Polished for Christ

Practiced Hands Create an Ornate Piece

Silver is a metallic chemical element that is valuable. Its native form is not very pretty. However, when someone refines it by putting it in a heated furnace to separate the pure silver from the dross, it becomes very valuable with high karats.

A person is like native silver found in hard rock, but when someone shares to him the gospel and the way of salvation, he is taken out of that rock of sin. God will shape him with the hammer of His Word to form him into His will. When he accepts Christ as his Savior, he can be molded and designed artistically into a beautiful masterpieceby an experienced master like God. He “…shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: … and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3). For a believer to be more refined in his faith, God allows him to experience severe trials. I Peter 1: 7 confirms “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold [or silver] that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” As a result of this molding process, that person becomes a mature child of God. His maturity is evident in every aspect of his life. One of these evidences is his speech, which is always appropriate. Proverbs 25:11 tells us that “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Humble silver can be transformed into a gleaming work of art. A Christian who recognizes God’s authority and power over him will gleam with blessings and rewards in heaven.

Things I'm Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since no one has commented any praises yet, I'll start=)

1) God's presence

2) my Salvation

3) my awesome parents who correct me when I'm wrong

4) my great friends who cheer me up all the time and help me grow in Christ

5) trials from God that toughen and straighten me up

6) school for teaching me something
7) good Christian fellowship at church

8) U.S. citizenship!

9) snow

10) School breaks:)
11) holidays

12) delicious food

13) God creating the universe and everything else

14) kitties and puppies

15) good grades

16) good laughs and joy

17) many talents God has given me

18) winning 3rd place in the piano contest this year! (I really didn't think I would place anything)
19) being a Filipino by heart

20) good health that keeps me from missing school a lot

21) the Bible and the many Spiritual activities we can experience freely (like Bible class/study, chapel, extension, prayer meeting, etc.)

22) life

23) The Joy of Her Father:) where I can just share my thoughts and praises

24) all the teachers I have met in my life

25) books!

26) art

27) being an only child;) =getting to sleep in the back of the van during road trips without fighting for it, no hand me downs from siblings, no one to be compared to (but I would still love to have siblings)

28) candy and chocolate

29) first Thanksgiving for my family as U.S. citizens!

I'll add some more!

Please comment your praises!

Give Thanks!

As you know, it's Thanksgiving month!
Everyday should be full of thanks but for this month, I'm challenging you to write at least 10 things you are thankful for. You can comment them here, so we can all see how God has been blessing you! If you want, you can just comment one thing you are thankful for each day.

By the end of November, I am hoping that this blog will be full of praises to glorify God.
I will be posting my own list soon!

~Thank you

Early Thanksgiving~

My family became U.S. citizens November 10th!
We applied for citizenship in July of 2011. The Lord helped my parents go through the test and interview smoothly, allowing them to have their oath taking on Nov. 10. I automatically became a citizen when they took their Oath of Allegiance.
I didn't know it was a big deal until my homeroom and school organized a little citizenship party for me! I just want to thank them for their kindness.
I even got interviewed by the media! It was a very exciting experience for me even though I was a little nervous.

Just learning about my family's history and how we came here to the U.S. really reminded me of God's provision and care through all those years.
Truly God is good!

Fall Changes~

It's almost Thanksgiving, so I will be changing a few stuff around here=)

As you probably have noticed, I changed the background into a fall theme.
I will also be changing the Music into a thankful theme, Lord willing. (Feel free to suggest any praise songs)
I will try to post some more fall pictures!
That's all I can do for now, since I have school but if you have any suggestions or requests, please comment and I will try them.

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Food Collection Outcome

As I said in my recent post, we had a Food Collection at school to help out Miracle Hill Children Ministries. My homeroom didn't win this year, but the whole school got to donate over 12,000 pounds of food and goods! The winners for this whole collection is really everyone. We got to serve Miracle Hill and the Lord by love (Gal. 5:13 "By love, serve one another").

Food Collection

This coming week (Nov. 7-11) we get to collect food and other products to donate to Miracle Hill. The collection is a competition against all of the homerooms, but the most important thing is to give a lot to Miracle Hill. Last year, my homeroom (Dr. Carroll- My teacher liked Dr. Pepper.) won and we got to visit Miracle Hill. They try to make everything feel like home because most of the children there don't have homes. It's a really good Christian ministry that shares the gospel. Please pray that we can donate a lot to this ministry this year. If you live close to a Miracle Hill ministry, don't hesitate to donate. If you know me personally, please send me any canned goods or paper products to donate. Thank you!

For more information, go to http://www.miraclehill.com/