I’ve done this tag at my other blogs but I kept on receiving this tag here, so I decided to post it here as well.

Originally from iRonnie Blog,

He said: Most people spend a considerable amount of time in customizing or in finding a desktop wallpaper that suits their taste. Sadly, our computers often remains personal.

Why don’t we brag to the world our good-find wallpapers and let them have a peek to our personality via our desktops?

Well, here’s the view of my desktop:

As you notice I don’t like to clutter my icons, I think it makes the PC a bit slower. And if you’re wondering about the sort of silhouette photo, yep, that’s me a few years back… Before I had Lupus and before steroid made me gain weight, taken at my favorite paradise Boracay.

Now, I’m passing this tag to:

Annie
Tere oops you did this na pala
Grace
Jaycee
Tess
Julai

Note: Copy Starts Here!

My Desktop Free View Instruction:

A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. You can do a screen capture by:

[1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).

[2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).

[3] If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of Icons, things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

D. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants.

iRonnie - I Set No Corner
- domlawrenceOSB
- bluepanjeet™ | OTWOMD™
Marie @ Vanidosa Marie and Vanidosa at blogspot
Lazarus
Pieces of Me
Just Let Go
Dancing With Butterflies

I used to be a stranger
A puzzle who couldn’t find its place
I let myself be drawn by the riddles of life
I ventured through the ocean of fate
Hoping I’ll find a home…

Out to this darkness where a hundred doors
Lead to a thousand more
And where towering walls
Forbid the flow of sunrise
I was caught by the shadows of faults and failures
And fought my way through the rain…

My heart full of emptiness
I wanted to reach you…
If only this road could lead me to a path
Where I could find a place
A place that seem unreal
And where true happiness
Lies ahead for all of us…

Time really flies by so fast, it felt like only yesterday when I posted about the “ber months” are here and now, its two days before October my most favorite month of the year.. why?? well, for starters October 1st is my only brother’s birthday and a lot of my friends are celebrating their birthdays too this month and most especially its also my special day. Exactly a month from now, I’ll be turning thirty and I still can’t believe it.

Should I start to freak out that I’ll be thirty and I’m still single? Or should I feel old?

Nah, maybe I worry sometimes that I’m not getting any younger and the pressure to get married real soon is so great but I don’t know why but I’m actually okay with it. I know my life is not a bed of roses and there’s so much complications but I’m happy, don’t ask why.. That’s just what I feel.

“Sometimes I just don’t get You, God!”

I can’t remember how many times I have rant that to God, especially when things are not going the way I want them to be. I simply cannot figure Him out no matter how hard I try.

Exactly two years ago, I was admitted to the hospital for my second chemo therapy and everything went well the first time that’s why I didn’t worry that much. I was actually getting used to the pain from the needle shots and I comforted myself by the thought that it will be over soon. But that night, I don’t exactly know what happened but I fell into coma and almost died. I remember I was half conscious but everything was blurred, I can hear voices, screaming and crying. The medical staff was in chaos and the next thing I knew I’m at the ICU of the hospital, the nurses told me that I was unconscious for almost 18hours and its a miracle that I am awake. I called for my mom but they say I can’t see her until the allowed visiting time, I was terrified there were tubes connected to my body and there was an oxygen tube in my nostrils… I can’t move and I want to know what’s going on. Why am I here? My heart monitor kept on making an alarming sound, they said that my heart is so weak and my pulse is falling. But I feel fine and I wanna go home. I didn’t understand then what was happening, they just wouldn’t tell me anything and not knowing kills me more. I’m the kind of person who hates surprises, I want to know everything and I want everything to be according to my plan. And lying there helplessly at the ICU bed was not part of my plan and I found myself asking God, trying to spill out what He wants from me.

It has been two years but the memory of that event in my life is something that I can never forget. God taught me a lot of things while I was there. He opened up Himself to me in such a way that my little understanding of Him made everything worth while. He used my brokenness to make me whole and made my darkest hour, the greatest testimony in my life.

We can never fathom the depth of God’s ways and there is no way we can ever grasp His thoughts, He is after all the Supreme Being but even though we may never really understand what God has in store for us, we can always trust that everything He does is for our own good. His ways are not our ways and we just need to have faith that His plans for our lives are much better than what we have for ourselves.

For more IOW participants, visit “Joy in the Morning”

A nice tag from the beautiful Marie of Vanidosa Marie.

Here’s how it goes: When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.) Write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general. Tag as many people as you want.

*1. Don’t let money change ya! http://www.therandomforest.info/

*2. Look, read, and learn.http://www.neonscent.com/

3. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. http://www.bushmackel.com

*4. Always reply to your comments. http://chattiekat.com/

* 5. Blog about what you know & love. http://sugar-queens-dream.blogspot.com/

6. Don’t use filthy language-buy a dictionary. http://shinade.blogspot.com/

* 7. Blog about something educational. http://climateofourfuture.org/

*8. Be yourself; others will follow. http://sfgirl-thealiennextdoor.blogspot.com/

9. Don’t have too many blogs that will become a chore to maintain. http://cubicledenizen.blogspot.com/

*10. Keep it simple, user-friendly, interesting and organized! http://erishaling.blogspot.com/

* 11. Keep the blog simple and sweet!! http://www.leslieho.com/

*12. Share with others your thoughts and don’t be shy! http://groovy-olives.com/blog

13. Never ask for link exchange. Blog hop to increase traffic. http://www.jessieling.com/

*14. Don’t clutter your blog with ads all over the place. IT’S IRRITATING. http://oliviasy.blogspot.com/

15. Don’t comment for the sake of commenting. Some looked too fake and its a big turn off! http://sashablablabla.blogspot.com/

* 16. Share something interesting and you will gain more readers. http://judychow.blogspot.com/

* 17. Show that we care to all bloggers, treat each other as friends. http://mummyinvain.com/

18. Pictures say a million words. Keep them coming! http://familyfriendsnfood.blogspot.com/

*19. Blogging should be fun or you’ll get tired of it pretty soon. http://justmyrambling.com/

*20. Don’t think people will come to your blog if you’re not willing to pay a visit to them. http://joshualai.blogspot.com/

*21. Everyone loves read short posting and best, illustrated with a picture. http://www.demoments.net/blog

* 22. Try not to publish more than 5 posts in one blog a day. Even if it’s from feed reader, it’s quite hard to digest and catch up reading everything. http://montessorimum.com/

23. Blog, the other window to peek into people’s life, minus the trouble. keep a certain level of privacy to yourself. http://www.babyshern.blogspot.com/

24. Use simple words, not like the ones that require your readers to consult the dictionary. Girlie of http://www.hipncoolmomma.com/

*25. Take time to visit your friendly links WITH OR WITHOUT SPONSORED POSTS, probloggers are required to update their blogs so expect they always have something new. Marie the Vanidosa http://mariegvergara.com/

*26. Be kind and appreciate your readers by taking time to really know them. Take time to read their blogs and comment with your heart. Even if you’re into problogging, don’t forget to blog with your heart not just for the sake of the money.
Emmyrose http://www.emmyrose.com

Now it’s your turn to share some of your blogging tips:

Arlene of Life’s What We Make It

BB_ANNE of Myriad of Thoughts

Sasha of Sasha Says

Yen of Yenny Girl

Grace of Trials of My Life

One of my favorite prophet in the bible is Jonah..

Why? Well, I see a lot of my self through him… stubborn, vengeful and someone brave enough to disobey on God. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t admire his character traits but like I said I am more like him.

When I had a chance to be a speaker in our church’s prayer meeting the inspirational message assigned to me was the passage Jonah 1:1-17 and I knew that it was no accident that my first inspirational message to our congregation is about a prophet I know so well.

Jonah is a prophet who received a specific call from God “to go to Nineveh and warn them of the consequences for their wickedness” It was a simple order from God but instead of obeying God, Jonah took an easy road by running away from God, he tried so hard to hide from God by sailing in a ship but no one can hid himself from God. A storm came suddenly while Jonah was on the ship, it was so strong that the ship was almost destroyed and when the sailors knew about God’s fury against Jonah, they threw Jonah into the water. But indeed, God is a good God that He sent a big fish to rescue Jonah.

Like Jonah, I am such a stubborn Christian and I often runaway when things don’t go the way I want them to be. I also tend to disobey God a lot and my disobedience often brought me painful heartaches. Disobedience has certain consequences and there is no way we can hide from God. I keep on praying that my stubbornness will not manifest so much on me and that I’ll learn to surrender everything to God.

Memory Verse:
“Where could I go to escape from You? Where could I get away from Your presence?” Psalm 139:7

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
~ Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV)

I have so much gratitude today for after being sick for weeks now I finally woke up this morning feeling much better.

I am thankful that I was able to go shopping yesterday, it may sound lame but I really enjoy going to the mall and it relaxed me so much that I was able to release all the tensions and forget even for a while the miseries that I’ve been having lately.

I am thankful that I my blood test results came out normal.

I am thankful that my headaches are all gone and I was able to sleep again normally.

I am thankful that I was able to inspire others through my writings. Its truly an honor that God is giving me the gift to touch others through my blogs.

I am thankful that God never ceases to pour out His blessings on my family.

I am thankful that God answered my prayer in such a manner that I would never dream of.. truly He is amazing and mysterious.

I thank the Lord for his grace and love for me…

Life has not been easy but with Him on my side, I’m confident that things will turn out just fine…

Mary of Kisses From Heaven gave me this award and I am deeply touched. I hardly knew her yet but she said that:
These people make me smile…because they speak the truth and I agree with them; or they admit to the real life travesties that wasn’t funny at the time, but we can sure laugh together now; or their heart is so hungry for more of God that they’ll do anything to put themselves in a place to receive more from God.

Thanks again Mary, your kind words made me feel really blessed. This award is a constant reminder that I’m not just blogging for nothing and I enjoy doing this as well as being an inspiration to others.

Now, I’m passing this award to some bloggers whom I have not met at all but really made me smile for most of the time…

miss Kurdapya this is my soul sister, don’t ask me why we are totally on different shoes but we are on the same page of our lives.. she’s hilarious, funny and just her name on my blog makes me smile…

Bro. Mel of Random Thoughts and Tukmol, Tukmol, Tukmol who would have thought that beyond his serious approach in life he has some sense of humor, sometimes even crazy thoughts.

Gattina her constant comments on my entries at WW and TT are always funny and witty, I’m always looking forward for her visits.

Lori she reminds me of my mom and I admire her strength for being a single mom

Marie of Vanidosa Marie she’s gorgeous and fabulous, I like her a lot..

Mindy of Mindy’s TV she’s an old online friend and her blog always makes me smile

Bluepanjeet he’s a new blogger friend and he always makes me smile as well

Pass it on everyone!

and as always I’m sharing this award to my other blogs as well…

Pieces of Me and Just Let Go

 

“They gave our Master a crown of thorns.
Why do we hope for a crown of roses?”

~ Martin Luther ~

When I first read this quote it really struck me, big time! I guess in a way I needed this quote especially today when I’m currently experiencing a down time.

I lead a very small life, yet generally life has been very good to me… I once was called “the girl who has everything” and “someone who has a bright future ahead.” Almost everything in my life is perfect but when things are too good to be true they’re probably are. I used to think that life is like a bed of roses, pretty naive you might say but when you’re living your dream, when everything is just within your grasp and absolutely nothing is going wrong then life indeed is a garden of roses.

Just when I think it could stay that way *boom* I woke up and realize that the dream is over, I am now facing the reality of losing everything I hold dear. I don’t exactly remember how the dream ended it was probably when my younger sister died or when my mother found out my father’s illicit affair with our housemaid, whom by the way I treated like an older sister and my mom even sent her to school and gave her almost everything that I have it was like having a snake living under your roof and all along she was “the other woman” or maybe it was when our business fell apart and I’m no longer the rich girl I used to be, or maybe when I had my heart broken by love so many times that I’ve become cynical about it, or maybe when I woke up and I’m suddenly half paralyzed and the doctor said I got Lupus and I’m gonna have it for the rest of my life… Yeah, you might as well hit me with a paddle and I won’t feel a thing anymore because those reality made me so numb about everything else.

There goes my bed of roses..

I never realize the thorns that comes with it and goodness my life truly sucks!

But there is one moment in my darkest hour that God spoke to me. It was one dark night, there was a deafening silence and unconsciously I found myself staring at the cross just in front of my ICU bed, and I remember what Jesus went through at the cross and suddenly my sufferings seems so lame compared to what He had to went through for our sake and I’m ranting because my life sucks, I felt so ashamed.

As the quote said “Our Master was given a crown of thorns and we always hope for a crown of roses…” what an irony! Every time I’m faced with difficulties, I try to remember that I should be glad that I’m taking part of Jesus sufferings at the cross and even though my life is far from having a garden of roses, the thorns that came my way brought me to my knees and made me strong. I’m no longer hoping for a perfect life, it doesn’t exist anyway just enough strength to go on each day knowing that I can at least be the person that God wants me to be.

God bless you everyone!

Don’t you sometimes feels like the world is at your fingertips, everything you touch turns to gold. And then there are those days, weeks, even years, when nothing, absolutely nothing, goes as planned. Don’t you just hate the tough times?

What’s God’s purpose behind our struggles? As Christians, why can’t everything be rosy and stress-free? Why does that seemingly perfect relationship end with a nasty break-up? Why does your best friend turn her back on you? Why did your folks split up when you were only four?

If God’s an all-knowing, all-powerful God, then certainly He can change our circumstances, right? We know He loves us, we know He sent Jesus to die for us, so why does He allow horrible things to happen? Why does He allow us to become depressed?

Difficult times are a part of life. Throughout the Bible, there are powerful stories of people who suffered through horrible circumstances only to come out stronger, more spiritually mature, and closer to God. These are real stories, not legends, not made-up works of fiction, but real stories of people just like you and me.

Think about the story of Joseph in Genesis: He was just a teenager when his brothers abandoned him and sold him into slavery. Joseph worked for Pharaoh, then  lived imprisoned for years, isolated and rejected. Yet God miraculously raised Joseph out of that situation and placed him in a position of authority, where he was able to influence even the greatest kingdom of his time.

Sure, that was a long time ago, and completely different circumstances than you are likely dealing with, but God still works in the same way today. (Hebrews 13:8) So the question is—how do you recognize God working in the middle of your despair? How do you avoid discouragement and depression?

Start by recognizing that you’ve got an issue. In Psalm 42:5, David cried out, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” David realized his struggles. He knew he could never become who God wanted him to be without facing his issues head-on. Even David, who God labeled as “man after my own heart,” had serious problems. Soak that in and believe it—you’re not the only person who has suffered. In fact, everyone suffers at some point in time.

Get to the core of the issue—what specifically has caused your depression? Rejection at school? Family problems? A relationship breakup? Drug addiction? What’s the cause? Once you’ve reached that point, turn your focus to God and just be honest with Him. Remember, you can tell God about your frustrations, even if you don’t quite understand why He’s allowed your circumstances. He’s always willing to listen.

As long as you’re focused on your discouragement, then you’ll never experience freedom. When you become focused on God and His plan, you will at least begin to understand why you are experiencing frustration. Realize that God is working in your life. View your discouragement and frustration as a test, and when you’ve completed the test you’ll eventually see why God allowed that time in your life.

What else can you do to overcome depression? Read the Bible.  Now, you’re probably thinking—that’s what everyone says.  Sure, but don’t just read the Bible—read it with a plan. Look for verses that relate to what you are experiencing.  Start with the Psalms and see how David overcame his pain and suffering to experience victory in Christ. Don’t just open the Bible and read the first page you see, but read it with purpose. Use the index and find passages that speak of what you are going through or find a topic-based devotional book at your local Christian bookstore.

Remember, God doesn’t want you to live in a state of depression and discouragement. Even though you may not understand why you are experiencing pain and frustration, understand that God has your best in mind. As difficult as it may seem—if you can simply stay focused on Him and not your circumstances, you can overcome depression and experience the happiness God desires for you.

Something made me smile today. Although I’m feeling a bit low these days and I’m not really in the mood for blogging, having this award reminded me of how much I love blogging and it inspires me to continue spreading how God worked in my life through my illness and share my deepest thoughts and emotions to somehow touch somebody’s life.

I’m sharing this award to my two other blogs:

Pieces of Me  and Just Let Go

I wanna extend my gratitude to Arlene of Life’s What We Make It for bestowing me this award.

Happy TGIF everyone!

 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exalts, and with my song I give thanks to Him.” ~ Psalm 28:7  I was not able to do Thankful Thursday last week, I was not that busy I was just not in the mood. A lot of bad things happened the past week… I have been sick again and something in my past came back to haunt me, it brought back so much misery, worry and a lot of painful memories. I’m still not feeling well but I’m trying to find it in my heart to be thankful despite all the unfortunate things that happened.

I am thankful that everyday God shows me that He is in control in my life. That even though I mess up once in a while He is always there to fix things up and still loves me anyway.

I am thankful that my family crisis is finally coming to an end. I know things will never be the same again between my parents, I have finally accepted that they have their own separate lives now and my family will never be whole again.

I am thankful and hopeful that my laboratory results will be good news for everyone and I may just add that I only had two needle shots the last time I had my blood test. (I usually average 4 needle shots)

I am thankful for the strength and courage that God is giving me. I cannot get through with anything without Him in my life.

I am thankful for the people who continue to pray for my healing. Especially to those bloggers that I don’t really know but had given me encouragement and prayers. I thank God for their lives.

I am thankful that things may not be as I want them to be but they’re getting better and I know in time, everything will work out just fine.

Lastly, I am thankful for all the blessings that God is sending my way.

Just like the verse  quoted above, every time I am faced with a terrible situation I lift up a prayer to God and ask for guidance and strength.. He has been my shield and He is always there to rescue me and for that I am always thankful.