Starting Today: Journey of Faith

Exactly two years ago, in November 2006, I embarked on my first overseas trip. I was blessed to have toured Germany for a week, visited Strasbourg, France, and attended a six-day international publishing conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I called it my journey of faith because I went through situations that seemed impossible had it not been for divine intervention. Many times, my faith in God was tested, and in those times my weaknesses and limitations were magnified, but the power and limitlessness of God was certainly manifested. I kept a journal as I embarked on that trip and starting today, I would like to share with you the memories and lessons I learned along the way, hoping that one day, you too, will respond to the call of a journey of faith.





Journey to Brazil: A Journey of Faith

Where the journey began

It began last November 2004. Through a tip passed on to me by an editor, I was able to get a scholarship and attend LITTWORLD 2004 at Tagaytay City. LITTWORLD is an international Christian publishing conference held every two years in different parts of the world.

LITTWORLD 2004 was the first international publishing conference I had attended and it had greatly impacted me. I learned many things about writing, editing, graphic design, marketing, and publishing in general.

Aside from listening to Philip Yancey’s talk, I also met and had a chat with an old, bearded Russian philosopher/mathematician and writer of fairy tales; an Australian editor who edited an inspirational story contributed by worship leader Darlene Zschech for an inspirational collection of stories; a warm, gentlemanly publisher from Kenya; a Chinese based in Hong Kong who smuggles Bibles and Christian books to mainland China; an American female novelist; Malaysian, Russian, and Greek translators; and other interesting peers. I also met other Filipino editors and publishers.

I came out of the conference fueled by a vision, recharged to write, more equipped to battle and build with the pen (aahh…most of the time, with the computer), humbled by the experience, and wanting to attend the next conference.

And that leads my journey to Brazil.

Where the journey leads

LITTWORLD 2006 heads to Sao Paulo, Brazil in November 2006. At first, when I learned about it, I wasn’t sure if I should attend. Go get a globe or map and you’ll see that Brazil is half-way around the globe from the Philippines. It’s just too far, and that means, the air fare would definitely be very expensive. And the conference fee alone costs $425!

But as I prayed about it, I felt the urge to trust God for the trip. At first, I wanted to go because I wanted to be further trained as a Christian writer, and honestly, I wanted to go abroad for some sight seeing. But as I seek God’s will, my motive was redirected to a desire to glorify God and encourage others in their walk of faith. By journeying to Brazil, I am willing to let God do for me the impossible and I am hoping that in the process I could inspire others to trust God also for the great things God has planned for them. I wanted to be sure this is part of God’s good plan for me so I asked my mother and husband to pray for me and ask God for a confirmation. After they’ve asked God for guidance through the Scriptures, I beefed up my preparation for the journey.





Find out in my next blog how a passport can test your faith as it did mine.