What God sees - for women!!!

Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and wondered: what does God see when He looks at me???
Do you know that He sees a daughter, a princess (for He is the King), a woman of great magnitude, a lady, a woman of integrity, a woman who never compromises her worth just to please a crowd or to excite men... God sees us as beautiful, queens who deserve nothing short of the best Kingdom!!!
Isn't it time that we all aligned our view of ourselves, with the way God sees us... isn't it time to look at ourselves and see ourselves exactly as He sees us.

Have you ever stopped halfway through calling yourself stupid to ask yourself: what does God whisper to me every single day. Do you know that God calls you holy, He calls your body His temple, He calls you a proverbs 31 woman!!!
Isn't it time that you spoke to yourself the way God would speak to you, isn't it time to be more gently with yourself, to practise kindness on yourself, to whisper words of love to yourself, because you are a woman of God... a woman for God!!!

We are worth so much more than this world gives us, worth so much more than how the media potrays us. We are worth so much more than anyone can tell us...
Ladies, we can begin by seeing value, not only in ourselves but in every woman around us. Because we are truly God's girls and He loves us soooo much.
it's time, ladies, that we loved ourselves as much!!!

I love you, i value you, i care about you and I wish you all the best in the journey of self-discovery!!!
You are born to shine!!!

Enlarge your BOX!!!

have you ever felt like you are stuck in a box? that you are limited within the confines of the path you chose to take, by the decisions you have made in the past when you didn't know better.

Have you ever felt boxed in by your career? your relationships? your environment? that everything was just too limiting???
well, guess what??? everyone of us is stuck in some box or another. When you start off at work, you are stuck in the box of routine, doing things over and over and over until you get tired of them.

The most important question is,however: what do you do when you reach your peak, when your box is no longer enough to contain you, your dreams and the vision that you have for your life.
Do you simply settle for mediocrity, which is really just being good enough to get by... or do you make an effort to enlarge your tent, to increase the capacity of your box??

i believe that it is very rare in life that you have to do something as radical as changing a career path, relocating or totally re-structuring the plan you have for your future. Many-a-times we just have to get up and change our view of our current situation/circumstance in our lives.
As long as there is growth in our lives, there will always be a need to change the size of our box... a need to develop even beyond our own limitations.

So if you currently feel like you are stuck in a box, i suggest that you take a step back and analyse what it is that makes you feel stuck, and then ask yourself this question: what can i do about it???

"You are in the exact place in your life that you're suppose to be. Be present. Excel - right where you are"
                                                                                                                                     Thami Ngubeni

No one makes it out alive anyway

Good evening friends

As I write this I'm in a bath filled to the brim with water, imaginary bubbles and I have an imaginary drink in one hand and my beloved blackberry in another... I just got in from having supper with friends

A friend of mine called Bokang arrived from Botswana on friday to see Oprah at the University of the free state and she's leaving tomorrow so we decided to and catch up for a bit... A few of my other friends who I hadn't seen in a while were going to hang out so we decided to join them...

So right now I'm sitting here in this warm bath - which is getting lukewarm with every word I type and I'm just reflecting on the great weekend that I had...

On friday Rong (another friend of mine) and I went to the waterfront to eat out at Mcdonalds and then to exclusive books to read introductions and prologues of books in order to decide which book was the best... Not judging a book by its cover but by its introduction... After all, didn't someone say: a good book should have you at "once upon a time"... If no one has ever said this before then I give you permission to quote me.
So the award for best intro went to "Resident Alien" by Rian Malan (which, by the way, is on my birthday wishlist)

Saturday was spent paying bills (or at least trying to before I realised that I woke up after the banks closed)... In the evening I attended a function held by ABASA (Association for the advancement of Black Accountants in Southern AfricA) to celebrate CA(SA) students who hAd just qualified... I rocked up at the do a bit late, but I had fun all in all - even though my hair was held up by pins so small that even sneezing would have been a fashion mistake... The theme of the evening was: what role does the accounting profession play in the year of job creation... One of the speakers answered the question very shortly and sweetly by saying: it starts by making a small difference - by helping to make sure that the Spaza shop next door to you turns into a supermarket!!!
All in all, a great night of shoulders rubbed with many Greats and Greats-to-be in the Accounting profession.

My sunday morning was typically spent at Grootvlei prison ministering in song to the inmates, and as always, I came back humbled and blessed and in awe at what God is busy doing in this beautiful country of ours.
Sunday afternoon was spent on a date at Braza having coffee and good conversation about South African politics.. And then straight to church again for the evening service.
Ps Clive was preaching... A powerful service that deserves a post of its own so look out for that.

And then Bokang and my other friends all went to Spur for a nice student special supper - guitars and all...very "soothing" environment as a friend of mine put it...
Bokang and I shared tears and laughter in the midst of that crowd and we caught up on a year and a half's worth of conversation - what a great night.

And now here I am, shivering in my now cold bath... Thinking: sometimes letting your hair down is okay... To forget about all the study work awaiting you, or the work that your boss asked you to do over the weekend. To forget all your troubles and all your fears... To just embrace the best that life has to offer... To hang out with loving friends who will remind you that: You are not alone!!! To smile, to laugh and most importantly to love without fear...
To allow yourself to not take life too seriously, because when all is said and done, like my friend Mariam said: No one makes it out of life alive anyway!!!

God bless you and have a great week.
LK

A brother in his 20's: My very first blog

A brother in his 20's: My very first blog: "Wow. My very first blog. Its a bit strange considering that a couple of years ago, I thought anything to do with 'blogging' and 'tweeting'..."

FREEDOM is NOT FREE

Today in South Africa, we celebrate the lives of "The Youth of 1976", who died marching in a fight for FREEDOM.
Even though the precious youth lost their lives that day, today we enjoy the fruits of their labour because today we live in the FREEDOM that they fought for.

I once asked a friend of mine why it was that many courageous people, who fight for a cause never lived to see that cause established... and today I finally know the answer: Those courageous enough to fight for a FREEDOM of any kind know that it may cost them their lives, and they fight on regardless because at one point in their lives they made a decision to fight so that their children would not have to fight the same battle...

Today, we, the Youth of 2011 walk in the footsteps of the fallen heroes of '76. and even though the battle for a democratic South Africa is one that we do not have to fight... We have our own battles that demand us to be selfless, to roll up our sleeves and to stand in the frontline, so that the future generations don't have to fight our battles for us.

Today, ours is to take a stand against poverty, HIV/Aids, Hate crimes, Abuse of people, the senseless rape of mother earth, And to also protect this very same democracy to which we have been entrusted!!!
The struggle has become colour blind, and today we are ALL called to take a stand against all these injustices.
African youth, unlike American youth, should no longer accept and embrace the luxury to sit and day dream about "money,cars and hoes"... Because "to whom much is given,much is required"... And we have been given much - we are the richest continent as far as natural resources is concerned, and we are called to use what we have to fight today's battle!!!

I have a dream, of different colour feet running the same race... This is the time for this dream to be realised... And, YES...even WE CAN!!!

Another friend of mine asked me, "do you really think that this FREEDOM that we so fight for will materialise in our lifetime?"
My answer: No it definitely won't, but we shall see it through the eyes of our children... Because if we want it bad enough, we might have to die for it!!!
And I know this because FREEDOM is not FREE!!!

Be a good receiver

Once I set my heart to it, it's not so hard for me give...of my time, my money, my advice and even more easier for me to give is love and respect!!!

The one thing that is a stumbling block for me, the one thing that I have great difficulty with is being a good receiver...

a pastor at our church once said: don't stop someone's blessing by being a bad receiver...because if someone offersa you something and you refuse to receive it, you are denying them the chance for God to bless them for being a good giver.

I am really bad at receiving, whether it be compliments, help, money, advice, love, respect...the list is endless!!!
I just do not know how to receive without paying someone back in one way or the other.

a good receiver is someone who says "thank you", someone who knows how to ask for help, someone who knows that sometimes someone else knows more about something and trusts in the advice they give, someone who is not afraid to receive love and compassion, someone who can freely run to another's arms for a shoulder to cry on. Someone who understands that the responsibility they have to help someone in need is the same responsibility that other people have to help them when they are in need.

The willingness of the people around me to help me in my time of need has really humbled me to a point of tears and now I realise that I need to learn to receive in order to be sure that the blessings of God fall upon them for being a blessing to me.

So the next time someone offers me anything, I will be more reluctant to say: No, thank you!
and I will choose to rather say: Yes, please!!!

the inner circle

Having a diverse range of friends and acquaintances is very important to ensure that you remain an open-minded and interesting individual but it is even more important that you limit the people that are in your inner circle...

These are the people who rub off on you:
The people you spend the majority of your time with, the people whose opinions you trust, the people with whom you exchange views on life.
These are the people whose english accents you start picking up, the people whose facial expressions you start unconsciously imitating, the people whose favourite words and phrases you start playing around with.
These are the people who ultimately have an influence on you...whether you realise it, or admit or not.
These people are your "environment" and you hve to be sure that the environment is conducive to the achievement of your goals.
What's the use of spending time with people who smoke if you want to stop smoking?
If you are suffering from depression you are not doing yourself a favour by hanging out with people that are just downright negative.
If you are looking to doing something with your life, there's no use hanging out with people that "chill" for a living.

Your inner circle plays a very important role in your attainment of success (in whatever way you define it) and therefore it's important that we learn to rather love some people from a distance if they are not rubbing off the right things on you.
But most importantly, remember that you are a prt of someone else's "inner circle" therefore take a look at the man or woman in the mirror and be honest with yourself... If you were someone else, would you elect to have yourself as part of your "inner circle" or are you just one to be loved from a distance.

The friends you have are your choice, and they will definitely influence the choices you make...CHOOSE right!!!