Looking back at 2013

In this past year, great and small things happened. And even the small things somehow seem great too. I’m taking the time to take a glimpse back at the things that challenged me, excited me, thrilled me and even scared me (in a good way). This is to remind me that this year wasn’t all pain and misery, but also filled with great stuff. So, as i’m bright-eyed, waiting eagerly for the new year (a couple of days away. ;), i take a look back at this year, not one of regret, but one of a great sense of accomplishment and fulfilment.

This year,

I moved my lil blog from wordpress to blogger. Why? Well, i was finding my voice as a personal blogger and realized blogger was more for that. Hey, in my humble opinion.

I went for my first local missions trip.

I hiked and made it to the top of the highest mountain in the country. heck yes! & went to see the wli falls for the first time. Pretty sweet.

I faced my stage fright-ness and performed one of my poems.

I discovered soul soothing songs like this one.

God made a way and took me to South Africa & Swaziland for missions. How He made this happen still blows my mind. He’s just awesome!

I attended the annual Singles' Summit my church holds.

I started serving as a steward in church.

I graduated from UG after my undergrad studies. yea, i know i don't look it. *shrugs*

I joined the ‘I Write’ video campaign. Long braids, green top. yea, that’s me.

I got baptised by immersion. The real deal, people.

I’ve been a consistent blogger. C’mon, i blogged at least once a month. That should count for something, right? Right.

I’ve learned to wait, really wait in hope, & letting the valley teach me how to sing.

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Oh, and two of my favourite musicians of allll time tweeted me! Moriah Peters & Jason Gray. So, in honor of their total coolness, i would like to share my fav songs by them. You should totally listen to them!

Moriah Peters:

I choose Jesus

Well done

Bloom

Miracle

Waves of love

Know us by our love.

Jason Gray:

Nothing is wasted (this song has seen me through a whole awful lot!)

I am new

Remind me who i am

Good to be alive

Fear is easy, love is hard

More like falling in love.

For alllll of these things that happened to me this year, I’m thankful. For both the good and bad, I’m thankful. Cause i sure know God’s working it all together for my good.

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So, though i couldn’t do all the things on my vision board for the year, I’m glad i did do some, plus others that God sweetly surprised me with but wasn’t initially part of the plan. He's good like that. :)

There are many awesome adventures and challenges up ahead that’ll grow me up the more in Him in the coming year, and I can say I’m ready for it all.  Bring it on, 2014! ;)

How was this year for you, and what did you end up accomplishing? Do share!

xoxo

Delali.

My baptism and good tidings!

During the weekend, I took a great step of obedience publicly. I got baptised. :)

Well, I was baptised by sprinkling when i was only a baby but on Saturday, i did the real thing Jesus did when He walked this earth. Baptism by full immersion. Lemme share a lil info from my baptism class. ;)

 Inside the baptistry in my church

This is a physical act expressing a spiritual truth. Baptism is derived from the Greek word 'baptizo' which means 'I wash'. 

Baptism has four spiritual significance:

1. Christ died, and I died in Him ''Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.'' Romans 6:6,7 

2. Christ was buried and I was buried with Him ''Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.'' Romans 6:3,4  

**You don't bury by sprinkling dirt on a casket lying on the ground, you bury by putting the casket fully into the belly of the earth. That's the same way real baptism is to be done by fully being immersed in water.**

3. Christ was raised from the dead and I was raised with Him and I have a new life in Him. ''For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.'' Romans 6:5

4. Christ ascended to Heaven and I ascended into Heaven with Him. ''But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.'' Ephesians 2:4-6

So, there you have it. I hope you've learned a thing or two.

 And, have yourself a merry little  meaningful Christmas!!! Remember that it's not about the shiny lights or the trees. Jesus Christ is the reason for our joyous celebration!

 I'm oh, so thankful that my sweet Jesus came to this earth to save me from my sins. :)

 

Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Delali

My to read list

Books. Oh, how I love ‘em! The swirl & twirl of words and emotions.

So, today I’m sharing my to read list. Cool huh. ;) I’m dying to get hold of these books and happily indulge!  

 

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In no particular order...my 25 most-wanted-can’t-wait-to-read-and-be-totally-swoon-and wrecked-in-a-good-kinda-way books *drum rollssss* :D

1.    A thousand miles in a million years- Donald Miller

2.      Crazy love- Francis Chan

3.      Pink lips & empty hearts- Heather Lindsey

4.      Not a fan- Kyle Idleman

5.      Boy meets girl- Joshua Harris

6.      The in-between- Jeff Goins

7.      You are a writer- Jeff Goins

8.      I kissed dating goodbye- Joshua Harris

9.      Blue like jazz- Donald Miller

10.  The five love languages- Gary Chapman

11.  Wrecked- Jeff Goins

12.  Searching for God knows what- Donald Miller

13.  In the garden of thoughts- Dodinsky

14.  Angry conversations with God- Susan E. Isaacs

15.  It’s called a breakup because it’s broken- Greg Behrendt

16.  The one: a single ladies guide- Jereme L. Ford

17.  Passion and purity- Elisabeth Elliot

18.  Daring greatly- Brene Brown

19. Bittersweet- Shauna Niequist

20.  Love does- Bob Goff

21.  The single woman: life, love and a dash of sass- Mandy Hale

22.  Packing light- Ann Vesterfelt 

23.  Boundaries in dating- Henry Cloud & John Townsend

24.  Lady in waiting: becoming God’s best while waiting for Mr. Right- Jackie Kendall

25.  Praying for your future husband- Robin Jones Gunn & Tricia Goyer

 

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I seriously can’t wait to read these books cause I believe they’re filled with so much truth that’ll do my soul tonsss of good.

 Donald Miller happens to be the only author on the list whose book I’ve read, urm listened to before. *the audio book of Through painted deserts, and boy, was it good! I blogged/reviewed it here. 

The good ole Bible says:

“Get wisdom; get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honour, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she will deliver to you.” Proverbs 4:5-9

What are your favourite Godly, wisdom filled reads and which books are on your to read list? Share! :)

xoxo Delali.

Waiting in hope

Hi guys! So, I’ve been a lil MIA huh. Well, I’m here now. :)

For many years, I’ve waited. Waited on the Lord for His promises to take root in my life and bloom. Sometimes it seems as if it’s going to take forever for what I pray for to show up, while other times without a beat, God faithfully answers my silent prayers. (yeah, including the ones I'm too embarrassed to say. *facepalm*)

“But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.” Psalm 71:14

I’ve prayed and waited for big things. Big things like...

Healing and good health when I was particularly ill some years ago. Like, weird, serious sick when the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and yet I miraculously got healed. Praise Jesus.

A change of heart on a particular night when I knelt in prayer & for real laid it all at Jesus’ feet and surrendered, as hot tears trickled down. I rededicated this life of mine back to its Creator, the one who knows best. The most important decision ever I’ve made is to accept Jesus as my very own sweet Savior. This is a daily wait, a daily dying to self as God purifies me & plucks out all the weeds in my heart.

Provision for school...for mission trips.

My sanity. (The kind of crazy I deal with aint easy, people!)

Good friendships... for a heart that refuses to give up on healthy, Godly friendships despite some of the rotten ones I’ve had. Aint cool when friendships end up being one-sided and, I don’t know about you but I don’t dig being the third wheel either. Ya feel me? It’s not friendship when they try to make you beg for their attention.

Good grades.

My undergraduate studies. I’m thankful I graduated successfully after four looong years!

 

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11

And I’ve waited and prayed for ‘little’ things like...

Not snoozing the alarm when it goes off and actually getting my sleepy self to rouse.

A good night’s rest.

The rain holding up on a day I forget my umbrella.

Getting a seat on the bus early, to avoid too much hassle.

Hoping the food i just ate isn't sticking in between my teeth. 

The soles of my shoes not wearing out too fast, cos God knows I do lotsss of walking lately, especially on work days. (I’m serious guys.)

And the list goes on...

As I’m thankful to God for answering most of my prayers, new prayers are making their way up to Him. And all I can do is wait. 

“But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Romans 8:24

In this season of my life, God is reminding me to wait in hope. No matter how fast I wish and pray for my one year mandatory service of work to my country to end, I’ll just have to wait. Why do I want it to end you ask? Cos what I’m doing is not really my passion, and of course, the allowance is nothing to talk of. You can barely save from it. The government aint paying well for the hours I put in and it totally drives me nuts knowing that I could be somewhere else on the globe, and making more for the same amount of hours I’m putting in. It’s like my labour isn’t valued, and that’s.not.cool. So you see, low motivation right there. But like you wait for a convenient time to give in to that bad itch in that super awkward spot, I will wait and work as though I’m working for the Lord. This too shall pass.

“Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.” Romans 12:12

 

I’m praying big, adult prayers...I’m trusting God, like reaaallly trusting Him to honor the prayers I pray for my Godly man. I’m waiting in hope, leaving God to write out my love story, believing that at His right and perfect time, the man He knows deserves my heart will come and really pursue me, and I wouldn’t have to compete or beg for his love. I’m trusting that wherever on this earth he may be, our paths and stories will intertwine in God’s time. Because really, in God’s time, He makes ALL things beautiful. It may seem like a fantasy or even wishful thinking to believe that a man who loves Jesus with all His heart exists and is somewhere also waiting to meet me, to love on me, but it’s oh, so real. I’m walking by faith, not by sight so...

 I will wait in hope.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

For all the dreams & plans I have for my future, I’m leaving the details to my Father, whose thoughts are higher and waayyyy better than mine. I’m in safe hands. 

“Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7,8

The wait isn’t easy. The wait is tough, it’s hard, scary even. But it’s going to be so SO worth it.

And like John Waller rightfully says,

I will serve You while I’m waiting,
I will worship while I’m waiting.

Wait on the Lord. xoxo 

Delali.