BE THANKFUL...

Today I read the story of the ten lepers again in Luke 17 and I froze, realizing how much of an ingrate I have been. These were lepers who were weary of their condition and cried out to Jesus to help. I would imagine that they had cried out to him severally. Finally, Jesus decides to have mercy on them and they are cleansed, all is well, until only one of them is grateful enough to come back and thank the Healer. The nine others walked away without looking back. And Jesus asked, “Where are the nine”?

 Well, we are not lepers, but the truth of the matter is that we behave like the nine lepers every other day, and we just think….”oh well, God doesn’t care, he probably wouldn’t notice, He’s God after all, and doesn’t need my thanksgiving” but I saw today, that the Healer was careful enough to ask about the nine others who failed to give thanks.

How many times have we failed to notice the little miracles splattered all around us and always murmur for something bigger? How many times do we feel like until God opens a twenty-five years ‘shut door’, or lands us our dream job then we don’t need to thank him? Let me tell you a secret about God, (thank me later) when we thank Him for the little things, he does much more. He actually wants to see our attitude towards the ‘insignificant’ things, because that reveals the true state of our heart. If you can just say “Thank you Lord for work today, I’M GRATEFUL” that’s more than sufficient!  Do you realize there are tons and tons of people in desperation for the things you have so freely? OH, you haven’t met those on oxygen gasping for air. You haven’t met those on the wheel chair yearning to walk. You haven’t met those feeding off the garbage. You haven’t met those confined to the hospital bed for months and long for fresh air. You certainly haven’t met those sleeping on the streets in the cold.

Have you thanked God today? Will you thank him tomorrow and the day after it for his bountiful love and care to you? By the way, thank you Lord for breath in my body, Family and friends, for foot wears, for a box to put my clothes, for food to eat (some people are complaining that they are daily overfed while hunger is some other people’s last name), for a shelter over my head, for good health and sound mind, for a bed and a pillow to sleep on every night, for my budding natural hair, for clean water….Stop wherever you are right now and thank him for it all.

Look around you, there are too many things to thank him for. When your rise early in the morning, before you sleep and every time in between, say something sweet and precious to him. Pour your gratitude on Him like fine wine. And make it an everyday thing.

Help us dear Lord, to always thank you at all times.

Your turn. What are you thankful for?

                                                                  

Regina U.

ajaregina33@gmail.com

GIVING

I really want to challenge you today. To look past yourself, identify a need today, and give whole-heartedly. Right where you are. The good thing about giving, is that you can give anything at any time. Your time, your money, your energy, your attention, your assistance and even sharing what you have.

Giving is not always convenient, but let the fact that you can put a smile on someone’s face or change someone’s situation keep you going. You do not have to be rich to be generous. You will discover that you have two hands. One is for helping yourself, the other is for helping others. 

As you go about your daily activities every other day, identify people in need or a problem and seek to help them, even in the littlest of ways. When we give, it is given back to us in good measure. When we give, we feel a joy and fulfillment that resonates in the deepest parts of our being that we have made a positive contribution to humanity that will long out live us. And this is not even about having it all. This is purely about recognizing that some people may never be as privileged as we are, or ever be in the position to help as us. Why not make good use of that privilege? You may think your situation is really bad, but just always remember that wherever you are or whatever your situation looks like, there is definitely someone whom you are high up above, and can give a helping hand. 

   Ways to give? 

                            

Too many to number. Put your creativity to work. 

-Donate your time. Many charitable organizations survive through the efforts of volunteers.

-Donate your skills. Whatever you are good at, see how you can put it to use for the common good

.

-Give blood. People are daily dying from lack of blood. Imagine knowing you can save the life of a whole human by just donating blood!

-Donate your stuff. Used and unused. There are things we know we would not be needing in our life time again, why not give to those in dire need of it? Like textbooks, clothes, toys and furniture. Its up to you.

-Give your attention. There are many depressed teens and young adults who are taking their lives daily because there is no one to listen to their many struggles. That person might even be in your neighborhood. Take out time to listen, give good counsel and just be a friend.

-Visit the sick. Pray for them and encourage them.

-Volunteer at church. The body of Christ certainly needs you to invest the strength of your youth in serving God.

-Pay for someone’s transport fare, or at the grocery store…anywhere. Just be a giver.

Can we share some of the ways we can give from today onwards?

                                                           

Regina U.

ajaregina33@gmail.com

OVERCOMING COMPROMISE

Going with the tide is often the first thing we do when our resistance is weak and we are tired of fighting.

We just give in because the ‘pressure is too much’

We see it all around us all the time so much so that our minds are fed with the lie that it is ‘normal’

Even those we look up to in every sphere of life begin to fall in it slowly until they lose their every sense of ‘good’

Then they leave us feeling discouraged and hopeless. “Is it even worth it?” we begin to ask all the time.

What do you do in a world where the moral decadence is on the rise and social standard and integrity is so low?

Make up your mind to stand out.

What do you do when everywhere you turn, everyone seems to do what is wrong as if it is right?

Stand alone and do not be timid at it.

What do you do when temptations come from angles you least expected? Brace up and fight.

What do you do when everyone is silent in the face of tyranny and oppression? Raise up and speak. Scream till the world hears you.

And this message is especially for my fellow young people. It’s hard to live in this society and not 

give in to the pressures. I know. It is really hard.

But it is possible. It is doable.

You can be one of the 7,000 prophets who have never bowed their heads to baal nor kissed his lifeless statue.

You can start the revolution you want to see and not always wait for someone else to take the lead.

And this has nothing to do with your age or your tribe or your skin color. This has everything to do with your mindset.

Can we just think differently?

Can we just be a generation that acts outside the box society has put us?

Can we just be different and live large? In our minds that is.

Can we spring up and be the catalyst for good behavior in our own little way?

Cam we embrace kindness, compassion, honesty, integrity and truth in our various spheres?

Can we surround ourselves with warriors who mean the same war we mean and are very hell-bent on winning?

Giving in to a leprous norm never benefits us. Rather, like every generational disease, our children and our children’s children will be stung with the very same disease.

Our society will remain crippled from the effect of this deadly virus called compromise.

And let me say this here, it won’t be easy. The circumstances wouldn’t always be convenient.

But this is war. A war against the legacy set by the society. A war against the goliaths our fathers fought and lost to.

But we must have a winning mentality.

And little by little, we will win this war, until no trace of the scars are found in our heritage anymore!

Embrace your super power!

Regina U.

ajaregina33@gmail.com