Jesus Is A Busy Man/King

I was at dance practice last week with my girls (sonctified) (I sort of like to do everything and so I teach dance), when one exclaimed "Jesus Christ," and the other responded saying "Don't you know Jesus is a busy man?" I thought that was funny, but then the writer in me bagan to twitch and I started thinking, how busy is Jesus? and is He so busy that He wants us to call on him only when we need Him?

As if God knew I needed some answers, our pastor preached that Sunday explaining that even though Jesus had been exalted as the King of all kings he is still sitting at the right hand of  God, interceding on our behalf (Philippians 2:5-10). First of all, it is so humbling that the King of king still decides to love us through prayer. So Yes! Jesus is very busy. He is making sure that our Father has mercy on us because honestly, if God decided to release his anger we will all be dead. Imagine, He can kill you with a blink of an eye but He still decides to keep you alive. Can you question God? Do you question a maker? No! Yet we are always made aware of His mercies!!!! (Stops to praise dance).

The point is that we usually use the Lord's name in vain (Exodus 20:7) in situations where we can either say Thank You Lord Jesus or just Oh Mine! and I am guilty of this too (shy face). I think it is even worse when we do this with a cuss word, in any language. Imagine how many times Jesus has been interrupted by your OMGEEE!! or God! (As an example this should not be considered as vanity).

The good thing about this is that He is always available. Even more amazing he has given us the Holy Spirit (John 14) to help us with the daily needs including your jeering and your wild exclamations. Next time you want to interrupt his prayers, think can I just swallow my complaints? Can I call on someone else? Maybe I should simply stay positive.

-Amanda 

Unblogging

Everyday, as I climb up the stairs into my home, I say to myself, "what an interesting day, I will blog about it." But that never happens (well besides today) because I am trying to figure out what job to apply for next or what school I will be going to. In the end, I get a little stressed and end up sleeping on the couch...no blogging, no sharing of my incredible day.

I have been pretty busy just setting up myself for a lot of excitement. I started a professional photography business that focuses on portraits recently and that is simply exciting! But more importantly, I started realizing how relevant it is to be grateful. As a Christian, there is nothing more important than showing gratitude. God actually gets upset when He's showing you so much grace and favor but you decide to be ungrateful.

I went through a very difficult January which I will write about in July, but I have recently been having a lot of spontaneous blessings that I have created consciously by calling forth the good. This basically means I have been reading a lot of encouraging books like Joel Osteen's You Can You Will : 8 Undeniable Qualities of a Winner and actively reading and taking notes from the Bible. The fact is that life is hard work!!! But you can also create the kind of life that you want to live. So everyday, when I wake up I say "Something good will happen to me today, Something amazing is going to happen through me, I am complete in Christ, nothing missing, nothing broken!" Believe it or not, amazing things have been happening, like Monday, when I met a man from my church who bought some groceries for me! He is faithful.

All this to say that I repent my unblogging lifestyle and pledge to write more often.

-Rachel

Love Poem for Valentine's Day

I love love and love loves me. I think being able to just tear your heart out into pieces and share it with others for all the right reasons is even better. I think we were

made to just love. Note here I said think but sometimes we have all the wrong reasons for loving. Like, I love my professor because he gives easy assignments or I love my neighbor because she does not play so much loud music like my other neighbor. The common one : I love this guy because he is so tall...man of my dreams. You must love unconditionally, when there is nothing about the person that makes you like them or hate them, the naked truth of that person, without their past, present, or even future.  Honestly, that kind of love requires a lot of courage and maturity but it also allows you to see beyond their unbecoming.

Here's a poem to enjoy for Valentine's Day. True love does not fail. 

 Untitled.

Lust loved after lily
Longing for
Leading to
Lies

Wicked wondered with wild
We wait
Welcoming warmth
Wrecked with want
Wisdom whispers
Without weakness

Rain reverses rebellion
Rising rays reflect revision
Revisiting remedies of refined
Revelation

I'm indescribably indebted
To increasing insufficient
Instances of inspiration
I inquire of idioms and irony
To interpret ideas indebted to
Isolation

Lust loved after lily
Wicked wondered with wild
Reason remedies rebellion
I am  only indebted

 to instances of inspiration

How to Love Your One and Only Life

You can only give up in life when you are about to breathe your last breath. Regardless of what you are going through, you should always consider that being alive is worth more than not having that life to change the situation. You would say "the problem is so bad it's killing me and right now I would rather be dead." But you have to realize that death does not solve the problem either. You have to see life like this: there are only two options for me. 

1. I did not have a say about how or when I was created and because of that my life is subject to a higher being. I must then seek the purpose to which the being created me.

2. If in the process of seeking this purpose I face difficulty, I should not give up because my purpose can only be fulfilled when I find it.

But whoever said that life is going to be a smooth journey? It can be a smooth journey only if and when you decide to make it so. They are people out there who will be wealthier, smarter, and more talented than you. But you have to always focus on your race. Your race!!!! I have had so much difficulty myself just living my own life because I am so concerned with pleasing others or living a life that seems ideal to what I should become. 

God made us. He made only one of you. Your DNA is unique. You cannot be compared to anyone else not because you are better but because there is only one of you in this world. Work each day on making that one and only life useful to yourself and to others. Don't ever see yourself as worthless because of the way someone treated you. If you wake up healthy and well, you must say to yourself " I have good things coming my way today, God has kept me alive for a purpose, I have a calling upon my life, I must be a blessing to someone today."

It is a gradual process of setting yourself up for success. Your purpose might just be smiling to that neighbor each day or volunteering at that shelter. I don't think we have to consider ourselves all as super heroes saving the world and watching the "saved" clap for us. Every little thing you do counts. Make your life worth living. You are the only one that can ensure that...

Enjoy the poem 

Lust loved after lily
Longing for
Leading to
Lies

Wicked wondered with wild
We wait
Welcoming warmth
Wrecked with want
Wisdom whispers
Without weakness

Rain reverses rebellion
Rising rays reflect revision
Revisiting remedies of refined
Revelation

I'm indescribably indebted
To increasing insufficient
Instances of inspiration
I inquire of idioms and irony
To interpret ideas indebted to
Isolation

Lust loved after lily
Wicked wondered with wild
Reason remedies rebellion
I am only indebted                                                                                                                                 to instances of inspiration

What I Really Think About Fashion Blogs.

I have been away, far far way. My sister was prepping for school this morning and asked me whether I was going to work. I said "Yes, at 12 but I have work to do." 'But you graduated, why are you still writing papers." You know, I had the luxurious fantasy that after college, I would just sit in bed, watch television, eat, play, travel around the world and experience its beauty. But I'm just applying to graduate school, working part time, and reading essays. That's a lot of essays and not a lot of appreciation of the world's beauty. I do think I should be writing more often regardless of all this essay business you know. Just one more essay a day on the blog will not make me an essayist...haha

Anyways, back to the subject for discussion: Fashion blogs. I follow about 5 fashion blogs on Instagram because I simply love the way clothes and color come together. I've wanted to become one of these ladies, wearing so many interesting clothes and then having really nice hair and standing next to a really artistic building but how easy it is to be a fashion blogger? 

1. I'm sure you need a really good camera and someone with an artistic perspective to take all these picture.
I love taking pictures. Love! Love! Love!. But whenever I give the camera to my mother, she doesn't take them well. She does not get the right angle or she simply cuts my head off. My sister is so busy reading her books she would think its a waste of time to follow me to the park and take pictures of me. I can just imagine her saying 'no' with her eyes. I can take the camera outside and put it on timed mode but by the time I turn around to pose someone would have probably stolen the camera (well something along those lines.) And so sometimes when I look really great, like last Sunday when I wore those high-waisted patterned trousers, I have no one to take a picture of me. 

 

2. Where do I get all the money to buy all these really cool clothes/hair/shoes?
As much as these blogs are inspiring, they get me thinking A LOT about my money. These lovely girls have a haul like every month. If I go shopping every month (wait but I don't have enough money to go shopping every month... it's not even possible right now.) The point is, I can't go shopping every month and so I can't look cool! I tried thrift shopping but that is also expensive in New York. Plus there is not room enough in my closet for these clothes. But I really want to know where these ladies work and how they are able to shop so much without going broke. 


                            Fashion Blogging is an expensive hobby! Choose wisely

Poems that describe my current feelings!

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting 

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

The Summer Day

      -Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Looking back

I'm finally back home in New York City and it feels so good to be around family and around Ghanaian food(haha). I decided to take a week off before getting back to school work but I realized that it's very difficult to do that. So I'll have to ether share some pictures or write that's captivating and inspiring.

For now, I'll just share some pictures.