Month: January 2018

ANXIETY: And the chaos of tomorrow…

21.01.2018

Author katiem

At some point in our lives, we may have heard the phrase, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, and yet many of us we try to master our future in one day. With haste and no precision, we take a thousand steps into our future and then find ourselves unnerved by the vastness of the dream.

It is true, that only a fool brags about not planning ahead (Proverbs 13:16), but we also need to be wise enough to understand the right time to slow down and take a thousand steps back, if necessary, in order to re-calibrate our focus.

There’s a reason why God does not show us our entire journey to the mountain top. He knows that if He showed us the entire journey, we would either purposely or subconsciously speak or take actions against the steps which we are required to take to get to where we are meant to be. Just like Joseph, God knows that if He had shown him what he would face before becoming governor, Joseph would have talked himself out of following the dream – being anxious over the horror of the pit, the humiliation in slavery, the accusations in the palace, and the pain and loneliness of the prison cell, before the arrival to the throne (Genesis 37; 39–48).

To protect us, God only shows us a glimpse of what is yet to come — that one day we will be triumphant as the head and not the tail; with the sun, moon and stars bowing before us (Deuteronomy 28:13; Genesis 37).

God will get us to where we need to be and only asks that we trust in His plans for us. There will be times when we will be required to march on covering vast ground, and other times when the wisest thing to do, will be to retreat and focus on surviving today’s battle alone. There will be times to set goals and envision the future, and other times to sit back and take each day as it comes.

When the time comes to take a thousand steps back and focus on ‘today’ alone, rest in the Word and in knowing that Jesus has already gone into your future to establish the peace which you will experience in the chaos of tomorrow. And when the chaos of tomorrow tries to steal your peace of today, remember the encouragement from Jesus, “…do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). The emphasis is not that we should not plan for tomorrow, but that we should not be anxious about things that are not in our control, for worrying about them will not add a single hour to our lives (Matthew 6:27). But instead, we should cast our anxieties and burdens to Him who has control over them (Psalm 55:22; Matthew 11:28-29; Philippians 4:6-7).

©Katie Mliswa and MomentsbyKatie.M, 2018.

SILENCE: And the vision board of dreams…

17.01.2018

Author katiem

We all have a dream. Some even place the dream on a vision board. And every day, we wake up to work on the dream and fight to keep it alive despite the perpetual voices of doubt and whispers of discouragement from ‘them’ and the many detours on the way.

But the greatest obstacle to our dream, is us. Regardless of how we fight ‘them’ to keep the dream alive, if we can’t fight ‘us’ then we sabotage and destroy our own dream. The dream can never be kept alive if the mind and the tongue are not in unity with the dream.

We can place the dream on our vision board, but if we fail to control the negative voices within, and worse still, if we allow those negative voices to speak, then we dredge a grave for the dream. The wise words in the Book of Proverbs say, “[B]e careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life” (Proverbs 4:23), and Proverbs 18:20–21 says, “From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled; with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Because the tongue is as lethal as the mind, God took the drastic step of silencing the tongue of one man until his dream came to pass. That man was Zechariah. For many years, he fervently prayed for his dream. He had his vision board and every day he would do what he could and then ask God to do the rest. One day while he was in prayer fighting for his dream, God sent an angel to tell him that his prayer had been heard and he would receive that which he asked for. One would think that such news would have been received with great elation, but instead, Zechariah stood startled by all this and questioned how he could receive that which he asked for, given that he and his wife were both advanced in years (Luke 1:5–14).

Too many of us have dreams which if we were honest with ourselves, we would find that we really do not believe that the dreams will ever come true. The dreams remain a good idea on the vision board to make us feel better for ‘at least’ having a goal which we really do not believe can be achieved but nonetheless is there for all to see, that ‘at least’ we have a dream.

But God does not want us to be an ‘at least’ people. The dreams come from Him, and because He gives the dream to us, He promises to work on the dream with us until it becomes a reality (Philippians 1:6). And sometimes, in order to refrain us from sabotaging our dreams, He might silence us as He did with Zechariah until the fulfilment of the dream (Luke 1:20). The silence might be that uncomfortable place where you have no one and nothing to turn to, but God. But know that even in the silence, God is working with you on your dream and at the appointed time, it will come to pass.

©Katie Mliswa and MomentsbyKatie.M, 2018.

2018: The year to be more…

14.01.2018

Author katiem

The fresh aroma of the New Year inspires endless possibilities to be more than we were last year, to conceive that which was never dreamed / possible, and to go where our limitations barred us. Last year, we may never have dreamed, like David, that we could be more than the dust on our feet. And yet overnight, at the dawn of the new day, David went from a shepherd boy tending to sheep in the field, to a future king of a great nation (1 Samuel 16).

The woes or victories of last year do not determine the outcome for this year. The re-set of the New Year offers a clean slate to rewrite this year’s ending, but the choice to re-set our minds and rewrite the ending, remains ours.

We can choose to advance with the configurations of the year that was because they worked and the year was filled with victory. But the example of the mighty Samson should stand as a reminder that we should never be so comfortable as to live only in yesterday’s glory and fail to plan for tomorrow’s battle (Judges 16).

Conversely, the year that was may have been painful and bitter, and we can still choose to proceed with the same configurations, lamenting and calling ourselves Mara (the one whose life is bitter) (Ruth 1:20–21). But if you are sick and tired, of being sick and tired, you can give the reins of your life to Jesus so that He can be a new force, turning your mourning into joy, and remind of you of His promises—that despite your location, your name and destiny never changed in his book, and a bright future awaits you.

For those who were victorious last year, allow God to direct your footsteps and He will raise you higher than you could ever dream for yourself: for “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love Him  (1 Corinthians 2:9).

©Katie Mliswa and MomentsbyKatie.M, 2018.