Oh death.... Life in it's truest form!

Hey sis,

I buried a friend a couple of days ago. I'd known her since we were very young children. Ultimately, we ended up in the same secondary school and fast forward many years later, we ended up living right beside each other, literally sharing a fence. She was the first of my inner circle when I got into secondary school. We shaped and sharpened each other that early on. Our lives took different paths, but the bond of sisterhood was always there, and we did well to stay in touch over the years, ever aware that our stories were forever connected. Then she died…

I have been at my most sober since I first learnt of her demise. I’ve cried and I’ve questioned. I stood and watched as they lowered the casket, as they put her body in the ground. It hits hard to bury a friend sis… it hit’s really hard! Through it all I've done my best to remind myself that God is supreme, that His will has been done, that His plans and His purposes are always for good, that His ways are not our ways, that His thoughts are not our thoughts, that He understands it all, that He sees the big picture. But it hurts, sis. I promise you it hurts.

She was a first child. She was an only daughter… both her parents still very much alive. My heart ached as I watched them try to hold it together in the face of what is surely a very deep hurt. I watched them trying their best to brave an incredibly devastating loss. As I listened to the eulogies at her night of memories, having had the privilege of delivering one myself, I realized she had lived a fuller life than most of us individually knew about. Time and again I asked the Lord to help her parents take solace in the wonderful things that were said about their daughter… it was clear they were also hearing new things about certain aspects of her life and how she impacted so many people in so many ways. There was such genuine love for their daughter…I pray they will find comfort in that. 

So much played on my mind that day and into today, sis. I had watched her little daughter throughout the funeral, so clearly oblivious of the gravity of what had happened in her own life. I thought how true it is that the Lord especially loves little children, so much so as to keep them from understanding the weight of some of life’s deepest tragedies. I watched her son too. Young as he is, he clearly knew something fundamental had shifted in his life… and I could see him trying to process the reality. My heart ached for him, sis. I remember looking at the beautiful casket her body was laid in, looking into the clean white grave as the coffin was lowered…. I knew she wasn’t in it… her spirit had long since moved on… but I found myself reflecting on how for her, it was all over on this side of eternity. All we were looking at and experiencing did not matter to her in any way. She had lived… and she left memories, her own unique story, her legacy… but she was quite simply, gone!

At her funeral service, the Pastor had shared about some young man who was speaking to his wife on the phone and suddenly went silent. He had slumped and died…in the middle of a call! Yesterday, I found out that two of my friends had lost their mothers the day before. This morning, I was told about a lady who while dancing away at her alumni event, suddenly slumped on the dance floor and died. So much death all over the place, sis. So much! But ….this is the irony isn’t it sis? There is always death around us. I heard some statistic recently that said that about 151,600 people die every day. Maybe the number isn’t exact, but we know there are people dying literally every minute of every day. When it hits close to home though? Ah, now that is another thing entirely!

I say all the time that death is about the living. How so? You see sis…once we die…once there is that separation of the spirit man from the body…. this world and all that concerns it ceases to be relevant to the person that is dead. Absolutely so!  It is the living that cry. It is the living that discuss the ‘how’ of a person’s death. It is the living that worry about what happens to those left behind…. in my friend’s case, young children, aged parents, a husband, a multitude of friends and family members. None of that matters once we are gone, all that matters is where we are in our relationship with the Lord.

Truth is that while we all talk about legacy…the legacy a person leaves behind is irrelevant to them. Even legacy is about the living! No, I am not advocating for living a life that is not mindful of the impact on the lives of others, on your generation. What I am saying however, is that in truth….no matter how much effort you put into creating a legacy for those you will one day leave behind, it is absolutely more imperative that you ensure you are positioned to walk into an eternal spiritual living legacy… in heaven with our Father God! That will be the only legacy that matters to he or she who is dead, sis. The only one!

Sis, death is not a bad thing. Not for a believer! No, it is rather a sure thing! What would make death good or bad to the one who is dead…the dead being the only one that truly matters in the equation, is whether they find themselves translated into the bosom of the Lord, to dwell with Him in joy everlasting unto eternity…. or whether they translate to the kingdom of darkness where there is only weeping and gnashing of teeth forever. Death is a bad thing to the living because of the pain of separation, emotions that need to be processed, inconveniences that may be faced, adjustments that may need to be made, etc etc…. Again, these are  conversations and considerations of the living!  To the dead, death is simply a translation to life in its truest form…. expressed in an eternity in heaven…. or in hell.

Sis, we know not the year, month, day, hour or second! We have buried aged parents. We have buried young children. We have buried our mates! Some gave us notice…maybe through a terminal illness. Others? A slump in the middle of a phone call, a going to bed and never waking up! You and I have no clue how we go, sis…but go we must and certainly will! If there is one thing I am sure of, it is that the Lord is asking me to step back today and take fresh stock of my life in Him. He is asking me to be quiet before Him and allow Him speak to me about areas of my life where alignment or realignment is required. He is asking me to quietly reflect and where necessary reorder my priorities. He is asking that I am intentional and committed to walking out my salvation in fear and trembling, so that whenever my last second may be, regardless of the discussions that may be taking place on this side of the divide…. My spirit, my essence, the real me would have translated to my eternal life in its truest form… in the ever-loving arms of my Father.

Sis, the Lord is speaking these same injunctions to you too. Death should not come with fear, sis. It is a worthy expectation when we have the assurance of where we are going. God takes care of the rest for those we leave behind. He is their Father too. His power is not invalidated by our death. Hard truth, but life goes on for the living. He is asking you and I today to be sure that the life we go on to is a life where death has absolutely no sting, a life where hell and the grave cannot hold us down, a life totally secure in Him for eternity… the truest life ever!

I pray that the Lord will help us seek and hold unto Him at a much more intimate level, sis. I pray the Holy Spirit helps you on your journey to life in its truest form….even as surely as I know He is surely helping me.

Be blessed sis….for your surely are!

Stay rooted

Hey Sis,

It's been an intense season of joy for me over the past 2 weeks. I barely paid mind to the intensity of the traveling across three different countries in the space of 10 days, because every moment and purpose for each trip was so beautiful in itself. Thank You Jesus! I give the glory to God alone, sis…. for the graduation of my first son from University, for the gift of time out with my sisters to commemorate my sister’s 50th birthday, for being able to spend time with my nephew Eli… my little warrior-man who has been in hospital for over a year from the day he was born, for the graduation of my youngest son from secondary school, and for having all my children home together at the same time and for the first time in over two years. It’s FULL HOUSE, babes and I am simply loving it! My joy is full, sis. Oh yes, it sure is!

The events of the past few days have had me on a reflective trajectory about graduation, about the stages and phases of our lives. While graduation is a marker for finishing, it is also is statement of the fact that you came in, that you went through (process)…and that you made it to the end, and in the end.  Process…this is the bedrock of life isn’t it, sis? That everything is a process. Graduation means that you went made it through the rigor of process. Process speaks to times of intensity, of up’s and downs. Process speaks to the forging of new relationships, the remaking/shifting/reshaping and sometimes breakdown of old ones. Process speaks to growing, maturing, learning/unlearning/relearning. Process speaks to breaking or being broken, to mending and being mended. It speaks to right steps as much as it speaks to mistakes and missteps. It speaks to stretching and being stretched.

At any point in time sis, we are either about to enter process, are right in the process, or just coming out of it. But you know what sis? Process is a continuum! It never ends. You just move from one phase or thing into the next…and sometimes many at the same time, for good or otherwise. As much as my sons have made it through university and secondary school respectively, each of them is now in the immediate process of their ‘next’. Sure, they will have some time to ‘exhale’ for a bit…but they must move into their next seasons. Life doesn’t give you those endless breathers sis, it sure doesn’t.

If you recall, I’ve shared with you the fact that the Lord spoke to me early this year about “the process of the journey” …about the need to maintain the right perspective and embrace my processes so that I am able to emerge stronger and better at the other end, regardless of how difficult the journey might have been. Perspective is everything in the process of the journey, sis. Once you have the right perspective, it helps you stay rooted, grounded, to stand firm in the process knowing that ultimately you win.

And he will be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season; Its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity]  - Psalm 1:3 (Amp)

“For he will be [nourished] like a tree planted by the waters, That spreads out its roots by the river; And will not fear the heat when it comes; But its leaves will be green amidst  And it will not be anxious and concerned in a year of drought nor stop bearing fruit - Jeremiah 17:8 (Amp)

I love these scripture verses. They remind me that I must stay rooted to my Source, my God and Father. They remind me that my roots must go down deep in an absolute conviction that He is working all things out for my good in accordance with His infallible Word…. that in this position, I will never lack nourishment, that every one of my processes will bring me to a place of prosperity and maturity. These scriptures remind me that regardless of the vagaries of life, the intensity of my seasons, that I may bend but I will never break… that I will always win, by the power of God! 

Getting to where every single one of my children has finished secondary school at one end and are already beginning to leave university at the other, has not been a walk in the park, sis. There were oh so many times of prayer and fasting, times when I lived on my knees in prayer, times when I stared fees in the face and wondered how on earth we’d pull this one off, heart-rending moments in hospital… so much, sis. But it has all come to maturity, sis. Fruit has come forth in its season! We have all prospered, and the Lord Himself takes all the glory. Going through…the process of the journey wasn’t easy, sis but we’ve made it and so will you!

Today the Lord is asking me to remind you that He waters us Himself, that He holds our hands through it all. He asks me to remind you that you need to allow your roots go deep enough to always drink of Him, no matter how dry the season. He is asking you to look past your difficulties and stand firm in Him. He is asking me to remind you that if you stand firm, you will we see the markers His faithfulness through the journey. He is asking me to remind you that in Him, all things ultimately prosper and come to maturity. He is asking me to assure you that as you stay rooted, you graduate sis…in every instance, you win in the end!

Sis, life can be hard, I know. But He Who holds all power carries us. He is our Source and our Strength…and He asks that we lean totally and completely on Him. All He asks in return is intimacy with us, sis. Our roots going deeper is about increased intimacy. This has been His clarion call to us for quite a while now. Come to the Water! Get planted! Stay planted! Dig deeper! Press in! Give Him time! Give Him more of you! Stand firm in Him! Stay rooted! Once this is our heart stance, our spiritual commitment, we graduate with honors sis, no matter what!

Sis, I pray that you allow this world to sink deep in your spirit, that you allow the Holy Spirit clarify it for you Himself, that you open yourself to Him showing you where you need deeper roots and how best you can stay grounded through your trials. Yes sis, my daily prayer is that you allow the Lord to guide you into all things, into all truth, into every victory….. even as surely as He is daily leading and guiding me.

Be blessed sis… for you surely are!

JUST MOVE!

Hey sis, June already? Not a single post from me in two months? And only two posts this year? Oh dear! Not good, Audrey! Not good at all!  Here I am again starting off with an apology about how long I have been away from this platform and how there's been a lot going on with me work-wise and in so many engagements that I find myself enmeshed in. But you know what, sis? We are all busy and so that is NOT a tenable excuse anymore, certainly the last time I will be making it. Truth is that I could have applied myself more intentionally to this platform, regardless of how crazy things have been around me. Thinking about it though, part of it has also been that that it is sometimes overwhelming how many lessons every one of my days bring. I was sharing with my sista Bidemi recently, that I see a message from God in almost everything. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though. He did say He would be speaking with me on-the-go, didn’t He?

I literally see God in my details, sis. I see Him speak through the most simple and otherwise insignificant looking things…..and they're deep messages…so deep that it’s been hard to know which specific one the word of the moment would be. The problem with not settling on any one message and running with it however, is that this has over time built itself into some kind of a ‘writer's block’. My truth therefore is that this is what has largely kept me this far away from this platform. It hasn't just been that I'm busy…no, it’s more because I haven't been able to just make myself sit down and write. And can I confess sis, that it is because I have gotten comfortable with being stuck?...not in the sense that it never troubles me or makes me feel bad… but in the sense that I have clearly not wanted the change enough so as to force the shift! Ouch! Hard truth, but my truth nonetheless! Hmm! Can you relate sis? Ouch! This really hurts!

This is then exactly what I want to share with you today, sis. What happens when it looks like you're stuck? What happens when you know to ‘do’ but can't find the energy or motivation?   What happens when you are faced daily with things that are the burning desires of your heart to deliver on, yet you just can't seem to make yourself move even though you know you need to? What happens when ‘stuck’ becomes your default, sis? When stuck becomes a comfort zone…a painful zone yes, but a comfortable and familiar one nonetheless?

I just came home from our bi-annual three-day Sista Power Gathering retreat. Now the details of the retreat are not mine to share, we keep that as quiet safe space. But I can share this element because it is my story. During our Vision Board review exercise, I‘d shared how as regards my spiritual goals, that I hadn’t been able to move forward with my writings which I know without equivocation, are an integral part of the ministry assignments on my life. I admitted that I was seriously struggling with being able to move forward, despite a deep hunger to do so. Thank God for God though. He had a sure word for me in the course of one of the ministrations. You see sis, I heard clearly that if anything was going to shift…..it was in my hands and in my power to do! I realized again that I needed to want something enough to do something about it…. because I am the only one who can! More than anything else though, I had found myself in the session I was facilitating, reminding others not to forget that whatever their assignment might be, it was about more than themselves…it was about the destinies of generations that are waiting on them to give full expression to their gifts.  

As I spoke, the Holy Spirit nudged me not too gently, reminding me that in choosing to stay stuck, I was forgetting that this platform is for a purpose that is well beyond me. This platform is not about my love for writing or gift of writing. No, it is about those whose lives and generations will be touched because I chose to deploy the gift as the Lord would have me do! And, in that understanding, I knew I had no choice but to move, sis. I knew I could not stay in stuck even for one more day!

So, the question the Lord has for us today is how do you get to from stuck to shifting, to moving? You know what sis? You just do! You just move! You take your eyes off the imperfections and limitations of your current situations or potential results, and just take a first step! For instance, today I decided that even if I didn’t have a specific message, I was just going to write an article. Literally, I said to myself "Girl, just write something!!! If you are stuck, then that is exactly what you will write about. Leave it to God to make sense of it in the end!” I said to myself that even if this particular post does not make sense, I would do it anyway. I would do the voice note. I would transcribe it, edit it….and I would to post it regardless. In a sense therefore sis, this post is less about you and more about me intentionally choosing to shift from stuck and get moving again. There is a fire in me that has desperately wanted for so long to come back to where I'm blogging regularly as I used to, and because I’ve been reminded by the Lord Himself that it's up to me, I am choosing to shift ground and move on to delivering on this assignment.

Sis, this post is about me coming to the realization that whether what I write would make sense or not in any instance is no longer the case. It has never been about ‘my’ message anyway. Me writing this today is about me going back to the place of trusting God to speak that which He desires. One of the many deep insights I received over the course of our retreat was that it is pride and arrogance not to move because you are afraid to find out that God didn’t send you, because you are afraid to fail or to be wrong. Sis, I have clearly been more focused on being sure that you are pleased with my output when you read my post, than I have been with simply showing up in obedience to God and allowing Him process His message to you for wherever you need it in your life. I deeply apologize…first to God, and then to you sis. Henceforth, I'm going to be focused on making sure that I deliver with much more regularity on this platform. I can do all things through Christ! That is God's Word concerning me. Christ is in me and He is the hope of glory. He is the One Who has given me my gifts, my talents, my abilities. I have the mind of Christ, therefore I cannot be confused. I cannot stagnate. I cannot be frustrated. I cannot be stuck! It is His glory that is at stake! His glory in me must shine forth, sis! It must!

God is the One that put the desire to start this blog in my heart since I started it almost 9 years ago. It was and is for His will and His good pleasure. This has nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my ability, nothing to do with a gift that I obviously didn’t give myself. This is strictly God and for His glory! Therefore, while this might not have been the deepest most spiritual of my posts, it is me saying “I'm arising, I'm shifting ground, I'm refusing to stay in stuck!” Sis, I choose to stretch, and I choose to deliver. And I'm doing this because I am intentional about fulfilling God's call on my life and living a life that is fulfilling to Him first, and then to myself.

How about you, sis? What are the things or where are the areas that you haven't been able to move forward in in your life? Where are you stuck, sis? Where do you need to make a shift? Where do you need to move? Sis, the only person that can make this happen is you! God has already done His bit in resourcing you. This is not about perfection, sis. Like I said, this post is about me choosing to SHOW UP! This is really just me saying no, I don't want to be comfortable in a broken place….. because sis, as far as you and I are not delivering on our assignments for God, we are in a broken place. Sis, can I ask you take a moment look your ‘stuck’ in the face? Look it in the face and take a determined step forward, sis. As you do, don't worry if the outcome looks as great as the ones you used to see in the past. Focus only on the shift, sis! Celebrate the fact that you moved!  Sis, take that one step as I have done now. Just make a move, sis! As you do, I promise you that the Lord will steadily take you back into the place of a seamless flow.

The Lord had said to me that this is my year to ‘Thrive’ but I was seeing too many dropped balls in the areas that mattered to me the most and that has saddened me all these months. But it ends today, sis. I have such joy and fullness in my heart this morning.  This post is me saying,

“Lord, I come back and put my hands in Your hands. I take this one first step knowing that You can and will amplify the results by Yourself. Lord, I'm taking this one step as a commitment and a coming back to that which You would have me do. I'm committing that I will keep coming back with regularity Lord, and that whatever it is You will show me, I will speak. Lord, I will show up and write even if in my own eyes it appears that my articles may not be as concise, may not be as great, may not be as well read as some others have been. Lord, those will not be my metrics or markers of fulfilling Your call. My marker will be that I show up, Lord.  Father, I will show up knowing that only I (because of Your power that is already at work within me) can move me out of the place of stagnation and into a place of progress and productivity. I choose to show up, Lord! I chose to shift! I chose to MOVE!”

This is what I want to encourage you to do today, sis. Just rise up! Just shift! Don't stay in stuck in stuck sis, make that one tiny step. My sista and pastor @BidemiMark-Mordi always reminds us that the Holy Spirit is more than able to bridge the gap between our ability and what is required in any situation or season. Sis, let's leave it to God to help us to do greater things as we come in the fullness of obedience to His instructions. Make a move, sis! Make a move and allow the Lord unfold the greater that He has already put in you, even as He's surely unfolding the greater that He put in me. I speak over you and declare that the Holy Spirit helps you move past your stuck places, sis…. even as surely and as certainly as He's helping me.

Be blessed sis…. for you surely are!

HOME

Hey sis, it was my birthday yesterday. I had an absolutely fabulous time, my children made sure of that….gifts, a spa session, dinner, icecream cake (chocolate flavored with brownie toppings and chocolate crunch inside… slurp!). Added icing on the cake was having another equally fabulous chocolate cake delivered to me, with love from my husband who is back home in Nigeria. We had kinda made peace with the fact that we would celebrate when I got back so I was not expecting that. I simply burst into tears! Love that guy, I truly do!

Err… did I hear you say something about chocolate, cake, chocolate cake, and hip-size? When I am regaling you about my husby’s romantic gesture? Wwhhaaattt? You didn’t go there did you sis? I know you didn’t, lol. Focus on the gestures of love and not on the calories, sis. Understood? Good girl! Now, where was I?

Ah! Yes. As I sat down to my morning coffee, I looked over my apartment and thought, ‘Wow, I’ve truly become one of those people with two-homes’. Literally! What am I on about? Well, time was in my life when I couldn’t at all relate with anyone living in one country and then maintaining a home in another. It didn’t make sense. That’s what hotels were for, I thought. Over time I came to understand it from an investment point of view, but I neither knew how to go about making such investments nor had the money to. Ultimately, this just kind of lost relevance in the scheme of things, in the day-to-day of doing life and certainly in the place of my maturing over time to where I had no mental real estate allocated to the more-than-one-home conversation. It was not part of my reality and that was that! Where am I going with this? Patience, sis. You’ll see.

The journey to how I have ended up with two homes is a topic for another day but suffice to say it made and still makes economic sense. Can I confess that I had to repent for some of the silly things I’d said anywhere between fifteen to twenty years ago regarding having a second home? Oh, I did, sis. I sure did! I finally got it, you see. Yeah, I don’t doubt that there are those who have homes overseas simply because of the impression it makes on the joneses, but I know now that there are more who simply put on a practical cap and got on with their new reality. With my children schooling overseas, the attendant costs for residency and meal plans, coupled with the foreign exchange rates, it simply makes economic sense. This morning though, I wasn’t sitting and marveling at the economics of my second home, but more so at the journey. I was reflecting on how my husband and I started out practically squatting with a friend of ours in her one bedroom, and how the Lord has brought us to where among other, we own the home we live in back in Nigeria, as well as this one. God has been beyond faithful sis, He certainly has! He is so good like that.

It was in the place of an intense surge of gratitude that the Lord dropped it in my spirit, ‘You’ve always had another home’. It was quiet, it was deep, and as I reflected on this, I saw that it was and is also quite true. Sis, I have always had another home, as have you. Even when we had a borrowed roof over our head, we had a home! We are in this world but not of it. This is God’s word to us, right? Praise God for Jesus, sis. Praise God for loving us so much as to send Jesus to die for us. This is our access card! This is the unbreakable heavenly tenancy agreement sealed in His Blood! This is our stamp of ownership, our title deed….Heaven’s consent to our piece of eternity! Halleluyah!

What a good time to be reminded about this, sis. I was speaking with my sister who turns 50 in another couple of days and she’d shared that someone close to her kept telling her to stop letting people know her true age. She’d refused and told him to go check how many of their age mates had already died. She has life, breath and so much to be thankful to God for, so she certainly wasn’t going to color His goodness over her life by hiding her age. I so got it, sis. I am as grateful for every single one of my 48years as I am for every single gray hair on my head. It’s simply a testimonial of God’s abundance in my life and I am honored to make boast in Him for the life He has given me. Thank You Lord!

My life, sis. My LIFE! My birthday was a celebration of life here on earth, but the whisper in my spirit about my other home was God saying to me that He celebrates me also by reminding me who I truly am. It was God telling me He is pleased with my journey in this realm but asking me not to forget my true home. Sis, this reflection this morning was the Holy Spirit calling me back to the place of spiritual focus. It was Him reminding me that whether I have one home, two or even more in this world, the only home that matters is my true eternal home….a home I have had since the day I gave my life fully to Christ. Halleluyah!

I’ve always had two homes, sis. The physical ones I have lived in here on earth…and my heavenly home, so have you. This is such a comfort to my soul. I am reminded as I reflect on the love and joy from yesterday, that there is an immeasurable love and unfathomable joy that awaits me when I finally transition from this realm back to the arms of the Father. I am again grateful this morning for my hope and future, for my sure expectation of an eternity with God. I am reminded of mercy that triumphs over judgement. I am reminded of love that does not deal with me according to my sin and failings. I bask afresh in a love, grace and mercy that transcends all my errors. I am expectant again that one day I will be called back into my eternal home where the fullness of who my spirit man is will truly find full expression, will find rest, will find joy.

Sis, the Lord would have me ask you today to look past that which is your physical earthly home…no matter how beautiful or drab, big or small it might be. He is asking that you take a few minutes today to be grateful that you have another home… an eternal home, a more excellent home, a more beautiful home…the only home that truly counts in the scheme of things. He is asking that you reflect on the completeness that awaits you there. He is asking that whatever your earthly achievements and struggles, you never lose sight of the fact that He has a prepared place for you…that you are one of the privileged few that will make it home in the end… that He has loved you and will always love you on and through  your journey back home.

Keep your eyes steadfastly on the eternal, sis. That is His message for us today. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Stay in alignment with God’s word, His will and His way. Let Him come first in your thoughts, your words, your decisions and your actions. Let His glory be your highest desire. Let your focus be on your true home, sis. We are literally just walking through this world, it is not our home. I pray the Holy Spirit will help you constantly keep this reality in the forefront of your daily life and walk, even as surely as He is helping me. We will make it home, sis. By the grace, power, mercy and love of God we will!

Be blessed sis….for you surely are!

CHOOSE TO SERVE

It's February already! I can't believe 2019 is moving so fast. Late last year the Lord spoke so much to me about wisdom and understanding, that I honestly started to wonder at some point whether He was trying to tell me that I wasn’t being particularly wise in my walk and conduct in that season. However, early this year, the Lord clarified to me that wisdom was one of the things that I would need to excel in my 2019, which He’d said to me was my THRIVE year – a year in which proper articulation of my thoughts, words, actions and assignments was critical; a year in which modulation of my emotions was key; a year in which I needed to be careful to respond and not to react. I can I tell you sis, that since the beginning of this year I have seen quite clearly why in a 2019, wisdom and understanding must be the things that under-gird my every action, my every thought process, every perspective I allow into my spirit.

I've been doing a study of the book of 1^st Kings and one of the things that saddened my heart afresh was to see how a mighty King Solomon, the one that we hold up and who the Bible tells us was the bastion of wisdom, got to the point because of his love for foreign (strange) women, that he allowed his heart to be turned away from God. 1^st Kings 11 v 3 tells us he had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines, and we see that because they served other gods and his own heart was not perfect and complete with God, he began to go after gods of his wives, set up temples for those gods, worship and make sacrifices at those strange altars. You know the story, sis. God was angry with him and decided to take the kingdom away from Solomon. Faithful as our God is, He purposed not to take it away in Solomon's time because of His earlier commitment to David, Solomon's father - who the Bible also tells us was a man after God's own heart.

Sis, as I read this, I was reminded the actions we take have the potential to entrench or to negate the foundations that have been laid before us. When we move away from well established, laid down godly principles, while we might not feel the direct impact…. we're actually setting up our generations to struggle through challenges that God would not otherwise have them contend with. In 2019, we must choose right intentionally, sis! Irrespective of the choices we have made in the past, every day is a new opportunity to choose the path of alignment with God’s will and way!

Ultimately, Solomon died and his son Rehobaom reigned in his stead. Israel assembled together to declare him king (1^st Kings 12). They pleaded with him to be kinder to them than his father Solomon had been, in return they would be faithful to him. Rehobaom asked them to give him three days to think it through, to take counsel, which was a good thing. Truth is that when we transact from the place of wisdom and understanding, we are required to respond and not to react; to not be in a hurry to speak; to not allow our flesh and physical senses lead. Sis, in the place of wisdom and understanding, we must never be in a hurry to assume that what we see with the outward eyes, or what we hear audibly, is the true representation of any situation.

Sis, as you do life this 2019 let me encourage you not to be quick to react. Let this be the year that you more often than not respond; a year where you always step back, seek godly counsel, think through, press into the Holy Spirit and let God enable you discern what really ‘is’…. over and above what looks or sounds obvious in the physical. This is that year to transact from the place of the spirit, sis. I promise you it is!

Wisdom! Understanding! This is the key for us this year, sis. Rehoboam started off well, seeking counsel from others. The challenge became which counsel he allowed to drive his decisions. He consulted the older men who had served as advisers to Solomon, and he consulted the young men who grew up with him. Both came back to him with diametrically opposed counsel. The old men asked him to serve the people, that they be faithful to him forever in return. The young men insisted he impose a harsher call to service on the people, such that they would be unequivocal about who was the boss of them! The result? Israel was torn apart! 

This is the interesting thing about leadership and it’s what the Lord would have me share with you today.  Sis, when the Lord begins to lift us into places of leadership, influence and authority, we will always have a choice as to whether we want to serve, or we want to be served. We will always have to choose whether flesh will rule, or we will allow spirit hold sway. Why did Rehoboam resist the counsel of the elders? Very simple, in my view! You see, they were asking him to serve …but he had been the son of a king, no ordinary young man, a Prince no less; and now he was king, the big gun, exalted above his people positionally. In his mind, by the pull of his flesh, leadership was about position; authority; power…expressly so! He didn't see leadership through the lens of God, the God Who so loved us that He gave and gave… and gave; serving us in love so ultimately through the gift of His son Jesus Christ Who came not to be served, but to serve.

Rehoboam didn't take the elders counsel because it sounded like he would have to put himself under and allow his subjects to be above him. He didn't count the cost and consider that the undiluted lifelong loyalty of his people is the greatest gift a king could ever have. He went with the counsel of the young men who in effect said to him, ‘You are a king. Kings don’t serve. You deserve to be served’. They spoke to him words that fed his flesh, words that puffed him up. What he didn't think through was the fact that these young men lacked the benefit of experiential wisdom; that these elders were men who saw Solomon rise and saw him fall. They had counselled from the viewpoint of helping him avoid the same leadership pitfalls.  The younger men? All they had were ulterior motives. Because they grew up with him, they were themselves now in a position of privilege as the king's inner circle. They were the most likely candidates to be appointed into special positions if they moved him in a direction that pleased his flesh. If he was a harsher, more powerful ruler, then they themselves would also have higher levels of power and would also be greatly feared in the land. If he served, then they would – in their minds, be reduced to servants themselves.

Sis, as the Lord places us in leadership positions at various levels, and if we're not attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we will very easily be counseled into the wrong places. The Bible tells us clearly that there is wisdom in the multitude of counselors, but it is wisdom factor that we must be on the lookout for. Wisdom is literally the principal thing, sis. As we reach out to others, it is imperative that we test the spirits behind any counsel we receive. Sis, you and I have the Holy Spirit in us, we each have the capacity to hear His voice. There is a depth of knowledge and understanding that comes only from the place of transacting in a close personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. If we are to thrive this year, if we are to have a year where our emotions will not hold sway, if we are to operate this year from a place where we're not fighting the same sorts of battles that we fought last year; we must allow the counsel of the Lord and the spirit of service come rule our hearts and minds.   

Can I ask you sis, that as you think about the rest of your year, you approach it with a heart of service? If the Son of God came in service to you and I, then none of us is greater than the opportunities that the Lord gives us to serve.  In leadership, there is an imperative for us to stretch in the giving of ourselves, in the building up of and adding of value to others. The benefits of a life of service transcend our lifetime and flow over unto our generations to come. I promise you that many of us are today living in the overflow of the goodness of those who have gone before us. I want to ask us today to be very mindful and intentional about the true legacies we leave for our children. My greatest prayer is that my generations find themselves walking in the abundance of blessings that my life invests ahead for them. My hearts cry is to live and leave a legacy of true leadership, authenticity and humility…exemplified by a genuine heart of love, a willingness to serve, and a commitment to deliver glory to God as I follow through on the example of Jesus….as the Holy Spirit helps and empowers me to do!

This is my heart's cry, sis. I pray it is yours too. Please choose to serve! Don’t let the world counsel you to expect or demand service. Of what use is man’s acknowledgement of your leadership, authority, influence or power, if the Lord is not pleased with your life? Sis, please allow the Holy Spirit show you how best to serve, even and especially at those times when it is uncomfortable, when it looks like you're being put under, when you so desperately want to speak but you know He would have you be quiet, when everything in you would rather push back. There is a form of service that is not of or unto men, it is that service that is of and for God Himself. Choose to serve as the Lord leads, sis. Choose to serve from a Christ-like example of true leadership and allow God reward you and your generations to come with the loyalty of heaven itself. The Holy Spirit will help you sis, even as surely as He's everyday helping me.

Be blessed sis….. for you surely are!

GENTLE WHISPERS

Hey sis, I suspect you thought I was done with blogging, right? Well, can I confess that I had struggled so much with it that I occasionally wondered if it was a season of my life that was now over? I did, sis! Oh, but I did! That is until a recent conversation brought to the fore the fact that I was allowing my commitments to so many external things take priority over a sense of responsibility to myself. I ended that engagement with a keen sense of awareness that I needed to re-compartmentalize things in my life into two boxes, my negotiable's and non-negotiable's. I had to agree with myself afresh that anything that had to do with building ‘ME’ for me so that I can give full expression to God’s call upon my life MUST come first. Everything else would have to fit around this principle. I had clearly allowed the flurry of life overtake me somewhere along the line, but as of now I am determinedly finding my way right back to me. Can you relate, sis?

One of my fresh realizations was that the platform of UniquelyWoman is one of my non-negotiable's and a clear assignment from God upon my life which I cannot walk away from.  That said sis, I honestly struggled with putting action behind this realization. I mean, it's a busy time of year and there’s so much going on with most of us in this season, so I will admit I didn’t act immediately on this. But…. when the Lord is on your case? Boy, is He on your case, sis! It was barely a couple of days later that I had a meeting with a young lady who has allowed me be a combination of boss, mentor and a mother-figure in her life. We’d spent most of the afternoon talking about how she was doing in her life and business. Suddenly, she asked, ‘So how are you ma'am?’ I responded to say that I’ve been busy, dealing with my many responsibilities as best I know how, yada yada yada. She’d been smiling her sweet smile all through as I spoke, but once I was done she put on a serious face and asked, ‘And what about your blogging ma’am?’ Ah ha! I told you God knows how to get on your case right? I could almost hear the Holy Spirit chuckle, could almost see Him wag a finger and say to me ‘Girl, get back to your assignment NOW!’

Sis, this has been quite an intense year for me in so many ways. I almost can't quite wrap my head around the fact that we are in December already. The rapidity with which things have been happening has oftentimes left me breathless. I’ve seen new dimensions of life as I know it unfold. I came to the realization a few months ago that this is a year of transitions for me, and transitions are not seamless. Transitions come with their own stretching, difficulties, uncertainties, and their own elements of fear. Transitions come with their own new learning's, unlearning and relearning’s. They come with the need for streamlining, for expanded thinking, for new perspectives. Transitions come with new sets of dependencies and relational realignments, some of which can be painful. Transitions come with change, and change comes with trials… not to mention sometimes painful and costly errors.  

Sis, through all the transitions however, this year more than ever I have seen my relationship with God take on a different depth, meaning and intensity. All in all, this is what I am most grateful for in this year. This year I have been more grateful than ever for the gift of the Holy Spirit, for being able to walk with Him in heightened intimacy, for an increased sensitivity to His voice and to His leading,  for being increasingly able to trust His ordering of my steps; and for the conviction from Him that as long as I stay in alignment with what I believe He would have me do, then all things will continually work out for my good. Sis, this year more than ever before has made me realize that if you don't have a personal relationship with God, if you don't have Jesus Christ, if you don't have that intimacy with the Holy Spirit and if you are not in intense fellowship with Him, you really just can't have peace or live life as your best you.

This post is for me a walk in obedience, coming back fully to what God would have me do despite the storms, the transitions, the intensity. It is an expression of capacity, the word which God had given me as my anchor for 2018…and I have seen and experienced exactly why. Oh boy, what a year 2018 has been! Psalm 107:29 is one verse of scripture I came across early this year which has so helped me stay strong through the vagaries and vicissitudes of my 2018, sis.  It reads, ‘He hushes the storm to a calm and into a gentle whisper, so that the waves of the sea are still’. It is on my heart to speak to you about this. I believe God wants me to say to you that no matter the turbulence you have experienced in your life this year, He will hush every storm into a gentle whisper for you. If your year has been anything as turbulent and intense as mine has, God says ‘Peace’

Receive His peace in the middle of everything going on. There is truly nothing as beautiful, calming, reassuring as knowing that God is in the boat with you. There is nothing greater than the understanding and conviction that no matter how loud the waters get in the midst of the storm, the voice of the Lord is louder than the voice of many waters. Sis, all He needs to do is to speak a word… ‘Peace, be still’ and everything stills into a gentle whisper. Indeed, if like me you take time to do some reflecting about the year, you will be able to recall the many times He clearly took charge of the raging storms in your life!

I love the expression ‘Gentle Whisper’… even the sound of this is so reassuring to me. It is for me a statement that God’s got my back, that He’s mindful of me, that He upholds me with His everlasting arms of righteousness, that He maintains my lot. It speaks to me about the fact that He has me covered, that He causes lines to fall unto me in pleasant places, that He is my God Who is able to bring water out of a rock, my God Who is able to part the Red sea, my God Who is able to fill valleys and bring mountains low, my God Who makes a way when there seems to be no way, my God Who can kill and make alive, my God Who can build-up and who can tear down, my God Whose arms are not waxed short, my God for Whom nothing is impossible.

Sis, there are so many gentle whispers in my 2018 which are my markers for the many testimonies that I have seen God work in and through my life from January to date. Ah yes, this God has been so faithful sis. He has! Sis, can I remind you today that no matter how loud the storms have been, you need to be listening out in your spirit for the gentle whispers of heaven.  

Sis, as the year begins to wrap up can I encourage you to use the last few days of the year to do a spiritual reset? This is that period when everyone is goal setting and planning resolutions for the New Year. But sis, the Lord impresses it on my heart to say that those that will thrive in 2019 are those that choose to just transact by the leading of the Spirit. Can I tell you sis, that what will carry you through in 2019 is your sensitivity to the gentle whispers of the Lord? 2019 is going to be an excellent year for those who are walking closely with the Holy Spirit.

Sis, let me assure you that wherever you are in your relationship with God, this is as good a time as any to come back and ask Him to take you deeper. Press in and ask God to bring you to a renewed place of intimacy and fellowship with Him. Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you a new dimension of Who He is. Ask Him to help you increase the sensitivity of your ears to His voice, to help you attune your spirit more finely with His Spirit. Pray to the Lord to draw you closer still in this last week of the year such that you don't go into a New Year 2019 the same old you. As you press in, ask the Holy Spirit to tweak your spiritual reflexes, infuse strength into your spiritual muscles, and show you how He would want to walk with you in 2019. Let this spiritual reset be one of your primary non-negotiable's, sis.

As you take this step, listen out for the Holy Spirit as He unfolds to you the things He would have you deliver on in 2019, and then ask Him to breathe over every storm the enemy plans to lift against you, hoping to derail your journey to fulfilling those assignments. Ask the Lord for the boldness to press forward, and for the grace to complete. Pray and ask God to give you the capacity to remain steadfast, trusting fully that by His help and your obedience you will deliver new levels of glory to Him. You and I are going to do great things for the Lord in 2019, sis. I speak over you and I declare that the Holy Spirit helps you, even as surely as He daily helps me.

Be blessed sis …….for you surely are!

EPIC

It would seem the Holy Spirit is on my case in this season about pending assignments, about things He had ministered to me over the past year that I didn’t quite do anything with. This is honestly the only explanation I have for why He keeps sending me back to certain spaces. Its almost freaky how He sometimes ministers to me to go to where I have my old study notes stored, asks me to pick up a specific one, and then to open it to a specific page or sets of pages where He has me read something He spoke to me a while back. I almost laughed out loud in church the week before, when my sista and pastor shared how the Lord had done the same thing with her and instructed her to preach a specific message she had shared almost ten years ago. And it was such a word in season sis, it sure was!

Anyhow, today the Lord also had me flipping through some very unlikely files and places where I found different notes I had written as they’d ministered to me at those times. In every case I was reminded about the when and why I wrote those notes, as well as seeing them from fresher perspectives based on the going’s on in my life in this season. Can you relate, sis? It is such a comfort to see God’s mindfulness of me being expressed daily through both the big, small, as well as ‘seemingly’ insignificant things, sis.

As I riffled through this one file, I saw somewhat crumpled scrap of paper which was clearly ripped from off a full-sized sheet. I wondered why I had that in a file but as I turned it over, I remembered clearly. It was from last year. I was scheduled to hold a particular program I run every other month, but in that instance everything in me so didn’t want to. My mind was such a blank. I couldn’t conceive a theme, couldn’t visualize the flow, had no inspiration to try to conceptualize it properly, and honestly just wasn’t even in a place where I wanted to press in and allow myself hear God regarding the event. I was just tired, sis. Simply put, I was tired!

My personal assistant kept asking me what the theme was, so she could build the pre-event communication around it, but I had no answer for her so she went on with other elements of her planning. I found myself an odd combination of amused and annoyed, somewhat wishing she would also give up on everything else so I would have more of an excuse to lay back and rest. I should have known better though as she was relentless in making sure she held up her part. We were less than two weeks to the event, she had all arrangements in place and she’d gotten several people signed up to attend…… I just wasn’t clear exactly what they had signed up for. Each time I asked her what she was up to, she’d just smile her brilliant smile and move on.

I guess I finally realized that I needed help from above on this one, and so I prayed a small prayer. Truth be told, my desire was for the Lord to cause some loud thunder and huge bolt of lightning to come from the sky, with a deep voice saying, ‘Rest child, it is not my will for the event to hold this month’. Oh, how I longed for that! But, you know how it actually went down don’t you, sis? First there was an element of chastisement from the Lord for my taking His assignment lightly because I was ‘tired’ (like it was about my ‘strength’ in the first place); then there was a reminder from Him about the purpose behind the assignment in the first place; and finally, He gave me the theme …..and boy was it heavy! It was so heavy that I couldn’t think how I would put it together in the little time I had. He also told me who He would have minister with me, and I honestly doubted he would be available given the short notice. I knew would have to at least try anyway, as clearly the Lord was not having any of my attempted slacking.

Well guess what, sis? My PA contacted the speaker and he was so available that he committed right away. She came in to relay the info to me and that sent me on another tailspin. He was free, he had even expressed clarity to her regarding why he believed the Lord would have chosen him as the second speaker and what he felt God would have him say…. whereas yours truly was still clueless. I said as much to my PA and without missing a beat she smiled again and said, “You’ll do great ma’am. I just know this month’s session is going to be EPIC!”. Can I tell you that it was indeed EPIC, sis? It was phenomenally epic, maybe our best session ever as at that time. This God? Indeed, He is too good!

I was on my knees in utmost thanksgiving in the evening post-event, when the word ‘EPIC’ dropped in my spirit again. It was in that place of gratitude that the Lord said to me: 

‘Daughter, you are EPIC. 

You are:

-        Exceptionally Positioned in Christ

-        Exceptionally Purposeful in Christ

-        Exceptionally Powerful in Christ’

Wow, sis! Wow! This made absolute sense then and it still does now. This was God Himself reminding me that it was and is not about me, but about Him. This was Him reminding me that because I am in Him, I am seated with Christ in heavenly places. This was Him reminding me that He is the One Who has steadily guided my destiny up to where I am today; Who has made sure the enemy did not devour me in my wilderness days; the One Who has redirected my errors and turned my life around for His glory; the One Who chose to love me enough to look past my failings and call me by a new name; the One Who saved me by His grace, Who is working out His will and good purpose for my life and His glory. This was God telling me that I am EPIC because I am exceptionally positioned in Christ Jesus, by His grace, mercy and power. Halleluyah, sis! As epic as I am, is as epic as you are so please praise this God of ours with me. Halleluyah!

Sis, this was the Lord reminding me that because I am in Christ, He has put me in position as a Son of God, an Ambassador of Heaven, a divine diplomat useful for Kingdom assignments on the earth. I am exceptionally purposeful for Christ, sis. For the life I live now is the life in Christ Jesus Who loved me and Who gave His life for me. This was God reminding me that any assignment He gives me is not for me to feel good about myself, but to bring glory to Him. This was Him reminding me that I cannot give Him that which costs me nothing, so if pressing forward despite my tiredness was the cost, then so be it. This is as much a reminder for you, sis as it was and is for me. God’s purpose must be fulfilled through you and I sis, and as long as our focus is to give Him the glory that is His due, then we have to keep pressing forward in the assignments He has for us per season and time.

Lastly sis, this was the Lord reminding me again, as He is today reminding you, that we are exceptionally powerful in Christ Jesus, for where we are weak He is strong. He is reminding us that all we can ever do/be/achieve will be about His power and might that are ever-working in and availing for us. I got help when I finally looked past my flesh and looked up, sis. I did, and honestly it was such a huge lesson for me once again. I don’t doubt that every once in a while, I might find myself in that place of tiredness or lack of clarity, but I hold the acronym EPIC up as my divine signpost to remind me that I am able because He Who is in me….my Greater, is more than able. I hold the acronym EPIC up as a marker that as long as I am looking up to Him and seeking to deliver more glory to Him, He will infill me with everything I need to carry through.

Sis, can you please allow this same conviction to come into your heart and spirit? You are EPIC, sis. You are! Exceptionally Positioned in Christ…Exceptionally Purposeful in Christ…..Exceptionally Powerful in Christ! As you allow this truth indwell you sis, let me assure you that in every situation and for whenever and wherever you need it, the Lord will help you…as surely as He has and continues to help me.

Be blessed sis ….for you surely are!

Grace …the perfect fit

I smiled this morning as I saw the edge of the label sticking out from under a book on my coffee table. I pulled it out, already knowing what it said: ‘Grace, a perfect fit’. This was a label on lovely black blouse I’d bought in some store or the other, can’t recall where cos I’m not into stores, labels or brands. I remember though that God used this label to minister to me early in the year, and that why I didn’t throw it in the trash. It was on the 2^nd of January. I hadn’t come into the New Year in a ‘good place’ as we say, and I had taken some time out that morning to again press in and allow God to infill me afresh as my Encourager, Comforter and Helper. The year prior had ended rather heavily, and this one was again starting out with its own new sets of weights. Truth be told, my outward appearance of calm belied many an emotion that I was dealing with based on several business and family-related challenges. I don’t know about you sis, but I prefer to fight new battles. It can be tough to see old demons you thought you’d slain resurrect, and to have to again fight battles you thought you’d had victories in previously. To have to deal with those in addition to new battles? It was an intense period for me, sis. Intense!

But what do you do? You put on a bold face, mindful that the family is counting on you to set the tone for the holidays and festivities, right? You know that saying, ‘ain’t nobody happy if mama ain’t happy?’  The thing with having older children though is that they can see through your charade, lol. They might not know the specifics of whatever is going on with you, but they see and they know …..and thankfully in my case, they didn’t ask too many questions but rather chose to seriously love on me in that period, which made it oh so much easier to deal with.

This morning of the 2^nd though, I was just drained and as I went into my prayer closet, I had no specific words. I simply bawled before the Lord. Yes, it was a real ‘groanings that can’t be uttered’ situation, sis. I cried, prayed in tongues, cried some more, and then managed an odd almost-comical-if-it-weren’t-so-serious combination of both. When I was done (and I could literally sense God asking me, ‘You done?’), I sat quietly and waited to hear what the Lord would say. I had no plan to move unless He spoke. He was silent for a quite a while, or so I thought initially. I finally realized though that while my mouth had stopped moving, He was waiting on me to be truly quiet in my spirit. Eventually, I heard Him. The first thing He said was “1^st Corinthians 16 verse 9”. I looked it up: “For a wide door of opportunity for effectual [service] has opened to me [there, a great and promising one], and [there are] many adversaries”. It so made sense, sis!

Honestly, it made so much sense that I literally burst into laughter. Adversaries? Many adversaries? Oh yes, I had certainly seen that. I had seen them in the physical and clearly, they were also working in the spiritual realm. I laughed because I realized that all the noise was because of the ‘wide door of opportunity’ …the ‘opportunity for effectual service’ that has been opened up to me. The Amplified version of the Bible qualifies this door of opportunity as being ‘great and promising’ meaning that there is a mountain of glory that God will get by my walking in through that door and faithfully deploying on the assignments of service that He would have me do for Him. No wonder the forces of darkness had been battling against me! I could see it clearly, sis. I could! I mean, to be fair…it’s not that I didn’t know, but sometimes there is a clarity with which the Lord uses His word to redefine certain things for you that leads to a greater ‘aha’ than your general ‘knowing’ of a thing.

I laughed, sis. I laughed from my core, and then I burst into songs of praise. Nothing had fundamentally changed in the physical, but I knew without a doubt that many things had shifted in the heavenly realm. My focus shifted from the attacks and the adversaries, to the victory and the opportunity ahead. And again the Lord spoke a word to me, another simple word. He said: ‘CAPACITY’…Halleluyah! That is another message, sis. I will deal with that in my next post, sharing with you the things He then began to speak to me regarding that word. I sang songs of praise and prayed prayers of thanksgiving with an assurance that no matter how the storms may rage, the voice of my God is louder than the noise of many waters. I felt the release, sis. I did!

I then prayed for grace, sis. I asked for grace not to forget the reason for the challenges. I prayed for grace to see the door of opportunity, not to miss it, not to allow anything becloud my vision. I prayed for courage to walk through it, and I prayed for the strength to obey promptly in the course of the assignment waiting for me at the other side of the door. As I stood to leave my prayer closet, the blouse I spoke about earlier caught my eye for some reason. I really am not one to ‘save’ new things to wear them at some future time so quite frankly, I took it that it caught my eye because that was exactly what I should wear that day. I immediately yanked off the label (one of my ways of ensuring I don’t change my mind) and  as I made to throw it away, the words on it caught my eye in greater detail. And yes sis, the label was “GRACE...the perfect fit”. Very odd for a clothing label don’t you think? Or perhaps not odd at all! As I stood there, the Holy Spirit began to speak to me about grace and this is what I want to leave you with.

Sis, no matter how the storms of life buffet you, and we will all face storms at various times and seasons….there is grace available for you, sis. There is grace available for me. The Holy Spirit said to me that as long as we remain connected to God, as long as we recognize and go to battle in His strength and not our own, as long as we remember to lift Him above our struggles, as long as we don’t try to find the solutions for Him, as long as we look and spend time in His word, as long as we remain committed to give Him glory for the victory… grace will be and is available sis. And this grace is available in the EXACT measure which we require in every instance! I don’t know about you, but that is such a comforting and uplifting reality, sis.

Maybe you are in a seamless season at this point in your life. Let me assure you that this is only because there is a perfect-fit-grace that is carrying you and constraining every difficulty that could otherwise arise. Give God the praise, sis. If you have no significant worries currently, it is not of your own making. It is grace and mercy saying ‘No’. But if like me you are in a ‘going though’ season, let me assure you again also, the you are still standing because of the same perfect-fit-grace. I pray that you and I never lose our confidence in this reality, sis. By the power of God, I pray we will allow His Word, His sufficiency, His perfect-fit-grace to wash over us now and every day of our lives…that we might truly live and walk the overcoming life that He desires us to live. The Lord will help you sis. He will help me.

Be blessed…..for you surely are!

Purposed to Profit

Merry Christmas, sis!

You know, there’s something about Christmas, beyond the bright lights, presents, parties, food and lots more food! For one, Christmas brings with it the undeniable reality of the countdown to the end of the year. Sis, 2017 is as good as gone! As I took some time out this morning to reflect on this reality, one big question - followed by several others in rapid succession, came to mind. I’d like to pose those same sets of questions to you today because I think they are pertinent to entering 2018 with the right perspectives. 

Sis, what were your markers for 2017?

Markers? Yes! What were the things that marked 2017 for you? What were your major gains? What were your major pains? What were your take-away lessons from both your gains and pains? What events – global/local/economic/social/emotional/physical etc. impacted upon or shaped your 2017 one way or the other? What goals did you set for yourself in 2017 that you achieved or surpassed? Which goals did you not attempt, or attempted and failed at partially or even completely? What things did you achieve in 2017 that were nowhere near your goal radar at the start of the year?

What relationships did you forge or forgo in 2017? Who added to or took away from you in 2017? 

Did you ‘grow’ in 2017? How exactly? Are you the same person you were at 12.01am on the 31^st of December 2016; or are you different and if yes, how? What has evolved around your thinking, perspectives, actions and inactions? Which bad habits and demons were you able to conquer in 2017, and which did you continue to ‘fellowship’ with? Did you wallow in comfort zones in 2017, or were you able to take baby steps/quantum leaps away from the things that once kept you in the cycle of sameness? Who is grateful for having had you in their life/lives in 2017? Who are you grateful to have had in yours? What was your spiritual life like in 2017? Did you grow, stagnate or regress spiritually?

Many questions sis….so many! That said, can I ask you to please not just breeze past them? Honestly, nothing beats a no-holds-barred one-on-one with yourself ever so often, and methinks today is as good as any to find some quiet space and think through your life in the past 12months. You can’t just roll on into 2018, sis. Honestly, you just can’t!

It would take at least three million words for me to share with you what some of my responses to self were, but suffice it to say that 2017 has been and still is an INTENSE year for me. 2016 had ended on a highly traumatic note for me, and so also did 2017 open with trauma. I had to contend with challenges and deep-seated pain that I never thought I could feel. It almost broke me, sis. No scratch that… I was broken! I was! But herein lies the gift of a strong relationship with God and an understanding that He alone is your firm confidence, trust and dependency. I had to learn new dimensions to the word grace and believe me….it’s one thing to ask for grace from God, and its another entirely to then extend the same grace to those who have wronged and hurt you deeply. I had to relearn how to release my heart to God and allow Him do a healing work. I had to release my mind to Him afresh to allow Him deal with painful memories each time they resurfaced. I had to relearn how to allow God carry me daily from a higher dimension, and if only for that reason then I’m actually grateful for the pain.

In business, wow! Talk about intense! This year stretched my business acumen in a way it hasn’t been stretched over the past 23 years. I had to run three major projects, major both in terms of the quantum and the depth of deliverables to get each project to a successful close-out. In the face of how badly our industry was hit by global events, I am grateful that the stretching was about growth and not a decline. In ministry, in other industry and social responsibilities that I carry…. Hmm! Did I already say ‘intense’? Well, pardon me for saying it once more. It really was intense for me, sis – emotionally, spiritually, in my family, business-wise, and in every area.

I saw God do the most amazing things in my life and through my life. I saw Him heal me and cancel a negative report. I saw Him deliver me from what would have been a major accident. I saw Him hug me through my tears. I saw Him provide in my difficulties. I saw Him speak to me and through me, things which came to pass. I saw Him as light in my darkest of places. I saw Him raise helpers and the right voices to encourage and grow me. I saw Him grant me access into places I thought I was unqualified for in my own eyes. I saw Him create and consolidate opportunities for me to grow and grow others. I saw Him through so many facets of my life, sis. If there is one thing that I can take out of 2017, it is that God walked every day of this year with me! I wish I could boast as unequivocally that I walked with Him as faithfully…but I can’t, and I won’t. That wouldn’t be true. I had my struggles in 2017, sis. I did! Without a doubt however, I know He was with me, ahead of me and all around me every single step of my way! I know this, and boy am I grateful.

As this realization washed over me, something dropped in my spirit. It was a statement and then a question: ‘So, you are clear that you profited from God this year…. But, what did you profit heaven in 2017?’

What did you profit heaven in 2017, sis? What did heaven gain from your life and existence? What did you do with the impartation of God’s divine breath that gave you life? How well did you walk in your assignment? How did you transact in 2017 such as to enlarge God’s Kingdom and deliver glory to Him? Did you take territory for yourself, or did you take territory for Christ? What are your spiritual markers for 2017…particularly the ones that are not about you alone? To whom were you Christ? To whom did you represent Christ? To whom did you minister Christ? What did you profit heaven from your marketplace transactions? Did you attend church efficiently in 2017, or were you actually ‘the church’ on a daily basis to a world very much in need? Whose spiritual life was impacted and enhanced by your spiritual life in 2017? How did your obedience walk go in 2017? Did you follow through on God’s instructions and assignments for you? What would heaven score you on your 2017 spiritual assessment? 

Hmm!

So, this post would be too long if I tried to share my answers with you. I will sum it up to say that I had quite a few things I could honestly and humbly declare that heaven profited from me, sis……things for which I was and am grateful to have had the privilege to be used to deliver on for the Kingdom. But, I also had quite a few things I knew I didn’t deliver on, instructions which I didn’t follow through on at all, or which I followed through only partially. I was also brave enough to be honest to myself about why. Sometimes, it was out of fear and uncertainty, and sometimes out of sheer laziness to make the effort required to push through. Other times, it was because I was clueless, and I didn’t take time to go back and ask for clarity and direction. So yes, heaven profited from me in 2017, but it was less than could have been.  

Why is this important, sis? Because a New Year is around the corner and I want to be sure that it is a more profitable year from me to the Lord! I know He will do His bit. I enter 2018 with a confidence and trust around the things that God will do for me and mine because He loves us like that. But I want to be sure that as He up’s His spiritual play in my life, I also up my giving back to Him. I know that with each passing year, I am on a countdown to standing before my Maker, and I know I am too old to be planning towards the day when I can begin to get it right. The time is NOW, sis! I was brought forth for this time and this season, not to occupy space on earth; but rather, to be productive for God and to fulfill the various assignments which He purposed I should deliver on during my time here on this earth.

I am purposed to profit heaven, sis. You are purposed to profit heaven! Entering each New Year and season of our lives with this understanding brings us to the place of intentionality and determination. It brings us back to the place of asking God to begin again with us, and walk again with us, so that at the end we may indeed deliver the glory that is His due, in the quantum that is His due, for that season and beyond. Ah sis, that we would better understand as time slowly but surely rolls by, that this life is ultimately only about how we profited He Who sent us. It would change the way we do life day to day. It would change the decisions and resolutions we make. It would change the actions we take. It changes the perspectives we adopt. It changes the impact we make. And I so want my impact to be about His glory. Don’t you?

The Lord will help me, sis. He will help you. Find quiet time to think this through, sis. Speak to God and let Him speak to you about 2018. Allow Him to show you through His eyes, and then commit to the instructions and assignments He would have you deliver on. By the grace and power of God, and by the help of the Holy Spirit, our lives will profit heaven in greater measure in the year ahead. In Jesus name, amen.

Be blessed sis…..for you surely are!

Make the Time

Yes, I’m still here. Thought to get that out of the way first. It has been a while, but such are the seasons of our lives, right? Over the past three months and counting, my life has involved a crescendo of activities at work, family, and ministry. I have sometimes thrived in the flurry of activities and responsibilities, and at other times honestly struggled to get through the weight of my many tangible deliverable's. Also thought to put that out there because one too many people have said to me recently that they don’t know how I ‘do it all so seamlessly’. It isn’t seamless, sis. It’s a lot of hard work and dedication. It’s a lot of pressure points and pain points. But, it’s also a lot of reward when the results speak so evidently on their own, and when God gets the glory. The apparent seamless-ness also means a lot of things take a bit of a back burner for a season, but therein lies the beauty of the passion-purpose intersection…..you always come back to the things you have acknowledged and are passionate about as part of your life’s assignments. You have to! I have to! I know for certain that the Lord will hold me accountable to how well I have deployed this platform for His glory. So yeah, I’m back sis. I’m oh so ‘back’…if that is grammatically correct, lol.

As I write this, I am waiting on a flight from New York back home. I should have been home today, but a decision to change my route a few days ago, coupled by weather challenges (I mean, who could have foreseen tornadoes while planning a trip?) collaborated to ensure all my connecting flights were delayed for hours on end and I eventually missed my international connection. Sigh! Sigh! Sigh! If that wasn’t bad enough, while I will spare you the details, it took me another near two hours to get my luggage and then make it to the hotel I had to book last minute when it became clear I would not make the connection. And again Sigh!

But you know sis, as I have travailed (for that is exactly what these two days have been for me) on this journey that I am literally still on, I adopted a certain spiritual stance about it and have continued to say, ‘Lord, please show me the lesson(s) You need for me to learn through this all’. I mean, this all couldn’t be for nothing. There are no wasted experiences with God. None whatsoever! And certainly, no wasted seasons either. Sis, can I assure you of a truth that all the challenges you have been dealing with in this season are not hidden from Him? And while it may not seem to make sense now, can I promise you that He has treasure He will bring out of your dark spaces?

I realized at some point before I went to bed yesterday that the Lord needed some major ‘alone time’ with me. And yeah, I will admit my first thought was why He needed to literally isolate me and through such a harrowing process, but He showed me, sis so please stay with me. You see, God has some really interesting ways of getting things done, and unless we keep the right spiritual perspectives and frame of heart in place, we will miss divine movements in our lives. I spent some time saturating the atmosphere around me with worship and a session of praying in the spirit, then sat at my desk preparatory to my study time. But sis, the Lord simply asked me to lay my Bible aside as He needed to have an intense one-on-one with me.

Sis, it was INTENSE!

I found myself siting and talking with God in a way that I do not recall having done in years. It was a no-holds-barred, come up higher, evolve or die conversation. He spoke, I listened! Many times, I cried, I contemplated, I deflected and then capitulated. But I listened with my heart, soul and spirit...and I understood. The Lord was transparently honest with me on another level, and in return I had to be brutally honest with myself to the fullest extent. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! But in the end, boy was there a release or what, sis? I had clarity more than ever before about my current season and my next season as God would have it unfold. I had clarity about where I was getting it wrong and why; where I was getting it right and how; where I was not even at the ‘getting’ stage yet but needed to be; and so on and so forth. I came to myself afresh in God, sis. I did! And can I tell you it was ultimately such a refreshing experience. I got past the ‘me’ that I was allowing myself to be, and got to the ‘ME that He needed me to be for the next phase of my assignment. I am sitting here with a clear head and fresh insight for how God will have me transact in various areas of my life in the season immediately ahead. I am also sitting here confident that He heard and will answer my petition for help from Him in the places where I know of a truth that I cannot do what He would have me do in my own strength.

I am lighter for this experience, sis. And yes, I still have this long flight ahead of me but I am completely at ease concerning that. I am grateful that the Lord had to take me through such an intense exercise in separation for my spirit to be open enough to know that I am not at all in control, and that unless I am doing life on His terms, I can never have peace and fulfillment. I honestly wish I could share details with you, sis. I really do. It would make it so much clearer wouldn’t it? But that’s not what this is about. This is about the fact that the Lord would have me tell you that you need to create time for a one-on-one with Him. He so desperately wants to speak with you, sis. He so desperately wants to show you ‘you’ through His eyes as He needs you to be in this season of your life. He said to tell you that you are trying to transact as an outdated version of you, but there are elements of your nature and things that He already has built into you that He needs you to cooperate with Him to bring into manifestation in this season. He so wants to walk with you and work in you to thrive in this season in ways that heaven applauds. He says you cannot continue to live on the echoes of the past applause sis. There is newness that He would birth in you in this season of your life if you would come closer and allow Him redefine you for His glory. He says He is allowing certain things in your life because He wants you to come to the place of emptying yourself afresh in Him so that He can fill you with ‘You’ afresh.

Will you yield sis? Will you? I know you are busy. I know there are many demands on your time. I know you might already be fruitful in His vineyard and think this does not apply to you…but remember the echoes sis. He does not want you to transact by echoes. Can you force the time? Will His instructions to you for this season carry enough weight for you to intentionally separate yourself enough to have the intense one-on-one with He who wants to birth a higher level of glory in and through your life? I pray you will sis. And I pray that as you do, you will hear His voice with clarity and that you will also receive divine instructions for your next seasons, as the Lord molds you into a more excellent ‘You’ for the glory of His name. Make the time, sis! I promise you it will be so well worth it.

Be blessed sis, for you surely are!