Just to let you know that whatever you water grows. The plant. The mind. The relationship. Everything grows when carefully and intentionally tended to. The beautiful flowers you see at the florist , the inspiring couple you see on social media, that individual you look up to, the business that is thriving, the person who keeps elevating in career or business, all these things donāt just happen. Someone is intentionally working hard at it.
If you my darling, thought the plant just remains beautiful without you watering it, youāll be shocked to find the same (once) beautiful plant, withered to its roots. I donāt know what this applies to in your life; maybe your prayer life? Maybe a relationship. Maybe a career. Maybe your education. Whatever it is, water it. DAILY. Consistency is a language of those who have discipline and order. Anyhoo donāt forget to get your ticket for the event. If you want to attend but donāt have the money right now please do dm me on Instagram and Iāll reserve a ticket for you: hereās a movie for us to watch today, l love you.
Hey guys! Happy Wednesday! Iām sorry for posting late today , itās just been a zig zag of a day. I hope we are all good good aaaannnnnnd I hope weāve been inviting people to the event. You canāt be part of the Yielded Family and miss a Yielded Family Event. Youāll be that cousin that never shows up to family gatherings .. eii!
Itās every easy to be distracted during worship. Distracted by pain. Distracted by Instagram notifications. Distracted by intrusive thoughts. Distracted by a call from a friend with hot gist or a lover. Distracted by self or even the devil himself. Many people donāt know how to focus on Jesus alone. We worship for a second then we quickly shift to āLord l want five million.ā We praise for a few seconds then we quickly shift to āLord when is my wife or husband coming.ā This is the reason why we are robbed of encounters. We donāt enjoy His presence , we always try to bring self; my job; my money; my this ; my that. āfor our āGod is a consuming fire.āā āāHebrewsā¬ ā12ā¬:ā29ā¬ āNIVā¬ā¬ Today we will pray that the consuming fire of God will consume whatever distraction may arise to quench our intimate moment with the Lord. If you are coming for the event , we will have a wonderful time of worship together. Remember , FOCUS ON THE LORD For now, hereās a worship song to listen to;
Happy new week my Yielded Family. We are starting a new topic this week. We will be looking at different characters in the Bible. Letās study the woman – Leah. Leah is the elder daughter of Laban, the wife of Jacob and the sister to Rachel. Please refer to Genesis chapter 29.
The first time we hear anything specific about Leahās is in verse 17;
āLeah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, āIāll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.ā āāGenesisā¬ ā29ā¬:ā17-18ā¬ āNIVā¬ā¬
My friend and l read this chapter a while ago and we quickly went to google to check if maybe thereās a visual reference to Leahās physique, lol because , I mean, what are āweak eyes?ā Other versions say her eyes were sickly, dull looking and tender. Whatever āweakā means Iām not sure, but the context is clear. Leah was physically unattractive (at least in Jacobās eyes), whereas Rachel was beautiful (he was in love with her). He completely disregarded Leah. The bible says she was not his choice.
We live in a world of choices. I was scrolling on an online store last night looking for bags to buy and sell. I checked a few and added them to my cart. I checked out other bags and even though the reviews were quite good, āitās good qualityā , āitās spaciousā, āI love the designā , to me , they were not a choice Iād make. I love shoes but there are shoes Iād never buy, like these.
These ones can cost R3 or even be for free , l would never ever buy them. Why? Because human beings have a choice based on their preferences. Youād be shocked how many people would love them and even cry if you give them as a gift. Now the difference is, those are shoes, shoes donāt have feelings even if they are rejected. At worst the designer hears you talking bad about his design but thatās that. Leah was not a shoe. Or a bag. Human beings feel. Human beings yearn and Long to be chosen no matter the flaws they are AWARE they have, they still want to be first choice. Letās go back scripture;
Jacob did not hold back his love. He declared it openly to Laban that he was willing to work hard to get his younger daughter , Rachel. Guess what? From the get go, Jacob knew the custom was to marry the first daughter first. If Jacob is a cheat, Laban is double dose! Anyhoo, Leah was aware that Jacob does not like her much so much so heās willingness to cheat āculture and traditionā to avoid being with her. How did Leah feel about all this? Maybe Jacob was not the first man dodge her. Maybe he was not the only man to make her feel unseen. Leah.
When it came to Rachel, Jacob said āl will workā but when it came to Leah , there was silence and crooked plans. No one was willing to show up. I know many of us have had our Leah moments. You applied and they chose someone who wasnāt even as qualified as you. You thought because you have finally made it in life your parents would love you but the rejection continued. Rejected by friends. Rejected by men. Rejected by women. You are just never the first choice and you have built an identity around it so much so even before people say anything, you have concluded, it will be a no. What happens to you when you feel youāre not good enough? What happens to you when certain people destabilise our need to ābelongā?
There are so many things about Leah that I want us to discuss. We shouldāve been on our second post but I got tied up yesterday and couldnāt post. I want to encourage you to get a ticket for our event on the 19th, we will talk about such things and more. The truth is, many people think theyāll find healing in other people. No. Healing is found in God after you make a decision to start the journey. Healing from rejection . See you on our next blog, letās find out how much damage rejection can cause.
Please help me share the link to the event with your friends
If the mirror could project hearts, what would yours look like?
When you get a couple of pimples on your face , you may quickly try and find new products to give you a clearer and smoother skin. āPerhaps,ā we say, āthe ones we got before donāt workā. When a hairstyle is over three weeks and it looks like you are a bushman , you get a new hairstyle then you suddenly feel alive again. Why do we do all this? To ensure that our physical appearance is good. How many times do we intentionally check the conditions of our hearts?
It is not uncommon to hear people say, āI donāt believe in therapyā or āTherapy doesnāt work for me,ā and these are all valid claims. I went for therapy too. It didnāt work for me. It was later that l realised, the issue isnāt therapy, it is where you go for therapy. Nobody can fix the heart better than the One who created it – that is – GOD. Psychologists play a huge role in our communities and have been able to help many people , we salute and honour them but they can only offer coping strategies not complete healing. Complete healing is found in Christ alone.
Often, we use something external to help us cope with what is internal, like a glass of wine or your favourite snack. Some use sex and binge watching tv series to cope. Eventually it starts influencing your day-to-day functioning. The people of the world donāt see anything wrong with this. As a matter of fact, they encourage you to do what you can to ācopeā while the Bible encourages us to come to Jehovah Rapha. One brings short lived relief, the other brings total and complete deliverance.
There is no checklist or quiz that can tell you, āHey! Itās time to consider counseling!ā but there are some red flags that might tip you off like answering the question above. If mirrors could reflect the heart and mind, what would yours look like? As a survivor of mental health issues, l speak based on experiences which led me to The Balm in Gilead and left me with encounters. Look at what Hebrews 4:12 says:Ā
Ā āThe Word of God isĀ alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heartā
Our first event , which will be a mass counselling session will be held on the 19th of October. We have limited tickets so get yours as soon as you can. Share this with a friend and show up! You can even buy for your parents (yes parents have held onto so much for so long)! Remember, whatever we need is found in God. Sometimes looking in the mirror is not fun but if we want to fix the creases, the hair, we have no choice but to first find out where the problem is by looking into the mirror.
If I have counselled you before, please do share how you have been helped and how it has affected your day to day life. To get your ticket, click on the link below;
Today l woke up late. I felt too tired to face the day. I felt guilty even worse l read this verse last night;
āHow long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to restā and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.ā āāProverbsā¬ ā6ā¬:ā9ā¬-ā11ā¬ āNIVā¬ā¬
