Victory or Defeat

This brings me back, to the article I wrote a while back “CHOICES”

 As part of life, we face so much defeat in our everyday lives. It comes inform of; Illness, financial instabilities, etc. But our attitude at that moment, how we face those situations is what matters. We’ll always have things to battle with whether we like it or not, some will be bigger than others and others will be minor but how we handle ourselves in times of trials brings great joy to God (1 peter 1:6-7, “⁶ Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer, ⁷ Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire, and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus is revealed).

When we choose defeat onto our lives, we are letting the devil win over us and we all know that he’s intentions aren’t of any good at all. Unfortunately we’ve let on defeat at one point in our life without even knowing so, for example; I myself, back in the days I use to limit myself to the best of my ability, there were times I’d given up on doing certain things with a mentality of “it’s not my thing”.

While I was working my college applications, some of my friends know this; there were times I could literally say to myself “Oh my, I don’t think I’ll get it or I don’t thing I fit the qualifications and all those other non-sense but little did I know that, that’s calling on defeat unto myself. That was literally losing a battle I didn’t even fight to begin with. But the moment I learnt that you either embrace or block your own blessings it’s up to you. Do not doubt your faith, or the level of your victory, think far beyond your ability because you are able, you just need to attempt it to see it. This verse shows us and explains to us the power of our ability (Mark 11:23, “²³ I assure you that whoever tells this hill to get up and throw itself in the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him).

So chose victory unto your life and throw away the negativity in you, stopping you from achieving whatever your heart desires, in other words take a leap of faith and see how great our God is. Ask for victory, and victorious you shall see yourself, it will be done to you as you’ve ask and set it in your heart. THAT’S MY DECLARATON TO YOU ALL. Blessings

                                                                        Xoxo

Patience in Christ

Being patient isn’t in anyone’s nature, I know that for a fact , personally waiting patiently hasn’t been my strongest suit neither an easy path, but as I got deeper into understand how things work around us, it gave me an idea on how to go about this issue and today I wanted to share with you on this powerful attitude.

First pray to God to grant you this powerful attitude, the attitude of being still in patience and calmness. we often lose it when things around us aren’t going our way or anything close to what we expected but if only we took a step back, think for a second and actually ask ourselves; why It happened a certain way, Is it maybe that we are up and down looking for silver while God wants to give us Gold? And sometimes I ask myself, but God why? While you are at it look back as well, take time to remember all he did for you in the past which you never expected. Over the years I’ve learned that nothing happens as an accident or a coincidence in our lives.

If we only knew what we were being prepared for ahead, right over that mountain that looks like it’s covering the beautiful path we wish or hoped for, we would actually be grateful for the challenges we are facing right now (Romans 8:18, I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot compare at all to the glory that is going to be revealed to us). If only we had a chance to see a “sneak peek” of what lies ahead .But of course it’s easier said than done, as humans we are just created that way, but the good news is that we can play a small role in making these certain situations better which will make this journey a whole lot easier and there’s nowhere else we find it other than trusting and surrendering it all to God with a Patient mind and a thankful heart. 

                                           

God's Timing

As human beings, we often want to live in the fast world, where everything is working out in our favor and according to our speed and we often feel like our time is now or never. But we forget the one who took his precious time with no rush in creating us, or in creating the world, the book of Genesis speaks about the length of creation and what we should pick from it is; there’s not even one day where he rushed to create or created 2 things on the same day “to save up time” or “to rush the creation process”

He is still working with the same pace till this day, God is in no rush and he certainly never delays. It may seems like our situations have been delayed or they aren’t moving fast but those are one of the things that our bare eyes see, that is the picture the devil projects in our minds hence the injection of feeling hopeless, tired and inpatient. No matter what we do, however things look possible at that time but end up not working out at the last minute, remember God’s timing because when God’s clock rings, blessings will pour nonstop. The beautiful part is, when we are working according to God’s time everything is done differently and beyond human understand, that is why also when God is preparing for that time, we as human fall short and we are blindsided into thinking he has given up on us but, I PROMISE YOU, he is cooking up something real sweet for you which will bring you satisfaction that this world can never offer.

I, myself suffered from patience towards God, I had this urge to see my life change, urge to see it picking up and moving on its maximum speed until I learnt that, I am not my own maker, I had to give way and time to my maker to work and as he does that, I’ll be waiting patiently, worshiping and praising my lord till that day when his clock shall say; “IT’S GO TIME”.

Growing up , just like any child I didn’t believe in the power of prophecy, I always thought; ah it’s too much or even made up but as I grow into the power of Christianity and reading God’s word, the power of prophecy has been there for ages and it has been there to boost our hope and faith, having a promise to hold on to is the key and no human, not even the most powerful of them shall contradict God regarding the promises he made to you and to your life. Each one of us has a package of blessings in store for them; pray every day to God that when the time comes, you’ll embrace it with open arms and a pure heart.

                                                                          xoxo

Confidence in time of Trouble

 “The peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but rather the confidence that he is there with you always”

Looking back to this quote, I am remembered so much about my past experiences, we live in a world of so much pain and lots and lots of troubles but if we read careful into the scripture; God doesn’t tell us I will be with you in this world full of peace but rather, I will be with you through the troubles. He did not lay out in details all the troubles we would be facing but everyone has a troubling situations that you will go through, and I can’t say when these situations come in your way dusty it off and be strong because I know firsthand it’s easier said than done but instead, turn to the one who made the promise and say; “Lord, I am here to claim my promise you made to me way before I was even born” and trust me it is not wrong.

In 2012, around the month of December I was still really ill, at that time I was literally not putting anything in my mouth, the doctors had inserted a feeding tube, which was  very uncomfortable at first but it was either that or no chance of survival, so basically I was not taking solid foods just liquids and healthy formula powders to get me by, so anyways we were approaching Christmas day and some of the Rwandan Students we’d met there wanted to organize something special for all the Rwandan patients leaving in those apartments, we were about  5 to 6 families. As they were organizing this event I kept thinking to myself; aw mehn am not going to be able to eat and enjoy food on Christmas day and I bet they’ll be all these amazing dishes, I was really sad at that fact of not being able to enjoy like and with everyone else. We were in one of the families’ apartment which was on the 5^th floor, ours was on the 4^th floor, after a while planning everything we went back up to our room.

I then took my bible, wrote down a prayer request “God it’s the 21^st today, you have about 4 days to open up whatever is causing me not to be able to eat, I want to celebrate Christmas and be able to eat OK!. I then folded the piece of paper, put it in my bible, prayed and went to sleep. The following day I had a chemo session which I walked into very confidently compared to other days where I’d walk in feeling like I just want this to be done already, in the course of the night having done that gesture of hope towards God I’d become very confident in God, I was full of hope that after this week’s session I’d be good to go for Christmas, basically I went in with a “bring it on” attitude. God’s shower of confidence in trouble or situation is very powerful. Even now when am battling with anything I just say to God give me confidence you gave me that day, I want to experience it AGAIN!

God’s timing is never wrong, and there’s a reason he did not make it happen then but he eventually made it happen but he is faithful always. I call everyone to pray and claim this promise from God, “Confidence in time of Trouble”

 

                                                                             Xoxo.

 

                                                                             

Stand confidently in the promise

Pray first, Plan afterwards

God expects us to be orderly; He expects us to manage our time, to discipline ourselves, to prepare well-planned programs, but if we could learn to pray first and plan afterwards, how different would be our lives?

Sharing my experience, a while back when I was still in high school, I was not saved really but I use to pray here and there attend church on Sundays sometimes even, I lived a very planned life though, I use to literally sit down and just plan my whole future in my head; Graduate  high school with good grades, enroll in university within a year, I basically had everything planned out, I remember during lunch breaks with my friends we would all sit around and talk about life after high school, which pretty much felt like the best thing there is. But I wish I knew then what I know now, that a plan without prayer is impossible and God is not happy with it either.

Again to a while back when I had finished all my treatment, I was ready to go back to my usual life, take back my plans and resume my dreams and all, but I remember I sat down and I started figuring out my next steps, I went back to my old ways of planning and planning about the future, even then you would think I learnt a lesson about praying first and then planning but I hadn’t, I was just still the planner type only. So after everything was done health wise, I was so ready to get back to school, do some courses here and there, I remember I started with computer classes for about 3 months.

After a while I  enrolled in a university but just something didn’t feel right, I kept thinking to myself, but everything is going according to plan “kind of” so what’s the matter? But I kept meeting obstacles, it was a horrible feeling, knowing that you are doing everything right but it just doesn’t feel right, and that can be very dramatic emotionally. The point is, life is full of daily decisions, planning and all of that but we have to keep our eyes on the one who can provide far more than our expectations, I believe that some of us think we know what we want or we settle for less just because we think it’s the way, it’s suppose to be, but it’s a LIE.

Isn’t that what happens too many of us? We work, we pull, we struggle and we plan until we are utterly exhausted, but we have forgotten to plug the source of power. And that source of power is PRAYER,

A soul that prays, Is a Joyful soul

And when you pray,believe you've recieved

ASK AND YOU SHALL BE GIVEN.

On Sunday, as I left church after a very beautiful sermon, something come to my mind, it kept playing over and over in my head for a longtime. As I layered in bed after my lunch, taking a nap, I started thinking about the chapter in ”Matthew 7:7” Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. But my mind kept focusing and reflection more on the “Ask and it will be given to you” line and that is when it became clear, the depth of the line. All we have to do is literally just ask, I said to myself it doesn’t say; ask and then pray nonstop, or ask and fast for a week so I will hear you more, or say ask and then give money to the church, it doesn’t say any of that which are also very good gestures and deeds by the way, don’t get me wrong. Just want to talk more of this simple act of faith we take for granted yet we’ve been given power indirectly.

It also got me thinking of; let’s say when you enter a restaurant or coffee shop, the waiter automatically comes up to you and you ask for what you want, be it; food or a drink, she or he then takes your request/order, but you don’t keep repeating the order for them now do you? You just give it once and you sit back and relax instead, chat with your friends, Sometimes even when it’s taking a bit longer than usual we don’t go back and ask again, no we just sit and wait. While we wait we don’t even think for a second; oh maybe my order is not coming, or maybe she forgot about it. We are calmly waiting instead keeping ourselves occupied.

That is the EXACT SAME attitude, we should have towards God. We should be able to humble ourselves, ask for a certain thing then wait patiently, better yet immediately start being thank him for delivering , thank God for he has heard you , and you are about to receive soon. Plus the word says in patience and humbleness God is working.

Beginning of this month (November), I was talking to close friend of mine, we started talking about the “40 days” of prayer and fasting before the year ends, I then begun this thing whereby my everyday prayer doesn’t consist of anything else but “Giving Thanks”, I don’t ask God for anything because quite frankly since the year beginner all I did was asked and asked and asked, so I took this month and the following month (December) to do nothing else but thank God for what he has done and what he is about to do, and as we thank him that is when you realize what he has done, God opened my eyes to realizing even the smallest  things and be grateful for them and of course the major ones we take for granted. Hey I even started thanking God for what I asked for that hasn’t been answered but I still thanked him because I know and have learned to understand; not what our pastors have said, not what our parents have said but what HE, MY GOD said himself and no one else. ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE.

                                                                                        xoxo 

CHOICES IN LIFE

Over the years, something very interesting has been popping up in my mind, well to be more specific, it all started this year, all changed in my life throughout out this year and I am not talking about physical changes rather mind changes, my mind set was slipped all the way.

Before I go into details, let me start off with “an experience of mine”

Towards the end of 2012, In September to be more specific, my illness became so worse I completely stopped eating and this was not by choice, I developed a very critical medical condition whereby nothing was able to go down my throat, in the beginning just liquid substances and in the long run, they also became impossible to pass. Anyways this is what would happen, every time I tried eating or drinking something it would get stuck right around my esophagus and it would irritated it then I throw it all out, that went on for a long time, it was a very confusing medical condition I was experiencing; I’d never heard of it, I didn’t know anything or what was going on, I just stopped eating because what was the point? even my appetite reduced, I even lose the urge of eating completely.

So, with that traumatic experience, like they always say; every experience leaves you tougher than before. This one on the other hand opened my eyes wider, they are so many things in our lives we think we have no control over yet we have 100% control over it like; Our happiness, Our ability to control our emotions, our thoughts and so many mindset related, think about all those uncontrolled things in our lives for me I refer back to my illness but everyone has their story and struggles, We’ve all been through this and that we had no control over yet we kept calm and carried on, now think about those things we can control. Wake up and say today I AM GOING TO SMILE NO MATTER WHAT, i assure you that this is a decision that no illness, no person, nothing can stand in the way of, CHOICE TO BE HAPPY, honestly who can come and tell you, hey you I order you not to be happy today, uumh nobody…so you see what am trying to say here, let’s take great advantage of the advantage of the many things in our lives we are in control of to make up for those uncontrolled situations which will occur in our lives from time to time

The last months, I’ve been through a lot of pressure of trying to organize some personal matters in my life, I got overwhelmed to the point I completely forgot about the ability of choice making in my life, even after what I’ve been through you’d think nothing can shake me but often time, I am blindsided then I think to myself; Karen really? Really though? I like to think its God’s voice in my head. He is speaking to me, reminding me to take a minute, look back and think again

And then something happened a few days ago, It was a long day at work, I’d been so stressed both with work and school stuff and just like any other human would do, I started complaining, ah today I had a horrible day, my day sucked blah blah all that nagging business, and then out of no one I received a phone call with no caller ID and it was my cousin’s house help, This woman had been in a terrible car accident, we had been talking about her at home, everyone was really worried about her condition, so she decided to call, I honestly didn’t even know this woman had my number, because we don’t communicate a lot other than the fact that I bump into her at my cousins place, anyways I picked up, when I heard her voices, it hit me, oh my gosh, why is this lady calling me? Isn’t she suppose to be incautious? i was in shock to the point where I didn’t have any words to say, I just rumbled up stuff to say but I was in total shock, basically this is how I see it, I thought I was having a bad day, God was like, you don’t even you know, let me show you, even remind you a little bit of how a bad looks like. Before she hung up after a 10 minutes conversation, when I asked if she needed anything and how everything was, she said to me, well you know how hospitals are. Oh my gosh like she couldn’t have said it better, she said it so innocently though, don’t get me wrong but It spoke to me from within,

Anyways, I really wanted to share this with everyone here, remember you have A CHOICE TO YOUR EMOTIONAL STATUS. Be blessed

                                                   xoxo