It is amazing how I wake up in the morning fully
energized and ready for the day, even when things are not that rosy on my
side. I got the secret and the secret is,
to start every morning with God. I will
confess I am not this kind of a person who wakes up early at 3.00 a.m. to
pray. But I envy those people that God
has gifted to wake up that early to pray.
I am not totally saying I can’t pray that time, but I want to emphasis I
do not do it that often as I guess some people do it daily. To me that is a gift. Though sometimes I am woken that time to pray
and to be honest, that is a very sweet experience for those who know what I am
talking about especially if they do it daily.
My secret though is, I wake up
and I tell God, ‘thank you for this beautiful day you have given
me’ and there after I switch on my Radio and listen to a Christian Radio
Channel in my case Family Radio 316, a Kenyan channel, and I get energized by
the presenter James Okumu. The songs
that they play make me connect directly to God and that time I do not stop
praising and praying throughout until I am out of that house. I have never controlled by the guilt that
many of us have been brought up with, where if you do not wake up, read the
word, praise, pray for hours that you have not prayed. I am not saying doing that is wrong, but we
have been crowded by this believe that, when you do that, that is when you have
prayed well. That is a lie from the
devil. We pray daily and every time throughout
though we may pause here and there because of the activities we have during the
day. That aspect that you have to wake
up and make long prayers to justify that you have prayed is not really the
truth though it is a very good thing. The Bible tells us to pray daily. Meaning when you read the word, pray, worship
in praise, serve others, and adore him and having that personal relationship
with him, you are in prayer. I am not
saying praying long hours and exhortation is bad, I am just correcting the fallacy
that, doing that is when you become or are seen to be a prayerful person. I came to realize with my personality I get
bored so easily and that is why I chose my way of praising my God day-in-day
out so that I am not bored. My style may not work out for you but I guess
everyone feels very comfortable to do their things their own way in order to
achieve what they want. I will encourage you, just be yourself and do what you
feel best for you to praise and adore God daily and in whatever time.
While in my praise and worship mood, most of the
time God speaks to me in that soft voice.
I remember yesterday 1st
April 2015; I love quoting dates because I know one day I will come back
and refer on the same because usually I write about my testimonies. Sometime, a few weeks back, I had picked a
book from my College Library on Leadership.
I did not have any book in mind specifically to pick on, but I felt in
my heart that the book I will pick will be helpful to me in relationship to
leadership. I picked two books, one was LIVING YOUR STRENGTHS, discover your
God-given talents and inspire your community by Albert L. Winseman, D.Min.,
Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D., Curt Liesveld, M.Div.
and the other one is SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP, by J. Oswald Sanders. I have not started reading the second
book by Sanders, but I can’t wait to finish the current one and embark on the
other one which is always in my bag too.
I am this kind of a person who reads one book at
a time and I do not peruse the other one until I finish one. But I am always fascinated when I give myself
pressure by having two books in line to read so that I speed read the current
book that I am reading. I have now taken
more than two weeks reading my first book but something made me stall a bit
reading that book to the end. In the first
pages of the book, one is advised to put a code on Clifton StrengthsFinders 1.0
Assessment at sfl.strengthsfinder.com.
That code is usually found at the back of the book when you purchase it
and it is only meant for one person.
That is, once it is used no one else can use it. Ok, since this book I had picked it in the
Library I was very sure that the code was used and actually I could not tell
where the code was. The code I was
trying to put to confirm if it was already used was the wrong one and when I put
it at the website, I received a no access message. I felt frustrated and wished I bought the
book myself or afforded buying it online as they informed. My not being able to
have the code meant that, I will not enjoy the book fully as I am supposed to
know my talents and strengths before reading the other pages of the book. Well, I felt down, but encouraged myself by
sending them a mail so that they tell me other ways of accessing the code. I got a reply, that, I can only get the code
from a book I purchase or purchase it online.
I got even more frustrated as I did not have money to do that. I promised myself when I get the money I will
come back and do the test. Remember the
book was borrowed from my College Library and thus I was to return it after two
weeks. The two weeks elapsed and I had
not finished reading the book. Seven
days after the expiry date, I went back to the college to see if I can borrow
the books again so that I finish reading them and I was told, I have extended
the time with the books and I am fined 60 shillings because of late return of
the books. So I did not mind paying the
fine and borrow them again as I had not finished reading the books. I borrowed the books once more and went my
way. But this time I purposed to read
the book even without knowing my strengths but promising myself I will have to
purchase the code so that I get to know my strengths. Before I opened the book, I decided to read
the mail that I received telling me how to get the code. I read it as carefully as it said I should
get the code at the back of the book and I should find it intact if no one had
used it. As for me I was so sure that,
that book can never have a code that is not spent since it was in the Library
but I said let me stop being ignorant and just check for the sake of it. Guess what?
The code was still intact and sealed.
I could not believe my eyes. I
cut the seal and put the code and thanked God as He kept telling me, ‘Rose, this code was meant for you. You really wanted it but you did not have
money. The thing here is not about money
but about me and you and making you understand, you can do all things through
me who strengths you.’ I could not
believe my heart. I was confused. As in God is so amazing and He is always just
right there with our answers when He wants to answer them instantly or even
later at His own time. I took the test
and let me share this with the whole world as I know many have done the test,
my five talents that God has given me in order to serve him are, activator, achiever, learner, input and
positivity. Wao! What gifts that God has naturally given
me. Now I understand why people do not
understand me and criticize me so often and compete with me every time. I have now understood the competition and criticism
is meant to make me work hard because these are my gifts and talents that God
has given me freely to serve him and not to be intimidated by anyone at all and
feel good for nothing when I listen to the negative criticism and competition that
has no fruits. Most of the time I have given up on
responsibilities that God has put in me as I feel so frustrated by my criticizers
and competitors who are always there to pull me down until I quit. I have also realized why I have always struggled
to be lead because I am supposed to be leading others and not to be led as I have
always shied away from leading thinking I am not good enough because of the criticism. Now I know.
I thank God for the authors of the book, LIVING YOUR STRENGTHS, discover your God-given talents and inspire your
community by Albert L. Winseman, D.Min., Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D., Curt
Liesveld, M.Div. May the Lord bless
them and continue helping many people who are willing to know their talents and
gifts that God has given them in order to use them to serve Him.
Remember God can answer you now, or tell you to
wait. His time is always the best. The most important thing is to be alert and listen
to his voice always. God uses so many
ways to communicate to you. If I ignored
what was pushing me from inside, in terms of wanting good from Him, I would
have listened to the evil one who tells me you can’t afford, you are good for
nothing or this is not meant for you. As
I have always said, anything that tells you something negatively most of the
time is not of God. But that which is
always positive is from God. Let me
clarify that from my story, If I depended with my lack of money to purchase the
code or my own book which I will buy as I need this book in my library, I would
have concentrated on that lack and get frustrated to the point of not even
reading the book and because if my focus is always on getting things now and
now, then I will lose it. But because of believing that God will provide
and continued reading the book even without the code to know my gifts and
talents later, He opened my eyes to see that the code was not utilized as it
was meant for me. He allowed me to be
the first one to pick the book from the Library with all those many students,
so that he blesses me with exactly what I wanted at the right time and at His
own time as you can imagine I carried the book for three weeks without noticing
the code was never utilized! What I am
trying to tell you is that, most of the time we wander looking for our blessing
all over and may be that blessing is right there where we are. You are waiting for a miracle to come down
from the heaven and you are carrying that miracle with you every day. Why can’t you ask God to open your eyes so
that you can see the wonderful things that He has put in store for you, around
you and beyond? My encouraging words
this morning is to tell you ignorance is expensive but if we embrace to love of
God without ignoring Him, He will take you and me to places we could never
imagine nor think of. Try Him today and
He will not let you down. God bless you
and keep you!
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