TILL YOU SPOT THE CLOUD

Last night, in one of my random conversations with a close friend, I grumbled of a prayer that I have been hoping that God would have answered by now. On and on I expressed my broken expectation as I tried to dissect why that prayer was yet to be answered.

In his usual calm and sober manner, the friend reminded me of the story of Elijah and his servant. Immediately after proving to the Baal prophets that there is only one true God, Elijah goes on to pray for rain. One would expect that after such a powerful showdown with the Baal prophets, Elijah's prayer for rain would be answered immediately. However, Scripture records that the sign of rain did not come immediately. Elijah bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. After each prayer, his servant would go and to look toward the sea for a sign of rain..

The trend continued. he prays, his servant goes to look towards the sea. Six times, there was no sign. He continued in prayer.
On the 7th trip to look toward the sea, the servant came back with a good report : at last, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is risibgbfrok the sea"

At the end of the conversation the friend said to me, "Do not be discouraged, what you are praying for is in God's will and He will answer it. What we don't know is "When".
This is my encouragement to you as well. It is human to feel discouraged, but just because the cloud did not appear during the first round of prayer doesn't mean it won't be answered. Pray until your cloud appears

NOW HAPPENING.

For two decades now I have been waiting for life to happen. I have waited for so long.In primary school, I wanted to go to high school. In high school I wanted to be in college. Total freedom. No bells. Consolation was its "Just a few more days, I will fly away to a land where joy shall never end." Heaven knows how loudly we sang that song in chapel. Campus was our land of joy.Or so we thought.

High school was done. Here Came Campus!.Yaaaaay.The long awaited freedom.  In first year; At last. But NO, I wanted to be in second year. I was tired of being a Freshman already. I wanted to be sophomore sooner. Then I realized there was too much work. I wished I was in third year. 

I was told fourth year was easier; the work load would be way less. The higher you go, the lesser the burden, they said. So I waited for that fourth year.. Always consoling myself that life would be easier then. From my window, I watched the fifth years in pyjamas all day. Playing cards in the day. Laughing so loudly in the night while I struggled with assignments. Of course I envied them; quite a lot. I wanted to be in fifth year.. So yes I got to fifth year and was busy; so busy.. I wonder how the previous ones had such amount of time. 

Then I was introduced to "out there". Where one is free from books. Free from crazy assignments, cats and rats.Life would be good then. Consolation: "Just a few more days". Just like that; campus was done.. Then came the out here.  Looking for a job. Dropping CVs all over and moving from office to another with brown envelopes.. Life was about to start. Life would soon start. I would be so happy. So the internship came, and I was excited to start life.. In the meantime, I was looking for a job. You know life is good when one has a job, I thought.. More money,more privileges. More joy. You know. So the search and the longing continued.

Somewhere in the"waiting for life to start", It dawned on me that all along life had been happening.They say life starts at 40..Well,I don't think so.Life began already. Life does not begin when conditions get perfect.. Not when you clear school, not when you get a job or get married. It is the time in between.That stretch between the mountain or the valley. At the centre of arrival and departure, is where the journey of life happens. The period between perfect and imperfect is what is called Life.

I am reminded of the story of a boy with a magical wand that he would pull whenever he was in a phase of life that he did not like. So he pulled during class time to go for break.He pulled his singlehood into a relationship then into marriage,into children, into adults then into old age.In his old age he realized his last move on the magic wand would be death. As he lay in bed  about to die he regretted  that all his life he had pulled his life away.

Friend,God ordered our lives in seasons and appointed a time for each. So stop "waiting" the season away. He is not surprised that you are in it because He is the author of time. So when its time to plant,plant.If to uproot,uproot.Don't let life pass you by as you wait for life to happen. It is happening. 

Here and Now.

Best Wishes

Mwarray

GET BACK EIGHT

Growing up, I have never been the biggest fan of children... I never was the kind that stretches hands to hold children in parties or social gatherings.. No am not the come baby come.I have always been the last resort.. That league of 'It's okay I can hold if there is no one else'. Luckily or is it unluckily there has always somebody to hold.. 

I reckon it is silently expected that ladies should love children. You know the natural unwritten societal expectations.. Don't stone me just yet. I know no one cares for reasons but I will give mine.. I did not grow up with children. I have never spent quality time with children.. Maybe that's why. With that I rest my reasons.

I bet sometimes life is kind enough to give us a second chance to learn the vital things that we might have missed out on along the way.I am a beneficiary of that kindness. I got the opportunity to stay with my niece for some months now. It has been a beautiful experience. I can confidently or rather almost confidently say I now love children.. The remaining part, if any,  will come when i get mine own.

Staying in the vicinity of a child makes one appreciate  the small milestones.I remember how excited we were when she said Ba-ba. Children make one happy for no reason..Their joy is just plain infectious.. I love how they are full of life and energy. I love so much about children lately. 

There is one more lesson I have learnt.. To get back up.. Have you seen a child learning to walk? They keep falling but they get moving.. I think kids unknowingly obey the portion of Scripture in Proverbs 24:16 

For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. 

Today I remind you of the good old heroic days when you kept getting up again till you could stand on your feet. I call you back to the young wisdom of rising again, dusting yourself up, picking the pieces and walking again..

The reason you walk today is because when you were a child you got back up and tried again.. You crawled. Then one day you tried to walk and fell severally. You knocked your head on the corners of tables and stools but you tried again anyway. What happened when you grew older? Where did that resilience go? How is it that when you fall you remain in the dust? What changed?

Life is not easy, I know, but it was never meant to be easy am told.. So soldier on..Like you did then. It will knock you on its corners again and again. Life will throw its curve balls as it does to us all. When it does, Rise Rise Rise. Keep rising. Don't stick there. 

With best wishes

Mwarray.

PRAYER IN THE WILDERNESS

Dear Lord,

When You don't do things the way I want You to do them, remind me that You have a better way because You are able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all I can think or imagine; that You know the end from the beginning and You know the good plans You have for my life.

When the voices without  cloud the voices within and the inner voice seems no longer existent,speak louder than the voices without, cleanse the wax in my ears that I may hear you. If you do not speak any louder, please give me the discernment of Elijah to discern your voice, not in the thunder, wind or earthquake but in your tiny little whisper.

When the uncertainty of the future overshadows the faith of the present and the future seems so bleak, give me the faith that can ace through the thickest cloud of doubt.Lead me to the silver lining.Remind me of the successes of the past and once again let me believe that I can make it. Help me to know that You who has brought me this far, are able to take me even further. 

When my strength seems weakness,strengthen my strengths and help me to (like dust),rise above my perceived weaknesses and present limitations.When ability seems inability and what I could once do seems like all I cant do,remind me that all ability comes from you, me that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

When my life seems to have lost meaning and I walk around like a headless chicken,with no purpose. When I start flowing with the wind while being swayed in all directions by the trials and tribulations of life,calm the storms within  and around me and once again give my life a new meaning.

When impatience gets over me and I want all results instantly like coffee, remind me the value of hardwork and of waiting on You because no matter how many promises you have made they are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus and they will come to fruition in due time.

When all is said and done and the achievements of the present outweigh the failures of my past and a sense of self pride and vain conceit seem to puff me up,remind me of where I have come from and once again make me humble. Give me a good memory that I may never forget the stone from which I was cut.

If ever any of these happens, Lord,Remind me that in the wilderness of life, You are there with me.I need not be afraid.

In Jesus name. 

Amen.

21 LIFE LESSONS FROM RIO

I would not describe myself as a big fan of sports for emotional reasons. One more confession: my face glows when I see the Kenyan flag swaying left and right. So, partly for patriotic reasons, I watched some of the games in Rio Olympics. 

Curtains have finally dropped and the dust is slowly settling..Not sure if there was dust though..As the Olympians world over bagged the medals, (Congratulations to our sportsmen and women. ) I bagged some lessons.As our heroes  and heroines come back home with medals here are some of the insights we can get:

#1. Our talents were given to us for the sole purpose of glorifying God. 

 I love Brianna Rollins Twitter profile  after her race which read:

“I want to break world records and win gold medals, but I also want to be known as the athlete who glorified God by reaching my full potential.”

#2. Past success is past.. 
It didn't help any team to bask in past glory. None of the athletes won the Olympics by reminding the umpires that they had won in several other activities before. It  mattered then. Not anymore. They had to prove it yet again. We have to prove it again.

#3. Success means not giving up. 
Some of the records were broken by newcomers who seemed not so big a threat. Countries that had tried many times before without success but had hung on and kept trying. 

#4. There is no limit to human potential..
 It was interesting to see many records broken sometimes by the very people that set them.

#5. The winner is not an enemy to the loser.
 It was quite interesting to watch the winner hug the competitor......( Apart from the martial art guys) ....I hear they call it sportmanship.. I wish sportmanship was part of our every day life.

#6.  Eyes on the prize.
Sometimes It mattered least who started first. It only mattered to have kept  eyes focused on the finish line.

#7.It is over only when the whistle blows and truly over when anthem is sung..
 Before that it's not celebration yet. So don't disqualify yourself until it's over. Until the whistle is blown, there is still  a chance, no matter how slim.

#8. The race was not for the swift..
They all had the equal time and chance to prove themselves.There were teams I felt were the better team but in the end they lost to the seemingly weaker team. Sometimes the "sprintest" sprinter lost.

#9. Everyone is up to the task..
There were races where I would wonder why athletes came to compete if they knew they would lose. Then it dawned on me that none left their countries with the anticipation of losing.

#10. Results results results. Not reasons. 
No one cares for the reasons. There is no race where the last was asked why they weren't the first.

#11.  Home ground doesn't matter..
No wonder Brazil was not the highest in the medal standings. Success can be attained home or away.

#12. Choices are part of victory..
Athletes make daily choices on what they eat, what they drink, when to train and so forth. Whichever the choice they make in the long run has consequences on their performance.
The choices and mistakes of every day add up to victory or defeat.It all adds up.
 
# 13. Discipline cannot be downplayed. 
The athletes are on very strict regimens.  It is not a law that all sports men should wake up early or train hard. However they remain disciplined because they are aware that it is indiscipline will cost them highly.

#14.  Excellence is a way of life. 
The champions will tell you that they have adopted excellence as their way of life. It takes sacrifice. Great sacrifice..

# 15. Success is not an accident. 
Success is about how much we are willing to invest. It is prepared for. The athletes will admit  they did not sleep as ordinary and wake up as extraordinary.. It took lots of training, patience and so much time.

#16. Every second counts. 
Some of the athletes won and others lost by a second. Wisdom is making good use of seconds, minutes and hours.

#17. Life is a steeplechase..
Obstacles are part of it.Ask Consenslus Kipruto or Ezekiel Kemboi, ( I haven't asked them)  I know they will tell you that the obstacles are what make it steeple. Overcoming them is what brings the fulfilment.
  

#18. It can only get better. 
Quite  many records were broken..  I bet at the time they were set, the competitors thought that was as best as humans can get.. Yet they get better by the day.

#19. Play by the rules..
Part of winning is playing by the rules.. There are events that I saw contestants who struck me as the best but were disqualified for not keeping playing by the rules.

#20. Confidence Confidence.
There were many fears on doping but it turns out the best doping is training as one of the athletes remarked when asked about doping. I love the confidence with which the athletes marched into the sports village despite the claims like warriors ready for war.

#21. God is God even on the playfield.
 It was so humbling to see athletes kneel down and give thanks at the finish line.  With the gold, the sweat and the pride of having represented their countries, countless knees knelt, tongues confessed and heads bowed in thanksgiving to God.

As the Olympics began I said It never was Rio but because the Rio was and ended on 21st August,  I restrict my list to 21. 

To the sports men and women, Congratulations. You have given the Olympics your best. You have flown the flag high, You have done us proud. We salute you. Welcome Home.

 

DON'T BE FOOLED

I decided to read through the story of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness one more time and made some observations.They made me so angry I had to write this to vent; but more importantly to enlighten us on a thing or two. 

Firstly, the devil tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread... if He is the son God.. seriously? Just forty days earlier the heavens had opened and a voice had confirmed He was, not just the son, but  the Beloved Son.Why was he bringing doubt? Anyway that's the devils' modus operandi. He brings doubt and insecurities just so we can  begin to doubt God's love for us.

Also, to think of it,Jesus has been fasting for forty days and much as He was hungry, His hunger needed soup or porridge, you know, something light to break the fast; not something heavy like bread. So who exactly did the devil expect to eat that bread? Why tempt the Bread of Life to turn stone into bread? Enyewe Shetani anaeza kua na ujinga

Secondly, he tells Jesus to throw Himself from the highest point. Just to prove that He is the Son of God.. Really? Why distract the angels from their choir session of singing "Holy Holy Holy" just to prove a fact to the devil? Of course they would have held Jesus. Yet Jesus chose not to use His power for mere show off.

Thirdly, he tells Jesus he would give him  all the wealth they were seeing, if and only  if he bowed down and worshiped him: Now let's dissect that statement. How do you give to another what is not yours in the first place. God is the creator of the earth and all that is in it. So this devil who was chest thumping of how he can give Jesus all the wealth owned nothing in the first place.

If there is a being with a pathetic job description is the devil.. The Bible records he is the father of liars. His business is to prowl the earth looking for somebody to devour after which he steals, kills  and destroys. I would hate to have such a description. If we look at the how he tempted Eve in the garden, the tactic was the same: doubt."Did God really say?" To date,he still asks the question, did God really say----- ? But don't let him fool you into his lies.

Friend,  the devil  still prowls around looking for someone to devour. My prayer is that if by chance he lands our way asking if God really said, we will remember to remind him that not only did God say it;but that  It is also written.
The good news is in James 4:7

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

May the Lord give us the grace to resist the devil because if we do so he will flee away from us just as he fled from Jesus after the three temptations.May we never give the devil a foothold in our lives.

THANK YOU,PERIOD

Lately I don't dream at night. Could be because I dream a lot during the day. So last week by rare chance I dreamt.

In the dream I was in this big building that had a loooong  corridor. Then this well dressed man came with a tray of snacks which he passed to everyone. On picking the snack, I said thank you. He came back and I picked another. Every time I said thank you, he passed the tray my way again. For five consecutive times he came my way. I watched him distribute to the rest.

For everyone who said thank you he passed the tray again. For anyone who forgot to say thank you, He did not return that way..

I woke up from my sleep. Hungry. Haha.It was just a dream. I had not snacked on anything.. That was a funny dream if you ask me.. I remembered it today and smiled. It didn't mean anything at that time but on second thought I picked a lesson. That there is power in thanksgiving. There is power in appreciating the blessings we receive each day;big and small alike. 

 Some blessings are easy to overlook because the constitution says it's our right. For instance, We have a right to live.  It says we have a right of speech, yet it is God who gives  the very mouth. The right of association, but it is God who gives the people with whom to associate.Otherwise, life is but a blessing. Food shelter and the normalcy are simply blessings.

As we thank our government for guaranteeing us some rights and freedoms... In the real sense God is the source of it all.I thought of reminding us to be grateful for all.. As we give thanks we open doors  and pave way for more blessings to flow our way.. Ask Jesus how He managed to feed more than five thousand hungry people and still have baskets of left overs.The Bible record that He GAVE THANKS.. and the food multiplied.

Luke 9:16-17

16Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people

 17They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Friend, there is power in thanksgiving. As you pray for more, remember to thank for that which you already have. Once you are done reading, you can take a moment of silence, in thanksgiving for all you already have.Your rights. Everything that is seemingly normal.

 

CHECK THE LENS.

Eight years ago I was diagnosed with myopia. Don't pity me I ain't dying. Myopia is just a humongous word for shortsighted. I was given lenses to help see far. One year ago, I decided to only see the little I could see and to ignore the rest.. I ditched the lenses. 

Fast forward to this year, I started having headaches and humbled myself enough to see an optician again. I am back on glasses. Now I see.. Literally.. I see the leaves on trees. .I see the outlines were actually people.I can now wave back. Sorry if you ever waved at me and I didn't wave back.I see the world ,I see the beauty I have been missing. The beauty did not cease to exist when I stopped seeing. The truth is it still was a beautiful world just not to me.
 
 .

 I am drawn to the story of Caleb and the spies in the Bible. Sent out to spy on the same land, the report they come back with is so different;one wonders. While the spies see themselves as grasshoppers Caleb sees himself as strong and able to conquer the men and possess the land.

Numbers 13:26-33

²⁷ They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.  
²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.  

 ³⁰Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
  32.....They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. ³³ We saw  the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

 It is ironical that they were all spying on the same land but  the reports are that different. As this week ends, I challenge you to check the lens through which you view life. Truth is its a beautiful life. But if we allow the momentary sham and drudgery to blind us to its beauty we will live in bitterness.  As Max Ehrmann would remind us in Desiderata..

“With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,it is still a beautiful world.Be cheerful.Strive to be happy.”

  

 

 Disclaimer:Only my sight and  height are short;my dreams are farsighted.