The Raven Archives

t h e

r a v e n

archives

Issue No. 1

A COMPILATON OF STORIES ABOUT HOW LIFE TESTED OUR FAITH IN GOD

A COLLABORATION OF GROUP SEVEN STEM 11-M RUIZ, SAAVEDRA, SANTUA, SARMIENTO, 2ND QUARTER PERFORMANCE TASK IN CHRISTIAN LIVING EDUCATION MR. JOEL TAMBUSON

acknowledgment It took a small collaborative group to finish this amazing compilation of stories dealing with our own experiences on how life tested our faith. The group includes our Associate Editors, Lorraine Santua and Ysabela Sarmiento; the Art Director, Ma. Danielle Saavedra and of course, our Editor-in-Chief, Neycelle Ruiz. This work would not have been complete without the cooperation of the members.

This storybook became a reality with the support and help of many individuals. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of them.

We are very grateful for giving us the opportunity to share our stories, we hope to inspire and give life lessons to the readers through our own experiences.

We are also giving our heartfelt thanks to those who helped us and gave us advise on how we can finish this storybook.

Last but not the least. Our heartfelt praise to the Great Almighty, the author of knowledge and wisdom for his gift of life and unconditional love. Through him, everything is possible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 03 meet the authors 05 06

editor's note

Introduction

07 THE INCEPTION

16 THE ESCALATION 23 THE CONTEMPORARY

29 REFLECTIONs

32 35

IMAGES OF GOD

MESSAGE TO THE READERS

36

PRAYER

meet the authors N I R C O H T IEF I D E

Full Name: Neycelle Ruiz Birthday: August 16, 2004 Hobbies: Watching Tiktoks, singing, playing with my dogs Things you love most: Sushi, dogs, cats, and, the color pink A quote you live by: "The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it." - Rafiki

ART Full Name: Ma. Danielle Saavedra Birthday: May 22, 2005 Hobbies: Reading and watching Things you love most: spending time in nature, home, or alone.

A quote you live by: "Only in the darkness can you see the stars" -Martin Luther King JR.

DIRECTOR

meet the authors ASSOCIATE EDITOR Full Name: Lorraine Santua Birthday: June 10, 2005 Hobbies: Binge-watching TV shows and movies Things you love most: Rainy days A quote you live by: "All we have is ourselves"

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Full Name: Ysabela Sarmiento Birthday: October 14, 2004 Hobbies: Reading, Listening to music, and watching movies or series Things you love most: Books, Rain, Sola Iced Tea, Quiet, and Food A quote you live by: " Carpe Diem"

EDITOR'S NOTE ISAIAH 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

The Raven Archives focus on how we return to God after being temporarily taken away by our sins and the difficult experiences we went through that put our faith in Him to the test.

Jesus created a simile that we are like ravens. Just like a raven, human beings aren't pure nor innocent. Most of the time, we have good intentions in the things we do but sometimes we end up failing or being unable to achieve something good, doing the opposite as the outcome.

In the Bible, the raven was the first bird released by Noah from the ark but it never returned. However, in the story of Elijah, a prophet who defended the worship of God, was fed by a flock of ravens with bread and flesh twice a day.

Therefore, human beings are capable of the greater good but are tempted by the call of sin everywhere they go. Found within the chapters are the stories of how we found our way back to God after encountering challenges in our journey as a Christian disciple.

Through this book, I hope that the readers can relate to the stories we tell, become inspired by the lessons that our autobiographies contain, and possibly, apply them to their own lives.

Once you have read the entirety of the storybook, ask yourself this question.

"No matter what happens to me, am I willing to put my whole faith and trust in God?"

Introduction

We exist on this Earth so that we can fill its blank pages with stories of our lifetime. Romance, tragedy, different genres that partake in every page. But nothing beats the stories that we get to create when God touches our lives. May it be a story of a miracle, temptation, or even faith. In this storybook, we prompted to recount our stories from different stages in our lives-childhood, adolescence, and the present. With this, we associated our theme with the raven. A bird in the Bible that represents duality. It was expected to be like the dove, as the first animal that Noah released from the ark.

The raven is often condemned in the Bible, and many view the raven as a symbol of Satan. But the raven was also capable of great good–flying to feed Moses when he was stranded in the desert. (unifycosmos.com) There are lots of similarities between us and the raven. We had our times when our faith is not strong enough or we lose it along the way as we continue with our lives. There are challenges, difficulties, and problems that force us to doubt God and blame Him for why we are suffering. This book contains three chapters of special stories from each of our personal experiences on how we lost and found our faith in God.

Much like a raven who is not pure or innocent. We fail, blunder, treat ourselves as nobles, and are very shifty.

Our faith in God is unstable and with only a petty problem, we tend to surrender. Therefore, this storybook aims to induce meditation, reflection, and to establish a firm foundation for faith in God. So that the readers will be introduced to different aspects of reallife encounters with faith. Stories of how life tested our faith with God are exclusively featured in this storybook.

Let The Raven Archives inspire you to be a man of faith in your very own story.

Chapter I: the inception

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalm 51:5)

PLUS ONE by: Neycelle Ruiz

On the 8th day of August 2004, a healthy baby girl weighing 5 lbs was born exactly an hour before noon.

At that time, she was the first child, the first grandchild, the first niece, and she got all the love and attention from her family. That’s me, my name is Neycelle and this is the story of how I was everyone’s bundle of joy until I wasn’t or so I felt. For the first 5 years of my life, I was genuinely happy. I was given everything I could ask for, my family would always spend time with me and they would constantly buy me clothes, toys, and many more. Given the fact that I had no siblings, I became close with my cousins and we would always go to the mall with our “titas”. Life was good, I was excelling at school, everyone paid attention to me, and everyone treated me so well. It was almost as if my life was perfect but then again, nothing in this world is perfect and in the year of 2009, a drastic change had occurred.

My parents were now too busy, and so were my other relatives. They were too excited to see my newborn brother and as a 6-year-old, all I thought about was “What about me? I’m still here.” Before all of this had happened, I prayed alongside my mother. She asked God for a baby boy but I was against this idea because I wanted a little sister. Because of that, I was disappointed with the outcome but eventually, it wasn’t a big deal because it’s not like I can shove my brother back into my mother’s womb. I knew I had to accept the new addition to our family because now, I would have someone to hang out with whenever I want. Sooner than later, I realized that this wasn’t just a baby to cherish but a responsibility that my self-centered persona never asked for. When I felt like I was almost invisible to my parents as I was constantly scolded for what my brother did because “I’m the older sibling and I should look after him”, it triggered the growth of resentment and anger in my heart because as a little child, I couldn’t understand why I was always held accountable for the mistakes of my younger sibling.

Eventually, I became hostile towards my brother and I would try to distance myself away from him.

As my brother grew older, he started to reach out to me but I felt his confusion because I wasn’t reciprocating the same energy back to him. He did almost everything to grab my attention and when it got to a point where I became extremely annoyed with his antics, harsh words left my mouth and I was left with guilt and anger at the same time. His eyes watered up and “it was my fault again because I couldn’t do anything but be mean to my only sibling”. How could you blame me? Imagine you’re a little child showered with endless love and affection only for it to become non-existent in the blink of an eye because someone else entered the picture, wouldn’t you want to just swim around in the pool of your own tears?

However, as time passed by, I learned how to accept my fate. I managed to live life without relying much on receiving attention from my parents, I learned how to be independent, I learned how to do things because it made me happy even for a small amount of time, and most importantly, I learned how to value the relationship I have with my sibling because at the end of the day, we only have each other to look out for. Also, as I grew older, I became more mature and whoever gets the most attention between the two of us became an irrelevant topic. I had more important things in life that I had to put more time and effort into.

Throughout these series of events, I would always talk to God and ask him why. Why am I born into this life? Why are these things happening to me?

But as the years went by, God somehow gradually answered those questions as I realized that as the eldest child, it will never be easy. I developed patience and understanding and along with the various responsibilities that we carry, our younger siblings look up to us and see us as role models.

That’s why, we must be someone they can learn good things from because someday, they might credit us for their successes in life since we have shown them what it’s like to live as a Christian.

skyrocket By: Ma. Danielle Saavedra

I am a child born on May 22, 2005, my name is Ma. Danielle T. Saavedra, a very quiet baby, and when I cry it will hurt your ear. I am my parents first born, and they were very protective of me. The baby who couldn't be near of any one . And all I could think of was that until now I was out of reach for these people to be felt and touched. The difference? I am the one who unintentionally pushes people away. I push people away from me.

As a young kid, I have seen my parents fighting in front of me, see people shouting, getting scolded without even doing anything just because they have their problems, and as a child who can't stand up for herself, things have been tough for me to understand everything on my own.

Life was like a runway. Climbing up, we lose our breath, because we are not ready for what awaits us. I am an introvert and speak a lot, maybe not as loudly as a rocket, but we can compare my life to a rocket.

Perhaps not everyone is interested in taking off. However, this meteoric rise has achieved and encountered many things. And one of these is experiencing God all with all of these challenges. From childhood I was very aware and worried about my actions, and every time I did or said something bad, I came to him and confessed everything that gives me peace in my mind and heart.

This is the story of my life with God as I continue to live my life..

the first encounter By: Lorraine Santua

I believe that I encountered God through my grandmothers. They are the one who introduced me into going to church, encouraged me to be active in mass or any activities held by the church. I quickly became active at our local church when I was in pre-school. As I became more engaged, my family teased me that I will become a nun one day if I continue to go to church with my grandmothers. I also considered my time I spent in Flores de Mayo as one of my encounters with God. They taught us how to pray, taught us to use the rosary, and told us stories about the bible. I was amazed on what I heard about the stories, like how God created the world, and how Jesus became our saviour. That strengthened my faith and trust.

Due to the influence of the catechists and my grandmothers, I was inspired to become a catechist. I remember, I also wanted to share the good things about God to other children.

I am really happy that I had those experiences. That gave me strong faith and it made me believe that we encounter God in many different ways. I was introduced, encouraged, and it left me amazed of how God has His’ ways to let us have an encounter with Him.

E U R Q ING N O C TUR E C BULEN

By: Ysabela Sarmiento

Out of 385,000 children born per day, I was brought upon the world on October 14, 2004. As I was crying because of the unfamiliarity of this new place, I did not know what awaited me later in this cruel and mysterious but majestic world. I am oblivious to the fact that after I was born, my mother and father are already in a precarious relationship. My life with my parents made my relationship with God a turbulent one.

Let’s fast forward to the exact moment I had a significant and memorable moment with God. It all started when I was a kid months from her first day in kindergarten.

Life was so good for me and I admired God every day for it, not until my mother had to leave overseas for a better work opportunity. I did not make a big deal out of it since I was a child in my own little world. I can’t really remember if my father went with me to the airport because they were not on good terms, so I guess I went with my maternal grandmother to bid farewell.

Then kindergarten started, and I thought little about my mother because I was enjoying school. As days passed by, I was communicating frequently with my mother, until she suddenly stopped communicating with me. Days turned into months and months turned into years. I was in the care of my father’s family, so they were angered by the sudden detachment and I was distraught too at first because it felt like she disappeared from my life.

But I was a kid, and the desire to play overpowered my desire to connect with my mother. I grew up in a supportive and loving household from my father’s family, so I did not do any means to reach my mother because I felt like their love alone is already enough and I do not need a mother who doesn’t care about me. In the year 2012, she came home, and I spent time with her and our communication resumed even when she went overseas again, but it was on and off and when I was about to start my junior high school, the communication was gone. I was completely shut off.

This is where I doubted God because I was living a life full of happiness and it was snatched out of me. I wondered so much if I’ve done anything wrong that I had to grow up without the guidance and love of my parents. Even though my father was there for me, I can’t really appreciate it because his love for cockfighting and vices is sometimes greater than her own daughter. But I love my dad so much because he never tried to abandon me.

But it seems like life can’t give me a break and my father had to leave overseas to work so that he can support me. I was heartbroken because I was left alone again, without parents to tell me “how was your day at school?” or “should we eat outside?” In this phase in my life, I lost my trust in God because it seems like nothing ever goes in my way and I failed to sincerely pray to God. I did not pay attention to the masses and I felt like I only prayed because I needed to.

My dad frequently communicated with me and that was enough for me but I can’t help but think how my life could’ve been if I grew up with my two parents. I was always jealous of kids who had a complete family. I haven’t heard from my mother and my father, he found someone new in his life and I wasn’t ready for that. Both of my parents went in their separate ways and I was left in the middle, confused about what is happening around me. I did not know what to do.

Luckily, I still had my paternal grandmother beside me and she supported and loved me with all her heart. I had my titas and titos and my cousins who were there for me when my parents can’t. I thought about it so many times and I figured out “why am I moping when I’ve got a family behind my back?” This made me realize that God never abandoned me and He still managed to give me His blessings. I began to thank God again and sincerely prayed to Him every night for giving me my Lola, because she was the reason for who I am today. I came back to God after learning from my mistakes and I felt bad for doubting and blaming God for what happened in my life. I may not have grown up in the presence of my two parents, but my extended family drowned all my hatred and my despairs. With all of these happenings in my life, I now understand that whenever I am down or whenever I am full of happiness, God is the only one who can understand me and help me. Despite all the turbulence that I experienced in this flight of my life, I can confidently say that with the help of God I was able to ride through my turbulent faith with Him.

Chapter ii: the escalation "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7)

deceiving myself by: Neycelle Ruiz

Growing up, I always finished every school year as an honor student. As a matter of fact, I was always in the Top 5 of my class and at least a part of the Top 20 when junior high arrived. I always answered every test with honesty and integrity no matter how difficult the topic was. During a test, I answered every item but I was left with a single question. My mind was blocked so I decided to take a break from answering the test. When I looked up, I happened to witness two of my classmates glancing at each other. As I continued watching them, I realized that they were trying to cheat. One of them was mouthing the letter of the correct answer to the other and smiles formed on their faces. Not just them, but I can see my other classmates discreetly doing the same. All of this happened in the 3 minutes that our teacher left the room to go to the comfort room. I decided to go back to answering my questionnaire but I really didn’t know what to answer so I chose a random letter and passed my paper. When we got back our papers, we compared answers and the people who I saw cheating earlier had perfect scores. I can say that I’m not a snitch with full certainty but I thought to myself that this was unfair. However, some of them were my closest friends so it didn’t seem right for me to betray them so I kept quiet.

After quite some time, another test was to be conducted, and I didn’t study enough for this subject. Feelings of fear and anxiety took over me and I could no longer think properly. After a few minutes, our teacher left the room as he had to get something from the faculty room. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I unconsciously found myself doing the same as everyone started to cheat. We didn’t get caught and after that, we got high scores and I felt elated. I admit that the feeling of guilt was trying to swallow me whole but I shoved it into the back of my mind because I started to think that it’s okay.

After all, it seemed normal to everyone including me. Everything was going fine until we had a test in a specific subject and we knew that our teacher was growing suspicious of us but we knew we could outsmart him or so we thought.

The next day, we got confronted by our teacher one-by-one and all of us even got called to the office. Initially, the punishment that we would receive would disqualify us from receiving honors but this would be avoided under one condition and that is if we chose to admit what we have done. All of us were having second thoughts but as one of us decided to come clean, everyone else followed. After that incident, I prayed and asked God for forgiveness because I realized that I made a huge mistake. I bent my principles just so I could attain exemplary grades. Also, I learned that I’m affecting myself because of my actions because I lost the desire to study and do things on my own since I was cheating my way to high grades and I didn't learn in the process.

I didn’t just deceive the people around me but mostly, I deceived myself.

Taste of sky By: Ma. Danielle Saavedra

Time flies fast and I am growing up. I am growing up more independently and I don't need anyone's help. This time the change that happened was very memorable for me. In fifth grade, I was transferred into a school abroad. At which, from growing up here in Bacolod, I needed to help myself adjust to a new environment in Qatar. This was actually very difficult. During my 2 years at the school, I have always been crying every night because I miss my friends and family. I was able to help myself because my parents were busy. In sixth grade, I have met a friend at which I thought was a friend but was just actually using me. I ask myself what was it for? It may be for me to know And that may be for me to know that not everyone can be trusted. As I went into junior high school, I met a lot of people who made me the person I am today. The people who helped me to be able to express myself and I have someone to rely on and someone who can help me out.

This is an encouraging reminder that in the midst of anything and everything, we always have faith. I'm sure there are better things that will happen for you, and the Lord will take you to your destination. Just believe in yourself first and keep going.

All the due things I've done alone have paved the way for me to be stronger. God shaped me to do this.

That enabled me to do things without relying on others, but now that God has given me people to be with, I've made myself even stronger. That my fear is supported by help and that I am not alone.

Through this God has already made me feel hope. The taste of Sky

test of faith By: Lorraine Santua

As I grew up and went to middle school, I became more aware of what’s around me. I began to understand things. I remembered that time my brother who’s in college, had to go to school without allowance or lunch. Not because he was punished, it was because my parents had no money to give to him.

Money was hard to find at that time.

I can see the worry my parents had in their eyes. I was also worried, I remember that I was just silently praying in the corner, mumbling my prayer like I was talking to myself.

That became my habit everyday when it’s time to go to school.

Looking back when I celebrated my birthday with my family, it was all fun, not until we went to sleep. When we woke up in the morning, we found our house ransacked,

the cabinets are left open, and my mom’s bag were gone. We were robbed. I saw my mom crying, my father holding up his anger and tears, and the neighbors who wanted to check on us. I also remember myself crying and trying to know what happened. I actually blamed God to what happened to us.

I was asking to Him internally, ‘Why would you let this happen?’. The suspects were never found years after that incident. We just went on with our lives. But after the years have passed, I had my realization.

God never left us alone, he kept us safe during that incident, no one in my family got hurt. I was thankful, He didn’t let us get hurt. My faith never vanished and it will never be. I will always trust Him wholeheartedly.

OUN R G

TOP S D

Ground Stop. It is a ban on all aircraft taking off or landing at an airport. This could be because of a variety of reasons, but is primarily for safety - the weather could be an issue (e.g. thunderstorms), or there could be a security alert on the ground or concern about something that may be on board a plane. My life took a ground stop once and here's how it went.

By: Ysabela Sarmiento Memories of my middle school days made me remember how another trial has affected my life and, fortunately, with the guidance of the Lord, I overcame it again. When he left, I felt empty because I missed him so much in the past 2 years. After a month, my emotions were over the roof. I was crying for no reason, and the void inside me kept on growing. I was supposed to be enjoying playing with my friends, strolling at the mall, and eating good food, but I felt nothing but worry and uneasiness. It’s like something has messed inside my head and I did not know if it was because of my father leaving or just a part of growing up. I was annoyed at God again because I was enjoying the flight of my life and it halted to a stop. Then I was engulfed by panic and I don’t know what came into me, but suddenly the thought of dying scared me like it just came out of nowhere. Death is the thing I most fear, and it was all that I thought about back in those days.

It’s like my emotions, the thought of dying, and my longing for my father were all mixed and messy, that I cannot keep up with every thought. It was then that I knew I was experiencing anxiety because my palms were sweaty, I could not sit still, and I had done a lot of overthinking. Until now I do not know what caused my anxiety and it was a big mystery to me. But I’d like to think that it was another phase of me growing up and with all the puberty and stuff.

Anxiety affected my self-identity because it is where I began to doubt myself and the insecurities came rushing in since I thought there was something wrong with me. Although I almost did not trust God again, I kept on pushing myself to believe in Him. I did my best to be optimistic by trying out anything that can cheer me up just like watching cartoons and I have to say that Peppa Pig worked very well for me. But anyway, I encouraged myself that God has a reason why this happened to me and I was right.

It’s because of my experience with anxiety that I learned how to handle and cope up with my problems up until now. The lessons I’ve learned from that certain event in my life drove me into a much resilient person and I maintained a positive mindset. In the journey of my life, there will be circumstances that will interrupt my flight. This will obviously annoy me since it delays me from reaching my destination. But I understand that God has to ban me sometimes from continuing my destination because He wants to give me a message or a lesson that will guide me, He wants me to stop for a moment because not all the time I get to experience happiness because He wants me to learn from my dark times too, He wants what is good for me hence He may abruptly stop my good times to prevent me from straying away from Him. I am somewhat glad that I experienced anxiety because my life may have taken a ground stop but I learned many things from it that led me to safety. I am very grateful for God because I survived this awful experience with Him. I wish that no one will go through the same situation as me and even if they did, I hope that God will guide them and help them through the ground stop of their life.

chapter iii: the contemporary

cloudy day by: Neycelle Ruiz

For me, a sunny day, no matter how warm the weather is, a discrepancy will always find a way for it to transition to a sky filled with dark gray clouds. It was the same thing every day and it seemed like my days were repeating themselves. I would wake up at 7 AM, stay on the bed for 2-3 hours, eat breakfast in my room, use my phone for what it seemed like an eternity, clean the house an hour before my mother comes home from work, shower at night, skip dinner, and scavenge for food in the kitchen when everyone else is asleep. It became the constant unhealthy routine I adapted because I was unhappy with my life. It was like comfort and torture at the same time. There would be no day where I wouldn’t cry from the smallest inconveniences. In reality, the little things weren’t the main reason for my agony, it was a part of a bigger picture. I started to not care about myself, I would either skip meals or eat huge amounts of food in one session. I would stay up late for no reason, scrolling endlessly to the depths of social media pages.

I was shutting off people who were genuinely concerned for my well-being and I distanced myself from them because I thought that sharing my problems would be too much of a burden and I didn’t want guilt to add up to what I was already feeling.

I had an identity crisis, this wasn’t me. I, myself, was disheartened to come to a conclusion that I was destroying myself. At the same time, I couldn’t blame myself either for being like this because I was a depressed and anxious teen living in a toxic household with authoritarian parents. All I needed was guidance but I was misunderstood and constantly blamed for everything, at least that's what it felt like to me. One night, I decided to talk to God because I knew that He was going to listen to what I have to say. From that moment, I had an opportunity to reflect on myself. I realized that no one can help me if I don’t help myself first and eventually, I started to pray to God frequently. I also made changes to my daily routine, I incorporated habits that would spark joy in me such as doing skincare, playing with my dogs, organizing my room, and more. As time went by, my situation improved but occasional emotional and mental breakdowns were still existent up to this day. No matter how challenging the circumstance I’m in, I always go back to God for he lights up a safe path whenever I get lost in my journey. Making God a constant in my life made me happier because I had a purpose to fulfill in life and that is to live my life well because it’s a gift given to me by God himself.

ace w p S M a . D a n i e o rld l By:

le

Saavedra

Today, the sky is blue and the sun is shining. Today I am very worried about everything I do. As I get older, I am becoming more anxious.

I'm worried about too many things to list. Some of my close friends are not as interested in talking to me lately. I had to lose some of my internet friends because I did everything to understand them and still blame myself today that may be I have not understood them very well. They are still important to me as they are the people who helped me get through this pandemic.

What I do today is to try to get my thoughts together. Thanking God for the blessings he has always provided. People who are not meant to stay in our lives will be removed from our lives, and this isn't a big loss for us. On a different side of the story, I feel overwhelmed with schoolwork and my family, but God gave me someone who stays with me and takes good care of me every time I am feeling bad, sad, or crying.

Despite every hardship and trial, I believe God is stronger than any hardship and trial that I may come up against right now.

God is faithful and never leaves me when I feel nothing. Living in a world that's full of surprises, space world. Stand up with confidence, trust him, and do everything you can with hope and dreams.

The Lord has always been my peace. I have always glorified his name, and today I am having a hard time with myself because I am facing new challenges. I choose to conquer this with him. As I put myself on his hands, to guide and protect myself.

Regain By: Lorraine Santua

This time, I encountered God through prayers.

It is actually my only way to experience God’s presence. Every night I would pray to Him just like how I talk to my friends, I would tell Him how my day went, share to Him what I did that day, or I would just talk to Him about the things I’d like to do the next day. Sometimes, if there is something I have to do, I will just ask Him for signs. But I never really received it, or maybe I did, and just didn’t realize it.

After some time, I became busy, became really tired and stressed at the same time. Sleepless nights became a habit, tired mornings became continuous. After this happened multiple times, I realized that my time that I always spend praying was being replaced by this repeated process. I wasn’t able to have my personal time spent talking to Him because after finishing my tasks, I would always go straight to sleep. If I have the time to pray, I can’t even do it sincerely. My mind will just be occupied thinking for the things I have to do for the next day.

I am actually hoping to regain the old times, where I sincerely pray to Him every night before I sleep. I would talk to Him about everything. I would share to Him what bothers me and I would ask for help. I would share my problems to Him and ask for solutions and guidance to solve the problem that has been bothering me.

I will always follow the path that he’s given me. I will trust Him no matter what. He is my only chance to survive this.

By: Ysabela Sarmiento

LONG FLIGHT

How am I now? Am I doing great? I question this a lot in these past few days and I am satisfied with my life. I am at my best self, or am I? There were tough times because of school and academics, but none that plague and disrupt my daily circumstances.

Is it really all is well for me or am I just indulging myself in such pretenses that shroud my genuine emotions? I’d say the latter. It’s been an exhausting 17 years of my life with all the drama, challenges, and misadventures.

Nevertheless, there’s something exclusive going on with my life. It seems like my father has fallen into his personal predicaments that trouble the whole family. My grandmother and titas are worried about my father and I too couldn’t help but wonder what he is doing in his life. Especially that he has a newborn daughter, my half-sister. He is troubling a lot about how to handle his finances because he could not provide enough support for both of his daughters due to his vices. So I thought to myself, great, another problem. How am I supposed to help him with his problems because he was the one who brought it up to himself? Instead of him worrying over me, I was the one who constantly worries about him, scolds him whenever he makes bad choices.

He doesn’t even listen to a word I say. This is why I consider him to be more of my brother than being a father. I am annoyed and frustrated because this cycle keeps on repeating. It’s like I’m in an economy class flight with cramped leg space, has a 24-hour flight, and with a baby aboard who does not stop crying. Not to mention the fact that my mother has kids with another man's way before my dad had a girlfriend, which is sickening to me because they were still married.

Oh, and by the way, we heard she came home in the Philippines just recently and she did not even bother to find ways to see me. I am so sick with dealing with the consequences of my parent’s problems.

Why do I have to be stuck in the middle and witness all of their bad choices while they are having fun on their own? Eventually, I learned not to care because I do not deserve to be tangled in their mess. I remembered I had God and He will give me the strength to understand all of this and guide me to decide for what’s best. With the help of God, I understood my parents.

They’re just like me, they’re human and they make a lot of mistakes. I learned to let them go because if I force them to correct their ways, another possible problem could spring out.

I prayed to God instead of getting mad and entrust my parents to Him because He is the only one who knows what’s best for them. I might take my time to reach my destination and just enjoy my flight for now.

There will be a lot of inconveniences, disturbances, or anything that will test my patience but if I strengthen my faith in God all of that will be nothing. At the end of the day, what’s important is I learned a lot, experienced a lot, and survived a lot. I just have to be patient with my faith. It seems like this will be a long flight for me after all so might as well enjoy it.

reflections

I realized that I can be an authentic Christian disciple today and onwards by spreading the word of God through showcasing the stories I’ve written about my life. God must become the most important person in our lives and our decisions should revolve around His will as he only wants nothing but the best for us. Lastly, convincing others to become disciples themselves paves the way for true discipleship towards God. - Neycelle Ruiz

To be an authentic spiritual disciple in today's world for me is to accept the past with all its terrible events, since it has made me stronger and capable. We have built ourselves with all of the things that our creators have challenged us to. Faith is what helps us overcome all obstacles. In his will, things were set up so that his great plans for you would succeed. Sharing our stories and challenges prove that we are being God's true disciple today.

- Ma. Danielle Saavedra

A disciple is a dedicated follower of Jesus Being a follower of Jesus means to follow all His’ teachings and always stay close to Him. To become an authentic disciple, I believe we should be committed to Jesus, eager to learn from Him, and recognize Him as a teacher and a leader. We want to become a true disciple, and to achieve that we should be willing to dedicate ourselves to learn and become His’ pupils.

- Lorraine Santua

Living in this contemporary society is challenging, specifically if I were to live a life of authentic Christian discipleship. But this should not stop me from trying and doing my best to achieve such a life. Writing all my personal stories made me realize that one can be an authentic Christian disciple in these modern times through the power of faith. If I trust God with all my life, then I am already on a path to Christian discipleship. I must not doubt His ways, for He has something in store for me. Today, tomorrow, in the future, one can be a Christian disciple if he or she has enough faith to entrust his or her life to God and righteousness will spring from it.

-Ysabela Sarmiento

images of god

Mother

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” - Isaiah 66:13 The image I have of God is a nourishing mother because conversing with him brings me at peace with myself, especially in times where in my life is filled with chaos and sufferings. Taking a moment to remind myself that God is always listening to me makes me feel less lonely. God listens and he is present in our lives because He cares for all of us since we are His children. He nourishes us in a way where He takes my broken pieces and forms us whole again.

- Neycelle Ruiz

Nature

“He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth.”

- Psalm 104:14

I see the image of God

in nature. He created all living things as well us. Just like nature, God is everywhere, he is always with us. And just like God, nature gives us life. It protects and provides us with everything we need.

- Ma. Danielle Saavedra

Father “The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” - John 16:27

“God is a loving Father.” In all things, God is our loving Father. He has been nurturing us through the Holy Spirit, He is preparing us for our ultimate purpose in life. We may turn away from him, we may sin, but God will never forsake us.

He will continue loving us and will always be there in everything we do.

Candle

"For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness."

(Psalm 18:28) God in my life is a candle. He is the one who gives light to my life and vanquishes the darkness within me. He is the one who guides my path whenever I am lost and He is the one who will enlighten me whenever I’m too blind to see what’s right from wrong. God will always bring light to my life so that I will have the courage to face what fears me the most.

- Ysabela Sarmiento

message to the readers Congratulations dear reader for making it to the end.

We wish you relished this storybook in your own comfortable place with some coffee or tea to drink. As you have journeyed through the different stories of our lives, we are grateful for the experience you’ve created with each of our narratives. We hope you could see and feel our relationship with God through every word from the depths of our hearts. This storybook was inspired by real-life situations and filled with the guidance and love of our Lord.

We look forward to your enlightenment through this storybook and may you gain valuable morality that you can use in your daily life. All of this was anthologized for the benefit of restoring your faith in God and to deepen your relationship with Him. This will not be possible without your involvement. If you took an interest in our work, do not hesitate to be in touch with us and check out more of our details.

Remember that our faith in God might be tested as long as we are here on Earth. Do not be swayed and always ask for guidance from God, for He loves us and will do anything for us.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Faithfully, The Group 7 of STEM11-M

prayer Our father who art in heaven We seek your loving presence O’ merciful God As we come to new beginnings We put ourselves in your hands As we pray to confess our sins.

We confessed everything of our selfishness, wrath, and greed.

Help us turn away our hearts from all of this.

Your mercy, grant us, your grace.

As we express our gratitude for your guidance and care throughout our lives, We Thank you for being here with us in every challenge we face.

With your righteousness, direct our ways to what our heart desires, give us the courage to move forward.

Fill everyone with the Holy Spirit so that our acts reflect the actions of your son Jesus.

That in all things God may be glorified.

Amen.

strengthening our relationship with god The storybook tells about our faith experiences in the different phases of our lives and how the challenges we faced strengthened our relationship with God. Despite all the adversities, we still managed to bring ourselves back to God. Our storybook is entitled “The Raven Archives” since the storybook features the narratives of our past regarding the theme.

We utilized the symbolic nature of a raven because according to God, the raven is much like us. “The raven isn’t pure or innocent and it fails, blunders, and it’s noble.” The raven is a bird known for its duality, it was heavily condemned in the Bible but it has the capacity of doing great deeds such as feeding Moses when he was stranded in the desert.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED A COLLABORATION OF GROUP SEVEN RUIZ, SAAVEDRA, SANTUA, SARMIENTO S.Y. 2021-2022