God

day 23: New favourite band/singer/artist

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Odd!!!!!!! My new favourite band right now is this Dumaguete City local band, Odd. I heard them during my universities Founders’ Day celebration, August of 2016. Their sound has no words but you can hear them scream “LISTEN TO ME! I have something to tell you”. Longing for their listeners to not only hear the Good News they seem to try and portray but to really trigger their souls to get up. Each song starts with a “hey there,” and towards the middle it sounds like the climax of an inspirational movie where the main character comes back to life after being shot in the back 27 times and ends with a refreshing drink of ice cold water after a 2 hour long hike under the heat of the sun.

I have heard people say they “feel” things when they experience Odd like there’s something out there. For a band who doesn’t have any lyrics in their music to entice someone to question the possibility of a Higher Power, is just amazing. Someone also told me that they feel a sense of hope, like there’s something to live for. Remember, there are no audible words in any of their songs, but they claim to hear other-worldly things. Are you kidding me? NO WORDS AT ALL! Honey, you can interpret their music any way you want and WORSHIP IS WHAT THEY HEAR??? They have such a great mix of technology and your basic 4 elements of band, lead, rhythm, bass, and drums. Not to mention their chemistry is undeniable. You can see the unity in wanting to unveil a life-changing message to a spirit-crushed world. Such an odd way but in a today where anything can become offensive or whatever, it’s just perfect imo.

Day 18: Where I want to be in 10 years

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a very controversial question. people seem unsatisfied when i tell them that i just pray for peace that passes understanding and perseverance to push through whatever God has planned. But everyone seems to want a legit or concrete answer. uhm, well Earth??? i want to be on Earth??? is that good enough??

honestly, i just want to be surrounded by people who encourage me daily to keep fighting the good fight and to stay true to myself as a reflection of who Christ is.

UNICEF. i want to work somewhere like UNICEF idk. bruhhhhhh God’s will be done.

Day 9: Most Proud Moment

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Probably when I started teaching Sunday school. It’s one thing to teach a small group of kids, and it’s another to teach all the groups of kids. Yes ladies and gents, I taught all ages from 3-12 at the same time… 13yr olds and over get to go to big Church. There were times when I had some help, but most of the times my “help” were busy eating the excess animal crackers. Smh. I had to keep the toddlers entertained while making sure the preteens weren’t bored out of their mind.

This was because we didn’t have anyone else to teach. Everyone had their own agenda and I overheard that the church was going to just remove kids church cause there was no one to man it. So I prayed about it and with a little push from my mum, I took on the job. I did however have formal training on how to effectively share the Gospel to kids who may or may not know how to read themselves or who do not live in a Christian home.

So that was fun. I was on my own alongside Jesus for about 2 years until some of the youth decided to go through training as well and help me out and eventually, the groups went into sections and I went from teaching to making the lesson plans instead. It was great. To God be the glory!

Day 6: three traits I’m proud of

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  1. I’m extremely forgiving. I forgive very easily as in, we can become best friends. Like nothing ever happened. Not even being fake. For realsies. And I honestly don’t think it’s a bad thing. I mean, I should definitely tell people when they’ve wronged me obvs! But I won’t let it get to me. Like, If you break something I lent to you, I wont be so anal about it. But I definitely will think twice before lending something to and ask for your reassurance. Just to let you know, not to screw up again…. I’ll still lend it to you even after you broke it the 5th time. Just like how Jesus chose to die for me and to love me even though I’m a sinner who chooses to do bad or think bad, He still loved me. And im just trying to show other people the same kind of Love.
  2. I don’t care about my appearance too much. I care enough to look decent so as not to offend anyone. But I don’t try to look good to attract attention. Like, I seldom ever wear make-up. But at the same time I loooove lipstick an mascara kthanksbye
  3. I care a lot about others. I’m super loving towards people. I like to give my time and efforts to people even if I don’t know you too well… and a lot of the times, I get hurt or taken advantage of… but like what I stated in #1…. 🙂

day 1: Who am I?

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Hi. My name is Romeena Klai Del Rosario Balayo but my friends call me ASH. I was born in the beautiful Republic of Palau on January 22, 1996 (I’ll have you do the math for my age).  I’ve lived in many places and my heart will still always long for the soothing sounds of the waves crashing against the shore. Or the screams of the mental patients at 3am coming from the behavioural health facility right by my house… Just kidding, those screams always aghast me. I like to write about my feelings because I like to talk about myself but since no one listens, I write instead. Or type. Whatever.

I gave my heart to Jesus April 12, 2010 and followed my Saviour through water baptism. I was baptized by my own earthly father. Both my parents worked as Missionaries with Pacific Mission FELLOWSHIP (lol). I do not appreciate bigotry in any way, shape, or form. I love all in the same way Jesus loves me… uhmmmm what else? I love Coffee Jelly!!! And Coffee an anything flavoured coffee and just mmm Coffee :3 ok thanks bye!

My Testimony

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My father is a pastor and my mum is our worship leader and so I grew up in a Christian home. Growing up, every time in Sunday school, whenever they asked “who wants to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior?” I would always raise my hand and pray with them but I never really understood it.

My life wasn’t always happy. When I was younger, I was bullied a lot and one day I was at home and my grandmother caught me crying about what some of the kids at school were saying about me. And she read me a verse from the bible. It said that Man will look at how you look on the outside but God sees your heart. She told me not to worry about what people thought of me. Only about what God thinks.

The bullying never stopped and I began to feel like I needed to do things to make people like me. Then I reached my teen years and I met a boy. He made me feel really special and said nice things to me and about me. I did not want to lose that special feeling and I made very bad choices. These choices greatly impacted my parents reputation in the church.

And then I found out that he was lying to me about some things and so I broke up with him. Following the break up, rumors were spread about me around our community and I decided to seclude myself from everyone. I felt like the whole world rejected me. I just wanted to die. I didn’t understand why God would allow these things to happen to me.

My dad came into my room one day while I was depressed and he was angry and confronted me. He was the maddest I’ve ever seen him. He asked me if I believed that my parents loved me, if I believed that God loved me, or if I even loved God at all. Then he asked me if Jesus choosing to die for me meant anything anymore. My father called in my uncle and I watched as they both cried for me. They assured me that they loved me and that God loved me even more. They reminded me that when Jesus died on the cross, He didn’t just die for all men but he died for me too.

After that, I realized what my grandmother had read to me a long time ago meant. Not only did it mean that God sees your heart, but it also meant that people will always judge you and there’s nothing you can do about that. What I needed to focus on was to make sure that I was living my life the right way for the right reasons.

Since then, I learned that I love to share with hurting people about how God loves them. I love to share their burdens with them and let them know that we do not need to do anything or be anyone to be adequate. God loves you. He created you. He sent His Son Jesus to die for you. And that’s enough.

Tita Gina

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One by one my dear friends and family are leaving and moving to a Wonderful place and I won’t be able to see them again for a really long time. I will miss them very dearly. In recent news, a dear friend of my family left to be with Jesus last night and I am left …

I don’t know what to say.

I am amazed at God’s timing. It is sudden, astonishing an over-all, purposeful. I believe everything happens because it is all part of an Ultimate plan and I trust in it. That being said, I rejoice in the Lord for He is good and His love endures forever.

This isn’t a goodbye. I will always miss her kindness and good intentions towards my family and I. She was strong, admirable, forgiving, and seemed to always speak out of love.

To her family, be strong. Keep the faith. Tita Gina is now forever in paradise and because of what we believe as Christians, we can be sure to be reunited again.

Friday nights?

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There are many things one would do on a Friday night like tonight…OR NOT!! It’s Friday the 13th everyone! In the swimmer world, it’s bad bad baaad…. On another note, so many things are going around all around the world:

  • Earthquake and upcoming tsunami in Japan, 18k people dead/missing
  • ISIS attack in Lebanon
  • Hurricanes in Mexico
  • Terrorist attacks in Paris
  • And the media believe that there is no future hope for cable T.V… which is fine for me though cause I don’t have cable T.V anyway…

Luke 21:25-26 ESV

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

It is time, no… it is waaaay past time to git good with the Lord! Start now! Why don’t we spend this night in prayer for Paris and for God’s plan to be fulfilled in our lives. Be a blessing! Kthanksbye!

Some JESUS for ya!

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Psalm 86:1-4
1 Hear me, Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God;
3 have mercy on me, Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
for I put my trust in you.

As I did my quiet time this morning, and especially with what has been going on in my life, this verse seems to be just perfect. Like, it is definitely what I needed to hear. I know now that it’s not that I’m not worried, it’s that I trust in the ultimate plan God has set out for me. He knows exactly what I’m going to do and all I have to do is GO.

To be completely honest, I don’t think Jesus is the driver. I think he’s the gps. He’s going to tell us where to go and we could be like, “that’s so cool! Yeah, I’ve totally memorized all the directions and even gather a bunch of friends and we’re going to discuss it and even sing songs about it!” but if you’re not going to hit the gas you’re not really going anywhere and your gps is useless. Meh, that’s just my opinion.

Just like our relationship with Christ, we need to trust in His plan and GO. Things may be bad in your life right now, but you cant just sit and complain about it. He will bring you joy in the morning, you just have to trust Him. No point in having a gps in your car if you’re not going to follow the directions, no point in reading the Bible if you’re not going to believe it.

All scripture is God-breathed.

Have faith. Stay strong in the Lord! The world will tell you that you can’t. We are needy and poor and we need Him everyday of our lives. Great is His faithfulness!

and they called it…Puppy love :)

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What do you call it when you begin to imagine scenarios of yourself and another person going on romantic adventures? Dang it… I try to guard my heart but should I gouge out my eyeballs as well? Does this mean Im not spending enough time with the Lord? WHY AM I FEELING THINGS? I don’t like this. It’s not okay!

So, background story, I’ve had the biggest and longest crush on one of the coolest guys on the planet (2nd of course to my father). His name is Ceejay. No worries, he knows I love him. I think anyone who’s known me since I could speak knows this fact. I base any of my real life crushes off of him. If they don’t showcase any of even just 3 of his many Godly and inspiring qualities (which I will not mention to keep my current crush a hush hush), then it’s an automatic no.  yes, I will obviously admire the appearances of some people but here this! MAN LOOKS TO THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE BUT GOD LOOKS TOWARD THE HEART! It’s the inside that matters amaright?? Can I get an amen?

SO THEN if you haven’t guessed, I had recently met someone who evidently acquire these specific attributes and my mind is spinning! My heart is pounding! My knees are shaking! And dear Angel Gabriel is that you lifting me off my feet or is it that smile of his? i feel my pupils turn into tiny hearts… this is crazy…or is it just me?

did i mention his killer smile?

DISCLAIMER: lol. no worries, Jesus is my numba 1 and i thank Him for creating maybe a picture of what He may give me in the future? i guess? bwahahahaha!!