Faith Walk – Page 7 – Chasing Dreams

On Dead Ends and Closed Doors

April 13, 2010October 14, 2020 Rhiza12 Comments

You know how we sometimes get heartbroken over closed doors and how it feels like it’s the end of the world when God answers us with a “NO”?

The ironic thing about closed doors is, while they, more often than not, leave us heartbroken, disoriented, and empty-handed, they’re actually some of the best things that can ever happen to our young, stubborn, and reckless lives. In spite of all the seemingly bad things that they come with, closed doors actually make decision-making a whole lot easier.

When I was in Sydney in 2008, my cousin and I took a drive one Sunday afternoon to this beautiful little town called Wollongong, an hour’s drive south of the city. (Wollongong is, by the way, officially one of my most, if not the most, favorite places in New South Wales!)

We made it to Wollongong, spent a beautiful day, pretty much lived the Australian dream—munching on fish and chips while basking on a glorious day, sand on my feet, the Pacific Ocean breeze on my skin.

But going back to Sydney, we missed a turn, so we ended up driving around in circles for more than 2 hours finding our way home. Amazingly enough, it was the “NO ENTRY” signs that brought us back on track.

It’s simple logic. When there’s a “NO ENTRY” sign, you have no choice but to not take that route. When God closes a door, you don’t push your way through that closed door, you wait on Him to open another one.

When God answers your questions and prayers with a resounding “NO”, you trust and acknowledge that He wants something else for you.

Such is life.

And I know it’s easier said than done, but I’ve learned through the years that God’s NOs in my life ultimately took me back where I’m supposed to be, especially during those times when I became too stubborn to admit that I lost my way, or times when I deluded myself into thinking that I was on the right track that I stopped relying and asking Him for directions.

“Closed doors are God’s way of directing us on the path He wants us to walk on,” I read somewhere. I couldn’t agree more.

A few months ago, God closed a door to my face and took me out of a place that was clearly not His will for me. And now, I can’t help but heave a sigh of relief, thanking God for being more stubborn than I am, and for loving me so much that He closed all the other doors except this one which He so lovingly left open for me.

I didn’t know it was possible to experience this much love in one week

February 20, 2010May 13, 2019 Rhiza14 Comments

7 things I love about this week:

1) Welcoming my beautiful nephew Robert Isaac to the family.

2) That he gets to inherit our Dad‘s name, Robert, and even if he didn’t get to meet him anymore, a part of his Lolo lives in him.

3) How “Tita Riz” seems to just roll off the tongue, I can imagine little Isaac soon saying my name and tugging on my skirt. “Tita Riz, I want ice cream.” “Tita Riz, let’s go to the zoo.” “Tita Riz, I wanna play plants and zombiess!” (Just you wait, kid, your Tita Riz will spoil you like crazy. And well, I’ll leave the disciplining to your Mom, Dad and Lola, haha.)

4) That he’s got all of us wrapped around his cute little finger without knowing it. He cries and everyone in the room panics, figuring out what he needs. He sleeps and we all silently stare at him like lovestruck puppies. He blinks and we all go “awww” with tiny hearts in our eyes. It’s kuh-rayy-zee what babies can do, when they’re not even doing anything at all!

5) That I got to take their first family picture, and that I was able to preserve love in a photograph. Definitely one for keeps. <3

6) That I’ve witnessed (over again) with my own eyes this beautiful thing called motherly love, something we often fail to appreciate because mothers are always there anyway. I can still picture in my head the look on Ate Imy’s face as she admires her son, and the twinkle in my Mom’s eyes everytime she speaks of her grandson. Priceless.

7) Finally, I love days when, not expecting anything, something beautiful happens (or someone comes along) and your life is never the same. Such is this week in the Sanchez home. <3

And so I pray for a life that’s full of days like these. Dear Lord, that’s all I ask today.

Spending Vday with Sunday School kids

February 17, 2010May 13, 2019 Rhiza1 Comment

There’s no better way to spend an over-sensationalized occasion than this. Last Sunday, instead of the usual Bible Story telling, I let the kids play with colored papers, pens, and crayons and make cute little greeting cards for them to give to their parents. I think I enjoyed it more than they did. Sunday School is love.

Someone’s getting her sunshine back. :) (God is amazing, what can I say?)

* * *

Later, I spent the night with a bunch of (not so) “lonely” friends. But that’s a totally different story altogether. How about you? How did you spend your Valentines? :)

Got my Hillsong Conference Pass Right Here But..

June 25, 2009June 29, 2009 Rhiza4 Comments

I think I’m going to cry.

Today, my Hillsong Conference 2009 pass and registration receipt finally arrived at my doorstep. But unlike last year, I’m not jumping up and down now. Instead, I think I’m going to start tearing up when the lights are out.

The conference is in less than two weeks. I have all the support documents that I need, but because of the recent events the caught me by surprise, my schedule got totally screwed and working on my visa application had to be delayed. Admittedly, there’s no one to be blamed but myself and my horrid habit of putting things off up to the last minute. I should’ve prepared my documents a month ago.

It’s just like last year. I submitted my visa application one week before the conference started, confident that I would get my passport and visa back in 3 days (like they promised in their immigration website) but, for some reason, I got them back one week later, exactly on the day the conference ended. (Blpht, so much for not making the same mistake twice, ikr.)

But you know how God has a reason for everything, and how He always knows better. While I failed to attend the July conference last year, I was still able to see Hillsong last November.

Now, holding this familiar-looking Hillsong envelop in my hands, I just can’t help but think of the big possibility that this conference pass will (once again) be put to waste. In my head I start re-counting all those plane tickets, concert tickets, and now, Hillsong conference passes that I spent for but never got to use. I could’ve bought a new camera with all that money!

But okay, the unnecessary expenses was not the reason why I was sad to see the package delivered to me this afternoon. It’s just that, I find myself wishing I never laid eyes on it at all, you know, for the sake of not rubbing it where it hurts. I actually almost forgot about it already, and I didn’t want to be reminded!

I have wanted so badly to experience the Hillsong Conference since 2003. I’m not about to linkback to all the blog entries I made all these years (from across 5 blog urls and 4 blogging platforms), but let me just say, I blogged and journaled everything about my quest to fly to Australia and experience Hills with a passion. Frustratingly, year after year, the timing was still not right.

So yeah, let me wallow in depression just for, er, I duno, 11 more minutes I guess. I promise to be back to my sunshiney self as soon as I hit publish.