A New Melody..

Music and songs have a way of hitting the deepest part of my life. I have recently been listening to many songs by Elevation Worship, Maverick City Worship and many in their worship genre and there seems to be a song for every season and every hill and valley in my life from these groups. But these words from the Old Church Basement took me back through a journey in my life when I was taught about God to when I knew God for myself.

I grew up in a family where love and protection was in plenty. Mami (Mom) as we call her always woke up on time to get my siblings and I ready for church every Sunday and ensure we went to church. Sunday was her day of rest and priority was to ensure we made it to church and got those right foundations. Even as teenagers and young adults where she at one point led the women ministry (Mothers Union) in our church, she made it a point to ensure we attended church every Sunday and encouraged me to participate in youth activities in church. I am grateful because those foundations guarded me from a lot of mess that many of my age-mates got into. I started working shortly after high school and one thing that my colleagues did not understand was why I could not join them for some alcohol or partying after work yet I had some money and no major responsibilities since I lived at my parents home. What they did not understand was that despite having the freedom to do so, I had grown up in an environment and surrounded by people that never considered alcohol as a source of entertainment. Our entertainment was music, family time and church on Sunday. That is what I remember. No wonder Music has always taken me to the point of being vulnerable as I connect with so much of my growing up especially the sweet memories with Mami. My daughter has picked the same love for music including some worship songs in dialects that she has no idea about.

Before I digress, a few years later following those beautiful memories, I remember meeting God for myself and breaking down with some worship song playing in the background while kneeling at the altar at Northshore Christian church in Vancouver. That was way back in 2002 as the late Pastor Ross led me through the sinners prayer. Knowing that I was giving my life to Christ not out of fear of an exam like many of us had done in high school but out of a surrender that music had made me realise the fragility of life and the need to surrender to a mighty God. And a repeat of the same in August 2019 as my friend Julianna from Ellel Ministries prayed with me on phone.

One thing I know for sure is that, despite life’s ups and downs, the everyday temptations and the imperfections I bear as a human being, I am loved by God more that I can imagine and that is enough. The song Jireh by maverick speaks of this so candidly. I pray that in this season, through my own life and testimony, I may be that epitome of what a hearer and doer of Gods word is all about. I am tired of the business as usual code and the excuses that a little sin here and there knowingly is okay. I know the journey is easier with God and its in that knowledge that I sing a new melody…

Let me end with an extract from the song Jireh..

I’m already loved (I’m already loved)
I’m already chosen (I’m already chosen)
I know who I am (I know who I am)
I know what You’ve spoken (I know what You’ve spoken)
I’m already loved (I’m already loved)
More than I could imagine (more than I could imagine)
That is enough (that is enough)
It’s enough for me, oh

If He dresses the lilies with beauty and splendor
How much more will He clothe you?
How much more will He clothe you?
If He watched over every sparrow
How much more does He love you?
How much more does He love you?

May God help us all discover the new melody as the times are different and it’s about time you discover God for yourself with no fear or shame. And when you dont know how to go about it, please know God will work it out.

God bless you.

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Take Me Back …

Courtesy of Lyricfind, I got the lyrics of this beautiful song by Andraè Crouch called Take me back. I will share the Lyrics at the end of my rant today but truth is that it took me to such a deep place of surrender. You see, we are confronted by so many challenges everyday that everywhere you look and almost everything you hear has a sadness to it. We are like living zombies.

There is no where to hide from the realities of life, we are either experiencing harsh realities or watching someone we know experience it. The news are tough, the gadgets we hold are no longer a reason for excitement to get some good news, but instead are sources of even more sad news, breaking news, sad trending topics and messages that are bound to make us feel lost.

One thing I can assure you that I have tested and seen is that there is a God in heaven who hears and answers our prayers, no matter how far we may feel from Him. Many are now standing in pulpits or carrying Bibles in their pockets but the reality is that their hearts are far away from the creator and we no longer can trust even what they say. It’s about that time that we re-evaluated our own lives, let’s stop benchmarking our faith with those we know or hear about, but let’s choose our own walk of faith today, a personal walk that you know that even though God shut the world today, you are safe in His arms.

I admit that I am not perfect, my life is a work in progress, but today I choose to sing this song by Andraè…

Take me back, take me back dear Lord
To the place where I first received you
Take me back, take me back dear Lord where I First believed..
I feel that I’m so far from you Lord
But still I hear you calling me
Those simple things that I once knew,
Their memories keep drawing me
I must confess, Lord I’ve been blessed
But yet my soul’s not satisfied
Renew my faith, restore my joy
And dry my weeping eyes..
Take me back, take me back dear Lord
To the place where I first received you
Take me back, take me back dear Lord where I First believed
I tried so hard
To make it all alone
I need your help
Just to make it home
Take me back, take me back dear Lord
To the place where I first received you
Take me back, take me back dear Lord where I First believed

God has the answers we don’t, and I hope we can open our eyes and realize that all the pretence we have before human beings is all visible in Gods sight. Let’s declare our stand today, and remain grounded in our faith, whatever your faith is, just don’t sit on the fence, declare your stand and stay grounded. Man or woman has got nothing on you, unless they can provide free natural oxygen for your daily living like God does.

God Bless You.

Love ..An Investment That Yields Daily Rewards..

When my son challenged me to speak about something I learn everyday, I thought well…Everyday is an opportunity for us to learn something new, to be a better person both to our creator, ourselves and to those around us. It’s the only reason we live. When Jesus was asked the greatest commandment, His response was towards that same direction, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul and love your Neighbour as yourself”.

Love is easier said than done but yet the greatest lesson to learn everyday. I am blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people in my life, I wake up with gladness daily knowing that love woke me up, the fact that God chose me to live another day, another hour, to still have all my senses working and working well, I do not take that love for granted. I see His love in my heart beating every single moment.

I again go back to the many miracles mentioned in the Bible, and what remains significant in most of them is that they were done as a result of love. Love made Jesus give thanks that multiplied the bread and the fish, He had compassion on the crowds, He healed and raised the dead all because He loved those who looked up to Him. What then is my role in this whole thing called love? Is it just to be said or there is more?

Indeed there is more, love must be the lesson, the language and the action I must choose to learn everyday. It’s not always easy, but imagine the impact when your children know you love them and you also tell them, or when those you hold so dear know that you love them in both your words and actions. Nothing exceeds love, and we must purpose to love and be intentional about it.

It’s the small acts of love that count. Be the greatest version of yourself by choosing love today! You will be more gentle to yourself and to those you truly value. God bless you

Beautiful Kisii….I Call It The Promised Land..

Nothing prepares you for the beauty you see in a place where even the tiny little grass that’s often forgotten as we walk on the sidewalks is green all year round. At least not in a nation that announces that some of its people are dying of hunger or experiencing drought due to rainfall failure.

That beauty is all nestled in Kisii County, a beautiful town in the western part of Kenya

Every day at around 4:00pm, it’s like God opens a shower from the skies to water this beautiful land and shuts it right on time for people to get safely to their homes, ready to surprise them again the next day at the same time. I am always captivated by the beauty of this land and I sincerely hope that the locals also feel the same about it. A local told me that if the town does not rain in 2 days, the trending topic in the area is #norainforsolong.

This is the place that I refer to as the promised land. Growing up, the promised land was a place full of milk and honey and as much as I don’t know if there’s honey in Kisii, I have clearly seen many cows, all sorts of commercial crops such as coffee, tea and sugarcane and all the organically grown farm fresh vegetables and fruits not forgetting their famous bananas.

As I stopped by the roadside to capture a few photos of this beautiful land, I was reminded of how we have to sometimes go through tough seasons in the midst of all this beauty around us and what God would be trying to tell us during such time.

In my human nature, I felt like God was reminding me that He is still God in our midst and that just as He showers Kisii in its season, He shall pour a special rain on us in due season, He shall give us beauty for ashes and replace our mourning with joy, we just have to be patient enough for our 4.00pm tomorrow.

Blessed to have met my high school desk-mate Jackline, 23 years later in this beautiful land, and my prayer in this season, is that we shall be patient enough for our 4:00pm tomorrow, together!

God Bless You!

We Are Not A Depressed Generation, We Are A Bitter Generation..Bitter About Genuine Things

As I took my shower this evening, I got to reflect about amazing people in my life that are outside of my family but have played an important role in my life and just the gratitude I carry in my heart as I pray for them by name everyday. That reflection reminded of the fact that even as they have walked some of the tough journeys with me, they were also fighting their own demons or going through their own struggles. It then dawned on me that many people are walking in pain and bitterness and many have no places or people to vent out to. We then come together as professionals and give that bitterness and pain all kinds of names with the common one being depression and bi-polar. 

I am not a medic (except to my daughter who claims that I am a doctor) but the reality of life is no one wakes up one day and gets into depression, there is a trigger and in most cases a bitterness caused by another person, a situation, an action, a word said, a reaction or just something big or small that makes us snap. 

I lost one of my most cheerful friends to suicide this year and as much I am yet to accept that, the reality is that as human beings, we have no control or power over our lives and we must get to a point of surrender where we stop carrying all this bitterness and lay it at the cross. I speak as a born again Christian who knows that the load is sometimes so heavy and no one can feel or understand my bitterness and pain even in my imperfections as a human. 

When you have one of those days, try do something that connects with your inner being. It could be a walk, meditation, sleep, a run, anything that makes you fall in love with yourself and the higher being. For me, worship music takes me to that spot with some of my favourite worshippers or worship groups being Nathaniel Bassey, Dr Tumi, William McDowell and Elevation Worship and Maverick City just to mention a few. Hope you get to listen to some of their songs that I have linked.

Being in Gods presence and basking in His goodness even in my darkest days brings a relief nothing can replace.

As I seek deep within, I realise that it is unexplained pain and bitterness that drowns our smile and replaces it with sadness. It’s those days when our pockets are empty and we are bitter thinking about how much we have sacrificed for others and here we are broke and without a meal for ourselves. It’s those days when you get an eviction notice and you scroll through your hundreds and thousands of contacts on your phone and you know no one will answer your desperate call for help or those days when you dread for the sun to come out in the morning because you lost your job or your business and you have no where to turn to as you deal with the pain of losing a business or job that you sacrificed your blood, sweat and tears to. 

May God surround us with the right people, the right networks and above all favour that can replace any bitterness and shield us from pain. May He teach us to forgive even when it’s impossible.

If I had an opportunity to replace the school curriculum, I would have forgiveness and living on earth as the only two subjects to replace that whole drama of spending an entire childhood learning the alphabet and how to mix them to make words or numbers and how to play with them. 

Let me sleep. Let’s meet again tomorrow. 

God bless you. 

The Beautiful Islands of Homabay County..

Taking the long rough scenic road between Mbita and Suba makes one ignore the seat belt snuggling closer or should I say getting more tighter as the vehicle wheels go over the bumpy road and swerve to avoid getting into the ditch by the road side.

The first question our host at Suba asks is, “how was the road en route to this place”? Not one to hide my honest opinion, I respond politely, “It was horrible but at least there is internet here” and we laugh it off and start our day in a small town called Sindo that’s nestled between a hill on one side and the Lake on the other side. Kenya is truly beautiful. 

My work colleague (photo credits) and I had the pleasure of driving down this road during the day with the scenic view of some of Lake Victoria’s Islands namely Mfangano and Rusinga and back later as the sun set with a beautiful sunset view. My little research about the area is that the people till their land once a year due to poor rainfall but you will be surprised to see several locals dry their fresh omena (Google calls it Lake Victoria sardines or Silver Cyprinid… I thought you should know) on the road side ready for the market. 

I remember a friend once mentioning that they get omena from Mbita area with 20ft containers but that didn’t really make sense at that point as I never imagined that those small fish would fill a handful, leave alone a container. Well, as you watch the amazing local women from the area drying the fish and protecting them from the hungry birds hovering around to share their catch, you actually appreciate that it’s not every part of Kenya that you will go and expect land full of fresh fruits and vegetables, but you will see the hardworking women giving their best to fend for themselves and their loved ones. 

As I leave this scenic route, I wonder why there is no resort that can capitalize on such scenery and grow local tourism while creating additional jobs for the locals, but again, that’s not for me to decide, hope someone from Homabay is reading this and when that resort is built, I can be among the first guests to enjoy a long needed break in the countryside. 

I now understand why retirement must be in the countryside. If you know anyone who has ideas about building a resort or country lodge along this route, let me know. One warning though, if you are ever on that route and see the clouds forming, get your Bible closer, run for dear life and pray that it does not rain. It rained on our way back and I remember asking from my back seat how far we were from the tarmac road every few minutes while sitting on the edge of the seat. We made it safely to our hotel a distance away and grateful for an opportunity to once again enjoy what Homabay County has to offer.

God Bless you

She Said Yes to Being a Second Wife…

A friend calls you on a Saturday afternoon because she has some hot gossip to share with you, your other friend just said yes to being a second wife. How do you respond and what’s your thoughts about polygamy. 

Well, it’s not in my place to judge who marries and who does not marry but one thing for sure, everyday across the globe, we have people marrying or getting married as second or even third wives. It’s one of those taboo subjects that are spoken in silence as a woman is said to have gone into another woman’s space ready to share what the man has to offer. There’s no girl code that protects and prevents women from doing this. I always imagine a case where a woman tells her husband that she is bringing in another man to the marriage, how would that play out?. Well! I haven’t heard of it yet but I doubt the boys code would allow for that.

Before I get distracted about this woman checking in as the second wife, African tradition never fought this and neither did the Old Testament in the Bible. Who am I then to fight it off? Let me however set some clear beliefs or should I call them life lessons, now that I belong to that age group that my children, my nephew and their friends consider old and traditional . A man that brings you in as a second wife will definitely go out and get a third wife or a girlfriend. The fact that he broke the promise of the First Lady of the home means he will keep breaking even the promises made to you. The man may provide all the money and comfort in the world, but one thing remains, you will never be at the point of full trust with this man as you fear that your secrets and plans will be shared with your co-wife. 

I doubt any woman gets into any relationship as a second wife with no ill intentions and by ill intentions I also mean that there must be something in it for them. Some of these women do it  for the money,  others  do it to get their children sired off those relationships taken care of by their fathers which is a child’s genuine right to be taken care of by both parents, for some, it’s to get a home because this man may be their only hope of a decent shelter, others it’s for the good sex the man may be giving while others may be for some reason best known to them.

Bottom line is, there is a reason and that reason is not just love. Love alone is not enough to want to share another man.  I could be wrong but let me keep researching on this topic and let me also hear your thoughts in the comment section.

As I wrap up today, Incase you ever find me as a second wife, ask me the reason and I will tell you why, but be sure to hear a quote from the good book, for now, I am happy being with the “one” all for myself. 

Please leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts. God Bless You.

Hello Lady! Your Biological Clock is Ticking…

How many times have you heard that statement especially as a lady who just turned 30 or worse still heading to your 40s or 50s?. Who even decided women need a clock to make them fall in love or add a strangers name to their identity cards?

Is it your nosy aunties and relatives or that neighbour across the fence who married off their daughters at 25 and they are now back home nursing broken hearts and swearing never to love again?..or is it the many “single-married” peers? Never heard of the word single-married women before? well, these are among the ones that keep flaunting beautiful couple selfies all over for you see and behind closed doors, they are the men and the women of their kingdom, filling in the parenting gaps that their well abled healthy partners refuse to fill.

I love marriage and marriage is a beautiful institution, but not everyone wants that. Some women just want a pet that can welcome them home everyday or lovely nieces and nephews to spoil once in a while and thats a little heaven for them. I have met amazing men and couples in my life, I just don’t get the narrative where especially here in Africa, we believe that every woman’s ultimate goal is to get married to one of those men or become that amazing couple. Why can’t we allow the single girls and women irrespective of their age to enjoy their single-hood or peacefully wait for what they consider the right person?.

How many successful women have we seen on our roads driving sleek self bought cars, in boardrooms and magazine covers that have no mans name on their identity? Some of these women had absent fathers or dead beat dads or even never knew the men that sired them but look at them now? Who are you to start placing clocks on these women’s lives? Well, allow me to give you a piece of my mind. 

I am always blessed to see the women who have chosen to take a journey that is less travelled. They intentionally choose to stay alone and grow their careers or chase their dreams without interfering with any other persons life. They have no guilt of who they left home when they take night classes or a mini shopping trip to France. They owe no one an apology for taking an afternoon nap on a Monday.

But look at us all judging these women, some of us are bitter women in marriages we wish we never got into and are always excusing ourselves for staying put to raise the kids. Some of us wake up with swollen faces and black eyes and blame stairs in houses that have no single stairs. 

Please, let’s give single happy women a break and use those clocks we use on them to count the number of days God has give us before He calls us home. God bless You.

The Only Way Out is Death.

I was watching one of those Buddhist monks you-tuber that I find very intelligent called Nick Keomahavong and he mentioned something he does as part of his daily morning routine that got me in a sort of a “reality of life” space. He said that in his morning ritual, he takes a few minutes to think about death. 

Death is not anything anyone wants to think about first thing in the morning, and that includes me, but the more I got thinking about that topic, the more I realised that none of us will walk out of this life alive. We must die, whether it will happen peacefully in our sleep or whichever way our maker plans, that’s not for us to know. 

Why then write about death? Death has taught me about living, it will come and it will come at the most unexpected time. No one ever prepares you for death. Even those that make a decision to take their loved ones off a life support machine are not prepared for the reality of death. It’s just so FINAL. It’s painful and irreversible, but it’s the one thing that makes us re-look at our lives, our relationships and our surroundings.

Many of us are living everyday with so much anger and bitterness, we are so greedy to get more at the expense of others, we want to be at the top of every area that we know, build bigger houses, drive bigger cars, use better electronics and stack more in our bank accounts, but is it all worth it? I don’t know. All I know though, is that as the Bible puts it in Ecclesiastes 2:17-18 (NIV) “So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me“.

Thinking of death makes us re-evaluate more of our daily lives. How do we live our lives today?, we end up spending more times on our phones and party friends than we spend with our children, spouses and immediate family, we are burdened with loans to please people that don’t even care about us when we are gone. We are carrying burdens and pain from our past that we cannot change.

I am not a subject matter but I hope that the thought of death will make you a kinder and gentler person. That it will make you care more and give more, knowing that you will take nothing with you where you are going, because the only way out is death, and it’s waiting for you at the end of the road. 

God bless You. 

Setting Fake Social Media Standards.

How often have you checked out your social media platforms be it Facebook, Instagram, You Tube or any other with a plan to be there for just a few minutes only to log off two hours later heartbroken and depressed. I am talking about those days that the first thing you see is that old friend or neighbour or ex-girlfriend or boyfriend that hurt you so bad or was such a mess you thought that their life would turn out a certain way, but you were wrong. Why?, Social media has a different story thanks to airing all our clean and dirty linen in the worlds biggest village. 

I bet you thought my topic would be focusing on those who set fake standards on social media but no! Let’s focus on you who encourages these people to keep posting because they know they have an audience in you. 

Well, I have found myself in that state, multiple times atleast, and when a sweetheart of mine challenged me to talk about this topic, I knew I was one of the guilty ones. Take this for instance, I check out someone from my past and before long, I have reviewed their history for the past ten years and looked them up in all the other social media channels just to confirm the story tallies. I am not a stalker but that’s just human nature, that desire to know more and compete with what is in most cases not the true picture. 

As we look around us and the many friends and loved ones that are going through depression, one of the main courses is feeling like they have failed or lost hope. We no longer set goals to compete against ourselves, but instead, we are always looking out to see what others are doing, and if they are doing better than us, we feel as though we have failed. We forget that we never share our dark sides on social media, and so are the people we are following daily. We spend hours looking at people enjoying the finer things in life, expensive wining and dining, travel, shopping, hanging out with the who is who and a whole myriad of what seems to be like the dream life, only for the reality of life to be revealed in scandalous situations such as money laundering, unfaithful spouses or partners, children born outside of what we consider the perfect “social media” families and so many other scandals that reveal the reality of life. Sadly, as human beings, we soon move on from one lie onto the next and the cycle continues.

Social media is not all bad but let’s learn to share our reality instead of our lies. We can all change the world one lesson at a time if we are sincere enough and let the world not just see our best and “fake” moments, but also let them see our worst and how we are coming out of them. Let’s learn to set our own goals and standards. As i wrap up today, I am reminded of Kipchoge Keino, the great Kenyan athlete  who had The Ineos 1:59 Challenge specifically created for him in 2019 to attempt to break the two-hour mark for running the marathon distance. He had no one to compete against but his own goal. Those are the standards we need to set for ourselves and for those we see with potential around us, and once that is in place, encourage each other to focus on those self set goals. 

Let’s try that today, start by taking less time on social media today and use that time to work towards your own goal. God bless You.