Keep the faith
At some point in time I was one of those people of the opinion that I don’t have a calling. I just believed somehow that people who said they had a calling just wanted to do that particular thing and went ahead and just did it. Well, today I’m of a different opinion and stance.
I’m feeling a calling to ensure that Bibles are affordable. Each Christian who can read should have a bible to call their own. Some will read this and all I ask of you is to pray for this ministry. I know it may be difficult at first but that’s why I’m calling on you to stand with me in the gap.
I know great and wonderful things are going to take place this year in god’s house in Zimbabwe. We need to keep on praying as the enemy is working full time to discourage prayerfulness.
Remember this is the year for breakthrough for those of us society sees as not normal and not having achieved by society’s standards.
We need to keep on praying.
I want to thank God for all He has delivered to me in this short space of time of 2013
Many times we say to each other wait, and wait we should
Our times do come at different stages to the next person and we should NEVER be discouraged or lose hope
The scripture that says the devil came to lie, steal and destroy is one verse many Christians have not given much thought to
When it comes to lying it’s really about day to day perceptions and what society has made to be the norm
Stealing is when we lose hope because of the distractions and hurdles that come our way- when we do that our faith falters and our blessings go to unbelievers and we think we’re not doing something that they’re doing
YES! We are not doing something they are doing. They have faith that in their barrenness they can get and they do. We don’t have the same faith in our lord at times and we let this blessings be taken away from us
NEVER LOSE FAITH and HOPE
Destroying is actually the last when we feel depressed – he would have killed our fortress that was keeping us shielded from everyday problems
Christians! Let’s stand firm on THE WORD that never changes and claim our ground and position on this earth
We are more than conquerors but we can only be that when we pray and believe and wait in expectation
“ My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:2-8
Renewing covenants
Every new year we affirm/strengthen/make a new/renew our covenant with God at our church
How do we do this?
We have a special service beginning of the year where we recommit/commit our lives to God and we partake of holy communion
And based on the theme of the year we have daily services after hours for the full month linked to that theme
So this year our theme is “God is able” taken from the book of Daniel
Along with the services we also partake in a period of prayer and fasting in the month of Jnauary
This used to be ten days then it moved to thirty one days
This was because when we did it for ten days we challenged ourselves to say can we not do it for the full month?
And so thirty one days of prayer and fasting started
When we get to thirty some extend to make it forty days
Do I follow this religiously?
No.
My period of fasting varies year to year depending on whatever is happening at the time. My relationship with God is guided by my church but it is not defined by my church
It is defined by Him and my age in spirit
But whenever I get the opportunity to attend the evening services I do attend and this year has been different from others as I can actually leave work at knock off time and attend service
I invite you to share with me my learnings and gleanings of the services that attend on my other blog so that you too may be uplifted and you take time one reviewing your covenant with God.
Myths & drunkenness
“And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” Habakkuk 2:2-3
So the other day we could not leave the car park as there were railway wagons blocking the exit from the car park.(Where do I work that’s got railway tracks? In the industrial area of my town )
So we thought it better than complain about it, why not chat about it?
So we got to know about trains and how they’re shunted and why these wagons were taking long to be moved from where they were
So we asked if it was true if a train actually derailed when one placed a needle on the tracks
What?
You see, growing up we’d been told that a derailment would result and none of us EVER tried it. Naughty as we may have, we had a conscience and NEVER tried it.
What’s the answer?
NO.
No, it won’t cause a derailment as it will either be just swept off the tracks or flattened and the train continues on its journey.
WOW!
So, myth dispelled!
Maybe you’ll think we were just plain stupid believing such old wives tales, but I believe there’s a areson why we have old wives tales and also how myths come about
There are many facts we have never questioned as they come out plausible when someone explains them
And so it is sometimes with faith and religion
Many people are too lazy to read the Bible on their own such that they just take whatever the preacher has to say and make it gospel truth
What does the bible say about that?
Prove everything
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21
There are many things we take to be true that are not FACT
There are ’verses’ which have been said to be in the Bible that are reasons for people doing what they do
Last year (I like the sound of that better than last month though I’m just referring to December 2012), I attended a wedding at a roman catholic church. This was my first time to attend anything close to a service in a Roman Catholic church
So me being me, I was a bit judgmental about what was taking place and when I heard it, oh! I shouted to myself, silently of course!
Locally there is a phrase “inwa asi usararadze” translated meaning drink but don’t get drunk.
For real?
Yeah, for real
So some people actually attribute this phrase to a passage in the bible that has NEVER been pointed out to me (I oblige you)
Why is this so? I think this is because since it’s said in church so often as a principle people actually think it comes from the Bible
But it does not. Time stops me from continuing today but I will revisit this blog at some point this year.
For now I invite you to read the book of Jonah.
Happy 2012
This is my first blog in 2012
I’m thankful that God has given me another chance at life and I am here writing and give Him glory
As I reflect on 2011 I look at the good times
It’s easy to overshadow the good times with the bad times
My friends lost their loved ones
I lost a dear grandfather in 2011
I almost gave up on life twice in 2011
2011 was the year that on record was my worst working year
This may not be true as 2011 is still very close and the memory makes it so poainful it overshadows other bad working years
And so it is with life
The most recent hurt is what keeps coming up as you try to look back
But why do we look back?
We look back to see how the year was
We look back to see what we managed to do and achieved
We look back to see the bad decisions we made and didn’t make
We look back so as to be able to take out what was left undone and put it on this year’s resolution/goal/target chart
Whatever the reason we look back
When we look back the first thing we see is the greatest good or the greatest bad
For some we see the greatest good because we want to remember that event for the rest of the days to come
It really was not the greatest good but for us it’s the greatest good that we want to remember and make the greatest good that happened in that year
Sometimes we see that greatest bad that happened because it is still fresh in our minds
Though it did not happen in the recent past we still feel the pain as if it happened yesterday
Why?
Because we don’t want to forgive
We don’t want to let that person off the hook
We cannot let justice go not passed for that deed
We take so much time looking back sometimes we forget where we are
We are in the here and now
We need to look on this day and give thanks for it
Were it not for God’s grace we would not be here
The chorus “dai pasina Jesu ndiani waizondiona?” keeps playing in my head
It means if Jesus were not there I would not have been uplifted to where I am for people to even see that I exist. If it were not for Jesus I would have been a nobody
That’s what we need to drum into our heads each year we start
We need to give thanks for life
Good and bad, that is life
From the pain I’ve learnt to forgive
From the backstabbers I’ve learnt to be prudent
I’ve learnt to be quiet from the gossipers
From the trouble causers I’ve learnt to be prepared-always
From the heart break, I’ve learnt to take care of my heart on my own
From the sympathetic ones I’ve learnt how to give a shoulder to lean on
From the noise I’ve learnt to find solace in my spirit
From life, I’ve learnt how to live, love and let live
Yes, I have learnt how to love from life
From forgiveness I’ve learnt how to give and how to smile.
I almost discounted today as just another day like yesterday but I reminded myself that today is more special than yesterday
Today is more special as I’ve learnt how to forgive
I’ve learnt how to remember
I’ve learnt how to be a true friend
I’ve learnt that a good deed NEVER goes unnoticed- it may take long for the acknowledgement to come, but it DOES come
I’ve learnt that from friends comes love and that love will make me smile on the darkest of days, I just need to keep ALL my friends in remembrance
I said I almost didn’t write this blog
Then what made me do it?
The simple reminder to self that I said next year I would be writing daily on at least one of my four blogs
And also the fact that I just needed to give thanks to God for another year where I have life and my family and friends have life
There is peace in my country that is still beautiful no matter what people want to write about it
Come pay a visit and you’ll know why I longed to be home to a country where people still care about the next person enough to smile even if they don’t know you
They’ll smile because they can see the warmth in my eyes and they’ll smile because we’re wearing the same T-shirt
We are Zimbabweans in the blessed country of Zimbabwe.
God loves this country and from it many will rise to save God’s people
We need to take care of His sheep for many seek His face and do not know Him as yet.
The laborers are few and I call to you to care enough to call the brother next to you to Jesus
The harvest is plenty.
I’m thankful that God has given me another chance at life and I am here writing and give Him glory
As I reflect on 2011 I look at the good times
It’s easy to overshadow the good times with the bad times
My friends lost their loved ones
I lost a dear grandfather in 2011
I almost gave up on life twice in 2011
2011 was the year that on record was my worst working year
This may not be true as 2011 is still very close and the memory makes it so poainful it overshadows other bad working years
And so it is with life
The most recent hurt is what keeps coming up as you try to look back
But why do we look back?
We look back to see how the year was
We look back to see what we managed to do and achieved
We look back to see the bad decisions we made and didn’t make
We look back so as to be able to take out what was left undone and put it on this year’s resolution/goal/target chart
Whatever the reason we look back
When we look back the first thing we see is the greatest good or the greatest bad
For some we see the greatest good because we want to remember that event for the rest of the days to come
It really was not the greatest good but for us it’s the greatest good that we want to remember and make the greatest good that happened in that year
Sometimes we see that greatest bad that happened because it is still fresh in our minds
Though it did not happen in the recent past we still feel the pain as if it happened yesterday
Why?
Because we don’t want to forgive
We don’t want to let that person off the hook
We cannot let justice go not passed for that deed
We take so much time looking back sometimes we forget where we are
We are in the here and now
We need to look on this day and give thanks for it
Were it not for God’s grace we would not be here
The chorus “dai pasina Jesu ndiani waizondiona?” keeps playing in my head
It means if Jesus were not there I would not have been uplifted to where I am for people to even see that I exist. If it were not for Jesus I would have been a nobody
That’s what we need to drum into our heads each year we start
We need to give thanks for life
Good and bad, that is life
From the pain I’ve learnt to forgive
From the backstabbers I’ve learnt to be prudent
I’ve learnt to be quiet from the gossipers
From the trouble causers I’ve learnt to be prepared-always
From the heart break, I’ve learnt to take care of my heart on my own
From the sympathetic ones I’ve learnt how to give a shoulder to lean on
From the noise I’ve learnt to find solace in my spirit
From life, I’ve learnt how to live, love and let live
Yes, I have learnt how to love from life
From forgiveness I’ve learnt how to give and how to smile.
I almost discounted today as just another day like yesterday but I reminded myself that today is more special than yesterday
Today is more special as I’ve learnt how to forgive
I’ve learnt how to remember
I’ve learnt how to be a true friend
I’ve learnt that a good deed NEVER goes unnoticed- it may take long for the acknowledgement to come, but it DOES come
I’ve learnt that from friends comes love and that love will make me smile on the darkest of days, I just need to keep ALL my friends in remembrance
I said I almost didn’t write this blog
Then what made me do it?
The simple reminder to self that I said next year I would be writing daily on at least one of my four blogs
And also the fact that I just needed to give thanks to God for another year where I have life and my family and friends have life
There is peace in my country that is still beautiful no matter what people want to write about it
Come pay a visit and you’ll know why I longed to be home to a country where people still care about the next person enough to smile even if they don’t know you
They’ll smile because they can see the warmth in my eyes and they’ll smile because we’re wearing the same T-shirt
We are Zimbabweans in the blessed country of Zimbabwe.
God loves this country and from it many will rise to save God’s people
We need to take care of His sheep for many seek His face and do not know Him as yet.
The laborers are few and I call to you to care enough to call the brother next to you to Jesus
The harvest is plenty.
Listen and act NOW
Today I decided I would share even if it means my sleeping late
I’ve procrastinated for too long
Now I believe I just have to say what I ought to have said sometime back
In our prayer group someone shared about prayer and the need to pray and not give in to sleep when we ought to pray
Then I shared on hearing God’s voice to pray for someone
I explained that sometimes we get a feeling that we need to pray for someone
We may not know what challenge pr trouble they are facing and we just need to listen to God’s voice and go ahead and pray
What happens is that at that moment in time you would have prayed for cover for someone who needed someone to intercede for them ad by obeying God’s voice you would have played a part in moving the Kingdom for someone
When we were sharing prayer request, someone said we should remember someone we’d worked with who’d just lost her mother
I felt convicted at that moment as what I had shared came to life
Talk about your words coming back for you!
I had felt the need to get in touch with the person whose mum passed away two days ago
I felt I needed to just reach out and find out how she was doing but I postponed it for another day
What I just did was think of her and ask God to be with her and help her grow spiritually
Had I obeyed that I needed to just pray and get in touch, I may have been able to lessen the burden she now was facing
But if’s don’t work
I did not act when I should have
I really felt convicted
But someone else encouraged me that I ought not to feel discouraged and convicted that I did the wrong thing
What matters is that I acknowledge that I did wrong, ask for forgiveness and pray that going forward I listen and act on God’s voice
The devil came to steal, lie and destroy and he can use guilt to build a rift between ourselves and God
We need to be prayerful and repent of sins and accept and believe that we have been forgiven
What matters is the state of our hearts and our faith
Jesus died for our sins and it’s time we stop shying away from Him because of past guilt
That conviction has it’s place in the past
We need to receive Jesus’ blood as the payment for our sins and start working for His kingdom.
I’ve procrastinated for too long
Now I believe I just have to say what I ought to have said sometime back
In our prayer group someone shared about prayer and the need to pray and not give in to sleep when we ought to pray
Then I shared on hearing God’s voice to pray for someone
I explained that sometimes we get a feeling that we need to pray for someone
We may not know what challenge pr trouble they are facing and we just need to listen to God’s voice and go ahead and pray
What happens is that at that moment in time you would have prayed for cover for someone who needed someone to intercede for them ad by obeying God’s voice you would have played a part in moving the Kingdom for someone
When we were sharing prayer request, someone said we should remember someone we’d worked with who’d just lost her mother
I felt convicted at that moment as what I had shared came to life
Talk about your words coming back for you!
I had felt the need to get in touch with the person whose mum passed away two days ago
I felt I needed to just reach out and find out how she was doing but I postponed it for another day
What I just did was think of her and ask God to be with her and help her grow spiritually
Had I obeyed that I needed to just pray and get in touch, I may have been able to lessen the burden she now was facing
But if’s don’t work
I did not act when I should have
I really felt convicted
But someone else encouraged me that I ought not to feel discouraged and convicted that I did the wrong thing
What matters is that I acknowledge that I did wrong, ask for forgiveness and pray that going forward I listen and act on God’s voice
The devil came to steal, lie and destroy and he can use guilt to build a rift between ourselves and God
We need to be prayerful and repent of sins and accept and believe that we have been forgiven
What matters is the state of our hearts and our faith
Jesus died for our sins and it’s time we stop shying away from Him because of past guilt
That conviction has it’s place in the past
We need to receive Jesus’ blood as the payment for our sins and start working for His kingdom.
Afresh
Today I wish start afresh
Though the enemy encompass me and friends fear for their lives
I will stand up and claim my position
My heritage is in the Lord
He is my sustenance and I will not be afraid
For long I have waited wondering
But today I am stronger
I will stand on His promises
His promises do not fade and are forever true
My strength comes from the Lord
Doubt visits but it will not find anyone to heed it’s feeble suggestion
All is done and what’s left for me is to claim my position
I am restored and forever will stay under His shield
Glory be to God now and forever!
I live again!
Though the enemy encompass me and friends fear for their lives
I will stand up and claim my position
My heritage is in the Lord
He is my sustenance and I will not be afraid
For long I have waited wondering
But today I am stronger
I will stand on His promises
His promises do not fade and are forever true
My strength comes from the Lord
Doubt visits but it will not find anyone to heed it’s feeble suggestion
All is done and what’s left for me is to claim my position
I am restored and forever will stay under His shield
Glory be to God now and forever!
I live again!
Simple
Sometimes in life we need something fixed
We realize it’s not the way it’s meant to be and we make all the noise we can to get someone to notice it so that they make it normal again
When they hear us and they try fixing it and it does not work, we at some point begin to accept that this is now the new status quo
“Things have changed”
And a new routine with the change begins
It’s not that easy I tell you
The whole reason we were making noise about needing a fix in the first place is that we didn’t want things to change in the direction they did
But they did and we wanted them to be back to what they were
So we quietly at times learn to adjust
But usually we noisily adjust, hoping against hope things can be reversed and get back to “normal”
Ah! Don’t we all wish!!
And then one day………. we wake up and things are actually the way they were before
Jubilation!!!!!!
At the back of our minds we still had our fingers crossed as we worked with the new status quo with smiles on our face, secretly wishing for the “past”
Things are back to normal
We make all the noise we deem necessary
Actually, sometimes we grin silently as we don’t trust that it’s permissible that things are back to what they were
There’s just no knowing with this world we live in, is there?
What’s the whole point?
Well, about a month ago my phone suddenly ahd a problem with its date and time
It would move from 2pm to 2:29pm and start all over at 2pm straight after!
And the date never changed
The first day I was a bit superstitious ogled on by this guy but the next I definitely knew something was wrong
So I made some noise and a workmate with a similar phone said they ahd the same issue
Ah! At least I wasn’t alone, someone had the same problem
And so I noisily lived with the new status quo
I move around with two phones so I had to be using the other one for time
I tried all I could to fix the time issue but it just wouldn’t work
Software updates and all
Then just three days ago that workmate told me something that now has me totally changed in terms of my outlook on life
(Honestly I cannot believe I had become this complicated person that I glimpsed I now was )
They said all I had to do was switch off the phone and the time/date would work just fine
Presto! It worked!
I felt stupid for all the times I had tried to get it to work……… changing time zones, not locking the key pad, software updates, pc synchronizing…ad infinitum
A very simple, IF NOT OBVIOUS, fix
Why had I not tried it?
When my workmate told me they had the same issue they also added that the IT guys at the hubby’s place had said it was a software issue that was peculiar/common to that model
And so believing in science that much, I sought a software fix
I never googled the problem but just looked for ‘fix’ software
Long story short, try the easy way first
It just might work and you don’t sweat and feel embarrassed when someone tells you how to do things the SIMPLE way
Bottom line, there’s ALWAYS a simple way to getting things sorted out in life
We realize it’s not the way it’s meant to be and we make all the noise we can to get someone to notice it so that they make it normal again
When they hear us and they try fixing it and it does not work, we at some point begin to accept that this is now the new status quo
“Things have changed”
And a new routine with the change begins
It’s not that easy I tell you
The whole reason we were making noise about needing a fix in the first place is that we didn’t want things to change in the direction they did
But they did and we wanted them to be back to what they were
So we quietly at times learn to adjust
But usually we noisily adjust, hoping against hope things can be reversed and get back to “normal”
Ah! Don’t we all wish!!
And then one day………. we wake up and things are actually the way they were before
Jubilation!!!!!!
At the back of our minds we still had our fingers crossed as we worked with the new status quo with smiles on our face, secretly wishing for the “past”
Things are back to normal
We make all the noise we deem necessary
Actually, sometimes we grin silently as we don’t trust that it’s permissible that things are back to what they were
There’s just no knowing with this world we live in, is there?
What’s the whole point?
Well, about a month ago my phone suddenly ahd a problem with its date and time
It would move from 2pm to 2:29pm and start all over at 2pm straight after!
And the date never changed
The first day I was a bit superstitious ogled on by this guy but the next I definitely knew something was wrong
So I made some noise and a workmate with a similar phone said they ahd the same issue
Ah! At least I wasn’t alone, someone had the same problem
And so I noisily lived with the new status quo
I move around with two phones so I had to be using the other one for time
I tried all I could to fix the time issue but it just wouldn’t work
Software updates and all
Then just three days ago that workmate told me something that now has me totally changed in terms of my outlook on life
(Honestly I cannot believe I had become this complicated person that I glimpsed I now was )
They said all I had to do was switch off the phone and the time/date would work just fine
Presto! It worked!
I felt stupid for all the times I had tried to get it to work……… changing time zones, not locking the key pad, software updates, pc synchronizing…ad infinitum
A very simple, IF NOT OBVIOUS, fix
Why had I not tried it?
When my workmate told me they had the same issue they also added that the IT guys at the hubby’s place had said it was a software issue that was peculiar/common to that model
And so believing in science that much, I sought a software fix
I never googled the problem but just looked for ‘fix’ software
Long story short, try the easy way first
It just might work and you don’t sweat and feel embarrassed when someone tells you how to do things the SIMPLE way
Bottom line, there’s ALWAYS a simple way to getting things sorted out in life
