FREE AT LAST!

Today is the last day of my 5-Day Isolation. Tomorrow, I’m gonna rush to the BIR Office to reprint my invoices. Otherwise, I will suffer penalties.

At last! Back to the real world. Chaotic as it may, I still missed it twists and turns, the non-stop drama unfolding right in front of my very eyes.

Embracing my son Gio and my daughter Eia are what I missed the most. But to ensure their safety, it would be wise to still postpone our GROUP HUG. 

Hearing my son playing the piano while I was meditating this morning brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know why. I was just thankful and grateful to God for everything. For keeping me alive, for keeping my family safe, for having faithful friends who were interceding for my immediate healing and recovery.

Finally! Freedom will be mine tomorrow. No longer will I be strictly confined within the 4 walls of my old small room. Nevertheless, I choose not to go swimming at Leisure Farms this May 27, not practice yoga this May 28 and not run this May 29. My OLD self would definitely not skip any of these but hey, this is the NEW me. I am NOT quitting. Just taking a break.

Thank you Lord! Thanks to all of you who prayed for me. God bless us all!

Stay safe everyone!

WHAT IS YOUR HEART’S DEEPEST DESIRE?

My favorite lay preacher, in one of his talks, answered one of the most sought-after questions—how do you know if what you’re doing is God’s will?

According to him, God’s will is the person’s deepest desire. This revelation completely jolted me out of my seat!

With all due respect for this remarkable person whom I greatly admire, I refused to believe his theory then. I still beg to disagree now.

God endowed us with the phenomenal gift of free will. We are always given the choice to do what is right or wrong. What if your deepest desire is that of a narcissist? Surely, that would never be God’s will.

Fr. Gerry, in one of his teachings intended for the parents of the Jr. Lectors, boldly stressed that parents should raise their children not giving them the choice of right or wrong. The bad should automatically be eliminated from the choices offered to the child. So the child will grow up choosing between what is GOOD and what is BETTER. So in essence, the child who becomes an adult will not dare, in his lifetime, choose evil. This is because he grew up totally disregarding what is wrong.

If children were raised according to Fr. Gerry’s ideal scenario, then I would agree that God’s will is your deepest desire because your desire could only be good, better or best. Since doing bad is totally out of the picture.

How about you? What is your heart’s deepest desire? Can you feel it in your bones that it is indeed God’s will? Good for you!

From Cloud 9 to Hell

Friends asked me yesterday if I was feeling better. I couldn’t say yes because yesterday was worse.

My fever was still on and off but eventually subsided late afternoon. At sundown, I began my agonizing trips to the toilet which lasted until 9PM.

The fiery lump in my throat refused to leave even with the joint forces of Difflam losenges and Bactidol throat spray. 

Just last week, I was in Cloud 9 after my sharing in the Handmaids International Conference. My Sisters were proclaiming that I was empowered by the Holy Spirit when I delivered my talk. 

Now, I am in hell. Well, sort-of.

My life has been like this: A series of happiness and sadness. I used to hold back on my happiness thinking that the more I become happier, the sadder I will be afterwards. 

Have you experienced this in your life? Restraining yourself to be fully happy because at the back of your head, you expect something tragic to follow in similar dosage?

Yes, this absurd theory could be true. But don’t let it prevent you from being truly happy. Keep on living your precious life to the fullest. Tragedies will come and go but by God’s grace, you will face them all head-on. Don’t ever underestimate yourself. You will rise from every fall. 

On Being Sick (My 2nd Day in Isolation)

Dr. Willie Ong, if I recall right—pointed out that sickness is a result of something lacking in your body or something in excess in your body. Could it really be this simple?

Other doctors quickly accuse stress as the perennial culprit to all diseases. Well, I somehow agree. On a case-to-case basis at least.

Mostly believe that “Laughter is the Best Medicine”. I totally disagree on this. On the ground that I lost very dear friends at a young age who thought they were invincible because they always laugh at their hearts content. 

For so many years that I didn’t get sick, I have come to embrace the “Superwoman” tag on me by people who thought I could tackle anything that life throws at me. Well, not anymore. I DO GET SICK!

When people ask my dear mother her secret to a long life without any maintenance, she would readily answer “enough food, enough sleep, enough exercise, enough rest, enough stress, and enough money to last you a lifetime.”

Sound so simple but impossible (for me) to follow!

EAT. DRINK. REST.

 My 65th birthday is just around the corner and for the first time in my life, I have come to realize that indeed, I am not getting any younger.

My whole body is in pain. My fever is on and off. There’s a huge fiery lump in my throat. I cannot tell if I feel cold or I feel hot. A civil war is actively brewing inside my stomach.

Our family doctor did not prescribe me anything except paracetamol for my fever. Instead, she advised me to eat a lot (except vegetables), drink lots of water, and coop myself inside my room for 5 days.

But, if I still have fever by tomorrow afternoon, then I should return to her clinic because according to her, that is BAD.

She asked me what I did for the past week. Well, I attended the Handmaids of the Lord International Conference in Pampanga from May 12-14 where there were a total of 2,450 people inside the Laus Event Center. I already noticed the harshness of my voice when I spoke on stage for 15 minutes. She told me that could be the start of the virus trying to enter my body. We were back in Las Piñas Sunday and the following day, I did a Speed Interval Workout with my yoga coach. Instead of resting my tired body, we ran intensively for 40 minutes. My doctor told me that was the opportunity the virus was waiting for.

By Tuesday, I could already feel the pain in my body but simply brushed it off.  I just rested until Thursday then hopped on the Ab Booster Plus and lifted weights. That’s when all hell broke loose. By 7pm yesterday, I was running a high fever after relieving myself in the toilet every 30 minutes. 

So here I am. Alone in my room. My son Gio wants to order anything that I want to eat but NO, I am not craving for anything.

Now that’s a first!

(Thank you for dropping by. Please chat with me via Messenger or email me at ndelr62@gmail.com. Stay safe everyone!)