Deo gratias: Thanks Be To GOD

Fire Incident's First Anniversary

Today, we celebrate the FIRST Anniversary of that fire incident happened at exactly 3:42 in the afternoon of May 7, 2009. This test of faith has made our Faith in God deeper and stronger; this has also strengthened our bond as a family... bringing us closer, making us happier and more optimistic. :-)

Five houses were totally burnt; Five families were tested and blessed. Nothing was saved. Yet, we were so thankful that nobody was hurt. We praise GOD for this.

And we're all glad and thankful that we're able to make it through. GOD has been very GOOD to US. We're able to recover and have a deeper and stronger faith in HIM... and this made us closer.

Truly, tests of faith are indeed blessings in disguise. At first, we may not understand, but we're certain that GOD has better plans. The good thing: we never doubt or even question GOD for making this happen. Our faith in HIM is enough to keep us alive, happy and always positive.

With this, we'd like to thank all those PEOPLE, friends, relatives, colleagues and ALL who gave us the COURAGE and the HOPE to move on. YOU are all a BLESSING to OUR family. A million thanks to all. May God bless you and your family always. In GOD, we trust. We are so blessed to worry about tomorrow.

You may read my post last year entitled, Everything Has Turned into Ashes and please feel free to let us know your thoughts...

I always have this in mind: I blog not just to express myself but to also share my ideas and experiences to my readers, and most of all, to inspire and probably to touch a life. :)

♥♥♥ Myraine ♥♥♥

Gifts and Blessings Filipinos Have

Modern Bayanihan.

We thank God for these gifts...

The Gift of Laughter.

The Gift of Music.

The Gift of Faith.

Indeed, we, Filipinos are happy people, music lovers and faithful followers of Christ. We live with and by these, God's blessings and graces.

We've proven ourselves that we love one another - we care, we understand and we are all willing to help - lending a helping hand towards happiness, success and unity. Nothing can stop us from living and being there for one another - not even you, Ondoy (Ketsana).

In God, We Trust.

Another Test of Faith in 2009

"Mai, if we know how to embrace God's blessings, who are we not to accept life's trials and sufferings, His challenges." - Hubby Rainier

A fire incident (May 7, 2009) took everything away from us, our houses, things, properties, assets, savings, and a lot more. We have nothing except each other’s hands, our son, Eieo, families, relatives, friends, clients and colleagues. We had no material things at all.

Though this traumatic incident happened right after planning our future, of a better life and a more stable and happier lifestyle, we were proud to say that we were able to accept the fact that though we had to get detached from all of these earthly stuffs, we never felt sad, worried and depressed. In other words, we never thought that we could actually live with nothing at hand.

Despite of it all, we were still thankful and grateful to GOD for we were able to cope with and recover from that test of faith – the fire incident.

Unexpectedly, on September 26 (of the same year, 2009), we faced another test of faith. We were some of those who got affected by typhoon Ondoy’s (Ketsana) aftermath. For the second time, we needed to turn our backs to our house, things, properties, assets, savings, and a lot more just to save ourselves from this calamity. We had to relocate to save our lives.

On our way out of the house and as the floods were coming our way, destroying many houses and properties, I was only thinking of one thing: GOD has His plans – even a lot better than what we have.

However, the saddest part was we lost a loved one – my father-in-law passed away. He was drowned because of very high, unexpected and unusual floods. It was too late when it was his time to get rescued. Losing a loved one is indeed the most painful of it all.

When that happened, one thing was running in my mind: I had to be strong for my hubby. He needed me the most at these trying times and so I did – thank and praise GOD.

Honestly, we were hurting; we cried, mourned and grieved BUT we never asked GOD why. In fact, our faith and trust in HIM get even stronger, better. We are holding on to HIM – tighter than ever. He is indeed our source of inspiration, understanding, wisdom and strength. And prayers have always been so powerful, so calming, so reliable, such a relief, our spiritual energizers.


These are indeed tests of faith and we strongly believe that God has His plans after all. Again and as always, we are optimistic that we can surpass all these trials and be able to recover with God’s help, in His time.

Thy will be done.

God bless us all!

Say a Little Prayer

This short prayer shall be posted elsewhere on our new House, our Home Sweet Home. I will make sure it will be seen and be sincerely said at all times. Though we have so much Faith in Him and we believed that it was just a test of faith, I know that I cannot bear another fire incident in our family. May all OUR homes, including yours be protected from any traumatic incidents – God permits!

Prayer for Protection against Fire

Almighty and Eternal God, we ask Your protection against destroying fire. Fire is very necessary for our existence, and yet, when it gets out of control, it can be more damaging than anything else.

Keep our homes and buildings and woods and fields safe from this scourge. Help us always to be most careful in our use of it. Help us whenever we need and use it. For then, if our homes are destroyed by fire, we suffer more than ever.

Give us, too, we humbly pray to You, a saving fear of the fires of passion, and the help of Your grace to control them. Help us also to fear the fires of hell, that we may always keep away from serious sin, and live lives of goodness and virtue, through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Myraine

What We Only Have Right Now

Faith in HIM.
Unconditional Love.
Inspiration.
Courage.

Hope.
Trust.
Joy.

Gratitude.
Peace of Mind.
Serenity.

Each Other’s Lending Hands.
Our Little Prince’s smiles, hugs and kisses.

In these tough times, we are thankful that we still have each other as well as all those people whom we can always depend on. After all, having all of them is more than enough – such a wonderful and overwhelming blessing from up above. Cheers!

Myraine

Everything Has Turned into Ashes

It was a gloomy Thursday afternoon of May 7 when a traumatic incident happened to my hubby and son along with our extended families.

Around 4 p.m., when we were about to take a nap, I found a smoke coming from somewhere along the hallway. I shouted and ran – telling my hubby that there was smoke. He ran out of our room holding our little prince and sweet little niece so tight. Then, he gave me our little Eieo, went out and asked for help. My sister and I ran out of our house calling our uncle.

Little did we know that the fire had already horribly taken my aunt’s house; we didn’t notice it because there was no fire or any doubting smell at all, merely smoke. Witnesses and fire prevention specialists eventually told us that the fire hid in our ceilings – once freed, the fire burnt it all.

When I alone got back inside to get my cellphone, I could hardly breathe. The black and suffocating smoke invaded our house. I ran inside our room, grabbed my phone and looked around to supposedly save more things. But it was too late. When I was about to do that, my uncle shouted a warning, to run outside because the fire was already in our stockroom. I wasn’t able to get anything except my cell. My uncle, our two neighbors and I ran fast, saving only ourselves.

Just right in time, when we were able to get out, our home sweet home collapsed. If we were late for even a couple of seconds, we might be trapped and indeed gone by now. Well, my hubby didn’t know I got back; God is really good. He knows it wasn’t our time yet; we still have missions and dreams to fulfill.

Having some few steps away, we again looked back and witnessed all our houses, properties and things being eaten by wildfire. That moment, we cried as we began to lose hardly-earned money, assets and possessions. My hubby just hugged me and said that we could make this through because God is with us. We were so thankful that everybody was safe and secured.

After a couple of hours, the firemen said that it was under control. Though my family felt quite sad and depressed of what had happened to us, we never – not in an instance, asked God why. We were certain that HE has better plans.

We are optimistic that though we were left with nothing, we can truly survive this traumatic incident and indeed pass this test of faith.

Thanks to Jay-R Sia, our dear friend, for allowing me to use his laptop to make this post.

Myraine