Beauty Queen for a Day

And it's a wrap!

After a month of doll-ups, practices, preparations, and first-times, we're finally done with the most dreaded awaited event of the Nursing Department Month Celebration...the Mr. and Ms. Nursing 2014! And the surprise of the century is......I emerged victorious as Ms. Nursing 1st Runner Up!..hahaha

That makes October 24 as my official Beauty Queen Day...wahaha...I never thought this possible in my entiiiiiire life. When I was forced chosen to represent the Nursing Services Office, my thoughts were..."I thought I would pass through life without this kind of experience"...hehe..not that I consider it as a waste of time because it's actually the other way around- I consider myself unworthy and it was definitely a BIG Challenge for me to even try to fit into the shoes of a pageant contestant, least of all a beauty queen, no matter how puchu puchu the pageant may be..haha..But thank you Lord for pulling me through! My prayer then was to let His light and glory shine through me and I hope I was able to do just that as I gave it my best shot. To calm my nerves I kept on singing Like an Incense/Sometimes By Step (Hillsong) in my head, especially the following lines

I will seek you in the morning,

And I will learn to walk in Your ways

And step by step You'll lead me

And I will follow you all of my days

...I found it very fitting because the 'walking' really was most difficult for me..haha

I already posted my thank you speech in Facebook because even though it's not comfortable for me to do so, I felt that I owe it to all the people who helped me, supported me, and made my beauty queen stint possible. 

So before I store all that day's memories deep in the grave, here are snapshots of my ONCE-in-a-lifetime-experience. To God be the glory!

P.S. I'm currently nursing a long-overdue cold. Thank you Lord for postponing it and for enabling me still to sing my heart out this morning as we celebrated Fairview Christian Fellowship's 33rd Anniversary! Thank you for your faithfulness and immense goodness that never falters and waivers! We are excited to be used by you in expanding your kingdom and bringing the church to greater heights!

I also praise You for postponing our Research Colloquium at graduate school supposedly scheduled last Oct. 25...that was personally the best prize and best miracle of all!:) Now I'm very excited for All Saint's Day vacation,  notwithstanding that it shall be a very short one...but thank you for opportunities to rest and be with family! I love you Lord!

Now..back to the snapshots..

The Queen and the Top 5 Candidates

With my partner-in-crime, Jed (I hope I don't look like an Ate here..haha)

On another angle

Solo

closer...

With my Boss, Challenger, Trainor, Motivator - Dr. Nerissa Gerial:)

The Painter/Magician and the Canvass

With PJ...thank you so much for the crash course on rampage!

With Maam Eifel- our choreographer, motivator because we so lacked motivation..haha

My favorite part- my hair..haha

WWJD?!

Our church, Fairview Christian Fellowship, is currently on a sermon series on the book of Ephesians entitled, "WHY CHURCH? The Calling of the Church and Its Conduct in the World."

This morning's message on Ephesians 5:1-6 was delivered through Doc Lem Marasigan entitled "Walking in Love." If there's one thing about being a Christian that I cherish the most, it is the wonder of being loved by a great God unconditionally and wholeheartedly, despite my sins and iniquities that make me so undeserving of His love. Just the thought of it never fails to touch my heart and bring me to tears, and it is this realization that I will probably never grasp why, that makes me want to love God back all the days of my life. My purpose in life- to be a good and faithful servant, is based on this love. And another thing that's based on this love is this blog (*hence the title)...hehe

It is a difficult feat, because to love him is not just to say it or feel it, but to show it by walking in love-which is to imitate Him who is LOVE. Doc Lem gave different meanings to the typical WWJD or What Would Jesus Do and I'm writing it here to remind myself to always ask these questions, or take these actions as I do my best to walk in love for His glory.

WWJD?
- What Would Jesus Decide?
- What Would Jesus Desire?
- What Would Jesus Demand of me?
- Where Would Jesus Devote His Resources?
- Who Would Jesus want me to Disciple?

Our Response: WWJD!
- Wake up With Jesus Daily!
- Worship With Jesus Daily!
- meditate on God's Word With Jesus Daily!
- Watch and pray With Jesus Daily!
- Write With Jesus Daily! (journal)
- Walk With Jesus Daily!
- Walk the Way Jesus Did!
- Work/study With Jesus Daily!
- Wait With Jesus Diligently!
- Withdraw With Jesus Deliberately! (retreat...I hope to execute my plans for this during the semestral break:)
- War With Jesus Daily! (against the world, Satan, and self)

This also fits my current reflection on John 21:15-17 where Jesus asked Peter three (3) times, "Do you love me?" I saw it as Jesus, vindicating Peter from his sin and guilt when he denied Him (Jesus) three times in the past when He was being persecuted. But on Peter's part, I think it was Jesus' way of making Peter realize how deeply He loved Jesus, and how he has been transformed from a follower, to a true lover of Jesus. Jesus further showed us the model by which we can show Him our love- by being true and faithful in fulfilling His Great Commission.

I think it is important to take note and to always remember however, that loving God is always the first and main priority, and our ministry and service is our way of showing our love to Him. Our service should never interfere with our communion and loving relationship with God, and this is what I try to carefully avoid as I walk with Him.

Thank you Father for your extreme, overflowing, and amazing love that saved me from all my sins and gave me purpose and eternal hope for what is to come. Thank you for allowing me to grasp and experience this unfathomable love that now gives life and meaning to my existence here in this world. To live a life worthy of your calling is difficult, but each time I remember your LOVE displayed in all its limitless glory when you gave your only Son Jesus to die for the salvation of mankind, I am moved to keep on trying, not by my own might but by the power of your Holy Spirit who lives in me; never in an attempt to match your love, but always as a humble offering of my thanksgiving and love for you...naiiyak na naman ako..haha..

I love you with all I am! Thank you for the privilege of knowing and experiencing this wonderful kind of love that can only come from You!:) May you continue to transform me each day, that I may more and more be a living testimony of your love to others...

Much Looooove,

Katy

What Do You Want the Lord to Do For You

I am currently on Youversion Bible's My Utmost for His Highest Devotional Plan and this just hit the mark so I wanted to share it here so I could go back to it whenever the worrier in me defeats my true identity..

What Do You Want The Lord To Do For You?

Is there something in your life that not only disturbs you, but makes you a disturbance to others? If so, it is always something you cannot handle yourself. “Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more . . .” (Luke 18:39). Be persistent with your disturbance until you get face to face with the Lord Himself. Don’t deify common sense. To sit calmly by, instead of creating a disturbance, serves only to deify our common sense. When Jesus asks what we want Him to do for us about the incredible problem that is confronting us, remember that He doesn’t work in commonsense ways, but only in supernatural ways.

Look at how we limit the Lord by only remembering what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past. We say, “I always failed there, and I always will. ”Consequently, we don’t ask for what we want. Instead, we think, “It is ridiculous to ask God to do this.” If it is an impossibility, it is the very thing for which we have to ask. If it is not an impossible thing, it is not a real disturbance. And God will do what is absolutely impossible.

This man received his sight. But the most impossible thing for you is to be so closely identified with the Lord that there is literally nothing of your old life remaining. God will do it if you will ask Him. But you have to come to the point of believing Him to be almighty. We find faith by not only believing what Jesus says, but, even more, by trusting Jesus Himself. If we only look at what He says, we will never believe. Once we see Jesus, the impossible things He does in our lives become as natural as breathing. The agony we suffer is only the result of the deliberate shallowness of our own heart. We won’t believe; we won’t let go by severing the line that secures the boat to the shore—we prefer to worry.

I praise You that all I am is Yours. Oh, that I could delight You as the lily does, or the tree, or even the sparrows, just living the life You have granted!

From YouVersion Bible

Ms. Nursing

October is my new ghost month this year. The past days have truly been very FULL and stressful for me and at this point I have a lot of things running in my mind, I can hardly decide which one should I do first. Having said that, the next question I've been asking myself is, why do I still have time to write? Well this day's stressors have been too much for me to bear and this is one of the few moments that I apply the writing for sanity philosophy.

It is Nursing Department Month Celebration in our institution and aside from the usual Exhibit-CQI-Research responsibilities that make my October full, it became even fuller with my participation in the Mr. & Ms. Nursing. I was chosen forced, arm twisted to join the said pageant and represent our section. It was something I've been dreading since my transfer to the office and my fears were given life this year.

One might say that I am overreacting but here are some interesting facts about me: (1) I've never joined a pageant before; (2) I'm not the typical chick- my innate kaartehan only translates to the way I talk sometimes but judging by society's standards, I appear more as 'astig' rather than feminine; (3) I was a lola trapped in a little girl's body and now, I'm still a lola trapped in a 25-year old's body; I enjoy watching beauty pageants but I never saw myself joining one, even a puchu-puchu one, because I'm not so much into appearing beautiful and sexy then and now; (4) I hardly know how to apply decent makeup and my only makeup stash include blush-on, eyeliner, BB cream, and foundation- most of which I won from a blog giveaway; (5) I do not invest in my personal appearance that much; (6) I have poor posture (kyphotic); (7) and it really isn't just my comfort zone- I've only joined quiz bees and essay writing contests in the past...you get the point...I'm a nerd without the glasses.

I particularly do not like being in the limelight because of my appearance, lest be judged for the way I dress, walk and present myself. And that's what happened this afternoon during the Pre-pageant where all the candidates had to present their talents with their partners.

It was an entirely novel experience for me; one I would never forget, hopefully for all good reasons until the pageant on the 24th. To win would be a miracle only God can do but I'm still gonna do my best because I want to glorify God even with this experience, no matter how reluctant I am. I feel that I am being taught to obey, and true enough, I've already had a lot of lessons learned in the process.

I've been putting some effort to look good these days for the sake of the events but I hope to still be motivated to make myself presentable even after the pageant...especially now that I've learned how to apply makeup on my eyebrows..haha..I've also been training to answer compliments with a gracious 'Thank You!', instead of my usual bungisngis and denial.

I still receive negative comments about my posture and some physical features which I can no longer improve at the moment, but I know they were given out of concern. I take their points to mind but if I would not be able to do it the way they would want me to during the actual pageant, I'm sorry... but at the same time I promise that to the best of my memory and my ability, I would conquer my habits and give up my comfortable-I-don't-care-much-about-how-I-look demeanor for a day.

It won't be effective if I would do it for myself because I hate competitions in general, but I am motivated to do it for my NSO family and my relatives, if only to show that I value the support they've been giving me. An unfortunate incident happened as Carol was curling my hair this afternoon but I intend to shoulder all the expenses associated with the repair, because while it was lack of judgment on her part, it would not have happened if she had not been assisting me with the preparations. Lord I pray that you would provide me the resources to shoulder everything, and may you also bless Carol for all the voluntary help she has been giving me.

I am already counting the days until the end of the pageant. I still do not have a makeup artist but I am confident that everything will be ok. Knowing that God placed me here for a reason, I am certain that He will grant me the grace to fulfill my mission excellently and responsibly.

There, I'm feeling better now. Thank you Lord for saving me during the talent presentation awhile ago! You gave me more than I asked for and I hope I made you smile as I gave it my best shot:) Maam says it's still lacking in many parts but knowing that I did my best, Micah may be right...baka hindi na ako yun.  

Next week will be our last hurrah and I'm more than excited for October to end! But until then, and always...I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! (Phil 4:13)

P.S. Here's my makeup transformation for the day (dolled up on the left and freshness on the right, immediately after washing my face)...I don't have pictures of the event so here's the only one I got at home:)

Insights and Miracles

I would've just marveled at how amazing are God's miracles in my life today (everyday actually) but I've got some insights I would like to be reminded of in the future so here I go...

I downloaded a lot of files at work today and after one particular download, just as when my day at the office was about to end, my antivirus software alerted that it caught a virus. It further recommended that I restart my laptop to completely eliminate the virus. So I did...and after the restart it prompted me to choose from a list of actions and I chose 'Fix Errors'. My laptop took its time until it just died on me...(so much for fixing errors..huhu)

Thinking it was a case of low battery, I charged it then turned it on again except that this time, the system won't start up. I got lights on my keyboard but nothing on my screen. To troubleshoot, I tried to force shutdown then restarted it again but to no avail. I was beginning to get worried because I'm currently doing a lot of things in my laptop and losing the files or be delayed at the very least would cause me serious problems. Thank God for wisdom that made me think of consulting our tech staff about the problem.

He immediately agreed to check my laptop afterwhich he asked me what happened. His explanation as to why my laptop crashed matched with the final things I encountered before the unfortunate incident so I was already asking him about our options.

He had just told me that we must first attempt to back up all the files when he suddenly thought of removing the battery and only rely on the power supply through the charger...when voila, my OS resurrected from what seemed to be a few minutes of cardiac arrest...hehe

He told me my battery must have been empty but I charged it so it was not a possibility. True enough when he reinstalled the battery, my laptop said it had 20% battery life. So I immediately told Sir Franz that it was actually God helping me because He knows that I have to do a lot of things with my laptop. So praise God for the miracle!

Now on to my insights, the miracle within me was that I didn't worry too much. Even when the tech said that we have to reformat my laptop, I immediately asked about how long would it take and if he'd be willing to do it. I was praying for a miracle, but I was also sure that if God would allow some problems with my laptop, He would also help me find the perfect solutions for them. Hooray for faith exercises!

So I say thank you Lord for always saving me..and for increasing my faith little by little, enabling me to show grace under pressure in usually anxiety-stimulating situations..hehe..I'm sorry if I haven't gotten to having full security in You in all things yet, but please be patient with me as I allow myself to be transformed by your amazing power. May I be sensitive to your miracles each day that I would develop my gratefulness and faith in you, our one true God, more and more.

Love you!

, Katy