BECOMING A BETTER YOU.

The month of January has gone by really fast and I cannot believe that it is the last Tuesday of the month already. Let us have a quick recap of our discussions in the past 4 weeks. Just as many of us have new year resolutions at the beginning of the year, we thought it was important to discuss certain things that we ought to start the year with so that we are able to follow through till the end of the year and even in future years.

The first thing we said is that this year, we all need to let go and let God. What this means is that we should let go of past mistakes and errors and allow God work in us and through us. The second thing we talked about is the need for us to be joyful. We stressed the fact that a lot of things will happen and we might get annoyed or frustrated but we must always wear our joy hats and not allow such situations take our joy away. 

Being prayerful is key and this was the third thing we dealt with. We should surrender all our desires concerning our relationship/marriage and in fact everything that concerns us to God because He cares for us and knows everything we need. Last week, we emphasised the need to stay away from unhealthy relationships. You do not have to be close friends with people that do not mean well for you and people that will make your life worse instead of making it better.

This week, I will like to encourage us to develop ourselves both now and in future years. Developing ones self means taking drastic steps to becoming a BETTER person. How can we develop ourselves? How can we become better people? We can develop ourselves by engaging in activities that would make us better and not make us worse than we were last year. We all should form the habit of reading books (this is one that I have not been so great at but whenever I read a book, I gain knowledge and that gets me excited). We should also attend programs that are centered around things that are important to us.

We all have one character or the other that needs to be worked on. We have one or two bad habits that we know are not good for us and even affect the people close to us. This year it is adviceable that we build good character and drop bad habits. This is a step to becoming a better person. Let us choose to be people of integrity, people that are loyal, trust worthy etc. Registering for courses (professional or non- professional) is not a bad idea - this would help us a lot in becoming better as we would become knowledgeable in certain areas of interest.

This year, we all should connect with people, be friendly but we need to be very careful so that we do not get wrongly influenced. We all should make the decision to be better people and make impacts in as many lives as we can impact. Get close to God, He will make your life sweet and better than it has ever been. There will be challenges but you can be sure that they would not last long. 

In taking steps to being a better person, we have to be weary of making excuses. Instead of making excuses, let us challenge ourselves to do the impossible. Be a better you and you will be happy.

Thank you so much for stopping by, we hope to see you next week.

OneLove,

SomzyBrown

SAY GOODBYE TO UNHEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

When we talk about unhealthy relationships, we are not referring to boyfriends and girlfriends only but to the friends that we keep, the work colleagues we have conversations with, whether very close or not so close. The truth is that many of us some times get carried away by the things happening around us that we gradually begin to lose our morals and standards. More often than not, this happens because of the kind of people we mingle with and the kind of people we keep as friends. 

Everyone has a tendency to fall or make a mistake but who we are surrounded by really matters when such happens. For example, if you make a terrible mistake (try to paint a scenario in your head), do you have people around you that can tell you that what you did was wrong or people that can help bring you out of that mess or mistake? When you need to make a decision, who do you run to? Also, when you achieve something great, are you surrounded by people that would automatically become jealous or people that will encourage you to achieve greater things?

Think about this! It is not abnormal that when something happens to us, we want to talk to people around us. However, if we are not surrounded by people who can advice us truthfully but in love, we may get the advice that would either make us feel good about the wrong we did or feel bad about the good we did. This is the reason we need to surround ourselves with people that will make us better.

There are some relationships that instead of helping us fulfill God's purpose and will for our lives, draw us away from it. They are not healthy for us. There are certain assignments and responsibilities that God has given each and everyone of us. We cannot afford to fail God in this regard because of the satisfaction that we seem to get from these unhealthy relationships. We should not be careless with our hearts and with our lives. 

Let me share 2 short stories: 

A man got tempted to cheat on his wife with his work colleague. He had been contemplating doing this for a while because he all of a sudden did not find his wife attractive or good for him anymore. He decided to talk to a close friend about it just to get the affirmation that he needed to take that step. His friend adviced him not to try it and adviced him on what to do to get such thoughts out of his mind. Imagine if his friend was one who did not find anything wrong with cheating on his wife? The advice would surely have been different and it would have ruined his marriage at the end of the day. 

A lady who believed in 'no sex before marriage' got into a relationship with someone who did not find such act a big deal. Every time this discussion came up, it led to a deep argument that she could not win. Apart from the arguments, she would get beaten up by the guy and he would forcefully have sex with her. 

The above are examples of healthy and unhealthy relationships. This year, we all need to be extremely careful about the people that we are friends with and the people that we keep close to us. This singular act can make or destroy our lives. We need to have healthy relationships in every area of our lives. In pursuing our careers, we need to be surrounded by people that will make us better and not people that would encourage us to cheat. Relationship wise, we should be with someone that has the same moral standards  as we do (there will be less arguments). Spiritually, let us be with people that will encourage us to please God and walk in His ways and not to continue in sin. Let us be friends with people that will help our growth in every way and not people that will pull us down. God bless us and may He help us make the right choices, keep the right friends and have healthy relationships.

Thank you so much for stopping by, we hope to see you soon.

OneLove, 

SomzyBrown

SETTING THINGS RIGHT IS KEY

This month we are basically addressing the things we can do to set this year right for us in our relationships and lives generally. We talked about letting go of whatever hurt, pain or disappointment we might have experienced and letting God have His way in us on the 1st of January. Last week, we talked about making the decision to be joyful no matter the challenge that is thrown at us and no matter who throws the challenge at us this year. Today, I want to talk about another important activity that would help us greatly this year if we can make the decision to be consistent and deliberate. 

Prayer is one important activity that none of us should joke with or take for granted. In Sunday school, we sang this song a lot and even though it didn't make as much sense as it does now, it was important we sang it because our Sunday school teacher wouldn't let us rest. The song goes thus:

Prayer is the Key 2ce

Prayer is the master key 

Jesus started with prayer 

and ended with prayer.

Prayer is the master key.

Prayer is the key to everything in life and I want us to take a moment to ponder on this.  If you want things to be set right, you need to pray about them and commit them into the hands of God. There are many things that we really desire and want to see happen but these things might not happen if we are not communicating with the One who knows it all and can make things happen. Some of us want to get married this year or some time in the future. Some of us although we care about when we would get married, we care more and are worried about getting married to the wrong person etc. No matter what the situation is, taking a cue from the Sunday school song, prayer is the master key to any issue or problem that we have or that we may encounter this year or in the nearest future. 

Many of us live busy lives and so we find it hard to spend time doing what is very important - prayer. While it is good and very expedient to have a set time when you spend time alone with God, you can also pray wherever you are and whenever you need to. You can spend time praying on your way to work or during a break at work. It really doesn't have to be for a long period, it could be for a short period. You can pray for 5 minutes and your prayer would be answered, it is not really about the length.

I learnt recently that prayer involves taking God's word back to Him and not praying the circumstance that we are facing. For example, if you are believing God for a child, take the scripture that says: children are a heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward. If you are believing God for a wife, take the scripture that says: he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord.  When we remind God of His promises through prayer, God cannot but act on it. 

This year, please let us all become better at communicating with God through prayer as this is one important activity that we cannot afford to joke with. Let us be deliberate about praying about any and everything this year and trust me, we will see results. Dependence on God is important because really how many things can we do for or by ourselves? God is all knowing, so we should give Him the opportunity to lead us. 

Thanks a lot for stopping by, we hope to see you soon. 

OneLove,

SomzyBrown

IF YOU CAN PRACTICE, YOU CAN WIN!!!

Thinking deeply about what to write on this week, I came to the conclusion that we all need to practice being joyful. Let us take a walk to the dictionary. The definition of joy is to experience great pleasure or delight. Sometimes joy is not about what happened or what did not happen, it is a state of mind. As human beings we need to ensure that we experience great pleasure and delight AT ALL TIMES. This emphasis is important because joy should not be conditional.

This year, I want to advice that we all (myself inclusive) make conscious efforts to remain joyful no matter the situation that happens around us or that happens to us.  Is it going to be easy? Not exactly! But is it possible? Yes, very possible! However, for it to be possible we have to be extremely determined and we have to be careful not to allow anything whether minute or great, take this exercise from us. We shouldn't give room for sadness or trials to take over our lives. We are greater than animals how much more problems?

We are in the month of January which implies that we have just began the year. If we can begin  this year with the attitude of joy by constant practice, this same attitude would remain with us all through the year and all through our lives. It means that instead of weeping over circumstances, we rejoice! Instead of murmuring, we are grateful! Instead of frowning, we smile with hope. We can have this attitude! It is very possible! If we can practice anything, we can succeed in that thing. If we can practice joy, we can win all situations by God's grace.

The reason this is important is that everyone gets used to something they do constantly. When a person decides to go to the gym, the first few days are really hard and painful but his/her body after sometime adjusts to it and then s/he can be called an expert. It is the same with a new job. You might struggle at the beginning but sooner than you expect, you get used to it. In all of these you make a conscious effort by putting in more efforts so that you become better at what you do.

Joy or being joyful can be achieved in the same manner as described above. What this means is that if you constantly practice being joyful, you will get used to it and it would become your default mode. Being joyful does not mean that you won't have tough times. It only means that your reaction to those hard or tough times, would be different from what it used to be. 

We all can achieve this! We can work towards being so joyful that we do not have to live with regrets, disappointments, failures etc. We can make the decision to be joyful even when a circumstance requires us to be sad or to feel dejected.

Thanks a lot for stopping by. This year is a joyful one for us all in Jesus name. Amen!

OneLove,

SomzyBrown.

THIS YEAR - LET GO AND LET GOD!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS!

I am so excited because 2019 is a glorious year already for everyone of us, amen. I am sure you're saying "I heard that last year but nothing happened". No way! It's going to be different this year. You will experience so much joy, peace, happiness in Jesus name. I know that a lot of things happened in 2018 that we were not happy about. Yeah, tell me about it. We wanted somethings so badly and because we didn't get them or because they did not happen, we felt really sad. But guess what? God is set to do so much more than we can imagine. We're breaking grounds this year. 

Maybe you really worked hard at making your relationship work but it still didn't work out. Guess what? That's changing right now because Jesus has stepped into this year with you and your labour and hardwork will not be in vain in Jesus name.

He broke your heart? She decided not to be with you anymore? Your parents refused to approve of a particular relationship that meant so much to you? You thought you were going to get married? You made the wrong choice by being with someone who did not value you as a person? You made a mistake or even mistakeees???? You know what? You need to let all of that go. Let all of those things remain buried in 2018 as you begin this glorious year of your life. 

You have tried so hard to choose for yourself thinking you have the best judgment about who to be with or who not to be with, but let all of that end with 2018. Let us make a conscious effort to allow God lead us, to allow Him choose for us this year. God knows all things and He knows who we are compatible with not just on the surface but in deep areas that we have no clue about. Let us allow God be in charge of our lives in 2019. We need to walk closely with Him this year so that we do not make the same mistakes we made in 2018. We need to let go of the past and let God have His way in our lives.

God did not stop being God after 2018, He remains God and He still loves each and everyone of us. This year, we will experience God's grace, favour, goodness and all the good things we can think of. Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard neither does anyone have an idea of God's plan for our lives. With God being by our side and we making the conscious decision to walk closely with Him, I decree over our lives that:

2019 is our best year yet;

We make the right decisions especially regarding our relationship;

We keep shining bright in all we do; 

We make God famous;

We make Him first always;

We listen to Him as He instructs and leads us;

We have plenty reasons to rejoice;

We obey Him;

We receive clarity and precision on certain steps to take;

We are joyful and our joy will know no end.

Happy new year once again guys! Let us let  go and let God have His way in us this year and always.

OneLove, 

SomzyBrown