IT'S OKAY NOT TO HAVE A PLAN

     I love to have my to-do list all planned the night before so that I can have a productive day and even if I don't write them down, I would make sure I make the plans in my mind but there are days I wake up without a single motivation to do any of the things on that list even down to eating, and I would just lie down and just lazy around, that doesn't mean, I am going to die or the clock would cease for me.

I may not be happy with myself or get things done but I would be glad I rested because rest is also part of God's plan for us.

     We all have our blurry five to ten years plans written in our hearts and some very serious people would write those plans down, of course, if you can write your plans down, very great!

He who fails to plan, plans to fail, they say but we all still get confused somewhere in our hearts even with all the planning sometimes

    Sometimes, I feel we worry so much about the future, we overthink all these “life questions” that we end up not enjoying our present.

 

     I know you have heard so much about setting goals and things you should do before the year runs out or things you should do as the year begins and it may be strange that I am writing to you an article with a title, it's okay not to have a plan, I know philosophers and teachers of life will want to stone me but please, have mercy on me while I write to those who need this.

I want you to know that it is okay not to know what you want to do, the answer lies in experimenting and doing things without fear.

    Remembered how most of us had dreams of becoming a Doctor, a lawyer, and really great things, I even had plans to get straight As till I will be offered a scholarship by whatever school I would attend. The dream was big indeed but I didn't know life would be making different plans for me altogether.

Every time I make my plans and they didn't work out the way I wanted them to, I would cry and get so angry, I most times fail to look at the brighter side or how close I was to my goal.

Everyone out there is experiencing something different every second and that experience is called “Life”. Nobody has it all figured out, some planned but did not live to actualize even the first thing on their list which is to wake up.

While plans are good to have for your life, you must realize that things change. Sometimes a new plan arises to replace the old one and set you on a greater path. It’s okay to not have a plan right now. 

I am not in any way trying to say making plans is bad but if you dont have any plans now, don't stress about it. Everybody may be with their jotters now trying to write something down for the new year but  for you, you just want to live, it is okay, do not put yourself under any form of pressure, It’s okay to follow your heart instead and do what you want to do. 

But don't stop dreaming, that's where plans are birthed.

Your Sis.

HEAVEN IS NOT THE GOAL

     Last year, the trend "Heaven is the goal" was almost on every status and lips, the Christians weren't left out on this trend.

 For me, it was beyond just a trend, heaven is my goal but is that the topmost goal for us as believers?

Why do you do the things you do?

Do you follow the instructions of Christ, is it just so that you won't end up in hellfire?

If your answer is yes, then you are still missing out.

     After primary school, I was taken by my aunt to live with her friend who is a very wealthy woman, when I say wealthy, I mean very comfortable, she had everything money could buy but after a month,  I told them that I want to go back to my dad who didn't have everything.

At that time, being with my dad was better than being in Disneyland, better still, I would prefer to be in Disneyland with him.

    The goal of Christianity is Christ.

I would have loved to be in the mansion with my Dad, of course, who doesn't like good things but I preferred to stay in our small apartment because my Dad was there.

Our goal as believers is to be with Christ.

Somebody once said, "If Jesus were in hell, I'd want to be there".

    The point is not that Jesus is in hell but that, heaven without Jesus is hell.

We hope to be in heaven because Jesus is in heaven.

 

   For some people, their motive for hoping to be in heaven is to see their loved ones who they are hoping will make it to heaven as well, while for some people, it's an escape from the suffering of hell, these are good reasons, the pleasure and happiness in heaven is enough reason to want to go there but having these as your only reason for wanting to go to heaving is making Jesus a means to an end or an afterthought.

     The goal of the father is to make us His people and He our God.

He wants to have a relationship with us even after Our life on Earth.

This is God's goal.  This is why he labored through covenant and kings, patriarchs, and prophesy.  His ancient desire is to have us back again, he "our God," and we "his people."  This is my "home," (God), where I want to be.

 Our goal should be less a place and more a Person, my Creator, my God. 

He doesn't want to be a means to an end in our lives.

My Jesus begs to differ, He is not a means to our afterlife ending, He is not just the way, He is life Himself.

He is life after death.

The result,rrection, and life.

When Jesus is the goal, it only gets better.

As believers, if we are to go anywhere, it should be with Jesus.

It's all about Jesus and not just heaven.

It's all about our groom.

The God in every home.

         It's a perfect day to say "thank you Dad"

I am that child that will pray to fall sick so that I would get Daddy's maximum attention. It's that deep. 

I am trying hard not to use emojis because I am blushing really hard right now.

Fathers are indeed superheroes. 

You would think they never get tired. They are always coming through for us.

Some of them receive very little penny in their place of work but still provide for everyone, how do they do that? I don't know

   They take the burden of all the family without complaining. Abba indeed shared His attributes with them.

  They always try to have everything all figured out.

Sometimes, they don't even know where the school fees will be coming from but they make sure they don't leave their children without hope.

   Just like Joseph, Jesus' earthly father, who faithfully and diligently protected Jesus from being killed. 

A father protects his family. He ensures that nobody gets hurt and is ready to go all the way to provide all they need to be happy.

 I was about to cross the road and I stood beside a father who carried his toddler in his hands, I saw so much love in him as he carried his child, he pressed her on his big chest and covered her head with his hand. I kept staring and wishing I was the one he was carrying.

     Fathers are blessed with great wisdom.

They see beyond the obvious, just like Noah, he saw the future of his children and blessed them and that was how the father of all nations, Abraham, came forth. Though like the case of Jesse, who judges by the looks of his children, sometimes, they may not get it perfectly right but these men see beyond the ordinary and that is why you should listen to them.

  They represent God in every family.

   Most children will misbehave anywhere but never in the presence of their father.

Just like God who is both a loving father and also feared by all, every father is feared and respected by their children, except of course those children who are ready to be cursed.

The world is a better place because we have fathers who had shown great love and also disciplined their children when they are not going the right way.

We appreciate every loving father out there and every father who had chastised their children just to make sure they don't become prey in the hands of the Devil.

In the comment section, celebrate your Dad and write about that one thing you love about your Dad. 

Me, I loved the fact that He buys things on his way back from work. I am such a baby, I know right.

            We celebrate all fathers with this verse

                        Philippians 1:3.

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.

How to raised kids in a messed up world like ours

   My formula for any evil that cannot happen in our world does not exist is, that anything you can think of can happen.

   The amount of evil that has happened and is still happening in our world is alarming.

The other day I saw the press interviewing a girl on social media and she confessed to killing 4 people. She ran away from home and went to stay with her boyfriend who use to send her on a mission to kill people.

    A few weeks ago, everywhere you turned on the internet, are stories of ladies who went to Dubai to eat poo for money or ladies who sleep with dogs.

I hope you realized that these are people's children and siblings.

   Fraud is considered a job now. 

Yahoo guys don't hide anymore, I am even afraid that it may become a legal job soon. 

Nobody cares about the consequences of doing evil anymore.

   Drug addicts are everywhere, even the cost of drugs that are supposed to be used to treat sicknesses are sold at a very high rate because of abusers.

People can drink fuel if you prove to them that it can take them to cloud nine.

    Sex objects which were not something people show in public places are now seen everywhere on the internet. People even do videos to advertise them.

  I was telling one of my uncle's wives the other day, that they should just be praying for their husbands because girls are going wild these days, indecent dressing is seen as a norm now. Temptation is leaving next door or on every man's street

Guess what?

these are what your children are seeing too and these are what the unborn generation is going to be born into. Remember, we are in the world and there is nothing you can do about it, your children will hear the music that the world listens to, they will see the clothes they wear, and they will see all the sex objects that they use to satisfy their sexual urge, so you can't hide these things from them, what you should be concern about is this.

    What do you need to do, so that they will not act, use and do the things the world is doing.

   First thing first.

Don't bring kids into the world if you are not mature enough or ready to take responsibility for them.

Getting married doesn't automatically mean, you must have children.

We have a lot of children as parents these days.

If you are not ready, please, don't bring children into the world.

Grow yourself.

Parenting is not some casual thing you should do casually.

As you read financial books, marriage and relationship books, read parenting books also.

Know what the scripture says about parenting.

Don't just go about raising your children casually, the children you raise today determine the kind of society we will live in tomorrow.

Just look at the society we live in today, it is the way it is now because so many parents failed at their job.

Will you be intentional in raising the kids you have now and the ones you are going to bring to the world?

Are you capable of bringing them up in the ways of the Lord?

Have you known the ways of the Lord yourself? 

Don't forget, you cannot give what you don't have.

What about that bad character you have?

Have you worked on yourself?

Children follow examples. 

My Sunday school teacher then will say, " do what I say but don't do what you see me do"

You can't say that to children because it is what they see that they will copy

So, we need to start preparing and if you already have children, it is still not too late to start working on that habit you won't like your children to emulate.

See, you next week!

Parental Negligent

    He came back home completely different from the person everyone once knew.

I could see the disappointment on his elder sister's face. The blood that connects them made her happy he is back home but she wished he didn't come home this way

    He left home 6 years ago, he ran away from home because of how he was maltreated by his aunty.

No one heard from him, I guessed no one looked for him, nobody talked about him, maybe they all prayed silently that he should find his way home someday, and now, the prayer had been answered but even his blood sister is ashamed to introduce him as her younger brother.

    Everybody stares at him as if he is some kind of taboo.

He had his face all pierced up

He smokes and drinks

Nobody even knows the kind of job he does but it was obvious that he had lost his way.

  His appearance tells it all.

   Those guys on the street, the prostitutes, the thieves, and the kidnappers, how do you think their families feel about them?

        Probably ashamed to call them family

   Some of their parents spend their nights praying on their knees for them, though it is never too late for God to intervene, they've gone too far and just had to suffer things that they ought not to have suffered

   The truth is, some parents failed at their job.

The child-parent relationship had gone bitter especially now that the world is in a process of globalization, social media, and education.

It Is funny how some parents think all they owe their children is an education.

 Children of 18 years are Lords of fraud already, with no one to talk to them because they are shutting their parent's mouths with money.

How about mothers who go about raising their shoulders like a proud peacock because their young child who is still in school had bought a Benz without them knowing their child's source of income.

Some children are stubborn but some parents didn't carry out their jobs satisfactorily

   Lack of proper parenting is the primary cause of violent and aggressive behavior in children.

Some parents are rejecting, always unavailable, and unresponsive_therefor raising kids with low self-esteem and sagging confidence. 

Parents no longer have control over their children anymore because they are also children themselves.

Children are overly exposed. You can never eat your cake and have it. We cannot expose our children this much and not expect an after effect of this overexposure.

No parental guides on movies anymore and children are exposed to strange kinds of movies, uncontrolled access to the Internet, and no restraint on social media. A 10-year-old child is already on Tik Tok showing her cleavages.

Oh, parents are failing and I wonder what the next generation will become if we don't rise and do all we can to be better parents.

We need to stop blaming the government because the laws didn't compel us to bring children into the world.

We must be ready to take full responsibility for our children and we start today even though we are singles or parents.

The next generation will be trained by parents and not children

Stay with us throughout this month and we shall be learning how we can be better parents to the children we already have and the ones we are going to bring to this perverse world.

   

Homosexuality and the Christain faith

It is no news that homosexuality is becoming a norm in our world today, even though this act is not accepted in some parts of the world but somehow it is creeping its way into even the places where it is not authorized.

You sit to see a movie and the writer will somehow find a way to write a story that will involve two gays or lesbians even though, the characters are not noteworthy in the movie.

The entertainment industry is doing all it can to make sure this act becomes acceptable or whatever its motive is. 

Can something be condemned if the word for that something does not exist? The same question can be asked about approving something, but more often the question concerns something that is thought to be deserving of condemnation. 

            ~ Maria Haris and Gabriel Moran

I know you probably do not know that it is a very serious contemporary problem Christians are faced with because we are in this part of the world but that little write-up there is enough to convince someone who is not deeply rooted in the word of God. 

People had come up to say that since the Bible didn't mention that "homosexuality is a sin" it shouldn't be considered a sin.

You must know that there is no scientific proof that one is born with a gay gene, should in case you are asking " What about people that are born as gay?"

The fall of man in Eden did a lot of damage to man, it altered the nature of man, so it shouldn't be surprising that a boy is attracted to a boy at an early age but God never created him that way.

Christians should not be surprised if scientists come up to tomorrow and say they have discovered the "gay gene" those guys are full of wonders you know, but that shouldn't force the church to abandon the sinfulness of homosexuality.

There is only one legitimate and acceptable pattern of human sexuality and that is the monogamous marriage between a man and a woman, only this is celebrated and accepted by God and anything outside this frame is considered a sin by God.

Every person in the congregation struggles with sin but we all must make sure our minds are renewed daily.

If this that we have talked about Is your struggle or you have been attracted to a person the same sex as you, then its time to go back to God and ask for help, do not listen to what society is saying about this, only what God says is true and pleasing Him should be your priority, so I will suggest you ask for help today, you cannot afford to rot in hell because of this.

Homosexuality is sin and should not be practised!

Are Christains missing out in life?

How can you not be partying and drinking?

How can you live your life doing the same routine, studying your Bible, praying, and singing gospel songs?

How do you cope in your relationship?

Do you mean, you won't have sex with your partner until you are married?

That must be a boring relationship.

I don't know if you have encountered some bold and inquisitive people who asked such questions.

Well, I have and it's quite interesting giving them answers even though I don't like my private life out there but when it comes to making people understand the beauty of Christianity, I don't mind telling them every detail of my life.

The world looks at Christian and feels pity for us because they think we are living a boring lifestyle.

They wonder what we are doing in our relationship because to them, it's all about partying and having sex.

They wonder what we do on Fridays night since we don't club.

They keep wondering how we listen to the same kind of music and don't get tired.

Yes! The world thinks you are missing out as Christians but are you missing out? Are we?

It's a big No.

There is nothing out there to miss.

The Bible says " Sin is pleasurable for a short time"

So how is exchanging short-term gain for long-term pain a beautiful thing, what is there to miss out on?

How is having sex and getting worried about unwanted pregnancies or contracting sexually transmitted diseases missing out

You are not missing out on anything, they are. They are living a life controlled by an evil taskmaster and he always collects something in exchange for their enjoyment.

Yes, some sin would be fun, let's be honest here but very short-lived and deadly.

In just 3 months into the year 2022, you would have seen the pain lustful people (money, power, and sex) end up having.

We have read of ladies who were used for rituals.

You must know that Christianity is not a magic pill to make life better. Christians still experience pain, grief, lowest of lows and highest of highs- just like everyone else! The difference is that we have hope and a faith that tells us there is more and because we are saved, we will get to experience the more- Heaven! We will one day reunite with our loved ones, feel no pain, and live in joy for eternity. (Ronda Stuart)

Being a Christian doesn't stop you from doing what you love doing.

You can put on your music (the kind of music matters a lot) at the loudest volume and dance.

Christianity is not boring.

You can have fun with friends and pursue that career but make sure you do all things in moderation and good conduct.

The world is missing out on the peace the Christian lifestyle brings.

We live in love and sound mind.

We live in great joy, yes!  Joy unspeakable.

A Life of good character.

A spirit-filled life

Your lifestyle is envied by many

Never give up your Christian lifestyle, so you can feel among in your society. It's not worth it!

Lastly! Christianity doesn't automatically change a person's personality, you can only add the God-life to your personality. A melancholy person doesn't become a sanguine because he is Christian. He is an introvert not because he is a Christian, so when you think people's lifestyles are boring, it is not because they are Christians but because that's their personality and you are just not cool with it.

Proudly a Christain!