You Were Made To Bloom

Today, I want to encourage you. I want to remind you that you were made to bloom. Yes, you. God penned down your story, my story way before we were even formed in our mothers’ wombs, just as He told Jeremiah... “Before I formed you in the womb of I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4,5 He made each of us for great things. Jeremiah’s purpose on earth was to be a prophet of God. That’s the same way you and I are here, walking this earth because of the purpose of God. He appointed you to come to this earth to do something unique.

Now, won’t it be a shame if you plant a seed of a rose flower, but instead of fully growing and blooming, it sadly has a stunted growth? How come you may ask. Well, you barely had time to water it or tweak out the weeds that were hindering its growth. Weeds only consume the nutrients in the soil that plants need to thrive and grow well. So, that’s how come. The rose plant never bloomed.

Your life can be compared to this rose plant. To be able to fully plug into your full capabilities as a child of God, you need to allow God water your life. You need to feed your life the right things to bloom. When we begin to feed our lives with the Word of God and prayer on a daily basis, we start to grow as God intended us to. We start to hear God’s voice clearly about what steps we should take. Without constantly seeking God’s face in prayer and in the Bible, we’re bound to live according to our own plans which might very well conflict with our Father’s plans for our lives. 

“He destined us in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:5,6

The weeds that hindered the growth of the rose plant are those people and things that stand in your way from experiencing the beauty of living a purposeful life, the things that hold you back from shinning and living out loud for God. You know very well the ungodly inner circle of friends you have around you prevent you from passionately pursuing God’s will for you...those unhealthy habits of watching porn, fornicating, profanity, adultery, smoking, getting drunk, clubbing, going to worldly parties...they are all NOT God’s will for you. How can you bloom when you are so busy chasing after sin which will only kill you? “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6;23

Sin separates us from God. The more a person sins, the farther God is. The Holy Spirit can’t dwell in a body that is dabbling in an unbroken chain of sin. When we sin, we are more or less driving away the Spirit of God in us, because the Spirit is holy and can’t dwell where sin is. Sure, we are human and we’re tempted to sin often times. But isn’t it far better to strive to live the life God called you to instead of willingly going after things that cause you to stumble and die out fast?

“Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:19-24

I encourage you to seek God’s face, let Him become very personal and real in your life. Surround yourself with people with Godly wisdom. Ask Him what He planned for your life. You were not made to have a stunted life, you were made to bloom. :) Stop selling yourself short. God filled each of us with wonderful talents and spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 says “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another the prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills.”

Dear one, God made all these spiritual gifts available to help us bloom. He placed the unique abilities to write, sing, paint, teach, sew, act in us. It’s not by our own might or some coincidence. It is His will. It is our duty to humbly ask Him to make known to us which talent and spiritual gifts He planned for us to have. He needs us to use these gifts to serve Him and draw people to His saving grace. You can’t know God’s will for you if you only know Him on Sunday mornings in a church building. He needs to be a part of your everyday life. He needs to be present in the songs you listen to, the movies you watch, the company you keep, clothing you wear. You are His representative, you need to act as such. How can you really know God without constantly and intentionally spending time with Him? You need to pursue a relationship with Him cos He’s the answer to all the questions you have. 

“But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.””1 Corinthians 1:9

You might be experiencing a season of drought where it’s hard to completely trust God’s plan. I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been there before. But the Word, O the Word! It constantly speaks to me and urges me on to keep believing. There are times when God seems silent. Those times are when you need Him the most, not when you throw in the towel and abandon His plan for you. Times like that are when He’s watching to see if you’ll exercise your FAITH or if you’ll let your current circumstances dictate your future. Without faith we can’t please God. 

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

Stay encouraged dear one. You have the Creator, the one who calls things that be not as though they were as your Father. Value this relationship you have with Him and honor it by following His will. You were made to bloom. Come out of your bud, your shell, your insecurities and doubts and display the beauty God Himself has clothed you with, inside and out. He has a reason for making sure you were born and raised where you were, the schools you went to, the people you met.  The wrong friends and relationships you had serve a purpose to make you realize you deserve better and eventually lead you to the right friendships. Trust God’s process. There’s purpose behind your struggles, a purpose that’ll refine you and make you grow in Christ to be the best He made you to be.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6

I want to share this lovely song by Moriah Peters. It speaks into my life and fill me with happy, hopeful thoughts with every word.

Stretch out your faith and bloom, darling. :) 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.

Nathaniel Hawthorne Quote

“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”

-Nathaniel Hawthorne