Embrace the Challenges

I was saying to a friend of mine recently that for some reason I’m so excited in my spirit about the year 2016. I have nothing to base this excitement on save for a knowing and a confidence inside of me that this is going to be a great year. Outwardly though, you perhaps wouldn’t know it to see it, sis. Indeed from the very first working day of the week, my life has been on an accelerated ‘go’. By the middle of January, I felt like I was already well into the middle of the year. It’s been one assignment or challenge after another. There have been times when all I’ve had it in myself to do was to put my head back and close my eyes, deliberately disconnecting in every spare second I could get. That said, I can nonetheless feel my molecules continuously dancing to an internal praise beat. I can sense that my heart is beating in alignment with the worship songs that spew forth from my spirit daily. It’s a good place to be, sis. It really is!

And I can’t put my finger on the source, you ask? No, dear friend! I can’t and quite frankly, I’m not even trying to. The Scripture says in John 20 v 29 ‘Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed’. I don’t need to know, sis. I only have to trust, and I only need to rest in Him Who is my assurance that all things are working out for my good, that all things end in praise.  

I recall that when I put together my GPS for 2016, I’d sat for a few minutes able to do nothing more than say ‘Hmm’ several times over. I looked at all the goals I’d set for myself and tried to figure how I would make them work. Eventually, I sat back and had a hearty laugh, and then printed it out as my final working document for 2016. You see sis, in those few minutes I was reminded about what I preach regularly…. that if our goals are easy enough for us to achieve without much effort, then they are not from God. Those kind of small dreams and goals are nothing more than our personal want-to-do’s and nice-to-do’s. God’s assignments tend to come in God-sized packages that help us know that we can’t do them in our strength. I laughed because I remembered that God is my Source, my Anchor and so as much as He lays in my heart to do, He also would help me to deliver on them as long as I stay faithful to the cause.

Where am I going with this post? Actually, truth is that I’m somehow hoping that by the time you are done reading, you would find your molecules also being agitated somewhat as the Holy Spirit unfolds this word to you Himself. I’m hoping that you will take a few minutes to be still before God and allow Him stir you up with this same internal excitement. Can I assure you that this is going to be a great year sis? If you would only but catch the bug, sis… if you would! It’s going to be a radically great year, in Jesus name, amen.

God gave me a word for 2016. He said that I would experience new challenges that would bring new opportunities for me to take new territories and give new testimonies. Wow! Wow! Wow! Sis, I am so holding on to this word. It still blows my mind every time I think on it. It’s probably part of what has me so stirred up internally. And you know what? I have found it hard to believe that such a tremendous word could be for me alone, and so I have continued to declare it over everyone who would hear and receive it from me as a sure word from Heaven above for their 2016. I declare it over you also sis, in Jesus name I do!

One thing I love about this word is the fact that it infill’s me with a boldness to face any challenges that have and are still coming my way. If my God Who knows the end from the beginning is able to tell me that I will have challenges, then it goes without saying that He will be with me through them and that I will overcome. So no, God has made no effort to sugar-coat 2016 for me. He hasn’t tried to give me a sense that I would live in La-La land all through 2016. Simply put, He has said to me ‘brace up’. He has not indicated just how big or small the challenges I will face in 2016 are, but He has said there are new testimonies that will come out of each and every trial I will face. What awesome encouragement! My loins are girded up, sis. I know with greater certainty that He Who is Himself the mighty Man of Battle fights with and for me, and I will receive victory on every side in Jesus name, as will you.

The Lord also told me categorically that in this year, it is imperative that I maintain an atmosphere of worship around me. He has told me clearly that this will be the key to my victories. He has said that He will help me and He will uphold me, but the greatest parts of the battles will be won by praise, in a continuous atmosphere of worship, in spending time daily in His presence.

I am excited about new territories. Cautiously so, I will admit and this is because as well as I know God, He is not predictable. He does as He pleases, His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are certainly not our ways. When He says He wants to use you more, it does not follow that it will be in the same way that He has used you before. I also know that when He wants to take you higher, then there is a higher level of testing that you will necessarily go through for the purpose of refining. God can’t have those who are still drinking spiritual milk on assignments that require those who are spiritually mature and rugged enough to eat meat. You know this right, sis? Hmm!

Anyhow, my heart’s desire is truly to grow in Him, to be used more of Him and to walk more closely in alignment with His will and purpose for my life. So, my response has been and is that I yield. I yield fully and I yield completely. I yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit because He will bring this word to my remembrance in the times of my testing. I yield because at the end, if I allow God lead, I win. And when I win, God gets the glory. Can you see, sis?

What has this got to do with you? Very simply sis, I want to encourage you to embrace the challenges 2016 will throw at you. Don’t try too hard to pray them away. If you had nothing to deal with, your life wouldn’t bear much fruit and that is the truth. The muscles we grow when we go through trials always position us to be more greatly blessed later on, and to be a blessing to countless others who get the benefit of our counsel, our compassion and our prayers in their own times of need. Don’t worry about the challenges you currently face or will face in 2016, sis. Embrace them with the fullness of the realization that indeed, they are creating new opportunities for you. Embrace them because those new opportunities will make room for you to take new territories spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, in your relationships as a wife/mother/daughter/friend; in your businesses or work; in your finances; etc.

Sis, those new territories will put indescribably awesome new testimonies on your lips to the glory of God. This is His assurance! So brace yourself, sis. Wear worship well! As it is, praise looks incredibly good on you, and it never goes out of fashion. Are your insides dancing yet, sis? Pray over this Word, sis. I assure you that the Lord will interpret it for you Himself and help you internalize the assurance that He has given me.

I’m so looking forward to sharing your testimonies all through this year, sis. And please send in your praise reports if you will. This year, I want to feature your testimonies of what God is doing in your life. I’m happy to share this page with you, my fellow unique woman. It’s an honor to go and grow with you on this remarkable journey of a life in Christ. Here’s to fruitful and fulfilling 2016, by the power of the Holy Spirit Who is effectually at work within us, in Jesus name amen.

Be blessed sis…for you surely are!

Birth your dreams

As I thought about what I purposed to share with you on this post today, a tweet I sent out recently came to mind. It was a quote that said ‘The biggest mistake you can make is listening to people who’ve given up on their dreams telling you to give up on yours’.  I can’t begin to tell you just how true this expression is, but I can tell from the number of re-tweets it got that it resonates deeply with many.

One of the things I am so glad for today is that I have been able to fulfill a good number of the dreams in my heart, and even as new ones continue to evolve, I have a sense that as bold and as audacious (scary even) as some of them look, the same grace of God which has seen me being able to actualize some of my dreams in the years past, is the same grace that will as well see these new ones come to pass. I look back on some of the things God has helped me to birth and I smile in remembrance of how big they once looked. I smile in realization that no matter how big the dreams are, God is bigger. Indeed, I have preached countless of times that if our dreams are big enough for us to readily accomplish with minimal efforts then they are certainly not from God.

Our God is a big God! He is the greatest of the greats. He is too big for us to readily comprehend. He is the One who sits on the heavens of heavens as His throne, and the One for Whom the earth is but a mere footstool. He is eternity past, present and future. He knows all things, and in Him do all things consist. Nothing is made that was made without Him. He is all knowing, all seeing, all powerful! He is the Creator Himself! He is the master Craftsman! He is the Author and the Finisher! He is the Potter! He is the Designer and Controller of the universe! He is the One to Whom all the resources of the earth and in the spirit realm belong!

Sis, our God is the One Who has written the end of all things from the beginning. He is the One for Whom nothing is impossible! He it is Who has boldly declared that eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, that it has not come into the realm of the imagination of men the things He has prepared for those that love Him. And this our God is the very One Who puts the dreams in our hearts in the first place, according to His grand design. One thing I know is that our God cannot put anything in us to do that He has not already resourced us to deliver on. The challenge is that we think about the possibilities through the eyes of our strengths, rather than through the lenses of God’s abilities. But when we choose to look past ourselves and set our hearts to obey, the outcomes are always so awesome.

Why am I focused on dreams today? Well sis, I have shared with you before that out of one of the dreams the Lord laid a dream years ago my book about couples working together-  ‘Double Impact’ was birthed. I know now that that dream was but a seed, sis….and the book is only one tree in the mighty forest that I know God wants to birth out of that seed. Last year, and as God had been leading me, I finally stepped out in a new level of obedience and set up the Double Impact Platform. What an amazing journey it has been so far! We just had our first meeting for this year and it was simply remarkable. The feedback from participants – male and female, gave me some serious food for thought on one hand, and on the other hand gave me clarity about the fact that the Double Impact Platform objectives from the perspective of the Kingdom are so much deeper than I had thought or can readily see.

I can’t share the details on this post, but suffice it to say and I can testify time and again, that when God puts a dream in our hearts, all He needs is our obedience and He does the rest. My earlier plan was to make the first two sessions free and then have participants pay going forward, but God spoke to me and said the Double Impact Platform would always be free. Sis, when He said that, my heart skipped a beat. I immediately thought of how much each meeting had cost me and wondered how I could sustain that expense. But I drew on my faith reservoir and decided to rest afresh in the assurance that I am resourced by heaven and God Himself. And as always He has come through for me time and again at these meetings, sis. All He needed was my faith! He has continued to do the rest. I have not lacked, and I have not been pressured!   

Sis, I stepped out in obedience and lives are being touched, marriages are being transformed, and Kingdom businesses are positioning to go to their next levels for God’s glory. And do you know what I believe is the best part, sis? It’s that I am able to say that in this too I am delivering glory to God. I am able to see that He has counted me worthy to use as an instrument to bless His children through another channel. I can see the forest now, sis. I have no clue how each tree will be established, but I know that as I stay the course and allow Him lead me, God Who has called me to do the planting is He Who will water, and He also Who will bring the increase. This increase will bless lives for generations to come, and expand His Kingdom on earth….of this I’m certain! I’m completely honored to be used of God sis, totally and completely bowled over!

But this is ultimately really not about me, sis. I have shared this with you to encourage you to step out in faith and in obedience to deliver on whatever it is that the Lord has lain in your heart to do. The dream you have held down all this while is so much bigger than what you can see, sis. And our God has counted you worthy to entrust you with the vision. You are holding back a kingdom assignment, sis and our Father is asking you to do something with what He has purposed for you to do. He is not calling you to go it alone, sis. I promise you! He is with you and He has already provided. As you take a stand to step out today, He will help you to see, to understand, and to access the resources He has made available to help you along the way. You won’t ever experience fulfillment until you intentionally step out in faith, sis. Can I encourage you to do this today? Can I ask you to take a deep breath, exhale and then allow yourself free-fall into the arms of He Who in the first place upholds you?

Our Father has need of you, sis! He has need of you in a greater way today! He has asked me to remind you today that He is waiting on you to make a move. He has asked that I say to you categorically that in 2016 He has a higher expectation of you. And He has asked me to remind you that you already have all the help that you need in Him. The Holy Spirit will help you, sis. This is my prayer for you. Certainly, I see that in my life that He has been and is my constant help. He is here for you too, sis. His grace is available to you and for you. As you walk into a new level of obedience backed by action, God will arise for you. He will honor your every effort and magnify your output for His glory….in Jesus name, Amen.

Be blessed sis… for you surely are!

FROM BEGINNING TO END

God loves me! He really and truly does. I just had to first put this out there before anything else. That I and every member of my family are alive and thriving, that we can look back on 2015 and recount testimony upon testimony of God’s faithfulness towards us… simply amazing! I am personally beyond grateful. It is with this same spirit of love that I say to you ‘Happy New Year’. May 2016 bring the fullness of God’s special love for you into the realm of significant manifestations that will cause you to give equally astounding testimonies all through the year ahead, in Jesus name, amen.

2016 is already well underway. Indeed truth be told, we will all be planning another Christmas holiday sooner than later as the time flies rapidly by. I have come to the place of enjoying the journey of the passage of time because it takes me closer to seeing my children graduate, get married, birth their own children, and become fully established successfully in their own lives.

Can I confess something else to you? Each day also comes with some excitement about the countdown to an eternity in the presence of the Lord. I do pray and believe Him for long life, don’t get me wrong. I pray more than anything else to be a productive part of my children’s lives for decades to come. But I also bask in the privilege of knowing that whenever He does call me, I will be going home to my Father’s embrace. Do you think this is strange? Morbid? Well don’t sis! Truth is that every day is a gift and we never know which will be our last. Ah, I am grateful for every day here on earth; but I am more so grateful for my salvation, so thankful for what was such a mighty work of grace….a saving grace that today qualifies me as one of God’s own precious children; a salvation that assures me of a place in heaven and an eternity with Him. Awesome!  

The holidays are pretty much over for most of us. My two oldest children are back in Canada, and my home has quieted down considerably. As my last two start school as well next Monday, our routines will largely assume the stance they were at for the past year as yours no doubt will as well. This can be quite an emotional adjustment for many people. The holidays come with a euphoria that tends to becloud the daily realities we otherwise contend with. The holidays give us a few days to not focus on the pressures that otherwise tend to buffet us all year through. Truth is however, that between the emotional-pyscho-social and activity-oriented frenzy generated by the coordinated efforts of the media and the retail industry, many of us actually find ourselves in a more stressed out position over the few days of the ‘holidays’ than we normally would all the year through. We spend too much, eat too much, go out too much, and generally extend ourselves too much in one form or another.

It’s almost comical how we seem to forget that between December 31^st and January 1^st, nothing has changed in the real sense of it. The expression ‘Happy New Year’ does not immediately translate to all our problems being wiped away. Any unresolved ‘issues’ we might have had as at December 24^th will not be resolved by the twinkling lights and festivities of the next seven days. Indeed, your first day back at work or school will remind you of that quickly enough, lol. Methinks this is why January can be hard on many. The post-holiday blues is real and can be pretty intense!

There will be the many who approach January with a sense of gloom; those who don’t believe they have anything to be excited about. All they can see is another twelve unproductive and frustrating months. The weights of their realities assume greater dimensions as they have to contend with those around them who approach the New Year with an air of excitement about the possibilities ahead. And you know sis, if you are not in that space of gloom, it can be hard to understand. Just know that if you have any one around you who is in this situation, they could be part of your 2016 assignment from God. It could be that He expects you to extend love, encouragement, support and hope to them. It could be that He wants you to touch their lives on His behalf, to help them come to the place of realizing afresh that He is God and He is more than able to turn things around for them if they hold fast to Him. Just saying…..

My prayer is that like me, you are one of those who have entered 2016 with a ‘letting go of the things behind and pressing forward into the future’ mindset. I pray that you have reset your spiritual GPS and are ready to hear and obey the things God will speak to you in 2016. I pray that you have come to the table with a fresh determination to upscale your obedience to His instructions no matter how unlikely they seem in the face of the many ‘facts’ that would instruct you otherwise. I pray that like me, you have entered 2016 with clarity about the fact that you are on a journey to deliver glory, and that no matter what you will come out on top if you allow God take the lead.

Sis, let me encourage you to hold on to Deuteronomy 11 v 10 -12 this year:

¹⁰ For the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot like a garden of vegetables. 

¹¹ But the land into which you are about to cross to possess, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, 

¹² a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year

This is my personal assurance from God that 2016 is new terrain; that it is not like 2015 from which I have come. There will be hills and valleys, yes… but my 2016 drinks water from the rain of heaven as does yours, sis. This word is my assurance that God’s eyes are on my 2016 from the beginning of the year until the end. Please let this be your assurance also. 

You are a big deal to God, sis. Release yourself, your hopes, your dreams and aspirations, your fears and concerns, squarely back into His able hands again. God is asking you afresh to let Him be your rest and assurance of a fruitful and fulfilling year, come what may. Can you that? Yes, you can! The Holy Spirit helps us, sis. He always has and He always will.

Be blessed sis…. For you surely are!