…Life's A Journey
Saw this picture on Wikipedia and fell in love with it. I love the way the golden sun rays cast on the Wooden Church. I also love the lush green surroundings, so inspiring and makes me just want to worship non-stop. Glory to God!
Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lithuania_Paluse_church.jpg
Life is a journey, document it.
-The Storytela
If He said it. Then you don’t have a problem.
If God has told you something about your life, be very certain that He would make it happen. Maybe it’s been ten years or more and you are beginning to wonder if it’s ever going to happen. Check out this verse;
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”
Philippians 1:6 KJV
God is not slow in delivering his promises. Sometimes we try to help him do his work and that’s when we get into trouble. Let’s look at the story of Abraham and Sarah. In Genesis 15, God told Abraham (then he was still Abram) that he would have an heir. However, ten years down the line, the heir was yet to show up so Sarah (still known as Sarai) decided to help out.
Pause…
Question: What is the difference between helping God and being proactive?
Answer: Your motive! What you do (your actions) and your attitude will align with your motive.
Are you motivated by fear? or are you being led by the Holy Spirit to take that line of action?
Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham out of fear. In her own words
“… behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing…”
But God had promised Abraham an heir and Sarah knew it. The Holy Spirit would not lead you outside of God’s word.
When God speaks to you, it is usually in line with his grand plan/master plan for your life. You need to have an understanding of that plan, when you do, you will not waste time on things that don’t matter, you will live with a purpose.
Abraham on his own part could have asked God if Hagar was the woman who would give birth to the heir. He also could have asked God if that was the time, he could have asked God how the heir would come, when the heir would come and where the heir would be born and God would have answered him.
Did God stop Abraham from sleeping with Hagar? No! Because man has a free will.
You see, don’t assume that God will stop you from walking outside his will for you, if you insist on doing so. It is your duty to follow God’s plan for your life, God doesn’t force people.
Now, ten years later, God speaks to Abraham and tells him when the heir would be born, who would bear the heir (his wife of course) and what the heir would be called (Genesis 17: 15-19). He also seals of his Covenant with him with Circumcision and then changes his name and Sarah’s name. Amazing!
Question: Why did it take God ten long years?!
Answer: There was an appointed time for the heir to be born.
” Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son” Genesis 18:14
Now, there was a master plan for Abraham’s life as shown in all God told him. His seed Isaac had a crucial role to play, all through to Jesus Christ and the Church (we are the seed of Abraham) so God had a particular time that he needed Isaac to come on the scene, just like there was a timing to the birth of Jesus and a timing for his ministry and his death. Not just spiritually but physically and politically too. There had to be somethings going on in the world to create the right atmosphere for the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now back to you, understand that you are not an ordinary person, you are important to God and that’s why he has taken time to make a specific plan for your life. You need to find out what it is by asking him. Don’t assume. If he has told you what, then trust him on the how and the when.
“And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken! For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him” Genesis 21: 1-2
Do you know that God actually came to remind Abraham nine months before Isaac was born that he needed to spend some time with his wife? (Genesis 18:10, my interpretation. Lol!) They were rather old at this time but the timing was right and the setting was right.
As human beings, we are usually in a hurry but no matter how much we hurry, we know that it takes nine months for a baby to grow and be born and because we have that understanding, we wait for the baby to fully develop and be born.
The same applies to what God has said to you or about you, there is an appointed time, a set time. It is important that you constantly renew your mind with God’s word so that you would know what is his good and acceptable and perfect will for you.
God bless you.
*Excerpts taken from Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional, www.rhapsodyofrealities.org
Lol! The title of this story cracks me up. The word ‘JJC’ was quite popular amongst the Lagosians in my secondary school. It is acronym for ‘Johnny Just Come’, a term used to describe people who were new to the city of Lagos and who probably acted ‘funny’ when they saw some extraordinary things happening around them.
Well, after my graduation from the University, I decided to go to Lagos and finish up my French studies which I had been doing part-time as a student in the University of Nigeria, Enugu. I packed my bag, bid farewell to my parents and travelled to Lagos to join my elder siblings who were already living there, that was my second time of travelling to Lagos. The first time, my stay had been a brief two weeks most of which were spent indoors.
Anyway, when I arrived this time around, I settled in quickly and tried to get accustomed to life in Lagos. Then the culture shock began…
One of my elder sisters had just come back from the market and had bought ‘Ugu‘ the green leafy vegetable know as Spinach, used for making mouth watering dishes like Okro Soup, Edikang Ikong, Egusi Soup, Ofeakwu etc. It turned out that the ‘Ugu‘ leaves had already been cut! Yes, it had been plucked and cut into tiny pieces in the market! I could not believe my eyes. My other sisters seemed unperturbed, meaning that they were accustomed to buying already cut ‘Ugu’ from the market.
Whatever happened to buying the Ugu leaves in bunch, plucking them at home, cutting them and then washing them twice with salted water and rinsing them out, all done with uttermost carefulness as taught us by our mother?
Back in my parents house, my Mum taught us to practically revere vegetables. It was a taboo for sand to be tasted in any soup and one of the ways through which sand could get into soup was through the vegetables, if not washed properly. Thus we paid utmost attention while washing them.
I made up my mind to solemnly uphold my mother’s tradition and whenever I went to the market, I would buy the vegetables in a bunch and do all the processing at home by myself. I refused to be ‘lazy’ like the Lagosians.
Fast forward to eight years later…
I’m married with a kid and also working full time. I’m in my kitchen preparing Edikang Ikong the Calabar vegetable Soup delicacy and as I reach my hand to wash the Ugu leaves (plucked and cut in the market) the memories come flooding back. I burst into laughter at myself, I could not even remember when exactly I made the switch from being Mummy’s vegetable perfectionist to blending into the fast paced ‘Lagosian’ style.
Sometimes in life, we sweat the little things and resist changes which can be for our good and help us make progress. The fact that something does not fit into our well patterned lives or laid down traditions does not make it wrong. As long as change does not contradict God’s word concerning you, then embrace it by all means.
Dearest Friends,
Thanks so much for the huge inspiration you’ve brought to my life, through your views, likes and comments. God bless you all.
I’d like to inform you of the change in my blog address from obiamaka.wordpress.com to thestorytela.wordpress.com. All content remain the same.
I want to especially thank Tami of lessonsbyheart.wordpress.com, for helping me see the need for informing my followers. I apologize for every inconvenience caused to all those that clicked on obiamaka.wordpress.com and could not get access to my blog.
Thank you for following and God bless you.
The Storytela 
