Soli Deo Gloria

Saturday, October 28, 2006
I have not blogged for a while – not because I didn’t want to blog. It is because I have nothing to share coz I had taken leave from God for a while. Even my post about my recent batam trip can’t get posted coz I encountered problem with blogger last week. God’s will perhaps.


However, I started praying again and I want to share my testimonial today.

Work – there has been no free time since dunno when. New things keep coming in even before I can finish the current ones. Well, maybe it is due to my ineffectiveness….

Last night, I missed my RCIA as I have things to complete as I want to attend today’s rosary session. Anyway before going to bed, I went through what I need to do – the list is overwhelming and there is NO WAY that I can complete all the tasks in a day. So I asked God for help. (Strange how humans always turn to Him only when we cannot cope).

Anyway, I said my prayers and went to sleep and I woke up feeling great peace. At work, God began to work in His own ways for me. The auditors did not bother me today as much even though I still owe them some schedules that they were chasing me the day before.

Also, supposed to do up some charts for my boss as there will be an internal audit coming up. In the end, she told me to pass her what I have on hand and she will work out the rest.

Lastly, I was given angels who helped me to extract a list of reports to furnish to our internal auditor (for an internal audit of another scope). Even this internal auditor said that I can give him the information on a piecemeal basis.

Thank God for clearing the way for me.

Up next is my search for god parent(s). Father T. meant well and he really wants our journey to be fruitful and I understand where he is coming from but out of 4 I asked till today, there is not yet a “Yes”. But I believe God is guiding me.

One of the facilitators smsed me say maybe I can ask for prayers request – that is a sign from God through her. She suggested starting from my choir friends – so I did. I asked them to pray for me and that the Holy Spirit will guide me to my godparent if it is His will that I be baptized this coming Easter.

Hmmm, I guess I should be patient.

Today, a sister shared that we should do things according to His will rather than with our own personal objective in mind. Maybe I should really go forth to enjoy the community bonding and put the search on godparent(s) as secondary.

Thank you God for guiding me.
Lastly, I just want to share that God is really my inspiration for this blog. Without Him, I do not have the inspiration to blog about anything. Praise be to Him. Amen.

 
posted by Francesca Cecilia at 7:01 AM, | 0 comments

Wedding : Thanksgiving

Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Can you believe it, up to the eve of my big day, dearie and I were still running around trying to settle matters – rehearsals for kiddos, me doing my manicure and the girl just cut my hand accidentally and it couldn’t stop bleeding, table arrangement for table still not finalized etc etc etc.

Dearie didn’t sleep till 4am and we didn’t have proper meal since Friday.
But thankfully, everything went well.

Special thanks to the following people

Father Terence

Our Parents
Our bride and groom party (They worked really hard – for all brides to be – it is good if u get more people to help you out)
God’s Angels – Leon n Brenda, Aurelia n CJ, Gillian, Richard, Anna n Geraldine (she is soooo cute as our flower girl), Cornelia (my sis in law) and her two adorable sons as ring bearer n Page Boy(Joshua n Clement), my two brothers, Clement, Nelson, Stephanie, Josephine, Joanna and her friends, Steven and his AV guys, Veronica, Shepherd’s Voice,

The hotel staff , the make up artist, the driver, the photographer etc
All friends and relatives who turned up for our wedding
Thank you to everyone!
Pete and I are really greatful. =)
 
posted by Francesca Cecilia at 7:10 AM, | 0 comments

Wedding: our theme song

There Is Love
(Wedding Song) Paul Stookey
He is now to be among you
at the calling of your hearts.
Rest assured this troubador
is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits here
has caused Him to remain,
for whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name,
There is love. There is love.
Oh, a man shall leave his mother,
and a woman leave her home.
They will travel on to where the two will be as one.
As it was in the beginning, is now until the end,
woman draws her life from man and gives it back again
and there is love. Oh, there's love.
Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here or love that brings you life?
For if loving is the answer then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
Oh, there's love. There is love.

The union of your spirits here
has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name there is love.
Oh, there is love.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
dearie and I first heard this song when we went for our EE. It left an impact in us but we have forgotten all about it until Xiu Ping lent us some wedding songs CDs.
Actually, even before XP lent us the CD, I have heard Nelson singing it. He sounded so nice but I thought PF is asking him to sing for her wedding. As I thought no bride would like another bride to copy the same song, I did not ask Nelson. Also, I didn't dare to ask as I thought I might be imposing on him.
Anyway, it is God's plan that He wants us to have this song coz PF told me that Nelson was singing for fun during the choir practice. Ha ha....
When we approaced Nelson to sing for us at the signing (in church), he was more than happy to obliged and agreed that it is God's plan coz he just happened to see that song one day while flipping through his book.
The plan sort of evolved - that we asked Nelson to sing for us for our first entrance on our wedding dinner.
The plan evolved further - Nelson got Clement to help play on keyboard - One song turned into four songs (I think there were more than four songs on the actual day - some chinese. some english). Two persons became four - Steph and Josephine were roped in to sing as well!
Of course, dearie and I were very happy that they are all so willing to sing for us.

The dinner was indeed beautiful. =)

Thank you Lord for making all things possible. (p.s things did not run smoothly at first as we did not have DI Box which the hotel insisted that we must bring along. But God sent his angels thus making all things possible.)
 
posted by Francesca Cecilia at 6:55 AM, | 0 comments

Wedding: Expectations


Expectations

Why do people get angry/frustrated with each other?

It is because we have expectations of each other, of ourselves

Father shared in his homily that we should love one another – continue to give unconditionally but that does not mean that we need to have expectation.

Just like Jesus poured himself out to do His Father’s will, he did not expect all to become his followers overnight. Instead, he knew that most of us won’t repent yet, he asked Heavenly Father to forgive us for we do not know what we aredoing.

As a couple, it is always easy to have expectations of your spouse – especially when he/she is someone close to you. This can either make us become a better person or it could make things worse.

During this marriage preparation, I do admit that there were times where Pete has expectations of me and vice versa. But all these lead to anger and frustration, casting doubts on our relationship – am I sure I want to marry him/her etc. I suppose this is one common trap that many people fall into.

However, if we ground ourselves firmly in God’s love, we will be better able to forgive and accept the other person as who he/she is – the good and the bad. Nothing will kill us even if the other fellow did something stupid. Just let go and let God take care of things.

I feel that the homily is very good for us – that we should not have expectations but to love. All actions should be out of love. Continuous giving is important and always give without expecting the other to give back the same amount or more.

Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us this important advice through Fr T on our wedding day. Lord, I ask that you continue to be our guide and bless us with a happy marriage. Thank you Lord, Amen.
 
posted by Francesca Cecilia at 6:36 AM, | 1 comments