His Eye Is On The Sparrow

Why should I feel discouraged
And why should the shadows come
Why should my heart be lonely
And long for Heaven and home
When Jesus is my portion
My constant friend is He
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches over me

I sing because I am happy
I sing because I am free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches over me

Let not your heart be troubled
His tender words I hear
And resting on His goodness
I lose all my doubts and all of my fears
Tho’ by His path He leadeth
Tho’ just one step I may see
God’s eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches over me

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This song reminds me of God’s sovereignty. Sometimes I thought that everything is out of control. There are many things that can make us become discouraged – may it be in our country’s political situation, price hike of almost all the goods in the market, career, love life, family, our own self, etcetera and etcetera… We need to be reminded that God is in control and we just have to trust Him!

What a comfort to know that there is a God who watches over us, who cares for us and who has the best plan for our lives!

Monthsary

I happened to watch an episode of Oprah the other day. It made me think on certain issues in life. The episode was about two cases of husbands’ brutality to their wives and children. In the first case, the wife was killed. I watched a little late so I wasn’t able to grasp the whole story. In the second case, the wife survived the husband’s attack. She suffered over 59 stabbed wounds. Actually, the doctors stopped counting at 59. Her husband suffocated their 9-year-old daughter with a pillow and strangled their 7-year-old son with his bare hands. According to the wife, her husband never lifted a finger on her in their 14 years of marriage. Her husband was loving and a very hands-on father. He was even a scout master and a tennis coach. I was left wondering how a loving husband and father could do such a horrible thing to his family. This reminded me of a statement I heard before… “The second most important decision in life is choosing your life partner.” By the way, the most important decision in life is accepting Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord.

As Karen (the wife who survived) was fighting for her life, she related that she came to a point when she was thinking if she would fight for her life or not. She decided to live. I was reminded that the mind is very powerful. So I would be careful on what I feed to it. I should not dwell on negative things. Oh how I wish it is just so easy to do it!

I was just thinking that some people could not view God as He truly is because they view Him like their earthly father. They associated God with how their earthly father projected themselves. Philip Yancey explored this concept in his book “Reaching for the Invisible God”. I was left wondering – how would Karen’s kids view God if ever they survived their father’s attack?

I noticed that Karen didn’t mention God in her statement when Oprah asked why she is moving on with her life and decided to come out to the public. She said she has her family and friends helping her to cope. And she would like to give comfort to those people who are in the same boat with her. When she would say, “I understand” she really meant it because she had gone through it. I shared this with a good friend and she gave an equally good insight – “maybe Karen is still in the stage of questioning God why this tragedy happened to her”. I really don’t know but I admired her “others-centered” attitude though.

I thought of my own “dark night of the soul” experiences and how I cope with it. I used to sing an old hymn… Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because He lives, all fear is gone; because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the same comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Well, it’s my monthsary today, November 6, 2005! I’m sort of a ‘countdown’ enthusiast these days. Or should I say I’m back with my old habit again just like in college days. Oh no, this is not about my love life, notice the pronoun “my”. It’s been a month since that blessed day street accident of mine. That’s it – happy monthsary to me, especially to my foot! I’m just thankful God gave me an “extension” to live.

mindset

When I was in college I used to have a countdown for sembreak and summer vacation. I was always homesick then so it's some kind of a mind game I play to ease my homesickness problem. I was thinking then to invent a pill that will cure homesickness...hehehe :) It's true that 'necessity is the mother of all inventions'. :) A college friend used to encourage me with her quotable quote: "It's all in the mind."

Last Sunday I remembered her friendly advice during the message of our pastor. When we are faced with problems God has an offer we can't refuse but often do -- "Cast all your cares on him for he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7) We can choose to cast all our burdens to God or just keep it to ourselves. We have an option to look at our problems from our own perspective or to look at it from a 'galactic point of view'. This is where our mindset matters. It's an amazing thought to look at our problems from a 'galactic point of view'. It's like this...Milky Way is one of the billions of galaxies God created. Solar system is one of the systems in the Milky Way. The earth is one of the nine planets orbiting around the sun in the solar system. And human beings are just a tiny dot on the earth. So how big is your problem anyway? It's interesting to note the word 'cast'. It literally means 'to throw', 'to dump'. God is offering us His broad shoulders. He can carry all of our problems. Why would we cast our burdens to Him? The logic is: He cares for us. God is mindful of the every detail of our lives. This doesn't mean that we will not do our part to solve our problems. God has given us intellect. We should do our best and let God do the rest. There's a different kind of peace we experience when we cast our burdens to Him. Philippians 4:6-7 says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." It's peace in the midst of a storm which is also scientifically true.

I was struggling to change my mindset for this week. You see, I was thinking of 'comfort' and 'to relax' but something came up that changed my plans. God cheered me up when He reminded me of a sandwich spread TV commercial, "Isipin mo na lang..." In this case..."Isipin mo na lang na God's plan 'yan!" Wow, I'm getting excited na! :)