The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
--Matthew 28:5-6

I love the Easter season!

No matter how far I feel from God, Easter is always the perfect time to come back to Him & rededicate my life to Him. Reflecting on such a huge sacrifice always humbles me, and reminds me who is really in control. I am always reminded that, no matter how fast life moves sometimes, God will always be there. No matter how much I may stray from His word, I remember what He did for me, and for all of the world. He loves us unconditionally and gave His life for His flock. His resurrection brings the hope of tomorrow, and the forgiveness of sin for all mankind. What greater gift could we receive than the gift of an eternity with the Lord?


Happy Easter to you and your families. May you all be blessed! :)

The Last Lecture

Take a look, and tell me what you think! :)
<3

Why does God Allow Cancer?

I asked this question two days ago.. and I think this is a great explanation.
Sorry it's such a long one, but I felt it was important.

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My fears mounted as each day passed with yet another set of tests declaring that the cancer is still present. Relatives I hadn't seen for years began parading into my hospital room. They're expressions reflected concern mixed with deathbed goodbyes.

The whole time this was happening to me I just kept thinking, why me? Why did God allow cancer to hold me for ransom? What am I suppose to be learning from all of this pain I am suffering from this disease?

Have you ever felt like your life was perfect one moment and then all of sudden everything changed. You thought your existence couldn't get any better and suddenly something terrible happened. A pain began very small and grew until your whole body cried out in torment.

Running to the doctor, your worse fear was revealed, the big C had cast a web over your life. Cancer had metastasized and the doctor's only plan of attack was immediate surgery followed by months of chemotherapy.

As each day passed and weeks turned into months your once healthy body now was scarred from numerous surgeries. You were swollen and your skin color no longer radiated with its once perfect tropical tan. You look back at how your life use to be and you're astonished at how quickly everything can change.

As you drift in and out of consciousness from your numerous chemo treatments, your mind begins a quest of understanding why me? You were living a good life with a great job. You had a family and sometimes you even went to church. Why do I have cancer? I never harmed or took advantage of anyone! Why am I being punished? Why is God doing this to me? I am a good person!

Romans 8: 28-30, "We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose. Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many brothers. And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them."

Literally thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer every year. They all go through multiple stages of grief that begin with why me? Those with faith, question God's purpose for making them endure the big C. Others, who have never established faith, begin looking for answers from those who are Christians.

First of all, God did not create cancer! He did not single you out to punish you because of sin in your life. God loves people! Cancer is a result of people falling prey to an evil world.
Look at our present day world! There are injustices everywhere. Sickness and death are wide spread. War and famine are a common reported issue on the world wide news. Nothing about our world is perfect. In order to understand why cancer has grabbed you unaware and held you captive to its torments, you must understand our world. The only way to understand this world is to allow what cannot be seen into your life.

Believing in God is a must in order to survive an imperfect world. You must have faith in what you cannot see in order to understand your present life situation. In the beginning God created a perfect world. But when Satan tempted Adam and Eve with the ability to understand; everything changed!

In order to determine the difference between right and wrong you must be given examples. All sicknesses are evil. All wars are fought not for freedom and justice but for greed and power. Most murders are committed from rage. In order to make just decisions and gain wisdom we must have small to extreme examples for our own judgments of what is right and what is wrong.

We live in a corrupt, evil world that is governed by Satan. An unseen world of spirits come in and influence our thinking. A spiritual world that challenges our belief systems through the experiences we go through in our lives for either good or bad.

While Satan is the great deceiver and the corrupter of the world, God has provided the Holy Spirit to come in and help us when we face uncertain times. This is the reason we must have God in our lives. God takes the pain of cancer and helps us to live moment by moment. He makes us an example of what God can do when we allow Him to work in our present situation.

Sometimes it is God's choice for us to be healed and sometimes it is His will for us to die for Him. All things work together for good when God is in control. But when we believe only in this corrupt world then we only have doctors to pull us through our illnesses.

Having God gives us strength and perseverance, while following the world leads us down paths of blame and hate. Think about the life of Jesus. He did nothing but good for people. He healed the sick and cast out demon spirits who tormented the thoughts of people. Yet no matter how much good He did in His life He was still crucified.

In order to become like Jesus we must understand that suffering is a part of this world. Satan wants to destroy people and to get them to let go of their faith in God. God wants us to surrender our lives to Him and trust that no matter what happens He will be there for us.

Romans 8: 31-33 "In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son-will he not also freely give us all things? Who will accuse God's chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty!"

I cringe every time I watch a television program that deals with cancer or death and the first thing that comes out of the mouths of the actors or actresses are why did God do this? God is not evil. God loves people so much that He showed us through the sacrificial death of Jesus what it will take to fight for understanding in this world. In order to understand good; we must have the example of evil.

Jesus came so we would have the Holy Spirit in our lives. A good Spirit that tells us the truth about our present situation. A Holy Spirit that is our guide so that in everything we go through we might gain understanding through our ability to believe that God can and will help us no matter what cancer might do to destroy our lives.

To have faith in God is to equip us with the ability to fight against cancer. God is our strength. Prayer is our ability to communicate to God freely without hesitation. The Holy Spirit gives us the supernatural power to bring cancer to its knees. The Bible gives us hope and directs us to have faith that God will never let us down or abandon us when it seems that we have lost our health forever.

Why does God allow cancer? God hates cancer! Cancer is the result of Satan's power to hurt people in the world. God is ready and able to help us fight. Even if the fight leads us to death, God promises us that He will reward us in Heaven for the pain we have endured. We are His Christian soldiers. Soldiers who fight against Satan and this evil world.

God takes the evil of cancer and He shows how our determination through everything we suffer is an example to others what God can do in our lives even when the prognoses is bad. God changes the lives of our friends and family when they see that we will not let go of our faith no matter what happens to us.

God takes what Satan did to us and shouts to the world that we did nothing wrong. We did not sin and we are not guilty! He takes the evil of cancer and makes us an example to others of what you can do when you have faith in God.

Romans 8: 34-39, "Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us! Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death? As the scripture says, 'For your sake we are in danger of death at all times; we are treated like sheep that are going to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below-there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord."

We live in a world where we will learn the difference between right and wrong. Cancer is evil. God is good. With God's help we can bring cancer to it's knees and show Satan that even if it means death we will not let go of our faith in God! Sometimes, death is the only way to avoid Satan's wrath. Regardless, God has nothing but love for us, and when we go to Him, He is not going to stand there with His arms folded. He will open up His arms and embrace the child that has come to Him.

God bless everyone here.

In memory of Elsa "Tita" Villar
January 31, 1962 - March 3, 2008

Tita...

I have a hard time figuring out why God does what He does sometimes.


Gabriel's brother's godmother (got it?) passed away this morning. She had been battling cervical cancer for a good while. I think the hardest thing about her loss is the fact that her daughter is getting married in two months- to said godson. How often does somebody get to say that their daughter married their godson? That's just an amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But I know that she'll be there that day... just in a different form.

I know she's in a better place, and I know that she is better off, but I can't help but remember her and her bubbly and spunky personality.

I wish everyone would meet someone as special as her in their lifetime. She was so full of life. She was always happy and always having fun. New Year's parties were legendary at her house, and that house was always full of laughs, good times and an enormous family.


I spent the entire day at the hospital with Gabriel's family and her family. And to tell you the truth, there's nowhere else I would have rather been. There were people literally packed in her room, spilling out into the hallway. She touched those lives and so many others in her 46 years. I was honored to have known her.

Today has been just surreal. I would have never imagined two years ago when we went to New York that a little more than two years later, she would be gone. I keep on thinking that this is all just a dream. But I remember every detail of it. I remember the first time Gabriel told me that she might have found a cyst, and thinking that she would overcome it. I can't believe this is happening....I don't know why God takes such good people from us, or why He would let such a young person suffer as much as she did. I have been asking Him that question all day long. But I know that, even though it looks bleak right now, God has a plan. And this just happens to be a part of a bigger picture. I have to remind myself of that. Something good will come out of this.


In the meanwhile, please pray for Elsa Villar and her family. And get yourself checked. Early detection really does save lives.

Get informed about cancer research & prevention.
Susan G. Komen Foundation
Liga Contra el Cancer/ League Against Cancer
American Cancer Society
National Cervical Cancer Coalition