Let them wonder. Because for the first time, they would remember a person who passed away with his family and friends laughing and celebrating, instead of mourning.”

Cancer could be prevented. Even cured if diagnosed early. But the etiology has been a mystery.

Except…I have known about a Healer Who loves to heal us all from sins’ cancer. This spiritual cancer had spread so much since a forbidden fruit was eaten at the garden of Eden. But God had an immediate plan. Way before. He sent His miraculous healing. His love. By the death of His own Son. Yes! That was “love” crucified on that wooden cross. Because of His shed blood, He conquered cancer. And other illnesses, known or not known in this world.

We are healed that is…if the cancer-stricken spirit believes what He did and accepts His gift of love and forgiveness.

Love soothes pain. Love mends a broken heart. Love brings along with it: joy, peace and hope. Joy and peace…The ability to celebrate despite the circumstances surrounding a sick and weary soul. And hope that death is not the end of life. It’s only the beginning of an eternal journey. Promised by His love. Jesus’ unconditional love.

Love that my father had received after losing my mother years before him. No wonder! He could smile. He could laugh. He had comfort. He was strong. Despite knowing death would come any minute to end his earthly journey. And as he breathed his last, I knew then that he won his battle. Cancer would never defeat a saved soul. My father was right. I was joyful for his departure, knowing that his destination was what we all longed for. A place of rest. A place where there would be no more pain. No more tears. No more suffering. A place where a mansion was prepared for those who loved the Healer.

“Death has been swallowed up in victory
Where O Death is your victory?
Where O Death is your sting?
~ 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 [NIV]

Something beautiful halted that ugliness. The beauty of love that came from the One and only true Savior. Cancer…After all…was defeated. Cured. Nailed on the cross thousands of years ago…

“Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.”

~ Isaiah 53:4,5 [NIV]


"Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..."

I Blew A Fuse

Sometime last year…I was endlessly working. Part of it, was my nature. To give everything I have. Only for the Big Boss. I would always be grateful for this job He gave me as a Correctional Nurse. It was not easy. But the joy of being able to help out to the hurting souls gave me accomplishments deep inside that has far more value than earth’s money or gold.

The other part was because of the Supervisor or Charge Nurse was also telling me “Do this! Do that when you’re done!” Patiently, I had been following her wishes. Until my neck got achier and it felt like I couldn’t go on anymore [I had a neck injury in 1997]. It wasn’t about her telling me what to do. It was about her telling us to do work first that were not nursing kind of stuff. You know, like filing papers. Cleaning the exam rooms after. Calling some inmates middle of the night to make sure they were okay when the sick call was usually done in the morning. In their units.

I heard Paul’s voice saying: [Romans 13:1 -”For there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are from God.”].

I even heard Peter from the back of my mind, too: “For the Lord’s sake, accept all authority - the king as head of state, and the officials he has appointed.” -1Peter 2:13-14

“Rcubes…Can you also do the blood pressure checks in unit 8?”, she uttered as I was barely done from charting on an inmate’s chart after a non-emergent sick call. Mind you, this was also done by the LVN's in the morning.

Would you believe RCUBES got upset? That was it! The anger meter went up the roof! A fuse blew up! As I kept telling myself, “be slow to anger Rosel! Be slow to anger!” I didn’t say anything. She noticed. Because I usually had the enthusiasm to work. Most of the time, without being told.

“Do you have a problem?” she asked.

“Yes, I do!” I answered really loud and with a higher tone of voice that surprised my co-workers who had not seen that kind of attitude from me. I felt their sympathy. On me.

She brushed against my left shoulder and whispered, “We’ll talk later, okay?”

“No!” I said with defiance she did not expect.

To make this long story short, I didn’t talk with her not until the following week that I was scheduled to work.

“Hi, Nurse Z!” I softly greeted her as I walked into the Clinic.

“Would it be okay with you, if you have a minute, to talk with me?”

“Sure,” she said as she got up and led me to her office.

As I heard the door closed behind us, I started, “I’m sorry for the behavior I had shown you last week. The reason I got upset was because you were non-stop telling me what to do. You know you never have a problem with me when it comes to work. Because I don’t need to be told. But most of the stuff you told me to do was not even related to our work. Which was fine. If we have a quiet night. You know that I also like to help out others whenever I can. But you knew we were busy that night. It just got to me as I started feeling my neck hurting more.”

She just kept staring. Not saying a word. Digesting all the words that were coming out like a flowing river. I saw her eyes got teary.

“I didn’t talk to you when you offered that night, because I was so angry and I didn’t want to face you that way. I know that in my anger, it would be easy to say things that I wouldn’t mean or even regret much later. And it would be so easy to destroy someone even with words.”

Still no words from her. She was meeting my own straight gaze.

“I just want to let you know that I’m very sorry.”

“Okay. Thanks for telling me,” were the only words she uttered as on-lookers were staring at the two of us as we walked out of that room. They were wondering what happened but they knew it was a talk that led to healing. To straightening out what was misunderstood before.

And I felt something got lifted from my shoulder…I didn’t want to make a good impression on her. I wanted to do it Christ’s way. He always put others first.


“Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too and what they are doing.” - Philippians 2:2-4

With Your Power And Might

I had posted a prayer request earlier. Please scroll down to see my previous post and please visit bro. Andy's site at "Insights From The Bible."

As I came home after dropping off my son at his school, I asked for the Lord to give me a new song to praise Him as I haven't played my guitar in a while. And He is always faithful to grant that request every time we ask from our heart. Within 5-10 minutes, He gave me a song.

I want to thank You Lord for all of Your blessings. For another day in our lives. Days that go by so fast, like sands slipping through fingers. But You constantly remind us, that when we seek You first, You are always there, wanting us to do that and wants to bless us in return. Thank You Lord for Your faithful love and mercy. Thank You that we can come boldly to Your throne of grace as You see Jesus' righteousness when we do so. You provide everything. And we don't deserve anything.

Forgive us for the times that we don't seek You. When we are lost in this world's busyness and find excuses not to be still and give time to see Your face. Please forgive us when we maximize our trials and forget that there is nothing impossible with You. Give us a heart surgery Lord. And help us continue to grow in Your grace and knowledge.

Yet, You continue to love us unconditionally. I love You Lord. I pray for You to fill all of Your children's hearts with Your Spirit. So that we die everyday and let Jesus in us increase. Give us the boldness to share the Good News. Give us discernment and protect us at all times O Lord. Thank You. Praise Your Holy Name. I have witnessed the power of me just saying Your mighty Name "Jesus" and the enemy cowers.

Thank You that we have Your mighty weapons and power to be able to fight. Yes, we will stand. Even in these evil days. Because You never leave us nor forsake us. Glory be to You O Lord forever and ever. I pray all of these in Jesus' Mighty Name. Amen.


With Your Power and Might
[song by: Daddy and rcubes 2/1/10


This road was not easy for me

Sometimes, I got weak and weary

When I fell, I felt like surrendering

‘Til You came along and reached out to me


Chorus:


And this child fights with Your power and might

I don on Your armor and know that I can stand

With Jesus, I can claim a total victory

Yes, I’ll fight…with Your power…and might


This road is never easy, now I know

But the truth is that You’re there beside me

You fill me up with grace and mercy

You lived for God but you died for me


[Repeat Chorus]

Fading:


….only Jesus

…..Only with Jesus