My
dear brothers and sisters, Good Morning! How are you today? We are so glad to
be with you this morning.
The
life testimony I am sharing with you is inspired by a verse in the Book of
Psalms, “Because they cling to Me, I will rescue them says the Lord, I will
protect those who know My Name” (Ps 91:14).
In
each person’s life, there is always a moment of truth, reality and acceptance.
I always see this in lives of the persons I am mentoring. Mine came last January
20, 2013 the day Cebu celebrated Sinulog Mardi Gras in honor of Señor Santo
Niño. I experienced shortness of breath
accompanied by severe chest and back pains. I passed out. The reality of my
situation was clear. I was on death’s hour.
Silently, I kept praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy asking for a happy
and quick death. The naked truth of my unpreparedness flashed like lightning. I
saw my baggage of ill feelings, my arrogance, my pride, my bitterness, my
unwillingness to forgive. My only refuge was God’s mercy. I asked for the
impossible, “I could not imagine myself using a cane as a third leg. It was
between happy death and full recovery and nothing in between.” My feeling was
like a pendulum swinging from pleading, arguing, helplessness and finally
acceptance.
God
willed me to live! I was discharged after 5 days in the Intensive Care Unit.
But my health was still downhill. I could not do any physical work because I
felt so weak. My prayer life has become my major activity. I ask God to put me
back on my feet, my activities and community services since He granted me
another chance to live. Day in and day out, in my waking moments, I bombarded Heaven
to put me back in my feet. Praying without ceasing . . . and in four (4)
months, God answered my pleadings. I was able to attend a health wellness
seminar. I decided to stop all my synthetic maintenance medication. Simply
changing the kind of food I eat reversed my health condition. I lost a total of
17 kgs body weight. What was so impossible has become easy and very possible.
Last
August 2013, I gave myself a birthday gift. Together with few friends, I joined
a Silent Retreat at Mountain Pines Place, Bukidnon, conducted by the Sisters of
the Opus Dei. How can I appreciate a retreat with silence and my
personal journal as companions and all alone in my room? The instruction was,
write one or two realizations that could be implemented. This retreat was a big mistake. I presumed it
was a retreat like the ones I usually attended where we share reflections in
small groups.
Every
now and then I saw participants taking pictures. I always avoid group pictures
because I could not see any beauty in my face and figure! But I followed suit
for lack of something to do. And behold, I was able to capture the face of a
strict, frowning, unhappy woman. The previous day lecture was “GOD WANTS ME TO BE HAPPY!” So I took another selfie picture, this time
smiling and …what a transformation! I now join group pictures with a smile
always pasted on my face. I will remember that God wants me to be happy always!
That was my first workable reflection entered into my journal. For a person not
used to express this emotion, well, it is an effort.
A
priest was always available for confession during the retreat. I took the
opportunity to unload my miserable feeling. His first question was, “why are
you angry?” My lame answer was, “I could not remember!” His reply, “Are there
some expectations not met? Still I gave a confused answer. Finally, he
instructed “when you can remember, then comeback!”
The
following day, we were introduced to two simple steps to forgiveness. First
step: excuse a person’s doing, action, words when you feel hurt but no sin has been committed or it is not
the intention of the doer to hurt. Do not believe on messages passed to you
because the circumstance and emotion when the messages were expressed could not
be passed on. Believe when it is said directly to you. It is your ego that has
been hurt? . . . . Ah. . . that was why I forgot the reason of my anger. SO EXCUSE STARTING TODAY! This was my second doable
reflection written in my journal.
Second
step: Decide to forgive anyone who has sinned against you!
Ah very tall order but difficult to implement. It was the second statement that
gave me the wisdom to follow! We, you and I are all sinners, Jesus decided to
forgive! He took the first move to reconciliation even though He has not
sinned! I DECIDE TO FORGIVE! This was the third
entry to my journal.
After
I decided to be HAPPY, to EXCUSE and to FORGIVE, many long overdue petitions were
answered. The many answered prayers that were personal and those requested were
tremendous. I am amazed at the Power of God and His Perfect Timing. One
significant grace received is the mending of my relationship with our eldest
and married daughter. This is a 15 years old prayer petition.
Our
youngest and only son decided to quit college this semester to pursue his
passion in cooking. It was mind blowing for us. Nestor and I took refuge in
prayers, waited and reflected on God’s wisdom. One reason I did not consent was
I could not imagine him called “kusenero” and how much do we pay Kuseneros? But
God provided us the means to enroll him in an International Culinary Arts
Academy in Cebu City (ICAAC) and their graduates are called “Chefs”. Ah class
na! Ok na ko! Chefs earn big money!
Our
middle child is an Applied Physics graduate. After her graduation she wanted to
study further on Medical Physics. Since this entails radiations and the like,
we did not support her but instead prayed what is best for her and waited. She
is now gaining prominence as she develops her skills in Live Blood Analysis (LBA)
being part of the medical team of her networking business. Soon, she will be
opening her LBA and Healthy food center in Mandaue City. All these are answered prayers.
One
universal law is the giving back to God our treasure, time and talents. We give
tithes to our community and chosen parish. Nestor, my sister and I went to the parish
where our coconut farm is located to give our tithes derived from the farm
income last December 16, 2013. When we arrived late in the afternoon, the
rectory was closed. A gardener was around, so we inquired for the priest. He
went inside and brought along the cook. The cook informed us that the priest
was asleep and should not be disturbed because it was the first day of Mesa de
Gallo. My sister and I waited outside wondering what to do. In silence, I
prayed and asked for Divine intervention. We traveled for two (2) hours just
for nothing? The cook made us enter the rectory and disappeared. Since the
parish priest was new, we were not able to recognize him when he went out from
a room. We exchanged greetings and introduced ourselves. We informed him of our
intention to give our tithes.
The
parish priest was teary eyed when he thanked us being the answer of his day-long
prayer for financial assistance to repair part of the church roofing destroyed
by Typhoon Yolanda. We became God’s instruments to answer his prayer. He was very grateful and amazed for the
amount we gave was three (3) times more than what he prayed for. Isn’t God so
amazing?
To pray without ceasing is our life-line to God. Service is our
paying forward for the graces received and answered prayers. Returning back to
God a portion of our treasure, time and talent is our submission to His
ownership of everything that we are and have. We acknowledge we are nothing
without God and His Divine Providence.
Brothers and sisters I am
your humble servant, Judy Perez Gloria an agriculturist by profession; a real
estate lessor by business and a health wellness consultant by hobby. I am
married to Nestor M. Gloria also an agriculturist and a real estate lessor and
a blogger as hobby. We have three
children and three grandchildren.
The Lord promises us, “When
they call Me, I will answer, in time of trouble, I will be with them, I will
deliver and honor them, I will satisfy them with long life, and show them My
salvation” (Ps 91:15-16).
Your being here today is not
a coincidence. The Lord protected you from the snares of super typhoon Yolanda
because you called His Name!
Thank you and have a blessed
and enjoyable day!
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