FOLLOWING GOD’S WAYS

Now the Lord has said to Abram “Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:1-3

 Any great man or woman who influenced their generation was a risk taker.

Anonymous.

                 Its incredibly amazing and mind blowing how the Creator of the universe in His unfathomable wisdom can choose someone from an idolatrous background, give them a new identity and make them the envy of their generation.

                 What manner of love is this? Our God can stoop down to the lowly and helpless humanity, impart His nature and character in them and turn them into firebrands who will enforce His will in the earth. 

“..But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty…” – 1^st Corinthians 1:26-28

         This was Abram’s story before he became Abraham (father of many nations). He came from an idol worship culture. This did not limit God’s grace and mercy. God bypassed what surrounded Abram in order to change him into a true worshiper of Yahweh. God does not consult anybody when He wants to bless His people. He goes beyond our limitations to bless us then use us for His glory.

There are many important lessons to learn from the life of Abraham who through obedience to God’s will received God’s blessing, a new identity and became a father of many nations. Jesus Christ descends or rather finds root from this same man.

Anyone who desires to be used of God irrespective of their area of calling needs to observe the following lessons:

a)      You must be willing to forsake the world:

Abraham was asked to get out of his country and to leave his family. This symbolically speaks to us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. God expects us to completely forsake the things that we are so accustomed to in order to venture into the unknown (1^st John 2:15-17). We are expected to live as strangers in this world. Why? Because although we live in the world, we are not of this world.

b)      Be ready and willing to heed instructions:

God’s instructions to us will many times not make sense, but our response to them is key. We need to have quick obedience because delayed obedience is disobedience. When God speaks to us reason is never required. Genesis 12:4 says “Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him.” If we desire to please God and experience His blessings in our lives, we will be required to obey His instructions.

c)      God will bless those who obey:

The blessings that became actualized in Abraham’s life came on the heels of his obedience and the promises God had given him. Abraham was blessed materially and financially. God gave him a son who later bore Jacob (Israel) from whom the seed of the Messiah came from.

Stay sober and expect God to instruct you on what to do concerning your need or situation. Be quick to heed His voice because instructions are the way of life and greatness.

MY FIRST LOVE

   

“Is this a long way?” asked the young mother as she set her foot on the path of life. And the Guide said:

“Yes, and the way is hard, and you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning.”

The young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, she fed them and bathed them, taught them how to pray, reminded them to do their homework. The sun shone on them and the young mother cried.

“Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.”

Then the nights came, and the storms, and the path was sometimes dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her arms. The children said’

“Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near and no harm can come.”

And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary and the mother was weary. But at all times she said to her children,

“A little patience and we are there.”

So the children climbed and as they climbed they learned to weather the storms. And with this she gave them strength to face the world, year after year she taught them to hope but most of all unconditional love.

And when they reached the top they said,

“Mother we could not have done it without you.”

Days went on, weeks, months and years. The mother grew old, became little and bent. But her children were tall, strong and walked with courage. And when the mother, when she lay down at night, looked up at stars and said:

“This is a better day than the last; my children have learned so much and now are passing the traits to my grandchildren.”

And when the way became tough for her, they lifted her, gave her strength just as she had given them hers. One day they came to a hill, and beyond the hill they saw a shining road and a golden gate flung wide. And the Mother said,

“I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end is better than the beginning for my children can walk with dignity and pride, with their heads held high, and so can their children after them”. And the children said,

“You will always walk with us, Mama, even when you have gone through the gates.”

And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. They could see her no more.

A mother is more than a memory. She is a living presence. She is the cool hand on your brow when you are not feeling well, she is the sound of the rain that lulls you to sleep, she is your birthday morning. She is the life inside your laughter. And she’s crystallized in every tear drop.

A mother shows through in every emotion-happiness, sadness, fear, jealousy, love, hate, anger, joy- and all the while hoping and praying you will only know the good feelings in life.

She is the place you came from, and she is the map you follow with every step you take. She is your first love, your friend, even your first enemy, but nothing on earth can separate you.

Not time, not space –not even death!

Happy Mother’s Day.

My Exile

Tonight, things feel different. My stomach refuses to settle, and the storm outside doesn’t show any signs of stopping. I open my eyes slowly and find comfort in the warm eyes of my mother.

“How much further?” I ask.

Her reply comes slowly, and a barely audible whisper,

“Not long now darling, go back to sleep.”

My mind drifts in and out of reality, images of my friends, and my home flash before my eyes. The war at home is cast out of my mind as visions of my brother and I flood through my thoughts. We were collecting coca-cola bottle tops, David and I, not too far away from home. The fields we would walk through were suffocated by weeds, but this was my land and finding just one bottle top would brighten my day and make me forget about the terror that the rest of my people were facing. On this day my brother was feeling extra curious and we adventured on for miles. The land around us gradually turned scarred and black and a feeling of unease had begun to creep up on me. As we continued through the ghostly territory I began to see signs warning us of danger, the hazard signs burning into my mind. David was about twenty metres away from me when it happened. He was jogging backwards, a smile running across his face, when I suddenly spotted the metal explosive half covered in dirt,a grenade. I screamed for him to turn around but it was too late. I loved my brother.

I wake up to my mother holding me tightly, my brother’s last scream still pounding in my ears. These dreams has been plaguing me for months, and my family decided that leaving my home, the place where we all grew up, was the only way to start a new life. My mother looks down at me, I can see the pain in her eyes and I know she wishes that she could steal all my memories of that day away to relieve my suffering. As I begin to drift off to sleep again I am startled awake by the sounds of footsteps and low growls which seem to be coming closer. Suddenly they are upon us, yelling at me in a language I don’t understand. All of this reminds me of my home where bad things happened, the horrors seem to follow me wherever I go.

Everything is grey. The walls are grey, the roof is grey and the floor is grey. This place was not built for happiness; this is not the haven I was told about. I approach a man I met on the way and ask him what is happening. He responds that we in are in trouble. When you come to this county and you don't speak their language you are in a lot of trouble. I don’t understand what I have done wrong... I am only nine years old. How could I cause so much trouble?

It’s dinner time now, we are marched through the hallway and made to sit and eat. I don’t want to eat, I want to find my mother. Looking around the big room I feel like I am on stage performing. Millions of eyes are watching me, watching this little girl move around trying to find her mother. I finally find her, in the corner sitting by herself. She tells me that we are in prison, and not allowed to leave. I am scared, prison is for bad people that do bad things, my mother and I are not bad. The men in grey walk up to us and separate us, taking me back to my room and my mother back to hers.

After what seems like forever my mother and I are together again, eating what these people call food. She tells me that because I am a child, I will be allowed to leave this place but her, and the other family that we came with, will have to stay here for a long time. I begin to cry, where will I go? What will happen to me? The grey men don’t like it when I cry; I get marched down the halls back to my room. The last thing I see is my mother with her head bowed, weeping.

As I walk from the place with the other children, I am unsure of my future. This country was meant to bring happiness to my family, but instead it has taken the last person close to me away from me. The building is now shrinking away behind us and I take one more glance at its grey walls.

 Goodbye my family.I hate goodbyes.

Mystical dad.

The only thing I ever got off my old man was a handwritten birthday card and a doll when I was ten. He'd gone off when I was three and left me and mum and my sister to fend for ourselves. Mum never talks about him but my sister remembers him.

     ‘What was dad like?' I ask.

     She looks at me through dark, sleepy eyes, pushes her braided hair back from her eyes. Her arms are scabbed like she's been shinning up a rusty drainpipe and accidentally slid back down and scraped herself. ‘Whu?'

     ‘I said, what was dad like?'

     She smiles at me, and I assume that she's ignoring me and I should ask her later when she's in the mood.
     Anyhow, the only thing I ever got from him was a birthday card when I was ten. It said Happy Birthday Julie! And then there was a verse inside the card that went:
 

Now you're ten, and how you've grown
It really won't be long
‘Til you're a woman, and fully grown
With your family and independence.

 
     And on the front of the card was a picture, a cartoon, of a little girl wearing a hardhat and watering flowers. But I mean, how would he know I'd grown? To be honest, I was surprised he knew where I was, we moved so often.
 
But the killer was, at the bottom of the card, below the rhyme, he'd added:
 

Remember, no one's got your back
XX. Dad.

 
     I'd studied this card on more than one occasion, trying to work out some depth to what he was telling me. ‘Laura, what was dad like?'
     Three hours later and she's washing up. The dutiful daughter. She looked up a little, thought about my question for a second or two. Then she said, ‘I love him. Still.'