Author: Jocelyn Soriano

See her books like "Questions to God", "Mend My Broken Heart", "To Love an Invisible God", "Defending My Catholic Faith", "Of Waves and Butterflies: Poems on Grief" and more - click here.

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Categories
Self-Development

Risk and Moving Mountains

One thing I’ve learned in being an auditor is the ability to quickly assess the risks that exists and the possible means by which to eradicate or mitigate them. Give me a situation and in less than five seconds, I can start enumerating the risks involved. Give me 30 seconds and I may even be able to classify those risks according to likelihood of happening or the materiality of the consequences possible. Very handy skill, isn’t it? Could save you millions right? Right. Could make you lose millions, right? Right as well!You ask how that could happen? Here’s a simple illustration. If you are to go into a business with only a one percent chance of clicking and you plan on investing your hard earned money all in that basket, you can definitely thank me when I tell you that slim, almost nil percentage of success, and save you from losing all of your money. On the other hand, if you could’ve actually made it among that one percent who succeed, then you can also blame me for scaring you so much and making you lose such a great opportunity.

But of course, you would never have known that unless you risked it. And had you risked it and profited among that one percent, you’d have been so happy you won’t blame anyone anymore. You’d just thank yourself for following your instincts instead of following statistics.

What I’m saying is this: there are very real risks that we should be aware of, but then there are some things which we can make real despite of all the risks involved!

Stated in another way, follow statistics if you want to play it safe, if you just want to take a chance, if you don’t have the tenacity and the willpower to push yourself beyond what you’ve always done and accomplished. If you don’t think miracles can’t happen anymore, if you find it difficult to follow a different drummer, by all means see the risks before you and get out of their way.

But if you feel deep down in your heart that this is what you really wanted to do, and if you believe you will do everything within your power to reach it, with a burning desire to accomplish all that you have set out to do, if you really believe you can move mountains, then I salute you and give you my utmost respect.

You are one of the few who can make things happen. You belong to that one percent of people the other 99 percent should be wary of. Because if you ever get in their way, the tables of possibilities would’ve already been turned. Chances are that it is the 99 who would give way for you, for the one who knows definitely, and believes whole heartedly where he is going.

Faith works like that. Faith sees the way despite the many obstacles that others see. Faith is certain. Its voice is calm and sure, confident that the things it perceives will happen and become a reality.

Risks may tell you how difficult a path to be taken will be, but it is only faith that will get you across to where your heart desires to go. No mountain can ever stop you, for by faith even the waters of the sea can be parted, and even the mountains that stand in the way can be moved!

Categories
Spirituality

IS THERE A GOD?

Is there a God? And if there is, why do I believe Him to exist? Frankly, this question can easily be answered by another question at the back of my mind, and that question is: WHY NOT?Why shouldn’t I believe in God? After all, we are all gods, as Jesus Himself said.

Each of us is capable of great things, things that confirm our Divine heritage – things of beauty, things of wonder, things of great power, things that allow us to claim eternity for the few moments we are able to live our lives to the full. We inherited the earth and everything that’s in it, we have the future of this planet in the palm of our hands, we command the destiny of the the birds of the air, the beasts of the land and the creatures of the sea. We even have the moon and the bodies of the sky within our reach. Aren’t you a god then in your own right? And if you are, in whose image were you made from? From whose flame did your dazzling spark come from? From what essence is a god made of but things that are of God? In truth our first problem comes from our disbelief, for we are unable to see our own beauty, for we are unable to see the God that lives in each and everyone of us.

I believe in God firstly, because I am of Him, a soul that lives from His very breath.

I believe in Him secondly, because I see Him in each and every human being that lives like me, seeing Him better in those people that I love and will always cherrish for as far as the breath that dwells in me shall fill the air and roam the earth. I believe in love. I believe in the meaning it gives our purposeless lives. I believe it enables me to become the best I can ever be.

I believe in God secondly because I love and I believe in love.

I believe in God thirdly because He gives me the wisdom to understand things better, a wisdom that does not limit me, but that allows me to ponder the mysteries of this vast universe where He is. He saves me from the hell of boredom, from that awful feeling that nothing interests me anymore, that nothing gives off new light anymore, that life itself stops from flowing and creating and recreating endlessly like the universe that forms the stars , and forms them over and over again. He teaches me things I do not know yet, even the things which my limited knowledge cannot yet comprehend. He humbles me enough to know I do not know everything yet, but He also empowers me to believe there is really nothing I cannot grasp if only I would passionately seek for the truth I am looking for.

I believe in Him thirdly because He enriches me and frees me from the box I would’ve lived had I not believed. For in truth, at times it is only when we believe that we ever begin to understand.

But in all these things, I believe Him most because He had always been there for me, to comfort me and to guide me, to give me hope and strength and peace when I can no longer carry on. I am fragile. I am not as equipped as those that seem fittest to survive. I get hurt and broken. But I get healed and comforted. God completes me in ways that I can never complete myself. God shows me a way even when there seems to be no way. God helps me to see I can accomplish anything if only I can believe.

Many people seem to ask the wrong question asking, “If there is a God, then why is there suffering in this world?” God is not the cause of our suffering, God isn’t finished yet in what He’s doing. And in truth, it is for the reason that there is suffering in this world that I dare proclaim there is a God. A God who can help us. A God who can help us help those who need to find their way into the light.

I believe in God for reasons I cannot deny even if I wanted to. For I cannot be untrue to myself, and I cannot deny Him to myself. I cannot deny Him to the world that is badly in need of a God.

Categories
Self-Development

Feeling sad amongst a joyous crowd

Have you ever felt lonely amongst a joyous crowd? Have you ever attended a lively party feeling down within, almost sinking in that sad little corner where nobody even notices you?

I’ve attended one such party during my college days. There were games, food, music and everything else a party has to have, except my heart it seems, which doesn’t really belong there. I remember one game where a team had to guess the name of the person by looking at the drawings of their teammate. When they had to draw something to describe me, they drew a book, and there was an immediate correct answer – me!

It was supposed to be a compliment, but somehow, I felt rather frustrated. How I wished I were known by other things: by a song perhaps, or by a fancy hairdo, or by a big heart and a nice sweet smile. I guess I didn’t want to die someday and be remembered only as the one who topped her class in academics. I wanted to be remembered as a real person, someone that mattered, someone that made a difference in another person’s life.

But in that party, I felt as though I didn’t matter at all. I could have just stayed in a corner all through the party, and the party could’ve just went on fine, lacking nothing whatsoever.

Maybe nobody noticed what’s going on inside me. Maybe they were too caught up in their fun. Or maybe I lacked the skill to participate, and I didn’t give myself the chance to belong.

All I’m certain of was that it’s been one awful time for me, and it took me many years to have the confidence to join, to play, and to dance again.

I really can’t remember now what helped me overcome that kind of social awkwardness. Maybe I got to be more confident in the person I truly am. Maybe I know my worth better now, that I am not just the books I read nor the grades that I make.

Maybe too, I got to know people better, and I got to know people who believed in me and saw the beautiful things in me. Maybe I got to know people whose warm acceptance made me feel okey to make mistakes, even to act like a fool sometimes.

The world is full of joyous parties, but in many of them, there are lonely hearts unnoticed, sitting in a corner, wishing to go home and cry to their pillows that seem to hear their cries better than most people do.

If you are one of those people, know that it’s alright to go home sometimes rather than mingle with those who do not understand what you’re going through. You can’t pretend you’re happy just because you’re there. Pray instead and find healing, go where you can be understood, and then go back when you can face the world with a true smile shining from your heart.

But if you are one of those who really enjoy the party, if you’re one of those having the greatest time of your life, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to look once in a while at that sad little corner. You may just find someone trying to reach out but is unable to. You may just make another person smile, and in so doing, find your dances more enjoyable, your happiness more complete.

Categories
Healing

How do you save someone who is lost in the dark?

how do you save someone lost in dark 2012Someone groans in the darkness. Someone cries endlessly and writhes in terrible pain. Someone wants to find her way out of the pit she’s sunk into, but she’s frozen in fear and does not know the way. How do you save her? How do you bring her into the light? Shall you shout unto her and tell her she’s got to get up and try to find her way out? Shall you direct her shaking knees to go to the left, to the right, make a u-turn, crawl under, jump, tread the narrow and winding path that lies before her?

Shall you encourage her how wonderful it is to bask in the light? Or shall you tell her stories of people who made it through the difficult path she’s going through?

Shall you tell her to group with the hopeless man nearby? Shall you tell them to lead each other out of the pit they’re both in?

You must have guessed it. There is no other way but to go into the darkness where she is and lead her back into the light!

No, it’s not an easy thing, never will be. But if we are to truly desire to share the happiness we have where we are, we must be willing to leave it for a while so we can accompany those who do not know their way.

Are they in poverty? Then you must be willing to eat the bread of the poor. Are they in prison? Then you must be willing to sleep where homeless men dwell. Are they weeping? Then you must be willing to have your heart broken, so you may understand, and so you may not judge where their tears are coming from.

But make certain also that you bring enough light with you; otherwise, you will both be stranded in the darkness.

Bring as much light as you can, as much joy in your heart as you can possibly save. For it will usually be a long journey, and you do not want your light to be swallowed up by the deep darkness that will surround you.

Be prepared for opposition, especially from the one you’re trying to help. Change is never an easy thing, and fear is probably the greatest enemy to overcome.

Keep the vision of your home always fresh upon your memory. Do not forget who you are, where you came from, and for what you have set forth to accomplish. Otherwise, the people around you, who do not know of it may convince you that the darkness you see is all that’s ever existed.

Such is the way to rescue someone who is lost, and such is the way each and every one of us have all been saved.

For God Himself stripped His Glory and Divinity, becoming flesh and man like us, that He may bring upon this dark and lonely world an inextinguishable flame of hope, and life beyond everything we’ve ever hoped to have.

I have never heard of any other God who would do the same so He can save His people, who would do the only thing possible to bring them all into the Light, which they do not know.

And yet that was what He did. He knew hunger for us. He knew how it was to be tempted. He laughed, He got angry, He wept. He was judged, and mocked and betrayed. He knew how it was like to be deserted by all of His friends in His darkest and most painful hour. He even knew how it was like to die. He who is Life itself, has hung upon the cross until His very last breath had been taken away from Him.

All these He did that we may understand and believe, and that we may know what we should pray for. Heaven is so far above us that we could not possibly figure it out no matter how hard we try. We needed to witness the truth right before our very eyes. We needed to be healed so we may know wholeness. We needed to be truly loved so we can give true love away.

How do you save someone who’s lost in the dark? Take a very good look at the cross today, you may just realize what it really takes.

This article was was written by Jocelyn Soriano at http://itakeoffthemask.com You are free to republish this post in your website or email as long as proper recognition is given to the author and a link back to the site ITAKEOFFTHEMASK.COM is provided.

Categories
Best Life Quotes

Time Wasters for Bloggers

Sometimes we’re guilty of wasting our time in the internet no matter how much we desire to make the most of our time and blog about topics that help and inspire our readers. In view of that, I’ve written an article about activities that most commonly waste a blogger’s time in my new website. Read more about Time Wasters for Bloggers