Faith and My Family

To be quite frank, I am not well-off this month. My budget is so stretched to the limit, but still, I am quite happy.

I am happy that I have a job that I like. I am happy that I do things that I like.

Despite the fact that since last August, I have been making ends meet. Since my food business went bust and my business partners left me to shoulder all the loans incurred, every month I have to pay debts totaling more than 10,000.00. Can you imagine that? My salary as a professor is way below that, plus my monthly household expenses, plus bills, plus the allowance I give to my parents, plus my daily transportation and food expenses - so how do I make ends meet? Faith.

I cannot blame my ex-partners for leaving me in a ditch. If they don't want to help me pay, that is fine with me. It hurts me that I invested in putting up the business and when it failed, I was the only one left to shoulder everything. I wonder if it's the other way around - what if the business boomed, will I still be alone? I don't think so.

But that is neither here and now. Reality is, I am alone with mountains of debts and I have to shoulder it. Alone.

I remember a year ago that five to eight credit card companies kept on calling my cellphone, our landline. My mother was so bothered about it. Demand letters from legal etc. It was really dreadful.

It hurts because no one helped me. The people I trusted where nowhere to be found.

Thank God for my family. Faith.

Whenever I am beset with these financial problems, I kneel down and pray, "Lord, please help me. With your guidance, this too shall pass. I know Lord that You have a plan for me and you will never forsake me."

After two years, yes, the Lord has not forsaken me. My financial problems, though far from over, asre on a good financial standing. Out of the eight credit cards, I have already settled four and another two nearing completion this December and the last two on May and June 2010. Thank you Lord.

My family has always been there. If I need to advance some cash to make "abono" for my events, they are there. I don't think I can ever survive and be sane without them. Nawala na ang lahat sa akin, iniwan na ako ng lahat, pero ang family ko, andyan pa rin.

In my life, I can count the angels in my life. Not including my family, I can count on my fingers the genuine people who helped me get through with my difficulty. They didn't know about it. But I guess they feel that I need them, and I have known them more than five years. I guess the true test of friendship is not on how many gatherings we have been together but on how many times we have lent a hand. I believe these people know who they are. These people did not give me money, they ghave me projects to work on. I guess I wouldn't feel achieving financial freedom if the money came from dole-outs. Thank you people, you have enriched my life and made it possible for me to take off the shackles of perpetual debt.

Just rambling...