The Blog: Wanders & Wonders

The finest personal blogs are always those which have been found by a good story. I've always believed that the value of a masterpiece has little to do with the "what's" and has greater to do with the "why's". Why does the blogger write? A good underlying purpose makes write-ups sensible and worth reading. It's amazing how following the occurrences of someone else's journey could help you get through your own. 

As I have mentioned in my previous entry, I'd be writing about the blog I nominated for Bloggys 2015. It is a beautiful blog that has spoke to me a lot as a woman and as a believer. In fact, this blog is one of those which have inspired me to start making my own. Here goes the back story of how I find my way to this site...

When I first heard of Rica Paralejo's twisting life story in a True Love Waits conference about 5 years ago, I was dumbfounded. Did I really heard that right? I've known her as a celebrity since a kid and I've always find her pretty. Not just pretty actually - obsessively pretty. If I have had a face like that I'd have no problem living, I would most often think. She was a wild one and people were adoring her. I was aware that with youth, beauty and glamour, the world couldn't help but love you. This goes same for Rica. What amazed me upon hearing her life testimonial (though I first heard it in someone else's voice, a.k.a the speaker) was the thought that pretty faces need not to belong to this corrupted world after all, they could be meant for something more than the superficial which is just passing. They could be freed from the stereotyping which is retraining them. They could rest from the worry of having to lose everything once time strips them out of physical beauty. Even those people we think are meant for world could hope for eternity and choose to belong somewhere beyond earthly realms  - A higher purpose, a greater calling. It took me a couple more years in life to internally process this but now having been more aware of His word, I am reminded of this certain passage:  

Charm is deceitful and beauty fades;

but a woman who fears the LORD will be praised.

-Proverbs 31:30

Out of curiousity and being slightly moved by her story (in a perspective of an unsurrendered Christian), I went to YouTube in hope for an actual testimonial by Rica herself. I watched this video not knowing I'd find myself back in this channel a few years later (after a few mess and misturns)  to realize that I could relate to almost everything that this woman is talking about. I wish to share this to you and pray that this speaks to you as much as it did for me :D

 (Source: CCF Exalt Team Projects)

Today, Rica Parelejo is happily married to a young pastor (didn't expect that either - God is full of surprises!) and is a full-time mother and part-time blogger with her own weekly column in Manila Bulletin. Her blog, "Wanders & Wonders" is a journal of her continuous journey as a Christian living ordinarily day by day; treasuring her family, acknowledging social responsibilities, and keeping her self-fulfillment in line with the will of God. Her personality, even her weaknesses, are transparent in her entries and that's what keeps me in her blog from time to time. I would like to quote her as she says,

"My hope and prayer is that my posts will always encourage you to go through life in such wanderful, wonderful ways. To live and learn, or learn and live, to getting stuck in worthwhile ruts and to be ever-growing, to dreaming and doing, to facing realities but never frustrating, but always dealing with everything in biblical faith, hope, and love".

Official header of the blog.

The nomination I have entered is not just for the blogger herself but to the Higher King whom she serves and glorifies. Hoping you'd find inspiration in this blog too. Have a good week! :)

CLICK HERE FOR RICA'S BLOG: Wanders & Wonders

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BLOGGYS 2015: Bloggys Official Page

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. -1 Thessalonians 5:11

(Image Source: UMC LEAD)