Manus Dei

From inside the enclosed space of Al Safa 101, a low and almost silent chatter accompanies the subtle sounds of worship songs and praises. The Bohemian themed room illuminated by the beauty of chapter A1 and A2 princesses, their lips coffee-drenched, their eyes bright, and grins wide for the lightning-paced day that awaits them. After all, what’s not to celebrate about our Princess Diaries Weekend? What is my worth as a woman? I don’t remember when I started asking this question, and when society started providing an encyclopedic volume of their own answers. Since time immemorial, the patriarchy has always placed importance on the physical attributes of women and considered these as the defining quality for our value. The objectification of women has its roots in the perception that women are mere subjects for aesthetics. I ask again, where can a truly satisfying sense of woman’s worth be found? Is it through the lens of a camera? The right Instagram filter? No matter how much a wo...

Love is the real reason for the creation of humanity. But unlike the other creations of God, only man was created in His  likeness and image. Indeed, when God sent His only begotten Son  our Lord Jesus Christ, to assume the physical being of a of man, he was still recognized by the believers as the Son of God. This revelation was through God's grace.  The woman was made especially for man. This makes the woman a very special creation. To most men, it's not easy to understand a woman. She could be mysterious in a different way that is hard to fathom and sometimes beyond comprehension. A woman needs to be revealed in a more distinct manner so as to be given with high respect and admiration specifically from men. They must treat every woman as something very precious and fragile. A woman needs to be pursued not to be abandoned, neglected and desolated. This is what God wants for He Himself designed a woman, destined a woman as the greatest expression of the creation of...

"We love because He first loved us" - 1 John 4:19 God's love does not come to us because we have earned it. God had already set his desires upon us even before we are born and drew us to Himself in Christ Jesus. There might be times that He seems silent to the cries of your heart but always remember that His love never fails, we just need to have a little more faith and learn to hold on to His promises because He doesn't just love - HE IS LOVE and this is what will bring us through. *** art work By Sis Jaesa Venturanza

“God is love. He loved you before you were born because He lives in you.” 1 John 4. Truly, God loves us in many forms, in anyways and in all aspects of our lives despite how imperfect we are as an individual. How can we define Love? What is Love? How can we share the love with someone who needs it most? I am very blessed to be part of SFC Community. I would like to take this opportunity in extending and expressing my deepest gratitude to the leaders who inspire me. From my Household, Household heads, Chapter Leaders, and respectful Titos and Titas, for their love and healing embrace. They mold and transformed my life into having a deeper and intimate meaning of how to be an obedient Christian, to be a better version of myself, and be a holy daughter of God that can serve the community in whatever situation and circumstances. To love one another despite imperfections and differences, to see things in a more perspective positive way, to reflect and to be understood. There’s...

Love is the real reason for the creation of humanity. But unlike the other creations of God, only man was created in His  likeness and image. Indeed, when God sent His only begotten Son  our Lord Jesus Christ, to assume the physical being of a of man, he was still recognized by the believers as the Son of God. This revelation was through God's grace. The woman was made especially for man. This makes the woman a very special creation. To most men, it's not easy to understand a woman. She could be mysterious in a different way that is hard to fathom and sometimes beyond comprehension. A woman needs to be revealed in a more distinct manner so as to be given with high respect and admiration specifically from men. They must treat every woman as something very precious and fragile. A woman needs to be pursued not to be abandoned, neglected and desolated. This is what God wants for He Himself designed a woman, destined a woman as the greatest expression of the creation of human...

"This is how we have known what true love is: He gave His life for us. We, too, ought to give our life for our brothers and sisters."   Love is a word very much used and abused. The acid test of love is our readiness to die.  Not many are ready to pay that price. Could this be the reason very few really love?  A readiness to die for the ones we love also includes that daily dying to self - to the expectations we have of others, to our attitudes towards them, to the terms and conditions we lay down for them to measure up to.  Only when we are ready to die to self can we live for others and truly claim to love them.

Intimacy, in the dictionary is defined as a state of being intimate or closeness, affection, etc. You will think that intimacy is simply an affection. But if you think of it deeply, for us, intimacy is an intimate relationship not only with the person you love but also with God being the center of it. The Intimacy Weekend that was held at St. Paul Church, Mussafah, on 2nd June 2017 has five sessions that talks about (I) the quest for finding true love at the right place; (II) looking for love at the wrong place; (III) the hope and redemption; (IV) dating with a purpose and purity; and lastly (V) destined for intimacy, called to be a gift. The first three sessions explains how to seek, wait, discern and pray to find your true love, and the last two sessions explains how to know if he/she is the right person and how to keep your relationship strong and God centered. We realized that the Intimacy Weekend almost pertains to our love story.  Our relationship started with finding a...

Many are called but few are chosen to have this one of a kind teaching. I am privileged to be one of the participant for the “Intimacy weekend”.  Last June 2, 2017, member of Chapter B One and B Two-Gether was combined to have this teaching that was held at St Paul Church in Mussafah. It has been a great pleasure because God uses His instruments to be the messenger of His undying messages with the help of our Tito’s and Tita’s from “Couple for Christ”. In this teaching they tackled the behavior, habit and attitude of being a single person. Everyone learned and reminded of the underlying TRUTH about LOVE, SEXUALITY & MARRIAGE and not only that it’s a preparation of every single man and woman into married life and for those who is discerning their vocation in life.  “Love is blind?” Whether we like it or not nowadays a lot of people they don’t know the meaning of True Love. That there are different levels of understanding about LOVE. Some made it too sh...

Before I begin my story, my only desire is to inspire others and to mend a broken heart. I believe that some of you will be able to identify with what I have “gone through.” As a woman, I’m always dreaming to have a perfect relationship. I want to find someone who will love me unconditionally and will treat me like a princess. One day, I met a guy that was introduced to me by a friend of mine and he became my boyfriend for 4 years. I really thought that he is “The One”, “My Forever”, “My knight in shining armour” and my everything. But things didn’t work out between us. He cheated on me not just once, twice, thrice but many times. Yes, you’re right I’m so in love with him to the point that I forgot to love myself. I decided to end up our relationship and just moved on. It was never an easy journey for me, I feel utterly and helplessly alone. Vindictive thoughts occupied my mind, everything has shattered in so many places and I don’t even know where to begin. The pain never goes...

Every single man and woman may want a lot of things. But deep in their hearts the only thing that really matters most is finding that one true love . In this world full of strangers, how can two people find each other? Well, it sounds like the line of a song, but how can you really tell if the two of you are really meant for each other? How would you know if you are the better half made by God to complement somebody? Would you really find your soul mate? How can you find the answers to all these questions? It seems impossible. Some say it is fate…some say it is destiny. I love attending weddings because this occasion culminates the long unending search for your one true love . The newlyweds bind themselves to love and to hold in richer and in poorer, in sickness and in health till death do they part. It’s a vow made by them in front of all the witnesses, most especially to God. They made a covenant, a commitment, which should not be broken. How you wish you could...