lessons of life

In the course of our journey in life we go through various experiences, some of which are not palatable. Some folks are betrayed by their most trusted friends or acquaintances, for others it is rejection, loss of a job, financial loss, lack etc.. Whatever they are God has given us the power to choose our reactions to such experiences. Would you rather look back over them and pick up the lessons and move on to become a better person, or would you prefer to shift blames and be bitter about them?
The choice is yours. Srully Blotnick once said “what looks like a loss may be the very event which is subsequently responsible for helping to produce the major achievement of your life”.
Reading through Joseph’s experience of moving from prison to palace(Gen 39-45), there was no other person qualified to be bitter after all that he went through but interestingly the weight of the blessing that God brought into his life after all the trials outweighed the pains.
It is my prayer that as you journey through this year, the experiences that look like your stumbling block will be the very stepping stone to your victory and celebration in Jesus Name.
Like I usually say the trials come to make us strong and to make the story of our life sweeter. What would the story of our life be without those intrigues and suspense? ........indeed all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose in Christ Jesus.
Have a great week.

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DARE TO BELIEVE

I came across this story of two young brothers whose father was an alcoholic and drug addict. One of them ended up exactly like their dad while the other became a very successful man. I then began to wonder is it the environment and events of our lives that shape us or our beliefs about those events.
I came to a conclusion that it is actually how we interpret the events of our past that shapes us and who we’ll become tomorrow. Beliefs are so powerful that it distinguished Joshua and Caleb; they dared to believe God’s word in spite of majority opposition. Guess what? They were able to possess their promise land.

In life we usually find ourselves in different unprecedented situation and circumstances. Some we have control over and others we don’t. We may not have control over the family we were born into, our upbringing, nationality but we definitely have control over our beliefs, attitudes, decisions, choice of friends and other things that could influence our life for the better.

It is wisdom to focus our strength, effort and attention on the things we have control over to get the best out of life and ignore those we don’t have any control over such as our prevalent environment. However often times what we do is the reverse.
Life in itself was designed by God to be fulfilling, if only we are armed with the right information that develops the right attitude to life and eventually leads us to the path of success. The battle to succeed in life begins in the mind, most of the time people program their minds and life with wrong information and attitude which eventually control their lives and repels every form of opportunity that may come their way.

Break free from every limiting thought, mindset and attitude that has kept you at the back seat of life. It is time to move forward to possess your promise land and be the man/woman you were designed to be. It’s time for you to begin to think out of the box and begin to see the vast potential and opportunities that lies within and around you and how you can maximize them. Lovely day.

MULTIPLY YOUR SUCCESS

I am writing today on leadership development, this is one topic am very passionate about especially as it relates to our part of the world. Recently I qualified for a formal mentoring program sponsored by a multinational company which afforded me the opportunity of meeting women from different walks of life who are achieving great feats in their various fields of endeavors. It was indeed a rare privilege to interact freely with those rich minds “uncensored”. Looking back over this experience and the lessons learnt so far I cannot but advocate a case for mentoring as an effective mechanism for leadership development at all levels of our society. Isaac Newton once said “If I have seen any farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of them who have gone before me”. In your career, business, family-life, ministry….who is inspiring you? On whose shoulder are you standing? Who is cheering you on?

Once in a while I look at the journey of life as a very sensitive one to engage in without a mentor, someone who has walked down the path ahead of you. One with an archive full of successes and failures as well, a tour guide sort of who is very familiar with the terrain you are about to sojourn, one who has climbed up the ladder and is willing to help others up the same ladder. One who is willing to invest time, energy, resources in other to see another flourish without any feeling of inferiority.

In my study of great men I realized they always have a reference to someone who contributed greatly to who they have become by virtue of mentoring. Interestingly however is the fact that you don’t have to wait till you become the President , Governor, CEO of a multinational company before you qualify to be a mentor, rather every lesson and experiences of yours as you journey through life qualifies you to help someone coming right behind you. How about sharing those experiences and giving a word of advice to that junior colleague, neighbor, family member…. Who needs someone to look up to? You never know how far those little gestures could go.. ...and maybe one day such would say my success story would not be complete without mentioning the contribution of ……….

Don’t join the clique of those who climb up the ladder and pull the ladder off their backs so that no one is able to climb to their position or like those who turn themselves to “Mario” who will sit tight in a position not knowing when to leave the field for other players to take their place.

Do have a great day.

DIFFERENT STROKES

How has the year been so far? It has been very interesting on my side and I can say indeed God has been faithful. Lately I was reflecting about life and discovered that there are three basic categories of people.

I realized that there are those who can be termed as Ignorant, others acquire some level of knowledge but do nothing with what they know. The third category are those who acquire knowledge and take appropriate action with regards what they know and achieve results. Which category do you belong? One of my decisions this year is to know the truth, process it and finally put it into application in every area of my life for me to achieve my expected results.

While growing up I read a lot of books on different topics ranging from spiritual, business, relationships e.t.c. looking back over those years I realize I was just acquiring those knowledge and doing nothing about them and today I see a lot of people especially Christians in the same scenario. Too much knowledge but little impact, this led me to the decision to invest more time to process and practice the old knowledge that I had done nothing about. You know what? That decision is paying off for me big time.

Lately I took my time to listen to some of the messages preached last year over and over again and I realized that I really did not apply much of the knowledge that I acquired and obviously did not experience to full capacity what I should have achieved. Personally I defaulted in learning to trust and lean on God’s Grace concerning the issues of my life, rather I engaged in trying to figure out and control the affairs of my life when I should have trusted in God and acknowledged him in all of my ways so that he can direct my path.

Sometime ago i read Dale Carnegie’s book on “Winning friends and influencing people”, embedded in that book are very simple principles for getting along with people but in reality I had not consciously putting them into practice.
In our pursuit to achieve success in business, family, career, relationships and other areas of life there are required principles to practice to guarantee success. However some people are totally ignorant of those principles, some others are aware of these principles and do nothing about them, while others know the principles, apply them and enjoy the benefits thereof.

Make up your mind to get out of the bond of ignorance if you fall into this category. I have tasted the pain of ignorance before and I can tell you it is not very palatable.
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

If you are in the category of those who acquire knowledge without adding action to your knowledge, make up your mind to be ACTION ORIENTED.
James 1:22 “Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice.”
Consciously decide to join the category of those who acquire knowledge and apply the knowledge to the issues of their life and produce results.
Mat 7:24 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” .

Do have a lovely day.

I leave you with this joke …….

There was this case in Kenyatta National Hospital Intensive Care ward

where patients always died in the same bed on Sunday morning at 11am,

regardless of their medical condition.


This puzzled the doctors and some even thought that it had something

to do with the supernatural no one could solve the mystery.... as to

why people died at 11.am


So a world-wide expert team was constituted and they decided to go

down to the ward to investigate the cause of the incidents. So on the

next Sunday morning few minutes before 11am, all doctors and nurses

nervously wait outside the ward to see for themselves what the

terrible phenomenon was all about.


Some were holding wooden crosses, prayer, books and their

Objects to ward off the evil.....Just when the clock struck

11.....Guess what happened...... Mukhobero Wepukhulu, the part-time

Sunday sweeper entered the ward and unplugged the life support system

so that he could use the socket for the vacuum

cleaner.


If you think education is expensive, try ignorance

HAPPY NEW YEAR

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! To you all out there, Thank God we all made it through into this New Year. It’s a great privilege and honor to be counted among the living and I believe we are alive for a purpose. I had an awesome time at the watch night service at my church which started at 6pm and ended at 9pm. It was a time of gratitude to God for all the awesome things he had done in 2009 and to look up to him for renewed grace in the coming year.

As usual I went in with my goals all written out, Guess what? Just like my pastor warned during the service” some of you might have to go back and review those goals you have written”. I realized those goals really had to be reviewed (upwardly…lol) so that God’s power and wisdom can be made manifest. I needed to get to the point of absolute dependence of God’s power for the realization of those goals.

Tips for goal setting

Let your goals be SMART
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time bound

Lastly, whatever your goals are commit them to God in prayer and review them periodically. I leave us with words of wisdom from Proverbs 3: 5-7(MSG translation)
“Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for GOD's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track.
Don't assume that you know it all. Run to GOD! Run from evil!”

Do have a great year ahead.