Awake, O Sleeper…

While many of us continue with the habit of writing new year’s resolutions, some of which do come to pass while others are just but dream, we should also remember that the Bible speaks about writing your vision down in Habakkuk 2:2-3.

 Visions and plans help us become disciplined and stay focused on the goals of our life for that particular season. While I know that life changes and a lot can happen, it is better for a man to know where they are headed than to fall into whatever or wherever they land. Opportunity comes to one who is ready.  – unknown. Vision gives hope for the present and the future and, in a way, narrows one’s life to stop it from being chaotic.

Then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not tarry. – Habakkuk 2:2-3(NIV)

To many of us, this has become a habit. Writing down our plans and executing them. Of course, we are flawed and sometimes we only achieve one third of the written list. However, today I want us to focus on God. If your vision has nothing to do with God, what good is it? If you do not partner with God with whatever you have planned for the next month, year or ten years, whose purposes for your life are you fulfilling? We have been given the freedom from God to choose right from wrong, but we are so blessed to have also been given the liberty to partner with Christ in our lives to fulfil our purpose.

The Bible in Jeremiah 29:11 reads; “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. This means God already knows what will happen with you in the future. Partnering with Him for your life will only make your life so much sweeter because you would know you are obeying the will of God. Another verse in Mathew 6:33 says; But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. This means in whatever we do, let us seek His face. As 2024 has started, some of us have started writing down our goals while some will in the next few weeks. I urge you, as you do, involve God. Let this not be your selfish desires but goals that will promote His kingdom.

Pray for your vision, listen to God, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern. There will be opportunities that come. People will come and go in your life. Do not fear, ask for the Holy Spirit to help you not have to mourn over material things. Sometimes some missed opportunities may be God saving us from something or even saving us for something better. Rise again and always start. Most importantly, whatever you do, seek God, and ask Him to direct your steps. Wake up and do not slumber; start your year with God.

Have a beautiful 2024. Be blessed and…

I love you

Nthabeleng xoxo…

Friends that count…

One morning, I sat in my room and was feeling a little overwhelmed. I sent a message to my friend to tell her that I could not go to church because of social anxiety and depression. She replied with a message saying, ‘I love you, neh, be kind to yourself’. While this may have been something small to her or quite the opposite, To me, it was huge. It made me well up with tears and grateful for two reasons: one, she was not afraid to tell me that she loved me, and two, she affirmed me and made me realize that I must take care of myself. Well, she also reminded me that I have kind friends. T always says this to me, and I always feel loved. (T, always ends the message with aneh..)

This is just a testament to the verse that says, love your neighbour as you love yourself. Maybe one may ask why this is so important to me. We live in a society that is full of deceit, full of competition, hate, and selfishness. I do not know why but we are slowly becoming a generation that does not practice decency, kindness, or empathy and does not care about anyone else but ourselves. This season of my life has been nothing short of hardship. Both mentally and physically but the people around me have helped me through it and I am grateful for that. I will say this: no matter how much people pour out of you, if you do not allow yourself to be loved and supported, you can never see it.

Well, I have written this short blog to remind you to be kind to yourself and the people around you. Something you do or say to them may mean very little to you, but to them, it might change their perspective on life and on themselves, and it may even help them out of a depressed state. It is also important to surround yourself with people who genuinely root for you no matter what—people who love and care about you.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

– Ephesians 4:32 ESV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

– 1 John 4:7-8, ESV

Love yourself and allow others to do so. Genuine people will be kind to you with no hidden agenda. Be that person too…

I love you. xoxo

Nthabeleng

Blessing

The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you And be gracious to you; The LORD lift His countenance upon you, And give you peace. – Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ( Jeremiah 29:11)

As I sit and sing to the lyrics of the song by Maverick City, I remember how far God has brought me, but cannot comprehend how far He is yet to take me. However, I know He has good plans for me, plans to have life in abundance, to prosper me and not harm me. This week I just want you to remember exactly that. How far God has brought you and how much He has blessed you. You have food on your table, a roof over your head, the breath in your lungs – isn’t that a blessing?

One of the most beautiful things about life is appreciating and realizing that we are blessed. No matter what kind of darkness you are in, just know God loves you. He did not give you that hurdle as a curse. You know the Bible tells us that God’s yoke will never be too heavy for us to carry. Walk with him through your life and best believe it you will have the peace of God even through hard circumstances.

Please note this week’s piece is not long, I just wanted to remind you that you are blessed, and you are loved because the Bible tells us so. Believe it!

I love you.

Nthabeleng

The Lord bless you

And keep you

Make His face shine upon you

And be gracious to you

The Lord turn His

Face toward you

And give you peace

Amen, amen, amen

Amen, amen, amen

The Lord bless you

And keep you

Make His face shine upon you

And be gracious to you

The Lord turn His

Face toward you

And give you peace

Amen, amen, amen (we sing, we sing)

Amen, amen, amen

May His favor be upon you

And a thousand generations

And your family and your children

And their children, and their children

May His favor be upon you

And a thousand generations

And your family and your children

And their children, and their children

May His presence go before you

And behind you, and beside you

All around you, and within you

He is with you, He is with you

In the morning, in the evening

In your coming, and your going

In your weeping, and rejoicing

He is for you, He is for you

He is for you, He is for you

He is for you, He is for you

He is for you, He is for you (I know, I know)

Amen, amen, amen

Amen, amen, amen

May His presence go before you

And behind you, and beside you

All around you, and within you

He is with you, He is with you

In the morning, in the evening

In your coming, and your going

In your weeping, and rejoicing

He is for you

Your time is coming…

⁷The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” ⁸Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” ⁹And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” John 5: 7-8 (NKJV)

When you read this story of a man who was found sitting near the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years, you get to wonder, ‘How much patience could one have? How much faith could a person encompass?’ As I read through the story again, many things come to mind and many questions pop into my head. For thirty-eight years this man sat on his mat, near the pool and watched people being lowered into the pool and healed. He watched people get their healing, blind people seeing, maybe crippled people walking. He watched all of that and did not give up on the hope that one day someone will also lower him down and he will begin to walk again.

Unfortunately, this is how life is. Life is not fair like war and love they say. Life does not happen for all of us equally. Someone may seem to be cruising in life while you are suffering. Your journey is not another’s. Well, I want to ask you a question, what happens when things do not go your way? What heart posture do you have when you are crippled and have no control over the situations in your life? How do you feel when you see other people getting their blessing, tangible and intangible yet your life seems stagnant? What if you don’t have friends or a community to help you reach the ‘pool’ to access your blessing? What then?

Sometimes we are alone in the valley and there is no one to help us out of it. In such cases, we need to stand strong in faith and trust that one day God will pass by and say take up your mat and go. I cannot imagine the amount of torment the paralyzed man must have gone through in the 38 years. I am sure he felt alone, deserted, unworthy depressed, and anxious. Sometimes I’m sure he had lost hope but then he remembered his goal was to be healed and that one day that healing would come. This has taught me so much about how in life we will never get things in our own time. Unless God wants, then things will never always be our way.

In times of loneliness, times of inadequacy, remember why you started. I have asked myself the same question many times, ‘Why did I start this PhD? Why am I here? Is there even hope? Is there even a point that I am so stubborn that I too will succeed? Why do I see people having A or B and I don’t?’ But I am always reminded that one day the grace of God will locate me and when it does, I will use my mat as a testimony that God is good. I will use whatever held me down to show that God has never, even in my valleys, left me or forsaken me.

Stay steadfast in prayer, as you lay on your mat crippled with no hope. Remember that greater is the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in you now. You too will rise again. You too will get that job, you will get that admission, you will have trustworthy friends, you will reach your goals and tick everything on your vision board. Jesus will come to you as you lay at the gate waiting for assistance to the pool and when He does, testify that He is good, because He is.

One day too soon, you will carry your folded mat in your hands and walk again. You will get that degree, and be free from mental health slavery, suicidal thoughts, inadequacy, and idols. And lastly… you will find your purpose…

You are worthy and loved.

I love you…

Nthabeleng

The little promptings of God’s presence in our lives

for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. – Romans 14:17(NIV )

Many of us have been and are going through trials and tribulations. And this is not in one season but in the previous seasons and I can assure you in the coming season there will be challenges as well. I have found that many of us struggle to acknowledge what we are going through but instead, we fight and let it cripple us and take our joy. I know that challenges are not easy and I am not here to say that you should pray over it or that it will be fine and let you be.

A few months back I spoke to someone and as they shared their struggle with me, as a Christian, my automatic response was we will pray over your situation. As much as this may sound like routine to many, to some people it may sound like just another song, just something to pass time by. Her response broke my heart. She said, “Nthabi, I am tired of praying over this situation.” Well, it is never easy to comfort anyone in any situation. Prayer should be our number one weapon. I believe with all my heart that it can move mountains. As Paul has written in Ephesians 6:18(NIV), And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. I am one of the people who when you tell me anything my first resort is prayer, so take heart.

To those going through a rough patch, know that God loves you and He has plans for you, plans for you to prosper. I am fully aware that most of us have been going through challenges this season hence I was inspired to write this piece by those situations in congruence with the opening scripture in this piece. I realized that sometimes we pray for so much and nothing seems to work. We pray for marriage but we don’t get the right partners. We pray for a new job consistently yet we receive negative feedback from our applications. We pray for a car and yet our finances do not equal our wishes or needs. We labour in prayer and it seems to be in vain.

As I sat down to think about it, I realized how much God has been present in my life. Well, in tangible things seen by man, I am waiting but not my will but His. However, I have had so much peace and joy through it all. Nothing of the things I have been praying for has manifested yet, however, I am hopeful it will manifest in ways I would never have imagined. I am grateful for the joy, peace and love within me. I have come to realize that this is the fulfilment of Romans 17:14. This verse elaborates that in the Kingdom, we do not just get tangible earthly possessions but what we get from God is more. The presence of the Holy Spirit is recognized by peace, joy and righteousness, this translates to that in His presence we become secure. Our mental health is secure, we have mental stability and confidence even when things do not go our way. Allow yourself to let go of the control over your life and lay all your burdens to God. It won’t be easy and it will take time. I wish for you to experience the peace and joy you have never experienced before, regardless of your circumstances.

God will never leave you nor forsake you. This should be our everyday meditation and we will experience the peace that surpasses all understanding that the Bible speaks about.

God is with me in everything that I am facing. I may not have gotten what I want but it brings me joy that I am not alone.

I love you.

Nthabeleng xoxo

The grass is greener on the other side

One of these days someone who stays far from me sent me a flyer of a shop that has a R10 sale on fruits on Tuesdays. When I saw the flyer, I was excited for him but thought to myself, why don’t we have the same on our side, why don’t we have the exact shop because maybe it will have a variety of fruits to choose from? After sending him a text message that says, ‘You guys are lucky. I wish we had the same this side.’ I tucked myself into bed and slept. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t sleep because of what I had just said or the way I responded to the message.

Firstly, we do have a fruit market on this side which has the same bargain on Tuesdays, where some fruits are R10. Some may be overripe but it does not matter we do have the sale, and we may not have a variety but we do have days of the bargain. I quickly thought to myself, “Have I become someone who is never satisfied? Have I become someone constantly looking on the other side and not appreciating what they have?” I know we all have our days and that I am sometimes hard on myself. And so I quickly send another message to apologize and say that is great that they have the sale and that at least now many people can have access to fruits.

I learned two lessons from that experience; one is that the grass is sometimes not greener on the other side. Sometimes we do have green grass and do not appreciate it, we are so quick to look over the fence instead of looking at what we have. Before we look at what our friends have or how far people have gone in their lives, maybe we should take stock of our own and appreciate how far and how hard we have been working. Too many times we live in a comparison mode whereby we always think other people have it easy or their lives are better than our own. Until we have a conversation with people to see that they go through so much and it is unfair to compare lives. And what if yes, they have fewer problems? Do you even know how far they have come to get to that place? So with this, maybe we should appreciate and nourish what we have instead of always looking over our shoulders to see what our friends have or do not have.

The second lesson is that we need to learn how to take what other people tell us without making it personal. Many are times when someone will tell you what they have or what they have been up to but you get into a mode of, “What have I done? Why do I lack in that area? Why can’t I get the same treatment? Why can’t I get the same opportunities?” There are many questions. I happen to have listened to some podcast that spoke about how many women around the globe always speak on marriage and say, ‘ Whatever Ciara prayed, Amen, Lord’. That must have been a trend on many social media platforms a few years ago. Maybe may I ask you a question, if  Russel came to you, would you have taken him as a husband? If you were given a chance to go through whatever the person went through to have the PhD, to buy that car, to have that husband, to get into that school or find that job, would you still want it?

We should appreciate our lives, pray, and work hard for what we wish for. Work at our full potential and just wait on the Lord. The constant comparison blinds us to the beauty we have in our lives, and the lessons we should learn. We do not even appreciate our friends and family because we are on the constant lookout for how someone has it better.

‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.’ Maya Angelou

¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. – Philippians 4:12-13

Appreciate what you have because your life is a miracle… Embrace and respect it.

Love

Nthabzz

Sowing

We are constantly told that we reap what we sow, that we should put in all the hard work, and all will fall into place. Practically, what does this mean for me and you? Most people get disappointed when they worked hard and have done all in their power to get in or out of a situation but still in the end are in the same position or worse. This phenomenon is so serious that people even become suicidal or have different mental health problems because they cannot accept the outcome of what they believe they deserve.

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” – Matthew 13

We always try our best to sow, wake up, show up and try again. We don’t do this because we want to but because we have to. Unfortunately for most of us, life was not delivered on a silver platter. This means each morning and night we toil and work for whatever we aspire to attain. In the sowing as I call it, there are two outcomes, either you get what you want, more than you imagined or not getting results at all. But what we have to do is consistently sow.

I have read several biographies of famous and successful people across the globe. And the common denominator among them is failure. Believe it or not, we are all bound to fail. To fail, get up and try again. But how many times do we wake up and work very hard and get the results we have manifested for? The truth is we sometimes try and fail. We sometimes actually sow and get what we have planted. The parable above demonstrates this perfectly. The farmer did not pick and choose where he sowed his seeds, he just sowed, unfortunately, some of the seeds fell on a rocky surface and there was no soil for any germination.

Some of our hard work and efforts go to a rocky place, a place where nothing will germinate out of there and we only find out after the sowing and the waiting. Some of the seeds fell on thorns. How many times have our ideas been pitched to people we thought are the right people and unfortunately, with time we realized that they just choke them up and nothing tangible comes out of them? On a rocky place, we are often promised certain things by people or the business booms for a few months only to fail after a few months. Should we stop sowing? Should we give up on school? On-the-job applications? On love?

The answer is no because patience and perseverance are worth it. The last part of the parable shows seeds that fell on good soil, so what if you sow and immediately your seed falls on good soil? Or what if you are patient enough to wait for your seed to fall on good soil? One thing I know is we have to continue to work and continue to sow. One of my friends always encourages me to work hard and my reward will come someday, not in my time but when God wants when I am ready for whatever outcome.

It is not easy to accept that all one’s hard work goes down the drain, which is not the case because through an experience you learn so many lessons that will be used when you rise and restart. Money may be wasted; time may be wasted or any other resources but just know God loves you and will never leave not forsake you. One Chinese proverb says, ‘when the student is ready, the teacher will appear’. With all the sowing and toiling, believe me, when you are ready for the miracle or whatever you have been working hard on, the chips will fall into place and it won’t be as much as the hard work you put in. even during such times, don’t forget to pray and thank God.

Keep planting those seeds and watering them, one day a good harvest will come.

Love

Nthabeleng

Second chance

A new year is upon us and oh, what a wonderful year it will be…

We can sit and dwell on the past and how 2020, 2021 and 2022 have been to us or take this opportunity to see how good God is to have given us a second chance and that is the new year, a fresh chapter! I could choose to speak about my life and convince anyone of how I have suffered in the past year and yes, I have, I cannot lie. But I have also experienced God’s love and His peace and in that, I have found freedom. I am sure the past years have been a roller coaster for most of us, having to navigate the effects of the global pandemic, having to adjust to the loss of loved ones, be in new places and make new friends, and new relationships, start new schools, finish school, navigate through finding fulfilment in what we do. It has been big adjustments.

I recently went home for the Christmas holidays and many of you know that I am a plant mom. So, when I left, I left my plants in a very healthy state and thriving. I went for over four weeks and my biggest fear was finding my plants died due to lack of irrigation. Unfortunately, the week I left, I forgot to water my plant too. This added to my stress on how my babies will survive the KwaZulu Natal heat wave that has been declared over the radio and the internet. I could not even enjoy my holidays because of the plants. Fast forward, I come back from home to school and alas, my plants are still mostly green. Some leaves were dehydrated and had turned brown but mostly the plants looked beautiful.

I then got to think that this taught me a lesson about a second chance. No matter how little water and nutrients the plant had been deprived of, now it is a second chance to thrive and live again. It is so in our lives; we have been given a second chance that is 2023. Forget the former and believe that God is doing a new thing in you. For some people, this may be hard because of the pain they have gone through. But hope and faith are all we have. In God, we find peace and believe that all His promises will be fulfilled in you this year.

This is the year to sow those seeds, be brave enough to send those applications, challenge yourself to do hard things, go to the gym, learn to forgive that one person who wronged you, and speak to that lady to become your mentor. Whatever sowing looks like, work and one day your work will be rewarded because you cannot get any reward for what you did not work for.  You will fail, and you will not get it right but who is perfect? I like a quote by Myles Munroe ‘If you don’t try things, you don’t please God’. This has kept me going in tough times. We often are alarmed when we hear people speak about failed businesses or job rejections, or failed relationships. Well, this is not good feedback. But at least those people are trying to sow seeds and live a life of growth. This year challenge yourself to live, start new friendships, and a new business. Stop being so tough, soften up, help people, smile more, and give more. You are given another chance… use it to serve.

Forget the former things;

    do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!

    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland. – Isaiah 43:18-19

The Lord has given you a second chance. Stop making excuses and live a life of faith.

I love you

Nthabeleng

Another chance

Another chance

Doing it in deficit

I’m sitting here watching a little piece of motivation by Viola Davis, she describes an incident in her life where there was a boy who constantly used to bully her until she told herself that it was enough. She wanted to race the boy, but the boy was the best. Over and above that, she had no fitting shoes, all her shoes were too small for the race. She narrates that she decided to take off the shoes and race the boy barefoot, and she won the race.

Two things stand out here for me, respect and never letting lack stop you from running the race. I was inspired by the short speech. After all, often we do not do anything because we lack something. We put up excuses such as, I do not have enough money to start a business, I am not qualified to apply for a job, I am not old enough to buy a car… this is our reality, and these are our excuses. What if you have enough? What if the little you have is exactly what you need at that moment?

One thing for sure is life can never be perfect. The Instagram pictures, the life we see other people living – we do not know their full stories. What I’m saying is, start with what is in your hands. Stop procrastination and stop belittling yourself. Apply. If you get it, you will. If you don’t then it was practice for what’s bigger. There is no comparison in life, each one of us runs our race at our own pace.

The same excellence that would be expected of you if you had everything that is needed, show up with it with the deficit that you have. Use whatever is in your hand to produce whatever quality work you are supposed to. Nobody cares about the process, the world celebrates the victory (which is bad I know) but for you and me, the process is what makes us. The process is what builds any man into whatever highest potential he can be.

Throughout the Bible, there are multiple stories in which God demonstrates that we can do whatever with whatever is in our hands. An example is in Exodus when He spoke to Moses and asked him what is in his hand. Moses’ response was a staff. He threw the staff on the ground, and it turned into a snake as per God’s instructions. This was so that he should show the people that he is of God and is sent by God. It is only faith that can help us achieve whatever we want not the insufficiency that we often see in ourselves. Faith in God and faith that He that is in us is greater than that he that is in the world, and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. – Exodus 4:2

I know it is scary, I know it seems impossible but just start with what is in your hand…

Love xxx

Nthabzz