The Love Chapter

Let's talk about LOVE.
LOVE God's way.. :)

"Laura, why love?"
"Because they will know we are Christians by our love."(John 13:35)
Not by works, or by majesty, but by our love..

What is love?
Who defines love?
Truth is, we all love by our own different definitions.. To one, love is giving and to another, the measure of love is in words..
But it's simple.
GOD IS LOVE.
He is the personification of love.
He defines love.

You're in for a great time as we go on with this discussion... :)

Allow me to take you to the Love Chapter, as I love to call it.. 1 Corinthians 13..
I'd encourage you to read through the whole of it but for now I will delve mainly into verses 4 to 7.
"4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[ b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
Paul writes this to a dysfunctional church at Corinth to rebuke them for abuse of gifts. And this is a chapter that is now often read at weddings and anniversaries, of which there's nothing wrong with that. However, it's very easy to superficially appreciate love and claim to practise it.. Because love is not an emotion, it's an action. 
He describes a completely selfless love in these senses:

1.Love is patient.
Love God's way does not lose it's temper easily.. It doesn't say, "I'm giving you only one more chance."
It keeps calm, with people and through difficult circumstances.
God humbles us enough with our personal shortcomings despite the many times we fail.. The least we could do is show patience to others when they fall short of our expectations.
Loving people are willing to tolerate the shortcomings of others because they know they have faults too.

2.Love is kind.
Love God's way is kind.
Not too permissive, kind..
Not to mean that everyone and anyone can and may take advantage of you, but to mean that even when your portraying some tough love, your words and actions do not fall far from the will of God.

3. Love does not envy.
A loving person is as enthusiastic about the success of others as they are about their own.. genuinely.
Being a Christian doesn't mean you can never feel jealous. And there is something we can do about it, pray.
This is the best way to cure envy. To pray for him or her demonstrates love, and love and jealousy cannot dwell on the same heart.

4. Love does not boast.
Gifts are generously given to us by God, therefore we have no reason to attribute anything to ourselves.
Pride sets in from time to time, most times unwaringly..
But I do believe that the more you fill your heart with the Love of God, the more these vices lack room.

5.Love is not arrogant.
Love respects, does not push for positions, and does not demean others.

6.Love is not rude.
There is a graciousness in love that translates to how we speak.
Jesus can help us, even in this.

7.Love is not self-seeking.
Love is not possessive, demanding, stubborn, or dominating. Love does not talk too much but listens as well. Love does not insist on its own way. It is always willing to give attention to others, and even compromise, when need be.

8.Love is not easily angered.
Agape love knows nothing about emotional outbursts and tantrums.
It is able to control irate people or a annoying situations with calmness and maturity.

9.Love keeps no record of wrongs.
This one really got to me.
I keep journals and countless times my classmates would fear to even look at what I'm writing because (as I came to discover) most journals contained lots of heavy tantrums and all manner of things that so and so did or didn't do that hurt or annoyed you. Well, it's taken to be a way of venting, but I can imagine how it is to always read what you wrote about someone when you were very annoyed at them. It brings back a lot of things..
We'll, this is just but an example, but many times, even in our hearts, we hold something against people who hurt us for very wrong and it hinders us from ever relating with them in the same way.
Love God's way forgives. It covers a multitude of sins.

10.Love always:
i)protects
Yes, she got pregnant at 18, but don't be part of the 411 team.
Love God's way does not rejoice in failure of others.
Even when others come to you with the 411, you could change the story to.. "Do you love coffee? I loooooovvveee coffee.. Want some?!"

ii) trusts
Ever met someone who, you know they've just been duped, but they are convinced," she didn't mean it."
And you're like, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE DIDN'T MEAN IT?!"
Haha..
Well..
I don't know about you..but I wannabpractise live like my Jesus did.
The Pharisees are speaking ill.. But oh well, they don't mean it!

iii) hopes
Hope and doubt are oil and water.. They don't go together.

iv) perseveres
Yes, that irritating friend.
There's a reason they came your way.

11.Love bears all things!
This is pretty much like what I said earlier.
Love doesn't nitpick, looking for faults all around and having an eye for the wrong things people do.
LOVE doesn't broadcast bad news, it goes a second mile to protect.
I came across this quote somewhere:
“There are many times in my life when I’ve been sorry I opened my mouth. But there has never been a time I’ve been sorry I kept silent.”
Stay strong.
Persevere.

12.Love believes all things.
This is where benefit of doubt comes in.
Believing the best in people.
We all work best in an atmosphere where we feel trusted and appreciated.
Create an environment for those around you to perform to their best.
Look for the best. It doesn't mean you won't see the worst. But focus on the best.


13.Love endures all things.
Love God's way does not retaliate or reject.
It doesn't say, "I'm done with you!"
"I don't want anything to do with you ever again! "

Wow..
It's been one long post, I know..
But this is the most important part that I pray you understand with as much weight as I did.
We may make efforts to work towards practising all these things but without knowing the one true personification of love Himself then it's all null:(
Jesus loves you.
Greater love had no man than this.. That He lay down His life for his friends.
1 John 4:8:
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

I pray that we may all work towards understanding in depth the true nature of God because, then and only then will we be able to solidify our understanding of love.
We don't sign in to this by focusing on love but on the personification of it.. The definition of it.
Live it out! :)

The world will take notice, and lives will be changed.

Lots of Love,
Laura.

Hidden Faults

Unknown errors..
We all have these.

I recall sharing with you about my struggle with perfectionism.You my read about that here. It has a little to do with what I'll share with you on this post.

Being Christians doesn't mean that we never wander from the will of God, we do. We sin.
On to our first reference verse for this topic:
Psalms 19:12(NIV)
"But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults."
The first thing I derive from this verse is that as human beings, there are some errors we make that we can't notice, we can't understand, we can't detect.
Why?Simply because they are unintentional.

So, there are two kinds of sin: intentional (or rather, out of human weakness) and unintentional.
As Christians, any discovery of sin should lead us to the throne of grace, to confess and seek forgiveness. There is a natural proneness to sin even in the best of men, and if we don't constantly pray against temptation, we may find ourselves falling into it. Presumptuous sins are strangely dangerous.
In this verse, David not only desired to be pardoned and cleansed from the sins he had discovered and confessed, but from those he had forgotten or overlooked.
And that's what I'd like to encourage us to start doing from today.

Just to emphasize on the importance, Hebrews 4:13 tells us, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
He knows it all, He sees it all, So take it all to Him. He is abounding in grace.


Please pray with me:
"Oh Lord, wash away with your precious blood, even the sin my conscience has been unable to detect. Father, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable unto you. In Jesus Name. Amen"

God bless you! :)

Love,
Laura.

Guard Your Heart.

My Bible tells me to guard my heart, for its the wellspring of life..

Wellspring?
Chill out.. I'll explain.
A wellspring is a source.. Not just any source.. an original and bountiful source of something.
(this is how Google defines it, and I so love this definition!)
We view the heart as just the seat of emotions and will, but it goes without saying, that there's more to it than this verse states. Your heart is WHO YOU ARE.

At some point within this year, I was faced with many tricky situations whose way out was to "guard" my heart. I walked around daily, telling myself, "Laura, guard your heart!".. Before I picked certain phone calls, or replied to certain texts, or opened my mouth to give my view in a certain conversation.. I was just shouting at myself, " GUARD YOUR HEART! "
Yes, it's because I was afraid of bruising my heart because then I wouldn't have inner peace. And I was also afraid of making mistakes I'd made before..

We'll, the fact that I was trying to put scripture into practise, really went a long way..
But the problem come in whereby, I didn't really, fully, broadly, comprehensively understand what it meant to guard my heart.

Everything about God is just so beautiful.
Lemme share with you something in the Word that you probably didn't know.
(I didn't know until recently)
To every question in life, the Bible gives an answer.
And to the wonder of how really to guard the heart, the Bible gives us the answer in Phillipians 4:6-7..
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Paul tells us that prayer is the pathway to guarding our hearts and minds with the peace of God. Peace comes as a comfort rooted in our trust in God that comes out clearly in the process of prayer. So, guarding your heart is the result of clear communication with God about ALL you do.
And you see, the most amazing thing about all this is that once we take it to the King, then we've played our part.. The ball is now in His court..
See...
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Sweet! :)

Guarding your heart is essential, it can break you or make you..
It can liberate you or paralyze you.

What you have within you pours out with-out you..
Who you are affects what you do...

Therefore,
Guard your heart (who you are).. For it's the wellspring of life (what you do).

Blessed?
I hope..

Love,
Laura.

On Kingdom Assignment

I didn't write this..
(Lol.. What a way to begin a post)
I came across it and I resonated perfectly well with it, hence I had to share with you.

Please read it first before I say more:

“Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” Matthew 16:22-23, NKJV.

Peter didn’t understand at the time why Jesus had to die, but later on it made perfect sense. It was so that whoever would believe on Him would not perish, but would have everlasting life (see John 3:16).

When God has given you a kingdom assignment, there will be those who will not understand. They will try to dissuade you from doing the work God has called you to do. They will speak from their emotions instead of from the Spirit. But you can’t allow people’s fears and their feelings to become your own. You have to serve God with a made up mind as you focus on obeying His voice and His Word only. The deeper you go in Him, the harder it will be for others to understand. And while you’re sitting there trying to explain it, you’re losing time. Recognize time wasters and the distractions of the enemy. Recognize those who are trying to hinder you. Rebuke them in a spirit of humility if you must and keep on moving forward. Brave the waters, raise your sail and let God chart your course. Do what He has put in your heart to do, and you will hear your heavenly Father say, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”

What's your Kingdom Assignment?
Have you been called to minister through song, writing, journalism, photography....?
What's holding you back?

You see, Peter held Jesus back because he did not understand.. It's like that for the most of us on a kingdom assignment. They just don't understand.. It's not always necessarily because they don't mean well.
You can't afford to be distracted.
And whatever it is you've been called to do, give your all to it.

Sending blessings your way, faithful servant!

Jesus loves you! :)

Love,
Laura.

Perfectionism Chains.

For the better part of my life, I've been on a mission. A mission to be the perfect daughter, the perfect friend, the perfect student.... the perfect Laura.
Oh how it drained me!
Oh what a difficult path of life to take!

When my teacher told me, "You're a good student Laura. I'm sure you will not disappoint me." I heard, "You're a good student Laura. But you better not disappoint me."
When my parents told me," We trust you Laura". I heard, "You better keep it that way young girl."
Hehe.. It's a little funny to think about it right now. But for sure I was in chains.
Simple conversations had me setting out on a quest to prove that I was actually the best. That I was perfect..
Those few times I did get into trouble with my parents or my teachers, or I disappointed a friend, I felt horrible. And even though I got off with a few stern words, I still felt like I'd let them down.

My strife to be perfect gradually carried over to my relationship with God. I honestly thought that God would love me more when I read my Bible everyday, when I prayed everyday, when I attended youth meetings and participated in church events, when I fasted from time to time... and more. I believed that I would impress God more by doing all the right Christian things there are to do. Yes, I did want to do them because I partly understood the importance of feeding my Spirit and serving..but I found myself doing them mainly because I thought that was the best way to 'bribe'  God into blessing me.
I'd beat myself up every time I dozed off after a long day and woke up having realized that I didn't pray for atleast 5 minutes before I slept.
I'd feel as though I needed to get saved again.. Hehehe.. Like I'd messed up big time.
It wasn't cool one bit..

I know I'm not the only one who has felt (or feels)  that being a good person - being a perfect Christian - is the key to God's heart.

There's nothing wrong with striving for excellence in whatsoever field of life. Being always at our best is part of being a Christian. In fact, Matthew 5:48 says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." We are supposed to shoot for the highest standard of goodness—God's goodness. And Paul tells the Corinthians, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

But here's the problem with perfectionism:
Perfectionism is doing our best, for the wrong reason. It is about you, it's not about God, or anyone else around you.
Perfectionism is selfish.
Perfectionism makes you believe that your worth is in pleasing your parents, your teachers, your friends, your God.. so that you may earn favour with them..so that you may earn love and acceptance.
Or rather, that's pretty much what it did to me.
Deep within, I was a little stressed out. And I didn't really want to admit that I wasn't perfect after all. I had to prove that there was one perfect girl out of about 400 in school.
(And I flopped, by the way..hehe..I messed up many times. And it got me walking with a stoop for almost a year, feeling unworthy)
I had to prove that I was the kind of child every parent desired to have.
The pressure to be perfect, was a little too much to handle.

God's Perfect Plan
When it comes to God's love, we perfectionists tend to get the order of things all mixed up. We think, If I'm good enough, if I do all the right things, God will love me. But God reached out while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). God made the first move.
Sin entered the world, straining God's relationship with man. We see man trying time and again to fix the relationship with God through animal sacrifices, money, even a tower going up to heaven. But it took God's sacrifice to bring us back to him. God's incredible gift of salvation is ours because God loves us, not because we earned it.(Romans 4:4-5.)

(Oh to grace, how great a debtor..
Daily I'm constrained to be.)

God's love paid the price for our misdeeds. Grace built a bridge brought down by our imperfections.

When Jesus tells us to "be perfect" in Matthew 5:48, he's saying that God's idea of perfection is radically different from the world's idea of perfection. The world says perfection is having the best body, the most popular friends, the happiest family. But Jesus tells us God is our best example of perfection. That means perfection is only found in striving to follow God. And as the apostle Paul explains in Philippians 3:12-16, God wants us to keep our eyes on him and follow the example of Christ in all we do.

Yet even Paul, one of the greatest Christians of all time, admitted he wasn't perfect. He knew he could only gain salvation through a relationship with Christ. But he continued to do his best as a natural response to God's love for him. And for Paul, doing his best meant growing in his faith, seeking God in everything he did, loving God with his whole heart.

The same is true for us. Being perfect in Christ isn't about living up to expectations—the world's, your parents', your own. It's about being obedient to God, day in and day out.

Showing others the light of God doesn't mean we can never mess up. That's why some people think they are not good enough to be Christians.
They don't think they can live up to the expectations everyone has of a Christian - always being nice, never getting in trouble.. etc. Our efforts to be the perfect persons sure doesn't help them think otherwise. But if we'd be more honest about our own failures and show them how God forgives, they might view everything differently.

Perfectionism is a losing game. Fortunately, it's one we really don't have to play. After all, God reached out to us when we were as far away from Him as we could possibly be. Being a Christian isn't about being perfect; it's about being forgiven. So we can relax and be confident that God knows we're not perfect and loves us just the same.

Break the chains now:)

Love,
Laura.

The Mind-Garden

Your mind is a garden
Your thoughts are the seeds
You can grow flowers
Or you can grow weeds.


As James Allen would put it:
"A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind."


The use of a garden as a metaphor for the mind works because it indicates the need for growth and maintenance.

The mind is the most powerful asset granted to us by our maker. We feed it in two ways; positively and negatively. Positive thoughts are the beautiful blooming flowers that brighten your life. Negative thoughts are the ugly weeds that spread faster than you can imagine and eventually suffocate the flowers.
What and who surrounds us has such a great impact on what grows within your mind.

Hence, I bring forth what I'd term as the first point:
❇Surround yourself with what you want to be.
Bad company corrupts good morals. I didn't say it, the Bible did.(1 Cor. 15:33)
I'm one who's really not easily influenced, especially by what I deem negative but indeed for a long time, I took this verse lightly. I assumed that I could be around people who from time to time discussed unproductive topics and leave the place without even the slightest desire to pursue these paths that would most probably eventually lead to my doom.
Until somebody told me, words are seeds and the mind is a garden. Enough said, eh?!
Avoid:)


I'm pretty sure most if not all of us are well conversant with the saying, "Garbage in, Garbage Out". Everything that goes in somehow comes out.
Viewing the heart and the mind as somewhat interconnected, let me share this.
"A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. "~Luke 6:45
Feed your mind with life, you shall speak life:)
Feed your mind with deceit, it'll be all you are about.
So,
❇Feed your mind positively.

We've been talking about weeds for quite some time now, we may as well delve into identifying them:
°°constantly worrying about what people think.
~Caring about what people say is not the problem (because it can as well build you).. Worrying is. Caring about what others’ think means you respect their opinion and will bear it in mind, but it doesn’t suggest that you will rely on someone else’s viewpoint to determine your worth. Worrying about it implies that your worth is contingent on someone else’s appraisal. As James Frey put it, 'Worrying about what people say will always render you their prisoner'.
It is human nature to want to be loved and accepted but you can't please everyone dear:)

°°taking things personally.
Not everyone is out to attack you.
Relax.
It's never that serious.

°°stressing out about situations.
I'm an overthinker. Sometimes I subconsciously drift into deep thought and only until I develop a tension headache do I realise that I have spent a whole lot of time worrying about circumstances which most times, I can't change.
If you can change the situation, get up and do something about it.
If you can't, go on your knees and take it to the King.
I'm reminded of the nursery school songs, "Why worry, when you can pray? Trust in Jesus, He knows the way......".. And..." Cast your burdens unto Jesus, for He cares for you.":)
Oh, what a sweet feeling. :)!

°°gossip, illicit/obscene material..... You know..
These are stuff we should practically flee from.

°°doubt, fear, anxiety, insecurity, anger, self-centered egos..
Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil: for thou art with you; thy rod and thy staff they comfort thee.(Psalms 23:4)
Don't allow yourself to often lose your cool and only focus on self-centered ambitions.

Replace all these weeds with beautiful flowers:)
Kindness, Compassion, Love, Forgiveness.......
You can bring mercy and tenderness to the wounded parts of your mind so that the fight within you can come to an end.

It's easy to overthink things, jump into conclusions or get wrapped in negativity especially when you do not have others around you to give you a fresh perspective.
Being alone, majorly contributes to overthinking so you might as well consider appreciating company.
Also, avoid complaining. It's pointless, doesn't make anything better and drains the complainer as well as those around him/her.

Meditation is blissful. It can help your mind blossom:)
Learn to live in the moment, but do not entirely rule out the fact that there is a future.

Beloved, find ways to cultivate the beautiful flowers in your life. Remove negativity in your life in order to see positivity bloom.
Tending to your garden is an ongoing process.
Tend to it daily:)

Love,
The newest flower garden-tender in town..
The Ultimate #JesusFreak

Laura.

F.A.I.T.H!

I used to think I knew what it was to have faith until I actually studied Hebrews 11 in depth, only to realize that my faith was quite superficial.

Faith is a firm persuasion and expectation, that God will perform all He has promised to us in Christ. As God's word itself would describe it, it is 'being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see' (Heb. 11:1)
Faith proves to the mind, the reality of things that cannot be seen by the bodily eye.

Now, I wonder.. if I cannot even purchase an item I have not only seen but also critically analyzed, how can I just simply believe in the occurrence of a certain breakthrough in my life of which my current situation does not reflect one bit?
It's only human to think that way..

Faith is confident in unseen things.
(Romans 8:24-25) "For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance."

Still in Hebrews 11, we are given examples of real faith.. From the creation of the world, to the worthy sacrifice made my Abel and Enoch's ascension into heaven.... These, among other numerous examples buttress the actual definition of faith.

I'm quite a pro in the game of Poker, if at all my skills haven't become all rusty and I can undeniably admit that while playing the game, I do exercise some sort of distorted 'faith', especially where bets were involved. I don't have to get tangible proof that I will pocket the several hundreds placed on the table, I will simply take a leap of 'faith' and cross my fingers (or not)
I notice quite an inter-relation between faith and sight. They are way parallel to each other. Hence, the moment we choose to walk by sight, then we completely lose the whole aspect of faith in our lives and we only THINK we have faith.

❇"We live by faith, not by sight"(2 Cor 5:7)

I was really struck by verse 6 which says, "And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."
It hit me hard on the face, that I can actually exercise all the possible good traits taught in the Word, day after day, but for as long as my faith is wanting then there is NO WAY I can please God.

I'm guilty as charged of making the "give me a sign Lord"  kind of prayers. And when He doesn't SHOW me, then I begin to complain that He doesn't listen to me. I spend hours on end on my knees, asking God for this that and the other only to just say 'Amen' and get back to wallowing in self pity and discussing my misfortunes with anyone who gives me attention.
Lol. And I wonder why things are not changing..

When Jesus was asleep in the boat, the disciples were shaken and they woke him up like, "what's wrong with you?! How can you be asleep in the midst of a storm?".. I can imagine them saying this, especially the Sanguine of all, Peter. And when Jesus woke up, He rebuked them saying," Oh men of little faith!"
Lack of faith makes it difficult to get through to God, to get past our shortcomings.

When He tells us to take it to the cross, He doesn't mean that we only take a portion and go back with the rest. Then there was really no point of embarking on the journey in the first place. HE WANTS IT ALL. Because He can handle it. Faith is the ONLY way into great salvation. Otherwise, we are only living a lie. True faith is worth every step. It doesn't make everything easy, but it makes everything good possible, to be revealed at God's perfect time.

One of my favorite Hip-hop groups here in Kenya, Recapp, are soon releasing a song titled '5 Stones'.
I love how they use the analogy of David's battle with Goliath.
The chorus goes something like, "all I need is 5 Stones and I will slay the giant (Goliath)."

Stone 1: F, Two: A, Three: I, Four: T, Five: H.

By FAITH, just like David, we can slay every Goliath in our lives. We don't have to SEE how far the stone will go, or where exactly it'll hit Goliath (if not his forehead).. We just have to be CERTAIN, that it's a worthy stone-throw, that shall bring Goliath down and render us victorious.

:)

Wow..
I'm so glad that I have now assimilated this.
Currently a work in progress..
Please join the club;)

Love,
Laura.