He restores my soul

 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. 

Psalm 23: 1-3.

My soul.

My deepest feelings have happened here: Grief, sorrow, pain, shame and love.

I was 'acquainted with grief, and I know what it means for a heart to be broken.

It doesn't mean that it accidentally fell and got cracked and broken. In my case, it meant that it was intentionally smashed to a thousand pieces. It meant that the foundations for trust were demolished; it meant that my soul was crushed. I was still breathing, but I wasn't living... I was like a machine, doing what I was supposed to do. Doing without being. How could I be when there was no more me left?

We all know who to dial for a medical emergency. We know where to run to; we know how to respond. But what do you do when it's a soul emergency?

I had read that Psalm many times; I had memorised it. Now it was time for me to experience it by heart, literally.

That this good shepherd could reach depths that I didn't even know existed.

Depths that only HE knew existed because He created those depths, and he hovers over those depths.

His SPIRIT over my spirit, HIS breath over my fading breath, HIS heart over my faltering beat.

The gentle shepherd with the most tender caresses, the lover of my soul, kissed me with the kisses of his lips and brought me back to life.

Perhaps there is some truth to the 'Kiss of life' that fairy tales love so much.

My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feeds his flocks among the lilies. Songs Of  Solomon 2:16

Gently, slowly, he led me to my waterhole.

In the green pastures, he made me lay down. I lay down the heavy burden of my own mistakes and my regret.

He led me beside quiet waters where I wept bitter tears. I cried in, and I cried out. He listened.

He started to restore...

It didn't happen in one day or one month, and it took a while. 

He took his time, and I was where he wanted me- among the lilies.

He started to transform the way I thought about love. Everything I knew was misinformed, and everything I had learned was imbalanced.

Only He knows the truth about love because He is LOVE.

I learnt to forgive the other person, and most importantly, I learnt to forgive myself.

He started to heal me by the quiet waters, one day at a time, taking away my bitterness and filling it with pure love.

Taking away my ignorance and filling it with his light.

He didn't rush, and he didn't hurry. He took his time, one day at a time... until one day, I was ALIVE.

Digging wells: A true test of perseverance

In many parts of today's world, we turn on a tap and, voila! Water.

Thanks to technology and innovation, a lot of us don't have to worry about water. Can you imagine that thousands of years ago, digging a well was the only way to access water, especially if you didn't live close to a river!

Travel with me, if you will, to 4,000 years ago and let's join a patriarch living somewhere in the middle east in a part that wasn't his home. He has a family and servants and a flock of animals that all need water. He decides to settle in an area for a while and decides to dig a well. After much work, he and his servants find cool, refreshing water! The local villages quarrel with him over that well calling it theirs and force him to move away. He moves further away, settles and digs again. Again the villagers surrounding the area quarrel with him. He moves further away and digs again... he seems to have a knack for finding water. He finds water and this time no one disputes the well with him. He decides to settle there and build his family.

Even though this story happens thousand of years ago, there are still relevant lessons for today.

1. If you need something, you will always go after it until you find it. People define 'needs' and 'wants' differently and then place them on a scale of preference. WATER is a necessity. If you make your vision as crucial as water, you will always go digging for it.
2. There will always be opposition. No one is going to hand you your dream on a silver plate. No one. Ever. Don't be surprised when tests come, when nay-sayers come along when people talk at your back. It's all part of the vision building process.
3. You need to prove to yourself that your dream is worth fighting for. Are you going to stop digging the first time or the third time or will you go on until you dig up what you need?
4. You are going to keep moving until you get there. Do Not settle in the place that is less than the vision in your heart. Be prepared to be on the move: away from negative people, away from the place that is not 'that place'
5. There is room for you. Yes! I said it, and you should say it to yourself, "There is room for me".

Becoming clay

We all know what clay is... the soft mushy substance that is great for pottery and modelling.
Clay originates from natural rock, weathered over time until it becomes finely grained.
"Clay" caught my attention as i was learning about trust and i wanted to share that with you.
You see, the special property that makes clay very desirable to work with is its malleability. This makes it flexible, stretchable, able to be bent and formed without breaking.

A special verse in the bible tells us that God is our Father. We are the clay and He is the Potter. We all are formed by His hand. ( Isaiah 64:8)
Now, it's not that difficult to imagine GOD as the potter. He is in control of things, he directs our paths and our lives. I'd like to zone in on the other part that we don't always focus on: we are the clay. I am the clay.
This means that it is our responsibility to retain our ability to be malleable.
We have to allow the potter's hand to bend and stretch us as He pleases for His own intentions.
If you're like me, you're the kind of lump of clay that often jumps off the wheel and wants to run off because i don't particularly enjoy whats going on in the present.
The potter is working right now, in the present, shaping us into His masterpiece and if we trust his loving hands enough to stay on the wheel, we'll be pleasantly surprised when the masterpiece
is finished.

Are you restless enough?

The truly restless.

There’s a popular bible story about twin brothers Jacob and Esau.

Jacob is notoriously known for taking his brother’s birthright and Esau cried bitter tears because he couldn’t do anything about it…

Or could he?

You can read the whole saga in Genesis 27 (You should totally Check it out!)

Recently, I had a chat with my friend Abby about the ‘rat race’ that we are all in. She said she was beginning to get bored driving the same route to work every day, and we imagined doing the same thing for 30 years! Unbelievable. But yet, we do it. We all take the safe and comfortable route (myself included, which is why I started to really think about it)

This morning, I thought about the story in Genesis again, and I zoned in on verse 40. Isaac says to his son Esau “You shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck”

It gives me the picture of a powerful bull that’s chained to a pole. He’s strong enough to pull out that pole and run off, but he just doesn’t.

Many of us are like that; full of dreams and ambitions. We are passionate, talented, competent, creative, hardworking, eloquent, organized, morally pure, peace-loving, visionary, but most of us just spend our life like a hamster in a cage running around his wheel.

Earlier, I asked the question if Esau could do something about it.

It turns out that he could! And if he can, so can I.

SO, why am I thinking this way?

I’m getting restless.

Restless denotes unable to be still or quiet. However, restless can also mean not satisfied with your situation and wanting a change¹.

I am NOT satisfied with where I am and I am inquiring to now if I can do something about it.

What can I do?

“Break the yoke”, “shake off the yoke”.

What if the reason I’m still where I am because I don’t want to break the cycle?

What if I’ve grown so comfortable with it, I’m used to the routine and I really really don’t mind the rat race?

It’s up to me and no one else to break whatever chain is holding me back from living the life I live in my dreams.

It’s up to me to grow restless enough to shake off that limitation because, all the time I had the strength to do it. All along, I had the power to change my own destiny, to create my own reality.

Are you restless enough?

There’s a wonderful verse that says The whole of creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.

When are you going to manifest?

There is no better moment than now.

So, what can I do?

1.      Find your identity, redefine yourself if you have to

I’ve written a short article on defining yourself. Truth is, we still forget who we are, because life keeps battering us into believing who we are not. Find your identity.

2.      Face your fear

What is holding you back? The victim mindset? Self-pity? Bitterness, anger or resentment? Insecurities. You can rise above all of this when you choose to forgive yourself and forgive the past enough to let it go.

If you feel insecure or incompetent, get as much training and help as you need. There are millions of resources online for free.

Develop yourself to rise above your shortfalls.

3.      Throw his yoke from off your neck

Choose to believe a different reality. Believe the reality of your dream and act it out. Live out your faith. If you believe that you can do it, go ahead and work towards it. Train yourself and don’t believe the lie anymore.

I love Maya Angelou’s poem “Still, I rise”

Believe that that his yoke is not strong enough to hold you down anymore, shake it off!

Are you restless enough?

¹https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/restless

Iron sharpens Iron

‘Iron by Iron is sharpened, And a man sharpens the face of his friend’ Proverbs 27: 17 (Youngs’ Literal Translation)

I especially like this translation of the verse because it gives a slightly different perspective on this verse.

First, 'Iron by Iron':

This tells me that the only element that is competent, adequate, sufficient enough to match Iron is Iron. It can only be sharpened by itself.

We are not of the world (John 17:14). We bear a different spirit, the spirit of God and He dwells in each of us that are born by Him.

Who are the people in your circle of trust?

Choose your company wisely and keep an eye out for whom you accept counsel from.

The second perspective is 'is sharpened':

The goal of the coming together of iron is to sharpen.

Matthew Henry* tells us in his commentary on the verse that when we come together, it should not be to slander, or banter or speak ill of each other but to improve each other.

To sharpen means many things. In this context, it refers to how we make ourselves more alert, wiser, more precise or more thorough.

As Iron by Iron is sharpened, this is how we are to sharpen the face of our friends.

When a believer has a conversation with you, do they leave with a sharpened face or ears tingling with gossip? Do they leave improved or ashamed because you have spoken without grace?

*Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Photocredit: thinkradiant.com

The GOD-kind (2)

"I have given you authority" Luke 10:19
The son of GOD came and gave us authority; the right to become sons of God (John 1:12).
And then, he left.
He left us here in this realm and ascended to the heavens. But he left his own spirit here "allos parakletos". The Holy Spirit.
His first disciples received this power to be witnesses with signs and wonders following. They started a revolution!
But this was well over 2,000 years ago.
Time has passed again, just as it did after the first Adam fell and we have forgotten who we are.
We live as mere mortals under all the elements of this world; toiling night and day and reaping no reward.
The world system has battered us into conforming; we have conformed again to the status quo. Mere mortals, servants, princes on foot, defeated.
Where is our salvation now?
Where is the Spirit that was given over 2,000 years ago? Does He still move on the earth?
John 14: 17 says "He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognise him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you." (New Living Translation)
We can infer then that He is still here! Dwelling in the ones who have received him; in the ones that know him.
He is alive and present. He has not abandoned us according to his promise "I will never leave or forsake you".
There is a reason Jesus Christ said that he would lead us into all truth: He will teach us the truth of who we are in him. Even though we have forgotten, He will remind us.
So, what now? For the ones who are beaten by life's challenges and hardships:
" Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way" Isaiah 35:3 (New International Version).
Fill yourself up with hope again!

Then, renew your mind with God's truth about your identity.
You have the responsibility to be transformed by renewing your mind (Romans 12:1,2) so you don't conform again to the identity that this world tries to conform you to.
To conform means to act in accordance with expectations; to behave in the manners of others especially as a result of social pressure (wiktionary.org)
You are NOT who this world says you are. You are WHO GOD says you are!
You have the right to BECOME the son of GOD.
Take it!
Life's hardships do not determine or change what I am. They may challenge my faith, they challenge my way of thinking, but they should not change who I know that I am.
I am a son of GOD.
I may be going through a tempest but I am still a child of God.
What do I do?
I decree a thing and it is established. I speak the word that my Father spoke to me:
"The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places and I have a godly heritage"
" I and the ones God has given me are for signs and wonders"
I believe, therefore I speak. I speak UNTIL I become.

The God-kind

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name..." John 1:12.
One of my favourite animated movies while growing up was Disney's the Lion King. I remember the scene where Mufasa appears to Simba in giant cumulonimbus clouds and says to him "remember who you are!"  (In his booming voice of course)
For a while, I had forgotten who I was.
Who I am (in essence) never changes; a lion will always be a lion and a 'man-cub' will always be a 'man-cub' even though he is raised by wolves or gorillas. It doesn't change what he is.
What it does change is his way of thinking. His own thoughts about himself. So, this 'man-cub' thinks like a wolf or a gorilla and, like Tarzan, bends his fingers in and walks on all fours even though he is able to stand up tall with his head high.
The 'man-cub' remains a gorilla until an encounter that changes his entire psyche: he meets another man who thinks like a man, who knows who he is and functions in that knowledge.
According to biblical history, we are sons of Adam, the first man ever created. Adam's father was God himself (Luke 3:38)
After the fall in the garden of Eden, Adam lost his deity and we all became mortals. All of us fell short of God's glory until we had an encounter.
In the new testament gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) we read about another son of God who was not created out of dust but born of a woman. The son of God came to us; he looked just like us but he was different. He was God! He spoke as God, he walked as God and he lived among us as God. He performed miracles all out of love. His name is Jesus, the Christ. He came to heal, to seek and save the lost race of the God-kind. Since the fall, we were lost and he came to find us. He opened our eyes to a new and a living way. He came to bridge the gap himself and restore us to God's glory. We truly are God's glory.