Friends

I have very few friends left outside of the Catholic community to which I belong. Most of them have either avoided me or have gotten angry, saying that I changed and that I have become weird or "too holy" for their tastes. Some have even said a lot of hurtful things about me and the choices I've made. The few that remained had kept a safe distance, usually extending that distance when I start inviting them to attend renewal seminars or even our monthly community mass. In that regard, I can say that I have "lost" that part of my life.

I also know that it won't stop here. As I grow deeper in the knowledge of Christ, I know that He will reveal to me various areas of my life that I still have to lose in order to fully follow Him.

The amazing thing is that what I have gained is far greater than all these things that I have lost. I have found Christ and now, He is all that is important! My life now is happier, more peaceful and certainly better than the life I lost for. His sake. Begin to lose your life to Jesus today and experience what it means to truly be alive!

"But the soul renounced shall abide in the boundlessness of God's life. This is liberty, this is prosperity. The more we lose, the more we gain." Watchman Nee.

Hardship Makes Success

A story of a man willing to take risk of his life just to achieve the goal of his life. A success to be in this cruel world.

It all started six years ago when I was seven years old. It was the time when my parents separated. The other side of me tells me that it is a good thing so my mom won't suffer anymore if she is not happy with dad. But my other side bitterly cries for I never wished to have a broken family. After their separation, my dad is still abroad while me and my brother lived with our mom.

A year later, my mom decided for us to live with our grandparents while she stays in the city. All of us thought this would be a brilliant idea so everyone was so excited moving in my grandparents' house. But then, after several months of our stay there, the wind has changed. I and my brother became battered grandchildren. Our grandfather hit us all the time without our knowledge why he's always doing that. Everyday, I and my brother had marks on our skins and bruises. In the first few months whenever my mom would visit, we never told her about what's truly happening because whenever our mom will visit, our grandfather will so kind as if he'll never hit us even once. This hitting and beating continued for over a year. Until the time that I and my brother can't help it anymore but to tell you mom all of it. Our mom and grandfather immediately had a fight. After the fight, our mom packed all of our things and left the house. She brought us in her apartment in the city.

Everything went better after a year. We went to school located on the city and lived with our mom. But then, there is this another obstacle that is testing my faith. Our mom had different partners which made me hard to adjust. Of course I still want our father to be the matured male in our house. But when that thing happened, it made me cry every night and I felt like I am already a burden to my family. But thank God after a year, I was able to adjust.

A year later, my mom and my grandfather forgave each other. Our grandfather promised that he'll never do such a thing again on us. Again, we all thought that he'd really not do it again. But then again after several months, he started hitting and beating us, leaving us again with marks and bruises. For the second time, my mom and grandfather had a fight. Our grandparents left the house and stayed in the house of their friend. Again, everything went back into place.

Another year later, a new obstacle invaded my faith and just. Whenever our mom gets into a fight with her partner, she'd put her madness on us. She'd shout at us and beat us and say, "You are useless! I wish you are not my daughter!" This made me cry every night because I can't get it out of my head. Now I know that I really am a burden.

This scenario is still happening until now. But all I can do is increase my faith and just wait what happens next . . . I hope it touched your hearts even for a bit.

Source: http://www.saching.com/