Faith’s Guide

It’s 2022, Where Are You?

Today is the 7th of the second month of 2022, and I am just getting round to saying Happy New Year.

It’s funny because I have been saying with a few friends that our new year starts in February.  That was mainly because we went away over Christmas and returned home mid January.  Arriving back we were all still fully in holiday mode.

Which for me had consequences.

At the start of this year I found myself asking:

‘Where Are You?’

I’ll give you a bit of background.  The end of last year was extremely busy. I was consumed with work, being down with Cxxxd, many cancelled flights, postponed weddings.  It was all very hectic and it felt like I was constantly chasing my tail.

This didn’t stop whilst I was away.  Travelling with two laptops, not knowing when to switch off.

It was still go, go, go.  Although fun (sometimes a bit too much) it was chaotic and this resulted in my being more out of sync.

Upon returning home, I found myself feeling completely lost. I was out of sync.  The truth is I had moved far from God. 

I had lost my bearings, I was not in good space spiritually and I didn’t know what to do.

What to do when you feel lost and far from God:

The truth is the only thing I really had to do was to pause and tell God how I felt.

  1.       Prayer (and repentance)

I said a genuine prayer, nothing fancy, no sophisticated language.  Just simple heartfelt utterances.  I cried, I confessed, I repented of my sins, and spoke about how I felt and where I would like to be.

 

  1.       Sought Counsel

I spent time speaking to someone in my family who had spiritual common sense.  I didn’t need someone that lacked empathy speaking spiritual jargon to me, condemning me, or quoting tons of scripture (out of context). Instead I need love, fellowship, correction and help with developing a structure.

 

  1.       Establish a Routine       

This was critical, because the late nights, early mornings meant my days were rolling into one.  At one point I was sleeping a couple of hours, working, going out in the evenings, back to work, a quick nap then early morning meetings.

It was important to create structure and contain myself. I decided to try to get to bed on time, wake up around the same time daily.  Eat regular meals (I was literally picking because I was always on the go), switch off my laptop and STOP working, set a time for prayer and reading my Bible and moving my body (some form of physical activity).

 

  1.       Follow a Bible plan

I initially started with a 5 day devotional from my Bible App, then when I had started to build a rhythm joined my Church in the Bible in year Plan.

As I’ve started reading the Word again, I’m incorporating studying, meditating scripture and journalling.

  1.       Get back into Church/ Fellowship

This should never be ignored or compromised.  The safety, encouragement and support we get from fellowshipping with other believers is so important.  I cannot stress this enough!  Even more so when you find yourself in a funk, or out of sync.  This is the perfect time to walk with other believers who can support you as you find your rhythm again.

Last but certainly not the least,

6. Invite the Holy Spirit not just daily, but into each moment. 

My pastor often says it is not about performance but pursuing presence.  I find this phrase so encouraging, it also re-orientates me back to what is important – The presence of God in my life. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate Comforter and guide to help us daily on our journey!

We often feel lost because we are not aware of His presence. 

At the beginning of the year we can become so preoccupied with goals, plans that we dampen His voice or His presence in our life.

As Christians we can also become obsessed with things such as fasting, praying, bible reading (WHICH ARE ALL GOOD THINGS!!) that this becomes a task of performance or just a thing we ‘have to do’.  As such we do not acknowledge Him and His presence.

The truth is found in His presence.

Peace is found in his presence

Direction, forgiveness, wholeness (and the list goes on) are all found in His presence!

 

As we continue on with 2022, I encourage you to pursue His presence first.  If you find yourself lost, or far from Him, try out the steps I shared. 

 

If you take anything away from this it’s – just get into His presence, no agenda, just as you are.  Tell Him where you are, what is going on and lean into His love.

As you pursue His presence, you will meet with the Lord and everything else will fall into place.

Happy 2022!

 

Love, 

 

Faith xox 

 

FREEDOM IN FORGIVENESS

Finding Freedom in Forgiveness

Ever been burnt, betrayed by someone you love and trusted? I’m sure these are experiences many, if not all of us can relate to.  


During a recent trip away, I reflected on a conversation I had with my sister about someone I (was going to say used to love, but I still do) love.  In this moment I realised how conversations or thoughts about the person does not trigger any negative emotions.  There was no sign of hurt, bitterness or anger, I felt neutral, even happy at what I had heard.  It dawned on me that I had forgiven them. 

A few weeks prior I attended a Christian conference (‘Sorting Out’. I highly recommend) and one of the speakers spoke on forgiveness.  To be honest he shared things I had heard many times before, but it was good to have the message of forgiveness being a choice and essential reinforced. 



I thought of a particular person I had struggled to forgive.  I recall psyching myself up; I had to let go.

Finding Freedom through Forgiveness

Part of me didn’t want to. I mean my anger and resentment was justified…but then I thought to myself:

How long? 

How much longer will I harbour these feelings?

Why am I choosing to inflict myself with this pain?

Forgiveness Is A Choice.

 

I was essentially choosing to hurt myself by holding on to this pain.

Find healing and peace when you forgive

It’s like someone (spitefully) giving you a ball and telling you to hold it and squeeze it tightly. The moment you begin to squeeze pins shoot out of the ball; causing injuries, and a great deal of pain. 

In this situation there are two choices:

  • continuing to hold on to the ball with the spikes, causing more pain and additional cuts. 
  • Or letting go of the ball; attend to your wounds, moving on, and with time allowing the wounds to close up and heal.  

 

Yes, after a while, you may still see marks, and scars of the wounds. But, the pain (especially at the level of intensity when the spikes cut you) can no longer be felt. And that’s often the experience of forgiveness; there may be things that remind you of what happened. But the lack of pain associated with these reminders is evidence of you letting go in forgiveness, and moving forward towards full healing.

You have the choice to hold on and continuously hurt yourself or you can choose to let go and give your hurt a chance to heal. 

 

Just to note, attending to the wound, is not permission to go over the hurt, or things that were done/said to you.  It’s about caring for yourself! This may be through prayer. It may mean thinking about creating certain boundaries, having accountability partners, going for therapy.  

 

Dressing The Wounds Is About You, And Your Healing. 


Back to that conference, I made a decision to let go and forgive. I prayed a simple and short prayer that God will help me by His grace to let go, move on and not remember things with bitterness, anger, hatred or hurt anymore. 

Today as I write this I think about the conversation I had with my sister and I see that I have actually forgiven. 

 

You Are Free When You Forgive

In this forgiveness I have found freedom; of my emotions, heart, and valuable head space.  

 

There is a special peace of mind that comes with forgiveness, and with this, I can genuinely say I wish this person all the very best of God’s blessings.  

I know forgiveness can be hard, especially when it seems like it’s justified. Trust me the best thing you can do is make the choice to let go and forgive. Ask God to help you, you will find His grace at hand to help you through this process.  And in forgiving, you will find freedom. 

 
In truth and with love,

Faith xox

 

01.10.18

It’s been a minute since I have put my fingers to work on a post, and it feels…I’m not sure how it feels. But I’m gonna write and I hope you read. My aim is not to write  soley for entertainment purposes, but if you chuckle or smile whilst reading that is a definite bonus.  My aim is to encourage you to think, reflect and then act…make a move…hopefully towards God and the good things in life.
 

In the last few days, two beautiful women I know have passed on.  Two very unfortunate circumstances, and two sets of ‘they had so much more to live for’. 
 
Death doesn’t usually move me to tears, but yesterday I found myself hysterically saying to God that ‘this was unfair’. One of my biggest cheerleaders passed away yesterday, I thought about how much my cousin had achieved in her short time on earth. I thought of all she had given, and how much more she had to give. 

Achievement isn’t just about the accolades and tangible things you acquire, it is about the impact that you make. The way you inspire others, your ability to encourage and pull the best of those you meet.
My uncle wisely reminded me that while she was young, she lived a good life and this may have just been her time and we are to cherish the beautiful memories we shared.
 
Thinking about how kind, loving, caring and giving she was I went on Instagram and scrolled through one of my favourite bloggers page Kyrzayda Rodriguez.  I started following Kyrzayda a couple of years ago because I was in love with her hair, but she also had amazing style! But as she shared with us her battle with cancer, I had a new found love and respect for her.  Even in her dying days she kept working, to inspire us, to encourage us.  She fought the fight with cancer fiercely but with so much grace – to her followers and readers she never gave up, and even in her dying moments she wanted to continue giving.
 
I woke up today telling myself

 

 

You Mustn’t Stop Giving.  You Mustn’t Stop Doing. 

Do It For Yourself First, Then Do For Others. 

Whatever your ‘IT’ is, do it till you can’t do it anymore,  give it till you can no longer give it.
 
 

So my ‘doing it’ for today is putting out this post. I feel tempted to include disclaimers of the quality of this post, the images used…but this will be an excuse for me not giving it.
 
So today 01.10.18 I encourage you to DO IT, and give IT your absolute best shot.
 
Happy new month

 
In truth and with love,
 
Faith

HIS LOVE BUG

A few of my favourite scriptures that remind me of His love for me…

The Lord appeared to me from ages past, saying,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you.
“Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt […]
You will again be adorned […]

(Jeremiah 31:3-4)

[…] No one will ever snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater and mightier than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

(John 10:29)

[…] Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:37-39)

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.

(Psalm 103:11)

 

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

(Psalm 27:10)

Happy Valentine’s Day 

In truth and in with love

Faith xox

Are you walking in your purpose?

The word of the season seems to be ‘purpose’. I guess the obsession is understandable for this time of year, as many use the first couple of months to set goals and plan the rest of their year.

 
I’ve heard so many…

‘I need to walk in my purpose’, ‘I need to find my purpose’, ’I’m quitting my job to live my purpose’, ‘what is your purpose, and are you walking in it?’

These questions sometimes make me cringe or roll my eyes. Reason being, is the trending nature in which these purpose fuelled conversations are discussed.

Quick disclaimer: Purpose is important. Knowing your calling, identifying and using your gifts and talents are all vital parts of our existence.  I strongly believe it is important to live a purposeful and fulfilling life to the glory of God. 

My issue lies in this unrelenting quest to discover ‘purpose’.  Some are so bent on discovering their ‘purpose’, they’re no longer living life, as this pursuit has positioned itself as their biggest if not only mission in life.   

 

I also hear bold talks of giving up day jobs to ‘pursue purpose’.

Call me a cynic, I honestly believe many have not actually realised their purpose and are quitting jobs and assignments to follow their own dreams or desires. I do not necessarily disagree with this, but when I think of ‘purpose’, I consider it to be far greater than personal wants or desires, there is a bigger picture which I’ll touch on in more detail later.  There are some extreme cases where people follow trends and disguise it as ‘pursuing purpose’, which is too dangerous and unfulfilling game to be playing.

 

What exactly is your purpose?

Do you have to know what your purpose is?

How do I fulfil my purpose?

How do I know if I’m in my purpose?

 

I recall my pastor’s commentary on purpose at a young adults meeting,  he frankly started that purpose is something only revealed by The Creator. 

He asked us to think about what we would do with a product we were not sure of its use.

He answered, ‘you would probably refer to the manual’.
Why?
Because it has a description of what the product is, how it should be used, and step by step instructions on how to use it. Using our intuition and instincts to piece the product together will probably result in mis-use or even complete damage.  Hence the importance of the manual, it is essential for proper and maximum use.  I believe this same principle should be applied to us.

To live a full, life of purpose, to understand our purpose; what we were created for and how to properly utilise our skills, gifts and abilities we need to refer to our Manual.

The Manual.  

 But, this is a step we often skip, as we tend to head straight over to ‘in-use’ mode.  Then when things start creaking or playing up we begin the hunt for the instructions.  At this point you would think we would refer to ‘The Manual’, nope, most would rather refer to a quick read because of that very reason –it’s quick; there’s no need to take time to understand, a quick glance and you get the gist and off again to in-use mode.

We rush to sign up for conferences, seminars, talks and the likes, to get understanding of what our purpose is.  We begin looking for answers that can really only be provided by The One who created us.

 

Do not misunderstand me; I believe attending conferences, seminars, workshops are great.  Having mentors, coaches, teachers are all really important, but they cannot give us the specific answers we need for our lives, only God can.

If we look at Samuel for example, who called out to him? God.

 

Only God knew exactly the reason and purpose for which He called Samuel.

Eli functioning in the capacity of a mentor was able to guide him towards acknowledging the voice of God. Eli did NOT act as an intermediary and get Samuels purpose downloaded from God and then transfer it to him.  Nope, being someone who was experienced in the office of a priest and having the understanding that God speaks to His people, he was able to share this knowledge with Samuel, so Samuel could respond.  It was God who called Samuel; Samuel had the responsibility of responding and listening to what God had to say (see 1 Samuel 3 for the full story).

This is how we should see our mentors, coaches and teachers.  Most of them have walked the road we intend to, thus more experienced in particular areas. They lend their knowledge and expertise to help and nurture us in these areas.  They are to help us identify areas of strengths and improvement so we can fulfil that calling. But they cannot tell you what your purpose is; only The One who created you knows the specific reason for creating you.  Only He knows exactly what you should be doing and how you should be doing it.

If you do not know what your purpose is, that’s fine (for now). I would advise spending quality time talking to your Creator, inquiring of Him.

We need to break this ‘I need to know now and do right now’ frame of mind.  We cheat ourselves of n developing a deep relationship with our Creator, cultivating our character, honing our gifts and skills because of this need to obtain quick answers and results. 

We are told:

For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

(Matthew 7:13)

This road is wide to accommodate the multitude that travel through and  fit the plethora of glossy and well manicured tips and suggestions to live life.  We know from this scripture that this attractive wide road only leads to destruction.

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

(Matthew 7:14)

 

The truth is spending quality time seeking God is not always fun and glamorous.  But the narrow road is narrow for that reason, it is tight, it squeezes out of us the excesses of life contaminated by sin.  It is sometimes hard; this moulds us, shaping us to be more like Christ.  It is narrow because not many choose to journey through, and not all who choose this path make it all the way to the end.
 

To find your purpose you need to get yourself into His presence, spend time in The Word, engage in dialogue that means pray, wait and listen.  This will probably give you the answers you need and provide the clarity and revelation you so desperately seek. 

On a practical note, be diligent.  We need to learn to consistently put our best foot forward.

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of unknown men.

(Proverbs 22:29)

 Learn to be content in whatever season of life you’re in, this does not mean settling or burying ambition. It means to be okay with where you are now and who you are, trusting God has got you and:
[..]know that God causes everything to work together[a] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28).

Meditate on this scripture and live it!

Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men

(Colossians 3:23)

Do not be fooled, this dream that the world and social media is selling about purpose, is not all glamorous. I believe whatever your purpose or calling it is beyond you.  It is to be used for God and to serve humanity. Therefore, whatever you are doing now, wherever you are now, whatever season you’re in; it’s a purposeful season to serve God, serve others and develop yourself in preparation for the next stage. 

In truth and with love,
 

Faith xox

 

 

Faith’s Guide