A Poem- Thank You Lord

For the tears that flow easily
I thank You
For the Joy and Grace
To be me, with me
I thank You.

Thank You
For giving me
The arms to hold me
The eyes to see me
And the ears to listen to me.

Thank You Lord
For the heart to care about me-
The soul, deep enough, to love me...

For every Gift
You have given me, for me
I thank You.

Thank You Lord.

Copyright- SoulWriter 2015

Own your happiness!

People often seek to have happiness from others. Such people feel extremely lonely and incomplete on their own. They often end up needy- annoyingly needy and by so doing, end up going from one person to another and hopping from one bed to another. It's often a factor that pushes people into marriage, thinking- 'when I get married I'll be happy'.
I guess it all started from the phrase 'and they lived happily ever after'. This phrase unfortunately has deceived a lot of people about life and reality. It has deceived people into believing happiness can only be found with someone else. I lived with this notion unconsciously till I was a teenager. I was delivered when God brought across my way one of Funmi Akingbade's books. Reading the book made me realize happiness was a personal thing.
Many people rush into marriage with a strong hope that marriage will bring them happiness, so they live their single lives miserably while day dreaming of the happiness they'll get from marriage. Hence, many get married ignorantly.
To start with, real happiness is not what someone gives you, rather, it's a gift you give yourself. No one can be/ should be the source of your happiness. You are the source of your happiness; yes! you alone! People that come into your life only complements what you already have on the inside of you. Real happiness starts from knowing yourself, loving you and accepting yourself for who you are even while working on getting better. Real happiness is a protective film that keeps you from making mistakes out of being miserable. Real happiness brings you wholeness and makes you ready for love...
You gotta start owning your own happiness!

The lie I was told

It is amazing how our fear gets transformed into faith; so amazing. Before I really got to know the Lord, the devil filled my heart with fear; I felt I wasn't really going to be able to please God anyway, so why walk with Him. The devil knew so well of my desire to please God, even before I really got to know Him, so he filled my heart with the fear.
The picture the devil painted in my heart was that of an insatiable God; A perfectionist kind of God. He made me forget that God is the God of my weakness; the One who exchanges His strength for my weakness. He made me forget the more time I spend with God, the more Grace He makes available to to me to do His Will.
Can I tell you the truth? The devil is merely afraid- afraid of you. He is afraid of what could be when you make Jesus Christ your Lord and you spend quality time with Him. he is afraid of the havoc you will wreck in his kingdom when God's power constantly comes to you through fellowship. he is afraid destiny comes calling the moment you surrender your life and all to Jesus. he is afraid of the peace you'll get from God, such that his constant threat and injections of fear becomes of no effect in your life.
what lie is the devil telling you today? Dare to resist him and press in into God. Jesus already defeated him! Let your love for God defeat every and any fear the devil tells you. Refuse to be his victim; you are already a victor in Christ! You are more than a conqueror! Make up your mind to walk with God; even if you fall, His Grace will be right there to be pick you up and set you on the right path. God is a Loving and Gracious Father, do not allow the devil deprive you of His love.

1 John 4:18 (NIV) - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Have a great day!

Help! I've lost control!!!

There are times in life when everything tends to spin out of control. You are faced with many life questions but little or no solution. Such times,the little solution you manage to come up with is rendered invalid by the issues staring hard at you. At such times, what should be done?
The natural response is worry. You worry not because you want to worry, but because it just shows up. You become so afraid of what could be. The future you had planned for all your life with deep assurance suddenly looks bleak, now that you appear closer. There's no mum, dad or friend to help you as it is a personal issue- deep beyond explanation. You seem entangled. Again, what do you do?
Well, first of all, the first thing to do might be to eliminate worry. Worrying is like a rocking chair that takes you back and forth with no real movement and in time, leaves you tired and exhausted with nothing achieved.
Secondly, when something is higher than you, the wisest thing to do might be to take it to somebody higher and greater, somebody who without a doubt understands the disturbing innermost cry and sees it just the way it is, even without an explanation. God.
That is what I do at such times. Times when it's just me and my thought and everything looks so confusing, uncertain and may be embarrassing. God is the Wisest Being and He has proven True over time. He's been around for decades and centuries; That is why He is referred to as the Ancient of days.
At such times, your answer might just be a prayer away. First, He gives you peace, then Assurance through His Word and lastly His Guidance and Help follows.

Desperate times!

It is a common saying that the definition of craziness is doing the same thing the same way all over again and expecting a different result. It is also a common saying that desperate times calls for desperate measures. How desperate are you?
I was reading the book of 1 Samuel chapter 1 just some minutes ago and something I've never seen before caught my attention. Of course, like every other child that grew up in a sound Christian home, the story of Hannah is quite familiar, but the good news is that God's Word is new every day, and a verse can give you a thousand insight on different readings. So, this time, reading the New Living Translation (NLT),verse 9 caught my attention-

"once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray...".

 Hannah I believe did something she had never done before. She went away from her usual practice and did something different out of desperation. She withdrew quietly to pray and poured out her heart to the Lord. A miracle followed afterwards...
How desperate are you to move to your next level?-your actions will tell. Are you still doing the same old thing expecting a different result? What is your prayer life like?, and your study life? Do you still say the same seven minute prayer every morning? Even God knows when we are serious- in the book of Jeremiah 29:13-14 (MSG), He Promised that-

“When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

He has promised to make everything new when indeed we come looking for Him. What are you waiting for? What is holding you back? Or are you comfortable with your current status?
If you want to experience a shift, you might as well do something different and get deeper with God(!).

Have a great day!

Get Busy!

Going down memory lane, I remember my most vulnerable moment came when I was less busy. A lot of things happened  and I got myself entangled in many messes. Prior to that, I'd been busy and had little or no time for unwanted side attractions. I was firm, bold and tough. but fast forward,I got less busy and the devil struck!
What do I mean by getting busy? Does it mean dusting all the house, cleaning the shelves and bringing out already washed dishes to rewash them? No. What I mean is- get busy doing what you believe you are on earth for.
When we take our eyes off our goals, we not only see obstacles but boredom. We begin to look for avenues to 'kill' the boredom and in the process land ourselves into trouble. When you get busy, you realize the 24 hours you complain about as being long is not even enough.
An idle man they say is the devil's workshop; getting busy reduces negative and wrong thoughts. It also slides off wrong associations, because I tell you, some friends will not be able to keep up
with you when you get busy. They will see you as being too serious, being boring, because they are yet to find and face their own purpose. My dear life is serious! If a friend constantly tells you you are too serious about life in the process of pursuing your life's assignment, believe me, you don't need such friend!
Getting busy means going after purpose with every breath in you, obstacles not withstanding. When indeed you know why you are on earth and have an idea of what to do, getting busy will be fun to you, even though a lot of discipline and sacrifice will be involved. When you get busy,rest will be sweet afterwards.
What raises the hair on your neck? what brings joy and fulfilment to you, such that you never notice the sun set even when you started at noon? Get busy doing it. Get busy preparing for the future you dream of. Preparation sloughs your dreams into reality.
As you wait for that greatness, get busy!

N.B- A little hint on how to get busy
Focus on your ability and develop it, such that it will be usable and presentable in high places.
Get  busy working on your character and etiquettes, based on how far you see yourself going. Get yourself prepared for where you see yourself in the nearest future.

Addiction (part 1)

It's not unusual these days to see people with addictions. Gone are the days where addiction was attached only to drugs. Today we have many other addictions;- Cigarette, Alcohol, Television (especially with series and season films) and maybe worst of all, pornography.
Now, what is addiction? From experience, I will define addiction as something that takes your time, but you won't lose a thing if finally you decide to let it go. Addiction comes with guilty feelings and all. One could even  be addicted to a human being(!). I guess addiction comes in the case of humans when we virtually can't do without a person. A common 'virus' in new relationships where either or both parties are lonely. They try to get busy by getting engaged with the other party, which unfortunately wears the other individual off at a point in time. Either way, no addiction is healthy.
Additions removes more than it adds to us. Maybe one of these days we will talk more about one of these addictions,especially pornography.
From survey, most of the people running to addiction are running from something. Maybe being alone, getting past some hurtful feelings (i was once in that shoe) and all. Most of the time, addiction comes subtly; it creeps in innocently.
How can we avoid addiction  and break it's yoke from around our necks?

1. Recognise that there is a problem- I guess that might be the first step. If you do not know there is a problem, you might never break free. Solutions are only found to problems.

2. Talking to God about it- Sometimes, some struggles are way beyond us. we know it's wrong, but still we indulge in it because we have no power of our own to break it. I guess a higher power is required to break that which is higher/bigger than us. There is something about taking our problems to God. Strength is released and help is received.

3. Starving the thought- A human being or animal you do not feed does not grow, so also, a thought not fed. When the thought to go back to what you've left comes, focus your attention on something else. You can avoid environments or situations that encourages the addiction.

4. It might not be enough to starve the thought, you might have to fill your mind with new things. You can decide to read books that'll help, tapes or maybe go for seminars. It will be helpful (very) if you fill your mind with things that will help 'fight the battle'. Sometimes, this has to be continuous to avoid going back.

5. Face that issue you are running from- You might have to ask yourself a few questions truthfully. what brought me here? why am I here?... Could remember in my own case, hurt took me there. I overwatched movies to keep myself from thinking/hurting; even when at  many points, the film though interesting, becomes choking. I watched the movie to keep myself busy or sometimes to console myself.

...to be continued

All it takes to start

We all have dreams, we all have desires, we all have hopes.
We dream and talk so much of those dreams that we sometimes literally forget to start.  we have the believe/ thought that everything will work together someday. Will everything work together? Yes, but not without our effort.
We watch our mates move up the ladder, most of them doing what they love and we say to ourselves, sometimes, someday, the world will know me too. we forget that it takes a lot of hard work and self discipline to get things done. I guess if we all could talk without having to be an example, most people would want to encourage others on being the best they can be, without being one themselves. It takes little to talk, but it takes more to act and actually be it.
All said and done, what does it takes to be the best we can be per time? what does it takes to start? Most of us have an idea of what we want to be, at what time, at what age...only we have almost nothing in place to make them a reality. We know though, but also forget that a well orchestrated today is the foundation for the tomorrow we dream of.
Why don't you pick up that one thing it takes to start and start?
Pick up a little courage and let your passion keep you going.
What is it you want to be today? what is it you want to achieve? All it takes to start is a little courage-just a little.