The highlight for the starting months would be my NCLEX. It is a state board exam for me to be licensed to practice in the USA. That "American Dream" was just a dream for me, so to speak, even when I was still a kid. A little trip down memory lane, as a child I always wanted to work 'abroad', and 'abroad' always meant the US. But as I graduated college and started working, the trend of nurses to apply for the US have been declining because of stricter laws. This has also negatively affected my dreams. I thought they were down the drain. I began to accept that.
But you know? God is just so amazingly unpredictable. As Isaiah 55:8-9 says,
His thoughts are far greater than ours. And also Ephesians 3:20 declares,
Following my seemingly sad state of having a near-miss point in IELTS last year (see older entries), God has proven himself once again to be the REDEEMER that He is. Isn't it amazing that He, as if Christ's salvation and redemption is not enough, is also willing to redeem us from our each and every version of our pit, and build us back to beauty from ashes? Yep, I guess that is one of his many specialties that I am so thankful for. Oh, a christian's life is full of praising isn't it? Because the God that we serve is always worthy of it all! I don't want to apologize that I sound like I can't contain it because I really cannot! When I remember God's faithfulness, it's hard to keep it to yourself, to not share the joy, to just explode in praising and worship. No wonder God set eternity in the hearts of all his children because we need all eternity to praise and worship him.
Okay so where was I? Uhm yeah, so after days of wailing about how my score turned out for IELTS. I have hoped that I would really get it. Isn't it funny how you're so caught up in your dreams that it begins to cloud your spiritual senses? If I had passed that test, I would surely be in a place that I would regret in the long run. Another Jeremiah 29:11 promise brewing I might say. I'm just so thankful once again that God is sovereign. There were numerous times wherein God has overridden my self-will, and I cannot thank him enough for those times. Sometimes, despite how unbiblical this thought can be, I wish God would just take full control of me, my desires, since He knows best. Yet again, he doesn't want robots, he wants US - the raw us. He wants for us to willfully give him his love. What's even amazing is that, even the strength that is in us to give the love that He deserves does not come from us - It all comes from him! (1 John 4:19) WOW. So were is boasting? None! It is all to him. Wow.
When I was in despair, distraught that I had disappointed my parents, I didn't know where I would go next. I was without direction. If I were to speak in carnal terms, it seemed like God took my dream away from me leaving me with no clue on where next to go. I was so sure of it before, after this, I'd proceed to that, et cetera. As it turns out, I was in the place where every ounce of dream that I had has been drained off my system. Little did I know, even know as I look back, this is how the Lord sanctified Moses, David, Abraham, Paul, and all the other men in the Bible. God emptied them off of theirselves until they were now filled with HIM. Wow. T_T I cannot even fathom how God would consider me His temple through Christ. Yet he looks at Christ's righteousness, not on my own. I take off the old man, and put on the new one. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
So back to my story, I knew that gone are my plans of going to the countries I considered, but one night shift, I was assigned to another area because ICU didn't have any patients. To cut the story short, I got introduced to this agency called Avant by my colleague. She passed NCLEX and she's processing her US application, and she recommended me that I try to apply. Coincidentally, when I checked, Avant will be conducting an interview the next 2 weeks after that. Wow! Talk about God-ordained moment. I then got accepted in their 7-month review program, and this January 2018, I sit for the NCLEX in Makati- all expense paid!
I can't even begin to talk about my 2-day retreat with Jesus and me in Makati, thousand miles away from home, flying all by myself for the first time, to go to a place I don't have any single idea what it would be like. Oh what amazing and sweet time we had in Makati. I know it's not because of the liberty of being alone in a new place, nor the pressure I felt during while preparing for the exam. I knew it was because He was there, with every waking breath, every single space, every decision, He is there. His presence is just overwhelming. His word fell afresh on me as I meditate on it in the Hotel, in the way going elsewhere I need to go, even in my sleep, more so in my exam. I just felt, during this whole journey with him, that he's been carrying me. I'm literally not lifting any muscle, it's just been him all along.
Now you may be wondering why I attached a picture of some rocks put together some on top of another. Well, in the Old Testament, God always tell his people Israelites to remember and never forget his benefits (Psalm 103:2). That's why this serves as my "rock of remembrance", to remind myself that God has delivered me, God has redeemed me, and He will continue to give more of himself to me as I fix my eyes on Jesus no matter what comes my way in the next days.
For more info on rock of remembrances, you might want to check this website:
https://soulspartan.com/2014/01/27/altars-of-remembrance/
But you know? God is just so amazingly unpredictable. As Isaiah 55:8-9 says,
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.
His thoughts are far greater than ours. And also Ephesians 3:20 declares,
and so many other verses with the common theme: God is GREATER. He is immeasurably over, above, and beyond everything. How amazing is it that He is our God? More than that, we are able to call Him "Abba, Father", all because of Christ!
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.
Following my seemingly sad state of having a near-miss point in IELTS last year (see older entries), God has proven himself once again to be the REDEEMER that He is. Isn't it amazing that He, as if Christ's salvation and redemption is not enough, is also willing to redeem us from our each and every version of our pit, and build us back to beauty from ashes? Yep, I guess that is one of his many specialties that I am so thankful for. Oh, a christian's life is full of praising isn't it? Because the God that we serve is always worthy of it all! I don't want to apologize that I sound like I can't contain it because I really cannot! When I remember God's faithfulness, it's hard to keep it to yourself, to not share the joy, to just explode in praising and worship. No wonder God set eternity in the hearts of all his children because we need all eternity to praise and worship him.
Okay so where was I? Uhm yeah, so after days of wailing about how my score turned out for IELTS. I have hoped that I would really get it. Isn't it funny how you're so caught up in your dreams that it begins to cloud your spiritual senses? If I had passed that test, I would surely be in a place that I would regret in the long run. Another Jeremiah 29:11 promise brewing I might say. I'm just so thankful once again that God is sovereign. There were numerous times wherein God has overridden my self-will, and I cannot thank him enough for those times. Sometimes, despite how unbiblical this thought can be, I wish God would just take full control of me, my desires, since He knows best. Yet again, he doesn't want robots, he wants US - the raw us. He wants for us to willfully give him his love. What's even amazing is that, even the strength that is in us to give the love that He deserves does not come from us - It all comes from him! (1 John 4:19) WOW. So were is boasting? None! It is all to him. Wow.
When I was in despair, distraught that I had disappointed my parents, I didn't know where I would go next. I was without direction. If I were to speak in carnal terms, it seemed like God took my dream away from me leaving me with no clue on where next to go. I was so sure of it before, after this, I'd proceed to that, et cetera. As it turns out, I was in the place where every ounce of dream that I had has been drained off my system. Little did I know, even know as I look back, this is how the Lord sanctified Moses, David, Abraham, Paul, and all the other men in the Bible. God emptied them off of theirselves until they were now filled with HIM. Wow. T_T I cannot even fathom how God would consider me His temple through Christ. Yet he looks at Christ's righteousness, not on my own. I take off the old man, and put on the new one. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
So back to my story, I knew that gone are my plans of going to the countries I considered, but one night shift, I was assigned to another area because ICU didn't have any patients. To cut the story short, I got introduced to this agency called Avant by my colleague. She passed NCLEX and she's processing her US application, and she recommended me that I try to apply. Coincidentally, when I checked, Avant will be conducting an interview the next 2 weeks after that. Wow! Talk about God-ordained moment. I then got accepted in their 7-month review program, and this January 2018, I sit for the NCLEX in Makati- all expense paid!
I can't even begin to talk about my 2-day retreat with Jesus and me in Makati, thousand miles away from home, flying all by myself for the first time, to go to a place I don't have any single idea what it would be like. Oh what amazing and sweet time we had in Makati. I know it's not because of the liberty of being alone in a new place, nor the pressure I felt during while preparing for the exam. I knew it was because He was there, with every waking breath, every single space, every decision, He is there. His presence is just overwhelming. His word fell afresh on me as I meditate on it in the Hotel, in the way going elsewhere I need to go, even in my sleep, more so in my exam. I just felt, during this whole journey with him, that he's been carrying me. I'm literally not lifting any muscle, it's just been him all along.
Now you may be wondering why I attached a picture of some rocks put together some on top of another. Well, in the Old Testament, God always tell his people Israelites to remember and never forget his benefits (Psalm 103:2). That's why this serves as my "rock of remembrance", to remind myself that God has delivered me, God has redeemed me, and He will continue to give more of himself to me as I fix my eyes on Jesus no matter what comes my way in the next days.
For more info on rock of remembrances, you might want to check this website:
https://soulspartan.com/2014/01/27/altars-of-remembrance/
At various times in the Old Testament, God’s people set up a simple altar of remembrance at a place where God did an especially powerful miracle, at a place where God dramatically rescued His people, at a place where God taught them an important lesson. These altars of remembrance–constructed of simple, local stones–would serve to remind future generations of God’s past faithfulness in order to give them strength to continue trusting the LORD in their present trials.
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