As I sat on the bus meditating on God's goodness and faithfulness on my way to work, memories came flashing by---
As a student, having been a college classmate and close friend of Mommy Letty's youngest daughter, Maria Leticia (Honey) made me a frequent visitor in the Castillo house in Fairview and eventually an adopted daughter with a new nickname, Ibyang (Eve-yang). I used to join them for lunch every after Sunday Service in church. I loved to listen to her late husband sing "To God be the Glory" with her son's fiancee then, Ellen, on the piano.
Oh, I remember how awkward it was for me the first time, facing four boys (Kuya Nitoy, Johnny, Bobby and Raymond) at the dining table! Being an only child, I confess, I wasn't used to that.
Mommy Letty and Honey invited me to their home to spend Christmas holidays with their family. I would find myself playing scrabble with the Castillo boys and their only sister at home (with Ate Babes having her own family and Ate Cheri at the Medical school). They allowed me to join their grand family (Bustos and Regalado) reunions, too!
Mommy Letty oftentimes stayed in their room praying or studying her Bible or reading books. She had in her bookshelves a lot of Christian books, some of which I was able to borrow.
Praise God for the godly children she raised. Praise Him for making her life worthy of emulation. Praise Him for making her an instrument of blessing in many people’s lives, including mine. God, indeed, moves in mysterious ways. He performs wonders- - - how He worked His sovereign will, allowing our (Honey’s and mine) paths to cross that eventually led to my new birth, my new life in Christ.
For this post, I would like to feature some excerpts from the books I’ve read from her collection. These I managed to keep in my Treasure Notebook until now.
From Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard:
(a lesson on humility)
Come, oh, come! Let us away---
Lower, lower every day
Oh, what joy it is to race
down to find the sweetest place.
This the dearest law we know---
"It is happy to go low."
Sweet urge and sweetest will,
"Let us go down lower still.
All the fairest beauties in the human soul,
its greatest victories, and its most splendid
achievements are always those which no one
else knows anything about, or can only
dimly guess at. Every inner response of
the human heart to love and every conquest
over self-love is a new flower on the tree of love.
(a lesson on love and giving)
Many a quiet, ordinary, and hidden life,
unknown to the world,is a veritable
garden in which love's flowers and fruits have
come to such perfection that it is
a place of delight where the King of
love Himself walks and rejoices
with His friends.
To love means to put yourself into the power
of the loved one and to
become very vulnerable to pain...
If you really love someone you give that loved one
the power to hurt and pain you
in a way nothing else can...
It is so happy to love.... even if you are
not loved in return. There is pain
but love does not think that very significant.
(lesson on self-sacrifice)
************
As a child of God there are not second causes,
that even the most unjust and cruel things,
as well as all seemingly pointless and undeserved sufferings, have been permitted by God
as a glorious opportunity for us to react to them in such a way that our Lord
and Saviour is able to produce in us, little by little, His own lovely character.
************
by Mrs. Charles Cowman
(I first saw Honey reading this book.
I was so glad that she lent it to me for a few days
during our college days.
This has become my favorite devotional and
today I have access to this from my mobile app.)
We cannot tell what loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Trust only.
The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way today.
God is not yet through making us. He has a design in all His work upon us.
Things don't just happen to us; they are planned by the masterful hand of God
who knows the end from the beginning and all the ups and downs along the way.
There is nothing accidental in any of the Providences of God that come into our life,
and there is surely a purpose for our greatest good that runs through all the events
and circumstances.
Waiting! Yes, patiently waiting!
Till next steps made plain shall be;
To hear, with inner hearing,
The voice that will call for me.
Waiting! Yes, waiting! Still waiting!
I know, though I've waited long,
That, while He withholds His purpose,
His waiting cannot be wrong.
(This poem has become an inspiration to me whenever I pray for something,
While waiting for God’s answer to my prayer.)
************
Welcome trials as friends.
God never closes a door
without opening a window---
He always gives us something better when
He takes something away.
*************
When all kinds of trials and temptations
crowd into our lives, don't resent them as
intruders but welcome them as friends.
Realize that they come to test your faith
and to produce in you the quality of endurance.
*************
From a book (title I forgot to copy)
written by Hudson Taylor
"The sweetest part, if one may speak of one part being sweeter than another, is the rest which full identification with Christ brings.
I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine.
It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest position He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient."
*************
I offer this tribute ... a silent expression of my condolences to the family of Mommy Letty.
In my silence, I do grieve with you all.
In my silence, I do grieve with you all.
May her legacy live on!
‘Til we meet her again!
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