Equipping young women professionals with young families to find fulfillment, contentment and joy as mothers and home makers without losing sight of who they are as women.

Volume 06, Issue 01: Begin with Thanks

It’s only a few days into 2016, a time when many people are preoccupied with New Year resolutions: setting goals and targets, making lists of things to accomplish this year.

How about starting on a note of thanksgiving? While making my gratitude list for 2015 several weeks ago, I was amazed at how incredibly the Lord had blessed me. Get your list out if you haven’t already. I bet you would be just as blown away as I was. Break it down into the categories of the wheel of life like you do with your goals. You will be amazed how blessed you were in each wheel.

We make plans, set targets, but God is never limited by our targets. Reflect upon the blessings you walked into that were not even on your list of achievements for 2015. Things your mind had not even fathomed, beyond your wildest dreams.

Count your blessings, name them one by one. We have thousands of reasons to bless the Lord. Command your soul to bless God. Let’s bless Him with all that is within us at the start of the year and beyond. Thank God for his goodness. Ponder over all the good things that happened, started or continued in your life in 2015. Thank God for his favour, for his mercies and kindness towards you, for his wonders and for his grace. Thank God for Christmas, for life, for his provision and protection, for his guidance and direction. Thank God for surpassing your expectations, for going before you and ordering your steps, for making a way for you, for opening doors you never imagined possible, for qualifying you for things beyond your reach, for taking you places you never dreamed.

All the benefits of life are because of the goodness of God. Imagine what would have happened if the Lord had not been on your side in 2015. Because of his goodness towards you, you were not a victim of a fatal accident, terror attack, health emergency, bankruptcy, divorce, eviction, grave bereavement from premature death of a close loved one, hopeless retrenchment, etc.

You could be thinking, “Some of these terrible things happened to me. I got sick, I lost my job, I was dumped, or worse.” Beyond the tears, give thanks to the Lord. Disappointed as you might be, thank God, because He has better things in store for you. In spite of the challenges you faced in 2015, God saw you through them, and He is still looking out for you. Praise your way through the storms of life. Lift up your worship through every trial, every situation.

Three times in a year the children of Israel were to appear before God corporately: the Passover, the feast of Pentecost and the feast of Tabernacle. During the last two feasts, they were to appear in celebration before the Lord, giving thanks for His goodness. As long as they honoured God with thanksgiving, He was going to continue blessing them.

We are commanded to give thanks. Don’t be preoccupied with targets. Pause and give thanks to God. Do not be blinded by your needs and lists. Learn to celebrate and thank God. Live a life of gratitude. Don’t take God’s blessings for granted. Give thanks continually. Let thanksgiving be your way of life.

Lillian Chebosi

Volume 05, Issue 12: Amazing Results

A story is told of Simon and his colleagues who were out fishing one night but caught no fish. Jesus comes over in the morning and asks Simon to move in to the deep and let down his net, to which Simon politely objects given his knowledge and experience as a fisherman.

Jesus directed Simon to fish in the same lake he had labored without results all night. Though he first objected, Simon yielded to Jesus’ direction. But as he cast down his net, Simon didn’t expect anything spectacular.

What have you labored on in 2015 without results? It is one thing to try to solve a problem in your own knowledge and ability; it is another thing to go by God’s direction. God’s way may not make sense, but follow it because He said so and see what happens.

When Simon yielded to Jesus’ direction, he caught so much fish his boat could not hold the bounty. Talk of amazing results!

Sometimes it is our past success or failure that could be preventing us from achieving phenomenon results in new endeavours. There’s a difference between using your experience to fish and following Jesus’ direction to fish. Ask for his direction in the affairs of your life, and be patient for his response.

There’s man’s way of doing things and then there’s God’s way of doing things. There’s man’s way of pursuing academics and there’s God’s way of pursuing academics. There’s man’s way of being an engineer and there’s God’s way of being an engineer. There’s man’s way of leading a team and there’s God’s way of leading a team. There’s man’s way of doing ministry and there’s God’s way of doing ministry.

There’s God’s way of doing it, and then there’s man’s way of doing it. Jesus directed Simon, and that made all the difference. God directed efforts yield phenomenon results. Man directed efforts can be frustrating. Following God’s direction makes a big difference.

Thinking of my own flops in 2015, I am persuaded to conclude that if I am going to do anything in 2016, it has got to be God directed. It is humbling when you see phenomenon results that have nothing to do with you.

Jesus took Simon to the pinnacle of his success. The dream of every Galilean fisherman was to fill his boat with fish. Then He showed Simon that there’s something more than fish, something more than his profession. There’s more to achieve. There’s greater fulfilment to connect with.

Let’s go for phenomenon results in every area of life in 2016 by letting God direct the affairs of our lives – business, career, investments, relationships, marriage, parenting, studies, occupation, ministry, whatever it is. Reap amazing results in 2016.

Lillian Chebosi

Volume 05, Issue 11: Love Came Down

As we approached the Christmas season this week, there was talk about all the fuss. The question is not whether to celebrate Christmas or not. The question is how to celebrate. What to wear, what to eat, the decorations to put up, where to go, etc. Those are details. Jesus is the reason for the season.

We celebrate Christmas because love came down. Jesus is the game changer. A savior is born to us, Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

We have reason to thank God for his mercy today because our Lord Jesus Christ is born, born to save us. Our Messiah is born! Peace and goodwill to all men.

Any measure of human love pales in comparison to the love of God. God’s love for us is unconditional. His love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on us.

God demonstrated his love to us by giving us Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners. Jesus was the Christmas gift, and the way back to God.

The greatest gift you can get this Christmas is knowing the love of God. Knowing beyond head knowledge, being able to say from deep within your soul that “Jesus loves me, this I know.”

Lift up your praise this Christmas season because love came down. I could praise him till the sun goes down. I was there when his love came down. The savior came and took my place, changed everything.

Lillian Chebosi

Volume 05, Issue 10: Keep Your Vision Infront of You

Where there is no vision people perish. Where there’s no vision dreams fade.

Have a vision for your life. How else will you know you have arrived if you don’t know how your desired end looks like?

I have come to appreciate that God is not limited by our resources, education, and connections. With God on your side you stand to get much more than you are qualified for. He can do exceedingly, abundantly more than you could ever imagine.

God’s dream for your life is bigger than your own dream. If you will stay in faith, God will super-size your dream. He will do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond.

Keep something big infront of you. Don’t dream small. You are not inconveniencing God by dreaming big. My dream is that my family will impact millions of children. I don’t want to make just a couple of children’s lives breathe better; I want to make millions of children’s lives breathe better.

Imagine yourself fulfilling your destiny, being a history maker, touching millions of lives.

Put before yourself a picture of how your body will look like when you lose the excess weight, of when you receive your healing, of when you get your promotion, whatever it is.

Put before yourself a picture of your dream house. I have always declared that renting is not my permanent address; that a beautiful, spacious, debt-free house with a complete laundry room is mine. Sounds ambitious, but God told Abraham that whatever he could see, He would give to him. Abraham would possess as far as his eyes could see.

What have you put before your eyes? What is your dream?

It may not look like it now, but the odds are subject to change. Everything that doesn’t line up to what God put on your heart is subject to change. What you keep in front of you, you are moving towards.

Lillian Chebosi

Volume 05, Issue 11: Acknowledge God

Do your best to diligently seek God. Make seeking God part of your normal routine.  God is a re warder of those who diligently seek him.

See spending time with God as a priority, not an option. We draw strength, wisdom, and encouragement from spending time with God. We get refreshed and re-energized. In God’s presence, there’s fullness of joy.

Acknowledge God in all your ways – grocery shopping, preparing dinner, whatever it is you are doing. Life will go so much better; you will accomplish more, and be successful. You will come into an anointing of ease when you acknowledge God.

While brushing your teeth, thank God for the day, for a safe trip to work, for a great day at work. If you acknowledge God, he will go before you and make every path straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says to trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, he will show you which path to take/ he will direct and make straight your paths.

When you see your children, say, “Thank you God for giving me wonderful children”. Acknowledge God at the office. Something like, “God, thank you for your favour”. “Thank you that I excel in all I do”.

Under our breadth, in our thoughts, we should be talking to God. This is what praying without ceasing is all about. Acknowledge God throughout the day. Don’t wait for something to go wrong to start praying. Don’t wait to be in a matatu with thugs robbing passengers to start praying to be spared. Pray before hand, then maybe, you won’t be in that matatu to start with. The Spirit will probe you not to get in, to wait for the next one.

If you will acknowledge God before you go to the gym, you will get a good workout. While driving, thank God for the angels that are taking charge over you. Acknowledge God and he will give you more strength; take you further faster in your work.

Make it a priority to acknowledge God in all things. Acknowledging God is a sign of humility and dependency on God. Its saying, “God I need your help, give me strength through this work assignment, through this meal preparation, through this workout session”.

Make it a goal to seek God, to please him, to honour him. Do your best to diligently seek God, to give him first place in your life. Everything else rides on that. Everything else should come second to seeking God.

We have to see spending time with God as being vital to having a victorious life. Seek first – take time for God at the start of your day. We have got to see spending time with God as a priority, not an option.

Include God in every part of our lives. He is going to crown our efforts with success. We are going to bear much fruit, to be more productive, to accomplish more in less time.

Lillian Chebosi