Beauty in Imperfection

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This season of being broken,

pulverized maybe... 

of wanting to make sense of what is happening... 

when my familiar comforts are slipping away...

when best friends I thought would be forever are moving on... 

without me...

when my well laid out plans are being re-written by an Unseen Hand...

I no longer want to fight back.

Not in the sense of giving up,

or being resigned. 

No, not that. 

But there's release in giving in, 

and letting go seems to be the only way. 

Letting the One writing my story have His way. 

It's His story, you see.

No longer a fighting back, 

or attempting to recover the pieces... 

or wishing for the sense of order, 

and security of the years gone by, to return.

Just this ... it's a new season of embracing my brokenness... 

hugging my new normal... 

and knowing deep within that a new kind of rugged beauty 

is replacing what I thought I have lost.  

And realizing that nothing was really lost. 

All the pieces are still there... 

nothing is wasted.

Life doesn't have to be perfect,

It's fine to be just good enough...

For the Master Builder is doing a masterpiece. 

And He's not finished yet.

Kintsugi....

a kind of Japanese art that highlights the brokenness. 

I have fallen in love with the concept. 

Putting gold in the cracks... 

Beautiful, simply beautiful.

Leaves me breathless at the thought...

Lost for words...

Makes me embrace my brokenness...
just a little bit closer.

I am kintsukuroi. 

A work in progress. 

The Kintsugi Master. 

He's really good at making broken things beautiful. 

I can trust Him. 

I want to trust Him. 

I choose to trust Him. 

My life is in His hands.

He knows the way that I take... 
and when He has tested me, I will come out as gold.

Job 23:10

Coming Out of Hibernation

Bear with me...
This blog is just coming out of hibernation and will soon be updated.
Thank you!

Rhythms of Grace

A Birthday Prayer

As the deer pants for the water brooks
So pants my soul for You, O God.

Psalm 42:1

Today, November 11, is the day your were born, dear Sita.

It is a special day, and heaven is rejoicing as the Father sees what you are becoming.

He is proud of you, and delights in you.

He sees your hunger :

...for righteousness

...for His presence

...for His peace to reign in your life.

And your heart will be filled.

He says to you today, "I will not turn the hungry away. You will never leave My presence empty-handed. You open your mouth and I will fill it. I will give you the desires of your heart."

He hears you ask, "How long, my Father, how long before I see your glory reign upon my circumstances, and upon the earth?"

He says, "I am giving you brand new eyes to see my glory in a way you've never seen it before."

Dear Father, I thank you for this dear woman, Sita. She is a friend You have given me. She is a gift I never expected to have, and yet, you sent her into my life.

You have a purpose for allowing our lives to meet.

And today, as God fills my heart with love and thanksgiving for you, I pray that God will satisfy the longing of your heart to have more of Him in your life.

I know of your passion to be a woman after God's heart. God has gifted you with an incredible gift of compassion and tenderness. The struggles and disappointments you have been through have served to make your heart soft, instead of hardening it. Satan is baffled why his plans are not pushing through. I see that God has kept you safe in the hollow of His hands all these years.

Your childlike innocence has been kept pure and intact, and God sees your eyes of faith, your eyes which are a window to your soul.

You are always waiting... for the breakthroughs...for the promises...for the fulfillment of godly plans, not only for yourself and your family, but even for your homeland, and for the land where God has sent you, and even for other nations where you have seen affliction wreak havoc upon young lives.

There is a coming day when your mourning will turn to songs of joy and deliverance!

Father, I lift up Sita on this her special day. When I thought of her this morning, the picture of a deer drinking by a stream of water came to my mind.

And indeed she is a deer, Father, always looking for Your water.

She is a Mary sitting at the feet of her Master...eyes looking up into His, soaking herself in the ONE THING that shall not be taken away for her, YOUR WORD.

Fill her heart today with a deeper love for Your water, Your word. Hide your word in her heart, and she will be as a tree, planted by the water...whatever she does she prospers, she will not fear when the heat comes.

God is giving you His songs to sing, keeping your heart soft, a heart of flesh, though Satan had sought to put a thick wall around it, he has not succeeded.

"You are mine, fear not," the Father says. "No weapon forged against you will succeed. Because you have come often to the water... and have stayed close to my heart."

Dear Sita, this is my prayer of affirmation for you today.

Love
Lidj

๋July 2008

July 16, 2008
I KNOW YOUR NAME BECAUSE I KNOW YOU

I have given each of you, My children, a new name,
names that you are called by, day by day, the new names I have written in My heart...

Read more



July 18, 2008
Jacob's New Name
It was my first week in Rasa.

During the evening session, Hans asked us a question...

Read more




July 23, 2008
Joseph, Prisoner of Hope
Joseph belongs to the fourth generation after Abraham. The covenant promise was given successively to three generations and now it was Joseph's turn to receive the covenant promise. Read more

June 2008

June 12, 2008
Independence Day Prayer

Lord, heal our land
Father, heal our land
Hear our cry and turn this nation back to You...
Read more

May 2008

May 3, 2008
In My Father's House

After waiting for eight hours at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Ernie and I were finally on board our Manila-bound flight by 1:00 a.m. on May 1... Read more



May 9, 2008
My First Born Son

Today is my eldest son's 28th birthday. I still remember the day he was born... The pinkish light of dawn was spreading gently across the morning sky. It was a new day and on that special morning, I knew God was speaking to my heart a powerful message of hope...Read more

April 2008

April 2, 2008
Isaac: Redigging Old Wells
These past weeks I have sensed that God has a special message for me from Genesis 26. Almost everyday, I have kept going back to this chapter, as if there was a magnet ... Read more





April 3, 2008
Jacob's Ladder
I have many favorites in the Bible. Abraham is one, Isaac is another. But Jacob is my "most favorite" of them all. I never get tired of reading the story of his life. One evening many years ago, Ernie... Read more







April 4, 2008
Rasa Revisited
...these days my heart feels like a well that has been stopped up. The realization hits me: I need to clear my heart of clutter and debris... Read more



April 17, 2008
Kingdom Authority
These days I feel like I’m in a spiritual greenhouse... One lesson I’ve been going through these past months is on how to break free of controlling powers... Read more






April 22, 2008
A Still Small Voice

I boarded my Emirates flight bound for Zurich on May 27, 1997. There were two stop-overs, Bangkok and Abu Dhabi... Read more




April 29, 2008
Mixed Emotions

This is my last full day in Thailand for this season... Tomorrow Ernie and I leave Chiang Mai to go back home to the Philippines for a two-month summer break... Read more