Hiatus

October 2021 – FAITH IS NOT BLIND

October is the first month in the last quarter of the year and personally for me the last quarter of the year can be a challenging one. I live in the UK and October over here has a lot of changes. The weather changes and its gets colder; the days get shorter and darker; our time changes, from BST back to GMT. Along with all those changes I was facing changes that were challenging for me. Changes in work and relationship! Looking back I would have told myself to have more faith.

Typically people misconstrue faith with being hopeful and optimistic. But faith is not being positive. Faith is not being blind and having wishful thinking that something will turn out for the positive, so keep your chin up and don’t doubt. It’s as Hebrews 11:1 says:

Faith is not blind but its confidence based on evidence, and the evidence being the promises written in the Word of God. So when things are challenging search scripture for the promises the evidence that you need to get you through!

November 2021 – TRUST YOUR GUT!

In retrospect the biggest thing I would have told my November self is had I had trusted my gut, trusted my instincts then a lot of confusion and loss could have been avoided.

In November I was in the process of making a very tough decision and after looking into the implications of the decision I had a lot of doubts and unsettlements. I discussed my concerns with family, loved ones, friends. I made a decision that would appease family members even though within me I knew it wasn’t the right decision. I was very indecisive at this stage in my life and buckling under pressure I made a decision that wasn’t a wise one.

Looking back this scriptures particularly resonates with me:

Matthew 5:37

³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

If you’re being indecisive about a decision, as justified as the indecision may be, if you do not have a certain, resounding conviction and one of peace within you on the matter, then you should take it to the Lord in prayer and/or fast and seek answers.

Confusion, fickleness , a yes and then no disposition, is not from the Lord.

December 2021 – HONESTY IS A VIRTUE WORTH SEEKING

So this lesson was reinforced by a man I started talking to on my flight to Ghana. We started the conversation about reasons for our travel, but the conversation turned onto relationships and he gave me in a fatherly manner advice about how I could identify the right life partner. He said choose the guy that is honest and will you tell you the truth always.

Now this sounds obvious but often in the heat of love we overlook certain virtues in a partner. So to reinforce: choose someone who is honest. Not necessarily the one that will make you feel good, don’t go for the guys that you see depicted in Hollywood movies, that give you those warm feelings, because those type of guys hype you up to try and get something out of you but choose the guy who will be honest with you and tell you to do the right thing!

He said a test is: say something that is obviously wrong and if he doesn’t tell you that what you’re saying is wrong or instruct you in the right way, that guy is definitely not for you! So Vince wherever you are thank you for the sound advice!

Proverbs 24:26

26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

January 2022 – CHANGE IS INEVITABLE

Welcome 2022! And welcome new home for me too. I moved house leaving my parents and establishing my own ways of living. It is exciting and I look forward to what the future holds. I knew that moving was a great step for me. It was a needed change for me too.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens

February 2022 – LOVE IS PATIENT

February is noted as being the month of love because of Valentines day. This month for me was just a reminder of what love is. God is love, His character exhibits loves and is a reflection of love we should express to others. My favourite bible verse on love is

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails…

March 2022

PRAYER AND FASTING KEYS TO CLARITY

This principle ties to the decision that I had made back in November, I had to make another decision and this time I had that same unsettling feeling, but this time I committed time to fasting and prayer. After 3 days of fasting and prayer I was convicted to speak with the right legal advisors and a close friend about the issue. Reopen dialogue about the decision. The conversation with my friend and fellow brother in Christ help me to gain the clarity I needed to make the right decision and rectify the mistakes I had done. Through it all I’m thankful that God gave me the wisdom T needed. But I would like to emphasise and say that had had I not committed time in prayer and fasting I don’t know if I would have got the answers I needed as quickly or with clarity.

Ezra 8:21-23

…I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions….So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.

DONT BE OVERCOME WITH EMOTIONS WHEN MAKING DECISIONS

March for me also saw the visit of family that stayed with me. It was great to explore with them and rediscover that beauty of the country I live in through fresh eyes.

Towards the end of trip, there was confusion at the airports with flights being delayed and miscommunication on whether my family would be able to still go through security to reach their gate or not. In the end bad advice led to them missing flights on the scheduled day. At this I was devastated, I was annoyed at the extra cost , annoyed at the fact that we were given false advice, annoyed that things didn’t go as I had planned. I was very emotional during all of this. Looking back though, had I not let the emotions cloud my judgement maybe we could have sought the right people to talk to and fix this mix-up or even if not that having the right attitude would have helped to me make better decisions in the moment.

Sometimes unexpected things happen and rather than getting in a fuss or having a foul attitude, take the good with the bad and learn from the experience.

Romans 8:28

That in all things God works for the good of those who love him.