This morning, I was able to finish reading my book entitled "God is Bigger than your Biggest Problems" by Bo Sanchez which was given to me by a close friend who happened to be my co-YFC. I received it last December, obviously as a Christmas gift. I didn't read nor open it. I chose to read my novel books instead. One thing that's on my mind is that I don't have a big problem and I think I won't be able to relish its essence because it won't have a great impact to me. I kept it on my drawer for couple of weeks, still covered. One day, I saw it on the sofa. The plastic cover was gone, meaning someone opened it first before I get the chance to do so. Well anyway, it was my Mom who read it. She told me that she got curious because of the title, and when she started reading it, she shared how amazed and inspired she was because of the content. At that time, I'm still not in the mood to read it.
Recently, I've encountered a problem in my acads, (if you were able to read my previous blog, then you know what I'm talking about). I felt totally despondent in every way imaginable. That's why I decided to read the book because I might be able to find the answers to all the confusions boggling my mind since last week. I read the book for a day, half day to be exact. Let me share to you some of the passages.
"I thank God for giving me parents who loved me whether I performed in school or not. They just loved me, period. Unconditionally." - page 26
There are times in our lives where we get pressured with our acads because of our parents. If not all, then most parents encourage their children to study hard and as much as possible push them to be an achiever. I know the feeling because my Mom is like that since I was in pre-school. She molded me to become competitive in my studies which until now I was able to carry over. And sometimes because of their high expectations, we feel like we're being tied up to something that suffocates us. If we don't meet their expectations then we fail them. But that's not always the case. In the first place, our parents push us to study hard because they want all the best for us because in the end, it is us who'll soon benefit from all the achievements we received. When we get failing grades that doesn't mean that our parents' love for us is shrinking. We should keep in mind that our parents love us with all our flaws and failures. These are the things which build who we really are. And who we are is what matters most to them.
"God won't allow any problem, any crisis, any trial, any evil in your life to stop His great vision from happening in your life." - page 52
Whenever we encounter big problems in our lives, we tend to question God why these things happen to us. I admit, I did that too. Let me give you a concrete example. I was seven years old when my Dad died. Me being the youngest in a brood of three was unaware of the real situation. But the moment I grew up and realized how hard it is to grow up without a father, I questioned God for taking my Dad away from me. Is this some kind of punishment because I wasn't a good daughter? After years and years, I was enlightened. Everything happens for a reason. My Dad died for a reason. Maybe God took him away because He wants me to realize one thing: to value the people who mean a lot to me as long as they're still here because I might never know when they'd be gone. Because of that, I was able to build a stronger relationship with my family, my Mom and my brothers. See? Even if I had a bitter experience in the past, I can still deduce a sweet lesson out of it. That is how great God is. Even before we question His will, He already prepared the answers for us to unveil. In the same way, God must have a reason for letting me fail my exams. Maybe He wants me to strive harder because He can see the potential in me. He can see that I can do more.
"The size of your expectations determine the size of your blessings." - page 64
Pessimism. We become pessimistic when we have little faith in Him. We think about negative things instead of uplifting ourselves. We're more likely to expect the worse to come. We let our fears consume us. If we think that it is the end of the world then we won't be able to appreciate all the blessings God is pouring on us. If we keep on looking back at the things we lost in the past, we miss some of the greater opportunities waiting ahead of us. It's just like holding a candle in the middle of darkness. When the wind blows the flame away then all that surround you is pure darkness. With that situation you have two options to choose from. One is to stay right there in the middle and cry until miracle would light your candle up which is impossible or you can also try to move around, spread your hands until you'd be able to grasp the matchbox on the corner. The more we expect of good things to happen, the more likely we'd be able to realize how blessed we are. But we should keep in mind that with every expectation, we should act upon it because expectation without effort is non-sense.
There are so many things I would love to share in this blog. But for now, I'll end it here. I hope you learned something because I learned so many things just from reading this book. So there. Always remember, when you have a big God then there's nothing you have to worry about. God bless :))
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