Mysterious

I thought Kaela (my labra-dal doggie) was pregnant. Well for a month, she was acting weird – eating more, ever sleepy, calmer, lying down in a crazy way, sitting down on her butt not on her hind legs and shedding more hair. But my excitement petered out as the ultrasound three days ago showed nothing!

Though sad, I told my daughter  to cheer up. Maybe God wants us to concentrate in our moving-out plans. We may relocate and having a pregnant dog would  not only stress us but Kaela herself and her future pups.

It was 12 midnight of Friday and in less than 8 hours I would be standing before a class of high school students and do my demo teaching. It was one of the final requirements to get a  Diploma for Professional Education. Though I had passed the recent Licensure Exam for Teachers, I still have to finish 9 more units to get my diploma  so the demo teaching was important.  Yet, at 12 midnight, I was still finishing my lesson plan and instructional materials.

As I finally hit the sack, I told God to sustain me even with little sleep. I did my part in preparing for this demo and I surrender everything now to Him.

At  8:30 a.m. I started teaching. Deep inside I was praying that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face before the 40-minute class was  over. I hoped that no  part of the lesson would   fall apart. But after 15 minutes, our Dean gave the signal for me to stop. What did I do wrong? I found later that  she liked my demo enough and did not need to  see the entire lesson taught anymore. Praise God!

I was filled with gratitude. I know God not only saved me from probably losing energy because of my lack of sleep but also protected me from committing something embarrassing or making a  mess of the last part of my lesson. And the Dean’s “stop” made a lot of difference.

The earthquake that rocked Cebu last Feb. 6 o did not do as much damage here compared to the massive effect in  the neighboring province of Negros. But the unexpected tremor, made more scary by a tsunami alarm, pushed  people to do unusual acts –  climb  tall buildings, run up to the mountains, leave their cars and run and call loved ones frantically. A priest, in his homily, commented that the earthquake had a good effect. It made people use the overpass in Osmeña Boulevard across a shopping mall. Pedestrians practically ignore this overpass and would  rather cross the road in peril. When the earth shook, the overpass was filled with people in anticipation of a  coming tsunami!

As alarming aftershocks continued,  people started to pray more. No one felt higher than any one. They knew that death would  come to people from any status in life. It was clearly a warning to all to take stock of how they are leading their lives.

Indeed, God has a way of telling us what He wants us to do. He can test how we will respond.

We may not be able to understand why some things happen to us. If God is truly a God of love, why do bad things still happen to people? If God is the ultimate good, why is there still a devil?

In my 15 years of being a widow, I can stand up boldly and declare that God never sleeps. It is not that He likes evil to come to our lives.  His ways can be mysterious and we can’t really understand because His ways are not our ways. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”

Instead of whacking our heads  and crying out, “Why?” or “Why me?”, we need to focus  on our lives as being in His hands and being done in His ways and not ours. Simply believe God is in great control!

“Everything I have. Everything I own. Everything I hope for. Everything I fear. Everything I love. Everything I dream. It’s all Yours, Jesus. I trust You in complete and utter abandon.”

Surrender to God’s plans. That is exactly what we all should be – completely abandoned to God’s will. Surrendered. Completely abandoned.

Who knows? Giving it all up for God may get Him  to pause.  Look down on us with pity. And move  good things toward us.

Then things may not be so mysterious after all!