God Loves Me

             As the scripture says, “Our sins are like sand in the beach, it’s immeasurable. But no matter how many times we’ve sinned, God is also like the waves in the beach, He will wash them (sins) away.” God has walked with me for a very long time; and He never ceased to impress many people, and I’m one of them.

             Human as I am, I have also experience those times when I forgot to thank Him; the times when I take everything for granted; the times when I forsake Him for causing me so much pain. Yet, I came to my senses; I realized that asking Him “WHY?” was a wrong question when the correct question that I should’ve asked Him was “WHY NOT ME?”

             I have always lived a good life even before I started worshiping God. I have a religious family but I totally hadn’t grasped the true essence of religion when I was young. I go to church to sleep or eat during the priest’s sermon. I can completely memorize the “Our Father”, “Hail Mary”, and “Glory Be” without even breaking a sweat but I don’t know what it truly states.

During my high school years, I have found a religious community known as the Youth for Christ (YFC). At first, I hesitated to join simply because I don’t want to mingle with the youths in my community. But my father gave me a consequence if I won’t join YFC and that is, I’M GROUNDED FOR A MONTH; less financial support for my studies (Can you believe it? And to think, I’m striving to be one of the Top 10 achievers of our batch) and FASTING. Yep! That’s what I would get if I won’t join the YFC youth camp. So without any second thought, I packed my things and got ready for the 3 day youth camp with a burdened heart together with my sister.

BITTER is what I can describe myself during those times. I was very reluctant in all the activities that we had on our first day; all I could wish was to make the days pass faster. I knew many YFC facilitators but I don’t want to approach them. I was always sitting on the corner with no words coming out from my mouth. But as our first topic, “God’s Love and His Plans for Me”, unraveled; I became enthralled about the topic and on the succeeding topics. Group sharing follows every topic discussion. It was by then that I compared my life to others; I was very blessed that I don’t have a broken family; I’m very thankful that my family can give me a stable financial support; and I’m grateful that my family forced me to join this community but that’s not the case now. I have come to grow into God’s loving mercy and lived His ways.

YFC commitment doesn’t end after youth camp; it only marks the start of your conviction to God. It’s not easy to walk with God. Walking with Him means great sacrifices, a hard test in succumbing temptations and a full understanding on human flaws.

In almost a year of serving God I have reflected many things. God is God and I am not. God is bigger than my problems and He’s always greater than my fears. God alone suffices. My most favorite saying about God is, “Don’t be afraid, just have faith. Everything happens for a reason.”