strength in hard times

We all have our times in the sun, on the summit and at our best. During those times  we are at bliss.  We dance and laugh as there were no tomorrow.  But we have also our hard times.  Times in the valley, days in the wilderness, when our best laid plans  fall apart,  when someone  we love leave us or when our trusted friend betrayed us.  Life invites us in an entirely different direction.  To the untrained  eyes, these are "bad times", but to the warrior these are life's richest times of growth, opportunity and possibility.  This is the time where your faith will be tested.  The time where we don’t know whom to hold on but to God alone. The time when even the slightest ray of sun is like a wild fire to us. 

 I had a little conversation with my aunt today because   my mother informed me 2 weeks ago  that my cousin will have  to undergo operation because someone hit him in the eyes and which  might cause him to loss  his vision.  Work and personal things consumed me so much that I hadn't  the time to asked her or even send her comforting  message that everything will be alright,  just only now  at this very moment,  when I don’t know out of nowhere someone whispered  me to grab my phone and hit a  message for her.

I know how she feels, we are in the same situation, we are far from our family, far from those people who will truly understand what we're going  through.  It's hard to see your love one suffering from something that they don’t deserve.  It's hard to live each day knowing that you cannot do anything  to lessen their pain but to pray for them and begging God to open the gates  of heaven and  send miracle for them.  

Kneeling to pray is the only thing that keeps us strong.  Kneeling will allow us  to stand again and keep on holding the faith that someday everything will be fine again,  because   every difficulty of our life whether big or small , is something God  will use to produce more strength, faith and perseverance in us if we will let Him.  Kneeling to God assures us that we are not alone in this battle, we may be weak but we will come out again stronger and braver  than before. All our pain has a purpose and  definitely for our own good.

 Tomorrow will be a brand new day again.

But the Lord  stood with me and gave me strength .   2 Timothy 4:17

A TRUE FRIENDSHIP

Sometimes  we think that if  knew someone for  a very long time or we've been with that person throughout our lives , we  knew everything about him.  That we are able to understand and  accept  whatever flaws and  characters we have. That even though we  are hard  to deal with because  of our  different  personality, they will still accept and love  us .  But  sometimes  it's not  that enough. You cannot measure by the time of years the level and depth of friendship you have. Even though you have build your dreams together and even promise that you will be friends for life,  still it's not a guarantee that friendship will last.  There are friends  that who  will be there for you, only  when you are happy,  when you have something  to give,  when you do things that pleases them.  But still will leave you instantly, in a snap of a finger,  when you just need from them is just  a little understanding.

  I have seen  different kind of friendships and  some of them I'd witness  how it was falling apart  with no reason at all.  Just because  they don’t want to understand each other,  because they don’t want to sacrifice just  a piece of their pride for their friends.   Their ego eats them little by little and they are too blind to  see the  suffering  their friend is going through because of them.  They think nothing but themselves,  their comfort, their wants and  their  demands.  They don't care if someone is crying every night because  of them.  They don’t care if someone is losing so much of himself because of them.  They don’t care if someone is losing a family because of them because they are his family.  They don’t care at all as long as they are happy.

You will distinguished a true friend  in every season of your life. Someone who will be there for you when you are happy,  who will celebrate with you in all your achievements and victories in life but most specially who will be there for you when your world is falling apart.  He will be your cheer leader, your companion and  your greatest fan, someone who will still believe in  you when nobody does.   He will understand  you and everything  that  you're going through and will never judge nor  condemn you for all the mistakes that you have done.  He will be the saddest  if you are sad.  The one who will  shield you from any  arrows  of life.  The one who will give all his strength  in order for you to stand up again and  move on. Someone who will assure you that the world is still beautiful and  there are many so wonderful things waiting  for you to see.   

Life is full of battles, full of heartaches , full of misery  but what  it makes so  beautiful are      those people still  who love and accept  us in spite of our imperfection, of our flaws, of our shortcoming.  Those people who  truly   knew us and believe in us.   And in the end of the day you have nothing but thanksgiving to the  Creator   for creating  them and putting them into your life as a reminder  that  though there are some who  choose to leave  you but they are still  plenty who choose to stay and continue the journey with you.  Indeed ,  you are still blessed.     

 There is no greatest love  a person can give for his friend than to lay down his life for them (John 15:13).