When I was in my naive grade school years, I used to think that God was some foreign looking man with a beard and two pierced hands pointing to a "burning heart" and beside Him is His "Mama" also with her heart pierced by a "sword" and with such sad eyes.

My experience of God gradually unfolded as years went by and this inward "emptiness" and yearning to
know Him continued to grow inside me.

After my father abruptly left us, my Mom who had seven children to feed and send to school, spent hours crying and praying to these "pictures" for help and provision. It never came.
I remember her emotional anguish for she loved my Dad very much, and we were too young to give her the comfort and support she needed at that time.

Anyway, we survived through sheer human tenacity and cunning, hard work and persistence, and all of us now have good decent lives that our parents can be proud of.

Looking back, I find that through it all there was A God Who helped us and He answered my Mom's prayers. No, He was not the god in the picture, He is The God Who is alive but is not visible -in material things.

He showed us His loving kindness in our daily struggles to pay the college tuition fees, our search for good jobs, our efforts to raise our children decently and have homes for our families. He was and still is- there.

When my husband left me too for reasons that were his choice, I had to pick up my life and stand up for my children. I did not have much time to cry because I had to work. The difference now was I did not pray before pictures of a god idea, I prayed to the real God.

His loving kindness is what I experienced when I started my handicrafts business with only P200 as capital (for ribbons and glue).

Through my business God opened so many doors of opportunity and blessings I never imagined would come to me. Even now, I am in awe of His power and kindness everyday of my life.

My daughter who took up physical therapy in college became a scholar and was at the dean's list throughout her course. My son became Senior Graphic Specialist in his company even though he lacked units in his college degree. My youngest is now in college and we all are able to cover daily costs of living even in this economic crisis.


To top all that, we have never been sick for 25 years, and not one has been hospitalized for any illness. If that is not God's blessing, I do not know what is.

What does God's loving kindness mean? To all who come to Him in truth,
(meaning just be your own messed up self) He promised everlasting kindness.

Kindness is something we give to someone who does not deserve it. But
"loving kindness" does more, God gives out of His great love, and we do not deserve it. Yet He gives, not because we try to be "good" and have earned a
bonus from Him, but we receive His kindness because He IS good.

In my times of trials and pain, one
promise of my God is what I hold on to:

"I will make an everlasting covenant
with them: I will never stop doing good to them." (Jeremiah 32:40)

This verse has been proof of God's loving kindness, and I trust the God Who cannot lie. He is not a god in pictures or carved stones, but if you seek Him, you will find Him, if you seek with all your heart and with all your soul.



Copyright 2008 - Cynthia B. Baello