His Grace in a Bio-Man's Face

"So you dance too, I suppose?" I asked Rowel* while taking a break.

"Ah, yes. I dance, too, same as Miriam*. But that was before the accident." 

"What accident? Why? When?" This curious little me sparkled with the greatest undivided attention to a story I'm about to hear.

2004.
Motorbike accident.
Head to head collision.


I knew and saw that something's wrong, that something's not right with his face. I didn't pay attention to it. I shrugged it off to myself. Maybe it was because I was raised not to single out & pick out people's disabilities, abnormalities, and the like. And maybe, I was just polite not to ask. My interrogation might offend him. Good thing, he paved his way to the story.

"My face that you now see has 39 steel plates and 19 screws in it. The surgeons needed to do that to at least get my face back. My face was totally crushed and unrecognizable. I was bleeding to death. But you know, God's grace made a way for me to get help, and to live."

"I can't dance the way I used to. I can't join competitions, I can't do exhibitions, and I can't do lifts anymore. But you know what? I may be limited, but I know I can still do other things. I see life more differently now."

There I was, sitting at the dance floor room, talking to once a stranger named Rowel. A living proof of God's grace. He may be a 'bio-man', but hey, he's been through tough ordeals. This bio-man is a survivor. The accident itself is one thing. And getting his life back after the accident is another. His disfigured face has a story to tell. Behind his face, behind this bionic man's face, is the love of God that wants nothing but for him to live.

It's sad how some of us fret with how our faces look like - becoming so particular with our face's symmetry, angle, color and lines. How vain we turn out to be at times. But here's a man who didn't mind the symmetry of his face. He just wanted to see, he just wanted to live. Put in the steel. Put in the screws. Put and stitch it all together.

"I thought I was going to die. But here I am... still alive."

On Rowel's behalf, I thank the Lord for the gift of life.
It was God's grace in this bio-man's life.

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*Rowel is the best friend of Miriam*, a dance instructor I invited to teach dance for our upcoming event at the office. Miriam asked Rowel to accompany her.

*not their real names.

*Cropped image credit : ideationox.deviantart.com

Just The Way I Like It

It was the simplest celebration I did for myself. As simple as it may appear, but it was a very special one ~ just the way I like my day to end. So, it was the night of my birthday when I went out alone to my favorite coffee shop immediately after work.



Daylight view from my favorite seat/spot at the coffee shop

I knew exactly what to do. I took out my journal and wrote those things running through my head. I wrote prayers and thoughts in a speed of light! I was just flowing with thoughts that my hand needed to take a double time just to catch up.

Here is but a few of those thoughts ~ thoughts that I am willing to share with you:

"... LORD, You remained faithful, kept me sane, cheered me on, lifted me up... You have been my Constant Companion ... If there is something I could utterly wish or pray for, it is that I will continue to dream big dreams and, that I will see things differently ~ that I will see things the way You want me to see them.

Whatever the next 365 days will give and bring, I pray that by Your grace I will be able to stand the test of time and of faith. I pray that I will continue to go on and will remain faithful to You as You are to me.

If time comes that I need to go beyond borders and take risks, it is my prayer that I will so ever cling to You, consult You, and take Your counsel ~ if it's a stop or go, yes or no. Make my heart stronger, my speech bolder, and mind clearer.

Thank You, my dearest Lord for the gift of Your faithfulness... I want to grow more in love with You and walk in Your wisdom more and more each day.

Amen."

Time for my pasta and coffee.
Happy birthday to me!
I am happy to be 30
~ celebrated just the way I like it. :)

Teardrops on the Floor & Something About 13

* This is an overdue response to one of my previous posts. :)

Calling SG # 6.

It was our turn. After words of testimonies for the 7-day Leadership-Discipleship Camp were read & heard, our Small Group stood in the middle. Shortly, a chorus of audible, low key hushes and silent words of prayer enveloped us. With my hands still holding my SGmates, I heard sobs. I knew one of us was shedding tears.

Then I saw teardrops on the floor. 

I just didn't know who was it. I was trying to comprehend where that intense feeling was coming from. I knew it was something deep. Those were sobs that's been wanting to be heard, and those were tears that's been wanting to be dried. Soon after, Mia (not her real name), grabbed my hand and embraced me wholly.

Flood of tears and louder sobs came from Mia. She can't say anything. She just wept and wept. I took her aside and held her tight. We went outside. I watched her intently, saying silent words of prayer for her.

"This is our last night, Ate. I hope I can always talk to you." Then again, she cried.

Then to her I said, "The Lord loves you very much. Always remember that. He is Your Comforter and the Lifter of your head. I am here before you because of Him. I am just like you and may fail you at times. I have frailties and a complete set of weaknesses. But the Lord, He surely doesn't and will never fail you. It is by His grace I survived. And it is by the same I will continue to live.

You can live, you can rise, you can shine in and through Him."

There were more teardrops on the floor. I wanted to cry, too. I hugged her back, tucked her in. I couldn't say anything more. I completely know where she was coming from and how I wish our statistics would decrease.

Mia and I are both motherless. She's been living a motherless life for a year. I've been living mine for 18 years. And you know what more comes to that?

Both of our moms died on March 13th.

The Lord must have known all this and purposefully joined us together in SG. It is something you can't just make. It is something... divine.

To dear Mia, as surely as the Lord lives, you got me here. I will always be here to pray for you, and will surely remember you every March 13th. And I will remember the night you cried, the night I saw your teardrops on the floor.

Incalculable loss? Yes.

Experienced comfort from the Greatest Comforter? A bigger YES. 



This Month's Bs

The 7th month comes to an end today. Time flies. As I close with this post, there's nothing I can think of but the blessings that paved through the past 31 days. To this, I thank the Lord.

Books

This month blessed me with books that I really love ~ all purchased with the best deal ever! What a blessing Booksale is! It has been filling my shelves little by little all through these years. It's giving me so much joy.

Coming across with my post Clean.Read.Blog. once again, my bookshelf really looked like this:

With my love for reading and realizing my books needed more shelves to fill, it has grown into this:

I still don't have a lot actually. But I am thankful how they are multiplying. The books in my shelves are really my choicest ones and some are precious gifts. On top of it all, this 7th month blessed me with the completion of this:

Happy, happy, happy me! :)

Band

This month, for the record, filled me and the people around me with the greatest of surprises. Challenging is an understatement, so is tough and nerve-racking. Better left unsaid. But the Lord blessed me with the coming of this group ~ which I can really say I am a fan. With all those things happening around, better yet praise the Lord. And so, praise I did.

The entrance/ticket was free and I was able to get a good-viewing seat. What a treat for the end of the week!

Blog

And most of all, I am happy to be back here, striking and banging the keys. It's in this month I am able to return to my 5-posts-per-month discipline (my self-induced pressure). I've been a poor blogger for the past two months. My busy life manifested through my blog. Haha! So I tried to get up once again by posting with & about something light. I think my trying succeeded.

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There are a lot of things/blessings I am thankful to the Lord for this month. I just focused writing about the Bs this time.

Maybe next time, I'll try the ABCs. :)

Love Revisited on a Weekend

"The Lord loves us for who we are, 

not for what we should be", 

Jason Roy of Building 429 said over the mic in the midst of the crowd.

It struck me.
It gripped my heart
~ really.

It is comforting to know and be reminded over and over again that God's love is pure, deep, and genuine (and all other adjectives we can think of). It demands no performance on our part. He loved us from the beginning and He always will. We can walk with humble confidence, knowing the truth, living with the identity that Someone loves us so much ~ despite our lousy life, despite the sin, despite the mess.

The past 7 days took an unexpected toll on me. I know deep within, I needed to have a point of release or to simply shrug some tensions away. Encouragement seems nowhere.

A timely blessing Building 429 was on town, just this past weekend. I was ecstatic! I have been grooving over their songs for the past months, that I even posted about them in my Grooving For Something Light.

So, I decided to rock it all out and praise the Lord amidst the surrounding and awaiting odds. I took a few pictures (Sorry, I was not really focused into taking good pictures that time.) to remember one of my most-loved, blessed and encouraging weekends.

"The Lord loves us for who we are, 

not for what we should be."

The Lord's love has always a way of reaching, reminding and revisiting us. As for me, it happened on a weekend. 


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My favorite Building 429 songs (You can check them out, too.):
~ Where I Belong
~ Listen to the Sound
~ You Save Me