HE IS TOO JEALOUS OVER YOU

Friday, November 8, 2013

The word "jealousy" could mean many things like the fear of being displaced by someone else in a relationship, apprehensive of losing affection or position or envying another's success. But it also means being vigilant in guarding something you love and cherish, being possessive and watchful in protecting that which you love. In many relationships, when someone gets jealous over you it shows that they actually value you, it shows that your presence in their life means a lot to them and for that reason they do not want to lose you to another. But sometimes jealousy transforms into being possessive which goes beyond just being in love with the person. The possessiveness causes the person to watch you, monitor you, and in some cases even hire someone to follow you everywhere you go so they can keep tabs on your every move. 

So I met this guy some years ago; I had known him from childhood. My parents took me to his house every Sunday but I never really paid attention to him until I was in my early 20s. He was so sweet, big, strong and amazing; he kept asking to take our friendship to the next level but I always had a dodgy answer every time. We were friends already, we chat once in a while so I wanted to keep things as "just friends" aka the friend zone. I never gave a straight forward answer, sometimes I'll lead him on and then turn around and hurt him just to see if he'll reduce his proposal but he never stopped. So one day, a friend talked me into trying to give him a chance; I reluctantly and grudgingly accepted to go on a date. Just one date and I was sprung - hook, line and sinker. I knew this was love but it was a different kind of feeling cos it was not just butterflies in my stomach, it was more like electric waves running through my veins. He held my hands, pulled me into his warm embrace and I felt just like a baby wrapped in the arms of love. Oh...please don't think this was another player trying to use sweet words on me; he was different, gentle as a dove and in his presence I felt a peace I had never felt before. I felt protected. After this date, a lot of things changed about me because he brought out the best in me, helped me excel in my academics, showed me the path of life, the true meaning of success and pointed me in the direction for a purpose driven life. He was all I ever needed and asked for. Simply amazing...

But somehow, someday...I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders and felt so burdened that I lost track of his love. No, it wasn't him-it was me. I started feeling like I didn't need him that much, felt like there was something I was missing. I just thought I needed a break for a while so I stopped calling him as often as I should have and reduced the communication. As loving as he was he never left; he still stayed and tried to persuade me to stay but I was blinded by the world and my blurred vision of his love. In the end he moved aside and just watched me walk away; but he never left. He hired a guardian angel to walk with me every step I take, to monitor every move I make and to make sure I don't fall by the way side. He watched me make some mistakes so I could learn from them, he watched me fail sometimes so I could rise again; he watched me go through some pain so I could become stronger... he just stood one place and all he did was watch and make sure no harm came to me. At some point in my life, I looked back and remembered his love... I knew it was naturally impossible for him to take me back after I had been with other guys who loved me less but I just thought I should try. I went back with tears in my eyes and he took me back. What an unconditional love...

God's love is unconditional and he is soooooo jealous over you that he just can't imagine you with someone else. He is that possessive and will do anything to fight for you even when you act like you don't need him. He will not force his love on you but will be watchful over you, guarding you through life's troubles and heartaches. He loved you so much that he gave up the most precious gift he had just to have your love. Can you not feel it? Don't let the cares of this world burden you, don't let your heart get worried/weary; just cast all your cares on him cos he cares. His jealousy makes him do crazy things for you - remember David & Goliath? It was humanly impossible for a little boy to defeat a giant but I tell people - even if it's something that God had never done before for anyone, He'll do it for me if I need it. David defeating Goliath was the first of its kind ever... it sounds cliche' but his love causes protocols to be broken for your sake, it breaks the highest Guinness World Record ever; He goes above and beyond for you. I realized this a long time ago and it can happen for you too... just let him love you jealously and fight for you, that's all he asks. Will you let him?

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TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH AND GROW YOUR WINGS ON THE WAY

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

               Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and grow your wings on the way. 

I follow some amazing people on Instagram and this week, some of them have inspired me to push myself harder than I ever did. The most inspiring was Tiarra Monet who quit her lucrative accounting job to start her own business in something she was really passionate about and today her passion has become her job. I thought to myself, what keeps people in the same spot for years knowing that they can do something to get to a better place? It's simply UNCERTAINTY... fear of the unknown. If God had given us a script on how our life will be in the future, we would not be motivated to bring out the best in us so he gives us a hint and stands by the corner watching us to see how much we can trust him.We all have i treasures in us waiting to be unleashed; but not all of us have realized this yet. There is this fear of what happens if it doesn't work out? What if I don't make it till the end? What if things don't work out as planned/ What if I don't have enough capital? We worry about so many things; leave the "what-ifs" to God and just START already. 

The proof of desire is pursuit. Therefore, when you desire to achieve something, you pursue it until you get it . Don't let the fear of the unknown stop you from spreading your wings and flying; life can try to screw things up but no matter what happens, just keep dancing to the melody of HOPE cos Christ in you is the hope of glory (the hope of achieving your dreams - Colossians 1:27). However the road may look, whatever obstacles that will stand in yourway...decide to take a leap of faith. Create a picture of what you want to achieve, focus your gaze on it, put your faith in God and just spread your wings and fly. The most important step is to take that leap without excuses...if you don't, you'll never know how far you would have gone. For some time now, I had been praying about something and I recently spoke to a friend who made me realize that what I've been praying for all along was right inside me. All I just needed was to take a step and God used him to  open my eyes to see the potentials in me. You too can do the same.  

Are you worried about a business plan? Thinking of how to start? Wondering if you will make it despite competitors? You may not know tomorrow but the one who knows tomorrow lives in you and He is saying...Trust me, I gat this. I just need you to take a leap of faith and I'll act. 

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YOU CAN ONLY FEATURE IN THE FUTURE YOU PICTURE

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

My pastor always says, ‘if you can see it, then you can have it’ and no doubt; this is absolutely true. Before anything can become, you must first give birth to it within for it to manifest on the outside. While going through LIB, I came across a letter Oprah Winfrey wrote to her 19 year-old-self titled “The beautiful brown-skinned girl”. It was really inspiring that at 19 she could picture the kind of future she wanted and even though she faced tough times, she still had a clear picture of being a successful woman. Read the letter below.

Dear beautiful brown-skinned girl,

I look into your eyes and see the light and hope of myself. In this photo you are just about to turn 20, posing outside the television station where you were recently hired as a reporter. You’re proud of yourself for getting the job, but uncertain you’ll be able to manage all your college classes before 1 and arrive at the station by 1:30 for a full day’s work. Even so, your biggest concern is how to manage your love life with Bubba. Yes, you are dating someone named Bubba

Oprah & her 19-year-old-self

On this day you’ve brought him to the station to see where you work, hoping he’ll be proud, too. He seems less than impressed. The truth is, he’s intimidated. You don’t know this, though, because you can see yourself only through his eyes. A lesson you will have to learn again and again: to see yourself with your own eyes, to love yourself from your own heart.You’ve spent too many days and years trying to please others and be what they wanted you to be. You will have to learn that the wounds of your past—rape, molestation, whippings for “stepping out of place,” and not being allowed to show anger or cry afterward—damaged your self-esteem. Yet through it all, you’ve held on to a belief in God and God’s belief in you.That will be your single greatest gift: knowing there is a power greater than yourself and trusting that Force to guide you.

The trajectory of your life changed the day you answered the call from Chris Clark, the news director at WLAC-TV. Your response was ignited by the words of your then-favorite Bible verse, Philippians 3:14. “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Knowing there is a “high calling” is what will sustain and fulfill you. From where I sit now, viewing your journey, there are few regrets. Only months before this picture was taken, you wrote a poem about a “woman becoming.” Even then you understood that success was a process and that moving with the flow of life and not against it would be your greatest achievement.

Love you deeply,

Oprah

Now, the question is what future can you picture? I like the part she said “knowing that there is a high calling”. Have you realised that there is a higher calling for you? Or do you think this is all there is to life? Our lives should be upward and forward, pressing on to greater goals and making an impact in our generation. A common interview question that is always asked is “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” What would you be doing 1825 days from now? What improvements and changes would have happened in your life? Would there be positive impacts from you to affect your environment positively? What future have you pictured for yourself? Just before writing this article I was challenged by a friend who just registered an NGO MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE FOR AFRICA; I was mostly impressed that she was not focusing on Nigeria but on Africa as a whole and I can only imagine how big she will be in 5 years or more.

Some people say it’s best to take the days as they come but I think you need to plan for the days or else things will take you by surprise when you least expect it. The day opportunity knocks on your doorstep, will you be prepared to make use of it? On the day of opportunity, it will be too late to prepare. That is why you need to position yourself for what lies ahead. Project yourself into the future and start seeing a picture of who you want to be and what you want to do. Don’t think it’s too late to start, NO…wherever you may be in life you can decide to make a change starting from today. No one can live your life better than you can, so decide to live it to the fullest and take a hold of your future. I know a guy who has a picture of his Dream Home on his office wall and people asked him…Why is it there? What is it for? Do you think you can afford that? And this was his reply, “I just smile…I smile because that picture motivates me to work harder at my OFILISPEAKS business and every time I stare at that picture, I can visualize my future family relaxing and enjoying LIFE to the fullest and I keep going and I stay motivated”.

You can also have a picture of where you want to be and put it on your wall. I did that too, I write out my visions and place them on my bedside so that once I wake up every morning I read it and picture myself in that future and also pray with it cos God will only take you as far as you are willing to go. Another quote by my pastor, “the extent of your vision is the boundary of your blessing”. This means that how far you can see will determine how far God can take you. So I’ll ask you again….WHAT FUTURE CAN YOU PICTURE? WHAT TYPE OF FUTURE DO YOU WANT TO FEATURE IN?


PS: Pls click HERE to LIKE the Mental Health Initiative for Africa page on Facebook. 

XX

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ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE...JUST BELIEVE

Thursday, April 12, 2012

This week something remarkable happened in Argentina; something beyond human imagination and far above medical comprehension. It was a MIRACLE, just when all hope was lost, when everyone had given up. Read the story below.

An Argentine woman Analía Bouter, gave birth to a “stillborn” baby but found her alive in a hospital morgue 12 hours after doctors pronounced the infant dead. She  said she insisted on seeing the body of her daughter, born three months prematurely, to say goodbye to her properly and was taken to the morgue by staff at the Hospital. The baby was apparently taken directly to the morgue after being declared dead. But only 12 hours after her baby was pronounced dead by doctors last Tuesday morning, Mrs Bouter found her breathing in one of the morgue’s drawers.

She told Argentine television that she thought she was hallucinating when she opened the tiny coffin and found the infant still breathing. She said the baby let out a whimper as if she was waking up from a nap.

Mrs Bouter said doctors told her that “nobody knows how she could have survived 12 hours in a refrigerated room.”Her husband, who had already taken steps to obtain a death certificate, had asked to see his daughter before she was taken to the morgue, but doctors told him the drawer had already been shut and that he would have to wait.

“I folded back the blanket and we saw her hands moving. I couldn’t believe it. I was speechless,” he said.

A morgue worker quickly picked up the girl and confirmed she was alive. Then, Mrs Bouter’s brother grabbed the baby and ran to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, shouting for help.

The baby was so cold, Mrs Bouter said, that “it was like carrying a bottle of ice.”

The young couple have named their daughter, who is now recovering in hospital, Luz Milagro, which translates as Light Miracle.

Meanwhile, the Perrando hospital has suspended the medical staff involved in the birth while they conduct an investigation. The hospital's director Jose Luis Meirino said: ‘At the moment we have no explanation. The baby was attended to by obstetricians, gynecologists and a neonatologist. They all reached the same conclusion, that this girl was stillborn.’

WHAT A MIRACLE? Sometimes scientific discoveries and theories tend to challenge God but HE always intervenes to let them know that there is none other than HIM. My reason for posting this article is to encourage you. When life seems shaky and unstable, when you feel like all hope is lost, when there’s nowhere else to go, when you can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel…DON’T PANIC, GOD is working behind the scenes. Different parts of this story encouraged me and i want to share them with you:

•      The baby was born three months prematurely: when God is on your case, HE doesn’t look at your age or level in life. You may think you’re under-qualified for that job, or too small to make an impact in your world, or maybe you are still a junior staff in your company and you think your ideas will not profit anything. Hey…don’t limit God with your thoughts, He can turn the tiniest seed into a mighty tree and He’s on your case right now so expect greater miracles.

•            Nobody knows how she could have survived 12 hours in a refrigerated room: This got me thinking cos even a full grown adult may not have survived even 10 hours in a refrigerator. During that trying period, God sustained you and provided even in difficult times. Now your miracle has come; It will surely blow minds and people who hear it will tremble because it will be beyond what the human mind can fathom. They will wonder how you managed to come this far, how you achieved this success. Everyone will wonder how you could have done it, how possible? Just tell them…Yeah, everything is possible cos even the word impossible says “I’M POSSIBLE”.

•  She said she insisted on seeing the body of her daughter, born three months prematurely, to say goodbye to her properly: No matter what people tell you to discourage you, refuse to allow negative talks stop you from pressing on. Stand firm on your faith and hold on to the word of God.

•           The Perrando hospital has suspended the medical staff involved in the birth while they conduct an investigation: All those who were against you will be put to shame.

•   Notice how many sites and media carried the news worldwide, so your success story will be spread abroad and the world will know that God has done it again. When God does something in your life, it will be open for the world to see and all the glory will be ascribed to Him. He will show you off to the world. Genesis 12: 2 “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favours] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].” (AMP)

Many more sites and media were involved in spreading this good news. I put just 6 cos of space, it's all over the web.

So my dearest, RELAX...God is in perfect control. Your miracle is on the way, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, after the night...the morning will always come. So prepare to share your testimonies cos your miracle is  closer than you think.

I hope you were encouraged. Have a lovely weekend.

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AFTER ALL HE'S DONE FOR YOU....Guest Post by Belle

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

While reading one of Joel Osteen’s Today's Word, I saw something that struck my inner chord. He said that in life we need both the negative and positive sides of life to experience the total experience of a beautiful life. I guess the beauty of it is that to appreciate the sweet things, we sometimes go through some bitter parts too and believe me those periods are not so sweet. So lately, it looks like I’ve been experiencing that bitter part and I don’t know if it happens to you but I got to the point where I was choked up. I received a shocking news and it stretched me beyond my elastic limit; I was so down and didn’t know what to do, I was about to start complaining and asking God why when I remembered that I received a mail from a friend titled – BE ENCOURAGED. I quickly opened the mail and there it was…my aphrodisiac. It felt like someone just massaged the pains away and there was this relief in my spirit after I read it; so I decided to share with you. One thing I know is that God is never too late or too early but always at the right time; He always shows up when you least expect and no matter what you’re going through…remember all the good things He has done and be encouraged cos that same God will do it again this time. He’s the same yesterday, today and FOREVER. I’ll share some verses with you, they give me hope in hopeless situations and strengthens my faith in God.

Habbakuk 2:3 (AMP) “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come”.

Genesis 28:15 (AMP) “ And behold, I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of”.

Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV) “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you an expected end”.

READ BELLE'S ARTICLE

It's a new day and it's got blue skies, fresh air and plenty of sun to warm up our bodies and tan our skin (free tan). I was reading Cindy Trimm's 'Commanding Your Morning' and i came across this passage that struck me like a lightning bolt. So, as usual, I thought to share. I hope it strikes you as hard as it struck me.

Numbers 14:1-11
Most of us know the story of the people of Israel; their sojourn in Egypt, the wilderness and their almost entry into their promised land. But can we remember their continuous complaint to God? Hmmmm....let's read few verses to jog our memories.

Verse 2 "...If only we had died in Egypt or even in the wilderness!..."

Verse 3 "...why is the lord taking us to this country only to have us die...wouldn't it be better to return to Egypt?"

Translate these complaints to your present situation and you may hear yourself say to God '...why Lord? Why can't you meet my needs? Why have you brought me here to die? Why is my career on hold? Why isn't there a breakthrough? What have I done wrong? (more like, what aren't you doing right lord?).

Hear God's response in verse 11 "And the lord said to Moses, how long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?"

God wasn't angry at their unbelief or rage. He was hurt. There's a huge difference between Anger and Pain. He felt pain "...after all the miraculous sings: manna straight from heaven, water from the rock, his presence as a pillar of cloud hovering over them as protection, his presence as pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, and of course, parting the red sea for them to walk on dry land and drowning their enemies behind them". After all these, they still treated God with contempt. I read that verse and I remember times when I doubted in fear and he said to me 'Bel, haven't I always been there for you? Why don't you trust me?'

Psalms 27:10 "Even if my father and mother forsake me, then will the lord take care of me". That was David speaking. But he spoke on my behalf. Even when my parents forsook me (in death) God fed me, clothed me, saw me through to the end of my studies, gave me a place to stay without paying a dime, gave me an awesome job, brought me to the UK where I knew no one, took care of my visa and tuition fee, saw me through my Master degree, gave me a Distinction in my Thesis and an overall Merit, brought me to Hillsong  Church , brought me to Connect Group and blessed me with his son. Yet I treat God with contempt. After all he's done for me.

How have you treated God after all he's done for you?

It's so easy to forget how far he's brought us when we are faced with a seemingly difficult situation in our season of wilderness, which is only for a short while.

Just like these Israelites, we know there's a promised land filled with abundant milk and honey. But for fear and lack of trust in God, they compared themselves to grasshoppers who could not possess the land. 

Verse 9 "...they are only helpless prey to us. They have no protection, but the lord is with us..."
Even with Joshua and Caleb's encouragement, they still complained and threatened to stone them. How silly and ungrateful they sounded right? But check the times you complained to God.  You might have sounded just the way they did.

If only they remembered how he delivered them from the Egyptians. If he could do that, surely he will bring them into Canaan. If only we can look back to the times God had our back. If only!!

The job situation, the career stall, accommodation issues, the health issues, family troubles and the rest are helpless prey to us because God is with us and he is able to bring us to our promised land. Hebrews 10:23 "...he who promised is able".

There's no mountain too high for God. There's no drowning situation he can't bring you out from. Look back and say, if he could do that for me surely he will do this.

:)

XOXO
Belle

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