Struggling.

Why are you struggling? Struggling for existence, struggling to survive. Maybe you no longer have faith in God or maybe you have forgotten to trust in him. Remember the following words; trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. If you believe this then there will be no need for you to struggle.
Here is a story you may learn from, there was a man who decided to take a trip on an old wooden sailing ship. While out on the deck one day he saw one of the crewmembers climbing the ropes, going up to the crow's nest. When he was about half way up, the ship pitched to one side and he was thrown overboard. When he hit the water, he began to scream for help, and flail his arms wildly, as he struggled to survive. The traveller watched as the sailor walked over to the rail of the ship, and calmly observed the man in the water. After a short while the man in the water tired, and began to sink. It was then the sailor standing by the rail jumped into the water and rescued the drowning man. After both men were safely on board, the traveller went over to the sailor and asked him why he waited so long to rescue the victim. The sailor calmly replied thus;

"I have found that as long as a man is struggling in the water, there is a greater chance that he will get us both killed if I jump in too quickly, and try to save him."

I have learned that it is better to let them struggle awhile, and when they come to the end of their own strength, I can then jump in and rescue them.

If you are also drowning like the man in the story, already fallen from your place of comfort and safety, and you are now struggling to survive. You need to ask God to come to your rescue immediately. It is possible that the Lord is waiting until you have come to the end of yourself, and stop struggling in a vain attempt to save yourself, through any means. When you finally admit you can't save yourself, God will jump into the water and save you! He only can restore all lost hope, when you find yourself lost in life, hopeless, helpless and held hostage by the devil, call him to the rescue.

Good works

Helping others is one way of showing that we love them and we are ready to share what we have with them. We can share love, clothing, money, time, etc, etc.
The fact that we have and are in a position to give out is enough proof that God can still do more for us if we can only reach out to others in need. Believe me, everything that God has given us is for us to benefit humanity. If you have something to offer others by utilising the gifts and talents bestowed upon you by God to help others I think the world would be a better place live.
You see, everyday you pass through a street, regardless of where you live, you see people without homes, penniless, hungry and without hope looking for succour, but no one is ready or willing to help. There are many motherless babies, orphans and even abused children in our world, what are we doing to better their lot?
Agreed, the world is indeed corrupt, and you need to think twice before offering help for fear of falling into fraudulent hands, and the fear of being tricked out of one’s hard earned money or whatever is enough to put one off. Please note that there are a lot of charity homes through which you can reach out to the needy. It is not compulsory that you only give money or material things, you can volunteer time out of a busy schedule to help at any volunteer centre or old people’s home close to you, the bottom line is that we be involved in making the world a better place not only for our families and friends but for others outside this group also.
A kind word, a loving observation, a listening hear might just change the destiny of someone out there, Just have something to offer.

Stay blessed.

A Shoulder to Cry On

This post is as received from my good friend Olaitan.

When a little child gets home later than they're supposed to - well you know that there is going to be on the other end. There's going to be a worried and not very happy parent waiting for them. I heard recently about a little girl who got home unusually late from school only to find a daddy who was not happy at all. He asked the little girl why she was late. She said, "Because my friend broke her dolly." Her dad said, "Oh, okay, so you stayed with her to fix it?" He didn't expect her gentle little reply, "No, Daddy. I stayed with her to help her cry."
You may know someone right now who needs a friend like that; someone to help them cry. It's part of being a follower of Jesus actually to be that kind of friend, that kind of coworker, that kind of person in your family.
Paul talks about this caring, sensitive, unselfish lifestyle in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 12:15. Here's what He says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice: mourn with those who mourn." When you're rejoicing, you need someone to share your joy. When you're hurting, you need someone to share your burden. If you're a Jesus-follower, that's supposed to be you for the people you know. Because that's how your Master lived His life. He was actually attracted to people who were hurting.
We don't always do this too well, do we? You've probably got a real busy life, a full schedule. I know I do. Someone who needs comfort and encouragement and who needs time can feel like a - well, an interruption, an intrusion, or even a nuisance to be honest. Those feelings in themselves are not a problem unless you allow those feelings to give you a hard heart, and to make you unresponsive to a need that God has dropped into your life. And that's what it is: God is hearing someone's cry, God is feeling someone's pain, and God is sending them to one of His children to show them His love; one of His children like you.
Which means that we can't be all rigid about our sacred schedules and plans and our "to-do" lists. We need this Spirit-led flexibility to stop for someone who needs a friend to "help them cry." People are a whole lot more important than tasks.
One reason we don't move in next to someone who's hurting is because sometimes we don't know what to say. That really doesn't matter. Your job is to let them talk, to let them cry, to listen in a way that you can identify what that person needs right now, and then to see if you or someone you know can help with some of those needs. I've heard of a tribe in Africa where they have a wonderful custom. When someone dies, one of the elders of the village comes to the grieving family's hut and just sits there quietly for a couple of days. He doesn't say anything; he doesn't do anything, unless he is asked to. He's just there, and his presence alone is comfort. You know, that's not a bad model.
And strangely, what often qualifies you to be a comforter turns out to be the hardest things you ever faced in your life. Because you've been the one who cried, you can help someone else who is. Or as Paul says, "God comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Corinthians 1:4). So would you be like your Savior? Stop for people who need you, and be there to help them cry.

Food safety.

Someone sent me a mail yesterday about children licking sweet at night or when they are about ready to go to bed. It was actually an enlightening read, and I thought of food.

How safe are the food we eat?
Because a lot of us parents are working, this leave us with very little time to prepare food in the safety of our own kitchen. We are often condemned to a diet of fast foods, pre-packed meals or bulk cooking in work-place diners, and restaurants. This implies that we are robbed of a large part of whatever control we might otherwise have had over what our children and we eat. If it is necessary that we eat outside of our home, it is important to know how and where the food is prepared, the food handlers have to be given due consideration also. Foods generally become unsafe when:

1. The raw products are contaminated by disease causing agents and/or harmful chemicals (This may be from a polluted environment or from the handlers);
2. The technique of processing, storage and preparation is wrong;
3. Too much, or too little is eaten.

Serious care and attention should be given to children especially because their immunity is lower than that of adults. Please give them adequate supervision when they are about sitting down to a meal, after meals and most especially at bedtimes. Children should be given supervised bath before being taken off to bed and also tell them the importance of washing hands, wash for those too young to wash by themselves. We need to safeguard their health at all time.

Here are a few tips for hand washing:

• Use warm running water.
• Wet your hands before applying soap.
• Rub your soapy hands together for at least 10 seconds (pay attention to the finger nails and webs between the fingers, as well as the back of the hands and thumbs).
• Rinse your hands thoroughly to remove all soap
• Turn off water with paper towel.
• Dry your hands with an air-dryer or a clean paper towel.
• Wash your hands thoroughly after using the rest room/toilet.

Am I worthy of love?

Am I lovable, can I be loved, do people love me, and how can I be loved, how do I know if someone loves me? The questions seem endless don’t you think? But people asked them all and others I presently cannot remember. But ask yourself this:
Am I worthy of love?
If your answer is yes then ask yourself this:
Why do people love me?

I honestly cannot answer any of these questions for anyone in particular but I can make some guess at some answers. You see if you’re worthy of someone’s love you will know, now you know what love look like, then look inside yourself to see if you have any of loves attributes;

Are you selfless?
Do you see other’s miseries and wants?
Do you help others in need and hasten to their aid?
Do you feel their hurts; hear their sigh of bitterness and sorrows?
Are you concerned for others?
Can you accommodate others shortcomings?
You don’t count costs when helping others?
You don’t brag and you’re not proud or arrogant?
You don’t judge people wrongly?
You are patient and kind?
You are not easily provoked into anger?
You are not jealous of others accomplishments and acts unbecomingly?
You see people as having great potentials and always expect the best of them?
You are not partial?

If you answered YES to all these and many others you may think of, then you’re worthy of love and those that love you do so because you’re being simply YOU.
You see love is quite costly; it is so expensive that you can only afford it by GRACE.
You could show someone you love him or her, but why not tell the someone “I LOVE YOU”.

It is better late than never.

Try it now and make that someone in your life or family happy.

Love- what does it look like?

Love has several meanings depending on your perspective, but in simple terms, it is the expression of deep affection or likeness for a person irrespective of their gender. Answering the question of what it looks like is another simple thing, love looks exactly the way you do, in other words love can do all that you can also do if you allow it.
Love has mouth, it can talk,
It has eyes to see misery and want,
It has hands and legs to help others in need and to hasten to the aid of the poor and needy;
It has ears to hear the hurts, the sighs, bitterness and sorrows;
Love also creates,
Love asks,
Love gives,
Love open and close doors,
It expands,
It’s selfless,
It makes up for a lot of fault.

It is therefore necessary to let you know that it is imperative for you to love people more than they deserve and to continuously allow the force of love, which is more powerful than any other to rule, your life always.

Remember in other to be loved, you must be lovable.

Security issue

Here is call to all my readers to please exercise a lot of caution when going about their daily activities.A colleague's life was unceremoniously wasted by armed robbers/car jackers few days back,it's not really a pleasant story but please lets learn a lesson from this and in the unlikely event of an attack, lets remember:

• Not to resist or panic,please stay calm and collected
• To keep hands visible, preferably raised up in the 'surrender' fashion
• Avoid eye-to-eye contact with the assailants, but respond to instructions calmly and promptly.
• Plead that you will fully cooperate with them, but they should not use their weapon.
• Not to make sudden movements without first seeking their permission - e.g. unfastening your seat belt as they may misconstrue your intention.
• Don't attempt to call the Police when it is not safe to do so.

Very important:

Use your phone only when your assailants will not hear or see you do so.

Instead, cooperate fully to save your life and that of your loved ones.

Teaching the Love of our life the values of life.

The love of my life……….a common line; everyone knows it and uses it. Apart from our spouses, our children are also the love of our life. It’s quite unfortunate that most parent don’t see them as such hence our attitude, so lenient and permissive with our children. It is a sorry thing to witness some of the things some parents permits/allow their children to do. I was watching a children’s party organised by a group of people and all I could see on the screen were young girls indecently dressed and when I say indecent, I mean almost naked, dancing to a nightmare called music filled with all the vulgar words you could not even imagine. Some of these girls are barely 10years old; imagine such girl’s behaviour when they reached the age of consent.
Whenever I see such, I asked myself why someone would want their precious children, the love of their life be made a mockery of? And often times I draw a blank. It is a pity to note that some mothers don’t dress that way but encourage their children because it is the in-thing, on one of Oprah’s show, she was lamenting the deplorable way in which girls allow themselves to be used by some musicians in video clips, she stated that the men in such videos are usually well dressed while the girls will be next to nude. I think we need to place value on our love ones, teach them to be decent, let them know that their body is a temple of God and not a garage, teach them to honour it.
A lot of parents today are just too liberal and notoriously careless in their living, they have practically erased discipline out of their dictionary, be warned, it is better to raise children you will be proud of anywhere, any day than to raise vagabond who will make every waking day of your life a misery.

May the Lord help us all?

Have a contrary opinion, share it in comments

Expectation.

Expectation is good especially if you have a positive one. Whenever one aspire to do something like getting married, setting up a business, starting a new job or having kids etc, we all have hopes of what the outcome will be, it’s prospects, especially of success or gain.
Take an expectant mother for example; she is so referred because she is expecting to deliver a child after nine months of carrying the pregnancy. There are certain measures she takes as a result of her expectancy, she sow dresses to accommodate her new figure or abdominal protrusion, she buy baby clothes, prams, feeding materials etc. she has an expectation of delivering a live baby after nine months.
Like a pregnant woman, everyone should also live with an expectation; it is good to have expectation in a family, because if we have, we will be able to remain steadfast and committed towards one another despite the challenges we may face.

I urge you not to live without an expectation, remember God promised that our expectation will not be cut off.