Learning to Receive Joy

My last article, “Looya Nako Uy,” was written during a moment when I was reflecting on how I sometimes see myself. For a long time, I realized I carried this quiet belief that maybe people would only care for me…

looya nako

Looya nako uy!

There is a kind of language that grows quietly inside a person who has suffered much.It doesn’t shout.It doesn’t demand.It whispers. It says: For a long time, I lived in that language. Not because I wanted to manipulate people.Not because…

Marionne Joy

Borrowed Sadness, Offered in Love

It feels strange to admit this:I cry not only because I have lost someone I love,but because I feel the sorrow of those who have lost what they cannot replace. My grief is real, yes.But it is also borrowed. It…

his love letter

The Courage to Stay with Truth

God reveals not to wound, but to release. There is a particular kind of joy that arrives when something long-awaited finally appears. After twenty-two years of knowing each other—friendship, distance, reconnection, seasons where timing never quite aligned—I thought, this must…

Photo by Hải Nguyễn : https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-buried-steel-anchor-on-the-shore-7211793/

Anchored to the Constant

There are moments when I feel like giving up. Not in a dramatic way. Not with doors slammed or bridges burned. But in the quiet, heavy way — the kind where fear sits beside you and whispers questions you cannot…

on read

Can I handle the withdrawal?

I am learning something uncomfortable about healing: sometimes it feels worse before it feels holy. For the first time, I am brave enough to name it — I have an anxious attachment style. For a long time, I did not…

quiet morning

Learning to Stay

“See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”— Isaiah 43:19 Every new year carries with it a quiet expectation: that we will grow. That as we age another year, we inch closer to…

the inner child

The Wounds that Lead to Healing

A Note Before Reading: This Is Holy Ground Dear Reader, If you have been following this space, you know that I believe real growth happens through facing discomfort. This week, I am putting that conviction into practice. The post you…

Generated by Gemini

The Necessity of Discomfort

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how pain, as unwelcome as it feels, often becomes the very thing that saves us. It doesn’t always arrive as punishment—sometimes it comes as permission. Permission to pause. Permission to rebuild. Permission to begin again.…

Photo by Gemini

Advent Calendar Hype?

As we come out of the Solemnity of Christ the King and begin crossing into the quiet threshold of Advent, something becomes unmistakably visible: the sudden explosion of “Advent calendars” everywhere. Makeup Advent calendars, perfume Advent calendars, whiskey Advent calendars—there…

Christine's graduation

DILI NAKO

We recently celebrated the Solemnity of Christ the King, which marked the end of the liturgical year — a moment the Church pauses, to look back before Advent leads us into new beginnings. Somehow, my soul is ending a chapter…