Chapter · Faith · Family · Journey · Life · Uncategorized

THANKFUL

  
We started out not knowing where we will end or all we will face. We were just clad with #faith in our heart #hope for the best and #love that conquers all. There were times we didn’t think we’ll make it but God.🙏🏽 There were times we felt we were at our end but it happened it was the end for a new beginning. With 12 chapters and 365 pages we wrote the best stories we could have on a daily basis and it’s safe to say the story of our lives in the book 2015 is EPIC not perfect though😉 

Even though we tasted pain and had a face off with disappointment I can tell you we also hugged closely to our hearts VICTORIES. For prayers answered we say THANK YOU LORD 🙏🏽 For unanswered prayers and situations that didn’t change we say we will continue to GO HARD IN FAITH AND KEEP HOPE ALIVE 👊🏾✌🏽️

For opened doors, divine interventions and opportunities that took us higher and made us better we are ETERNALLY GRATEFUL 🙏🏽💃🏽We will forever be grateful also for the closed doors and people that left us because we are more confident now that our future isn’t tied to people that walked away or locked behind divinely closed doors.

 We are eternally grateful for family 💗💃🏽that double up as friends and friends 👯 who have become family. May we go hard in FAITH in 2016 and May we write the most EPIC STORY of our life yet! Get ready for Book 2016 chapter 1-12 pages 1-366. We will WIN with GOD on our side.

 To all the Kings 👑and Queens👑 in my world I LOVE YOU continue to watch the throne and no matter what don’t let your crown fall. 💗💗💗🙏🏽🙏🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

It’s been real but I remain THANKFUL! 

Faith · Journey · Life

Value what is in your hand

  
Have you ever met that one person who just never likes anything about them. They just don’t celebrate anything about who they are on the way to who they are becoming. They could complain from now till Jericho about everything not working right and all that is going down hill.They admire other people and see the courage in others but they just can’t seem to find the light in their own lives. They are constantly feeling the sense of lack even when they are sitting on their fountain of wealth.

Maybe you’ve not met such a one or maybe you are the one. I have one word for you value what you have. Don’t go looking round and don’t keep wondering what do you have. There is a certificate, a skill, an achievement, a personality etc that you are sitting on. So before you turn round and feel like you are the only one in the pack not blessed I need you to look around and celebrate what you have. Because what you hold in your hand is the seed you need to bring your dream to reality.

There  was a time in my life I felt like I had nothing even though I was blessed. I was always looking for something else because I just felt what I have isn’t enough or isn’t right to get me through. I felt all the things I have seem not to be working whereas these are all the things other people who I admire have and they are working it. I learnt that the difference between me and the others who seem to have it together is that they value what they have and they work what they have. I changed my perception over time and I started valuing what I have and believe me my life has changed just by working what I have.

The widow in the Bible (2 kings 4:1-7) comes to mind at this point. This widow represents everyone who has the seed that holds the potential to change their lives but who just never value what they have. She was broke and on her way to losing her priceless gifts (her sons) and she went to the prophet (one who could connect her seed to her future) and he asked her one question -what is in your hand? Since she didn’t think she had anything of value she said she had nothing but a little oil. Are you looking at your certificate, your skills, your little bank account, your infectious personality, your ability to piece things together like no one else can etc and you are saying you have nothing. She paid debts and saved her household from that same little oil she didn’t think was significant or enough. The oil was still the little oil like she said but what changed was that she learnt how to work the little oil.

Thank God this woman knew where to go. Had she gone to hang around the wrong person with the wrong mindset like her she would have probably died in penury and her sons taken away to pay debts that their father owed. But she was wise enough to go to the prophet who knew how to make her see the value of the seed that she thought was so insignificant. The miracle was in her home all along but because she didn’t know how to operate it she stayed beneath her potential to be an entrepreneur. 

Quit hanging around people who dont value what they have. Delete yourself from the circle of moaners, whiners and complainers. Find people who will help you reach within yourself to find the value in you. Go after people who keep you hungry for greatness. But most importantly change your perspective and let the things you think are so insignificant begin to work for you. There is value in you and there is value in what you call insignificant. Get up and go work it.


Thank you for all the likes that come through on my posts and thanks to all of you following. The fact that you are reading encourages me to write and encourages me on my journey. Please do leave a comment on how this post has inspired you to value and work what you have. We are here to help each other. I love to read from you. You can also share my inspirational posts on your blogs but please make sure you reference source. I love you all💗


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Twitter: @MsOluwatosin  Instagram: @tosyne



Photocred: pic via Instagram @mindingherbusiness

Humour

Just for LAUGHS

 

It’s mid week already and no doubt some us are feeling the pressure on targets that need to be met, bills that need to be paid and calls that need to be returned. Things could get overwhelming but a little humour could brighten your day. Don’t get so carried away that you forget to LAUGH!! Have a great day lovely people and I pray your week yields more awesome fruits than previous weeks. The glory of the latter shall supass the former so I always believe we will have better today and greater tomorrow than all of our yesterday put together. I just thought  I’ll make you laugh on this  #humourwednesday  😀😀😀😍 💐

Photocred:Instagram

Uncategorized

WE ARE NEVER ALONE

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I’m less busy this week so I’ve had some time for social media. (insert laugh). I was on Instagram earlier and as I was scrolling through pages and reading comments of people venting about life, if I didn’t know I was reading I would have said some of those comments were mine but that only reminded me of the fact that WE ARE NEVER ALONE.

When we are faced with a situation life has a way of making us feel like we are the most pitiful of all being. We feel like we will never find our way out of this dark moment. Thinking of the light at the end of the tunnel just feels like fantasy because our reality has so much blinded us that we are just alone and help is not coming.

I know what it feels like to be in a crowd and yet feel alone and what if feels like for the silence to speak louder to you than anything else. I’m not sure what you may be facing in this moment but I want you to know that even though it looks like that situation is unique to you the truth is somebody somewhere is facing the same or has just come out of such situation. So don’t let your heart be troubled WE ARE NOT ALONE.

The loss of a loved one, a break up, job loss, financial setback, single parenting, divorce and all the other woes that come to mind can make you feel like the world is closing in on you. You might not find a hand to hold in this moment and you might not see a reason to not despair. But I’m here to tell you that even in this situation YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Life has taught me that even though our faces are different and our ponytails may not quite be the same length and our stilettos might not be labelled quite the same. We are battling one thing or another. Nothing is ever perfect but with everything always remember that God will make a way of escape for you. (1 Corinthians 10:13). So no matter how dark your night is in Kosovo, or how your tears might not stop flowing in the hood of Alabama or how your heart won’t stop bleeding down-town Nigeria always remember that YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

I can’t tell you exactly when the tide will turn but I can tell you that God will fix what you think is not fixable. Olivia Pope *sideeye* the fixer has nothing on my God who has held the sky together since He created the world. The only TRUE GOD who makes sure the rain falls on both the righteous and the wicked. The ONE GOD who shows the sun where it should be. HE’s the ultimate fixer and He has you engraved on the palm of His hand. (Isaiah 49:16). Like myself You may not have all the answers you need in this moment but hold out in faith and believe YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

My bible tells me weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.(Psalm 30:5). Can I ask you to think of all the ways what you are going through will be a testimony to help someone else when they may need a pearl of wisdom to get through this phase that you are now. We may not look the same but trust me our experiences are similar and life happens to us all. I know it’s hard but please take one for the team because your ability to not give up will be the reason another person gets to hold on. Your win becomes our win and the reason we will be bold to declare that faith works. Don’t throw in the towel your testimony will help someone down the lane to know for sure THEY ARE NOT ALONE.

Keep the faith and don’t you dare give up. You will weather this storm and one interesting thing that you don’t realise just yet is that all it takes to win is already locked up in you. The light is there at the end of the tunnel and you will reach it.

WE ARE NEVER ALONE.

Thank you for all the likes that come through on my posts and thanks to all of you following. The fact that you are reading encourages me to write and encourages me on my journey. Please do leave a comment on how this post has inspired you to keep going. We are here to help each other. I love to read from you. You can also share my inspirational posts on your blogs but please make sure you reference source. I love you all.

 

Kindly follow me on social media as well

Twitter: @MissOluwatosin      Instagram: @tosyne & @sheinspiresdaily

Uncategorized

SPEAK LIFE

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Yesterday while studying my bible, the above scripture was my verses of focus. It’s the story of the Shunammite woman. I must tell you I have read those same verses before but the lessons learnt from sitting with those verses yesterday was mind blowing to me. Before I go on and lay my lessons bare on this page I will like to take a little detour and just write about the woman.

The Shunamimite woman in this story was someone who had a heart, a problem, and a God. She was like every normal human being just living through life’s motions. She was content and there is no record as to whether like Hannah who had similar problem in the bible she prayed tirelessly. Nothing was said about whether her faith was great or small but from her actions we can depict she had faith. She was about service to others and while providing this service she found the solution to her problems. Could it be that the solution we required to fix our problem is tied to our service of making other people’s lives better (this is another lesson for another day). So before you knock yourself on whether you have faith or not or whether you are praying enough or not know this God is near and He hears even the words we don’t utter. If you read 2 Kings 4 the full account of the Shunammite woman you will know that is true. She never uttered a word to the prophet about her problem but God still led the prophet to speak a prophecy that met her need.

Now to my lessons learnt from the Shunammite woman. I learnt that we can choose to bleed panic to others or we can choose to remain calm and speak life when faced with life’s biggest uncertainty. As the woman climbed up to see the prophet, the prophet sent his servant to go down and meet her and ask her series of questions regarding her sudden visit and her response wasn’t even an option on the menu of questions the servant served her. Her response was “EVERYTHING IS FINE’’. She was falling apart inside, all hell was breaking loose in her home, her only child just died what could be the worst blow….she was bleeding on the inside but she chose not to bleed out panic on the people around her. She chose to operate from the place faith and SPEAK LIFE first before she gets into sharing her story.

That brings me to my second lesson from this woman’s story. I learnt that the story is not the problem but how we choose to share the story can leave us trapped or can help us get solution. Didn’t another portion of scripture put it clearly that the power of LIFE and DEATH is in the tongue.(Prov 18:21) This woman understood this and before she shared the story the way the world programmed that the story be share she let the faith on the inside inspire her response. She could have just said what the problem was and stayed with her story of negativity but she chose to operate from a place of faith and SPEAK LIFE.

In the end she got her situation changed because the story ends in her son been raised back to life by the prophet. I won’t lie I’ve not being one to say the right things always and not bleed panic on people but as I meditated on that portion of scripture I knew it was time to do right and start SPEAKING LIFE. I knew it was a call yet again to me as I run my race and face life on a daily basis to live from the place of faith and continue to call those things that are not as though they were.(Romans 4:17). Life will beat at every one of us that’s one thing that is certain but our response to life is what separates us and our outcome from others.

May our responses always inspire faith that brings about solutions to our problems. May we always be conscious of the response we give when life questions stares us in the face. May we learn to operate from the place of faith and SPEAK LIFE over our situations. May we always let what God put on our inside inspire us to choose not to let panic bleed from us to others.

You are not alone just continue to SPEAK LIFE.

I know I have not blogged as much as I love to or as much as you would like to read from me. I’m working on it and things will get better. Thank you for all the likes that come through on my post and thanks to all of you following. The fact that you are reading encourages me to write. Please do leave a comment on your lessons from the Shunnamite woman’s story. We are here to help each other. I love to read from you. You can also share my inspirational posts on your blogs but please make sure you reference source. I love you all.

Kindly follow me on social media as well

twitter: @MissOluwatosin Instagram: @tosyne & @sheinspiresdaily

Chapter · Faith · Journey · Life

Don’t stop PUSHING!!

 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬ NIV)

If you’ve been in the delivery room with an expectant mother you’ll understand the importance and significance of strength to an expectant mother. As soon as the contractions are coming the midwife is in her ear encouraging her to stay on course. Contractions are painful and it increases gradually but that is also the moment a mother has to push. The survival of her baby depends on her ability to push in spite of the pain. If she gets tired or can’t push she risks her life and her baby’s life. 

It’s the same thing in life when you are trying to birth purpose you have to learn how to push with every painful contraction. You don’t give up because it gets hard or because you feel alone.The time it gets harder the most is the time you must get stronger. The mother can’t start the pushing when contractions are far apart the moment contractions get closer the pain increase but in the midst of that increased pain it’s time to push the baby out. Life might be dealing you several blows in this moment when your purpose is about to be birth but that is the point you must be ready to push.Before you got to this point everything might have been okay and all of a sudden the threshold of pain increases and things look like they are falling apart in that split second and if you are not careful you start to question your purpose and start to blame life and yourself for ever thinking you had the strength to prevail and birth destiny. The increase of the pain doesn’t mean the end of your birth. Your destiny doesn’t finish because the pain pangs get unbearable but if there is anything significant about the closeness of contraction it’s that the time of delivery is here. So when you feel like everything is falling apart that’s the moment you need to start reminding yourself that the time to birth your destiny is just around the corner and you can’t get tired of pushing until you see your purpose revealed.

The work of the midwife is to know the timing and what to do to get the baby out alive and healthy. The midwife is the voice that speaks in the ears of the mother telling her she can make this moment happen and the midwife does all in her power to let the mother know she’s not alone in that moment.Expectant mothers don’t get to the delivery room and start asking for the qualification of the midwife she just has enough faith that if the midwife has been assigned to her then she knows she’s qualified to take the delivery. The midwife doesn’t cut contractions but she stays around reassuringly so the mother to be knows she is not on her own.God is more qualified than any midwife but most of the time we question His qualification and start asking Him to prove to us He’s able to bring us out of this pain and deliver our destiny. We expect Him to cut the pain and assume that the presence of pain means the absence of God. We say things like “if God is in this with me why do I have to go through so much to get what I want”. 

We can’t let pain make us doubt the existence of God. The pain you go through doesn’t rule out the victory. I have learnt that victory after pain makes us appreciate our victory even more. God is speaking in your ears and His presence is surrounding you even if like the mother about to give birth your pain clouds the moment and you can’t seem to tell who is around or who is not. In the midst of pain the mother has to listen to the command of the midwife otherwise she will push when she’s not ready. No matter what threshold of pain she’s battling she has to listen to the command and push in the moment otherwise it will be a waste of her strength if she pushes when the midwife hasn’t asked her to push and if she continues to push out of order she wears herself out and wears the baby out and loses strength to deliver her miracle in the moment. Make sure you are listening to God and not trying to force yourself because you think you understand this process more than the one who is here to help you birth the purpose. Your bundle of joy will be delivered but stay in the process and DON’T STOP PUSHING. What is coming out is going to be more beautiful than the pain you are experiencing there is purpose in the pain DON’T STOP PUSHING.

  

Chapter · Faith · Journey · Life

Staying in your lane on Purpose

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In life we are constantly bombarded with things that seek to grab our attention either to take us in the right direction of our higher purpose or to make us make detours that take us away from purpose. We all have principles we live by that highlights for us the right and wrong. Each time we do right we are happier and doing wrong tend to cause us regrets, disappointments and generally just zaps the joy from us.
The dictionary defines principles as the guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct. Your principles could be derived from your religious beliefs, family ethics, cultural beliefs or your personal beliefs. As people who are striving each day to be the best of us we don’t necessarily set out to do the wrong things or as a Christian I’ll say we don’t necessarily set out to sin or take detours. Some how life happens and before we could catch our next breath we find ourselves doing the exact things we swore we wouldn’t do. If we are being honest some of the choices that lead us down the wrong path or cause us to sin are not things that others did to us but choices we made because we couldn’t say no to our senses. Sometime we are our own worst enemies we know the things that trip us or that are not good for us but we hang around such things only to play the blame game when we get hurt. God loves us but He hates sin and in order to align with His purpose for our lives we must count on Him and depend on Him to get it right. Having had my own fair share of detours in life and learnt from my mistakes. Below are some of the ways to keep from going in the wrong direction. The list isn’t exhaustive and this should only help as a guide and included to some of your own personal list of what works to safe you from going in the wrong direction that don’t serve your purpose.
i) Stay connected to your source: The source of a thing is its sustainer (anon). A fish will not do well outside of water so how do I expect that I will navigate life successfully, live out my true potential and say no to sin without my source (God).To stay connected to Him means building my relationship with Him daily through prayers and the study of the word. When you stay connected with your source and you are working daily on the relationship by way of studying the bible you are opening yourself to receiving direction and instruction on how to stay in the right lane. The word of God is filled with all what is expected of our lives and how we can do right but when we don’t study it we won’t know how well to respond when life presents us with choices that is bound to sway us in the wrong direction. Through Prayers we are communicating with God how we feel and we are swapping our weakness for His strength. We pray to align ourselves to Him so that we can be quick to discern and get the courage we need to face life in His will.When you pray you are inviting the enabler to help you live out the godly principles you have learnt and forgive where you may have goofed in the past.

ii) Have the right people in your circle: I’m not one who blame others because I believe everyone is capable of choosing their action at any given time. But I believe if we hang around people who don’t helps us grow then we may be in company of those that are bringing us down. Because nothing stays on the same plain. It’s either they are adding to you and you are adding to them or y’all are just not helping each other. They say evil communication corrupts good manners and the bible clearly states a company of fools will be destroyed. So if I’m bent on living right and fulfilling purpose then I can’t just let anyone hang around who isn’t helping me go forward. If all they talk about and all they want to do is the wrong stuff and I continue to hang around them, one day something will give and I will be pushed to subordinate my values to the the wrong that’s placed before my eyes. If you know you want to be the light that shines so bright you need to hang around other lights so that you can provoke each other unto good works.So check your circle. Your association determines a great deal how far you will go in life don’t just hang around just anybody for the sake of it.

iii) Have an accountable buddie: You can’t tell everybody everything about your life. There are some people you can trust to hold you down even when you are at your worst. People who won’t tell your secrets at the mountain top who will cover you in prayer when you’ve made your worst fall. Someone you can call when you sense you are about to do something or you’ve done something and who you are sure would knock sense into you. It helps to keep you in check when you have an accountability buddie. These ones are different from your everyday friends. They are people you know want you to do right and to stay on course with keeping to your goals. So be careful while you choose these ones.

iv) Have a time of reflection: Life can get so busy and it becomes important to take time out to reflect in a quiet place. If we let things get too busy we lose the grip on our core and all that keeps us grounded and sane. We feel drained and find ourselves constantly in battles of choices even when those choices atime are no brainers. But because we are tired and worn we start to make blunders and find our life going out of balance and we see our choices taking us down the road we said we were not going to head down. Don’t let your life spiral out of control take time to have your “me” time where you look into your life and tell yourself some good old truths to keep you from straying. Within every 24hrs do a self check where you can see where you’ve neglected things that should be priority and where you could play back your actions.

v) Be mindful of the information you take in: Social media is filled with a whole lot of information. The good, the bad and the ugly. If you are a person who isn’t fighting to go anywhere in life or a person that isn’t ready to be somebody whose life has meaning and glorifies God then you won’t need to sift the information you take in. But if you love God, yourself and want to add value and live a life of meaning in this life then you have to be mindful of what you let yourself eat at life’s information banquet. Go after what inspires greatness in you, what pushes you to be more of the good person you want to be. What comes out of you will be as a result of what you’ve taken in. So if you’ve filled yourself with junk all day you are not strengthened to say no when opposition arises to sway you in an unwholesome direction.

The above list isn’t exhaustive as I pointed out earlier but they are just basics to help us stay in the right path as we pursue our God given purpose for our lives. When we spend time with our source, have the right information, have the right circle of friends, have accountable buddies, take our constant reflective time we are strengthened to act right and take actions that serve our purpose more. Let’s be honest life will throw things at us that will try to sway us from doing all the right things we have made up our mind to do but the choice of whether we win or lose is a matter of where we are anchored.
May we continue in the right path and no matter what happens on our journey may we always remember that we are royalty and we have the responsibility to guide our crown. May our lives always work to give God glory and may we never take the wide road that lead to destruction may we always stay on the narrow path that leads us to life.

I will love to hear from you. Share with me some of the things you do that helps you stay in your lane on PURRPOSE.

THANKS to all who have liked and will like my blog posts and those who have left me comments and followed my blog. You inspire me to stay on PURPOSE.

You win when you don’t QUIT.

Photocred:Kelly Langston images taken off the internet images of “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me” search.

Faith · Journey · Life

The lie(s) you bought!!!!

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Life is a market and there is always buying and selling going on very single time. People are always selling things to us on a regular basis. Things that fit or do not fit. They make their pitch of their sales by their words (what they say to us) and their actions (what they do to us). And I’m not saying people can’t sell what they want to sell at anytime, it’s a free world and a free system just like there are shops on every high street selling several things, people are “life’s shops” but as a consumer I can choose what I want to buy and where I want to buy at any given time and I can decide if it’s not fit for purpose to return it so that I don’t end up junking my world. So many of us have bought lies from the human being who represent one of life’s many shops such lies like we are too sluggish, we would never amount to anything, we are not good enough, we are ugly, we are not worthy of love, we will never get it right, you are too skinny nothing fits you, you are too fat nobody will ever love you, you should have been a doctor and by now you would have been better off financially…..the list is endless.

At some point in our life we walked into some people who we thought were selling truths, who affirmed us, whose goods we thought were good quality that will help us in life but somehow things turned. The truth is sometimes this people didn’t change from good to bad we were the ones that just got carried away thinking they were good for us because they sold one good item to cover up the many lies they would later sell to us. To be honest, sometimes the people selling these lies are not even strangers they are people who know us so well and because of these ties that bind we think their sales are pre-approved and we can’t do anything about it, we believe the things they say and the junk they throw at us is got to be the truth so we continue to shop with them and continue to buy the lie. We junk up our world and we become so complacent and too lazy to take responsibility of sifting the words that we constantly hear.

Growing up in a supportive family where love isn’t found wanting I was blessed to know early in life how to sift what I buy from people. I wasn’t the most beautiful kid you’ll see (if I’m being honest) but I wasn’t ugly but some of my peers felt different as they thought that I was super ugly they likened me to a monkey. I remember always looking at them and wondering why they were so mean. Looking back now I ask myself how could a bunch of kids sell a lie that huge to another kid. Couldn’t they see how hurtful those words were or are some people just wired to be mean???? We were all kids but I didn’t get why they were so mean in their action but I still didn’t let it worry me by stopping me from going to the playing ground.(I don’t know how I found that courage). I didn’t break, I didn’t let their words push me to a corner where I felt alone without friends.

As I grew older and reflected on that season I learnt that people will see what they want to see and there will be some people who will see beauty in me and there will be some who won’t no matter how hard I try to make them see it. I learnt that I just have to be willing to change my crowd and change people’s position in my life if they are no longer interested in helping me see the best in me. Today, I go to places and I see people tell me how pretty I am but it still doesn’t get to my head but I’m thankful I weathered the childhood playground bullying and constant taunting and without letting it affect my self esteem. Yes, their words bothered me but no their lie didn’t crush my self esteem thanks to God and an excellent support system. I still I’m not “MISS WORLD” today but I’m the “MISS ME ” of my world and just like I didn’t buy that lie way back then I wouldn’t buy it today in anyway from anybody especially now that I know what my bible says about being fearfully and wonderfully made by a God who took His time to make me in His image and likeness.

Too many times we wait for heroes to come save us from the lies we bought and have now become. We’ve waited too long even to the point that we have now forgotten that we equally can step up and step out wearing our own super hero cape and hold every word and thought captive by telling ourselves our own truth that is founded on deep rooted convictions from God’s word. Words that tell us that we are powerful, blessed, amazing, brilliant and that we are loved. In order to not end up with items YOU don’t need, YOU have to take the items back to the store and get your refund or exchange. YOU have to be the one to take action and deal with the lies YOU bought. It’s ok to have people support you but first as the person who bought the lies YOU have to be the person who takes responsibility to return the lies. Until YOU’VE had enough of buying the lies YOU won’t do what is required to stop the purchase.

I’m not sure what lie you bought up until now that has affected your entire life and your belief system about your person and you think 2015 is just not going to make a difference because you are too lost. You can make 2015 count and it can be your best year yet if you will dust yourself and start finding your voice day after day by speaking the truth to yourself about your life instead of sitting in the same place and letting people speak their lie to your ears. Know this for sure anybody can throw words around because we can’t put a stopper on anybody’s mouth just in the same way we can’t demand that a store be shut down because what they sold didn’t work for us but we sure can put a stopper on the mouths that speak negativity into our personal lives by refusing to buy the lies they constantly speak to our lives. We can choose to hang around a different company, we can go on our own with God until we are strong enough to know those encouragers we are ok listening to.

You are responsible for what you buy and what you buy has a way of affecting how you will view your life. If you had only one thing to purchase in 2015 make the item something that will be of significance to your life and your authenticity. Make your one trip to life’s store worth it. Be responsible in your purchase, value yourself too much to not purchase a lie and if by chance a lie still creeps into your purchase don’t sit with it return it. Do better this year don’t buy a lie. You could get sold a lie but you have a choice not to buy it. In life it’s not really about what we are called it’s what we answer to.

Let me be the voice that sells you the truth in the here and now as you are reading this YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL, YOU ARE LOVED OF GOD, YOUR LIFE IS ATTRACTING THE RIGHT PEOPLE, YOUR WORK MATTERS, YOU ARE CHANGING LIVES, YOUR EXISTENCE IS ENRICHING, YOU ARE SMART, YOU ARE BRILLIANT, GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE, YOU ARE CAPABLE OF LOVING SOMEONE AND YOU ARE CAPABLE OF RECEIVING LOVE, YOU ARE CAPABLE OF CHANGE, YOU ARE ONE IN A GENERATION.

Check your life and if you are not okay with certain habits by all means work to change them so that you can be empowered to walk bold in the earth and in your calling and in your authenticity. If it’s certain things you can’t change that you know requires the divine, don’t stress or beat yourself up over it, take it to God in prayer. Let go and let God. Get your cape darling because in 2015 we are going to be our own superhero and our vote and God’s vote (not the lies of others) will count more to determine how our life turns out.

Be an encourager. Be the eyes that sees the best in people and be the voice that calls the best out of people.

Remember WE WIN only when we DON’T QUIT.

Bible references: Psalm 139:14 Genesis 1:26

Chapter · Faith · Journey · Life

The Journey (not just our destination) teaches us Lessons as well!!!

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The above quote from Mandy Hale's book (I’ve never been to Vegas but my luggage has been) struck a chord in me when I read the book earlier in the year and each time I see the quote it continues to minister to my spirit. Too many times we wait to get to a destination before we look to find the life lessons embedded in it. We all want to arrive, we all want to find and hold the treasures, trophies and spoils of our war but sometimes the “destination” is just “the destination” but the true lessons are embedded in the journey. 2014 is about coming to a close. It’s been 12 chapters long and several pages but somehow some of us have a way of waiting for the end of it to really see that we find those things we wrote on our vision board and prayer list before we admit it’s a good year or that the year taught us anything that has improved our person and equipped us with the wisdom to help someone else on their journey to purpose. Let’s face it maybe you didn’t start the business as you expected but you took time out to build yourself and prepare for the destination, you learnt how to build your brand, you built your network and have some really great relationships now that you didn’t have last year or the year before that. Agreed you didn’t get to your destination but you didn’t give up either and the truth is you are closer and more prepared to get that business off the ground than you were before.
Maybe you didn’t get the promotion you felt you deserved but you learnt how to put your best foot forward and do all it takes to demand what you really believe you deserve.

Don’t get it twisted I’m not a traveller who never want to get to the destination or a warrior who never cares to be the champion but life has taught me that the process is as important as the end and I can’t always base my wins on just what I get for completing my race sometimes the fact that I took part in the race is a blessing on its own and the lessons I learnt is as valuable as the prize I get from winning the race.

This year I decided I was going to be more intentional about living and not just take what is thrown on my plate, I told myself I was going to get better with everything and be the best of me. I knew this was a challenge because going up against your past is much tougher than looking over your shoulder at someone else because you know “you” and all you have to change and how daunting it is to win against the personal records you set in the past. You understand that you’ve stayed the same because you’ve not pushed too hard or because you lacked motivation or you just never saw a reason to change any of those routine that never serve you to be better. You know you have to win over complacency and set a new record in your personal routine of reading, exercising, communication, diet etc. I knew I was going to have to hold myself to some higher standards and discipline than I’ve done in the past if I am to be better than I was before. I pushed myself because I knew to be intentional meant you are not waiting on people to get you to do things and by doing this I learnt a lot of lessons about myself.

I learnt I’m stronger than I think I am and more resilient than I ever gave myself credit for. I learnt it’s ok to choose me and to walk away with my head held high instead of playing the blame game when out of my own lack of discernment the people I give my commitment to turn out to be users. I learnt that when I fall I don’t stay down I have only one option and that is to get up and keep going. I learnt that sometimes my mind could be thinking ‘no’ but my actions won’t align and I’ll fall right on my face doing the things I said I wouldn’t do but also the fact that I didn’t align my actions with my words don’t rule me out of life’s race I must get up and find my alignment and comeback swinging harder next time I’m faced with the same situation and as long as I keep rising and keep going I will find alignment and I will win. I learnt that sometimes the only thing standing between us and our goal is our inability to get out of our own way and go after what we say we truly deserve. I learnt that I can walk away from things and people that are not serving me and my greater purpose. I learnt that personal discipline is the key to trumping your past and soft answers really turns away wrath. If you put your mind to it you can really change the things that are within your reach and you can live comfortably with that change.

Hands on heart the result of 2014 didn’t turn out as pretty and perfect as I would want it but it’s amazing how much peace I have as I round off this year. The tunes I played and the pitch I sang wasn’t perfect all through and the truth is I wasn’t going for a year that was halfie halfie, my game plan was to win it all even though this didn’t happen on all sides I’m glad i played the hand I was dealt without being a coward in the face of all that came. I stand at the finish line of 2014 to say thank you to the God who brought me through every step of the way. The very God I failed many times but who still forgave and yes I have a smile on my face not because everything is perfect but because I have being stretched and I am grateful to God and give Him the praise due Him.

Let’s me be honest I’m smiling because the stretching made me wiser, stronger ,better and the mistakes grew me and I can walk away from this year knowing His grace brought me through one more time. So whether I didn’t get all the things on my vision board sorted I’m thankful I still got God,family and friends who believe I’m worth the love and who are still cheering for me. This year I’m smiling because my level of honesty with myself reached an all new high and I got my routine in good gear. I’m still a work in progress and I believe the journey always teaches us so many lessons if we truly pay attention to the messages. It’s great to have all our request granted from our vision board but it’s more amazing to know our lives have been enriched by everything that came our way and by our resolve to be a better person. I pray we all have a better 2015 where we count more wins. Cheers to a great journey in 2015 and don’t wait till the end to count your wins. Stay wining all day everyday.
In Christ alone my hope is found. Cheers to the NEW YEAR!!!