When I was about to enter college, I have an
ambition of graduating with honors, because I wanted to get a good job after
graduation.
I got save when I was a sophomore student in college,
when someone approached me during a meeting in the organization I joined,
asking me if he could share the Gospel to me. It took me a few months before I
accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
Having Christ as my Lord and Savior radically
changed my life. From having a selfish motivation, I want to graduate with
flying colors to honor my parents, especially my dad who did not finished
college. Having that new found motivation, I was able to finish gracefully,
ending it with joy in my heart.
I worked in
the Philippines for 2 ½ years before I decided to move here in Abu Dhabi last
2014, to try building a career in the hospitality industry. I thought
everything will be fine.
I was not connected to the church (ENAD) for more
than a year. I felt empty, yearning for that feeling I felt 8 years ago at
Victory Ubelt. It was only November 2015, when I got a chance to be invited to
attend to a prayer meeting. I felt like I started all over again with my walk
with God. I feel so refreshed at that time. But it was early 2016 when someone
contacted me, followed-up, and eventually plugged in to a CORE group.
2016 has been a tough year for me. I’ve been
struggling at work, that prompted me to pass a resignation letter by the middle
of the year. I came to a point asking God for a new job. To ease the stress, I
filed for a vacation for the 3rd quarter. Few weeks before the
vacation, I decided to make this trip a purpose-driven one. This time, I prayed to God for guidance.
The night before my flight, I decided to publicly
declare my faith, through water baptism. On the morning of my flight, I
attended the worship service, then went straight home, to check everything
before heading to Dubai for my flight.
In James 2:17, “In the same way, faith by itself,
if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” So to make this trip a
purpose-driven one, I see to it that during my vacation, I will meet the
leaders and mentors who influenced me, to update them and ask for guidance and
prayers.
By the end of my vacation, God did not answer my
prayer. He did not gave me a new job. Instead, He gave me a new heart. A heart
of renewed faith and a heart full of joy. The last quarter of 2016 was a period
full of revelations and answered prayers, which made me to look forward for the
year ahead.
2017 started pretty great for me. Blessings and more
answered prayers, joined and committed in a ministry and registered to this
current batch of Training for Victory.
A 10-week journey of faith-building lessons and spirit-strengthening
testimonies, Training for Victory provided me with great avenues to have a
deeper understanding of who God is, who am I, and what is my purpose where I am
today. The lessons helped me to evaluate myself and be prepared to do great
things for God’s glory.
There was a time
somewhere between the course of the training that I said to myself, “What am I
really doing here? Am I just attending this training for compliance? Or there must
be something greater than that?”
Here are some points that I learned throughout the
period of 10 weeks:
§
Be prepared: We may be in different seasons
right now. We, as leaders and ambassadors of Christ here on earth, must be
prepared to fulfill God’s calling in our lives. We must persevere while waiting
for God’s perfect timing on His promises.
§
Disciplined to be a disciple: I learned a lot of
things throughout this training, that will help me to prepare and catapult to wherever
God wants me to go.
§
Legacy: Whatever things we do today, always bear
in mind what would be the impact to the person we are interacting with. We always
have to think with the end result in mind.
As I end, I want to leave with this:
This journey isn’t that easy. But everything comes
with a purpose. A purpose that would you make you not to give up, but a purpose
for you to persevere and to stand strong, a purpose to help your faith in Him
to be stronger when everything else seems not going your way, and learn to
trust everything to Him. It was His hands who have been working in my life
since the day I started knowing Him.
