So much has happened in the past few months and I haven’t been able to write as much as I wanted to. But thank God, I’m writing again and I’ll be posting great stuff in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I’m super happy and excited to share with you a guest post from my good friend, Genriel. I interviewed Gen for a feature back in November 2016. I remember being so amazed at how much I was learning from this young man. I saw so much energy, so much passion for serving Christ, and it was absolutely inspiring. We’ve just finished Midyear Prayer and Fasting and this post is a timely reminder that as we look forward to answered prayers, revelations, and direction from God, we need to wait with humble, hopeful, faithful, and obedient hearts. Read on and do check out Gen’s blog for more encouraging stuff. 😊

“GOD WHERE ARE YOU?”

Have you ever come to a point where you feel like you’re lost?

I don’t get easily lost on the road. Hand me a map, then I’ll show you the way and I’ll guide you. I can confidently travel on my own with the right map or set of instructions. I have a sense of direction. Or so I thought.

The Unexpected Journey

Four months ago, on March 25, 2018, Sunday, I needed to go to SM Novaliches. It was a special day for me because that was the first time I’ll be meeting Helen’s (my girlfriend / best friend) mom and at that time we were still in courtship. I had to be there at exactly 11AM to attend the Sunday service with them. I asked for directions on how to get there from Malolos (where I live) from my Lola (grandmother) who travels there often. She said I had to ride 4 jeepneys to get there. I learned how to get there and I was confident enough to go on my own. The night before, I prepared the things I needed to bring, clothes to wear, and then got a good night’s sleep.

The unexpected journey started when I woke up one hour late to my set alarm, so I panicked a little, but I told myself, “OK, I’ll trust God.” I prepared, went on my way to my first jeepney ride going to Meycauayan terminal. That was 8AM. I think it took 15 mins or less going to the terminal. Everything seemed to be good, the weather was fine, not too hot, the traffic in Malolos was also light, the people were smiling, it’s a good day! “I told you it’ll be ok, only trust God.”

Almost as soon as I got to the terminal, a bad sign appeared to me. There were only a few people onboard, which means, I needed to wait for the jeepney to be full (or at least half full) for us to leave. I kid you not, I waited one hour for us to depart. As far as time is concerned, I knew that our trip will be fast. That’s what I thought. Because we left with the jeepney being only half-full, we traveled 20-30 km/h, the driver hoping that there would be passengers along the road. I started to become more irritable, so I began to read my Bible — that’s what I do when I’m frustrated haha. To drive the point home, the scripture that I read was in Psalm 25 (NIV): “In you, LORD my God, I put my trust.” I PUT MY TRUST. You read it right, Gen, put your trust in God.

The moment we arrived in Meycauayan, I got off that jeepney as fast as I could to look for my next ride, which I didn’t know where to find. I had no problem asking questions to strangers, but what I really hate was people giving lazy directions like, “Doon. (There)”, pointing their lips to the direction, or “Diretsyo lang (straight away)”. So that’s what I got, big help. As soon as I saw the third jeepney I had to run aboard as the jeepney was in a rush. I safely got in, paid my ride, and told the driver that I needed to get off at Malinta Extension. I thought I could finally rest, but what happened next was unexpected. The driver forgot to stop at Malinta Extension. To be fair, I also forgot to remind the driver so it was partially my fault. I ended up in somewhere in Balintawak; the driver pointed me to the jeep terminal going back to Malinta, which again took me half an hour. Going back was easy, no traffic, fast, but now I felt uneasy and I didn’t want to commit another mistake.

My next jeepney ride would be from Malinta Extension to Novaliches Bayan. Because I consumed an hour or so in that ride, it was really hot and traffic started getting heavy. I got stuck. I felt frustrated, I felt like I was missing out on something. I started overthinking, I felt pressured because I hate being late, I hate wasting time, and I started questioning God. This was uncomfortable, and painful at the same time. The jeepney was supposed to bring me near SM Novaliches, but because that was my first time, what’s near for me is not actually near for my lola. So I learned that I needed to ride another jeepney to go from where I am to SM Novaliches. So, I asked some strangers again, who made fun of me. They answered me with sarcasm. To cut this long story short, I arrived at my destination at 12nn, an hour late and very much frustrated.

Why do I have to get through this?

I’m smiling now as I write my unexpected journey, but back then I wasn’t. I was frustrated, I was angry. I was murdering people in my mind, I was starting to question God in my life. Why do I have to get through this? Where are you God when I needed you the most? I’m the good guy, why are you punishing me?

Do you have this kind of situations in your life? Even if you know the destination, life makes you wait to get there. You know that you’ll graduate, but you have to wait and endure the process of studying. You know that you’re qualified for that job, but you have to wait for their call. You know that you’ll marry that person, but you have to wait and endure the process of courtship, knowing each other and loving both the positive and negative. You know that you’re called to be a full-time minister, but you have to endure the process, and WAIT. If you are in one of these situations, what will be your response?

Let me share with you the lessons I’ve learned on this unexpected journey.

God wants me to wait for me to learn how to trust Him

God puts you in the position of waiting so that you’ll learn to trust Him. Waiting is where we have no choice but to trust God and surrender our emotions to Him. You give every hope, strength, and plans to Him, even if you’re uncertain of the future. God brought me into places where I’m hopeless, and desperate, and all I have is Him. To trust someone means you know that someone.

We give our complete trust to someone we’ve known for a long time. For me, it’s my mom. I give her my trust because I know I can rely on her. But the trust I gave her was built by time. As I grew up, (age, not height haha) that trust built up because she proved to me that I can trust her. Time gave me the opportunity to know her more and more. And the same goes with our trust in God. Trust develops as we grow closer and closer to Him. As we learn who He is in our lives, our trust and dependence on Him grows.

I need Jesus

As Pastor Leonard Ravenhill said, “You cannot say that ‘Jesus is all I need’, until Jesus is all you have.” We get lost in our lives because we’re too caught up with “I need this”, “I deserve this and that.” And when we hear the word “wait” and we don’t get what we want now, we ask God, “Lord, what’s happening?”. Sometimes, we hate waiting not because of the time it consumes, but the pain it creates in our hearts. But ask yourself, do you need God? Are you desperate for His presence? Know that God allows us to experience waiting so that He can take away everything that hinders us from experiencing the joy He wants us to experience, the joy and delight of having a relationship with Him.

Final thoughts

What is amazing in that journey was that, some of the issues in my heart — that I didn’t know was there — came into the surface. God knows what’s in our hearts, but still He loves us despite of us. God knew that without waiting and testing, we will forever hide it from ourselves and from others, and God doesn’t want that, so He waits patiently for us to see that. He doesn’t want us to carry burdens. He wants you to see what really is in your heart and surrender it. God wants you to see it for yourself, so that our trust and obedience to Him will be pure obedience, an act of full surrender and love. He fully knows you, still He loves you. Learn how to wait.