A
harvest of peace is produced from a seed of contentment – Proverb
“The
thing is most of us are never satisfied. We’re too busy running after the
things that we believe will fulfill us and forget that which we already have. You’ve
got to be happy with what you have”. These wise words were spoken to me by a
taxi driver as he drove me home from my friend’s house. Lately, some of the
most thought-provoking discussions on life, love, faith and everything in
between tend to happen in taxis, so this encounter was no exception. It was a
late, cold and wet night however and besides being exhausted, the only thing I longed
for was the comfort of my bed. I do not remember what prompted our
conversation, but the topic of contentment triggered a deep and meaningful
exchange that felt like it lasted longer than the 10 minutes journey ride home.
Recently, I find myself in a place where
the predominant question that surrounds my spiritual life is “What do I do in
the meantime?” When we read Psalm 27, an amazing Psalm by David that asks to ‘dwell in the house of the Lord’ (Psalm 27:4), the Psalm closes with
perhaps one of the hardest activities to do as a Christian: ‘wait for
the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord’ (Psalm 27:14).
In a post-modern world, waiting is
something that is often unfamiliar to us as we become impatient at the traffic
lights, especially when they are red and we even opt to use ready meals as
opposed to enjoying the long process of preparing a meal. It becomes clear when
we study how we operate in the 21st Century the trait of patience and
waiting appears to be scarce.
Our
bodies are made up of millions of cells, hundreds of bones and muscles, over a
mile worth of nerves, arteries and veins but amazingly they are each working in
unison every
second of every day to keep us alive. Something that we hardly take time to
think about. It is
so often the case that when we forget about the work that something or somebody
is
doing we don't appreciate it nearly as much as we ought to. Our bodies are not
only
amazing they are the 'cherry on the top' of God's intricate plan of creation.
The
account in Genesis 1+2 reaffirms this.
Humanity had a
deeply spiritually problem that God met in a deeply physical fashion-Tyler Huckabee
This week marks holy week, it
commemorates one of the most poignant weeks for Christians, as we remember and
follow the journey to the cross and celebrate the resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The event that brings to mind so much about Jesus’ suffering as he was
betrayed, arrested, wrongly accused, rejected, beaten, tortured and died for
the cause which he did not commit; but all for love. A story which is made all
the more scandalous when Jesus conquers death and resurrects three days later,
as he had previously preached about (yet it was a shock even to his disciples
who had followed him for 3 whole years).
‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son. that who so ever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.' - john 3:16
There’s a song that’s been in my head for months
now. A song that instantly makes me want to get up and boogie like it’s the
90’s and do it fearlessly like no one is watching. As soon as the beat drops, and
drums starts beating- I’m caught. Whatever I am doing, no matter how miserable
the day may have been, this song just somehow seems to bring a raw energy of
Joy into my life. It truly does brighten up the mood of the day at that given
moment, just like the bright yellow used in the background of the single cover
photo with the word HAPPY carefully placed right at the middle. Its simplicity,
repetitiveness, catchiness and the inevitable invitation to join in is what
wins this song the second music Monday award on the blog.
“Happiness does not come from without, it comes from within”― Helen Keller
Well, this is long overdue. I’ve been in the hiding
folks, a much needed and anticipated one. I know what I did was sneaky there,
and tactical. I just dropped a blog and disappeared for a whole month, no
explanation or nothing. How dare me? But on a serious note, I’ve been re-evaluating
the real purpose of this blog. And I know, I know… I always tend to speak of
the exiting plans I have for this platform but never care to continue it or
give it time to flourish. The time has come. As you may have already noticed,
this New Year has brought forth a new look for the blog. [The old one was
seriously beginning to grate on me, and thus genuinely prevented me from
writing] It’s funny isn’t it, how a little change of appearance can inspire a
new found confidence to want to do what we love to do the most. This emphasis
reminds me of one of my favourite quotes (YES, dem quotes ain’t goin’ nowhere
peeps) by the amazing & brilliant Maya Angelou;
'If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change
it, change your attitude.
Those of you know me well will know that I LOVE
September. It’s my favourite month by far. Not only does it bring forth my
birthday (which is a great day for reflecting on God’s goodness and mercies
over the past year) but mostly because I feel like it’s a month of transitions
and new beginnings, which always carries common mixed emotions in the form of
excitement and fear. Not to mention that it’s also the end of summer, which in
most cases (especially in the UK) gives people the opportunity to make use of
the [rare] sun before the beauty of autumn and doom of winter descends upon us.
In my case however, the month of September turned out to be quite a blessing, a
victorious one despite the many challenges I faced. I won’t go into it with
sheer detail just to spare you the ramble, but I’ve seen the hand of God at
work in so many aspects of this new journey I’ve started. Walking on water
(living out in faith) hasn’t proved to be easy so far, but as October rolls on, these are the three P’s I’m adopting for victorious living!!
‘…Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ…’
–
(Romans 8:37)
Have you recently felt like you are being called to
something new? A change of country/city, career path, pursuing further
education, taking your spirituality more seriously? Or perhaps it’s something
less drastic and yet just the mere thought of it presents you with doubt beyond
belief, which subsequently affects your decision-making. Therefore you are also
aware that whichever decision you do make will be costly, and this utterly
scares you (though you may not want to admit it) You feel like the more you
pray about it, the more confused and agitated you become towards the prospect
of stepping out of your comfort zone and experiencing something new. Well, I’m
here to reassure you that you are not alone.
Your life’s highest calling will
always create the highest level of joy within…
Just the
other morning when I awoke and was reading my daily devotion, I stumbled upon a
well-known story in the bible...it was the story of Joseph. (One of my all-time
favourites). Surprisingly, the verse that I read seemed oh so familiar - except
a tiny little detail that caught my attention and thus lead me to ponder on
something that I've been struggling with lately, and nope, this isn't one of my
'post-graduation syndromes' as I like to diagnose it. (Or perhaps it is) but
that's not the point. It's about the gift of remembering and Genesis 40
captures the moment Joseph (who ironically is the captain guard in the prison
he is kept in) interprets two prisoners dreams and Joseph asks a simple yet,
significant favour afterwards,
14 But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to
me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house.
‘We need times of
solitude and silence. We need times of refreshment, laughter and rest. We need
to listen to the voice of God in our hearts as he tells us what we need.'–
Captivating, by John & Staci
Eldredge
I have just returned
from a week-long camping holiday called FOCUS with my church family, which was
hosted by HTB church network and was situated in the small town called Mablethorpe
(far east-cost of England). It was simply magnificent. If I go on to describe
just how awesome it felt to truly zone out from all the distractions of life
and FOCUS on God…I would bore you with all the details. But it really got me
thinking about the importance of taking time-out. This is something I particularly
struggle with. The idea of putting a break to everything, simply letting go, inhaling
and exhaling rest and exercising a prayerful lifestyle in exchange to living on
a busy schedule and constantly being ‘proactive’ is not easy. How many of us really
enjoy times of solitude and silence when presented with the opportunity?
In the quest of trying to make this blog a little bit more versatile and inclusive, I have now opted on discovering new ways of shaking things up a notch... Bringing on some creative, cool, collected minds and generally people who are open to sharing a little bit of themselves whilst highlighting topics they feel passionate about. The purpose of this blog is so much more than just random rants, It is about using people in my surrounding whom I admire to pour out their gifts and souls to you guys for a little dollop of inspiration.the journey has just got interesting. This is a very exciting new conquest that also requires your precious feedback. But in the mean time, Happy reading!! :) Fufu
Words by “El” Rehema Mussanzi
I was
watching a TED Talk this morning by Lisa Bu entitled “How books can open your
mind” in which she shares her unique approach to reading with an enthusiastic
audience in Long Beach, California, when I had an epiphany. About half way
through the talk she made a comment which sparked me to examine what we, as
human beings, consider to be the art of
being happy. She said “it’s through translation that I realised ‘happiness’
in Chinese literally means ‘fast joy’”.
Really! Fast joy?
Well,
it occurred to me that the one question we all ask ourselves at varying points
in life is what is the goal of living? How does one live a happy life?
WOW,
Where to begin...
First and foremost, I apologise for the lack of posts. Apologies for not keeping up with my words of keeping y'all updated with my journey. It HAS been a long while. Too long infact.
But I'm finally back, and boy do I have a few exciting news/projects up my sleeve for the future of this blog. Yes, I WILL share in due time. But for now, here is, a little post to say 'It is done'!!! My journey through University has finally come to an end as of this Monday!! I'm not sure if it has sank in yet. Mixed emotions. Most of all I feel like those who were stood along side me supporting me on in prayer are chanting: Congratulations! You made it through University!
The time has come! The one that was highly anticipated yet with so much energy it has already drained me. I was looking forward to 3rd year of University but nothing prepared me for this. It's as if if January was just yesterday. My mind can't seem to fathom just how on earth April is upon us. For me, this month holds a particular significance. It's a month that will make or break me. It's what I've been looking forward to since the beginning of this degree, seeing just how far I've come. And with no information of where I'm heading after this chapter of my life is over, I open up my arms and I embrace the mistery.
As I write this post, thousands of young girls and women from across the country have congregated in central London for the annual event of Million Women Rise march, which takes place every March to celebrate International Women's Day (8th March) with three primary focus;
1) PROTEST: against racism and sexism against women that still exists in our society.
2) RESIST: the culture that objectifies women and girls, blaming the victims and glamorising sexual violence and thus subsequently giving power to the abuser.
3) EMPOWER: the survivors of such violence to know their worth and exercise their rights.
Among them is my mother, who is quite well known in the arena of women activists as she has worked directly with victims of rape and domestic violence for many years. She is also due to speak at the end of the march, at Trafalgar Square with 3 other Congolese women activists who work for peace and justice. I had the huge privilege of finally being able to attend last year's event with a group of powerful, strong women from my home-town, driving 5 hours down to London and 5 hours back. I was blown away at how organised and brilliant the whole day turned out. So much so, that I put a photo/video montage together on Youtube to share my phenomenal experience with others. I'm so gutted I can't make it this year, but for those of you who were not previously aware of this organisation, Please check out their website http://www.millionwomenrise.com/. (Mama happens to be the star of the show, as she and a few other familiar faces are the face of MWR's website).
This is our month. And every other day of the year. Let's celebrate each other and acknowledge that we are indeed SUPERWOMEN. From my house to yours, Happy International Women's Day.
(Watch the video I made here:)
The 5th of December marked a very important day. A day that no-one in my family will ever forget. It was mama's birthday. Not just any anniversary, a milestone...she hit the blessed age of 60. A day that accumilated so much emotion, looking back in hindsight at the marvels of her life. A From the day she was born up to now. Her journey has been a fascinating one, an inspiring one. She has come so far! Only by grace!!
She has achieved so much in her lifetime that deserves an award but above all...she has given even more. Her time, her energy, her possession, her love to help those around her. Even when she has nothing, it never prevents her to go out of her own way to be a blessing to others. She lovingly, gracefully and joyfully offers up sacrifices for the sake of others. Like my father always says, 'Maman a un don de donner'. He couldn't be more right. Her entire lifestyle demostrates this quote by Anne Frank, 'No one has ever become poor from giving' - and indeed her willingness to give her everything has not only blessed herself but our entire family in so many different ways. For that I am admire her! I ought to tell her of that more often.
I've been
thinking lately. Thinking about that four lettered word, L.O.V.E. (Don't run
away just as yet, I promise this is not one of those cheesy thoughts). I mean,
it's a pretty inevitable subject to think about, considering I've hit that
milestone age of 21. But recently (yesterday to be precise), I was reading a
blog by Alyssa Joy & it hit a VERY special place in my heart. So I've
decided to write about it. Ladies, this one’s particularly for you. But guys,
you’re more than welcome to read on and ponder.
'Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all'.
