Nina of the Philippines

Greetings in the Lord!

Today I will share my first 'God encounter' while in Manila. Before I left to come here, the Lord put on my heart to "Go to the churches." So, in keeping with that directive, I decided to visit the main cathedral close to my guesthouse after dinner. The Lord also said for me to take my Bible with me everywhere I went, and at dinner had me open to Ezekiel 3:20-21:
"Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die...the righteous things he did will not be remembered...But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning..."

When I got to the church there was a children's service (mass) going on, which I found out was also an outreach program to teach the poor children of the area English along with their parents. The group happily invited me to join in, and when they asked me to talk to the kids, the Lord put on my heart to tell them how blessed they were and how much He loves and cares for them; that they were special in His eyes and that they could trust God. The whole group was happy to hear His words of encouragement and invited me back next week.

Afterwards, a young Filipino woman, a guest like me, started talking to me. She said she felt "led to the service," and did not know why, but was troubled and wanted some peace. When we sat for a juice at a cafe, it was apparent that the word from Ezekiel was for her. While she had loved the Lord from her childhood and always tried to do the right thing, she said she was feeling tested lately---a temptation to 'be the other woman,' so to speak, with a married man. That temptation is very strong here in the Phillipines, because people are poor here and they can receive financial support, etc. from being in a relationship like this. However, I shared with her the word the Lord had given me from Ezekiel, encouraging her to make a godly decision and wait for the Lord to give her a righteous man of her own. The word actually comforted her, knowing that God does care about her and will bless her for making a good choice. Throughout our conversation it was also obvious that the Lord has a wonderful future planned for her; that she was to be used in a mighty way in the Philippines. One of the desires of her heart, she said, was to "go to the villages and teach them about Jesus." Praise the Lord! By the way, I also found out that "Nina" means 'godmother' or 'grandmother.' Yesterday I met a "Nina" while walking in the street and she gave me her cell number to meet for lunch, and also with this young woman, it was her grandmother that taught her to love the Lord like she does. Praise God for all the "Ninas" of the Phillipines who have been prayerfully interceding in the lives of their grandkids and godchildren.

~Be blessed and be a blessing.

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