JUST ANOTHER LETTER to​ YOU from me.

There was a shift in me when I truly and finally realized that my life will never ever be stable, from the world’s perspective anyway. And I cry as I write this, it’s beautiful. When I said YES to my Jesus, it wasn’t a YES to a stable perfect human life, where everything is sunshine and rainbows. I said YES to loving Him and people. I said YES to building His Kingdom and making His name known, and that means endless not knowing of what will happen next. Except that I know WHO is still in control, and WHO is always with me. That He will always, always LOVE me, no matter what. That He’s got me, every step of the way. This life I get to live doesn’t have a straight path, but it’s all curved and narrow, and it’s impossible to journey if I do it by myself. It requires endless trusting in God. And when I think I have trusted Him to my best ability, He shakes the ground once again until I lean on Him and depend on His strength.
Oh, I’m sure there will be moments coming again that I will forget for a second and throw a tantrum here or there, but I know I’m sure it will always be a YES for me for Him.
What’s my point in all these then? Just that, don’t expect this life to be perfect. Not in this side of eternity. Not yet my beloved beautiful sisters. But don’t ever think you are alone, because you are not. You are never NEVER alone! You have God on your side, you have millions of sisters all around the world fighting the same battle as you. You are a warrior queen called to be different and be a light to your part of the world. You matter, and your choices and steps matter to God, and to the bigger picture. Never assume you are nothing because that is not true. He loves you very much, and I do too! We do! No matter if we know each other personally or not.
Love you, and keep on keeping on! See you in 2020?
Xx,
jenna

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The Good Place.

Watching the “Good Place” tv series made realize how hard it is to be a good person these days. At one point in Season 2(?), they mentioned the point system they followed to determine if you go to the Good place or the Bad place. One hundred years ago, it was probably easier to do a good deed THAN now. For example, if you buy a shirt to give to someone, before it would be pretty straightforward, that’s a good gesture, plus points! Now, if we buy a piece of clothing to give to someone, we have to consider- who made the shirt and what are they made of? Are the workers of the factory that made them well paid and had good working environment? What are the clothes made of? Were they made of materials that were harmful to the planet? So, if you gifted someone some clothes, that’s a good gesture, but because you unknowingly bought clothes made from a slave trade factory, and it’s made of bad materials, you end up losing points than gain points! Crazy!
I know the Good Place is just a fiction tv series, but the topics they raise up are valid and important to consider. They hide behind the façade of good comedy, but it resonates deep to what the society in general must consider.
Ethics aside, it made me reflect and say “Jesus really came at the right time 2000 years ago”. Lol. What do I mean about that? Well, for sure if He lived in the present, He will still live the perfect life. It was just less complicated before, when you think of ethics. It made me realize again when Jesus said that we will do more miracles than He did. And I think with that, we will do more things as His Church, while He works with us from beside the Father. (insert verse)
PS. The Good Place season 4 (last season! Huhu) is currently playing on Netflix. And NO, this is not an ad.

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life talks thoughts

Dating apps has been a subject of talk around my peers in the past months (when you’re in your 20’s/30’s amIright?! Lol), then I realized something… A friend was sharing of a friend who’s been dating a lot for the past three or so years through dating apps, and she still hasn’t found anyone to […]
There was a shift in me when I truly and finally realized that my life will never ever be stable, from the world’s perspective anyway. And I cry as I write this, it’s beautiful. When I said YES to my Jesus, it wasn’t a YES to a stable perfect human life, where everything is sunshine […]
Isaiah 6:3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” I used to think Heaven would be boring. When I read the Bible, it says we would worship God forever. My 14-year old self was not excited about that. (haha!) Well, […]
“The minute you willingly lowered yourself for someone else, they would never, ever look at you the same way.” I read that line from a novel I was reading. It was not a life-changing type of book, it was a passing time kind of romance novel. Yet, however, my God still speaks to me through […]
One of the unhealthiest things in our faith is when you process your thoughts and doubts about God publicly. I think there is something valuable in speaking our thoughts with people we trust who can listen to us without judgment. And allow them to speak over us with love and truth. Grace and truth. Grace […]
Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG) “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy […]
Romans 8:37 (NIV) “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Back in the glory days of Rome, a “Roman triumph” was a parade of celebration by the victorious military commander. Let’s bring that concept into this verse and picture this: You drive into the city, head held high […]
Lies. “An arrow of venom pierced my heart. This is why humans invented lies, I thought. No other animal in nature lies. The truth is ruthless. It cuts you open, shoving your face into the mud. It forces you to look reality in the eye and deal with it. To feel the real weight of […]
Why must we romanticize everything we experience? I know that is not accurate for every person in the world. We are after all, made of different seeds and hues. I am talking of myself. Perhaps, without the risk of sounding immature, when we are kind, hopeful, and positive in aspects that matter, we do have […]
Beginning of last year (2018), I was compelled to challenge myself to a ‘Less is More’ mission. One year is done, I made it you guys! I moved to a new flat, have my own bedroom (hallelujah! as it’s impossible to pay for something cheap when you live in Sydney). Apart from buying a […]

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Personal Diaries #1

Once there was a girl who was given by a promise by her Creator.
It was unlimited. Unexpected. Unwarranted.
It caught her by surprise.
She did not want any of that nor anything to do with it.
But she had said YES. And with her big YES came further yesses.
Every step was laden with a burden. Heavy. Exhausting.
She did not want any of that nor anything to do with it.
But she had said YES. And with her big YES came further yesses.
A promise is a promise.
His word completes its purpose.
Question after question.
Answer after answer.
Demand and supply.
Trust and Fall.
Faith and Perseverance.
Sweat beads on her head.
Blood pumps wildly in her heart.
Peace surrounds her being.
Be still, He says.
You are a conqueror. More than a conqueror.
You are a warrior.
I am Your shield.
I will fight for you.
We will fight together, side by side.
Look at me, He says.
Never look away from My eyes, my Darling.
You are precious to me, He says.
Your glances and belief in me please me greatly.
Dare not remove your eyes from me and
Peace shall surround you.
Blessings shall abound in you.
I will be MORE in you.
Do you believe me now? He asks.
I believe you, I answer.
Always and Forever.
Jesus, you are.

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12 AM’s

Honestly tell me, please. What is it about 12 midnight or 3 AM early mornings that aspire creative writing out of me? I woke up at 3 AM yesterday, slept in the afternoon, and wide awake right now at the said time 12 MN, and feeling like writing. I am probably just writing words and words, describing my current thoughts. I’m quite good at that, journaling whatever stuff I have done for the day or the week or the past month. Letting my words flow out of me and pretending yes I am creative. I was just watching this book made to a series on Netflix, and there’s a lot of psychoanalyzing happening over there. Piques my interest so much. This is the generation I am a part of. Sometimes I embrace it, sometimes I abhor it. But nevertheless, I am more grateful than discontent. I’m thinking of a modern plumbing system and clean water. I guess genuine hygiene is more important to me than high distinctive intellect. ha!
Thinking about creative writing now, I really just want to actually finish writing a book, not just major plot lines. Not having time is not an excuse at the moment, since classes haven’t started yet. Here’s to me trying to do that this week and hopefully finish even a chapter or two.
Get back to me in a week or two, will ya?
xoxo
jenna

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26th | late post + giveaway(ENDED)|

Hey there guys! Last 3rd of December I celebrated my 26th birthday (yay!). Not that anyone else here would be interested in that, haha! I just thought why not share the things I’ve done that day, while I’m here…
4:30 am: watched the sunrise over at Bondi Beach, Sydney.
yep. I get to live here. So so so blessed.
woke up at 4:30am for this. so worth it.
(shout out to my friend Cherry who took the above pictures. she’s good!)
then I ate this for breakfast. Just looking at the picture below makes me feel hungry. Weirdly enough, I feel like I can still taste them in my mouth. Yum yum! (it’s vegan and healthy but very yummy!)
went home to hopefully sleep some more, but of course I couldn’t go back to sleep!
Went to the city in the afternoon with a friend, had a full spa experience- full body massage, foot spa, mani pedi.
Got home to some gifts from very wonderful friends.. Like this beautiful bouquet of flowers!!!
Went to Church for a Saturday night service. Nothing better than to be at the Lord’s House on your birthday!
Dinner at Criniti’s at Darling Harbour after church, with some of my closest friends.
this is us watching a street show… Sydney is full of them, it’s wonderful!
I had veggie penne pesto, sooo soooo GOOOD!!!!
God has blessed me with really beautiful (inside and out) girl friends! They’re family too.
oh there we go, officially 26!
(my jumpsuit and heels are both from Topshop, in case you were curious! I love them.)
If you’re still here reading this, well done you! Thanks for sticking out! This post was a little bit self-centered, it is my birthday anyway.
To compensate, I’m doing a little giveaway!
What is up for grabs:
All you have to do is enter HERE:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
WINNER ALREADY PICKED. THANKS FOR THOSE WHO JOINED!

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Thoughts on Tuesdays

God has this elusive way of making you like someone you don’t really like. It’s amazing how He does it with me. Okay so you won’t get confused with how random that thought just came right at you, let me give you a bit of a background about me. I am the kind […]
This is a weekly meme here on my blog featuring stuffs basically anything under the sun Covering Books There are over 7 billion people in the world today. Different classes, different hobbies, basically everyone’s different. And among the readers out there (as I’m sure there are millions of us who are avid readers), […]
This is a weekly meme here on my blog featuring stuffs basically anything under the sun EBOOKS VS. PAPERBACK I am not entirely sure if this topic is an ongoing debate, like “which comes first,the chicken or the egg?”. That aside, I would just like to share to you my opinion on this subject. […]
This is a weekly meme here on my blog featuring stuffs basically anything under the sun I just saw these awesome book trailers and I thought would share it with you. The first time I learned that publishers do book trailers (early last year), I was really shocked. Then when I saw lots of […]
This is a weekly meme here on my blog featuring stuffs basically anything under the sun Dystopian Love Now, I really don’t know when the dystopian YA genre started, or became popular. But for me, the first dystopian novel I’ve read was Matched by Allie Condie last January 2011. Even if the Hunger […]
Thoughts on Tuesdays is a meme here on my blog that I thought of making. I’ll post anything under the sun. This week I will talk about Book Expo America 2012, and my excitement about it! Even though I live in the Philippines which is very much far away from New York, but when I […]
Thoughts on Tuesdays is a meme here on my blog that I thought of making. I’ll post anything under the sun. So please bear with my craziness and randomness here. Thank you! Endlessly increasing Never decreasing TBR File Is it just me or is my to-be-read (TBR) file keeps on growing […]

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Alone time

Walking down the city streets, There’s something about seeing dads hold their little girls that makes my chest tight. Slowly, I feel my heart starting to quench and grow heavy with every breath I take. Almost five years now, but the pain of missing him still lingers in my soul and I feel it in my body… This is one of the three days in the year when I particularly feel this same way I did five years ago. Today is Father’s day. Five years down the track of life and so much in me has changed, so much in my family has changed, so much of the world has changed… I sit here in a lone cafe amongst the semi-busy alley in the city, people and family walking past and here I am, by myself, which ironically I find comforting. I love and thrive in it. It’s very seldom these days that I find myself alone. I take in and enjoy each and every moment of this because it will be a rarity to have it one day. Soon, I feel it in my soul, my Lord speaks to my spirit, I will have my own family, and alone time will seem like a luxury. So while my future luxury is still now an affordable and possible commodity, I shall then enjoy it.
It helps that this coffee is not bad, not bad at all.

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