Tag: quarantine

Just thinking I know it all

Myrnaly

Everything in this world is changeable. Everything goes out of style and everything comes back again. The values and morals of this world are as changeable as the swaying of the waves of the sea.

We have advanced in knowledge, and we have regressed in principles. The principle of wisdom is the fear of Jehovah, as the Word tells us, but today the one who fears Jehovah is considered ignorant.

They will call what is bad good and what is good they will call bad.

It is easier to go with the current because swimming against it requires a lot of effort.

Our tolerance will always be minimal towards men, but we are changing as to who we want to tolerate.

Before, as a teenager and young adult, I thought I knew everything better than my parents. Today I think that at that time I did not know anything, but today my children think how I thought.

Nothing in this world is constant. For that reason, there is nothing that I can hold onto. Nothing constitutes a security, because today it is and tomorrow who knows.

But God is eternal. I cannot speak of its beginning and I cannot set an end to it.

God does not change. His words, his law and his advice apply to all times because he is the only one who knows all times.

God knows everything, including the heart of man and its ups and downs. We change our way of thinking in a matter of minutes. What God says remains forever.

Do I tremble at the word of God? Is my life run based on it?

Do you ever stop to meditate on what it says there? Not only in his promises, which by God’s grace we have received. Do you meditate in prayer on the holiness of God? Do I have that reverent fear before God and his work? Do I tremble at his word?

Very little do we take the scriptures before what is convenient for us and before the appearance that we want to have before others. Every day identifying yourself as a Christian will create a bad concept about you in society. Am I willing to keep talking about the gospel? While there are missionaries laying down their lives for the gospel, do I worry about my reputation? Am I so worried about what they say about me? Or my priority is to proclaim the truths of the gospel, exalt the glory of God and be able to be an instrument so that other lives can be saved through faith.

To tremble at his word I must first know him.

It is time to go deeper, to go before God in humility, so that my purpose as Son of God may be fulfilled. God is looking for worshipers, people who love Him with all their might, and people who recognize His holiness.

Religious who only fulfill tasks that are visible, such as going to church, or serving in a ministry as a simple routine, is not going to impact the world. Those who humbly prostrate themselves before the Lord so that his’s will be done in their lives will impact the world and see themselves as servants and not as lords.

Let us pray to the Lord, and if it is necessary to be silent, so be it. Let’s just come before Him recognizing that He made us and not ourselves. May he reveal to us a little of his greatness and holiness so that our lives may be transformed for his glory.

Living on a diet

Myrnaly

Diets are famous at the beginning of the year, as part of the resolutions and new goals that we want to achieve. They start out in high spirits because we’ve just gotten out of the holidays and hearty Christmas holiday meals, but as time goes on they get boring and harder to keep. The dishes that are left out of the diet seem to be more attractive and appetizing than what we are eating. For that reason, the most successful diets include days or servings to “cheat” and eat foods that could make us go off the diet altogether if we stop consuming them altogether. Still, not everyone has the discipline to make dieting their lifestyle.

Not only our body is fed, in the same way, but our soul and spirit are also fed. But in this spiritual area, the food we eat can go unnoticed. However, the effects of what we consume remain in our system for a long time.

Everything we read, see, and hear feeds us without realizing it. We have spent a lifetime filling ourselves with everything the world has to offer through cinema, television, magazines, and now, social networks. What do I eat the most? What am I filling myself with? We need to fill ourselves with the Word of God and what quenches our thirst. Am I feeding my fears, anxieties, and discouragement? Or, on the contrary, am I feeding my spirit with knowledge of God, his plans, his will, his attributes and contribute to compare me to his holiness and produce changes in my life?

Like the dieter, you do not have to say it because others notice how healthy and fit you look when we are feeding spiritually, those around us know from the words that come out of our mouth, our attitudes, our decisions, and our approach to other people that we are different and the goal is to reflect Christ so that others give glory to his name by seeing living testimony in us.

Our way of thinking and seeing the situations that come our way in life will be determined by what we have learned and treasured. In times of crisis, what we believe is what we will do first, without thinking, it comes naturally. We must start each day praying and filling ourselves with the Word of God so that during the day that Word is the one that acts on all the decisions we make and leads us to enjoy that abundant life that Christ conquered for us on the cross.

As in diets, what is not healthy catches our attention because it is what we have been eating for years, but it is of no use to us. It is a daily decision and Spirit-led discipline to feed ourselves on what is right.

Let us pray to the Lord giving thanks because he has given us life and abundant life. Let us ask him to guide us through the day and to help us fill ourselves more and more with him each day so that we can please him and enjoy the peace that by his grace he gives us.

Need for light in the dark night

Myrnaly

I think we all agree that these times of pandemic have changed all of our plans and our routines. The physical distancing has made it difficult for us to do some tasks, to be able to share quality time with those we love and we see how the churches have also been affected.

Meditating on the Lord about these times, it came to my mind the times when the apostle Paul was locked up, in jail, and isolated from the plans he had about his missionary trips. But did Paul put his ministry on pause because he was isolated? Definitely not.

From prison, he influenced people, continued to cultivate his relationship with God, and wrote letters that are part of the Bible as we know it today. The power of God and his work does not stop at four walls. It only took a man called by God, who in complete humility and disposition placed himself in the hands of God.

We read verses like the ones I shared in the beginning and we often raise praise to God telling him to use us, to do his will, but do I make myself available? I am willing? When they call for volunteers for an assignment, do I volunteer?

The world is full of people who go with the flow. The world needs people who remember that they are the church of God and that the church is not made up of a building or a meeting place. Can those who see me say that they understand what the church is? Do you see the character of God in us? How have the lives around me been impacted on a daily basis?

These times call for creative, special measures. All we can accomplish is by the grace of God. What prevents me from serving? What prevents me from saying “here I am”?
Our ministries don’t stop. If I have stopped my ministry and am not doing anything, I must present myself in complete humility and transparency before God and ask him to help me and direct me to act according to his will. What we lack is probably direction, because training is always from God. All the good we can do comes from Him.

In times of greater darkness, the stronger the church must shine, reflecting the light of Christ. It is at night that the moon shines the brightest. The moon has no light of its own, it reflects sunlight. Although we can see it during the day, in the presence of the sun it doesn’t make much difference. It is in difficult times that the church must consecrate itself and be a reflection of God and not the world. If my drawback from serving is my job, my entertainment, my economic situation, that I hope others will do it or that I do not feel qualified, the root of everything is the status of my relationship with God.

Let us pray to the Lord to help us to be the church that the world needs and not people who get confused with the current of this world. May we make ourselves available before waiting for others to come and we can understand the privilege of being used by the Lord to carry his message. May we recognize that there is nothing in us that enables us to produce spiritual fruit except the Holy Spirit who indwells us and convicts and directs us according to God’s Word and his will. May we finally surrender to the Lord and say: “Here I am.”

Looking upright

Myrnaly

I have an infection in my left ear that urgently needed a doctor. Yesterday I finally got an appointment and the doctor prescribed treatment in ear drops and antibiotic pills.

For the drops, he instructed me to put 7 drops in the affected ear, and for several minutes to be with my head inclined so that the drops would stay there. After three minutes or so, I had to turn my head to the other side to remove the excess fluid from the ear.

For that purpose, I lay down on the sofa in the living room to be comfortable. While I was waiting lying on my side, I began to observe the house. Everything looked different from that perspective. I was staring at the ceiling, which I didn’t normally see while walking.

I was thinking about how when we are young children, we see everything from another perspective and everything changes as we grow up. Likewise, when we are spiritual children, recently converted to the gospel, we see everything differently.

I remember that time when I did look up a lot because I longed to follow God’s will in everything. I wanted to have that communion every day, to pray frequently, to read the Bible with that thirst for knowledge. But as we walk, we lower our gaze to what is in front of us. Circumstances, problems, changes in life occupy all our attention and we stop looking “upwards” where we can find in God all the answers we need, the forces that will support our weaknesses and the peace to be able to bear the trials.

Many times we are overwhelmed and we only have to look to God, who sees us as his children and wants to guide us. We must set our sights on enjoying the presence of God in our lives and giving glory to God in the midst of all circumstances.

Let us pray to the Lord presenting every situation that overwhelms our minds. Let us humbly acknowledge that we depend on Him and cannot carry everything ourselves. May his Holy Spirit guide us and we seek to cultivate that communion with Him.

Someone else finished what I began

Myrnaly

I like to put decoration details around the house according to the different seasons of the year. At the moment I have decorated my dining table in a beach theme because of the summer. They are simple details but they encourage us to see different things, even if I reuse them next year.

I have many ideas, so most of the time, I buy the materials and prepare decorations myself. I bought those snails and thought they would look great in that cloth packaging. I have good ideas but sometimes in the execution, I am not so patient. So I placed the snails and as much as I accommodated them they did not look up and the packaging looked a little empty. Well! ” I don’t think it looks bad, ”I thought.

But my husband, who is a detail-oriented and perfectionist, saw that something was missing in the decoration of the snails and by the time I saw it, he had already placed a foam (polyethylene) filling so that it would not look empty and now the snails look better than when I put them on.

And so God made us. He gave each of us different gifts to be able to compliment others. We work differently and give different ideas but we serve the same Lord, we are all under his direction.

As the body of Christ, we are his instruments to carry his gospel message to the world. We will meet different types of people, different situations, different languages, different needs, so it requires different gifts and abilities to be able to minister to all people.

For example, maybe you are good at talking to people, but someone else is good at listening. Perhaps you reflect great peace and bring calm to someone, while another is the one who encourages the decayed. Perhaps you are good at serving, and another is good at administering.

Teamwork leads us to reach more lives and we are in times where the need is great and the limitations of the pandemic lead us to be creative. And you already know the saying that “two minds think more than one”. For it is the same spirit, the same love, the same burden, taking the form that can reach each person who needs it.

Your gifts and talents are necessary to be a blessing to others. It is a privilege to be used by God because we are not even worthy to be his servants and carry a message that remains so great. It is his grace that leads us by the hand when we surrender our lives to him.

Do not think that you are not necessary, or that there are already people working in the church. God created you for good works, so that his name may be exalted and glorified. It all starts when we surrender to Him so that His will be done and not ours.

Let us pray to the Lord to present ourselves willing and available for his work. May it help us to be an active part of the body, putting our gifts and talents at the service of others. It is time to carry the message with urgency and fear of the Lord. May he direct us to be a blessing to those who need it, always remembering that all the glory and the work is his.

Myrnaly, please be still.

Myrnaly

To live a happy life, we are required to be in peace. As they say, you can have a bed valued at a million dollars, in a room with the perfect atmosphere and temperature and if you do not have peace, you could not sleep.

It is popular these days to have stress and so many worries that often don’t allow us to have our minds at peace.

We do not want to be alone, or in silence, because our thoughts and anxieties overwhelm us. If you think about it, there are always so many things we can worry about!

If you have a choleric temperament like mine, you always have in mind what you are doing right now and what you plan to do in the days to come, in the future. And when we are like that, we want to solve everything, thinking that this will help us to have control over all things.

But life shows us over and over again that we have no control over anything. You may have a lifetime planned about how many years you are going to work, how much you want to earn and when you want to retire to enjoy the profits, and a simple virus arrives and changes your reality.

Do you know how many businesses have been affected by this pandemic even with the aid that governments have provided? How many people have had to live without a hug because of the physical distance they have imposed on us? How many are living in anxiety and have not been able to let off steam with anyone?

But I share with you one of my favorite verses from the Bible. “Be still”.

God spoke to me through this verse last year when I lost my long-standing job. Amidst the anxiety that I may have felt, God gave me peace. God reminded me that He is the one in control of all things and He was saying to me “stay still.”

It doesn’t mean that I didn’t do anything, but that I should have calmed down, that I shouldn’t worry. In the process, I had to pray to strengthen my fellowship with Him, ask for direction, and lead my soul to trust in His will.

In the process, I had to continue reading the Scriptures in order to feed myself spiritually, to listen to the voice of God, and to strengthen my life’s foundations, also to remember his promises for me.

In the process, I applied to jobs and on the advice of my husband the idea of creating a consulting business came up. And while I was looking for information we presented everything in prayer so that it would be God who would direct my steps.

We were able to develop the business and now I have time to serve Him while working relaxed hours.

But the difficult time came when in January there was an earthquake in Puerto Rico and the economy was paralyzed in many sectors. Now my business was not going to have any activity. What was I going to do? “Be still”.

A company hired me for a temporary job in a position that I never applied for. That was my livelihood for these past months, even in the pandemic because I could do the work from home, remotely.

God has taken care of me. He glorifies himself when we leave everything in his hands. It is not just being still, the remaining part is also important: “and know that I am God.” So when I saw the mug I bought it, just to remember every morning when I drink my coffee, everything will be fine.

The message applies to you too. If you know that He is your God, you can be still.

Let us pray to our God recognizing that he is the one who has control of all things and we decide to trust in his will and that he helps us to be still in the midst of the difficult circumstances that we may be experiencing. He is greater than everything and we are under his care.

The one who did it first

Myrnaly

I was reading an article about the first black woman to fly a plane for the Navy.

Our history is full of logs that record who was the first to perform this or that accomplishment. So from childhood, we are taught that the good thing is to win and to arrive first.

This way of thinking puts us in a position of competition with all those around us, including our family, our brothers, and cousins.

We want to be the first and the best. So we live watching very closely to what others do. We spend lots of time judging and measuring what they do before the reference standards that society has set for us, and before ourselves.

We are programmed to judge others. The problem is that we are not the ones to judge.

Jesus Christ confronted those who judged the woman, making them pass judgment on the first and each one realized that they did not give the degree, that they were sinners. When our standard of comparison is the holiness of God and the way of Jesus on earth, we can only be confronted with our sin and understand that only God is perfect.

Then we can only exalt him, recognize him as our God and Lord and lead a life of gratitude because he conquered on the cross what I could never achieve. He came first.

Surely I am not the first to know the message of salvation. Many already knew him before me. I am not the first to share it with others. Many have already shared it.

But I can be the first to get the message across to someone who needs to hear it. But I can be the first to show God’s love to someone who needs it.

I can serve the Lord and even if I am not the first to do a task, what we do is for eternity. I am unique, with special gifts that can be wonderful in the hands of God when we make ourselves available to Him in humility and wanting to be guided by Him.

Let us pray to the Lord giving thanks for his sacrifice on the cross. We surrender our lives at his feet to enjoy ourselves being instruments for his glory.

At the shadows running away from the sun

Myrnaly

Summer has arrived! Here in Puerto Rico, we have experienced extremely hot days. Around the island, the heat indexes have spiked over 100 degrees.

In the midst of that heat, and the protocols of the COVID pandemic, my husband and I went out to get some boxes for some Father’s Day gifts. Due to the social distancing that now governs all the places where people can gather, we had to queue outside the building where we planned to buy the boxes.

But the waiting line at the side of the building was well shaded. It was a refuge to run away from the hot sun that was being felt, brought relief and we could even wait in line calmly without the rush to get out of there. At least throughout the afternoon, that shading would be refreshing everyone who lined up there.

I like the verse I shared in the first photo because the Bible tells us about the protection we have under the shadow of God. That shadow that brought me relief would last an afternoon there, but God’s favor and protection last forever.

Life brings us to all situations that can overwhelm and exhaust us, as does the heat of the sun. But the blessing of being God’s children gives us relief, keeps us so we can enjoy God’s undeserved faithfulness to us. It is always a reason for devotion to contemplate the love of God and that He remains faithful even when we are not.

This sin-corrupted world brings anxiety into our lives, showing us how fragile we are, and how little control we have of external circumstances.

This year has been difficult in Puerto Rico due to the tremors and earthquakes, the pandemic, and the corruption situations of our government. But, in all these things we are more than conquerors and today we are witnesses of the power and the provision of God, even in difficult times, where the logic of what is expected does not agree with the fulfilled promises of God.

Enjoy under the shadow of the Highest the abundant life that Jesus Christ won for you on the cross. The Lord is always around, we are the ones who turn away from Him.

Feed your spirit with the water that jumps for eternal life and the Bread of Life so you can enjoy the good things of summer in your life.

Let us pray to the Lord giving glory to his name for his faithfulness. May we remember each morning his blessings and may the Holy Spirit help us to cover ourselves under his grace and care at all times in our lives.

Healing in times of pandemic

Myrnaly

Plastic face shields are in popularity as a protective measure against the Covid-19 virus. Because of my medical technology profession, I had used them before.

The idea is that it protects your eyes, nose, and mouth, which are places with mucosa, vulnerable to the entry of the virus, and an easy contagion. The face protection acts as a shield and although we are in the presence of the virus, we do not give it access to our interior.

Emotional wounds make us vulnerable to any situation. When we have not healed from past experiences, any comments, attacks, and offenses come to touch our wounded heart. Wounds that have not been worked and healed, carry negative things inside us that lead us to isolate ourselves or get depressed. We change to be toxic people.

We know that in this world, sin has brought evil and selfishness to the human being. We have all received a rejection, suffering, betrayal, criticism, and emotional damage from many people, but above all, we care about those that come from those we love.

God wants to free us from those wounds so that we live with joy and peace. He knows you, He sees you, He listens to you and wants to heal you. When you are emotionally healthy, the attacks will keep coming, but you’ll have a shield that stops them without breaking you.

The more we know the holiness of God and that his salvation and everything he has given us is totally undeserved and only by his grace and mercy, the more we can understand that we must leave everything in his hands and that in this world, everything will fail us at some point, as we fail others in the same way that we fail God.

His Word guides us to abundant life and prayer reveals where we need to heal, and helps us deliver all that burden to transform it into life and joy.

You can be healthy in the middle of a pandemic.

Let us pray to the Lord giving thanks for his goodness for our lives and that he shows us where we need to heal, and that he takes us by the hand in the process to live to please him in everything.