Officially A Teen: Happy 13th Birthday, The Journeyman’s Moments!

This blog turned 13 last October 21 – it’s officially a “teen.” 😄 To celebrate this milestone, I thought about writing a letter instead because I need to write this quick.

We have had no internet connection for 2 weeks now, despite following up with Converge. I’m currently using my cellular network’s data just so I could post this – thank you, Globe. Still, God is good all the time. 🙏😊


To my dearly beloved The Journeyman’s Moments,

You were born in 2012 out of a need to clear my name from a painful past. I never thought that you would become an online journal for my spiritual journey.

I also wasn’t expecting that I’d be able to post here regularly. And yet, the weekly posts turned to monthly posts, and eventually, to posting every year.

You bear witness to my every rise and fall, to my every tear and laughter – a testament of God’s saving grace day in and day out, year in and year out.

As my experiences grew, you grew with it. When I became wiser, your words became better. I changed, you changed, too.

You are more than an online journal for me. Because you are my constant reminder of a life lived in full despite the changing seasons.

When I need a good laugh, I come back to the old memories here. When I need encouragement, your words give me renewed hope and comfort.

But I guess the most important reason as to why you’re one of God’s greatest gifts is that because of you, a deeper sense of accountability was instilled in me over every single word I post here.

You are my testimony on how living by faith does not happen by mere words alone, but by living it out and letting it be known through you for the whole world to see.

My dear, we still have so many stories to tell – I have more than a hundred drafts. lol You know what that means, we have a lot of work to do for as long as God is still working in us. 🥰

You are me, and I am you. Thanks be to WordPress – our memories will be preserved for future generations to laugh with, to cry with, and to be inspired by.

So, with internet or not, we will find a way to make our stories seen and heard – God will make a way. 😁

Always your creator made by another Creator,

Christine ❤️


“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10


BLOG ANNIVERSARY: Happy 12th Birthday “The Journeyman’s Moments”!

Before I begin my actual post, I would like to use this opportunity to pray for my fellow Bicolanos who were severely affected by Tropical Storm Kristine/#KristinePH. It’s heartbreaking to see the massive and widespread destruction it caused in the entire Bicol Region that even evacuation centers were also flooded.

Please pray for us as we recover and rise from this devastating catastrophe. 🙏 If you wish to extend your help, you may send any assistance/donation through the QR codes I will be posting below whether in-kind or in cash. Any kind of help will be truly appreciated, and we will forever be grateful. ❤









I would like to thank those who have already extended their efforts to send their help – may God return this huge favor a millionfold and bless you and your family tremendously, too. We are forever grateful to you for helping us in this extremely difficult moment of loss and devastation. ❤

Salamatunon po, VP Leni!

Thank you, PBBM!


Salamat, UP! Padayon.

THERE IS HOPE, STILL

On a more positive note, this blog is turning 12 today. ❤ To God be the glory for giving me the wisdom and the time to do 12 fruitful years of consistent blogging on WordPress since October 2012. 🙏

My only prayer now is that WordPress is here to stay because I just have A LOT of memories here than in any other social media profiles I have. Let’s do a quick recap of the first 2 articles I posted here:

“The Unknown World”

“A Dream”

I was actually thinking about doing a sequel to the poem “A Dream” for my blog anniversary special article, but I don’t have any ideas what to write yet. Though I do have a title already – “A Dream Come True.”

So, what came true, Tin? That’s what you and I are about to find out. I just don’t know when I’ll be publishing it. Next year perhaps?

Hmm, only God knows. But it’s definitely going to be another poem. So, do watch out for that. Methinks it’s going to be an interesting sequel. Meanwhile, let’s cheers to more blogging years ahead, and thank you for journeying with me in this complicated and yet awesome thing called LIFE. 🥂

Today might be a mix of emotions for me while writing this, but I still chose to be GRATEFUL and HOPEFUL. God encourages us to continue moving forward through the good and the bad times. We have to keep on praying, and we have to continue trusting God that He is always in control believing that whatever God allows to happen, it is His will.

My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we continue the good fight of faith NO MATTER WHAT. 🙏


Praise God for A Living Hope

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” – 1 Peter 1: 3-9 (NIV)



A Safe Place To Heal

The first day of the Mid-Year Prayer and Fasting this year hits different. I just went through a rollercoaster of ups and downs for the past several months starting last year and for the most part, they were all very grueling. These challenges tested my endurance and refined my character (please refer to my previous posts) revealing who I really am as a person and most importantly as a daughter of Christ.

This blog is supposed to be a diary for my eyes only. It is my safe place when life gets too overwhelming, and a safe place where I can be myself. When I am sad, I write. When I am happy, I write. And yet God urged me to share it to the world.

I believe God wants this blog to be a safe place for everyone, too, regardless of race, gender, and religion. A place where readers will feel calm, at peace, grateful, joyful, and hopeful. Because we are all trying to heal from something.

And the kind of healing that God provides is something that the world cannot give. This is what I am hoping and praying my blog will be able to achieve – it will not just be a place where you get to learn a lot of things and be inspired. But it will be a place of solace that will bring peace and healing to our tired and weary souls.

Part of my journey towards healing are the questions I’ve been asking God for some time now such as why did He bring me to Sorsogon City? Why the city where Mom passed away? Why does Mom have to die there and not in the comforts of our home just like all our loved ones who have passed on before her? And why call me to this place that brings me pain and sorrow?

And the answer came. “Christine, my child, I called and brought you to this place to heal, in all aspects, because you’ve been through a lot. You will only heal when you confront your pain and not run away from it. I will use your pain so you can bring healing and comfort to those who are grieving as well. I will use your pain to bring hope to those who have lost hope. And I will use your pain to show them that though you go through the fiery furnace, you will come out unscathed and unharmed – as long as you remain in me.”

And Pastor Jojo Henson had a similar exhortation tonight during the 7pm Prayer Meeting at Victory BGC using the illustration of the burning bush that God revealed to Moses as an example.

“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” – Exodus 3:2-5

Today is just the first day of prayer and fasting. But God already answered a prayer of mine – one that I’ve been praying for in the last couple of months, one that has something to do with Sorsogon City, the place where God called me to be at right now.

When we do respond to the calling, God will prepare us, provide for us, and bring us people who will be our partners in the mission field. Yes, that’s how powerful our God is. This article (and the entire blog) will testify to this and how God orchestrates everything beautifully in His own time when we do things according to His will.

I’d like to end this article by continuing to believe for more of God’s miracles unfolding one by one as I enter yet another season. Because God can be our refuge, and He is the only safe place to heal where we can truly heal. ♥️🙂

What is God asking you to heal from now? It doesn’t have to be a place in particular. I pray that you get to listen to His voice when He calls you and pray that you will respond in faith and complete obedience. 🙏



“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” – John 10:27-30


Happy 11th WordPress Anniversary || The Journeyman’s Moments

I woke up today feeling all nostalgic when I saw a notification here on WordPress. It’s another achievement unlocked – today’s my blog’s anniversary.

And I can’t help but smile and thank God for the 11 years of being a storyteller, sharing the Good News, and just being me. 😉

Thank you to my WordPress community for making my blogging experience so worthwhile. This is where my purpose as a writer started, and hopefully will not end here, either.

As long as I’m breathing, I will keep on writing. Thanks be to God for this wonderful gift. 🙏

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

The Journeyman’s Moments’ Grace-Filled 8 Years: A Sweet Anniversary

Nothing is sweeter than logging in on your blog and finding this among your notifications. Indeed,

“This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24

It’s such a great blessing to know so many wonderful people and read their amazing stories through this blog. It was God who made all these things possible so all glory belongs to Him always.

The journey continues, my dear friends, sisters, and brothers in Christ, and I am looking forward to more grace-filled blogging years through the WordPress community. ❤️

Always a journeyman who’s out on a spiritual adventure to complete the task set by the Master,

Blog Signature

WP Community Appreciation: Kennedy Award Of Excellence

First and foremost, I would like to thank my fellow blogger Tangie Woods of Mrs. T’s Corner for her effort in nominating my blog for the Kennedy Award of Excellence. Thank you so much for appreciating my posts. ❤️

The Kennedy Award of Excellence aims to recognize a blog which, “through its writing, presentation, and objectives, fosters human values; promoting intellectual, emotional and moral growth of peers.”

RULES:

  1. The recipient may thank the person who has nominated him/her.
  2. The recipient should post a photo of the award on his/her blog in a post.
  3. The recipient may nominate as many blogs for this award (minimum five) but after careful thought.
  4. The recipient must answer questions from the nominee.

Here are my answers to Tangie’s questions:

  1. When did you start blogging? – I started blogging in 2014.
  2. What is your blogging objective? – I plan to use my blog as a testimony of my spiritual journey.
  3. What motivated you to start blogging? – When I was born again, I received the calling to start my blog and write about my struggles and triumphs as a Christian.
  4. Do you see blogging as a long-term goal? – Yes, I’ll continue writing as long as I am able to do so. 
  5. Is there a specific topic you enjoy? – I prefer reflective writing centered on faith and Christianity. 

It took me a while to write this post. Every blog I came across here on WordPress is beautiful in a special way and uniquely representative of each person’s character and life experiences. They can all transform a reader’s experience by words alone. So choosing blogs for this nomination was a bit of a challenge for me but also fun in a way.

I intend to feature other blogs for other future awards. But for the meantime, here are some of the blogs I’d like to nominate for this award:

  1. The Christian Blog Ghana 
  2. Saving Supergirl
  3. New Life in Christ Jesus
  4. Beauty Beyond Bones
  5. Bulan Lifestyle

To my fellow nominees, congratulations! Here are my questions, and I am looking forward to reading them and hope to get to know you even better (all your stories are worth reading). 

  1. How do you choose the topic for your next blog?
  2. What were your challenges when you started blogging?
  3. How has blogging helped you during this pandemic?

Thank you to all those who will participate and have participated in this community appreciation challenge. I also pray for every blogger out there to be the source of hope and light during these very difficult times. May the Lord give us the wisdom, the creativity, the passion, and the courage to continue what we have already started here on WordPress.

“I (We) can do all things through Christ who gives me (us) strength.” – Philippians 4:13

Always blogging from the deepest recesses of her soul,

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Hooray To 7 Years With WordPress! ❤

I’ll graze my blog very quick because I still have work to finish. I just need to share this today. 😊

Thank you, WordPress, for giving me the opportunity to share my life experiences (for free, for now) through your awesome platform. I also got to meet a whole lot of other awesome writers in this community, and their experiences are all worth reading. ❤

Indeed, cheers to more years flying with yah! 🥂

Last but not least, thank You to my “Editorial Manager” up there who gives me the wisdom and instructions on what to write here. All glory to You, my Father. 🙏

 

Forever your regular Christian WordPress writer,

P.S. I really don’t know how to interpret those stats. A spike in those bars means this blog is somehow doing okay, right? 😀 I still don’t have plans on monetizing this though, BUT if God instructs otherwise, I’ll go for it. 👍

The Journeyman’s Moments Turns 6!

Thank you, WordPress, for this opportunity to share our lives to others – to inspire and be inspired in return, too! ❤

The Journeyman’s Moments: Becoming

Hello there, beloved reader! Yep, hello Friday too! 🙂 So here’s the post for this week’s installment. I was saving it for my blog site’s 6th year anniversary in October. But I just felt like posting it today so here it is. 😀

I am pretty sure most of you are interested to find out why I named this blog as “The Journeyman’s Moments.” I never really thought much about the name of my personal blog when I started to put it up back in 2012. I didn’t even intend on being a consistent blogger. 😉

I just thought I need to have my own space too in the blogosphere and share snippets of what I do. Little did I know God has a purpose behind it all – my blog as a megaphone for my faith. So back to the “journeyman,” I was thinking what will describe my blog which is all about my lifelong learning and my day-to-day journey here in this world. I started doing my research and caught a glimpse of the word “journeyman.” I made a quick research about it then I thought it’ll be good enough for now, I can change it any time anyway.

BUT little did I know too that this word will mean so much more. God never makes things happen for no reason. It is always the other way around and always to satisfy His purpose. As of writing (1/25/2018), I made an in-depth study of the word and it all dawned on me now why it has to be “journeyman.” Here’s the link to Wikipedia’s definition of it so you’d get the context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journeyman.

If you will notice, I described my blog with this:

“The musings of a wandergeselle about faith, literature, music, dancing, culture, food, travels, art, fashion, photography, life experiences and everything in between from journée to journée.”

A “wandergeselle“ is a wandering journeyman – someone who is always in different places to learn something new. I have been in different seasons and places (locally) since I started this blog. It brought me to new people, new experiences, and new learnings which all made me who I am now. I am still learning, I am a true-blue journeyman in my profession, I have other obligations outside work which require me to be a journeyman too, and through it all, I submit to one Master who teaches me everything that I needed to know – GOD. 🙂

I also never thought about the background photo or the logo for my blog except for my photoshopped picture of a road and my randomly chosen bible verse closer to my life verse:

“I am confident that the good work that God has begun in me will be perfected.” – Philippians 1:6

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Reading it now made me realize that this verse also speaks about being on a journey with my Maker and my Master. It is indeed true that when you let go and let God take charge of your life when you surrendered to Him, He will and He will be the orchestrator of your new life – the One behind the steering wheel. We may not understand His ways at first, but our obedience is a sign of our love and our faith in God. So when the Spirit tells your heart something, always, always take heed and act on it – right away. 🙂

Liliw Tsinelas Store: Sole-ly Fit for Your Feet

“Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.” – Proverbs 16:3

Hi, everyone! 🙂 It’s been a while since I’ve written here (details why will be shared in the next article) and good thing I still have some remaining time (before prepping dinner) to compose a “quick” article.

A brother in Christ/friend of mine and I had this business collaboration and I was more than glad to help and do a review of their products. Well, when it comes to shoes and sandals, no girl can ever resist, right? 😉

Liliw Tsinelas Store

So he asked me to do an OOTD-sort-of-theme for the sandals and all I promised was photos of the shoes and no whole-body shots (except for one). lol Well, I am getting older and let’s just say the fashionista in me has shifted too to more simple outfits peg. Being a remote worker has a say in it too. This will be explained more in my next article. 🙂

Anyway, I’ll keep this short so you can go ahead and read more about what Liliw Tsinelas Store has in store for you by clicking the link below. ❤

http://www.wheninmanila.com/love-local-with-liliw-tsinelas-comfort-and-style-for-an-affordable-price/

Liliw Tsinelas Store

P.S.

Thanks to my awesome hubby for being my photographer and thank you, When in Manila, for the feature in your Fb page! ❤

Liliw Tsinelas Store