A Special Person Called Mom

“No language can express the power, and beauty, and heroism, and majesty of a mother's love.  It shrinks not where man cowers, and grows stronger where man faints, and over wastes of worldly fortunes sends the radiance of its quenchless fidelity like a star.”  ~Edwin Hubbell Chapin

So today’s Mother’s day! Wooot wooot! How precious mothers are! I’m so very glad for God choosing for me to have an earthly mother who cares about me a whole awful lot. I wouldn’t know where I would be without my sweet mother. Well, we have our days but I’m thankful for her life and I appreciate her a lot.

It’s a beautiful thing to have a bond with your mother or a mother figure, you know. It’s a special thing. I mean who is there whenever you are sick and bombards your phone with a thousand calls just to check up on you? Who comforts you and tells you everything will be alright when you know at that point it’s far from the truth? Who sacrifices endlessly just to make sure you are comfortable and have everything you need? Who shows you such compassion and love that draws you nearer to God? Who’s cooking tastes way better than any other?...The person who comes to mind in all these is my one and only mother! 

“Let your mother be glad, let her who bore you rejoice.” Proverbs 23:25

One thing I really admire about my mother is her ability to be strong in the most heart breaking situations. Like seriously, she’s blessed with some extra ordinary strength. I think about it sometimes and I’m like Lord, please lemme be this strong for my children one day. It was my mom who made sure all the times I got ill as a child (which was very frequent) that I got the necessary treatment to get well...she still does this in the present. It’s my mom’s love for the unlovable which softens my heart to learn how to love. It’s my mom who showers me with prayers all the time.

We’ve come on such a long roller coaster ride. It’s been hard...splashes of happy, dashes of frustrations and sorrow but still I love my mommy! She gets to deal with my moods and sees my weaknesses...she knows my secret future plans. I can be a handful sometimes but she puts up with me. It’s my mom who really understands my need for my personal space, how I’m introverted and laid back...and doesn’t impose being social on me. She knows it’s a learning process for me. And I love, love that I can act all silly with her. LOL Her sacrifices for me are too much and I thank God for that. 

“Honor your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” Deuteronomy 5:16

I’m grateful that God chose my mom to be my earthly mother, that she made the choice to keep me in her womb all those nine months, nurtured me as a Christian, and still continues to take care of me. I couldn’t be more thankful. I pray that God blesses and keep her and bless me too so that I can love on her some more for the years ahead. I pray that God uses me to bring glory to her and to bring her all the happiness she deserves to experience, the happiness we’ve both missed out on so often...

So go on ahead and show your mom you appreciate her... Her sacrifices, her delicious cooking, her hugs and kisses, her words of encouragement and comfort, her much needed scolding. (Yeah, we need that too.) Let the mother figure in your life know that you appreciate her time with you. Let nothing come between you and your mother. Is it some past hurts or a present bone you have to pick with her? Please let it all slide. Fight hard to forgive and love her. She keeping you and deciding to give birth to you is reason enough to be thankful for her life. Be thankful that you are alive because God chose her to birth you to fulfil the purposes He has for you. Let’s not wait till mother’s day before we show our mothers how much we care. Appreciating our mothers should be a daily thing, a way of life. Go celebrate your mother!

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.  ~Honoré de Balzac 

So here’s to A Happy Mother’s Day!!! All mothers out there living it up according to God's Word and who are there for your children, God bless you, O so much! :D xoxo

Delali.

May Is Here! + Kicking Fear To The Curb

Hi friends, May is finally here!!! :D Yaaaay! Wanna know why I’m so excited about May? Well for starters, it’s my birth month (hint, it’s AU day ;) ), my mom’s birth month, and I finish up undergrad this month! (the day before my birthday!) Finallyyyyy! I tell you, I’ve had it with school. I’m so tired of having my face in academic stuff and constantly studying, especially at the moment for my very last finals. So seeing May arrive just lets me know that I’m going to have my life back soon. I can’t wait.

Undoubtedly May is my favorite month and I’m pretty sure it still would have been even if it wasn’t my birth month. There’s just something about it. MAY. Simple, and yet so beautiful and compelling.

Today’s a holiday here- Labour Day. But of course, I’m stuck with books to study for my finals. :|

 Via

Oh well, before I get carried away about this special month of mine, lemme share this super inspiring poem on the very first day of this beautiful month by Marianne Williamson.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others. 

The first time I heard this poem was from the movie, Akeelah and the Bee. That was about six years ago. And these words have since then been stuck in my mind. I’m sure they aren’t going to fade away from my memory any time soon. I have bits of it pasted on my wall beside my bed. (Yeah, I like it that much.)

As we welcome this new month, I want to urge you on to step out in faith and start to live the meaningful life God made you to live. I want to remind you of how wonderful you are. You don’t have to be like someone before you realize you are special. Do some soul searching and ask God what gifts He’s placed in you and go out there and make life happen with those gifts. 

I want to ask you to look back over the last four months and see if you did the things you set out to do in the beginning of the year. (I blogged about New Year plans here.) Are you on track? If you aren’t, it’s not too late. The first quarter is gone but we have two more quarters left in the year, make it count. You can start living that fearless life God needs you to live, the life which speaks loud and clear that you are not ashamed to be known as a child of God, a child of wonder who has been bought with the precious blood of Jesus. 

The clock is ticking sweetheart. We are not promised tomorrow. Today is what we have, and we might as well make the best of it. Let go of all the things that are tying you to the ground and take those bold steps to make your dreams a reality. Living fearlessly has been something dear to my heart lately. I blogged about it here, and there. 

One of my favourite verses in the Bible says:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

Dear one, stop trying to belittle yourself. Stop trying so hard to convince yourself that you don’t matter. I’ve been there, doesn’t do any good. You really do matter, that’s why you are breathing at this very moment, that’s why you are still alive. Your heart is beating in the left side of your chest right now because of a great purpose. Each heartbeat is a reminder of a purpose God needs you to fulfil.

“We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 

You need to trust His plan. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and hope.”

Comparing yourself to others who you deem to be better at something than you, would just make you feel inadequate and less than. It’s the worst. Stop hurting yourself and stop the unnecessary comparisons. She may be smarter than you or she may easily make friends than you. But so what? You are good at something others aren’t good at too. So just focus on your strengths and quit beating yourself up. Remember that we have different personalities, so know yourself and your strengths. We are each moulded uniquely and intricately by the hands of God. 

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

The good thing is, God loves us just the way we are. We don’t have to be smart or good looking like someone else before He loves us. He created us after all and there’s a purpose for each one of us to fulfil before our time on this earth runs out. Make sure you spend your time wisely before it slips away. So no more excuses, no more procrastination. Ask God for your purpose and talents and passionately pursue them for His glory. Focus on your journey and allow God to make something beautiful out of your hurts, brokenness, hardships, guilt, regrets and pain. Isaiah 61:3 says He bestows on us a crown of beauty instead of ashes. 

  

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9,10

May you see some beautiful, meaningful and happy times this month. Philippians 1:6 is my prayer as I trust my Father to bring to a beautiful completion this month, some things He began in me some years ago. The verse says “And I am sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”  This month is extra special because it marks the end of my four year journey in pursuit of a degree and it marks the beginning of a new year for me. :)

May you allow the things that need to die away in your life do so as you embrace the new things that’ll be born in you. Let your light shine dear, someone needs it to find their way. Be strong in the Lord & have yourself a meaningful and magnificent May! xoxo

Delali.

The Beauty Of God

There were a number of good things that happened to me in March. One of my favorites was climbing the highest mountain in Ghana! :D If you know me well, you’ll know I love the beauty of nature and the outdoors. (I’m no Barbie doll but well, I don’t mind being one sometimes. ;) )

The Volta River beneath Adomi Bridge

 

On the Bridge

After a good four hours drive from the city and enjoying beautiful scenery along the way, Mount Afadjato was finally in view and boy, could I wait to get my hike on! 

At the beginning of the hike I was all pumped like ‘yeah, let’s do this!’ But barely ten minutes after, I was panting for breath. LOL I can laugh about it now but I tell you at that moment it was no joke. I was tired already. We (my friends and I) were informed by our tour guide that it took about 45 minutes to climb and another 45 minutes to descend for an average person. So I was thinking ‘OMG with my slowing pace when will I ever get to the top of this mountain?’

The climb became more and more steep such that I had to crawl on all fours. Yessss. And I had to constantly cling on to jutting twigs and rocks on the mountain. We all had to, or else you were assured of an unfortunate free fall. And sometimes I stopped to sit on steep rocks along the way, and the view from those rocks frightened me because the ground looked so far away and my balance wasn’t that firm too.

With laboured steps and lots of water to gulp down, I climbed on. I felt so drained and had thoughts of just giving up. I was sweaty, extremely tired and my heart was racing a thousand miles a minute, I was scared...it was so crazy. I thought my chest was going to explode if I dared to continue. But of course, I dared to. I asked God to give me the strength to continue cause I’m no quitter and truly, He did. Each step I took gradually led me nearer and nearer to the peak and all along the words of Donald Miller from his book, which I blogged about here kept flashing across my mind. He said “Don’t kick yourself around if you can’t climb up out of a canyon real quick, just do it slow.” (Which in my case was climb up a mountain.) This helped me take it easy and move at my own pace. Thanks Don!

Somewhere along the steep climb, one guy voiced out what was running through my mind. I was thinking about how the whole climb and its toughness was like the Christian life...how we Christians feel like giving up walking down the narrow road, how I was tempted sometimes to change my path and go walk down the broad but dangerous road, how some problems are like giant mountains in my life and how painful it is to try and fight those mountains.

 Following Jesus’ footsteps sure gets pretty tough. But just like the joy awaiting me when I climbed to the peak, what urges me on to keep following Jesus and obeying the commandments of God is the assurance of my spot in Heaven. That’s what keeps me going in the toughest times, you know. 

As I neared the top of the mountain, I could hear the happiness in the voices of those who had already gotten there and I was like ‘oh yes! I’m almost there.’ I took all the rests I had to take until I took those final steps which landed me on Mt. Afadjato. I was so happy I had made it somehow...and I ended up being the second female among close to ten ladies. Hehehe. It felt amazing to stand there and look at the beautiful view and just enjoy the sweet breezes. 

Finally at the top

“For lo, He who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought; who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth- the Lord, the God of hosts, is His name!” Amos 4:13 

I'm thankful I didn’t even get a bruise and that nothing fatal occurred to anyone. I was just grinning and grinning and soaking in the awesomeness of the mighty works of God’s hands.

I'm thankful for my sweet friend here who carried my bag up and down the mountain :-*

After all the pictures and relaxation, it was time to descend. I must say this part was way easier and fun. It didn’t take so much effort and time, so we got to the base of the mountain in a relatively shorter time. 

Afterwards, we headed to Wli Falls (the highest in West Africa.) I was so drained and munched down my lunch on the bus in no time. It was like a ten minutes drive away so we got there pretty fast. 

 Made some shy lil friends before the hike to the Falls :) (Prayers and love to the girl in the background)

I couldn’t wait to see the falls but it took another hike (a much smoother one) and crossing of about nine bridges (I know, tough luck) to get to the Falls. But O, it was soo worth it. 

“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Psalm 19:1

The cascading water from such great heights was totally amazing (No, I’m not exaggerating.) I stood there just admiring the awesomeness of God and how great He really is for creating all of these things...the Falls, the beautiful mountains in the distance... and oh, the beautiful rainbow across the waterfall which brings to mind the covenant God has with us, never to destroy the earth with a flood. All these things dazzled me as I enjoyed God’s beauty in them. 

“And God said, “This is a sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”” Genesis 9:12,13

 

Spot the rainbow  

 No, I don't know why Tasha is holding a lappie here

On the drive back to the city, I reflected on how God is strengthening me to conquer all the mountains in this hard life, the frustrations, anger, raw pain, pride... When the pain is just too real, when the tears won’t stop flowing, when I feel numb inside and I have so many unanswered questions, I’ll always remember that no matter what, I shall overcome. I will conquer all these mountains in my path just like I did that day. And just like the peace and calm I found in gazing at the wonders of God which surrounded me, I’ll run to God and bask in His peace when peace is such a distant thought. I’ll continue to look for the good in the bad and beauty in the very ordinary.

I don’t want to forget this experience and how much it means to me. I don’t want to forget how all these great and small wonders God created can soothe my soul. I want to remember it all... 

“O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy creatures.” Psalm 104:24

 I’m looking forward to enjoying the many other wonderful things He made to make us realize His great power to remind us that if He did all these amazing things, then there’s absolutely nothing He can’t fix in our lives. The hurt, the brokenness, the grief, the sadness, the loneliness, the sickness, the confusion...He is more than capable to make all of it right.

Met Jaime and Stephanie at the Falls, and they were apparently in my hostel back on campus. Small world.

 

Are you having a hard time seeing the good in

 this messy world? Well, you’re not alone, I do too...But do take a look around you and find God’s beauty in all the mess... the beautiful flowers, the tall green-leaved trees, the cool breeze, birds flying across the blue sky, a serene beach, the streams and lakes, the ah-mazing sunrises and sunsets. Because I did, and I tell you, it was worth it. I’ve come to know that the peace I find in nature calms my troubled soul and draws me nearer to the awesome God I serve. 

Those mountains in your life are worth conquering dear. Be strong and fight on. xoxo 

Delali.