2024 REVIEW THUS FAR

At the end of February, I wrote a blog about finances and trusting God with my money by tithing although it wasn't enough for the month. I tried not to succumb to worry although it oftentimes reared its ugly head. I was bombarded with impromptu increase in my council tax, plus other extras that I found myself unable to meet deadlines for. 

Somehow though the month has almost ended and all those bills have been paid. I remember writing about "the windows of heaven" in the book of Malachi 3:10 meaning  which I took personally to mean "opportunity"

That in paying my tithe, God would present me with opportunities that would bring in more blessings; in this case financial. 

So my review of the tithe this month is that I was gifted £50 unexpectedly from a lady at my church. I was also given the opportunity to make meals for 10 people which brought me some income and my sister supported me with extra cash for the house so that really made a difference thus, God's window was opened for me this month after my tithe.  (I was daring God with His word). I will do a another tester this month!

I was listening to a youtuber this morning who was speaking about just living life, dealing with it as it comes up, letting go of worry and just being. 

Today is Easter, Holy Saturday to be precise. It is considered the Great sabbath, the day on which Jesus lay in the tomb, went to redeem mankind from hell. Sabbath day in general is a day of rest from works which is supposed to be the 7th day after 6 days of work like God did during creation.

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On the sabbath day in Exodus 20:8-11 God encourages us to observe this day as holy by resting. 

In Hebrews 4:10. it is further stated that "anyone who enters God's rest has also rested from their works, just as God did from His. 

Entering God's rest in this time is a permanent condition for me which involves me deliberately letting go of my need to hold on to and control life's circumstances on a daily basis. 

It means for me resting from worry, resting from trying to force things to go my  way when I don't need to, resting from overdoing by letting go and allowing things to fall in place naturally. 

In nature, rest is when the most productivity happens. We see it in sleep as the body repairs itself, cells are renewed and growth occurs. 

We also dream which is God's way of speaking to us about life situations, giving us creative ideas and thoughts. Our focus is more astute after a good sleep/ rest, and in all our skin looks brighter and better with quality sleep.

We also see the benefits of rest/ sleep during the winter months when certain animals go in hibernation to conserve their energy as a result of lack of food. 

When you have used all your strength available for work, REST. 

In rest your creative antennas are awakened. 

Rest can be done in short phases as well as long and in short phases, we see it quick naps which are a way our "brain resets itself by sending it through a period of non-rapid eye movement sleep (N1)".

All of these examples hint on the importance of resting from work, essentially harnessing the full benefits of the precious sabbath. Rest from your addiction to busyness, struggle and worry. Stay still when things are not going as planned, lean on the strength of Yahweh and see all things work for your good.

Happy Great Sabbath! 

Enjoy the great benefits that come as you heed to the Lord's sabbath and rest in the finished works of Christ.

Adios

GOD and MONEY!!!

"We have here only 5 loaves of bread and two fish", they answered- Matthew 14:17 . 

This month, my prayer as a I paid my tithe was that God should make my money sufficient for the month. I don’t often do this but in my mind, I expected my income for this month to be slightly less as I did not work overtime. As I prayed, I realised there was a  slight anxiety rearing its head so I decided to switch and thank God in advance that my money for the month would be sufficient. 

As I continued, I remembered the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 people with little to nothing. And so here goes my lesson for the month so far which begins with my tithe. 

The tithe is based initially on the story of Abram paying his first tithe to Melchizedek, king of Salem who was also a priest of God, after the king had brought out bread and wine and blessed him for winning a battle against his enemies to retrieve his nephew Lot. 

Melchizedek is believed to be a type of Christ and in him first offering to give and bless, Abraham reciprocated by giving a 1oth of his spoils. 

Genesis 14:18-20 

"Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all."

From this practice, believers have followed and had faith that in paying their tithe, which is a tenth of their income/ increase, the Lord will fulfil his promise concerning their finance as in the case in Malachi 3:10 which states 

"Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need". 

In this promise, it appears there is a storehouse which would suggest a place filled with extra in case there is a need to be met, an obvious window which as I write I think to myself as a portal or opportunity as in the case of a window of opportunity which will be presented to us as we honour God's word and obey this principle. Window also reminds me of the story of Jacob in Genesis 28:10-22 which speaks of Jacob having a dream in which God shows him a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and the angels ascending and descending on it. 

Thus, there is an obvious point of entry between the earthly realms and the heavenly realms. Why did Jacob only see this stairway when he was asleep and not awake? What were the angels doing climbing up and down, what business had they to do on this earth to be so active at that time of the night? Think about it because that’s a whole other sermon in itself!

 As you read along Malachi 3:10, it also appears that God is BOLDLY “DARING” us to “TEST” Him by OBEYING His word regarding tithing and be expectant of the abundance that will come with it 

Proverbs 3:9 also states “Honour the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your harvest, then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. In this instance the bible speaks to us as though we were farmers who had worked to till the land, sown seeds and eventually reaped a harvest of great goods and are being encouraged to bring a portion to the LORD reminding me again of the story of Cain and Abel who brought an offering to the LORD and with the former’s being rejected and the latter’s being fully accepted. 

 As I write, I am also reminded of the verse that states that no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved- Luke 5:37-39. 

This verse to me speaks of newness and renewal of the mind. When we are renewed in our thinking on life’s issues as in this case, finances, we are to put away the old thoughts about our finances  and to imbibe the new wine (God’s word) into our new wineskin by implementing His word correctly regarding our finances. 

Some of these old thoughts could be, 

1. The Lack mindset 

2. Where is the money going to come from?

3. How am I going to pay this or that bill, 

4. How will I clear this debt etc 

An example is given of Jesus and his disciples presented with the case of 5000 hungry people gathered after his preaching and healing expecting to eat something. 

The only food available at the time is 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. How do you feed 5000 with such a small quantity? But Jesus did not panic. Rather, he looked up to heaven, GAVE the Father thanks and broke the bread. 

This action is described perfectly in Philippians 4:6-7 which states "be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." 

We all know that going on the path of anxiety is a fruitless venture. 

It stems from the place of fear of the unknown and wreaks havoc on our mental, physical, emotional wellbeing as well as our immune system. 

Imagine Jesus walking in anxiety after claiming to be the son of God and being presented with such a big "opportunity" only to disappoint his disciples by panicking! And so, Jesus in his wisdom chose to be still, give thanks to the father and begin to break the bread. Be still and know that I am God Psalm 46:10, and they that know their God shall be strong and do exploits Daniel 11:32 confirm this. 

So, on a new financial journey this year, I’m praying and hoping that in me relearning money, I will be able to implement more principles of God's word, some of which are, 

1. The borrower is servant to the lender- Proverbs 22:7 

2. Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding- Proverbs 3:5 

3. Guard your heart above all else, for from it flows the issues of life- Proverbs 4:23 

4. Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom- Luke 6:38 

5. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land- Ecclesiastes 11:2 

This last principle reminds me of the story of Joseph in Egypt interpreting the pharaoh’s dream about 7 years of abundance and 7 years of famine and also giving him solutions by advising him to save in the years of abundance for surely the years of famine would come. In my learning of all these principles, I hope to do better this month and this year financially. 

I may not be so sure how things will work out, but I pray for wisdom to implement that which I have learnt. 

Some of the other practical ways to do better financially include

• Making work lunches to reduce cost
• Reducing borrowing
• Finding other means to make more money

So help me God!!!

I hope you are blessed as you read this and also will be able to search and know more of God's word regarding His financial promises to you and in doing so improve in your finances as well. 

Shalom!!!

ABBA & HIS REWARDS ❤️

 This morning as I read Genesis 15, God visited Abraham in a vision and said to him “I am your shield and exceeding great REWARD” 

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Yesterday, apostle Joshua selman was preaching about Hebrews 6:10 where we are told that God is not unjust but will REWARD our labour of love. 

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•This week, my theme was to walk by Faith.

As I wrote out my journal and plan for the day I realised I hadn’t thought about Faith at all. So I decided to read Hebrews 11, but then I thought I’d start from Hebrews 10. I read the last verses and in verse 38 it said “But my righteous one will live by faith, and I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back”. I wrote that down as my verse of the day in my journal

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I was reminded of the Bible verse in Genesis 15:6 where it says “and Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness”

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I realised the word “REWARD” kept popping up so I googled “what is God’s reward for those who live by faith

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That’s how I ended up on someone’s likened in post entirely dedicated to God’s rewards for the righteous. 

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Examples were given of Abraham, Joseph, with unwavering faith being rewarded with governorship of Egypt under pharaoh, David being rewarded with a kingdom & long lasting legacy, Job being rewarded with twice as much after many trials and Jesus topping it off in Matthew 5:12 with the promise “REJOICE, for GREAT IS YOUR REWARD in heaven” 

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In the end I learnt that there is a REWARD for our righteousness which we do by FAITH and in my reading through all these verses, I realised it’s God’s way of speaking to me about the fact that he comes with his rewards in his hands for all, as in Revelation 22:12-13 which states, “And Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last”

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So in your life journey, KEEP AT IT, whatever righteous acts you are doing, for as said “God is not unjust to forget your work and labour of Love which could be in your career (workplace), relationships, family etc. because HE is a REWARDER of them that DILIGENTLY seek Him. 

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Adios Amigos ❤️😀✌🏽. 

HOW MONEY WORKS

So I always thought I knew how to handle money until I grew up and noticed that most of my money had been spent unaccounted for and I had nothing to show for it mostly.

Some of it I'm sure, I used for very important things and I wouldn't change it if I had the chance to choose between spending the money for those things or not.

For a long time, I had heard about budgeting but for some reason, I never really came around to applying it. So near the end of 2016, I decided to consciously implement budgeting to my financial life

BUDGET 

"a quantitative expression of a financial plan for a defined period of time. It may include planned sales, volumes and revenues, resource quantities, costs and expenses, assets and liabilities and cash flows"

- To simplify this, I'd define it as a picture image of what you did with your money over a certain period of time-

So after implementing budgeting 2 months down the line, I noticed a few significant things.

1. I spend lots of my money on things I deem important but I need to do a reevaluation.

2. I spend money on things for others more often than for myself (Good or bad depending on how you see it)

3. My money could be spread out more than I am doing now.

4. I save way less than I earn

5. I could do financially better than I am now by applying more wisdom in my spending




In the end I've noticed that I'm not as good with managing my finance as I thought I was and definitely need more education in that area.

And so one of the things I've resorted to doing is to watch more online videos on money management and read more books on finance to improve, one of which is RICH KID SMART KID by Robert kiyosaki which I'm currently reading.

So some of the tips I've learnt on money management so far are, 

• Budgeting on excel- This gives you a picture image of what you've done with your money over a period of time

• Learn to save- Emergencies are inevitable and you want to be ready for whatever may come your way as stated in Matthew 25 about the 5 wise virgins who had enough oil in their lamps and were ready when the bridegroom arrived. 

• Build an emergency fund- 1 to 3 months savings which you build over time and will only touch when the situation is dire, e.g. Job loss, etc. It doesn't matter how small the money is. save it, for "little drops of water make a mighty ocean"

• Whatever God gives you, make good use of it. don't waste it. Plant it with your actions so that it can bear fruit. The same can be said with money. Use it wisely and it'll grow, waste it and you'll lose.

So hopefully by the time I'm done I'll have a more improved view of the importance of money, how it works and what I can do to manage mine better.

I hope this post is helpful.
Thank you and have a lovely day.

VISIONS with GOD

Happy 2017 Everybody,

Its been 3 years since I wrote a post on here. A lot has happened within that time. Been through a lot, grown through a lot, and learnt overtime to trust God through them all. God has been good throughout. I have learnt more of him along the way than I had before and I'm hoping to share with you my experiences as we go along.

I decided to revisit my blog and found a few things that encouraged me to start paying more attention to it.

So today, I would love to share with you the topic of VISION

The common bible verse regarding this topic is found in Habakkuk 2;1-2

"I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint
vs 2- Then the Lord said to me, "Write MY ANSWER plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others"

I read this bible verse a while ago and realised that I had never noticed the part where God says "Write MY ANSWER"

I think it's probably because I read the versions that said "write THE vision and make it plain"

But this particular word stood out to me because it made me realise that the vision belonged to GOD and is derived from GOD. It was the Lord who gave the answer and not man who thought it.

So all these years when I've been making resolutions and all manner of goals thinking to myself that I was the one who was supposed to come up with them, it was not really the best option because then, I relied on my strength and really didn't focus on God and where He wanted me to Go that year

Either way, my eyes have been opened and now I realise that in order to know the vision, I have to turn to the SOURCE (God) to know which direction to take and HOW to RUN with it.

So here are some of the ways in which we can turn to the source

1. PRAYER
Speak to God intentionally and sincerely about what you would like to do and what you should do,
Seek HIS WILL concerning them
Ask for his guidance,
Listen and write as you pray
(Ps: AFTER prayer, wait and Hear what the LORD has to say too as mentioned in the verse previously- its a two-way conversation)

2. The WORD
Read the bible
Research from it topics on the steps you want to take

3. LISTEN OUT FOR THE VOICE OF GOD- (through others)
i.e books, mentors, video/audio messages etc

4. SEE & RUN WITH THE VISION
When you are done, remember to RUN with the vision.
Act on what God speaks.
Get rid of every nonchalant attitude towards the vision.
Visit it constantly to remind yourself of what God has said

5. TAKE A STEP OF FAITH
"In prayer, there's a connection between what GOD does and what you do"
Plan, take a step, sow by your action and you will reap the reward
If you don't take a step of faith, nothing will be accomplished

6. REMAIN IN COMMUNION WITH THE SOURCE
Continue to commune with God to ensure that your roots do not dry out and that you are constantly refreshed to carry out the vision.

John 15:5- "I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing"

Lastly,

I would like to share with you something from Lisa Bevere which I feel will be beneficial to everyone since we are still in the beginning of the year and people are in the goal-setting phase.

"God wants to take you from where you are to where He's calling you to be but He needs you to be INTENTIONAL where you are.

He needs you to be faithful here and needs you to dream there.
He needs you to write things down and then put it into his hands and understand that he can take care of that........

Go ahead and dare to dream
Go ahead and write down
Go ahead and be creative

Circle around those things in prayer
Speak them out in faith and entrust them to God

And it will be just a little while before you start to see those pieces come together"

-Lisa Bevere- 

https://www.facebook.com/lisabevere.page/videos/10157436799455447/

I hope this is a blessing and a reminder to keep God at the fore-front of your goals this year as you take steps to achieve them.


Enjoy the link and have a blessed day.
Love,
Trudie

PRAISING GOD FOR DELIVERANCE

Good morning guys... It's 4am in the morning in England just now and today is officially my birthday. Thank God for the many blessings He's blessed me with and the wonderful people He's placed in my life. I just finished watching a video on Facebook of a 22 yr old recent graduate known as lauralee patrika who escaped an accident today on the motorway in America and gave a testimony of how God delivered her when her tyres had span around and her car was facing the opposite direction on the motorway so that she found herself directly facing big trucks when suddenly she said to God, "Lord  help me please" and her car, without touching the steering moved straight away from the road unto the side in safety.

This reminded me of a few weeks back in January when my friend, sister and I were heading for church in our friend's brand new car and I was telling her about a car accident that occurred when I was driving with my cousin to the shopping centre to get groceries on the 30th of December 2013. Whiles explaining the incident our car started overspeeding. I began to think the driver (my friend) should slow down but before I realised the car had gone so fast in a bid to enter the roundabout that it nearly spun off the bridge we were on... I sat there quietly for a few mins reminiscing on the many  ways this could have turned out fatal and praying to God and thanking him for deliverance from this very clear and fatal accident that it could have been had it not been for Him who had delivered us that day. 

God has spared my life and your life but many at times we forget and moan to God about the things that we don't have, but if we are dead, what does it matter then if we have everything... Like the bible says, what shall it profit a man if he gains the WHOLE world and LOSES his soul?...Mark 8:36- Clearly NOTHING...

Let us start being more thankful for our lives and for what God has given us. The girl in the video was on her way to choir practice when it happened and she stated how she had praised God right after and  was going to praise God like never before when she went to church on Sunday and no one would stop her. This reminded me of a video I was watching of Bruno Mars at the Super Bowl  yesterday, and I thought to myself, "look how these people are just jumping with ALL their strength and are so excited for mere songs that a mere man has sang yet when we go to church, we find ourselves being so diplomatic and not praising God with all our might like David did. Imagine if we had the same attitude as these people at the Super Bowl but in the presence of God. What a terribly mighty breakthrough we would experience just because we praised. And so henceforth, let us all including myself practice an attitude of thanksgiving and praise to God because He sure does deserve more than many including myself give Him

Adios!!!

2013 LESSONS FOR 2014

Happy New Year lovelies!!!
It's a brand new year .... 
2013 went a bit faster than I usually think each year or maybe it's just me. I've heard quite a few comments from people saying how much they enjoyed last year and looking forward to the exciting things 2014 is going to bring them. Whereas there are also the few who said that 2013 was the worst year of their lives with it's very challenging situations which they had to face. Mine was a mixture of the two. There were many brilliant moments last year like the new addition to our family and spending time with this one person.... But there were also times that I struggled with many personal issues which I had never dealt with in the past. Through them all, I have become much stronger and have learnt some lessons which I hope to apply to my life in the coming future. Here are a few!

LESSONS LEARNED IN 2013

1. Forgiveness is difficult when you look at the one who offended you.

2. When you forgive others, it shows that you love yourself and are actually doing yourself a favour.

3. Not everyone who comes into your life as a friend actually is a friend, open your eyes. 

4. Some people come into your life as a lesson, learn them.

5. When people leave, it is for your own good even though it might not seem like it at first.

6. Listen to your inner man, he will always tell you the truth.

7. God always speaks to us, be attentive and listen.

8. Be true and truthful to yourself and others ALWAYS, it will benefit you in the end.

9. Have the courage to let go of things that do not grow you or serve you.

10. You are worth more, don't let circumstances and people determine your worth.

11. You are good enough, always

12. Be happy, Build yourself, Learn yourself and Grow yourself

13. Learn from your mistakes, though they might seem expensive and painful, they are always good ways to grow so don't be afraid to make them.

14. Live, Love, Forgive and Learn

15. Let go of the past

16. The best moments in life are those moments when we totally let go and just live.

I hope you've picked up a few pointers from my list so far. God is full of surprises and I'm very much looking forward to what He has in store for me this year. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR STILL....

LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF FEARS

Yesterday I faced my fear. The best thing I did all day. My fear grew bigger the more I heared people speak of it. So I spent almost a year avoiding something so little which had become so great in my mind. Yet I sang, throughout that time that The Lord was my shepherd and so I would fear no evil.... The irony of the matter was that I was afraid.

I read an update from Pastor Mensah Otabil saying, "This week, put a smile on someone's face, HELP SOMEBODY TO STAND. SPEAK THOUGHTFULLY. BE GENTLE. Surprise someone with a random act of kindness. BE A BLESSING THIS WEEK. What you do for others, God will do for you." 

A day before facing my fear, I had gone to speak to one of my managers at my work concerning not working in a particular area of my workplace. She asked me the reason why and I let her know that it was partly because of the stories I had heard which had resulted in my hesitation to take the plunge. She was very familiar with this because many others had avoided this particular area because of a similar reason so she spoke kindly to me concerning this issue, encouraged me to take the step and get it done and also provided contact details of other members of staff who were available mainly for this kind of issue. She stated that she would review in a month's time where I was concerning this issue. I left the office feeling positive and very encouraged by what she had said as she had thrown a new and different light concerning this issue. 

After work, I went home, discovered Mensah Otabil's update and thought, "oh wow this is what the manager did for me at work today"- by helping me to stand up against my fear through speaking gently and thoughtfully to me- and so I took the plunge and booked a shift in that area. I prayed about my fears and encouraged myself with bible verses talking about trust in The Lord in times of fear 

Psalm 56:3- "WHEN I AM AFRAID, I PUT MY TRUST IN YOU"

This helped me a lot and after prayer I said to myself that I would not meditate on this issue again because the more I thought about it, the more daunting it seemed. 

I woke up on the day feeling ready to face whatever it was that everyone was talking about. At work, there were one or two glitches and that was about it concerning all the horror stories I had heared. In fact, I thought to myself, I have faced a few worse than this, but I guess maybe I haven't spent as much time there so I cannot completely draw a conclusion. But the long and short of the story is that, sometimes we tend to exaggerate fears in our minds which cause us to me stagnant. 

God has not put in us a spirit of fear but of love, of power and of a sound mind. Hence, it is important that we recognise that where there is fear, there is the absence of love and where there is love there is the absence of fear. 

After work I was glad I had worked in that area and I thought to myself... "Thank you God for how it went today".

In all I'm glad I took the plunge and my conclusion is that I should let love govern my steps not fear for as the bible says, love covers a multitude of sins, in my case, it covers a multitude of fears. 

ADIOS. 

THEN I SAT AND WORRIED INSTEAD OF PRAY

Who around here is familiar with my title for today? Well if none of you will admit it, I will.
Today, my sister has gone out to run a few errands as she does on fridays, the one day she genuinely gets to chill at home these days. So I lie in bed after an early shift to get some rest and I decide to check my facebook as well as my other websites (i.e facebook, blogger, yahoo then back to facebook, then I start all over again plus the ocassional tumblr; I haven't checked that one yet but I will do in a second lol).

I put on some Ghanaian spirit tunes on youtube and start to pray a little. But then one negative thought just pops into my head and I think, "i'll just brush it off". My mini prayer stops for a second then I go back on my facebook, then my blogger lol.

I check a few statuses and one says, "God is shifting your season. The drought is over! The famine has ended and now it's harvest time". As soon as I finish reading, I hear that little negative voice say something along the lines of "That's what they usually say, but it never really changes" But then I remember that God has given me the job I have now and God has done so much, I just don't pause to recollect them in that instant.

Then another moment of mini prayer ensues and after that I find myself beginning to sink back into worry as I have noticed myself doing these days when I'm alone. There is a saying that goes, "the devil has work for idle hands". Not that I am completely idle because I have deliberately laid down to rest and soak myself with my music but I've noticed that whenever I am alone these days, that is when I get overwhelmingly bombarded.

One time I allowed negative thoughts to overwhelm me so much so that the things I said I'm definitely sure did not sound pleasant in God's ears but He has forgiven me still so I move on. I know it is completely bad so today as soon as I found myself beginning to do this, I decided to write and pray about it instead.

I nearly shed a tear some minutes ago and I thought why not put it in words on here. I seem to be beating about the bush with this and now I've almost forgotten the reason for my topic

Oh yeah I just remembered. I mean to say that in times when we are being bombarded by thoughts from the enemy, let us not sink into worry like I have done many times, but rather make it a point to pray and tell God all our worries. He cares more than you and especially I know, yet for some reason I seem to think otherwise when I have asked sometimes and the answer has not yet come.
God is in charge of my life and everything works together for my good. 

So in conclusion, let's start to pray instead of sit and worry.... lol like you did not see that coming.

Adios amigos!!!!

THE OPPORTUNITIES I NEVER GRABBED

Do you notice opportunities when they present themselves? Or more like, do you notice it when God brings potential opportunities your way?

Do you, like me, weigh out the pros and cons of every opportunity presented and sometimes overthink them so much so that by the time you realise, you would have missed out on them altogether?

If yes, then we're all in this together because, like you, I've found myself in countless circumstances where I have over thought certain chances and lost them in the end. Maybe losing them might be God's way of showing me that those opportunities were not mine to take in the first place or possibly fear causes stagnation in my decision making skills.




Well today I happened to eavesdrop on a conversation between two people at work; a guy who had gone outside for a cigarette and a lady.

They discussed how the guy was feeling in general and this led to him speaking about his photography which he does as a hobby. He told different stories and one of them stood out to me.

One day, he had sat on a bench outside slowly inhaling his cigarette smoke when he discovered a bird perched in a corner. He had his camera with him as per usual and in his mind he thought to himself that maybe he should take a photo of this bird, yet he said to himself that he shouldn't because by the time he'd picked up the camera, the bird would've flown away. A few minutes later, the bird still perched there and this gentleman was contemplating whether to take the photo. Then another voice in his head told him not to take the photo at all to which he obeyed and lost the opportunity altogether to take a potentially brilliant photo.

How many opportunities have you missed out on because you sat and contemplated for so long? 

A few weeks ago, I wrote in my diary that I wanted to open an account. As soon as I wrote it down, I began to make plans as to which day would be most suitable for me to get that account. I went ahead and did as I had written in my diary on the actual day and on my way back I thought to myself,

"it never occurred to you to pray before making the account. Yet how many times have you used prayer as an excuse for your indecisiveness".

I'm not saying that it is not good to pray. It is the perfect thing to do at all times as a christian yet, I find that sometimes we are indecisive because of fear of making a mistake. God is the utmost restorer in all situations. He has not put in us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 hence we need not approach opportunities with fear but with courage knowing that the Lord will definitely order our footsteps as in Psalm 32:8,

- "The Lord says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch and watch over you"-

In Genesis 28:15 God tells Jacob that He has given him a land where he is but Jacob decides that he wants to go somewhere else. God does not stop him from making that decision but reassures him with these words
"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you"

In other words, God is with us in our decision making hence we should not be crippled by fear because either way, that which God has spoken will come to pass.

So from today, Let us all begin the journey of boldness in our decision making and grasp opportunities presented to us but also remember to walk in God's guidance so that we will not be led astray

Love.
Have a blessed day!!!

RESILIENCE By Texttextiles!!!

"I shall have what I decree in Jesus name"- Speak by Myron Butler
Texttextiles has been making youtube videos for a while but for some reason I haven't made a blog post about any of it even though a few have been a blessing so far.
Here's a recent video of her talking about developing "RESILIENCE" in the new year and also speaking in faith regarding the things we desire so that we can have them. Be blessed as you listen and feel free to check out more of her videos and ofcourse her blogposts.

 Dios los bendiga a todos- God bless you all!
Adios! Hablaremos mas tarde

WAITING UPON THE LORD

Patience brings endurance to run the race. It is a manifestation of our faith in God!

Patience is a virtue which is more than many treasures when developed. Just recently, my friend got married and I learnt a few things in the process. One of them is the spirit of patience. When we were young it was the norm for people to get married before having children. But as I grew up, I realised that this had changed. It seemed even more normal to have kids before marriage, hence break once virginity.

It was not on my agenda to get married before having my own children but all I knew was that I wanted to have kids roughly in my mid to late twenties as at some point, my "biological clock" might start ticking.

But then things changed when I went to university and I found out that there were another group of young people who were planning on keeping themselves till marriage. This became the norm for me and my ideas changed. I'm glad they did yet I'm also aware that sometimes it is a bit challenging in this present day.

My reason for first mentioning my friend is that, she's one of those young people at university who waited before marriage.

I haven't had the chance to ask her but when I do, I'm sure she'll say that it was worth the wait. All those times when she was faced with compromising the standards in God which she believed to be sure and true and yet did not give up but stood her ground in God's word and decided to wait have become fruitful.

I recently read the book of proverbs (The message bible) and each time, "righteousness" showed up, the word "uncompromisingly" was written before it.

AMP version says in Psalm 92:12 that "The uncompromisingly righteous shall flourish like the palm tree [be long-lived, stately, upright, useful and fruitful]; They shall grow like a cedar in lebanon [ majestic, stable, durable and incorruptible]

Therefore if this promise has been made regarding the standards in God which we decide to keep in the process of dating, then I'm sure it is a blessing

Regarding adulthood and relationships, sometimes when things are not going the way we planned them as little children, we tend to get frustrated and if not careful we rush into things that set us back and make our journeys to our destinations even longer- This has been my feeling for sometime now but God help me. For instance, certain people assume that at a specific age, they are supposed to at least own a car, be in a relationship and have good jobs (Myself included). But sometimes it happens differently. What should we then do if we find that the plans which we made for ourselves are not coming out the way we wanted them to? This is when we need to develop a patient spirit. For in doing so, we will come to find that things will fall into place as they ought to.

I learnt from one of our fellowships at university that patience involves "waiting, trusting and holding tight" with anticipation. God expects us to be alert as we wait in patience. It involves expectation based on knowledge and trust and sometimes not waiting is a sign of arrogance. We should not go ahead of God but rather allow Him to lead us. One of the final things we need to participate in in our process of waiting is to spend time with God in prayer, be still and build our relationship with Him. God will always show up at the right time and give us that which we need. Let us not be bitter as it sometimes happens when the issues in our lives have not been attended to by God. Neither should we give God time to do things but rather wait upon Him because at the time when we are tired and seeking alternatives to Him, it is our own issues that are before Him which He is sorting out.

Psalm 145:15 says "The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season"

Psalm 130:5-6 also says "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth on the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning"

You might ask after such a long essay that why should you wait. Well a few reasons would be because of who God is, who we are and what we are not capable of doing.

Here's another favourite verse of mine in the bible on waiting.

Isaiah 40:30-31

"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." 

Stay focused on the destination as you run the race of endurance and STAY BLESSED AS YOU LEARN TO WAIT UPON THE LORD IN THIS NEW YEAR!!!

Adios!

Surrender- The secret of allowing greater outcomes

"God can dream a bigger dream for me than I can ever dream for myself"
"When you've done all you can do, give it up and surrender"


Happy new year everybody... It's been a while since I've posted something on here.
Here's the new beautiful inspiration from  Oprah Winfrey which talks about speaking to God, faith, surrendering and the will of God in our lives.

 

I hope you are feeling the blessing of the Lord in this new year already and by now you've began to Let go and let God start doing His work in your life anew. God favour you!

Adios a todos

AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

A week ago, I visited my sister and a friend after going to town to sort out a couple of things. The previous day, I had been reading a book on starting a new business. One of the topics in the book talked about facing one's fears and so the book requested that we list the things that we are afraid of and what we thought would happen if we attempted them. I listed quite a few and put up the positive things that could happen if I decided to take a chance on them. The following morning, I realised that for some reason I was getting a bit unhappy with my circumstance. I was getting worried about the things I was looking forward to and didn't seem to be happening. I felt a tad bit sad and I think I shed a few tears when some results I was waiting for returned and they weren't the ones I was hoping for. Mind you, they were the wrong results which I was given ( I found out the following day) but because worry had overshadowed me, it added salt to injury.

So I decided to go and see my friend and sister and when I got there, we were having random conversations and the topic of "worrying" popped up. My sister stated that she had noticed that I had lost weight and my friend commented on the fact that I looked worried and asked if I was worrying too much. She spoke about the things that she had gone through at certain points in her life and how she had tried to keep her head held high and have the right attitude in those circumstances

Today, I watched one of Creflo dollars' messages entitiled "The attitude of affection" and he placed an emphasis on the fact that as Christians we need to have the right attitude towards God in every circumstance. That our attitude in life determines our altitude (i.e. how high we go).One phrase that stuck out to me was "You will arrive at the place of your attitude". This was evident in my case when I began to worry because, I forgot about all the brilliant things occurring in my life for a second and decided to direct my focus on those that had not happened as well as worry about the "potential wrongs" that could happen essentially causing me to be overwhelmed and depressed.

The other few things I learnt were that 

1. My attitude determines whether things will work out

2. With an attitude of Gratitude, I should serve God

3. My position of affection towards God will determine my success in everything I do in line with God's word

To emphasise on no. 2, I'm gradually learning that my service to God does not only include me working for God in church but also the way I react in various circumstances.

So e.g. If I find that I have no money and I continuously murmur and complain about it, that is indirectly a "disservice" to God. In exodus 15 and 16, the Israelites had been set free from captivity in Egypt and God had provided so much for them yet when they wanted something else and had not received it, they murmured against Moses and essentially against God and God heard these murmurings.

Numbers 11:1

"And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in uttermost parts of the camp"

From this verse, it is clear that God is not cool with murmurings and complains. Therefore it is important that we have the right attitude towards Him in all circumstances and that our position in those circumstances include being APPRECIATIVE, GRATEFUL, THANKFUL and HONOURABLE as in the end these will create a FRUITFUL disposition. But a contrary attitude will cause us to serve LACK as written in Deuteronomy 28:47

"Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee"

So I guess all I'm saying is that I should learn to be more thankful in my circumstances as this is God's will for my Life [1 Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything, give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you"]

Gracias a Dios por esta palabras- Thank you God for this word

LOOKING TO GOD IN QUIETNESS AND TRUST

Isaiah 30:15
"For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy one of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength and ye would not"

So as you all know, I'm fond of posting videos that inspire me so today, here's a song by Jenn Johnson from Bethel Church entitled "God I look to you".

Sometimes in life, we become so overwhelmed with troubles that we ordinarily do not know how to deal with . I have come to realise of late  that most at times, these troubles come in batches and never one at a time. But when faced with them, God reminds us to trust in Him through the storm. The main verse above says that "in quietness and confidence shall be your strength" In other versions of the bible, confidence is replaced with trust, thus, Trust which is not based on our capabilities in those circumstances but Trust which is in the one who is ALL MIGHTY and reigns over every situation in our lives.

Lamentations 3:37 says "who  is he that saith and it cometh to pass unless the Lord commandeth it"
This is a complete assurance which God has given to His Children making us aware that though our situations may seem overwhelming and completely unsolvable, God is still in control and will never allow anything to take place without His permission. Therefore when faced with troubles and situations where we wonder how things are going to be, let's not forget to trust in God and sing the song "Halleluyah Jesus reigns" and continue to tell God that we look to Him because He is where our help comes from. HALLELUYAH! HALLELUYAH! HALLELUYAH! God is here with us and is always listening! He is our very present help in time of need. Thank you Jesus!

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION UPDATE

So today is Sunday the 4th of November, a few more weeks to the end of the year, then 2013 begins. At the start of this year, I decided to make resolutions like everyone else because I felt like a new beginning had just arrived like I do at the start of every year lol. Anyway, I made a few resolutions and I thought I'd update you guys on my progress even though I would have been better off updating you monthly just so we could check each other's progress. Either way, I'm here now, so I'll get on with it.

Here are the original resolutions I made and the progress I made with them. 

1. Save money- £500- Saved £800 and spent it all so I'm back to square 1 lol

2. Learn Spanish- Purchased a Spanish book and have been studying nearly everyday

3. Work harder- Graduated from university so I guess I tried

4. Get a Job- Got one in June, starting a new one on December 3rd

5. Get a phone- Have a Sony ericsson xperia arc now so not bad

6. Sleep early= 12:00pm- I was ok for the first few weeks, then everything fell apart lol

7. Manage my time properly- Got a Diary which has been very useful so far


Commentary
It seems that so far, my money saving skills have been good but keeping what I've saved isn't my forte yet.
My job attainment skill is gradually falling into place but a little more work would do me some good.
As for sleeping early, only God knows lol... I need to sort myself out- a bit of strong will might do me some good at this point
Time management skill still  needs a bit more work but so far so good.

It appears these might not be the most inspiring new year's resolutions ever. Either way it was something to put on my to-do list and tick off and so far, it's been alright.

What is ONE of your new years resolutions and how have you been coping with it?

THE LESSON IN WAITING

So I finished university in May this year. I have been trying to find a job ever since I can remember and for some reason, it seems not to be working out as planned. Sometimes I get frustrated after I've stayed at home for a while because I feel like I'm wasting my time doing nothing at home. Mind you, I worked for 3 weeks after university as a door-to-door charity fundraiser. I was excited at the start because I had gotten a job but then it all began to change when at each door, a stranger would either be nice and not sign up to my charity or someone would be so rude I wondered how people could act like that. One time, I went to a man's door and as soon as I knocked, he came out and gave me the most unpleasant unwelcome I have ever recieved in my life.
Hebrews 13: 2
"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for some who have done this have entertained angels without realising it" 

Not that I'm claiming to be an angel or anything lol but anyway, My experience made me moan about the job all the time and eventually I was fired because I could not hit the target number of donors required by each employee within the 3-week period.

With that being said,  I was somewhat glad I got fired and regardless of everything, I am extremely glad I went through this experience because it built my confidence in approaching strangers and these days when I'm afraid to do something, my inner voice just says "act like it was a door-to-door fundraising" because in that job, regardless of whether I was afraid, I still had to approach the strangers door.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I have found myself on many occassions, "almost" securing a job and never quite getting it. I have moaned about it and then been thankful to God and then moaned about it all over again but then one thing I keep forgetting in my process of complaining is the many times God has worked the odd things out for my good. And so, whenever I remember these circumstances, I begin to think, maybe God is actually looking through the jobs to find me the perfect one. I read a few days in Golden thoughts' page on what God does when we ask for something; that He takes the opportunity to offer us the best out of the rest. And so bearing this in mind, I have decided to practice patience and learn any other lesson I'm required to learn whiles I'm at home

Besides, I might end up complaining when I get to work full time and there's no time to just chill lol.

Verse of the day- Isaiah 40: 31
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint"

Thank you Jesus, As I wait on you, I will not be wearied because I know that through it all, you'll work everything out for my good.


Espanoles frase del dia
Dios esta obrando cosas para mi bien- God is working things out for my good. 
Gracias dios!- Thank you God

Adios a todos!! - Bye everyone
Hablaremos mas tarde- talk to you later

THE ONE!

So ever since I can remember, I've always thought that I have to be patient because God has "One" person for me and even though I am definitely not sure when, where or how I will meet that person, I have found myself in countless situations calculating the odds of someone being "the one". I think my expectations from my partner have grown so high that when I see the good side of someone, I immediately put him on a high pedestal and begin to think that maybe he's "the one" and we might end up being together and even sometimes end up having relationships with the person in my head lol... craaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyy!. I know right?  Then when I find myself thinking of the person and considering how it will be like when we have to date and other stuff, I end up reconsidering the idea.

Anyway, the long and short of the story is that I came across a video once again about "How do you know someone is the one"

Jefferson Bethke explains it a little more here.
He clarifies that there is no such thing as "The One" because we end up putting too much pressure on the other person to be perfect when we should be putting Christ first and learning to show love, grace, mercy and forgiveness to the other person plus holding people in high standards might cause us to miss the good, godly people surrounding us.

In a nutshell, WE ARE FREE TO CHOOSE WHO WE WANT and it is important to be transparent in the process and trust God to enable us to make the right choice.
Ps: We still need to exercise patience because God always knows Best!

LISTENING!!!

I read a post a few weeks back on "the art of listening". Before that, I had spoken to my cousin and there had been a misunderstanding between us on a decision we were supposed to be making at some point. During the conversation, I realised that I was very keen on making my point clear, being argumentative and making assumptions on what I thought my cousin meant. He pointed out that when I am speaking to someone, I should listen well to what the person is saying before I speak. Something which I found quite insulting at the time and had an "all new" argument with him lol but anyway I'm gonna get straight to the point

After the conversation, I went about my normal duties yet the whole conversation ran through my mind again and I thought to myself "you are sometimes too keen on picking fights and assuming"

But that's not the issue here. The issue is my ability to listen attentively, be slow to speak and quick to hear as the Bible recommends that believers should do.

Because of this I embarked upon the journey to learn the act and art of listening. I read a post titled The art of listening in which an exercise requested that I listen to my favourite music and try to listen to every single word in the song. True to the findings in the post, I ended up drifting away about halfway through the song. I tried again as was requested by the exercise and the second and third times I drifted off again. This made me realise two things about my listening ability.

1. Familiarity (assumptions) prevents me from paying attention
2. I don't really listen to the words when I'm listening to music

So after these two discoveries, I followed up a link on conversations- urges of an untamed mind and I learnt a few things about conversations. About the fact that there are different forms of conversation that we have as humans. Sometimes its in the form of speaking, other times, its watching others speak and at certain times its through our own mental conversations which we have. And most at times these conversations prevent us from truly listening.

For instance, in my conversation with my cousin and even with other people, I've realised that often when the other person is speaking, I am already making up my own story in my head as to what to give as a reply hence preventing me from truly listening to the other person. The post also gave an instance of people who have conversations and never listen but are only waiting for the other person to finish so that they can give their own opinion on the issue (i.e me sometimes).

So I found here a video by Iyanla Vazant  on Listening. It just summarises the simplicity of listening; that the true art of listening is without judgement or expectation but is a process of love which comes from the "right now" moment when you make a connection with the person that you're talking to and finally, it comes from the heart

After realising these things about myself, I have decided to make a deliberate effort to be silent at certain points in the day, for I realise that sometimes silence brings more peace than noise and in so doing I'll learn to practice my listening much better than I have been doing so far.

The burden of Guilt!!!- Thank God for Jesus

Lately I've been burdened with sin and guilt over the things which I've done yet wish I never did. Most of the time, its to do with what I said, or the way I reacted in a certain situation and often I judge myself based on what I think other people might have thought of me in that instant. I've felt frustrated and upset and heavy hearted at times but sometimes it goes away and it seems like all is ok again but then I find myself once again being bombarded with these thoughts once more. Earlier this week I had to say to the devil speaking in the back of my mind to literally "F- off" (apologies for the language) because he himself wasn't perfect anyway so I don't know why he's talking. I know as a christian, I'm supposed to speak so that my speech brings grace to hearers. In this case it was in my head lol... not to make an excuse or anything but anyway I'll get straight to the point.

I watched this preacher on a Hillsong tv program and he basically talked about the rooster that crowed 3 times for Peter to finally realise that he had denied Jesus and confirm what Jesus had told him earlier.
The preacher compared this rooster's crow to the voice of the enemy that constantly accuses us when we've faltered as christians and time and time again, the rooster constantly crows to remind us of our mistakes which only ties us down and prevents us from fully going for what God has promised us.

In the end, the preacher spoke about the day of pentecost after the resurrection of Christ which meant that the disciples; Peter in this case was filled with the Holy spirit and at this time, when the enemy's voice might have showed up again to bring him down, the Power of the Holy spirit was there to combat every accusation so that Peter was able to go on and achieve the goal which Christ had set i.e. to build His church.

Revelation 12:10 says "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his christ: FOR THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN IS CAST DOWN, WHICH ACCUSED THEM BEFORE OUR GOD DAY AND NIGHT"

Thank God for this reminder. He knew I'd need it today

vs 11 says "And they overcame them by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death"

So this is what I am doing now. I declare that I am a child of God. I am no longer a servant of sin. I am a servant of God and I am more than a conquerer through Him that loved me

Romans 7vs 19 For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do
vs 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
vs 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin

So when I am burdened with sin I'll remember...

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit"
vs 2: For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death"


My sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus.  I no longer heed to the voice of the enemy that constantly points at my mistakes and causes me to be burdened because I am free from his accusations .. After all he himself is not perfect! God has saved me and my response today is to fully recieve the true gift of salvation which He has offered me by believing what He has said about me. I was never "perfect" yet He called me and so I will not try to be because now, God calls me His child. I am His righteousness and so I stand no longer ashamed because God forgives my sins and remembers them no more (Hebrews 8:12). I belong to Jesus. Sin no longer has dominion over me for I am not under the law but under GRACE (Romans 6:14). Thank you Jesus!!!

I know that time and time again the enemy will try to burden me with guilt but thank God for the holy spirit for He will bring to remembrance what I have learnt today about freedom in Christ and so I declare that I am an overcomer in Jesus name Amen!!!