God Should Be the First Priority

Matthew 22:37

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

God wants that He is the first priority, not the second, and neither the third. After the illness of my son (with dengue fever), I did not stop thinking as to how I can realign my center back to God. 

I meditated on this and the Lord spoke to me on the Three Kings, after we were released from the hospital where he was admitted. (Remember, he was on the brink of death – with a zero blood pressure, but God’s power and mercy brought his platelet back to normal, and released us from the hospital on Christmas Day.) He specifically indicated that I have to let go and put distance between me and my son. At first, I did not understand. 

But sooner, during the month, I was offered a chance to avail of a scholarship/fellowship grant in Australia for ten-months. I asked God as to whether this is the “distance” that He meant in His message to me. 

I felt His affirmation when I passed all the screening - a series of interviews and examinations, and was among the twenty-eight scholars from the Philippines. For ten-months, I was in Australia, away from my family and specifically my son. 

We only get a chance to communicate through the phone, and it was at that time very expensive. We didn’t have the internet yet, so, I had to buy phone cards to be able to call my family. 

I kept counting the days when we will be going home. But the distance between us trained me to let go and rely on God ta take care of my son.

It was a painful ordeal, but it was the distance which realigned my center back to God.