Ink it

I have just learned the power of journaling. Having faced a tough moment in the last few months, I decided to read my own blog. To my amazement I was encouraged by what I wrote a few months ago. A friend of mine recently told me, "your mind will forget but ink won't". In other words, as we journal our lives down, we are tracking down our journey and when faced with challenging times, we can just pick up that journal and say "hey! I remember God coming through for me in February. I will trust Him through this hurdle."

God spoke with the Isarelites saying:
(Deuteronomy 6)

6And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in your [own] minds and hearts; [then]

7You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.

8And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets (forehead bands) between your eyes.

9And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

It wasn't enough to have it in their hearts. God made sure that His words were visible: on their hand, forehead, on their doorposts, even on the gate!

There is such a power that comes in being re-affirmed from our own personal victories.

From this day, I give myself to the power of the ink and document this awesome journey!

With YOU, i can

My 28 year-old sister is getting married on Saturday 16 August 2008.
It has been a hard journey for her. This is more than a breakthrough, not only for her but for our family (as there has been strong iniquities running in the family).
I have five sisters and she's the fourth in line. But she's the first of the Ndinga girls to have a white wedding. Two of my other sisters have had traditional ones (and I'm not implying that I'm against those, not at all) but there's a joy in (carrying on) having a white wedding. It makes those of us who do not understand those traditional ceremonies to celebrate with so much more understanding (lol).

My sister has been through quite a lot. She had been in relationship back in Congo. Then when we moved to Zimbabwe, the boyfriend had said that he would marry her. Now, those are "heavy" words to say to a woman. Anyways, he let her down.
After some time she got into a serious relationship. The "new" guy had even met my dad and they had almost gotten engaged. But he broke her heart.
Then later she met this wonderful guy. The traditional ceremony did not go well back in December 2006. I remember seing her cry.
But they held onto one another.

Well this year in April, the traditional ceremony (lobola) was succesful and now I am flying home in a few days to celebrate this covenant.

God is faithful. They are both believers (unlike the other wimps) and I know that God's hand is on them. She will be the first to have children within the context of marriage. I praise God for it.

Psalm 18:29a NIV "With your help I can advance against a troop (a barricade) "
18:29b AMP "...and by my God I can leap over a wall"

With God's help, His grace, His ability, my sister IS leaping over that wall of iniquity, that wall of shame, that wall of pain.. So can you! So can I!

Hold on to His Word even in hard times. His Word is truth and faithful.

Psalm 27:10 New Living Translation "Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close"

May God by His Word hold you close even when man has failed you.
Now let me go get that suit... lol

But.. I've just landed.

I have just come out a season, and "immediately" getting into another one. But I've just landed in this "place". Can't I rest for a bit? I went to a fellowship on campus two days ago and during the ministry of the Word, my heart was pounding as the Holy Spirit was reminding me through the preacher about what He had told me years back. I felt like saying to Him "But can't I rest? I've just left this other 'place' "?

God predestined us to accomplish a task. And no matter what we go through, His intentions is to direct us back to that task that He had in mind for us.
God is a God of purpose.
In Galatians 1:13-16 (The Message Bible, the Apostle Paul says:

"I'm sure that you've heard the story of my earlier life when I lived in the Jewish way. In those days I went all out in persecuting God's church. I was systematically destroying it. I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career. EVEN THEN God had DESIGNS ON ME. Why, when I WAS STILL IN MY MOTHER'S WOMB HE CHOSE AND CALLED ME OUT out of sheer generosity! Now he has INTERVENED and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell non-Jews about him." (emphasis mine).

God had set apart Paul from his mother's womb. He had designs on Paul's life and intervened to bring him to the path of joyfully telling non-Jews about the Son of God.
Whatever you are going through, God is not only making it work out for your good but He is wanting to actively direct you in the path that He predestined for you to walk in.
I am going home this coming weekend for my sister's wedding. When I get back, I have to carry on accomplishing this study "task" that I started.
I'll end with this: God had a presdestined assignment for Jonah to carry out. He ran away from his task and yet God pursued him to get him back into his path.
God has given a choice to be participators in His purposes and not spectators. He won't force us but He longs for us to be on His team.

Yes.. I have just landed, in order to finish what I was originally meant to do.

Ephesians 1:4 (The Message) "Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he HAD US IN MIND, had settled on us as the focus of his love" (emphasis mine).

Jeremiah 1:5 (The Message)
"BEFORE I shaped you in the womb,
I knew all about you.
Before you saw the light of day,
I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—
THAT'S WHAT I HAD IN MIND FOR YOU." (emphasis mine)

You Aint On my Radar... "oh really?"

I am deciding to do my third blog immediately after the second one.. My thoughts are "bubbling".
Well this semester, I picked some interesting courses such Social Anthropology and Organisational Psychology. (On this note may I say that the more you study, the more you should "see" God and learn about Him in your studies). I am also studying African Dance.

Having been away from home, I have had such a worldview shift. I began to notice the "simple" things in life. This post is based on Elisha's prayer for his servant. You may be familiar with the story.
Elisha was surrounded by the Arameans army with horses and chariots that had surrounded the city. His servant panicked but Elisha was confident in seeing what could not be seen. He prayed "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see" (2 Kings 6:17). It goes on to say "Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."

The horses and chariots of fire were "always" there. Elisha's servant couldn't see it. These horses and chariots of fire did not appear on the servant's radar but they were there.

As I am coming out of this "zooming out" to see the whole picture, I want to further emphasise on seeing NEW things, discovering new things.. Doing things you've not done before (such as go carting and ice skating for me) and open your eyes to what is already there. I hear preachers say that Scientists are now discovering that there is a maker in the way the universe is made. And they say in addition "I could have told them it was in the Bible!".. But wait a second, at least those scientists did something in finding that out. They sweated during their research. What have you done preacher?

I do not want to only have a spiritual emphasis on "opening one's eyes". Anthropology is changing the way I see and think about things. Many of us would think of the word "spouse" according to the dictionary definition but there is more to that word in practical life.

I am also learning about how the "poor" are made invisible. We go about our days and not seeing the disadvantaged in our society, simply because they do not show up on our radar. I am deciding to consciously and intentionally help those I can.
My room shuts me out from seeing what's really out there. The media does a great job at that too.

I challenge you to let your eyes be opened in "all" spheres of life. What you see is not all there is to see.

I'll end with this: When Elisha was raising Shunammite's Son from the dead, it is said in 2 Kings 4:35 "Elisha...stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and OPENED HIS EYES" (emphasis mine).

You may think your situation is dead but there is another of looking at it.. Open up your eyes..
It is right there in your radar...

zoom OUT... i see NOW!

Wow, it has been a couple of months since I blogged. I am determined to finish what I started.

I have begun a new semester in my first year at the University of Cape Town. Having been away from home in a "non-churchy" environment (though I was away from home last year, I was doing missions work), I have been through the bad and the ugly. I came to to a point of assessing my own convictions.

It has been such a hard journey going through periods of loneliness, pain and so much more. This post is based on a popular Scripture (amongst Christians), namely Romans 8:28

Often when we are so swamped with pressure, difficulty or even sin, we can easily lose hope and not see the big picture. When we are so zoomed in on a picture and just see one pixel and not zoom out to see all those millions other pixels that form the whole picture, we may lose it.

And I did lose hope. I had a breakdown but I thank God for His grace. He enabled me, in the last couple of weeks to "zoom out" and see the whole picture. Now "everything" is making sense. And His peace is guarding my heart in Christ Jesus.

God is right there with you. Read this Romans 8:28 (The Amplified) "We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their (the saints) labour] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose" (emphasis mine).

God is a partner in our labour. He is not inactive. He is such a participator in our lives though we may not feel nor see it at the time. I encourage you to be assured and to know that all things do work together and are fitting into a plan FOR GOOD.

I do not like using "popular" Scriptures but I sense such an urge in believing that indeed HE knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11).

Are you hurting? Can you not see any way out? Are you stuck? Do you feel hopeless?

Well, hold onto the imperishable truth of the Word of God and trust Him above your emotions.

"Excuse me, am i beautiful?"

As I was growing up as a teenager, I suffered from acne problems and sometimes would not go to school, or church as my pimple would have reached its "full potential". Having been ignorant about it, I consumed oily stuff, which made it worse but I loved margarine so much. This has caused me to look down upon myself over the years. I struggled with rejection too.

When I went to my mentor's place a few years ago and saw a photo of himself on his wall smiling, a thought dawned on me, "I hardly take photos of myself...I'm always with people in photos. Is that why I don't take the time to intentionally love and lavish myself?".

When I got to university, a close friend of mine told me "i like your nose". Now this surprised me simply because my nose is what i disliked the most due to the acne issues I had. Her words broke my insecurities at once. But then I began to see that her words had its source from the One who made me.
He likes me as I am. He loves my nose. He loves my thin body. He loves my skinny being.

James 1:22-24 says: Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

Many do not know what they look like because they have not been doing what the Word says and that includes BELIEVING who God says we are. In Psalm 139:17-18, I am told told there are thoughts concerning me, that I am yet to access. Can't be going around asking people "am i beautiful?" Their thoughts concerning me are too low, too carnal. I am deciding to hook up with my Maker's thoughts concerning me.
Do you know what you look like?
Do you go around asking people to get their approval?
I encourage you to dig in the Word of God and gain access to your Maker's thoughts concerning you and stop being worried about what others think.
Look at me. This inspired me to take photos of myself.
I am FREE!