14th Sunday...So let’s just be thankful…!!!

Song of the week: Midnight Crew – Igwe

Encouragement Verse: “You have put gladness in my heart…I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.” – Psalm 47:7 – 8 (NRSV)

Quote of the week: “We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what may be the burden of our wants, or the special subject of our petitions.” --- Albert Barnes


Fourteenth Sunday…I just want to show my gratitude...
Truly there’s always something to be thankful for…
For everything missing,
There’s something found…

So when I am ambushed at the Bus Stop by heaven’s tears and all I have is the newspaper that I just bought from the vendor down the street to shield my pricey one-day-old hair-do from its rage.

And every attempt to protect my body and feet prove futile as they become wet with its tears. And the chilliness is becoming intolerable, that I can only grumble …I should remember that at least, I have a place to go to where I will find warmth…and that there are people who find their haven under the bridge…

And when I get to work and nag once more about my job…I should remember that at least, I have a job to complain about…

And also even when I get a call from my family complaining about anything and everything…I should remembered at least, I have a family that cares so much to bug you sometimes (laughing)…


So let’s just be thankful…

Images from: Getty Images

13th Sunday...What a week!!!

Song of the week: Jeremiah Gyang – Na ba Ka

Encouragement Verse: So tell them, ‘as surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say…” – Numbers 14:28 NIV

Quote of the week:“Work-in-progress: If you hire me, you need to know that. If you marry me, you need to know that.” --- Word For Today (Nov 2, 08)


Hmmmm, I have to write that this week has been rollercoaster week when it comes to my emotions…and I believe these ‘Getty Images’ will be able to illustrate better the events of this past week…

My Monday began this way, “Ooooooh Monday again, do I have to get up?” What a way to start one’s day and week. By the end of the day, I was almost yanking out every strand of my braids from my head…ask me, what happened? Nothing o, I only just got bogged down by the usually Monday rush.

By Tuesday, my hormones was just acting up for no particular reason. On numerous occasions during the day, I was almost drawn to tears…I guess I was already too drained that I needed to fill my spirit with words that would bring back life into my already feeble heart …


This was what Wednesday gave to me. [I have to thank Baba God for bringing into our lives angels disguised as friends.]

I spoke with a friend and she spoke to my spirit and at the end of our small chitchat she gave me the above bible verse which is the bible verse of the week.

I was hearing things when I thought I heard I say…Numbers 28: 8, which was equally great… “Prepare the second lamb at twilight, along with the same kind of grain offering and drink offering that you prepare in the morning. This is an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.”


It is truly amazing how things just work out in the end…

So by Thursday, I had a spill over of the joyfulness that Tuesday gave me… [*I need to alway remember God’s word in my time of struggle]…

And what more can I say about Friday but the usual ‘TGIF’…Let the party begin until the break of dawn – Saturday…but keep in mind that I have to prepare my spirit to receive God’s word on Sunday from the mouth of His sons (Mr. Preacherman) that will keep us enthusiastic for the coming week…

See you next sunday as I go for the fourteenth Sunday…God bless you!

Images from: Getty Images

12th Sunday...Taking it ALL Back!!!

Song of the week: Cece Winans – Waging War

Encouragement Verse: So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me.” – Acts 27:25

Quote of the week: “God is the God of promise. He keeps His word, even when that seems impossible; even when the circumstances seems to point to the opposite.” --- Colin Urquhart


In forty (40) day, it will be 2009…hmmm! How times flies by!
Believe me when I write that I am thankful for all my accomplishments this year but I am not satisfied.

I believe that I may have held back on several occasions due to the crippling fear of failing or putting great importance on what others would say or think if I made a move. But this time around the battle line has been drawn against those invisible enemies; it is time to wage a war on my fears, compulsions, and every glitches along the road that restrain me from taking possession of what’s mine...

I don’t anticipate repeating the same test I went through this year (and failed) next year. And I am certainly not taking a rain check over the things I have planned to do. This time it is going to be a knock-out!!! Wow! I am so excited…

To be honest with you, I do dread the possibility of chickening out of this deal…but I
have faith in God that He will keep me persistence. And even when I may fall along
the path of recurring sins, I will get back right up again, pressing forward to the point of victory. My spirit will rejoice at what God will do in my life these coming Sundays.

Thirty-eight Sundays left and I am holding my breath because this time I am going to shout for Joy…and even when those random thought of doubt tiptoe into my mind. I will be fighting back and keeping a tab on each triumph. This will be another large red checkmark on my calendar.

On my finance, even when there’s the urge to go on a spending spree…I will walk up to my refrigerator and stare at the picture of the car I glued on it. Gosh! My poor legs are trying to fail me but ‘thank God’ they still want to go on. I am always praying that I don’t fall as I run to catch the bus every morning on my way to work…

So I am definitely taking control of my finances, so come next year (‘…I am using my words to change my situation’) I will be driving MY CAR… [Not borrow/rented] but fully purchased.

And when the past comes pounding hard on my window and the bitterness in it rears its ugly head on my windowpane. I will knock it back into last year. I want peace and I surely want result.

I know I am changing…sometimes I can’t believe how far I have come but I don’t want to be satisfied with little progress. I want more like Oliver Twist. So I will be holding my breath until the moment when I can breathe again…

And God says to me, even “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” – Isaiah 59:19

Images from: Getty Images

11th Sunday...All Natural 100% Juice (Don’t Hold Back)!!!

Song of the week: Wale Adenuga – Too Much For Me

Encouragement Verse: He made my mouth like a sharp sword, He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me into sharpened arrow and concealed me in His quiver...you are my servant through whom I shall mainfest my glory.” – Isaiah 49: 2 - 3

Quote of the week: “You say, ‘If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.’ You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.” --- Charles Haddon Spurgeon


This week was truly a historical week…for me, it was more than just history made but the rebirth of Hope in those who Hope has varnished from their lives while on the road to triumph.

And Nelson Mandela couldn't have said it better in his letter of congratulations to Obama, “Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place…”

And to add to what Mr. Mandela said, is what Rama Yade, a France’s black junior minister for human rights, told a French radio, “This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten…” [From an article in Yahoo]

God’s work surely does come to fruition...

The same man who wrote about daring hope in his best selling book, The Audacity of Hope, has risen beyond man’s expectation.

God is truly worthy to be praise and I can only chant along with Wale Adenuga in his song titled, “Too much for me”

God has squeezed, pressed and crushed the juice out from this son of His…And he (Obama) has shown that he can be legally described as ‘All Natural 100% fruit juice’

To the nation, U.S (by God’s grace) he will become an excellent source of strength…and he gather in grain like the sand of the sea, in such quantity (See Genesis 41: 49, Joseph's promotion)

“…God has a plan and He's committed to it…” [Word for Today, November 2, 2008]

So this week, I ask myself these questions:

>> If I were a fruit or vegetable and God squeezed the interior of my life, can I be legally described as ‘All Natural 100% fruit juice’?,

>> Would I be an excellent source of Vitamin C to those around me or those I encounter everyday, bringing strength and His word to those in need of it.

>> Or will He find in me, artificial flavor or discover that I have been blended with other ingredients, such as high-fructose corn syrup?


Prayer: “Lord, squeeze out of me of the juice of the gifts that lay fallow within me…let me be truly worthy to be described as ‘All Natural 100% Juice’, Amen”

Picture source: Getty Images

10th Sunday...It had to be at 10:00am!!!

Song of the week: Donnie McClurkin – Day Of Elijah

Encouragement Verse: I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” – Philippians 4:12, 13 NIV

Quote of the week: “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” --- Dickens


Hmmm! against all odds, I delighted to be able to celebrate my ‘Tenth’ Sunday post. It was not easy but I can rejoice. What can I say? I can only give thanks to God for giving me the grace to reach a milestone.

"I AM TRULY A WINNER...Praise GOD!!!"

Change is always good but it can be hard to accept at first. Our human nature always wants to go back to our comfort zone. The secret of embracing change is that there is a lot to behold but we will never know until we do actually agree to CHANGE


So How it began

It began with ‘My Genesis’, a new beginning, a new birth. It was ‘Letting Go’ that let me ‘Flying without Wing’. Now is definitely a ‘Time for Change’ and ‘Out of my Busy Schedule’; I still got the time to write a letter ‘To the one I Love’…because I truly needed closure to be able to get a move on to the direction the wind had began to take me.

Gradually I am ‘Finding my way back’…that ‘When the Past came knocking again’; I knew I needed to take back the keys to my heart and shut that door forever.
It may hurt but I will dust myself of all my past mistakes and in the process, I will be ‘Learning to Forgive’ what the past still holds me guilty of.

Anyways, I am still rejoicing about the first milestone I have accomplished…and counting all my blessings.

Beyond the pale

This Sunday I want to especially, Thank everyone who made life so unbearable for me…Cicely Tyson once said that “Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew.”

Ok, maybe back then I did not just get it…I questioned God with the ‘Whys?’ and the ‘What?’ because I just could not understand what it was I had done wrong to deserve the happenings. I would even go as far as reminding God about people who had done worst things than I (as if He needed to me reminded) but were having it well with them.
But God is God and is no man…He knows best. He was getting me ready for what was coming ahead…

I am not saying I am perfect now…or saying that trouble moved next door to the Johnsons. What I am saying is that I am seeing past my situation and seeing what God has done and is doing through what is happening and what has happened.

I am who I am today because of the storms I have passed through. Trouble never ends but God gives us the strength to bear each one and the wisdom to get through them. I know I haven’t got to the point God wants me to get to but slowly but surely I will get there. And like a prodigal daughter, God welcomes me back to His throne of MERCY.

I rejoice…

To my Readers: --> ‘Happy New Month...‘May you wake each day of this month with His blessings and sleep each night in His keeping...’

Picture source: Getty Images

9th Sunday...Learning to Forgive!!!

Song of the week: Jordin Sparks – One Step at a time

Encouragement Verse: “He will yet fill your mouth with Laughter, and your lips with shouts of Joy.” – Job 8:21 NIV

Quote of the week: “With the death of every friend I love...a part of me has been buried...but their contibution to my being of happiness, strength and understanding remains to sustain me in an altered world.” --- Helen Keller


In spite of all the dramas of the week, another Sunday has come to overtake Saturday again…Ok, we are almost there, you can say, if you are reading this post on Sunday…over here it is just 5:45pm. Once more, I have been able to performance the task for the week elapse.

So I wrote in my last post, about old flames that keep cropping up at my time of vulnerability. I should just snub them but I really need to take care of it and finally put a dot at the end of that ancient history.

Well, enough of the old tales…

Anyways this past week I also updated my Goal/Aspiration list for 2008 (I kind of love the term, ‘Bucket list…living each day like it is your last’). As I re-examine it, I was thankful about how much I have accomplished so far. And even if I still haven’t found what I am looking for [“what am I really looking for?”) I can still give myself a pat on the back. So in anticipation to the New Year, I also decided to adjust the list with more ‘Bucket list’, hitting the ‘backslash’ key behind the year 2008 and keying in ‘2009’ at the end. And as this year begins to slip away one month after the other, I’ll definitely be including more goals or probably, I may decide to hit the ‘delete’ key as I go through the list.

Sometimes things may change and another time, it won’t change. Some people may change now while other times, they decide it isn’t necessary. But change is good. Some things may matter now while other times, those things won’t even matter. Whatever may be the case, I want to be able to look back then give Praise to God that He saw me through those difficult situation…helped me change ,my bad habits that estranged me from His love…and gave me the strength to endure the storm. God truly is rescuing me!

So this brand new week I would like to work on changing another flaw – UNFORGIVENESS. If it was a stranger who hurt you, then you could easily detach yourself from them or you may never see them again. But the real test definitely comes when they belong to the same lineage as you. ‘What do you do if they are your brother, sister or parent?’ It is easy to say, ‘I will forgive all’ when asked…but as the saying goes, ‘easier said than done’.

When we confront the reality of forgiving, we discover we have a double standards. I call myself a Christian…but many times I do find it difficult to truly forgiving. Instantly, I erect a wall between them and myself, becoming stingy with those three words that could lift the burden than I carry – I FORGIVE YOU. But God is still working on me and I will find the strength to triumph over this flaw. GOD I NEED HELP TODAY!!!’

8th Sunday...When the Past Came Knocking Again!!!

Song of the week: Asa – Bi'Banke

Encouragement Verse: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” – Isaiah 43:18-19

Quote of the week: “It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do what you are afraid to do.” --- Ralph Waldo Emerson


So it was Tuesday, when heard the door to my heart unlock…it was unlocked by a familiar friend who I never took the keys from. Again pursuit by another ‘Blast from my past’...”they sure picked the right time to come back, at my time of vulnerability”. But this time, it was definitely time to bring to a close that part of my past or I will never be able to start the ball rolling to the next phrase of my life. I truly needed closure…it will be hard but Lord, help me…!!!

As usual, he captivated me with those empty promises that sounded sweet but had a hidden agenda. The deep-rooted feelings all came back to me, muddling up my sane thinking…one part, wanted to cuddle those feelings again and go along with the familiar screenplay I was used to (Supporting Actress to the ‘Other woman’). Another cautioned me about my settling for less.

“Gosh! Why do I keep taking that same old road to nowhere?” Just then I heard Asa sing, Bi'Banke. that song smacked me back to the veracity of what was really going on. I had been a fool but I didn’t have to be again. I didn’t have to be that supporting actress that is never remembered when (by right) I had been given the ‘Lead role’ in the story of my life. No, I had to end this now or I will never know what it feels like to say, ‘NO!’ to him.

Just then the words that I feared to utter came out effortlessly. I may have ended a friendship but it was one that had outlasted its welcome…This time I disconnected the plugs.

As for him, I can only pray for him…’God, help him to truly find you and that he will be truly committed to the one he was made to love, Amen’. But as for me, it may hurt now but I am finding the strength to move on.

Am moving on…!!!

Picture source: Rudduck.com

7th Sunday...Finding My Way Back!!!

Song of the week: Nickelback – Savin' Me

Encouragement Verse: “The locusts have no King, yet go they forth all of them by bands.” – Proverbs 30:27

Quote of the week: “We can always find something to be Thankful for, no matter what may be the burden of our wants, or the special subject of our petitions.” --- Albert Barnes


Even when we begin to doubt our believes and God's promise but it is always brighter just above the dark clouds. All we have to do is never give up or everything we ever believed in will suddenly come to an END. What do I want? My heart knows...but what can I do now to be deserving of this beautiful gift of Love that God wants to share with me and the world???

I feel I am not ready, but He urges me on...and like the writer shared in the Meditation reading of October 8, 2008 (Word for today) "Don't quit your victory is assurred!"...I am pressing forward until I get every mission dished out to me right.

This Sunday I share with you one of my struggles...Anger!!! Sometimes, I fight the temptation to do something right everyday when I awake but it does not ever end up that way. But today I want to give it to God, asking for the strength to be able to overcome it little by little by His grace.

It may not happen instantly but I will surely be breaking ground...but I ask that as you read this, I ask that you pray for me...

“Letting go...but Letting GOD change my shortcomings each Sunday at a time..."

6th Sunday...To The One I Love (Closure)!!!

Song of the week: Michael Jackson – Speechless

Encouragement Verse: “See now that this has touched Your LIPS, your wickness is removed, your sin Purged.” – Isaiah 6: 6

Quote of the week: “Imagine every day to be the last of a life surrounded with hopes, cares, anger, and fear. The hours that come unexpectedly will be so much more the grateful.” – Horace


Dear RY ,

I have tried on many occasions to just go about my business but out the blue, my thought revisits the moments we spent together. What do I do???

I should be angry with you but I can't anymore because there was a reason for our encounter and now I know it is time for me to let go of what remains of you. You were part of my yesterday that will never be for my today...That love has died and now I mourn for it like I have mourned a loved one long gone.

But the manifestation of GOD's Love that lead you into my life still makes me speechless. I still wonder to myself, "How did it happen?", "What did I do to deserve such a beautiful angel that once creeped into my life?" I know it was definitely Faith that brought this Two Souls together and I am glad I encountered you.

I do not intend to be a Victim forever but I want to be Victor in this situation, likewise you. Although we have gone our seperate way, I think I will continue to hold you in the beautiful place of my heart.

I shall not harbor any bitterness towards you but will continue to pray that when we meet again that God would have blessed us both with all our heart's desire. Take care my former Love.

Love,

Kemi

Picture source: PhotoBucket

5th Sunday...Out Of My Busy Schedule!!!

Song of the week: Nichole Nordeman – Brave

Encouragement Verse: “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” – Ecclesiates 3:1

Quote of the week: “Remember God's bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor. Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light! Give this one day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude!” – Henry Ward Beecher

Draw Me a Jesus a Close to YOU...!!!

















Picture source: Microsoft office online