It has been roughly an hour since I received their text. I don't normally feel like this whenever I receive this kind of message. My heart is pounding really hard and I started having a lot of mixed emotions. Why do I have to go through this?
It was usually easy for me to turn down opportunities like these. Last year, I was asked by my Prof to give an inspirational talk in UP. I decided outright that I wouldn't do it. A few months after that, another opportunity came knocking at my carefully-sealed door, it was a training opportunity with other medical professionals. I turned it down immediately. I did not know what my problem was, I just knew that there's something wrong.
But something has changed...
Let me tell you what brought about this change.
A year ago, some time in August, I met my college best friend again in one of my rare jogs in UP. She excitedly invited me to a Destiny Sunday Service. I was so reluctant but I had to say yes (c'mon, she's my best friend, i had no choice). It was not my first time to hear the Senior Pastor preach. I've heard him many times and I even saw him on TV once. One thing has not changed, it was my reaction to his preaching. "What in the world is he saying?" or sometimes,"Is he serious?", and even worst, "Is he really a Christian? Is he allowed to say those things?". I mean, wow! His preachings are so mind-boggling and very uncomfortable but somewhere deep in my heart, he really made sense.
Long story short, I attended a session of a pre-encounter, followed by a next one (she was really persuasive), until I just woke up and found myself going to the Encounter Weekend for three days. Those were the days that ultimately changed my life. I became a new me and I found a new family. The Destiny Family...
See what I just did? I did not call it a church. I called it a family (so much for Captain Obvious, eh). This family made me discover myself more, and most importantly, it became a bridge to deepen my relationship with God. Destiny gave me a sense of what a true church should be.
When I was a child, I always thought that church is only for gentle and well-behaved people. But when I came to Destiny, I realized that the church is like America's Next Top Model, it is FIERCE. The church is the army of the living God. A community composed of people with a heart of a soldier, strength of a horse and intensity of a lion. These are dangerous people, armed with the armor of the God, always ready for battle and most of all, willing to die for the cause that they are fighting for. Then it came to me. Indeed, this place is the most dangerous place in Manila, a place full of light-bearing and self-sacrificing warriors, committed in doing God's vision.
So, anong konek? (So, what's the connection?). Before, I was really careful in making decisions. I usually have plans (plan A-D, and sometimes extends to E depending on the gravity of the situation) before I venture into something. I don't trust people easily, I size them up first and see what they are made of. I was too careful that a lot of times, I let good things and good people pass by because I was so fearful of all the bad things that might happen. But then God taught me to live dangerously. Like His other warriors, I was created to conquer this world without any fear or reservations. He challenged me to take risks in life, in order to live it to the fullest. Now I know, I am also a dangerous woman of God.
Two hours after I received that text, I knew what to do. After a short prayer, I have decided. I will accept TV 5's offer to be the Resource Person in one of their segments in Alagang Kapatid (TV 5's morning health show). This would be my first time. If the old Rio was here, she would have killed me and dumped my body in the Pasig River for putting myself into such a stressful situation. But it is now the new me.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
2 Corinthians 5:17
Addendum
After the shoot (which I nailed, according to my researcher in TV5, yeah!), I was offered to appear on three more episodes from May-June 2012. Our Agency Director even included this as one of our Agency's accomplishments during his presentation in the Global Director's meeting in India.
Discover more about Destiny at www.g12destiny.com
