Lord Jesus, I thank you for giving me another life to fulfill your will in me. I thank you for giving me a new chance to work on my ways and to keep on trying despite the circumstances that you have given me. Thank you for the countless blessings that you have showered upon me. Help me to realize them and to feel blessed for having such gifts.

Thank you for the everyday experiences that have helped me grow and become closer to you. I know I have failed you many many times and yet you never gave up on me. You never gave up even if I have done things that are against your will. You have been faithful and loving as a very caring Father. This is my way of showing You how grateful I am to have a God, a Father, a Saviour like you. Even these very words are not enough to show how grateful I am and I can keep on continuing to say these words because you are always the same.

Thank you for the joy and happiness that I have felt in this life. They make me realize how wonderful and loving you are. They make me realize that I am loved and that you have never abandoned nor forgotten me.

Thank you for the pain and suffering that I have gone through. They make me grow closer to you. They make my faith and trust stronger to you. They help me to rely and cling to you when everything else fails.

Thank you for the love and care that you've shown. Thank you for bringing me to this point. To make me feel the love that you have for me very deeply. Thank you for the numerous miracles that you have done to me. I would've want to share them ever since I became aware but they are too many to even count. From the simple struggles that I have, when I cried and called  Your Name, you never failed to answer me in a way that has left a very deep sense of joy in me. Something that will forever alter my life in profound ways.

Thank you for your Holy Word. Your words of encouragement and guidance. Your words of love and faith. Thank you for speaking to my heart through it.  Thank you for being a kind and loving God. I am really so glad that I have known you like this and I pray that it will become stronger and stronger until my world ends. I pray that I will never let the cares of this world sway and stray me away from You. I pray that you protect and guide me always especially at times when I feel like I'm losing myself to the world. When at times I feel like I am compromising myself just so that I can fit in. When at times I feel so down and hopeless and waste my life away. And at times when I feel too much worldly happiness that I tend to forget the things that are most important.

At the bottom of my heart, this is my heartfelt way of saying and giving thanks to you.

Thank you Lord for everything.

I love you so much and I pray and hope that my relationship with you as my ever loving God will never fade into the darkness.

"Be still and know that I am God."
        - Psalm 46:10 -

Two prospectors went to a desert in search for gold. They carefully noted every landmark, because to be lost could mean certain death. One night a great storm drove them into a cave, and from there they watched the lightning flash. Soon the rain began to pour and floodwaters gushed across the desert, ripping up cacti and completely changing the terrain.

One of the prospectors cried out in panic, "All the landmarks are swept away and we are lost!" But the other man calmly said, "Wait! Soon the storm clouds will be gone, and we will see the sky." Sure enough, the clouds rolled back and when the two old prospectors saw the stars, they found their bearings.

The prospectors have faded into history, but the panic that one feels when the landmarks are swept away is still in the hearts of many today. People see the landscape of humanity destroyed and are quick to panic. As the prospectors had to wait and look up, so the solution to your concern lies in looking upward.

Two things give me peace amidst the storms of life. One is by looking at the stars in the heavens, I realize that the God who placed them above, eons of years ago, is the same today. Second, by remembering the ruins of ancient civilizations, I realize that the problems confronting me are not here to stay. They are merely part of the challenge of life, and they, like the civilizations of the past, will not be with me forever.

It is by looking upward that gives us our bearing when the circumstances of life are chaotic. There is the anchor of a loving God who never changes. He speaks to our hearts today amidst the thunder and roar of life.

Before, the Israelites have to offer a certain amount of money as an offering to God to atone for their lives. Today, we have Jesus Christ who redeemed us from our sinful selves. 

Today, we offer 10% of our  monthly income to God in mass offerings. I didn't know it was like this before. About the 10%. I should offer a certain amount of money and that I should do it heartily and not because it is required of me. I was confused by this notion since if I want to give with all my heart, I can give any amount I want. But then it makes sense. Since you will be giving with your heart, the amount you give shows how big your heart is. 

If you give exceeding to the 10% that is required of you, then you give it all with your heart, surely it shows that your heart is really full. But then, it would defy the law of the Book since 10% is only required of you. It is also important not to add or deduct anything in what the Bible says and while it speaks for the heart, it also has some holy Laws that one must follow in order to perfect one's faith. But if you give according to the 10% and you give it because it is required of you and not totally giving your heart throughout, it will be a lie. It will be as if you are just giving out of respect. Out of fear. Out of following a certain law for the sake of just following it. It would be untrue and it will only become a vicious cycle of giving 10% every mass offering with the meaning of it gradually fading away. 

So in regards to this, it is important that one must offer with all their hearts and it must not be less or more than 10%. I am still confused with this notion still. It's been a long time since I haven't had a Bible study with someone of higher knowledge regarding the Bible and I really crave for this. I got to know these from a pastor whom I had a Bible study with when I was way back in my home town. The Bible study really helped me grow spiritually and right now, I feel like my spiritual growth stagnates as I have no one to hold on to whenever I would stray or stumble. Or someone to remind me of these spiritual things. I just rely on my own and on God. But being on my own, there are times when I feel so helpless and I forget. There are times when I have no sense of direction and I don't reach out to God. These are the times when emotional turmoil lurks on me and procrastination strikes at its best.

Right now, all things will come into being in its own time. It's just not the best time for me these days and I'm struggling in my own skin. I just hope that things will be for the better and I hope I will soon realize the importance of the awful things that seem to be happening to me right now. I thank the Lord because I know that He is still with me in these trying times. God knows my heart and my struggles and it will only be a matter of time that everything will be healed. I just have to trust in Him and pray that my faith will never falter even if this will take too long. I figured that this will make my faith stronger in Him as time passes by slowly and all of these will make me a better person.