Thank Goodness, we're EASTER people. (Just some personal stuff)

(source)

Old English ēastre ; of Germanic origin and related to German Ostern and east. According to Bede the word is derived from Ēastre, the name of a goddess associated with spring.

Other Christians do not want to use the word "Easter" because of its pagan connotation, but no matter what, I am happy that we are Easter People and Hallelujah is our song.  Our faith does not end on Good Friday.  It actually begins on Resurrection Sunday, when Christ our Lord has Risen from the dead.  Blessed be the Name of Lord.  Amen.  Hallelujah.  Amen!

Without Christ's rising from the dead, we are all fools.  

I know a lot of people have tried to disprove the Resurrection, but thank goodness for the likes of Lee Strobel, former Pastor of Saddleback Church, who stopped being an atheist after trying to disprove it(Resurrection/Christ being true God and true man),  who really researched everything from the flogging/scourging(or even way before that), to the blood and water that went out of Jesus' body(proving that He did not fake His death)...to the burial cloth(shroud of Turin), to the eye witnesses etc., we know in our hearts that our Savior Lives.  He really died and He really resurrected.

Just like Christmas(December 25---feast of the Sun god Ra)was sanctified as the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ,  Easter is sanctified.  

💖💖💖💖💖

Reviving this blog took longer than I originally planned.  I did not know if I should publish the stuff I saved first when I deleted this blog or if I should start with something new.  Hmm...OK, I'll start with something new, but how? So I decided to tackle about Easter first then now let me tell you a bit why I deleted most of the blog entries and just saved a few.  Originally, I intended to write a vague description about ______, but that part is private.  If I want to fix things in the future with the people I slighted, I just have to keep mum about it.

The long and short of it, I felt it was not helping with my spiritual growth.  There were some things that I shouldn't look back on.  My only regret was that I was not able to save some of the substantial ones, but I guess I just have to let them go.

Since it's Good Friday today(it's almost Black Saturday) and I'm just hibernating inside my house(well, not exactly...I'm with seniors who are exempted from fasting, so I've been cooking for them too), reflecting on my life, I opted to start anew my online not really "jour"nal.

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

Months before RJ died (Almost Heaven, West Virginia)John Denver's Country Roads by the Taaleña Duo
It's shaky because I was kind of dancing while taking this video(besides, I'm not really a videographer)

We went to Batangas and Tagaytay City yesterday and we missed PG and RJ more and more.  They are with God, we believe, so even if we would forever miss them, we are glad that there in heaven they are made whole.

The song Almost Heaven, West Virginia(Country Roads/Take Me Home Country Roads) sang by the Taaleña Duo made us misty eyed. The video above shows how much RJ enjoyed the song(different musicians, same name---the lady who sang for us yesterday is pregnant with twins...I pray for her safety, the twins' safety and for a safe delivery---redundant for emphasis).

👫✋👀💔

Mom broke down when we reached home.  Even if we were forever grateful to the doctors and nurses et al from a certain section of the hospital where RJ died, and some of them even became our friends, mom did not like what she saw the early morning he died(a different section, just beside the section where those nice people work at).  Mom said they treated RJ like a roasted pig, the way his hands were tied and how he was wrapped in styropor. :-( (I saw a blanket---how could my brother be wrapped in styropor?)  She saw that...(argh...what she's claiming is wrenching my heart...). Does she mean that because of RJ's yellow card they got rid of him??? I don't think so.

It's easy for us to tell her, "Let it go!", but we just hugged her instead. After all, there are things we still couldn't let go ourselves even if we know what's best.  Besides,  I know there are times (and my golly, they are a LOT) that we don't understand what's going in the almost deaf world of my mom and we could only guess what a mother feels when she loses her babies(she lost PG, RJ and the ones older than me), and we love her, no matter what.

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

After this, I'll probably re-post my works of fiction first before adding newer ones and hopefully the ones I would post would help me in my spiritual growth or something  ;-) and maybe, just maybe, they could help others too.

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

Well, what do you know? It's 12:00 AM.  It's Saturday. 

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

I will let God be God.  (Take over, Lord...)

May He fix my life, bless me more, so I could bless others more.  May He increase my territory, keep me, my family and everyone I love safe(I love this country, so may He keep everyone in this country safe...I love the whole earth, so...). Jabez, I borrowed some of your lines.  I hope you don't mind.  :-)

Let me end this entry by sharing with you with these songs from Amy Grant(That's What Love Is For) and Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith(Somewhere, Somehow) plus a prayer to sleep peacefully at night:

Sometimes we make it harder than it is We'll take a perfect night And fill it up with words we don't mean Dark sides best unseen And we wonder why we're feeling this way Sometimes I wonder if we really feel the same Why we can be unkind Questioning the strongest of hearts That's when we must start Believing in the one thing that has gotten us this far [Chorus:] That's what love is for To help us through it That's what love is for Nothing else can do it Melt our defenses Bring us back to our senses Give us strength to try once more Baby, that's what love is for Sometimes I see you And you don't know why I'm there And I'm washed away by emotions I hold deep down inside Getting stronger with time It's living through the fire And holding on we find [Chorus] Believing in the one thing That has gotten us this far That's what love is for To help us through it That's what love is for Nothing else can do it Round off the edges Talk us down from the ledges Give us strength to try once more Baby, that's what love is for That's what love is for That's what love is for Melt our defenses Bring us back to our senses Give us strength to try once more Baby, that's what love is for That's what love is for That's what love is for That's what love is for Standing in our silence I hear my heart beating And if only I could choose I'd stay here with you But hold me 'til the train is leaving Somewhere down the line After you're gone from sight Our love will be the same And, whispering your name, I'll cling to you with all my might Let me dream of you But it's true And wake me up when this is over Love will be there when this is over and [Chorus] Somewhere far beyond today I will find a way to find you And somehow through the lonely nights I will leave a light in the dark Let it lead you to my heart There's a love inside us Deep down inside That goes without saying Don't say a word But I'll tell you just the same And that love will fan the flame And that flame will warm the heart that's waiting You are mine and I'll wait for you my love You are mine it may take some time Even if it takes a lifetime Tell me you'll wait [Chorus] And somewhere alone I will be praying you home I know that somehow our love Our love will lead me to your arms [Chorus] Songwriters: SMITH/KIRKPATRICK/GILL/FOSTER Somewhere Somehow lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌 Prayer to have a peaceful sleep: My dear God in heaven, O Creator, O One who loved me into being…
Now that the voices are silenced and the crowded world of projects and overwhelming noise is hushed, here, at my bed, I seek your consolation.
My spirit roots for you, as an infant seeks out the breast, seeks you as a child seeks the succor and embrace of a father — the parent who will whisper, “Shh, I am with you,” and bring solace to the soul with an unconditional love.
I believe in your love, and I hope in you, and I pray you will grace me with the gift of faith, unfailing, the gift of wisdom, beyond my instincts, the gift of trust, which is so hard.
I give glory and thanks to you for this day as it ends, and beg that you will give me eyes to see that in all things, you have been with me: in what was difficult, and what was easy, in what was anxious and what was peaceful.
In those times I sought you out, or forgot to, You were with me, still, and I thank you.
Today, I failed in love; you know this. I beg you to forgive me. Today, I lost my temper; you know this. I beg you to forgive me. Today, I was selfish; you know this. I beg you to forgive me. Today, I felt desolate, unsure, and afraid; I beg you to reach me, and to teach me again that you love me, and are near. That you are, O God, the safest of safe places, the wayside resting place, where I may catch my breath, and seek you out, before going on.
Before I rest tonight, I must thank you for your love, beg your pardon for my failings, and your shelter from my interior storms.
O my Lord, at this moment, all is calm, and sleep beckons me.
It is your world! I place all of my concerns into your hands, and all of my fears into your Sacred Heart, the Self-immolating gift that is never consumed.
I believe in you.
Although I cannot understand all that is before me, I know all things work toward the purposes of your mysterious plans for my own good. And I trust in this.
And I beg for the gift and grace to trust you even further, day by day.
I ask this in the name of Christ Jesus, seeking the prayers of Mary, his Mother, and of my guardian angel and patron saint (Name).
I will lie down in peace and sleep comes at once for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:9)
Amen. (source)