30 September 2010

Still Arise

As I speak with various people and read the news daily, it is apparent that the tough times are getting worse. There seems to be no end to loss of job, house, loved ones etc. As I ponder our current circumstance one scripture came to mind.

Habakkuk 3:17: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stores, “
18: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my Salvation”.
19: “The Lord is my strength, he will make my feet like the hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon my high places”.

Straight from my heart
is this piece to encourage you to Still Arise, lift your head regardless of the temporary pain or heart ache you face, Arise.

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Worries, fears, toils and ruins
On parallel lane abound
Hush, still arise, amidst the turbulence.

Know that the birds toil not, yet are fed, clothed and catered for
Know that the roses, though beautiful they appear, do blossom in summer and wither in fall
Yea, a yearly cycle of bloom and gloom, still they arise,
They do not give up blooming,
Neither do birds give up flying amid the storms and wind.

So too, rise up and strive pass the temporary pain and set back, look forward to the day of relieve though it may seem distance and appears tough now, ride out the storm, stay the course of whatever betide, stir up your spirit to arise and shine.
Do not waste the time of turbulence,
Nay, but rather, gather the dust of your setback,
Lay them up as a memento for the future, a reminder of how you overcame.

Lift your head and arise.

9 September 2010

Fall? Which Fall?

A few days ago I was staring out of my bedroom window and observed my neighbour and her little girl of 2. The mom was walking to her car packed a few yards from their house, she got in and shortly afterwards I noticed her little girl running down the road to the car, the mum came out and shouted for her to stop running. (It has just stopped raining). The little girl kept on running. The mum got back in the car, her little girl was almost near the car when she fell. The mum jumped out of the car, picked her up and tried to sooth her. She kept walking up and down saying, its ok, I told you not to run, but you won’t listen, its ok. I smiled as I watched.

This got me thinking.
We sometimes ignore our God’s warning to stop running without him or not to run at all. Running could be anything, we may ignore his warning about taking that job, moving house, making that decision on our own or waiting a little bit longer before taking that next step, but because we fret and think we have a better grasp of the situation and can make a reasonably “wise” decision we continue with our plans, all the while ignoring the fathers warning not to run.

We soon make a mistake and fall.
But just like that mom picked up her little girl, he’ll pick you up, with the mud, the grass and the filth which comes as a result of the fall, he’ll pick you up with the dirt and soothe you, he won’t wait for you to be clean and repentant, he’ll come running to you just before you fall.

So have you fallen due to running? And are you berating yourself for failing to heed the father’s voice? Stop! Just let him soothe you as only he can.Lean on him and let him wipe the dirt away.


The little girl continued crying for a while before she calmed down. Some of us never forgive ourselves, we continue crying each time we remember the fall and repent all over again, and all the time the father is saying, but I picked you up, I wiped you clean, I don’t know what you are talking about, fall? Which fall?
No wonder Jesus says except we are like little children……
Little ones don’t remember. No sooner had she calm down than she started playing again.

So Straight from my heart is this piece to encourage you to get up from the place where you’ve fallen, get over your fall, you’ve been wiped clean! Hear the father saying, fall? Which fall? I picked you up.

Running towards the goal,
Pressing to achieve
I make no haste to attain
The quest my heart desires.

Running towards the mark,
Heedless of humps and bumps
I’ve prayed, my guide the Lord will be,
I run, and make no tarrying to wait.

Running as I climb, I saw the finish line
But lurking along my path, lay thorns unknown to me,
Soon I stumble and fall, unable to finish the race

Swiftly, he picked me up,
Shook me clean,
Place me on his shoulder
And ran to complete the race,
I embarked without him

On his shoulder I soar,
I did not sway or loose my grip,
He’s steps propelled me to heights never dreamt before,
Because he ran the race he has chosen for me.

9 August 2010

Memories

What do you feel when you remember the loss/losses you've suffered? Do you feel sad and helpless? Does remembering rekindles the pain?
Losses of any kind are painful, be it the loss of a child, a parent, a sibling, a job, business or a house, whatever, losses are not pleasant.
But after a while, the pain of the loss/losses passes (I hope), and is replaced with only memories of what we suffered and how we to pulled through.

A year ago I suffered a couple of losses one of which is the loss of my dad, looking back now I remembered the pain of those losses and marvel at how I pulled through. one year on the pain has been replaced with fond memories of my loving dad. The pain was painful (if there's a phrase like that), it was horrible, but that was then. Pain are for a season, we are build to feel pain, sorrow and sadness, but we are not expected to stay in the place of pain and dwell in the land of questions like why me, what next, when Lord?


We are meant to bounce back stronger and better than we were before our losses.

So have you suffered a loss?
Does the pain become real again on the anniversary of the loss?
Do you still feel sorrowful?


Sad as your loss was or is, you are meant to bounce back and not remain in the place of pain.
Do whatever you have to do to bounce back, go for counselling, do something to move pass the place of pain into the place where you can remember not with pain, or sorrow but with a sense of gratitude that you pulled through.

We cannot erase the past, but we can look on the past and smile at our resilience and our ability to weather the storms of our past demise.

So straight from my heart
is this piece to encouraging you to move on purposefully to a place were memories become spring board to hope and dream again.