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.