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B. Daniel My Personal Encounter with God!
“If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’
but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way,
faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:16-17).
I am a people pleaser, and I have spent my whole life trying to find acceptance. The one area of my life I especially tried to achieve my mission was in my relationship with God. I longed for God to accept me until such time I joined the V-School in the middle east. God has a purpose of why He brought me to that training
for me to abide by His grace to go to the NATION. Indeed, God’s word is timely in 2 Timothy 2: 15 “ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
I thought being part of the church is enough but then God’s revelation is different after I heard from the different speakers. I’ve been sinning many times lying and gossiping every single day, and I know it's wrong, but it slips out before I can even consider the bad that will come out of it. I will ask for forgiveness but I know
I will just keep doing it. However, the time I joined this School is the only way I will combat it through the help of my fellow believers. Being with them every day, doing a quiet time, and worshipping the Lord and enhancing my spiritual goal. I wasn't too excited about the preaching. But on the second week of the training, one of the first
things that the preacher said was “ If you LOVE GOD you should know how to follow the right path.” I’m so ashamed of myself because I know I disappointed the one who created me, JESUS CHRIST. Following our creator is not that easy. I should sacrifice and never turn back from the past. Now, I decided to follow JESUS wholeheartedly not just by word
but with action. I adopted the nation of P-land whom I consider as one of the chosen nations. I cried out to God that He will give me the heart for that nation to love the people of there and to share the goodness of God. During our short-term mission trip, the blessings from the Lord were poured down on us in miraculous ways.
Even though the people are poorer than those in the other countries, the level of hospitality was higher than almost every other country in the world. The souls readily accepted us into their homes, and we stayed the night in two homes, and we could have stayed in many more homes. In addition to being hospitable, the souls are truly open to the gospel.
As far as we could tell, we had around 30 souls who accepted the love of Jesus including the two entire families. We all were tremendously blessed to be able to use our instruments as a very effective door into the hearts of the locals. It truly was a heavenly experience to be able to worship together with those of another belief. We also learned that one such Jesus-believer in this land was
martyred in 2020 causing a lot of the open hearts we experienced.
With the many growing pains of God's kingdom moving in this land, it is extremely important that these new followers of Jesus have mature role models in the faith to encourage and instruct them, but there are very few servants serving in this nation. And on top of this, the long term missionaries told us that even though a lot has been coming to the Lord, a lot also falls away almost immediately.
The churches there are starting to rise up and beginning to realize that they need to spread the Gospel. But even most of these churches are young in their faith and are significantly oppressed by the religious culture there and those who try to argue with them. This is why it is really necessary that more young and long-term ministers would be sent out to this nation to both encourage the new converts
and to be an example to the young in faith on how to rely on the power of JC’s love for sinners. Going to that nation has been a true blessing for me. Removing my fear and being cast out from the bondage of sin helped me to realize that I am a true servant of the Lord. He loves me and I know that I am saved because of His Grace. My life isn't for the money, for the fame,
or the fortune, my life is for JESUS!! I know that I still need to work on these things and will never be perfect...but I am so glad that I went to this V-School to RENOVATE my life with JESUS!! HALLELUJAH!
My N.I. Journey
You can call me Nick. I’m 15 years old*,
and in the space of three years I’ve been to four separate nations: IP, T, Mo and NI**.
These countries follow no pattern or formula, except that
they are, of course, handpicked by God for my family.
My most recent mission trip,
taking place in N.I, was arguably the most battering one I’d had so far.
It was also the most rewarding. At first, it looked like God was teaching me the
importance of sacrifice by going into a nation I had no interest in, to give a fortnight
of my life to Him. It was more than that, though.
Lesson 1: do not underestimate non-Filipinos. Those in our group were perhaps some of the most
humble, down-to-earth evangelists EVER. The most spiritually powerful in the group all had
one thing in common which allowed them to be perfect vessels: they had no identity, none at all;
the second lesson given to me. For two weeks, TWO WEEKS, you’ll have no identity. I could feel
God breathe that into my neck. That was how we were able to move strong, fast, and fearless;
walking, walking, walking. Team ministry was redefined. Not a single evil spirit laid hands on
us, not Ganesh, not Shiva, not anyone. From the Spirit, for the Spirit.
My first impression of N.I was simply “culture shock”. It wasn’t awful or anything like that,
it was just very DIFFERENT from anything we were used to. Once you get past that, however, you’ll
see that it’s a peaceful, simple country where peaceful, simple people live. I mean ”simple” in a
good way. You get different ways of living, different ways of eating, different vehicles, different
religions –Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Muslims- but of course, that’s how you describe every country. WE got
to see some churches around, and I like them. Simple, you might even call poor, but they were filled
with God’s Spirit, and I believe they should be our models. They didn’t have electric guitars or loud
drums or anything like that. They used simple native drums, coupled with the
lyrical chords the place is famous for – and yet they were able to open Heaven in a small
town. I felt real blessed. This verse in John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth”. That was it. I saw it live, with my own two eyes.
It was very Spirit-filled.
This mission-place was amazing. The food was exceptional. The people were marvelous. The team was splendid.
The teacher was versatile and experienced. The preaching was a work of divine art – a canvas painted
by God Himself. I can’t explain how good it feels to see one soul be redeemed – you gotta see for
yourself. NI is a fertile land – it’s ready for harvest pretty much. It just needs more workers.
If called by God in the future, I’ll gladly go as a Jesus-worker there. But for now, this land needs
YOU.
*Written in 2019
**Codes were used for the mission-countries.
My Healer!
In 1999, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. The first doctor I went to instantly recommended surgery to remove the lump in my throat. The thought of surgery frightened me plus I did not have the money for that. I was also doubtful because I had heard that the doctor was a 'surgery-fan'. A friend suggested that we could get a second opinion and she accompanied me to a lady doctor who
was an endocrinologist. When I told her my case, the first thing she said was I had an option not to have a surgery but she needed to take a sample from my lump. The procedure was called fine-needle aspiration biopsy. It was a bit painful but brief. When I went back for the result, she said my lump was not to worry about as it was benign but it would keep on growing so she told me to take a certain
kind of medicine that would prevent the growth. Well, that sounded easy but she added that it would be a lifetime prescription. Anyway, that was much better than getting an incision and so I religiously took my tablet and went for my monthly check up and regular blood tests, and the doctor would measure the growth and would say the lump was significantly not growing bigger. I was very grateful to God that
the solution was simple. Little did I know that the medicine would have a side effect on my reproductive organs.
I met the man who was God-sent to be my husband and we got married in 2001. Before this time, I learned from friends and other people that the medicine for my thyroid problem would prevent conception. It was a side effect of the pill. Doctors would not confirm it but people who experienced it proved it true. So I decided on my own to stop taking the tablet before our wedding. But my body had a different story.
Like a normal couple, we were excited to have our baby in two, three months but a year passed and we did not have one. I would cry every time I got my period but my husband would just be calm and appease my feelings. We went to more than one gynecologist to know the problem. One said my uterus was introverted so it would be difficult for me to have a baby. Another said I did not ovulate so how could I conceive, but I disagreed with this one because how could I have my monthly period if I did not ovulate at all. She was firm and I felt like she had no sympathy at all. A third one said I should try fertility pills and I did. Those pills were even so expensive. There was even a time I persuaded my husband to go to a well-known herbalist in the area and the man let me buy supplements that he said could help and I took all of them. Nothing positive happened in all these and I would go back to crying, feeling frustrated, depressed and embarrassed. And my husband would always be there - quiet, consoling, prayerful and trusting in God. He even said it would not matter if we would not be given a child. If that would be God's will then so be it. I think my fears lessened at this point. I would still cry and be disappointed but I tried to forget what I thought was my failure as long as I have my husband's love to bank on. I tried also to be closer to God by reading 'Our Daily Bread'. The last verse I encountered which became so meaningful to me was Luke 1:37 which says "For nothing is impossible with God". A week after I read this and I did a home pregnancy test, I saw 2 lines. It was positive! My husband and I were stunned but so happy. He said we should send a message to my in-laws and thank them for their prayers. So God gave us a baby after one year and 9 months of waiting. Yet, this is not all.
Of course I had long stopped my thyroid medicine and I expected my lump to have gone bigger. If there was one manifestation of that hypothyroidism on me, it was the feeling of being tired easily. However, I was so excited about the baby that I did not think of that lump. We entrusted everything to God and I thought I would face that lump if it would hurt me. So I gave birth in May 2004 to a healthy baby boy.
Let me divert a little and mention here that I was raised as a Catholic and I got married to a Pentecostal believer with born-again doctrines as you would expect. It was hard at the beginning because we had conflicts of faith. To cut the story short, after lots of emotional discussions, weeping and confusion, I began to see the light. I started to appreciate the sermons from pastors in churches we attended. I thought at that time that the messages did not sound theological but were very invasive. The church services we attended looked simple but became very uplifting. The people were not the elite but very genuine. God became more reachable. I was already establishing a personal relationship with Jesus but I could not spell it out yet.
In 2005 when my son and I were visiting my husband, he was already working abroad, I was diagnosed again with multiple but tiny lumps in my breasts. They were not painful but they were there and it was not normal to have them. I was so down again but the doctor said something that was heaven-sent. He said "Do not worry about this. Have another baby so you will have hormonal changes and these growths will be gone. And thank God, he was right! We had our second baby in 2007. By this time (we were back in the Philippines), we were already connected to one AG church which my husband discovered in the area. They got to know me and my family and the ministers and other members would come and pay us a visit. How did I realize the truth of personal salvation? It just came. I can't tell the exact day or time or event. That realization came with me being filled with peace that I was doing the right thing. That realization was the Holy Spirit embracing me and freeing me from the chains of tradition and dependence on good works for me to have my place in heaven. On February 15, 2009, I had my water baptism and Jesus became my best friend.
And my thyroid problem? Jesus has loved me so much that He heard all the prayers of my husband, my families, the church, brothers and sisters I met and some I did not meet. He heard them for many years.
My husband called up one night (he was overseas) and asked about my goiter and I was surprised as this question was out of the blue. I said why would you ask at this time and I did not mind that. But one day I just knew that the lump in my throat was GONE. I could not feel it anymore. This was 2009. I WAS HEALED. That great. That divine. By the Grace of God. When my husband learned this, he said that night that I asked you, I was alone praying and I believed you were healed. What a faith.
But when God rains blessings on us, He pours. In 2010, we had our third baby. 😅
