yielded

First of all, Happy Valentines !! Single, Married, Divorced, all of those categories, I hope you know you’re loved so very much! To my single people, don’t worry oo. It’ll happen soon!! Next year it’s you with the teddies 🧸and Lindt master 🍫 While it’s just a normal day to others, some literally feel the pressure, please o, it is well weet you. Nobody will take the day off the calendar so even next year you have another shot. If you’re single next year then l will have to interview you LOL! (As if I’m valentining) Anyhooo the business of the day!

I can’t get over Minister GUC’s songs! I couldn’t wait to plug you guys. Can we do it a bit differently today? Take your prayer requests and put them before you as you praise and worship. Even if it’s to be in your valentines mood next year, tell God. Worship Him in the face of all your problems and needs, just keep praising and thanking Him for your testimony in advance. It’s important that we focus on Him when we praise and worship, a wandering mind cheats us of encounters! We need encounters today!!! If others could see Jesus Himself, then even you as you worship can too.  There’s no limits to what happens when we truly plug into an atmosphere!

I love you! Thank you for your love and support thus far. Here’s some song suggestions, click play now when you ready to rock and roll! 

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.“
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭18‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

THE HOLY BIBLE

We live in a perverse society that seeks to find closure in wrong places. We are always looking for ways to help ourselves out of situations and we end up on the wrong side of the street . Since God is Alpha and Omega don’t we think He has all the closure we need? He is the Beginning and the End , the All-knowing God , does He not know how to give us the closure we seek? So why then do we leave God who knows it all to seek answers from the world? Let us continue from yesterday’s list;

4. Do not seek spiritist or ancestral readings – many people seek for “closure” by seeking for readings from spiritists and mediums. For example ; someone loses their mother and goes to a sangoma/ancestral reader to find out why the mother died or even try to raise the spirit of the deceased. The bible says people who do such things are detestable to the Lord. The word of God is clear on this issue. The living and the dead have nothing to do with each. That is not the way to deal with grief. Christians don’t deal with grief by using ungodly means. If it’s not Christ-like , it’s AntiChrist. Once you open that door, closing it will be a whole mission. Stay away from things that will not only fail to give you closure but destroy you completely.

5. Allow people to comfort you – some people say they deal with issues better when they are alone but when you’re only hearing your voice you’re bound to hear the wrong things. Shutting people out shuts their advice, wisdom, love, out as well. It is okay to have a trusted person who can be there for you. Loneliness often breeds depression .

6. Don’t fight God – how many of us got upset at God when we lost our loved ones? I was too. God why ? I’m not happy! You’re so unfair! Listen, God understands our pain . He knows we are hurting. Careful of speaking when you’re angry. Martha said to Jesus, “if you’d been here you’d have healed Lazarus, he’d still be alive!” That’s what many of us say . Lord you went MIA . Lord you are not trustworthy. Lord we could be talking a different story if you just showed up to save my sister, my brother, my wife, my child. And we allow those thoughts and words to make us forget, He is there. Right there with us. Death cannot be cheated, the living know they will die. Cutting Jesus off is not wise, you expose your vulnerable self to things that may hurt you further. Stay with Jesus!

7. Yield your mind – using the word of God, keep yourself fed. The emptiness we feel can only be filled by the Word of God. Reject all other opinions and keep feeding on the Word of God. It’s important that we always read the word because hard times reveal the amount of the word we have eaten. Don’t wait for hard times. Feast on the word of God.

8. Believe in the resurrection.

”Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”“
‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

”The message we preach is Christ, who has been raised from the dead. So how could any of you possibly say there is no resurrection of the dead?“
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭12‬ ‭TPT‬‬

MAY GOD GIVE YOU A HUG AD TAKE YOU THROUGH THIS HARD TIME, HOLDING YOU SO YOU DON’T SLIP AND FALL .. JOY IS COMING !! ❤️

”Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”“
‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Good morning my beloved family. I hope we are all doing okay today? I hope your weekend was wonderful. We are continuing with our topic ; dealing with depression, subtopic- dealing with grief. I know many people who have been depressed since they lost their loved ones, you may be too. By “losing loved ones” I mean from relatives to having miscarriages, to friends, colleagues etcetera. Death is one of the things that I still fail to understand.

If you are dealing with depression because of bereavement here are some ways to help you ;

1. Tell someone – in places like Africa where the community is close knit , when/where there’s a funeral , the community is notified. I believe Mary and Martha told some people as well because the bible states that mourners gathered to mourn with them. Understand that you need a community to support you during this time. This is why it’s also important to be a part of the community. You need people. You’ll never not need people in this world. The community will mourn with you and mourn for you.
2. Cry – many people suppress their feelings. The bible says Jesus wept. You need to allow yourself to cry. When there’s pain in your heart it’s okay to cry. That’s how the body/heart has been tailored to deal with heavy emotions. Being a robot will only cause more damage. Not crying doesn’t mean you’re strong, this narrative of telling mourners to stop crying so that they can be strong is wrong. Allow them to cry so that they can be strong. Tears sometimes build strength. You feel better after crying.
3. Take time off – it’s not right to just jump back on the fast lane after losing a loved one. Of course you can’t take leave for a long time but give yourself time to rest. Mary and Martha were found at home four days after Lazarus was buried. Not in a club. Not at a wild party trying to cope in ungodly ways. Careful to not entertain the comfort zone for too long , that pats you in the back until you rest yourself to joblessness or riotous living . It’s easy to fall into bad habits during such times. Be very careful. Rest but also get up and get back to your life.
   
   I hope that these help you. We will have some more practical ways tomorrow. Remember, you can read 500 books if you like but if you don’t practise what you read, you have wasted your time.

”Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.“
‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬


HE STILL LOVES YOU! 

”He heals the wounds of every shattered heart.“
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭147‬:‭3‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Hey my lovelies today is reflection Friday . I want us to reflect on the memories we have of the loved ones we lost. Last night I was talking to my Mom and I started thinking about my Dad , I thought of how I actually learnt a lot from him , Particularly, loving God and expressing my love to people. I can tell you I love you 50 times a day LOL! See, instead of trying to scratch a healed wound [that’s what most of us do] I decided to focus on what lessons the person came to teach me. I remembered my cousin who died in a fire in school and I thought oh wow he was so good at cards and school, competitive spirit, I can learn that! What lessons have you learnt from your departed loved one that can impact you positively? Can we focus on that? Here’s why l want us to look at it like that… Look at the photo below

Your life Vs God’s desire for you

The mirror is the word of God . On one side there you are, broken, almost destroyed, not looking good or desirable, your life has no colour because with every loss , life was taking a bite of & off you. Literally looking like the apple after Adam and Eve had dinner. You have lost your skin, what and who was supposed to protect you and the teeth have dug deep, you’re about to lose your seeds , your very heart why? Because you were cut off from the tree which can be your late mother, father, siblings ,etc who fed you with something you can’t seem to live without. Their presence sponsored your well being. Now that the tree has returned to dust, the apple has become a sore-sad-sight. But on the other side of the mirror is God’s desire for you, how He wishes you were. A whole apple. Fresh. Beautiful. No scratch or bite. Your seeds (heart) protected, not connected to the branch (physically- your late loved ones) but connected to Christ (spiritually) meaning I’m living a wholesome life even disconnected with my late loved ones because Christ has come to make me whole. The only thing to do is take lessons from their lives but we cannot continue to carry the dead in us to the point where we cannot do anything or become anything!

Many are depressed because of this and I understand. The pain is too great sometimes that you even get panic attacks looking at their photos, every thought bites you and when you look at yourself you see a broken apple, good for nothing because those who made us feel good for something have fallen asleep. Think of it.. Don’t you want to live again? Take yourself out of the grave you entered with your mother, your friend. Get out of there. Mary and Martha were not buried with Lazarus! Mary was not buried with her son, Jesus, nomatter how much she loved Him! So even love is not a reason to grieve for them forever. We cannot take each other to either side of realms. You choosing to stay with the dead in the grave is a disruption to your purpose. Your life must go on. Come out of the grave, the living should not be buried. We will talk about the negativities of grieving forever next-week. Today just reflect, positively. What lessons can you take from them to improve your life ? What bad choices did they make that you should be careful to not make? I just remembered, my father worked his body to the point it started fighting him, I will learn from that and do better , my father also taught me, being a good parent sometimes means giving your children hugs every now and then.. see? Every bad situation can be turned around for good..

See you on Monday! I love you! God loves you! ❤️

I hope you have been joining the hallelujah challenge, if not here’s the link to the Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/nathanielblow?igsh=NjMyMDEwZ2k2eHV6 , look out for the notifications. I love dancing for Jesus. Once I get into my room and you can’t hear me blasting in the Spirit but you can hear some hot praise just know I’m doing a mighty David dance. One thing I’ve come to realise? We are too loud with prayer requests but too quiet with our praise and worship. It’s like we only ever want anything to do with God if it’s for “Give us this day our daily bread” we forget that it starts with “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.” Yes. In that order. His heart more than His hand. Click on the buttons below for today song suggestions, add yours on the comment section. I love you. God loves you.❤️

Death is alikened to a scorpion sting . The pain is unbearable. It almost feels like a movie, so unreal that someone was right next to you in one moment and in the next they’re only found in pictures. It baffles the mind and breaks the heart that the person you spent so much time with does not exist anymore anywhere in the world.

The bible records two sisters who lost their brother [Ref John 11] after they had notified Jesus. The word of God says even mourners gathered at their home, like they do wherever there’s a funeral , to comfort them. The one Jesus loved died. The ones you love will die too. I only shared the story about my Daddy but he’s not the only one l lost to the scorpion of death, people I loved dearly, whom I cannot ring right now. We will lose each other just like someday, others will lose you.

Jesus grieved for Lazarus. He wept. ”Jesus wept.“ ‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭35‬ ‭NIV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.11.35.NIV WHY? Because the heart responds to pain through tears. People who don’t cry are only building up a bomb inside. The day it explodes it will have turned to more than pain but anger and bitterness. We cry when we are hurt. “Men don’t cry” is a wordly statement that has destroyed many people emotionally. Jesus , cried. Tears streamed down his face, he felt the pain , he expressed the pain. Not expressing the pain doesn’t mean you’re strong. Not crying doesn’t mean you are healing, it may mean you are afraid, to face your feelings.

I am so sorry you lost a parent, family, a friend, a spouse, a colleague . I am so sorry they had to leave so soon. I am sorry for the pain you’ve had to carry inside, the tears you’ve cried, the panic attacks because suddenly you remembered they’re not there anymore, the battle to stay in faith after all that. I am sorry. It will not heal you or stitch your brokenness but May it feel like a hug. Many of us have died with the people we loved. The day we buried them, we also buried ourselves. We have refused to grieve and let go. This leads to depression. This has led to suicide. This has stagnated many people, why? Because if we choose to stop, God cannot force us to move. He will raise Lazarus if they show him the grave. And maybe we refuse to heal because we feel we would have betrayed the dead, they will feel like we didn’t love them if we forgot. The truth is, the dead know and feel nothing. They cannot even see that you’re crying, if they did, would they not wake up from the coffin? This is harsh truth but my darling, they are gone. ”For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.“ ‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭9‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/111/ecc.9.5.NIV

I have so much to say on this topic so we will continue with it. Today I want you to understand three things

[1] they are gone

[2] face the facts, cry, express yourself, don’t bottle up the pain

[3] you must move on, choosing to stay by the grave is not showing them loyalty, it is stagnating us .

God knows. God understands. Job lost all his children, he grieved. How could it be? Why? God why we ask! But the answer is, all men will one day leave this world. Them, you and myself. We fool ourselves if we ignore this truth. If you’d like to talk to me about your experience and you need help, please do send me an email . For now, approach our Lord, cry if need be , be intentional about your healing. It is possible to be healed from grief.

”Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.“
‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬, ‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Blessed Monday family❤️ . This week we are looking at causes of depression.

My story

Some years ago l lost my father. He had a heart problem therefore he lived a life of medication until his body couldn’t handle all that . At the time, I was already serving on God’s altar and so when it happened it was on a Tuesday, I was on my knees, at altar, alone, praying for him and my uncle who was also sick. I declared God’s word, got up and checked my phone. My aunt called and said to me, “Come home quickly.” Another called saying,”Where are you?” . These are people who rarely called me so I started feeling uneasy but I did not think something had happened to my Daddy, I mean, l had just prayed. So obviously he’d be healed right? Wrong.

I decided to not stay for choir rehearsal and just head back home. While I was crossing the road, a friend called me, with my earphones on, l answered and she said, “I’m so sorry about your dad!” Beloved l was in the middle of the road. My feet became numb. A truck was coming, the driver called out, “MOVE!” I got off the road and thought to myself ,”Nah. It’s probably all in my head.” I walked to the taxis, got home, as l was by the corner, I saw many cars by my house. I said “Lord please help me walk to the gate” , l was literally shaking. When l got home, l saw my Mommy, sitting on a mattress. I saw my sisters crying!! And I thought, “Valerie! Where is Valerie?” Valerie is the one I come after, I thought something happened to her. I was confused. Everyone was looking at me, probably waiting for me to start crying. I asked, “What happened? Why is Everyone calling me?” One of the grannies from the neighbourhood said it , “Sorry. Your father passed away this morning!” My heart. My mind. My body. Everything in me was numb. I felt betrayed. I felt let down why? Why did he die when l was on my knees praying? I prayedddd!! Did l pray too late? Did l pray amiss?

My mommy said, “It’s true. Go to Valerie in the room.” My other sisters were on the floor wailing. Valerie was in the room. In bed. With blankets. In that heat. When she saw me, we both broke down . “ Daddy please don’t let this be true. “ I cried so much. I loved my Dad in a way that I can’t explain. I didn’t know how much that would change my life. Losing my Dad changed the next 6-7 years of my life. I was depressed. I was wounded. I was limping . Every birthday felt like mockery from hell because we shared the same birthday. I was constantly thinking of my sweet Daddy laying in the coffin. Lifeless. I wouldn’t be able to see him again reading his newspaper, hear him singing, no more teddy bear hugs or funny faces. No more.

So l understand. I wanted to share this story so that you know, I understand. I know the crippling pain of seeing your loved one with their eyes closed , no response and in that moment, no answers from heaven. Maybe you think you’re the only one. But there’s been a funeral in every family and the closest person to the deceased feels/felt like you feel. Death is a visitor that goes to every house , knows everyone, eats anyone.

Let us look at how to move on from that experience tomorrow. This was just to start our week. My friend, we will deal with all those things! GOD IS HELPING US! I love you, God loves you. [Refer to the verse at the top]

”The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.“
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭29‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Hey friends! It’s that time of the week! I love love love the songs you have been suggesting for our Worship Wednesdays! I love how we are slowly catching the hang of this together. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be like this, I was “trying out” stuff but now I am certain God is with us here. I want us to worship God today, remembering even the smallest of things He’s done. Cured your flu? Thank Him. Paid your fees? Gave you strength? Put food on your table? Do you have clothes to wear and shoes on your feet? Let’s thank Him. Well, I thank Him for you! Showing up here to read these long blogs LOL! You’re celebrated today! Remember to share what you’re listening to today on the comments? Let’s gooo🚀 .. SIMPLY CLICK the buttons below to access my song suggestions.