Tonight has been surprisingly a fulfilling and inspiring experience for me again. But this time, it is with my older sister. 

I just got back from my home town, from a very long vacation (wherein I realized that too much of it ain't good for me), and I'm tired and exhausted (history repeating itself?) from the long trip. I don't know but unlike my trips to my home town before, this time, I was looking forward to coming back here in Cebu. I realized that I can somehow do more things here than stay back at my home town (although it may not be that obvious). 

Anyway, I am just so relieved and at ease that I was able to have deep long conversations with my older sister. I just felt so glad to have shared a lot of things and insights with her. And she shared me something so wonderful that I just can't keep it to myself. What happened was definitely heaven sent. And I believe in her and what God has shown to her.

My sister had a dream. I think it was more than a dream. A vision.In her dream/vision, she saw a great light or spirit  (I'm just relaying this from memory). At first, she didn't know if it was a bad or good one. She then prayed really really hard. Then afterwards, she realized that the great light is God. She couldn't see His face. All she could see was his shoulders laden with gold but above, all she could see was a very great light. At that time, she had lots of questions in her mind. And she knew that He can hear her thoughts even though she didn't utter them to Him. 

He then told her some great insights which I think all of us already knew but have somehow forgotten their significance in our lives. He told her that religion does not matter. It's not important. He emphasized the two greatest commandments in which we should all live to. And that is to LOVE God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and to LOVE your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). That is our sole purpose in living a life worth living. He also told her that all children up to 15 years old will go to heaven. What surprised her about this was that He gave her a specific number. 15 years old. When I heard about it, the first thing that came into my mind was that 15 years old is quite old. I do know and believe that all children will go to heaven when they still do not know what is right or wrong. And I was thinking that the age when they become aware would be like 8-12 years old. I was also surprised at this. He also said something about her life. A number. The age on when she will die. But she didn't remember the number. But then again, I guess her mind didn't want to remember it. It's just scary when you know when you are going to die. You might get paranoid. Then after that, God gave her a powerful insight or verse which really made a great impact to me and led me to thinking. This is the verse: "Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16-17). The message is very clear. It's all about LOVE. And I thought I was living in love. After that, my sister lay on God's lap and she was filled with immense feelings of peace and love. Like it was indescribable and unfathomable. When she woke up, she felt so good and the whole experience was really amazing for her. 

When she shared this to me, I was really touched and inspired. Something as great as this is not something that can just happen to anyone. People may be doubtful and skeptical to things like this but when she shared this to me, I knew this is genuine. This is real. This is heaven sent. And I believe in it. My sister is a really really good person. We may have disagreements and arguments but when it comes to her spirituality, I know that her goodness and sincerity shows since we have shared insights about it which makes me really glad. She has already told me about she's always having this questions in her mind about God's purpose for her, how she wants to be a missionary and help people, how she wants to build her own orphanage, everything. With the vision that she just had, I know that God has great plans for her. I am just amazed because I'm usually not the kind of person who easily believes in these things. I admit I have my own shared of skepticisms about some things. But this, this is not something that I can just disregard. This is probably the first time that something like this is so close to me. I'm really glad that my sister experienced it and I'm glad that she shared it to me. I'm really grateful to God for letting us experience something so wonderful as this. 

Again, this is getting too long and probably a bore to read, but tonight was just wonderful. We shared and talked about so many things that I want to share I should write a book about them. :) She also gave me a vial filled with the miraculous waters from Lourdes, France wherein Mary showed herself to St. Bernadette. She and her boyfriend drank a few drops and they were cured of their sickness at that time. She also gave my other older sister a vial of it and when she drank it, afterwards, she gave birth to her first son (because before that, she really really wanted to gave birth already but to no success). Just hearing these things from someone close to me just amazes me because this is also one of things where my skepticism ponders about. Then my sister told me not to abuse it. It doesn't just work that way. You also need to have great faith and belief for miracles to happen. And from the accounts of my sisters, they did happen. Right now, I don't know if I want to drink it. I feel that it is so sacred and I just don't have enough faith yet. I just want to keep it. And maybe when the time is right, I will manage to drink it and believe that it will work.

 (Too Sleepy To Think Of A Good Title)

Tonight has been very tiring and exhausting. Even though my throat felt better than before, my runny nose became clogged, the coughing due to my acid reflux came back, and I feel like a fever is on its way. I feel soooo very sleepy right now  but I just had this strong urge to write this down. Because something happened worthwhile that I want to keep. 

I shouldn't have gone to another city today because I wasn't feeling very good. But I thought, since my throat is feeling better,  my condition wouldn't have probably worsen. But as you can see it has. And somehow a part of me wanted to regret. That I should have waited for another day for me and my younger sister to go on a trip. However, my contacts solution was getting empty so that's what probably triggered me to get going because I can't seem to find any suitable solution here in my home town. 

Anyway, that's just the beginning. I'm not really good at narrating so I'll just go straight to the things that made this day worthwhile. And I'm glad they happened. 

You see, the trip from a neighboring city is two hours away to our home town by bus. So we got all the time just talking and talking. It was already 9:00 PM (I think) when the bus left the terminal so we practically arrived at around 11:00 PM which is very unusual since we don't usually travel during these times here. Why  we rode the bus at 9:00 PM is another story. But it's not really that important. 

The things that really made the trip worthwhile was talks we had with my sister. The old times. I miss the old times. We used to talk a lot with my younger sister before we sleep when the lights are out or when we are both in our room just chit chatting. It's not everyday that you have a sister whom you can talk with about almost everything! And what's fulfilling in our talks is that they show how close we are that we can even open the most intimate and deep topics that we can't possibly discuss with anyone else. It's such a relief to have these good times once again. Connecting with someone in a very deep level. I'm gonna miss this when I go back to work.

Another thing that I want to keep in my memory which is the one thing that really urged me to write was that when we arrived home exhausted, hungry, and holding my bladder for a very long time, I found my younger brother silently sitting on a chair with his head in a bowing position and headset on his ears. We didn't bother him at first because I went straight to the C.R. and then straight to preparing food to eat. We were very noisy but my brother seems unmoved. So I moved closer to him and I saw him reading my Bible that I left on the computer desk. Honestly, this sight really made my heart glad because something like this is kind of unusual. I haven't talked to my brother about Christianity or the Bible and I have the slightest idea of his faith (except I know he believes in God and Jesus and the Bible. But that's just it). We really haven't discussed things like this (Oh, the irony of it). I'm always  looking for timings, but my fears get the best of me. But I'm just glad that the opportunity presented itself. And it's just this morning (or yesterday) that I actually first read the Bible while here in my home town and I left it in the computer desk afterwards. Something like this isn't just plain coincidence. And I'm really grateful that God made this happened. 

I then told my brother that if he wanted my Bible he can have it. And I'm just glad that he received it with such joy. We then started eating and discussing about the Bible, Christianity, and religion. It's actually the first time that me and my two siblings talked stuff like these and it's really quite fulfilling and awe-inspiring I could feel tears are starting to pour down (I can be really emotional when no ones around). 

Then my brother told us about a person he had encountered over the net in which he had a deep intimate conversation with. It was a very unlikely encounter because most of the people over the net are rather unpleasant, indecent or vulgar due to anonymity. He, too, was surprised that he was able to meet someone who was decent and sensible. It was a site called emegle.com (I can't quite remember) and both of my siblings knew this site. (I guess I'm getting old to catch up?:/). It's like a random chat where you meet up with a stranger and you get to know each other through that chat. The website itself is the one who randomly picks up a chatter who is using the site as well. I really don't know how it works but my bro said it was a very unlikely encounter. He never thought he can find a sensible person in that website. 

This is getting long and I'm getting really  tired so to make the long story short, he was able to chat with an atheist and they talked about religion and stuff. And it was a very fulfilling encounter for him (he felt good after the chat) because he became an instrument in sharing his faith to that person and made that person ponder about his life as an atheist. And it's just overwhelming.