tunes tuesday// hills and valleys

itssss mayyyy! :) one of my absolute favorite months! how wonderful to have it again, to walk through its days, to sing through its nights, to smile at the surprises tucked away in each of its hours!

i loved this song the moment i first watched the video and listened to it on YouTube. and in no time i could sing along so well too. i could bet Tauren Wells, Chuck Butler, Jonathan Smith wrote it just for me. its perfection. enjoy!

via

hills and valleys// tauren wells

I've walked among the shadows
You wiped my tears away
And I've felt the pain of heartbreak
And I've seen the brighter days
And I've prayed prayers to heaven from my lowest place
And I have held Your blessings
God You give and take away
No matter what I have, Your grace is enough
No matter where I am, I'm standing in Your love

(chorus)
On the mountains I will bow my life to the One who set me there
In the valley I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley I know I am not alone
You're God of the hills and valleys, hills and valleys
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone

I've watched my dreams get broken
In You I hope again
No matter what
I know I'm safe inside Your hands

(chorus)
On the mountains I will bow my life to the One who set me there
In the valley I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley I know I am not alone
You're God of the hills and valleys, hills and valleys
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone

Father You give and take away
Every joy and every pain
Through it all You will remain over it all

On the mountains I will bow my life
In the valley I will lift my eyes

(chorus)
On the mountains I will bow my life to the One who set me there
In the valley I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley I know I am not alone
You're God of the hills and valleys, hills and valleys
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone

And I will choose to say
Blessed be Your name
And I am not alone

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.// psalm 23:4

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.// psalm 40:2

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."// job:1:21

The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.// habakkuk 3:19

 i find it so comforting to know that God is always, always by my side. when i was walking through the valley of the shadow of death He was right by my side. When He lifts me up on to the peak of the mountains, He is still there with me. whether life is up or down, my Father is with me. 

in the valley He teaches me how to trust Him and seek Him. On the mountain tops, He glorifies Himself through the story He keeps writing through me, through my life.

be encouraged if you're in a valley right now. if you believe in Jesus believe that God is with you and He wants you to trust Him and pass this test. talk with Him ad listen to what He has to say about what's going on in your life. He has angels on assignment to help you.

if you don't believe in Jesus yet God sooo much wants you to call on Him and believe in His Son Jesus. and this doesn't mean everything will automatically become perfect. But He's going to help you figure things out if only you're willing to listen to Him.

if you're on a mountain top, go ahead and enjoy the victory the Lord has brought you. remember to give Him the glory and point people to Him, acknowledging that He's the one who helped you break through.

i hope you come to love this song as much as i do. :)

xoxo, delali.

Go forth!: My South Africa missions trip

Sawubona!!! I’m excited to be back to my good ole blog. I know, I’ve been a lil MIA. Well, it was for a very good reason. Remember I was talking about going for missions during summer time in some of my blogs? Yeah, I went for a three-week missions trip in South Africa! :-) I returned a week ago, and like usual, I had to take some time off to rest before getting all busy with blogging. Lol Oh, and ‘sawubona’ is an isiZulu word in SA which means ‘greetings’! (Putting my SA vocab to good use, eh? ;) Anyway, I have a lot to update you guys on and it’s going to be mostly pictures in the subsequent blogs. Cool? Good.

 

Yurp, I got the window seat. ;)

To be part of the trip is such a blessing and an answer to a prayer I said to God. He is such a faithful God! My going on the trip is a testimony in itself. I’m so thankful to all the people who supported me. I pray for God’s blessings over your lives. So much happened and my experience throughout the trip is one I’ll always remember. :)

 My dinner on the plane. Main dish was noodles with chicken. Yum, yum!

The chocolate pudding was delish!

 

The sun rising in Jo'burg.

 

The view of Jo'burg from my window before landing.

Finally at OR Tambo Int airport after the 6 hr flight.

The Potter’s House church in Boksburg hosted us. (God forever bless them & oh, btw they have no connection with T.D Jakes church.) We ministered in schools, in the streets, we held camps, we had a number of Jesus marches throughout some communities and did a number of awesome things.

The Potter's House, Boksburg

The street infront of the  Potter's House- Commissioner street

South Africa is such a beauty! The streets are artistically designed, the buildings are beautiful, the food is quite healthy and in abundance, there are quite a number of parks around and some amazing lakes. We went to Swaziland to minister there during the second weekend of my stay in SA and it was such a lovely time. I met some amazing people in Boksburg, Johannesburg and in Big Bend, Swaziland. I soaked in all of the things and scenes, never wanting to miss anything. Haha

One of the malls

Posing while the others waited at the counter ordering our meal.lol

One thing though, SA was extremely cold cos it was their winter time. The temperature could drop especially at night to as low as the negatives. It was that cold! I could layer up with four tops, two cardigans and a jacket, but the bitter cold still got to me. Wheew! The sun would come up during the day alright, but the wind blowing is terribly cold that you don’t feel any warmth from the sun. So the sun was more of a light giving element than a warmth giving one. There were times when I saw vapour pouring out of my mouth when I spoke. I began to think how bad it could get if it had snowed. I really missed the warmth back in Ghana. Smh 

We visited Care Bible Church and I met Serena there.

The change in weather even made me ill. It made most of us ill to be honest. I suffered a fever for a number of days. I had chills, headaches, tummy aches, I was nauseous, I threw up a couple of times, I lost appetite. :( But by His stripes, I was healed in time for the Swaziland missions. Isn’t God awesome?!

The beautiful man-made lake which was near where we lived in Boksburg.

On the contrary however, Swaziland was way better. We stayed with a host family there in Big Bend for a weekend. It only got cold in the early mornings and evenings there. Day time was as warm as Ghana. 

By the lake. 

South Africa honestly taught me never to take the sunshine back home for granted but to be very grateful for it. To feel a little warmth in SA was great joy for me. I knew SA was going to be cold but I guess I underestimated how cold it could actually get.

Apartments overlooking the lake.

There were a number of things I observed which were a bit of a culture shock like the fact that they still drive on the right. That took a little getting used to, considering that we drive on the left in Ghana. The oranges there are actually orange on the outside, unlike the green-looking yet sweet ones in Ghana. And their oranges are seedless! Like, you find no seed in them. That was surprising to me. 

Also, one of their common dishes is rice with soup! Lol I’m used to eating rice with stew/sauce so that one too took a lil getting used to. Meat/chicken is always in plenty though. Truth is, they love meat! Haha

One of the cute houses on the way to Reigerpark.

Yeah, that's a glass gate on the far right of this house.

In terms of morality and spirituality, there’s so much work to be done. Most of the youth smoke and drink...it’s so sad. Some mothers even smoke and give the cigarette to their babies to smoke too! I still can’t process this bit. Too horrible! The gay guys aren’t embarrassed in the least about their sexuality. They’re so open about it and even dress like females. Smh 

Advertisement for abortion is found everywhere on their streets! I was so shocked when I saw them... I just pray the Godly seeds we’ve gone to sow in the land will grow by God’s grace and the people held captive by the devil will be set free in Christ forever. A teenager getting pregnant and giving birth is no big deal there. It’s more like the norm. Hmm, it’s so sad. 

Cool building huh

There was an incidence that really surprised me. During the last Jesus march we had, a guy and a girl were busy smoking through some pipe thingy right before our eyes. They looked on at us with our Jesus placards, music and all but they couldn’t be bothered. Some of us went to talk to them, they seemed to listen but they continued smoking anyway. I stared at them for the longest time, wondering how they got to this point in their lives where the life giving message of Jesus meant nothing to them. My heart broke and still breaks for them. All I can do is keep praying for the lost in SA. Please do too.

So basically, this is the sum of my experience on missions field in SA. I’ll blog more about it using more of pictures. :-)

Jesus loves you, yes you! Keep believing. xoxo

Delali.

Being Thankful

The story about Jesus healing the ten lepers but only ONE coming back to thank Him really makes me think. Luke 17:11-19 Sometimes I’m sadly like the nine lepers who didn’t bother to thank Jesus for what He did for them. It’s sad because after He hears my cries for His help and fixes me, I tend to forget to say a nice, warm “thank You” to Him. I think this is because I get so carried away with excitement that my gratitude gets lost in the midst of it all. And when I remember, I get embarrassed and quickly apologize and tell God how I’m thankful for what He does for me. “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, thou art very great! Thou art clothed with honor and majesty.” Psalm 104:1

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him, bless His name! For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100:4,5

God is so good that my ingratitude sometimes does not hold Him back from gracing me with more blessings. He overlooks my sins and still says “Child, I forgive you. Here are more blessings I want to bestow upon you. Today is a gift I freely choose to give you to try and get it right” I don’t have to be perfect to deserve His unlimited kindness. All He requires from me is to try my best, being fully dependent on His strength to walk in obedience.

**Remember that for the blessings to flow, you need to walk in obedience first. Also, the motives behind your requests to our dear Father should be in agreement with His Word.

 “O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!” Psalm 107:1

 

“...Always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.” Ephesians 5:20

Just imagine a dear friend of yours giving you a very precious gift. In the overwhelming happiness you feel because of the gift, you totally forget your friend and without much of a thank you, you gloat and gloat over your precious gift. How do you think your friend will feel? He/she will most likely feel like you value their gifts much more than you value the friendship they have with you. And that’s close to terrible. Your friend might even stop giving you gifts altogether, because you never show any appreciation. 

You should love the giver of the gifts, not just the gifts they give you. This is the same with God. We should love Him and show gratitude for what He does for us, even when those things don’t seem to be what we asked Him for. Sometimes we expect certain big gifts from God but we end up receiving something which we perceive to be less than. Other times He does not even give us what we want at all, and He seems to be quiet. Still, we have to learn how to say thank You. He knows what’s best for us always. So whether big or small blessings, I’m learning to say thank You, whether what I’ve been asking Him seems to tarry and it seems it’s never going to show up, still, I’ll say thank You. When I feel as if there’s nothing for me to be thankful for, I’ll remind myself that just being alive is a grand thing. So in the good and bad, I’ll give thanks. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

 “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17

Let us remember that the blessings of God are not just physical things but are spiritual gifts as well. So it’s not only when God helps you get a good job that you show gratitude. Think of His mercies, grace, forgiveness, faithfulness, joy, His Love. When you feel you don’t have anything to be thankful for, remember that Jesus dying to redeem you in itself is a very great blessing, if not the greatest gift of all. And also remind yourself of all that God has done for you. In doing this, you’ll begin to realize you have so much to be thankful for. Don’t wait for some day in the year before you display your thankfulness for all that you are and have. Being thankful should become a daily habit. Just opening your eyes to see a new day is a miracle deserving thanks and praise. Remember His mercies are new every single morning. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22,23

Lately I’ve been thinking about how I need to really acknowledge everything God gives me, even the very little ones. So I’ll be starting a series of thankful posts. This is a way of reminding myself of what my Father does for me and never taking any of it for granted. “O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name, make known His deeds among the peoples!” Psalm 105:1 

**I’m thankful for these verses/quotes I have on my wall right by my bed. They are great reminders of my identity in Christ and the awe-inspiring person God created me to be. And I like that I see them right when I wake up or when I’m just lying down.

**I’m thankful for my new leopard print mug which I find very cute!

**I’m thankful for this lovely notebook which I write some of my favorite quotes in. (The writer in me, ...keeping notebooks with me almost all the time. ;) ) And I wouldn’t lie, the butterfly on it was what attracted me. (There’s just something about butterflies that I love. :) )

**A couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity to attend The John A. Kufuor Foundation Global Development Lecture Series for 2013, and I’m thankful for that. I found it very educative and relevant to me because there’s a growing passion within me to have my career centered on global development. Besides that, it felt honoring to be in the same building with very notable people you don’t see on a normal day like the former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (who delivered the lecture on the topic “What Africa must do to claim the 21^st century”), Dr. Paul Acquah, Ewkow Spio-Garbrah and many others. 

“Remember the wonderful works that He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He uttered.” Psalm 105:5

Here’s one of my favorite songs by Laura Story, a song she wrote when she was going through a very difficult time and God’s blessings seemed far away... Sometimes bad things happen and like a wake-up call, they help us see reality for what it is, becoming aware of all that we already have been blessed with. "Blessings" is a great song for you if you're going through rough times and God's blessings seem to be miles and miles away. Some things are blessings in disguise, really. So nevertheless even through the disappointments, give thanks. :) I hope it encourages you to know that sometimes even in the midst of trials God’s blessings still abound. 

 “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6

“Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17

 So what are you thankful for lately?

 XOXO

Delali.