How To Cope When God Seems Absent

This morning on my way to work, i noticed a big sign along Commonwealth Avenue saying "To the victims of typhoon Ondoy, there is HOPE...nothing is impossible.

Very true! with God of course.
I hope you will be encouraged and reminded of the short article below - not just this time but everytime we experience the real 'typhoons' in our daily lives. Cheer up!
Blessings to everyone.



God has promised that He will always be present with you, but knowing that doesn't always make you feel better when you can't sense Him nearby. During times when God seems absent, you may feel despair. But there is always hope you can cling to - even in the middle of a void.

Here are some ways you can cope when it seems as if God isn't there:

* Realize that sometimes God deliberately chooses to stop communicating with people for a season, to accomplish certain purposes in their lives. Know that there's a reason why God isn't responding to you right now, but don't assume that He's punishing you. There are many positive reasons why God chooses to be silent for a time.

* Remember the joy of sensing God's presence with you in the past, through answered prayers, encounters with His Holy Spirit, and more. Thank God for His work in your life and continue praying regularly, even if you don't sense answers right away.

* Study your motives for communicating with God, what you expect from Him, and why. Ponder your relationship with God and think about ways you can focus more on who He is rather than just on what you would like from Him.

* Read Scripture passages that describe various aspects of God's character - such as His love, or His wisdom - and assure yourself that God will always interact with you in ways that reflect that perfect character.

* Be diligent about seeking God. Don't give up asking Him to respond to you, and know that He eventually will do so. If you have grown complacent in your relationship with God, let this experience ignite a new passion in
you to pursue Him more.

* Don't try to force God to respond to you. Instead, accept that you can't manipulate Him, and that He doesn't owe you anything. Embrace the deep, unconditional love that He freely gives, and ask Him to forgive you for trying to rely on your own power rather than His in any situation. Give God control of all aspects of your life and embrace the grace He
offers you.

* Allow yourself to feel the pain the void has created, because by experiencing it, you can be transformed.

* Focus on others as much as you can - praying for them and serving them. This will help you not to dwell too much on your own pain. And God might choose to meet you in the midst your service.


* Ask God to heal every part of you - even parts that you don't know need to be healed, or don't want to submit to Him.

* As you wait for God to speak to you again, rearrange your priorities according to how you can best seek God. Be patient, and in time, you'll encounter Him again.


Adapted from Seeking God's Hidden Face: When God Seems Absent, copyright
2001 by Cecil Murphey. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove,
Ill., www.ivpress.com, 1-800-843-4587.

The Tea Cup

There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores.
They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups.
This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup.
They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.
"You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup.

There was a time when I was red and I was clay.
My master took me and rolled me and
patted me over and over and I yelled out,
"let me alone", but he only smiled, "Not yet."

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said,
"and suddenly I was spun around and around and around.
Stop it! I'm getting dizzy! I screamed.
But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.'

Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat.
I wondered why he wanted to burn me,
and I yelled and knocked at the door.
I could see him through the opening and
I could read his lips as He shook his head, 'Not yet.'

Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool.
'There, that's better,' I said. And he brushed and painted me all over.
The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag.
'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.'

Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one.
This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate.
I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried.
All the time I could see him through the
opening nodding his head saying, 'Not yet.'

Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it.
I was ready to give up. But the door opened and
he took me out and placed me on the shelf.
One hour later he handed me a mirror and said,
'Look at yourself.And I did. I said,
'That's not me; that couldn't be me.
It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.'

'I want you to remember, then,' he said,
'I know it hurts to be rolled and patted,
but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up.

I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel,
but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.
I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven,
but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.

I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over,
but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened;
you would not have had any color in your life.
And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven,
you wouldn't survive for very long because
the hardness would not have held.
Now you are a finished product.
You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.



MORAL:

God knows what He's doing (for all of us).
He is the Potter, and we are His clay.
He will mold us and make us,
so that we may be made into a flawless piece
of work to fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Cliffhanger

There is a story of a cliffhanger, determined to reach the summit of a high mountain. After years of preparation, he began his adventure. Only he journeyed alone, because he wanted all the glory.

He began his ascent, and as daylight faded he decided to continue climbing. Night fell. The Night fell heavy as he was overcome by total darkness. The Moonlight and Starlight were hidden within the clouds. There was zero visibility.

He was only a few meters away from the summit when he slipped climbing a ridge and fell off, falling at frightening speed. While falling he could only see shadow like figures in the darkness and felt the tug of gravity sucking him down. In those anguishing moments he saw his life pass before his eyes. He thought death was near when suddenly he felt the tighting of the rope around his waist that tied him to a nail embedded in the rock wall of the mountain.

In desperation, suspended in mid-air he screams
God, please help me!
Then unexpectedly a deep voice from heaven responds:
- What would you have me do?
Save me!
- Do you really think I can save you?
Of course my Lord!
- Well then, cut the rope.

There was a moment of silence, then the man tighten the rope around his waist.

The mountain rescue team tells a story of a man they found frozen to death, his hands wrapped firmly around a rope tied to his waist…
HANGING TWO FEET FROM THE GROUND..


So.. How tight are your ropes? Would you let go?

Ila’s Birthday Blessing!

It’s been quite a while that we didn’t go out as a family, even to a nearby mall! Uh! uh! Well that's life.

But God is good! We are healthy, happy and can still manage to smile. PTL! A week before my birthday, i received an envelope with a note outside of it "have fun as a family". Wow! What a blessing!

And so we did!