GGSS

If you're a Filipino, you most likely have encountered the acronym "GGSS" and you know what it stands for (gwapong-gwapo or gandang-ganda sa sarili). But after the happenings in the past weeks, I would like to give it a new meaning:

God's

Grace in

Stretching

Situations

What does it take for us to realize how gracious God is? As for me, my dependence on God's grace gets deeper every time I experience a faith-stretch.

How do we recognize a faith-stretching situation? It is when we, by our human strength and intelligence alone, acknowledge that we could not control the circumstances. God's Sovereignty in our lives is  just unquestionable. My recent faith stretch happened during the concert preparations last night (A Night of Christmas Music). I was given the opportunity to head the logistics team and of course, my favorite task, stage directing. And I almost forgot a minor but time consuming task - program handouts printing. The layout was completed just in the afternoon yesterday and the target number of print outs was 250 (one copy per person). My prayer when we had an hour left for preparations was "Lord, kung ilan na lang po ang matapos dito, I still hope it will bring glory to Your Name". To cut the long story short, we weren't able to produce the expected number of handouts. If God was not gracious, I would have sulked from my inability to complete that task, but He gave me hope and even sustained me for the rest of the concert (together with my annoying swollen left eye, it was truly a God-given pain tolerance). With this I give all the glory to God!

Whenever I am asked to compare myself with an object I always say "rubber band" because the more you stretch a rubber band, the more it improves its elasticity. And you will know the real capacity of a rubber band when you have stretched it to its limits. (A rubber's elasticity increases when heat is applied). In parallel, you will know how much more a person can do if you will stretch him to his limits. In the life of a Christian, there will come many faith-stretching situations. The question is, are you ready and willing to be stretched for the advancement of God's glory?