Called to Create, Survive and Flourish

Hi, my name is Myra, and if you’re reading this now, there must be a very good reason why.

Our life is very fragile, full of uncertainties, and yes, it is short. It is vulnerable to all sort of attacks that can cripple our body, mind and spirit, especially when we leave ourselves unguarded. The attacks can come in many different forms– there we have sickness, poverty, condemnation, curses, terrorism, abuse, or fear. Some we can control and others are just out of our hands. In my case, I’ve been a target of many of these, directly and indirectly. And yet, I have survived. By God’s grace and mercy, I have survived.

I was born in the Philippines, a developing country. By default, I was born an Igorot, an indigenous person belonging to an ethnic tribe from the Philippine Cordillera region. My parents are not rich, so I have to work hard and avail of scholarships to be able to finish my studies. The society that I grew up with define one’s worth based on how big your land and houses are, how many buffaloes or pigs or cows can you butcher in every special occasion, how well connected you are with people of high ranks and status, or how popular your family name is in the community. Because of this collective mindset of people in the community I grew up with, I have struggled in many ways during my childhood and young adulthood.  Deep in my heart, I just want to break free from this bondage of misconceptions and misguided understanding of how things should work or how one’s worth should be defined. Thank God and His goodness, I now stand on victory ground, shouting with confidence, “I am free!”

Needless to say, we all make mistakes. When that happens, we get sidetracked if we are not careful. One of the biggest mistakes that I’ve made (and wish no one else will make the same mistake) is to think and mean it in my heart even for just a fraction of a second, that I, with all my efforts and hard work, can turn my life happy, successful and truly fulfilled without God! Even without saying it out loud, how could I have allowed such awful thought to sink in? How dare me to have entertained the idea (even for just say less than a second) that I really don’t need God in my life? That was one big and dangerous mistake I’ve made… and hope everyone else should avoid making. Now I have realized that when I did that, I’ve put my guards down. I’ve put myself in real danger. In spiritual sense, the enemy is not sleeping; the enemy lurks around and is quick to attack you when he finds you unguarded.

Days passed by normally, and the attacks started to became visible. Late in 2016, my husband and I were expecting for our second child. All of a sudden, the heart of the life growing in my womb stopped beating. I had a miscarriage. People who have lost their very loved ones or even just something they truly treasure would understand the pain and even the anger of losing. That was the beginning of torture.

By the end of my road to recovery from the physical, emotional and mental pain of miscarriage, it’s my memory that was in danger. After a wonderful weekend in Paris, enjoying and celebrating my indigenous identity with the rest of Igorots who have migrated here in Europe, I had a mysterious accident that led to 3 stitches on my chin and what the experts called a transient global amnesia! Thankfully, it is a temporary amnesia, and so the lost memories from that adventurous Paris weekend getaway were back in a couple of months or so!

So, what’s next? Perhaps losing a child-to-be and almost losing life’s precious memories  were not enough, so the next bomb came just before the end of 2017. In September that year, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 malignant breast cancer— a deadly one! By God’s grace, it is curable.

I know my God doesn’t cause nor allow all the miserable things that just happened to me nor to you— the diseases, accidents, loss of loved ones, and all other sufferings and struggles we have here on earth to date…

Though I felt tortured and powerless during those tough times in my life, I remain thankful that my God can turn these terrible times into something good. Believe it or not, it is through these very threatening times that I really came to know how ALMIGHTY our Heavenly Father is. God is ALL-POWERFUL that He can turn these unfortunate events to our advantage, to my advantage to say the least.

From last years’ battles against death till the day I was declared cleared of cancer, by God’s grace I have seen more adventures than tragedies, more opportunities than failures:

– The miscarriage was nature’s way of selection.
– The temporary amnesia was a wake-up call to re-prioritize, re-focus, and re-connect with you and the community.
– You may ask, so how about the deadly breast cancer?

I simply find it as an extraordinary journey that has so far led me to ask myself, “What should and would I be doing now if indeed my days are counted? (Thankfully it’s not.) But because life remains short, I would rephrase the question and ask myself, what should and would I be doing now that I am granted a second life to live?

I believe I’ve found the answer to that, and it is simply sharing what I have been through through writing and word of mouth, knowing that what had happened to me didn’t happen for no reason. That through my sharing, I hope I could bring inspiration and hope, so you too can experience God’s amazing love for you. Through this second life I’m given, I wish to share with you knowledge learned and wisdom gained, so you too can overcome with grace and glory whatever uncertainties and threats that life throws at you.

Yes, the world is apparently still full of danger, fear, insanity and emptiness. But on the other hand, life is also still beautiful. It is still full of hope and many good reasons to live. Just look at the bright side of things. Having survived Big C, the more I can confidently shout out loud that yes I am standing on victory ground, and I am claiming God’s promises of double portion anointing and blessings! Not later nor tomorrow. Not with all the IFs and WHENs, but NOW!

You see? No one can really predict the future. But it’s not the past nor the future that really matters. It is NOW.

The rest of the story on how I managed to get out from the torture of chemo treatments characterized by hairless days, zero energy, and struggle to make sense of everything that was happening there and then is now for me, a history. Surprisingly it has been a rewarding experience— something I can only describe as an adventurous journey of hope, strength and love. Interestingly, I also just turned 40 this year, and as new life begins to unfold, I would like to conclude this chapter in my life by authoring a book, entitled “unWANTED ADVENTURE with BIG C: A surprisingly REWARDing journey of hope, strength and love.”

You can get a copy by contacting me directly. Thank you very much in advance for your interest and support. May this book brings you multiple times blessings of hope, strength and love as well as healing, comfort and faith.

So if you are reading this and you managed to get to this end, consider yourself a survivor! For whatever difficulties you are going through at this very moment, you too can overcome it! And believe me, not only will you survive but also you will flourish. With acceptance, faith, and the right mindset, YOU TOO shall survive with grace and glory… YOU TOO shall thrive… just as I did and will always do.

Please feel free to leave any comment you may have. You can also always contact me! Would love to hear from you directly! God bless!