We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get good jobs get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren’t old enough, and we’ll be more content when they are.
After that, we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with.

We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.
We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our partner gets his or her act together when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice holiday, when we retire.

The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?
Your life will always be filled with challenges. It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

There is no way to Happiness, Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time…and remember that time waits for no one.

So, stop waiting until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until winter, until your song comes on, until you’ve had a drink…. there is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Living in the present will give you peace of mind.

Work like you don’t need money,
Love like you’ve never been hurt,
And dance like no one’s watching.

Congratulations upon getting to 2021 alive and in perfect healthy, wow what a blessing, I am grateful to God who has given us life. All we can do is to give Him thanks.

Morning;

In the morning when I wake up, I am always hunger because I am among the few people that believe in having breakfast, so when I enter the kitchen the temptation of cooking several thing is high, because the stomach desires to have a banana, pineapple, apple, milk, a cereal, or hot coffee, but not to waste a lot of time in the kitchen, I developed a simple menu for breakfast and depending on how the day is going to run; some mornings l eat very a very light meal, while other days I pack my breakfast and some mornings are for taking hot water alone, I always don’t do juice in the morning.

My morning routine is starting with breakfast, I cant have heavy foods in the morning, that means I know what to eat, In this year I challenge us to plan our activities well, spend your time well, lets redeem time by knowing what works well for us in the morning, don’t force things because everyone else is doing them. Most people I know will do juice in the morning and are just ok yet me, my stomach will react in a different way; my friend we are still in the first quarter of the year, they are things that happen first Use your first quarter well, in terms of how you are spending your time, money and the places you visit.

Afternoon time is for refilling;

Days when I must do lunch, I always have it around 2pm and its a light meal. I always have a drinking bottle with me and the entire afternoon I keep more on fluids. This keeps me awake, and energized the entire day. My afternoons are too coupled with less engaging tasks. This year when it gets to afternoon know what to feed on in terms of activities, meetings, keep track of the things you must do, its easy to be diverted by different people along the way but keep talking to God about all your plans.

Evening time – Work out;

Take a break, its okay to sit and enjoy your cup of coffee alone, take time to reflect on how the day has been, take a light snack, working out during this time is ideal because you will burn out all the unnecessary energy. As we make progress in the year, you will realise that certain things are not working as projected in the morning, get back to the drawing board with your team and make new strategies, keep going, don’t give up.

Night;

When darkness draws in, settle for light meals, take time to mediate, and reflect on the goodness of the Lord, secondly allow to be loved and don’t take your loved ones for granted; Talk to God in prayer about your life, family, career and He is faithful to see us through this year.

And finally for you my love

“As the darkness draws in, you are the light in my heart, as the air turns colder you are the warmth in my soul as the stars are revealed, you renew my spirit as the moon shines, I know l am held safe in your arms”. Happy 2021

Do you feel exhausted, unproductive and mentally drained by the end of the work day? Many of us are working from home right now, glued to the computer on never-ending Zoom meetings for work, school, or church. Attending to zoom meetings and webinars is so draining and tiring. If this is you, you’re not alone! 

We spend hours talking and responding to people who are far away, testing and learning the different settings before going in any presentation is overwhelming and you feel insecure even after taking long hours of practice when it’s time to present.

That’s why todays it’s important to recharge your battery which is your brain. God didn’t create us to live frustrated and overwhelmed. He wants to give us something big, but you can’t receive it if you’re tense. You’ve got to get into the receiving mode!

If you’ve been on the computer all day long, practice these tips to release your tension and get in a position to receive:

Stretch out

After hours of Zoom meetings, there’s only one thing I want to do: MOVE. Spending the entire day parked in front of your computer can leave your body feeling achy — especially your back. Give your body a BREAK! Find a nice spot and lie flat on your back. Calm your mind and release the tension in your spine and neck.

Get out

Experts state that, the absence of body language makes our brains work overtime during video calls. So when the call is over, be intentional about socializing OFF of Zoom. Take a stroll, play with the kids, call someone on the phone, bake a cake with your partner or write letters to your friends. It is all about connecting safely.

Step outside the Box

Most of us spend our days boxed in. We wake-up in our bedroom, move to the kitchen table, and get online to start work or school.  When stressed, being confined can limit your creativity. Make a point of getting fresh air outdoors every single day! Breath in the fresh air, go barefoot in the grass, run around for a few minutes or put on music and dance.

The Antidote is FAITH

Faith in God gives us hope that all things will get better. In your darkest, most frustrated moments, building your faith is key. Next time you find yourself frustrated with technology making statements like, This is too much for me, I’m too old for this, I can’t handle all this, I will never get this done, take a moment to step away from your computer. Then counter those negative thoughts with the word of God. One of my favorite verses is, “God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:7).

At the end of the day, if you need help with technology, go for it but dont be stuck.

In the rush of modern life coupled with epidemics like Covid 19, we tend to lose touch with peace that is available in each moment. In a few months ago, something unusual began to happen to me. I desired only to lie on the couch and do nothing. It seemed as though nothing brought me joy. I found myself increasingly fatigued and irritated, unable to perform basic work-related tasks. My relationships began to suffer. The best way I can explain the feeling of going through my day it felt like I was moving through molasses. 

After speaking with a few friends, I realized I was suffering from burnout and I was not alone. A Burnout is what happens when you go flat out under constant stress for a long time, succumbing to pressure to do more, more…more. You push yourself past your limits, not just once in a while but all the time. You convince yourself you’re fine. This is just temporary. In fact, up to 70% of adults have symptoms of burnout, its typically characterized by exhaustion, cynicism (like hating your job) and feelings of reduced professional ability. 

To combat my symptoms, I took time off to pick up some physicial, spiritual and healthier habits, I stopped taking breathing for granted but as a gift that l am alive.

Every morning when l wake up, l realized l have twenty-four hours to live. What a precious gift, we have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy and happiness to us and those around us.

Being grateful for the peace from God, and knowing it is present right here and now in ourselves and in everything we do and see. Christ gave it to us freely it’s our duty to access it and enjoy it.

The fact that you can smile, breathe, walk, exercise and eat well, is enough for you to live a great life. We tend to be so good at preparing how to live, but not very good at living.

We know how to sacrifice three years for a course and we are willing to work so hard to get a job, car, house, wife, children, etc but we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity. Of course happiness is possible only in the present moment.

Planning for the future is part of life but even planning can only take place in the present. I have purposed to live and be intentional on how l perfom both Physically and mentally.

Another habit l took on is changing how to process information. I realized it was common for two people who receive the same external stimulus, to react differently one with increased levels of stress and the other with increased performance. And so, I set out on a journey to find what caused these differences in thought process. To be continued….

The word ‘jungle‘ is usually used to describe a tangled or overgrown mass of vegetation over a large area of land. A jungle usually has a tropical or humid climate and many plants on the ground between trees and larger plants. In life one can always get lost in a jungle; but hey you can always get back and here are some tips;

Keep calm once you get lost. Your greatest enemy is Panic. Once you run wildly around, even for a little while you will lose your sense of direction completely. Try to figure out how you got to your present location.

Trust your map and compass (in case you have them) and do not walk aimlessly. Use the compass to give you a sense of direction. Think of which way you came, and if that was Northeast, then recall if you took a turn and what direction the turn was. If you are calm, you can remember many great things. If you are on a trail do not leave it.

Start retracing your steps. Leave markers where ever you go, so you can return to where you are. Also, someone mighty try to find you, they will look for markers. So make as many as you can, on every turn that you make, and try to mark the direction you are taking. You got off the trail, maybe ten minutes ago, so if you track back more than that time, you know you are on the wrong track.

In a time when you are not able to retrace your steps, the best thing to do is just stay put, in one place and let the searchers find you. Create a marking so it can be seen by air. Sing loudly or shout help, when you hear others trying to find you. In case you have a whistle, blow it or use a blade of grass. Stay in the open so they can find you easily. Avoid hiding in a cave or under brushes.

Remember that as a last resort, follow a drainage or stream downhill or downstream. This can be hard going but will often lead to a trail or road and you will eventually come to civilization.

MY HANDS are blessed. With my hands I give; I serve; I do; I create. With my hands I receive; I accept. My hands, extended in friendship, serve to bring peace to the world. My hands are dedicated to helping others, lift burdens from the weary, support those who stumble, reach out to the fearful, and soothe the troubled.

Job’s Hands. When the devil was having a conversation with God over his servant Job, he suggested Job was only serving the Lord for what he could get out of Him. He sneeringly asked, have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face! (Job 1:10-11)

Job’s work had a blessing attached to it. No doubt Job worked hard and was a sharp fellow, but there was more to his success than merely hard work and intelligence. There was a mysterious and intangible factor, which we often call a blessing, that was enabling him to achieve success and abundance in a far greater measure than men could normally expect. God has the ability to bless our work – the work of our hands! It is to be expected that labor brings some results, but laboring under the blessing of heaven brings extraordinary results.

Extraordinary miracles ought to come out of your hands. All miracles are extraordinary, but every once in a while, God performs miracles that are truly out of the ordinary. A great example of these exceptional miracles is found in Acts 19:11, where the Bible says, “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul.” You are the Paul of today your hands too can be used to do extraordinary miracles.

Confession;
My hands are blessed, I take pride in the work that my hands accomplish, I am a blessing in whatever capacity I serve. My hands never tire, are never destructive of the good, are never resistant. My hands are strong, constructive in their movements, nonresistant in all they do. God blesses my hands, and I see them as perfect, capable, kind, whole, and willing. My hands are open to give and to receive.

Thine own right hand can save thee. Job 40:14.

To stir is an emotional agitation and excitement. In the Bible Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ while mentoring Timothy reminded him ‘Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands’. 1Tim 1.6 NKJV, Stir up the gift also appears in the King James Version of this verse, but other translations read “fan into flames the gift” (ESV, NIV, NLT), “keep ablaze the gift” (HCSB), and “rekindle the gift” (CSB, NRSV).

Paul wrote 2 Timothy from prison while awaiting his execution. He only had a short time left before his death, so he penned this profoundly personal letter full of intense affection and concern for his beloved companion and disciple.

Each one of us has a particular purpose over and above the common purpose to preach the gospel and make disciples. We all have the gifts of God upon our lives. Now more than ever we need to take hold of the truth that God already gifted us to walk in that purpose. The embers are within us. We need only to stir them up into a pure flame.

There is no doubt that the world needs Jesus now more than ever. In a time of declining morals and increasing depravity, when God is reviled and scorned and the person of Jesus mocked and rejected, we as His body need to stir ourselves and find the passion and zeal to live out our purpose.

There is someone out there who needs the gift that God has placed within us. We have been raised up and sent out specifically to meet that need, but we must stir up the gift within us and begin to walk in the calling of God on our lives.

We need to find our first love and stir up the dormant gift within us. How can it be done? If we are to have our own useful role in the church of God, and not be a useless redundant member, and not be a parasite in the body of Christ there are actions we have to take. Some of the ways in which the gift we have is to be fanned into flame.

Be Diligent.
Paul is telling us that the Christian must be diligent in fanning into flame the gift he has from God. Feed the gift with the word of God. Nothing will keep us as burning and shining lights without the Scriptures. We’ve got to fall in love with the Bible, and learn to search it, and ransack it, and hunger and thirst for the truth in the preaching of the gospel. You discuss it among yourselves, and meditate upon it, and think about the Christian faith from every point of view.

We are to be diligent in seeking the face of God. Our great concern is to be like God, conformed more and more closely to him. The only way to secure that is to be in fellowship with God, seeking his face at the throne of grace, seeking out the companions and gatherings in which he has promised to be present.

Again we are to be diligent in stirring up the gift by using it – every day, in small ways, being obedient to the prompting of the Spirit. No matter what it is, it has a divine purpose, and it’s only in using it that His purpose is outworked in us and in the world around us. Constant obedience is the key, stepping out in faith even when the results aren’t apparent or large. The more we use it, the more our zeal will grow. God Himself will honour what we begin to use for His glory.

Now that is more important to stirring up the gift of God than we realise. We must trust what God says about his measureless love for us, that he has adopted us into his family, that everything is working for our good and that we are going to a place he has prepared for us. We bask in the sunshine of his favor. We are sure of our calling and election. I think it is devastating for the spiritual life to doubt whether God loves us. Be diligent in maintaining the certainty of your salvation.

Draw near to Him today. There is someone who needs what God placed in you, and He will give you the courage, strength, and passion to walk in your calling, whatever it might be.

Lord, Stir up the gift in each of us, and the passion to live it completely and fulfill Your purpose on the earth.

Agape love
in the Bible, this is love that comes from God. God’s love isn’t sentimental; it’s part of His character. God loves from an outpouring of who He is. 1 John 4:8 states, “God is love [agapos],” meaning He is the source of agape love. His love is undeserved, gracious, and sacrificial. He set the bar for us as his children.

If God is Love, then what’s the requirement from us? We are called to love God and others with agape love. Agape is a choice, a deliberate striving for another’s highest good, and is demonstrated through action.

Today in the world, many things happen to us and different people have given love a formula but that’s not Gods standard in terms of love. He set for us the standard for love in John 3:16 by sending Jesus to die for us…” As to the latter, think of Paul’s great hymn to love:1 Cor. 13:4-8a. “Love – agape – is patient and kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends”

Its amazing how God knows our very needs and the only access code he gives to us is to love him. This is reflected in Proverbs 8:21 “That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, that l may fill their treasuries”. The message that really strikes me in this passage is that God responds to those who truly love Him.

All the substance and the things we yearn for in this life are embodied in loving God. Naturally we are all drawn to first loving those around us, but the golden rule is to first love God and then the rest will follow in all that we do, lets embrace him by loving him first and all our hearts desires will be meant.

Love God and express your love to those that are around you.

Today chose love against anything else.

My friend, first I want to say how terribly sorry I am that you have had to endure everything that has happened to you. It breaks my heart seeing you sad knowing that there is nothing I can do to make the hurt go away.

I see the amazing person you are and I wonder why you were put through all those heartbreaks. I bet you wonder sometimes too. I wish more than anything that I could give you the answers you’re looking for, but I can’t. What I can do, is write.

I know you hate to be pitied so, I’m not going to do that here. Instead, I wanted to write down a few things that I hope you’ll never forget, as someone who has been through one too many heartbreaks;

Christ in you the hope of glory. He is elevated in you and am here to remind you this and affirm how wonderful you are. You have repeatedly gone through heartbreaks, devastation and yet, you light up the room when you walk in. You never fail to brighten someone’s day. That wouldn’t be possible if the Hope of Christ wasn’t in You. I will forever cherish your ability to make us laugh and sense of humor to ensure that everyone is okay, and that doesn’t go unnoticed. You are such a rare soul, never forget. Col 1: 27

God is with you, wherever you go and no matter what life brings to you. Am hoping you know that you’ll never be alone. Christ is with you and so l am, a huge part of you broke when you went through all that. Every day is a harsh reminder of what you lost, and every day, you surprise me by always being able to find the good in the day, which is a hard quality to pick up after going through such devastation. I’ll be the first to say that I love when you’re happy, but when the tears seep past your grip, know that I will always be there to help you in any way that I can my friend. Joshua 1:9b

You are a strong person. Get it first hand from me, you are not labelled weak. I will never, ever see you as weak if you break down or can’t do something because of its familiarity. Cry with me if you have to. Wake me up in the middle of the night if you need someone. Tears may last for a night but you’ll never be seen as weak in my eyes for doing that. I know that everything you’ve been through has been unimaginable, and I hope you are never ashamed of it because it has made you into one of the best souls I know. Joel 3: 10.

Its stated that God is always in the details, and l too chose to go Gods way, am hoping you know that I’ll always pay attention. I pay attention to everything, no matter how big or small it may be. That’s not just because you’ve gone through a lot, but because you’re my best friend. I listen for the things that make you upset or the things that make you happy. If it’s something I can fix or something I can do, I try to make sure that whatever’s needed is there.

You are loved so much and you will always be and by this am referring to your family. Everything starts with family. It’s been said many times before, but no two families are alike. Your relatives may be loud and crazy, small and introspective, totally conventional, or completely unorthodox, but your family is yours. And, no matter what, your family makes up a huge part of who you are. I hope you know that nothing is more important than them. They will forever be your calm in the storm. I see the effect it has on you when they aren’t close by. Please know that nothing here can fill the void of missing them. I know how happy your family makes you, and how loved you feel when you’re with them. So if you need them, go see them.

l leave you with the peace of God to fill you up every day. A peace born of a constant awareness of Gods presence is with you my friend. James 2:16

I love you and I am thankful for you every single day. I hope you’ll never forget these things. What you’ve gone through is so heavy, but never let it destroy you. I will forever be by your side through the good and the bad, never question that.

Also, one more thing to add. I put it last because it’s the utmost important one. Wake up each day looking at Jesus the Author and finisher of your faith, believe in him, each day comes with new opportunities, lean not on your own understanding but always trust him.