Resonance

Category: Care

  • Edification, Exhortation & Comfort : God’s Architecture of Grace

    We all get tired. Even the strongest believers sometimes feel drained. Some feel stuck. Others begin to gradually lose interest and give up. Many get sick and tired of being tired and sick. Even leaders and pastors who spend their lives strengthening others can often find themselves empty. God, in His wisdom, has built a spiritual system to keep His people from collapsing in the vicissitudes of life. He designed a divine rhythm for the soul; edification, exhortation, and comfort. It is God’s healing system for the whole person (spirit, soul, and body) and the whole Body. It is how He keeps His family standing, growing, and enduring until the end. Next week, we will talk about the Mystery of Encouragement but for now, let’s establish the doctrinal side of it.

    Edification: Increasing Our Capacity

    The word edify comes from the Greek oikodomeō which means to build up. It is the act of strengthening, forming, and maturing until a life becomes stable. Spiritually, edification is God’s way of stretching our capacity to carry His life. When you are edified, something within you expands. Your faith deepens, your understanding widens, and your endurance strengthens. You become more capable of carrying divine weight.

    “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up.” (Acts 20:32)

    God builds us through teaching, truth, and time. Like a master builder laying one stone after another, He establishes your inner man until you can contain more of His strength, more of His wisdom, and more of His people. We do not grow by accident. We grow because the Spirit keeps laying stone upon stone, truth upon truth, grace upon grace. Edification is how God turns the fragile into giants.

    Exhortation: Increasing Our Expectation

    Once you have been built up, you must be stirred up. Exhortation comes from the Greek paraklēsis which means to call near, to urge, to appeal. It is the voice from Heaven that says, “Do not give up. Lift your eyes again.”Sometimes you know the truth, but you no longer expect it to happen. You are built up but not stirred up. That is when the Spirit exhorts. He calls you near, speaks courage into your heart, and rekindles anticipation for what God will yet do.

    “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works… exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24–25)


    Exhortation raises your expectation. It awakens the dormant parts of your faith. It moves you from “I know” to “I believe again.” Through a message, a friend, or the quiet whisper of the Holy Spirit, God exhorts His children to rise. The fire may be small, but exhortation breathes upon it until it burns bright again.

    Comfort: Increasing Our Threshold

    Comfort is not about removing pain. It is about raising the threshold to endure it. Comfort comes from paramuthia, meaning to speak closely, to console, to strengthen. It is the tender voice of God in the midst of trial.

    “Blessed be God, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation.” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4)

    When life feels unbearable, the Comforter sits beside you. He does not scold you for weeping. He stays with you through it. Comfort increases your threshold, your ability to face tomorrow without collapsing today. The comfort of God is not sentimental. It is strengthening. It restores your equilibrium, renews your peace, and brings sanity back to your soul. Comfort does not make life easier. It makes you stronger.

    God’s System for the Prosperity of your Soul

    This threefold process of edification, exhortation, and comfort is God’s divine therapy for the believer. It is how He balances spiritual maturity with emotional wellbeing. It is how He keeps your spirit sharp, your faith alive, and your heart tender. Built up, stirred up, and held up. That is the full rhythm of what I call God’s architecture of Grace.

    God never intended anyone to walk alone. From Eden to the early Church, His answer to human needs has always been another person. He builds through teaching and discipleship. He stirs through encouragement and prophecy. He heals through companionship and compassion.

    > “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” (Proverbs 27:17)
    “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

    When you isolate yourself, you disconnect from this system. Isolation dries the soul. Even pastors need edification. Even prophets need exhortation. Even apostles need comfort. God’s love often comes disguised as a friend who refuses to give up on you, a mentor who speaks correction where you don’t see one, or a circle of friends who simply sits with you in silence. His help usually comes with a human face. A true Word from God will always carry this triadic essence. It will build, stir, and heal. When you stay in fellowship, you stay within God’s healing cycle. The Church is not a club of perfect people but a living organism through which grace circulates. Each believer is both a receiver and a dispenser of Grace.

    “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

    You are God’s instrument of renewal to someone else. Your word, your prayer, your listening ear may be Heaven’s hand to a weary soul. And in your own day of need, that same grace will return to you through others.

    God’s Architecture of Grace

    Edification increases your capacity to grow. Exhortation raises your expectation to believe. Comfort strengthens your threshold to endure. Together, they form the architecture of grace, the system by which the Spirit constructs, energises, and heals His people. When God builds you, He does not only strengthen your spirit. He heals your mind, renews your emotions, and strengthens your endurance. We are built to last, established to be immovable and in a system that will preserve until you finish your race.

    So when you feel weary, do not withdraw. Do not hide your pain. You may be tired, but you are not alone. The same Spirit that builds, stirs, and comforts is reaching for you still to help you stand until the end.

  • The Mystery of Comfort: Thy Rod & Thy Staff

    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
    Psalms 23:4 NKJV

    This world is unfair and “unfair” is an understatement. The wicked succeed, the righteous suffer, the rich steal from the poor, and evil still persists. Everything looks chaotic. Your head aches whenever you think in that direction. You don’t even know what to do with your life anymore.

    You are not alone. Almost everyone has reached that stage before. You may even be there right now. In fact, you’ve been there all your life and it’s starting to feel permanent. However, realise the importance of hope. There’s a reason why hope made it to the finals (hope, faith and love in 1 Corinthians 13:13). Whenever there’s invisible burdens and anxieties, it’s simply the absence of hope. If there’s no hope that your hard work will pay off, why the need for hard work, etc?


    As aforementioned, the unrealized prescription to this dilemma is COMFORT. The NLT version of the verse says, “When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.” Let God comfort you. Let Him teach you that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.

    You really need Comfort so go to God, the source of all comfort as 2 Corinthians 1:3 says.

    And when I was burdened with worries, you comforted me and made me feel secure.

    Psalms 94:19 CEV

    Sometimes, life becomes overwhelming. We begin to worry about life’s decisions. It’s not a lack of information we may even be suffering from. We may know all of God’s promises but we are still worried if we are making the best decisions for our lives. You may think you need more money to solve all your problems but all the problems of another man are as a result of their money. What you may lack is Comfort. I know you are in a very rough storm but there is a man in your boat whose Words the winds and the sea obey.



    David said, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me. Thy rod and their staff, they COMFORT me”. Have you cared to find out what David ever meant? The rod is, of course, an instrument of authority and correction. The staff, on the other hand, is an instrument of compassion.

    The staff guides the sheep along a dangerous, unfamiliar, difficult path. The shepherd presses the staff against the side of the sheep and guides it, assuring the animal of its proper path because some sheep will never tread an unfamiliar route. The rod protects you from wild prey. The staff is also used to guide a newborn to its mother when they are separated. Be it correction or guidance, these are spiritual instruments of Comfort.

    So it’s Comfort you needed all along. Your comfort zone is the secret place of the Most High. His promises are sure. Trust His Word and you will be calm in the midst of calamity.

  • Parenthood 202: How Fathers Make a Difference in our Lives

    This is not the most fatherless generation in history. Many generations lost millions of men on the battlefield. Fathers went to war and never returned. Some who returned were better off dead; fatally wounded and had a lot of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to deal with. Some were deaf from the recurring sound of bombs. Others were too weak to recover from taking too many bullets. There have been many fatherless generations.

    This generation is the most fatherless generation that didn’t lose its fathers to war. In the USA alone, 19.7 million children – which is about 1 of out every 4 children – live without a father in their home. About one-third of Black Americans grow up without a Dad in their home. It’s a fact even from the experiential level, that there is a “father factor” in nearly all social vices.

    With the rise in extreme feminism, many women are gradually leaning toward having no man in their lives. Women are also complaining about double parenting, where there is a father figure in the house but he’s virtually useless and the woman takes double responsibility for running the home. The truth of the matter is, women have an inner craving in them for a male figure in their lives. Someone to protect them, at the very least; someone to direct them; someone to lead them. A girl’s bond with her father greatly affects her relationships with other men.

    Though some men may have failed women in a lot of ways, women must realize it’s only a ripple effect from men not having a father figure in their lives. Lecrae Moore said it better in his song, Just Like You;

    I got this emptiness inside that got me fighting for approval because I missed out on my daddy saying, “way to go”,

    Ain’t get that verbal affirmation or know how to treat a woman, know how to fix an engine,
    To keep the car running

    So now I’m looking at the media and following what they feed me,

    Lecrae Moore – Just Like You

    Fathers -lessness: A Generational Curse

    Our relationship with our earthly father also affects our relationship with our Heavenly Father. In 2001, Jennifer Hamer did research that showed that many African-American youths did not know how to approach their father when in his presence. Thus, if your father is more like a boss, you’re more likely to view God as a boss. Likewise, your relationship with God will likely be a very personal one if he’s a close friend.

    Even if there’s further research to prove that single parenting is equally as good as having two parents around, single parenting is not something to wish for. Single mothers are one of the poorest populations, many of them vulnerable to homelessness. In the United States, nearly half (45%) of single mothers and their children live below the poverty line. It’s not as easy as rich single mothers may make it look. The struggles that single parents face are greater than those in two-parent households.

    Moreover, it’s a generational curse. Men with absent fathers are more likely to become absent fathers themselves. Women with absent fathers are more likely to have children with absent fathers. Further research has shown that growing up without a father can permanently affect your brain. With society on the brink of collapse, the need for a father – not a perfect one, but one who will be there – is more important now than ever. Society will only flourish if matriarchy takes its place by patriarchy, not when the former overthrows the latter. Either of them will fail without the other.

    Be grateful to have a father and father figures in your life. They represented the Father and the fatherhood of God in your life. The enemy’s plan to eliminate fathers from society worked in America, and we all saw the dire effects associated with the rise of LGBT, abortion, gender-affirming surgeries and the lack of common sense. We shouldn’t sit down for this to be replicated in our society. We must honour our fathers, cherish them, celebrate them, remember them, and raise many more sons into fathers.

  • How To Comfort A Friend

    How To Comfort A Friend

    “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
    2 Corinthians 1:3-4

    Our brain has the capacity to store whatever information we receive, whether it is needful or not. But as time goes on, the brain empties its short-term memory. Also, if what’s stored in the long-term memory – be it your birthday 4 years ago or what you ate for breakfast 21 days ago – is not revised with time, the memory decays.

    Why? Because of emotional overload.

    Every thought, word, taste, smell, scene, touch etc has an emotion attached to it. For eg. You feel sad whenever you think about the death of a loved one. However, some events happen in our lives that are so traumatic that we hit an emotional overload for a long period of time. For eg. losing someone really close to you or seeing someone get shot. These events are traumatic that it’s been scientifically proven to cause neuroplasticity. Did you get it? The victim is so overloaded that it literally changes the structure of his/her brain.

    Do you know one thing? We are all headed for such an experience. Life does not even prepare us enough for it. No matter how much you are prepared for it, it is going to shake the very foundations of your will to survive. Keep this in mind when you see it happen to someone close to you. There’s an Akan proverb that says, “when you see a vulture on someone’s head, say get away from us, not get away from the person. For if the vulture leaves the person, it is coming to you.” The vulture is pain, grief, sorrow, trauma, hurt.

    If pain in this life is inevitable, why do we pretend to be okay? Why then do we act like nothing is wrong? Why? Hmm. Maybe, here’s why. Usually, people don’t know when the other person needs advice, encouragement, upliftment or comfort. It’s frustrating when you simply need comfort and someone is trying to advise you; when you’re pouring out your heart and the other keeps interrupting you with unsolicited advice. In such a situation, it’s difficult to say the right thing, but one thing will always be the right thing to do; listen.

    Listen before you speak. Sometimes the other doesn’t need you to say anything. Don’t make it about you. No one needs to hear what happened to you 5 years ago right now. Listen to the person, not to reply but to be empathic. Also, there’s this culture of belittling people’s experiences just because they are young and “inexperienced”. If a 3-year old is pouring out to you about how frustrating school is, what are you going to do? I guessed it. Downplay it. As if to say the child’s reaction to those experiences are invalid.

    If someone says they’ve lost their mother, it’s stupid to compare it to your experience of losing your dog. It’s insensitive to think that the person should get over it because it’s bound to happen. It’s absurd to think they are young and what they are going through now is “little” as compared to what you’ve been through. Everyone’s capacity is different; everyone’s reaction to the emotional load is different. Don’t belittle someone’s traumatic experiences. You are not the one to validate someone’s pain.

    You’ve probably written a lot of exam in your life and failed some. How are you going to react to a 13-year old failing exam for the first time? Alright. Okay, how about someone who brought hurt and guilt upon themselves because of their actions? Let’s talk about that category for a second.

    Having been called to comfort those who mourn, we have learnt to weep with those who weep and be happy with those who are happy. But how do we comfort other people without denying their reality to sell false hope, and also to avoid our own emotional overload? If you are that friend who always listens to other people pour their hearts out (and we all are that friend in one situation or another), how do you comfort without siding with the person’s mistakes he/she is not willing to admit with uncompromising Compassion?

    Jesus is the character in the Bible who is said to have compassion the most. He had compassion over the two blind men in Matt 20:34, the large crowd in Matt 14:14, the four thousand men in Matt 15:32, the five thousand men in Mark 6:34 and many many more. What I found is that Jesus didn’t tell them that there is hope, Jesus was their Hope. Any time Jesus had compassion on the sick, lame, blind, broken, crushed, sad, wretched, Jesus became a channel of healing for them.

    Don’t let them dump their burdens on you; help them lay down their burdens before the Father. Don’t promise them comfort, comfort them with the comfort God comforted you. Don’t just let them know that you’ll listen – so that the two of you will be wretched? NO! – let them know that when they come to you, they are not leaving with the burden they came with.

    Don’t be a helper in carrying burdens. Be a lifter of one’s head. Learn to comfort the broken without being broken. Don’t absorb their reality, impact yours.

    I love you ❤

  • Uncompromising Compassion: How to Remain Sane in an Increasingly Insane World

    Uncompromising Compassion: How to Remain Sane in an Increasingly Insane World

    Once upon a time, life was just simple. Two guys could hug, be madly close and say that they love each other without it being weird. That wasn’t so long ago. Now there are lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, queers, intersexuals, and pansexuals and 99 other “genders”. Soon, it may even be weird for two girls to be around each other or for siblings to be best friends.

    Everything was okay till someone wanted to marry someone of the same sex. After that was accepted, now people have fought for the right to marry themselves, animals, and even objects. A man decided to even marry his laptop. Now the whole idea of marriage is lost – and loses its relevance – in this insane mess. So you find people making a big deal out of not marrying and that can easily become an unexplainable societal trend.

    One wanted to be transgender; basically being a gender one is not. Then another discovered she could be trans-racial, pretending to be black when she really wasn’t. Now the system is broken. We have trans-disability; people who think they ought to be disabled and behave as such when they actually aren’t. Until when will we realise that being trans is basically trying to be something we originally aren’t?

    We pick every other identity that isn’t us except what we are really made to be. In fact, “what we are made to be” is even up for debate. Sexuality has now become a spectrum so fluid that there are “genders” being made up everyday. LGBTQRSTUVWYZ. Yet, it’s amazing we still count health cases according to the two God-made genders. This is not an LGBTQ+ slandering message. The world is in a serious identity crisis. Nothing makes sense anymore. What do we need to do now?

    It does matter who hang around with and who you allow into your inner circle; it does matter. Jim Rohn once said that “we are the sum total of the personalities of the five closest people to us“. Thus, the adage, “show me your friend, and I will show you your character”. The Scriptures says, “Don’t be deceived; bad company corrupts good manners.”

    When you hang around people who are broken, our compassion makes us feel and understand what they think, but that doesn’t mean that we should take up their mindset. Compassion becomes perversion when we reduce our convictions to embrace the crooked. Christianity is not a calling into isolation, where we isolate ourselves entirely from people due to their negativities; poor, broken, rude, hot-tempered, gay, bully, or naughty. Christianity is not compromise of convictions either.

    Many Christians complain to God that people take advantage of their good heart, their compassion, their generosity, when that is not the case. They then want to isolate themselves. Yet we are the Light of the World. It is the deepest darkness that needs the most light. We are that light. No need to squirm and hide your light.

    If no isolation at one extreme, then no compromise at other extreme either. People hang out with the poor and then develop a negative attitude against the rich. Pastors accept everyone for who they are, even homosexuals, and then develop a theology that supports homosexuality. How are you bringing light when you become darkness?

    Hanging out with people who don’t believe in godly values doesn’t mean we have to take up their conviction. It is wrong to avoid gays because you’re the help from God they need. But it is equally wrong when we try to defend their stance as though it is right. That is NOT compassion. That is compromise.

    You don’t have to change your convictions to love a homosexual. You’re not even helping the homosexual when you change your convictions. Jesus had great compassion for the lady who committed adultery and was about to be stoned. Jesus didn’t condemn her. Neither did He support her. Love is NOT Incompassionate compromise. Love is uncompromising Compassion.

    The whole sexual crisis in our world today is an identity crisis; be it homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, transsexual, transgender, queer or what have you. And just like Jesus did for the adulterous woman, our uncompromising Compassion is what will change their lives for the better. This is the true meaning of unconditional love.

    “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my Unfailing Love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed”, says the LORD, “who has compassion on you”.
    Isaiah 54:10

    I love you ❤

  • When Friends Fight: How to Resolve Friendship Breakups

    It’s commonplace for friends to fight or have trouble getting along. Though fights aren’t easy to move forward from, they can make your relationship even better. Small battles can sometimes turn into big ones and you might have to work hard to sort it out. So it’s not surprising that a fight with a friend can be as heartbreaking as an argument with a partner. But conflict doesn’t have to lead to a “friendship breakup.”

    The greatest interpersonal skill you could ever have is learning how to resolve misunderstandings, conflicts, quarrels, fights and issues that arise with time in every relationship. It’s not whether you fight or not; it’s whether you resolve your issues or let pride from both sides separate the bond. The best fights don’t occur between strangers. They occur between friends who trust each other. Once you learn how to resolve conflicts, you will no more fear that one could ruin everything for y’all. Let’s talk about some two things we lose sight of that could lead to friendship breakup;

    Stop Avoiding the Issue by Pretending Everything is Fine

    A small misunderstanding can turn into a big friendship breakup in the end if you pretend the disagreement never happens, so keep the lines of communication open. Talking through the situation is best because letting the situation linger can develop into feelings of neglect, disrespect, or even anger. Before you get heated with a friend, take a mental step back and really listen to what he says. If you’re not mature enough to respect others’ opinions, then perhaps the friendship breakup is the best option. But if you would like to mend the friendship, then apologize, and listen to the other person’s point of view. At the end of the day, people want to be heard.

    friendship breakup

    We all make mistakes, but we all don’t admit that we do. Model how to be humble and how to talk about problems, and be bluntly honest about your own thoughts and feelings.” Express concern for the problem at hand and take responsibility for your own failures while learning from them.

    It is Not Just About Having Good Intentions

    I promised to send Bernice out on a date to KFC. I was so damn late and kept answering her calls with reassurance that I am already close by. Upon my arrival, I had a good excuse about how stressful my programme of study was and how I couldn’t finish my tasks on time. I apologised but Bernice was still mad. Not only did my explanations not soothe her, but they also seemed to make things worse. That started to make me angry.

    Do you know what the problem was? I was stuck in my own perspective. I didn’t mean to be late, but that’s not the point. The point is that I was late. The point — and what’s important in my communication with her — is how my lateness impacted Bernice.” In other words, I was focused on my intention, while Bernice was focused on the consequences. She and I were having two different conversations. In the end, we both felt unacknowledged, misunderstood, and angry. The more I thought about the issue, the more I recognized that this battle—intention vs. consequences—was the root cause of so much interpersonal discord.

    friendship breakup

    As it turns out, it’s not the intention that counts or even the action that counts. That’s because the other person doesn’t experience your thought or your action. He or she experiences the consequences of your action. When you’ve done something that upsets someone—no matter who’s right—always start the conversation by acknowledging how your actions affected the other person. Save the discussion about your intentions for later. Much later. Maybe never. Because in the end, your intentions don’t matter much.

    What if you don’t think the other person is justified in feeling the way he or she does? It doesn’t matter. You’re striving for understanding, not for agreement. What I have found is that once I’ve expressed my understanding of the consequences, my need to justify my intentions dissipates. That’s because the reason I’m explaining my intentions is to repair the relationship. But I’ve already accomplished that by empathizing with her experience.

    Misunderstandings are inevitable in life. Look, no two people will always think or act the exact same way. You will not always see eye-to-eye with friends. It’s necessary to place value on friendship. Remind yourself that there is one in a billion chances to meeting with such a person and connecting in the first place. You are not friends by chance or because you see them five times a week. You’re friends with Rhoda because you respect and value her.

    friendship breakup

    Remember, everyone changes—including you. Basically, you’re not perfect, and they’re not perfect. Chances are, you’ve inadvertently hurt them as well, either past or present, so own that emotion and recognize it, which may make it easier to forgive. It takes two to tango, even in a friendship. 

  • What Matters to You?

    Have you ever been in a queue and see someone jump in from nowhere? What was your reaction? What matters to you at that moment?

    Virtues

    What annoys you probably shows what virtues you resonate with. Sometimes it’s not that we don’t believe in some other good virtues; it’s just that we don’t necessarily have a problem with it. Some people get really annoyed when you don’t tell them the whole truth. It wasn’t really a lie from your side so their reaction may look really exaggerated in your eyes. That’s because telling them the whole truth matters to them.

    However, it doesn’t necessarily mean they should have a problem with other seemingly related things like lying to other people they don’t care about so as to avoid they asking further questions. Sometimes you’ll find people close to you complaining a lot about something little you did, but don’t complain when others do the exact same thing to them.

    Relations

    Truth is, we don’t hold everyone to the same standards. Subconsciously, people who matter to us are expected to resonate with things that matter to us. When they don’t, therein lies all the misunderstandings. To avoid those misunderstandings, you don’t need to necessarily uphold their beliefs and virtues. What you must do is to understand what matters to them and relate to them specifically as such.

    Some people have a problem with sharing their stuff with just about anyone. Well, you don’t. You share freely. She doesn’t, so don’t try to talk her into doing so. Share yours. Leave hers to her. When it comes to things she shares with you, treat it as hers and don’t share it with others still. It’s that simple.

    Sentiments

    Understanding a person is knowing what the person resonates with, not trying to change it and accepting him/her for that, and relating with the person in that light. We all have our petty petty sentiments. The more people pay attention to these little sentiments, the more we connect with them. Sometimes it’s amazing when you get to know that an acquaintance shares the same sentiments as you.

    The real deal is knowing how to handle an issue where those close to you don’t resonate with the things that annoy you. You never know a person till you know what really gets on their nerves. Don’t assume that everyone thinks like you. What matters to you may not matter to me. In the same vein, what you’re very okay with can really annoy someone else.

    Boundaries

    If this very important issue is understood, you can relate with every human being in the world. This issue explains why some Christian-Muslim relations have worked out, and how an atheist and a theist can be best buddies. It’s not a matter of pleasing them, it’s a matter of respecting their boundaries.

    People call this adjustment, others call it compatibility. Whatever the case is, it determines the functionality of all kinds of relationships. Once we understand this issue and find the middle ground, all kinds of compatibility issues – from social to sexual to sensual – can be resolved to the detriment of none of the parties involved.

    I love you ❤️


  • Solitude: Why You Should Spend Time With Yourself

    Why are people so much afraid of silence? Perhaps, the emptiness we feel in our immediate surroundings re-echoes the emptiness within us. We’d rather do anything than spend time with ourselves. I’m not talking about isolation. I’m talking about solitude.

    Social media might have given us the biggest audience to showcase whatever we have but this is the time to realize you’re your biggest fan. You need to appreciate your own ingenuity because a time will come when others won’t, yet you have to keep on keeping on.

    We now live in a world where even teenagers think they are busy. Busy doing what, brushing your teeth? There are times in your life that you’d need to self-quarantine. Not just a vacation to enjoy yourself, but a time to reflect. It’s by self-reflecting that we get to appreciate the people in our lives. You don’t have to wait till you lose something before you appreciate it.

    Not spending time with ourselves has become the reason why people are in dire need for people to appreciate and/or agree with them. Low self-esteem. No self-approval. Yet, such a huge ego. Once all the distractions go away and the ego has nothing to feed on, then we can see beyond the fog and above the blindspots. But the distractions barely go away by chance. That’s why it’s necessary to be intentional about this.

    If you don’t want to spend time with yourself, who should? People who don’t like to spend time with themselves have so much insecurities about themselves. It appears every time they are alone. That’s why it’s easier to put so much burden on others around us and have unrealistic expectations for them and yet undermine our abilities in areas we are good at. And funny enough, we begin to think we’re so much better in areas we aren’t that good at, actually.

    It’s only by self-reflection that we practice metacognition. It requires us to relinquish our usual egocentric perspective and examine ourselves from the outside. Ironically, it’s when you don’t spend time alone that you begin to feel lonely. You feel that people aren’t there or won’t be there for you. Don’t expect people to be there for you if you aren’t there for yourself.

    Spending time alone is ultimately thinking about what you think about. Perhaps, boredom will kick in, but boredom is the bedrock of creativity. If you’re not tired of something, why would you want to change it? Great inventions have come out of solitude. Sometimes, there are too many distractions that we don’t even have the time to think stuff through. With solitude comes clarity.

    This season of quarantine has taught us many things, especially things we thought we couldn’t live without. Life is really about the basics. Once life is not built on the basics, it loses its meaning. So now that you have enough time to spend with yourself, do well to fall in love with yourself, tackle your insecurities, and change those habits you don’t like about yourself.

    I love you ❤️

  • God’s Best Model

    Every creator’s fingerprint is evidentially left on his creation. Everything God created manifests His Glory. Every living thing teaches one thing or another about God. God is seen in all He created. His creation was made in His likeness, but guess who is His best model? You guessed right! We are His masterpiece.

    Jesus said you shall be witnesses unto me, not witnesses unto the world. Witnessing is not just evangelism. It is a legal term.

    In the law court, when I choose a witness to support my stance, the person is a witness unto me. What does the witness do? He comes as an evidence that what I actually say is real and true. The world will believe if we live the life we promise they’d have if they believe in Christ.

    We are a living evidence to the Kingdom of God. We are called to live the Kingdom life. You can only teach what you’ve experienced. You can give only what you have. You can impact what has been impacted on you. Walk the talk. Even children follow your example, not your advice. If you truly believe what you confess to be, then it must reflect in your life.

    We’re a living epistle of Christ. This is the life. Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Let’s be true models to the world.

    I love you ❤️

  • Can You Feel That Connection?

    Have you ever met someone in your life that you feel you’ve known all your life? Have you ever felt so close to someone though you don’t really know them so you’re willing to know them? Have you ever felt the same about someone for so long a time that you know for sure that it’s something real? One word explains it all; connection.

    There are more connections in the human body than there are stars in the galaxy.

    It’s certainly magical to establish a connection with someone but sometimes it’s just difficult, especially with someone you are “supposed to” get along with. This is because connection is mutual. It ought to fit, just as a plug fits in a socket. It doesn’t have to make all the sense in the world. In fact, it needs no words to explain it because there’s none.

    There are some people that we’re gonna meet in the future that we wish we had met earlier. There are some people that we’re gonna meet that we’d feel we’ve known them all our lives, because the interconnectedness is so strong. What we must know about connection is that connection is energy. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but translates from one form to another.

    Our energy fields react differently with people we have connection with. Thus, we connect with different people differently. Sometimes we’re not able to understand our connection with some people and we think we don’t like them. But once we make the mutual connection, our perceptions change and we experience a new reality together with them.

    Connection can therefore go beyond space and time since it’s energy. You can connect more with someone in 3 months more than someone you’ve known for 3 years. You may not see someone for 3 years but still feel the strong connection you have with them. Some connections however need time, but once symbiosis is established, it can last a lifetime.

    Why is it important to know what connects us? Because what connects us is the binding agent of our relationship. So go out there and connect. Connect with God. Connect with your innermost self. Connect with nature. Connect with family. Connect with friends. Connect with the world.

    I love you ❤️

  • Love Yourself: Love Is In The Air, Breathe It All In

    Love Yourself: Love Is In The Air, Breathe It All In

    Love is a constant tangible experience of His outpour of Himself. Love is in the air. We have heard “God loves you” many times, but until it is fruitfully experienced by the sayer, it can never be better expressed to the listener.

    Love is what makes me happy when I have no reason to. Love is one self-motivating effect that never withers. Knowing that I’m loved keeps me going. And it is this same love that picks me up when I fall, that encourages me when I stumble.

    And when I’m tired of life and just feel like giving up on myself, love gives me a reason to live. Simply knowing that I’m loved outrageously fills me up with peace. It puts a smile on my face and a tear in my eye. Such amazing love. Love is so beautiful.

    love is in the air

    Love opens up my heart to all good things. It takes away any subconscious fear. And even though I may not be able to escape being broken in one way or the other, I know love will be there to heal my wounds.

    And every time I think of love, I open my arms wide and close my eyes. I breathe in and I smile. It changes my realities. I feel like I’m top of the mountains. I do not have a single doubt about this love. Love is indeed in the air.

    love You ❤

  • A Great Mystery

    A Great Mystery

    When a young Jewish man had his eye on a bright-eyed Jewish girl, he went with his father to her father. At that meeting, the groom-to-be was expected to present some sort of payment for the bride. A cow or two, some currency of the day, or a promise of labor. If the father of the girl found the payment acceptable, he agreed that the young man could have his precious daughter if he first prepared a home for her.

    Off the young man went to grab his hammer and some lumber. He built a separate home if he could afford it. If not, he added a special section to his father’s home for himself and his new bride. During the time that this young man was building, the bride had a special job to do; she was expected to wait. Oh, not just going about her everyday chores and thinking about her groom-to-be. No, she was expected to be waiting.

    She was expected to have as lovely a dress as she could make. She was to be cleaned and covered in aromatic oils. She was to be telling friends of her groom’s one-day arrival. At night, she was expected to have an oil lamp burning as a sign that was faithfully waiting. The lamp should never go out.

    Her groom returned the moment he finished their home. There would be no delay; if it was 3:00 in the morning, so be it. He would sneak into her home with his friends, first checking to see if the oil lamp was burning. Then he awoke her and carried her through the streets shouting and rejoicing that she was ready and he could provide for her. That night would be one of solitude for the new couple to consecrate their marriage, and then the weeklong celebrations began.

    “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

    ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:32‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

    He loves you ❤️