Stop pride.

TREASURE IT!

"For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the world." 1 John 2:16

When I turned 40, the phrase "not of human pride but by God's design" was given to me. I haven't read it anywhere and nobody has used it before. To the best of my knowledge, it is entirely unique for me.

John Mason wrote, "You were born an original! Don't die a copy."

I believe all of us want to have that sense of being different from the rest of the world. Though God has created all of us "in His own image and likeness," He made us distinct from one another with the quirks and perks of our personality.

Our quirks were shaped, to a great extent, during our childhood years and whether we like it or not, admit it or not, we're all born to dysfunctional, imperfect families.

Today marks the 8th week of my second pregnancy this year. I don't want to blame my hormones but something seems askew in the way I think and act these days. I am (more) easily irritable, whiny, clingy and lazy.

Yesterday I watched an Instagram video where the lady spoke about "speaking life" into our lives and situations instead of agreeing with any negativity. I was like, that's entirely impossible and... crazy.

But then, knowing what I know to be true about who I am as a follower of Christ, it is never crazy to speak life into 'dead' or 'dead end' situations. God created the world by His mere words, didn't He?

What's crazy is to try to live my life in the eyes not of my Creator but in the eyes of the world.

This world is becoming crazier and more dysfunctional by the minute. Just Google up the statistics and you'll see crime rates, poverty, hunger, rape cases, incest, addiction of all sorts, on a rising trend. The numbers may seem to decrease for a time but in reality, it is not going any better.

I don't know about you but I am prone to compare myself with someone else and that triggers me towards a downward spiral of discontent and ungratefulness. It is an ugly feeling.

My life is actually a mess right now and my 'condition' renders me incapable of doing the things that I ought to be doing. And I can't just "speak" life to it. I have to do something.

But when I look into what I have, when I look into how incapable I am to provide for the services of a househelp, what can I do? Whom do I run to for help?

Certainly God wouldn't just rain down cleaners from heaven and clean my house in a snap of His finger. I mean, He can but He won't.

What am I trying to drive at?

I need help. I am desperate. I need to stop comparing myself with the world and create my own world, my own beautiful world. But HOW?

The Car My Husband's 10-Second Elevator Pitch Bought

TREASURE IT!

No expectations except one thing: learn something.

Something.

It was breezy this afternoon when my husband and I came to Lipa City, Batangas. The sun was present but hid somewhere behind the clouds.

As my husband and I huffed and puffed with each step on the foot bridge, (ugh, we baaadly need to get back in shape!) the cool wind gently ushered us to where we needed to be.

We reached the venue early enough for the 1:00 pm registration time. The events team scanned the QR codes on our PDF tickets and handed us our handy-dandy notebooks and PayPal pens.

Once inside the tent, we were asked to write our names and PayPal emails on a sheet of paper, roll it and toss it inside the raffle fishbowl. $50 PayPal credits at stake!

The talk began at exactly 2:00pm (I think) and lasted for a good 3 hours, including Q&A.

I didn't learn something.

I learned MANY things.

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I'm not a techie so (pardon my ignorance), I haven't heard of Abe Olandres nor YugaTech until I saw his name in an online notification for PayPal freelancers. The first thing which caught my attention was the location: Lipa City, Batangas. The second thing? It's FREE!

Abe took us on a journey to when internet wasn't commonplace and blogging was not recognized as a legit business tool. (I started blogging 2003 but never got around to driving traffic nor monetizing it). He shared personal stories and how he maximized what he had during those days. From a 1-man team whose first successful gig paid him $25 for a tutorial project on CD format, his company has since grown to a team of - if I remember correctly - 10 and a 7-digit revenue.

I learned that "yuga" is actually an Ilonggo word for "really". I learned about grit and that pure talent nor skill isn't enough to succeed in freelancing. 'Nadadaig ng masipag ang magaling,' said YugaTech's founder and editor-in-chief. Yuga!

Another thing which got hammered in for me was the meaning of success. I like how Abe allowed us, the attendees, to define it for ourselves with the question: "Am I really, really good at what I'm doing?" and this 4-way test -

• Am I happy with what I'm doing? 

• Am I committed? 

• Am I willing to fail and learn? 

• What is my measure of success?

It was a jam-packed 3-hour session and I can only be eternally grateful to have been equipped with the specific questions my husband and I need to ask ourselves as we slowly wiggle our merry way from being simple freelancers to being full-fledged entrepreneurs. The world moves fast, I know, but we're more inclined to pace ourselves.

Over dinner, I asked my husband, "How can we repay something that's as good as what we've gained today?" His answer: "Share it!"

For a freelancer, our time is our currency. Abe is where he is right now because he managed to maximize 30 minutes of dial-up internet each night to make a difference in his life. He persevered. He failed, he learned, he never gave up. 15 years later, he is making a difference not just in his life but in the lives of many others.

My take home: application is key. I can listen to every success story out there, attend every workshop available - whether free or paid - but if I do not apply those learnings to my own journey, I'll still remain where I am right now, with a husband and 7 cats and "just getting by."

God's design for every human being's life is not just to get by. He designed us for victory; for success. We each measure success a bit subjectively but ultimately - by God's design - success is meant to enrich not just our own lives. It is meant to overflow and enrich others.

Oh dear! We still have a long way to go, with not much time. Yet as they say, when you're down, there's no way to go... but up.

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My husband's 10-second elevator pitch won him our first car: "I am a tradigital illustrator. I mix traditional with digital to quickly make illustrations for games and advertising content." The car was a Mini Cooper USB 2.0 Drive. The best is yet to be!