“He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.” (1 Peter 2:23 NLT)

TV Medical dramas often depict stories of everyday miracles and yet, we often look for stories like this one in our everyday lives.

Hanna Diaz was a fun loving 21 year-old when she found out that she was pregnant. Though the news came as a surprise, Hanna and her boyfriend, Marc Potente, also 21, welcomed the news with open arms.

Hanna recalls, “I have been an orphan since I was 19 and I have always felt a hole in my heart and I have always wanted a family.”

Hanna quickly turned her happy-go-lucky life around which included quitting all of her vices to make sure that the four month old baby she was carrying was healthy. However, because of her previous lifestyle, Hanna’s health became a concern and in her 22nd week of pregnancy she was confined for severe bleeding caused by stress and UTI. Hanna then quit her job and was put on strict bed rest.

In her 24th week, Hanna experienced labor pains. Her baby was only six months old.

First Miracle

The moment Zoey Mabel Diaz Potente was born, there were no loud cries and all the doctors advised her to be strong because Zoey was not expected to live. Hanna and Marc were already asked to prepare the burial details of their child.

Hanna recalls the difficult time, “A chaplain already prayed over her and as she was about to be placed in a box full of ice, Zoey smiled and put her tongue out, as if saying, I’m alive, mommy.”

Everyone was surprised to see Zoey live, however, she was once counted out and was only given a 10% chance of survival. Zoey and Marc were determined to see Zoey live, but because of the chances given by the doctors, they signed a Do Not Resuscitate waiver.

However, Hanna was resolved to not give up and with all of her options exhausted, Hanna got to her knees and prayed the way she never has before. She surrendered Zoey to God and for the first time in a long time, Hanna felt an overwhelming sense of peace.

Second and Third Miracles

The next day, Hanna and Marc took a leap of faith and decided to withdraw the DNR waiver they signed, and as if on cue, Zoey continued to fight for her life as well. Zoey’s chances of living through her ordeal grew higher every day.

The hospital staff were in awe because Zoey’s internal organs were all intact and her brain had no signs of abnormality. Zoey also survived an Apnea among other things.

Hanna were also grateful for the people God sent to cover Zoey’s three month stay in the hospital like the manager of PCSO and Mr. and Mrs. Manez who provided Zoey with milk beyond her stay in the hospital.

After three months, Zoey was given the go-signal to go home.

Hanna believes that Zoey’s story is meant to inspire others to believe in miracles, “She is an inspiration to everyone who no longer wants to hold on to their faith. Zoey is a reason to believe that miracles happen if you just believe.”

So to anyone of you who has been counted out like Zoey, may Zoey’s story inspire you that with God, all things are possible.

“The Lord gives His people strength; the Lord grants His people security.”

                                                                                                          – Psalm 29:11

Women are insecure.

It’s not really a secret and I don’t think us women do a very good job of hiding it. How many times have we fallen into the trap of wearing our insecurity around our neck like a badge?

Most of us think that we let our insecurities show when we are weak and vulnerable without realizing that it manifests in us the most when we are angry and defensive.

I don’t know about you but I would love to be a secured woman.

All my life I have dreamed of the day when I would walk around without a care in the world. Unfortunately though, I have always thought that this kind of confidence would just come out of the heavens without me lifting a finger. I have placed a greater premium on how I feel instead of owning up and actually try to do something about it.

Let’s face it: every single day we women are placed in a battlefield, sometimes with men, often times with other women but most of the time with ourselves.

Our own thoughts consume us and often make us feel that we are not worthy. Not worthy to be loved, taken care of, promoted, appreciated and so on. And the amazing thing about this is that we have our own reasons why we can’t be any of the things listed above: not smart enough, not thin enough, not good looking enough and on and on and on.

We often confuse humility with self-pity and oh, do we thrive on self-pity. To make us feel good about ourselves, we often compare ourselves with others we deem lesser than us or we cling on to the validation of other people who are just as unstable as we are. Once that validation is no longer available, our security and stability are out the window as well.

I’d like to think that our biggest mistake is believing that security comes from an outer source and something that we have no control over.

We often think that in order to feel good about ourselves and comfortable in our own skin, we need permission.

Insecurity is detrimental in so many ways. For one thing, it makes enemies out of strangers. Women, who we esteem higher than ourselves, suddenly become competition and soon enough, a would be awesome friendship is over even before we began.

It also gives us blinders. We think that a woman whose lifestyle I perceive is more perfect than mine suddenly has no right to be sad simply because in our heads, she’s perfect.

Because of our insecurity, women are no longer women, but statues who are not allowed to have emotions simply because her life is “perfect”.

Why do we do this?

Why do we constantly measure up other women? Is another woman’s success robbing me of my own? Is another woman’s love life cheating me of my own? Is another woman’s fashion stopping me from having my own?

Not really.

For one thing, my security doesn’t come from other women (or men).

It comes solely from God.

I have made the mistake one too many times of placing my security and happiness in something that was meant to change sooner or later. Nothing is ever permanent in this world so to place my worth in someone as unstable as I am is just setting myself up for disaster.

I think to get to the core of insecurity we have to ask ourselves where our worth comes from.

If I place my entire worth on my looks then how would I feel when I gain ten lbs or if I no longer posses my ‘youthful’ glow? If I place my entire worth in a man’s hand, how would I feel when he leaves? If I place my worth in my career, what happens when it’s finally time to hand in the reigns to someone younger?

At the end of the day, the only place where I can define my worth and not have it swept under the rug is by placing in the hands of One who is unchanging — God.

It makes me see other women as that — women and on my good days, I even see them as sisters who need to be loved as much as I think I need to be loved. I no longer see them as competition for a job or for a man (God forbid!) but I see them as a women who have been hurt and who need to heal — just like me. I no longer see them through deluded rose colored glasses, but rather I see them as someone like me, we may not look alike or come from the same social standing, but we are wired the same — women all over the world share one thing in common — a unique desire to love and be loved.

I understand how easy it us to get lost in the game, I understand how easy it easy to fall into the trap of becoming jealous of another woman just because she snagged the guy of our dreams or because she never seems to gain a pound.

It is easier to think that the grass is greener on the other side simply because we’ve never been there.

Sometimes, we need to stop unleashing our inner Regina George and start taking a step back and start seeing a woman for who she really is. Let us now allow her glamorous life to trick us into thinking that she is without flaws or insecurities. Instead, let us see her the way we see ourselves, let us remember that the woman has her own set of troubles that she is dealing with and own insecurities that sprung from experiences we know nothing about.

We must always try to remember that everyone, including you and me, often put up a front on our social networks. I mean, who really wants to air their dirty laundry on Twitter right? I’d like to think that we should stop gauging other people’s success by what they post on Social Networking sites. Today’s technology has done wonders for us, but it has also caused a lot of trouble, so just like in real life, let us try not to judge a book by its cover or by its Instagram profile.

Whenever we feel tempted to be snotty as a mechanical self-defense brought about by our insecurities, remember that the woman you are tempted to feel jealous about also sees something in you that she wants for herself.

What a wonderful world it would be if women just stepped out of their “defensive” stance and start being kind to each other. It would be awesome for women to love each other instead of constantly competing with each other and it would be even better if we helped a sister out instead of constantly pointing out her flaws.

Remember just like you that woman you are jealous of also needs a real friend.

Let us allow another woman’s success to inspire our own and let us allow another woman’s beauty to inspire us to celebrate our own.

Women are beautiful. God created us to be strong and beautiful and He created us this way because He meant for us to help each other out.

Celebrate who you are, yes whoever you are reading this and relish in the fact that God took His time in creating someone like you! And if you feel that you are damaged goods, don’t feel ashamed about it because God is the God who restores us and heals our hearts! Soon, your battlescars will tell the beautiful story of your life and that story will inspire a girl to be proud of her own battlescars.

YES, BELIEVE IT, ONE DAY YOUR STORY WILL INSPIRE ANOTHER!

With that being said, I am leaving you with the most beautiful woman I have yet to know, the Proverbs 31 Woman that you and I have the potential to be (and don’t worry, the right man will love you for being this kind of woman!) :

^10 [a]Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
    She is more precious than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband can trust her,
    and she will greatly enrich his life.
¹² She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.

¹³ She finds wool and flax
    and busily spins it.
¹⁴ She is like a merchant’s ship,
    bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
    and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.

¹⁶ She goes to inspect a field and buys it;
    with her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She is energetic and strong,
    a hard worker.
¹⁸ She makes sure her dealings are profitable;
    her lamp burns late into the night.

¹⁹ Her hands are busy spinning thread,
    her fingers twisting fiber.
²⁰ She extends a helping hand to the poor
    and opens her arms to the needy.
²¹ She has no fear of winter for her household,
    for everyone has warm^[b] clothes.

²² She makes her own bedspreads.
    She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.
²³ Her husband is well known at the city gates,
    where he sits with the other civic leaders.
²⁴ She makes belted linen garments
    and sashes to sell to the merchants.

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity,
    and she laughs without fear of the future.
²⁶ When she speaks, her words are wise,
    and she gives instructions with kindness.
²⁷ She carefully watches everything in her household
    and suffers nothing from laziness.

²⁸ Her children stand and bless her.
    Her husband praises her:
²⁹ “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
    but you surpass them all!”

³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
    but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
³¹ Reward her for all she has done.
    Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

If you’re feeling hopeless on Valentine’s Day, here’s a good way to pick yourself up:

🙂

There is about a week left to a much awaited holiday: Valentine’s Day!

I can see a lot of you through your screens: some of you are giddy delight while some of you are desperately trying hard not to smack your computer screen.

I used to be a part of the latter but it turns out that “love” is not defined by a singular relationship. I’d like to believe that those who really invented Valentine’s Day meant it to be a day to celebrate love and all its facets and not to heighten people’s “singleness”.

I believe if we truly look at our lives and see how much love has been given to us, we too will be excited about this holiday and not hole ourselves up in our room hating every single rose in sight.

This year, I choose not to dwell on the fact that I am single (again?) on this holiday and instead I choose to celebrate the love that has been freely given to me by those God has chose to bless my life with.

And let me just say, being single is not a bad thing, it doesn’t mean you are unwanted or hideous, it just means you know what you’re worth and you won’t settle for anything less than that.

So here is the list of people who have inspired me and people who have helped me become a little better than I was yesterday. 

I hope this blog expresses even just a tiny bit how much I appreciate these people and the joy they have sprinkled into my life.


1) My Family

It goes without saying that my family is my biggest source of love, especially since they are the people who see me every single day. They’ve seen me at my worst and they chose to love me anyway. It’s the greatest love anyone can have and I’m forever thankful for that. While it’s not perfect at all times, it is the kind of love that will never ever go away.

2) Ms. Yay Olmedo

I met Ms. Yay Olmedo in College when she became my professor in my Principles of Advertising class in 2006, since then I have learned so much from her in and outside of the classroom. Ms. Yay was one of the first people who believed in me and in my ability. Also, her dedication to serving God has inspired me to center my life on the One who gives me life. I appreciate the fact that she is always a text message away and most of all, I appreciate her prayers. Her encouragement is truly priceless!

3) Ate Ingrid Dedel

Ate Ingrid is the first person I text whenever I feel down or I need prayers. She is an inspiring woman of God and someone truly admirable because she’s independent, smart and has a mind of her own. It is a privilege to share my journey with someone like her. It has definitely made the load a whole lot lighter!

4) Elydia Reyes

I first met Elyds or as I fondly call her “lola” when I was still working in SISC and I was immediately blown away by her calm manner and her dedication to her job. Elyds has inspired me to take my work very seriously because we were not doing it for our bosses, but ultimately for God. She is possibly my most favorite person in the world simply because her view of the world is optimistic and never jaded.

6) Isabele Burgos

Isabele and I became friends when I got her as a “model” for the promotional materials in the place where I used to work. I have always been blown away by Isabele’s beauty, in fact, I was a bit intimidated by her. But when I looked past her stunning beauty, I saw a strong girl with such a big heart for Jesus. Her big heart is also the main reason why she is loved by many! I can’t wait for the great things God has for you, love! I miss you already!

7) Gracia Lopez

I first met my beloved Ate Gracia browsing through my favorite bookstore, OMF! She is by far, one of the most inspiring people I know because she is love in action! She not only sends me encouragement every now and then but she has shown me what real love is like through her actions! She inspires me to always keep my eyes on God and always reminds me that the greatest reward of all is Jesus! Her dedication to her job is also an inspiration! I know God will continue to bring her to places that will truly make her shine even more!

11) Angelie Kare

Angelie or “Ange” as I fondly call her is one of my most treasured gems! I absolutely adore this girl because she is always positive, stylish and generally, just an overall good person! We have been friends for quite awhile and I truly appreciate her even more because she listens to me and just gets it! I know her dreams will come true one day and I would definitely be the first person to be cheering her on!

12) My Manila Times Family

I have never been to The Manila Times Office but I am forever grateful to these four people: My Editor, Ms. Tessa Arriola, The One Who Set Me Up with Atom Araullo (haha), Ed Uy and My Forever Favorite Co-Fan Girl, Euden Valdez! You guys make writing seem so easy and fun! I really wish to meet you all in person soon! 🙂

And of course, I would forever be grateful to Kai Pastores for blessing me with such a great opportunity to do what I love! 🙂

13) My Brilliant Kids and My True Blue Friends: Charles, Cla, Von, Alia, Tina, Tin, Prex and Jay

I never thought the day would come when students would be real friends. We may not hang out all the time but these people have been there for me and have encouraged me through the toughest battles. They are also the people who make me laugh the most (yes, I’m talking to you, Von!) and I am so proud of all that they have become 🙂

14) Cris Nieto

I absolutely love my Ate Cris! She has seen me grow up (magkaage daw kami!) and has always been a just a BBM away. She is also one of the funniest people I know! She also carries in her a strength that is indomitable and something that I truly admire her for. Also, she gave me first ever ebook reader! Haha! That is reason enough! 😉 Also, thank you for introducing me to Cayleigh and Clayton!!!!

15) Patty Mendoza

This girl just inspires me to jump into life and not constantly think of the consequences. Her life inspires me to start living my own life as well, without limits. I will bet on anything that Patty will definitely go places! And I love her laughter, okay! HAHA!

And lastly, I would like to say that the greatest love I have come to know is the love of Jesus Christ, it may seem like a cliche but I am forever grateful for the love that gave me everything without ever expecting anything in return. That is truly the love that is worth celebrating this month, the kind of love that makes you whole and never leaves you empty. 

This list does not include EVERY SINGLE person in my life who has touched me with love in one way or another, forgive me for I am quite forgetful at times, but let me just say that there are so many things to celebrate this month and so many things to be thankful for!

Allow me to end this entry with the real definition of love and may you be blessed with the love of your dreams, in God’s perfect time but in the meantime, relish in the love that has been given!

I adore movies.

Just today, I went through three movies while working. I love getting lost in silly, nearly impossible moments and giggling like Tweety Bird until my face turns red.

Just like the rest of you, I absolutely adore dreaming of a life that just takes my breath away.

My fascination with a good chick lit/chick flick has its pros (for one thing it is what has inspired me to write) and its cons.

For the longest time my long standing love affair with the movies have blinded me into thinking that life was only meant to be lived a certain way and if it isn’t that way then somehow we have failed.

I know most of you are probably thinking, “lady, it’s just a movie!” but for a geek like me, those movies served as an escape. it was an alternative universe that I felt wasn’t meant for me just because I am not your stereotypical heroine.

I’ve always thought that my life was going to be just like the movies. That when the time comes, when everything is just right and just before the credits roll, I will be walking hand in hand with the sunset with someone whisking me away.

Finito. Life is good.

I have always assumed that I would go through my 20s with someone and foolishly believed that life would be magical when someone finally sees beyond my huge glasses.

A bomb dropped today, not of the North Korea kind, in fact it didn’t even make much of a commotion and yet it created a mini impact in my life, loud enough to make me contemplate it and thus blog about it tonight.

I just always thought that when this particular bomb dropped, I would be anchored by someone else. That the effect wouldn’t matter as much simply because I had someone with me.

But life is funny at times and here I find myself holding on to nothing but my phone, furiously typing the words that you are reading now.

At first, I was crying but that doesn’t really say much since I cry over everything and then in the midst of the tears, I found myself in the middle of my very own happy ending.

It may not be the one I have always hoped to have when I was sixteen but it is the one that has been given to me. It may not be an impressive ending fit for my favorite movies but the most I can say about it is that it’s mine.

I’m often cryptic and deprecating towards myself but tonight I dare say that I am proud of myself because though I am alone, I am not, in any way depressed.

In fact, I am thanking God because in me I found a strength I would have otherwise never found and while there is no one holding my hand tonight, it doesn’t make me feel ashamed or unwanted.

It actually makes me feel quite proud because I have chosen to take the road that does not rely on anyone to fix me. I may be hurting at this moment but at least it is my pain and i have taken the responsibility to make me okay again. It is not something I asked someone else to do for me.

I really can’t brag about my self sufficiency because it really has nothing to do with my strength, but His strength working through me.

I surrendered all the pieces to Him and the most incredible thing happened, He began to heal me.

I once thought that surrendering the pieces to Him meant Jeremy Lin showing up on my doorstep (pagbigyan!) but again, God’s plans are greater than my own.

God didn’t give me someone because He knew that when He created in me, He created me with a strength strong enough to weather anything on my own.

God saw my strength way before I did and that’s just the kind of God He is.

He pushes us to the edge not because He wants us to fall but because He wants to show us that we can fly.

Him healing my heart did not include another human being, very much unlike my daydreams but it included something more: a stronger sense of self, a stronger sense of purpose and a stronger sense of value that nobody can ever take away from me.

And at this moment, I wouldn’t trade that for all the hand holding in the world.

For the first time in a long time, I can actually say “I’m okay” and mean it.

Special thanks to Kaye Matriano whose song “Already Taken” served as the soundtrack of this blog entry. Check it out here: http://m.soundcloud.com/kaye-matriano/truth-is-youre-already-taken-1

I have always wanted to write to my “future” self and I may have done so in the past but have always managed to lose those letters so it was quite a surprise when I found this in my old files.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Thank you, Lord for a wonderful beginning.

As I was going through my timeline earlier, I saw a lot of both happy and disgruntled tweets about February. There were happy ones from friends who finally found their significant others and also a lot of  “Single Awareness Month” tweets.

There used to be a time that I was probably the loudest supporter of the disgruntled group but today, I’m just grateful for love and welcomed today with my most favorite kilig song of all time:

I am turning 25 this year.

This blog entry may come six months earlier than its due date, but still, this is the year that I turn 25 and just yesterday, I came across goals I foolishly made when I was 21. There were humongous goals and they were filled with hope and optimism, so much so that it made me wonder if I still carried that same sense of wonder in me today.

I was a cynical 21 year old at that time but I could also sense that under the tough exterior of pretending to see the worst in people, I was also quite an optimistic creature. I strongly believed that my best days were ahead of me and in a way, my 21 year old self was right.

I can only laugh and be in awe of her tenacious spirit and I couldn’t help but contrast the person I used to be and the person that I am today.

I could only laugh at how emotional I was and how unstable I was since I was running on my emotions alone. I was a bit reckless but then aren’t we all when we are young?

I also noticed that I was so optimistic that I ended up living in the future while ignoring the future. This was a thought embedded in me today and even more so when I visited this highly inspiring blog.

I realized that while daydreaming and setting goals for the future are exciting and critical parts of our lives, we must not get lost in them to the point that we do not enjoy the gift of today.

I have come across countless quotes and images on social networking sites to know that this is something we know but I often ask myself, is this the way we are living? Are we enjoying each moment to the fullest?

I never truly knew what that famous quote meant. For a time there, I always thought that YOLO meant getting drunk every night and going home with someone different every night (um, eww) but maybe this meant something more.

Maybe this means seeing our days for what they are, not days leading up to something big but small days that make up the beautiful tapestry of our lives.

We are often tempted to think that these days in between Sunday and Sunday are merely the days we have until our real lives start, but in all honesty, how do we define real life?

Why must we always put up for tomorrow something that we could do today? Why do we often wait for until everything is perfect before we truly allow ourselves to enjoy life? Why do we see our days as ordinary when in fact there are people who would give anything to have “normal” days like ours?

Why must we always long for things that are obviously meant for our future? Why do we often put off enjoying today simply because something meant for another time in our lives hasn’t arrived yet?

This year, I would like to practice the act of enjoying moments for what they are and not for what I want them to be. I refuse to over analyze and over think situations that take their magic away. I would strive to enjoy this day for what it is and hope for better days to come. I will continue to believe that our best days are ahead of us but that doesn’t mean we should just wait by the window until those big moments come alive.

Instead we should take advantage of the small moments presented to us everyday and refuse to dismiss our days as mundane. Instead, we should attack them with vibrancy and expectation of good.

We should never think of our days as ordinary but instead see each day as a vital puzzle piece in the culmination of our lives. I also believe that as we enjoy our daily lives, God sees this as an opportunity to bring in more good, that as we become grateful and as we enjoy the small things then we attract bigger things to come forth.

I believe we should do at least one thing a day to make our dreams come true, but we shouldn’t be so caught up in the big moments of the future that we forget to appreciate the laughter in the little days and the memories we create along the way.

I understand that yes, there are things in life that are worth waiting for, but should we constantly be waiting for our life to happen? Shouldn’t we actively wait instead? Do things that we can where we are instead of simply sitting and not doing? Shouldn’t we evaluate our lives and find the balance between what we must wait for and what we should go after? Shouldn’t we be able to evaluate the risks and go after the ones worth risking?

Oh, how beautiful and exciting life would be like if we stop waiting for the “perfect” moment to come and instead embrace what we have today. How thrilling it must be if people just did things instead of waiting around for the “right time” to do so and how truly liberating it must be to take a step, even just one tiny step, towards our dreams no matter how scary it maybe.

And maybe, just maybe, we wake up and see that our lives have become what we have always imagined it to be, not because we sat and wished, but because we went ahead and did.